The time has come for me to plan our annual summer vacation. Typically we go camping in upstate New York for one week, traveling at the same time as my parents. We pull a tiny travel trailer behind my truck up to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. While there we camp at the Watkins Glen KOA. This year I’m considering extending our vacation on one end, as well as not taking the travel trailer up. That’s because I want to buy a larger trailer. If I do this, I’ll need to get a hotel room near the racetrack and campground for part of the time. I took a look in the Finger Lakes Tourism site to see what other activities are going on in the area while we’re up there besides the Nascar race, in case there was something in a particular area we wanted to see. Ideally wherever we stay will be in the Watkins Glen – Corning – Elmira area.

There was one occasion that I had to find a hotel room in this area for a trip my husband and father took. Their needs were simple, all that was required was a clean, safe, affordable room for the night. I booked a room at the Knights Inn in Horseheads. That was three years ago and it didn’t end well. When they checked in the door on the room didn’t lock, the television couldn’t be turned on and the toilet was clogged. They had to go back out to the office and request another room, which in the end didn’t turn out to be much better. After they finally got the room problem solved they were hungry. Unfortunately there were no restaurants nearby so they had to have snacks from the vending machine for dinner.

This time around I’m being more careful with my search for a room. After all, the whole family will be in the room and I wouldn’t want anything less than clean and safe for my family. But the accommodations I make will need to fit some other needs we have. I’m bringing my laptop, so I want high speed internet. We like the ability to be able to watch tv in our room. We should be located near a restaurant, or the hotel we stay in should have one. We prefer to be able to have coffee in the morning before we hit the road. I’ve found two that look like they fit our needs and will be our best choices.

EconoLodge, Elmira

This hotel is in an area we’re familiar with and it’s about 20 minutes away from the racetrack and camping ground. My parents have actually stayed at this hotel and said it was very clean. It’s near the mall that my Mom goes to every year, a Walmart, a grocery store and a number of restaurants and attractions. It offers high speed internet, free breakfast and free coffee. I notice that the rooms have been remodeled and now include microwaves and refrigerators, which are terrific for a traveling family.

Super 8 Motel, Ithaca

This hotel is about 30 minutes away from the racetrack and campground. It has free high speed internet and free continental breakfast. It’s near a number of restaurants and attractions. I notice from the pictures displayed that their rooms look like they’re a decent size and they have a free fitness center for guests. It looks like these rooms were just renovated in 2005, so they’re probably in decent shape.

I think everyone will be happy with one of these selections, particularly my hubby and father after the last experience. In case you’re wondering how I found these hotels, I searched on a great site called Hotels Combined. This site can search many hotel reservation websites to find you the best price for rooms in cities all around the world. I looked on the page for cities in New York, and then checked the pages for the cities in the area that we stay in. You can see what I mean by visiting http://www.hotelscombined.com/State/New_York.htm.

Take a look on the Hotels Combined site and see what lodgings are available where you’re going. Their search engine is sure to find you lodging that fits all of your needs and your budget. Happy travels!

Everyone I know has a different view of what’s the most cost efficient way to get to and from the airport if you’re taking a longer trip and don’t wish to leave your car in the parking lot. My parents travel frequently, and many of those times they do fly. I am the person that takes them to and from the airport the majority of the time. Someone once asked me why I did this, why didn’t they hire a service.

It’s much cheaper for my parents to give me money to cover the gas then it would be for them to hire a car. Sometimes two flights going to the same place at different times will have different prices. Sometimes traveling from one airport is cheaper than traveling from another. My parents usually get really good deals on their flights. If their flight scheduled doesn’t exactly mesh with my schedule we adjust accordingly. There have been times it’s still cheaper for me to drive them the night before and them take an inexpensive room near an airport rather than fly at a prime time.

Above all else, I love my parents. Driving them to and from the airport is far more personal for them then taking a car, and it’s the least I can do after they’ve done so much for me over the years. Two nights ago when I drove my parents to the Philadelphia airport we all had a nice little meal together and got to talk. When I pick them up from the airport, as I will later this week, we’ll spend the entire drive back chatting about what happened. It’s nice because I’ll get all the details while they’re fresh, rather than waiting until we all have another two hours we can spend together uninterrupted.

So. How do you and/or your loved ones get to and from the airport?

My youngest son has a lot of Thomas the Tank little trains as well as lots of tracks. He has some buildings and playsets too. But the trains and the tracks end up in his bedroom and my living room every day. I have been trying to figure out a way to store them and keep them all in one place while he still has easy access and we can easily clean up. Today I think I narrowed it down to two different things.

One solution is a wooden set of shelves with heavy duty linen or plastic baskets on them. All of the trains and tracks could go into baskets. When cleaning up instead of carrying everything to one room, the basket could just be taken along around the house while picking everything up.

The other solution is  a small cart on wheels, with bins built in to it. Then the cart could be pushed around when cleaning up.

Any suggestions or input on how you or someone you know handled organizing smaller children’s toys?

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, full of family, love, warmth, joy and kindness. I also want to express my thanks to all of my blogging buddies and my blog visitors. I hope we can share each others company for a long time to come.

Merry Christmas!

I got up at 4am this morning and took my parents to Newark Airport. Newark takes less than an hour to get to. They were going to Florida, then Indiana, then back to Florida, then home again. My parents seem to always be going somewhere. Even when they’re home they’re always going somewhere. They frequently take trips to other parts of New Jersey as well as other nearby states.