Love the Entertainment

If I told you there was a way to save hundreds and hundreds of dollars, would you believe me? What would all this saving be worth to you? In other words, how much would you be willing to pay?

Today only, you could pick up the 2013 Entertainment book for just $29.99 with free shipping. Of course, it is free shipping if you live in the US. But for international customers, they will charge you up to $17.50 to send it to you by mail. Considering how much money you could save, it is still worth it.

Depending on where you live, you can pick the one that serves your area. Each book contains hundreds of coupons, some 2-for-1, some completely free and some just gives you a discount. Say for example, you live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Your  book has coupons for free admission to the Calgary Zoo where the new penguin plunge exhibit had opened this summer. It also has free admission to the Royal Terrell museum, where all the dinosaurs are being dug up. Then there’s tons of restaurant coupons, ranging from a free drink to a free meal.

Near the back of the book are pages dedicated for the traveller. There you will find car rental discounts, cruise discounts and hotel discounts. These are pretty good and will definitely save you some serious money. There are coupons that apply to food, services, recreation and travel.

Would you like to know about the next deal I run into? Sign up for my emails and I’ll make sure to alert you on the next deal.

Employees and Good Friends Only

I think I am one of those that are proud of saving money. For instance, I’ve been planning a trip out to the west coast for about two months or so. Once I had my set of dates, I went to my secret website and all the secret tips are there. He tells me that only his employees and closest associates can use that page but I had figured we were pretty good friends and so he wouldn’t mind. Anyways, I used his Booking Buddy link to access this free service to help lookup the best prices across a whole bunch of travel sites.  I entered my travel dates and searched. In less than a minute, about 8 tabs appeared with sites like Kayak, Orbitz, Expedia, etc. By clicking on each tab, the search continues and the best prices appear. This is the best way to compare prices across travel sites. It saves you time doing it one by one. So I highly recommend it.

Once I had air booked, I used it again to look for cars. Again, about 6 tabs appeared with Car Rentals, Rentacar.com, Hotwire, Expedia, etc. I clicked on each tab and the best car rental prices came up. I always liked Hotwire but be careful, if you are still shopping around then you might not want to book it right away. With Hotwire, you might have to put your credit card down. If you’re still shopping, try not to commit until you are convinced you have the lowest rate. Sometimes you can’t help yourself because cars do sell out. Christmas, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Playoffs, etc. are example dates to when there’s no more cars available.

Hotels are in the same boat. The Booking Buddy is a great free service when hunting for the best prices in hotels. Again, don’t try to enter a credit card because the rates may come down as your travel date comes up. Book something tentatively without a credit card then continue to use Booking Buddy to find you the best rate. Cancel and rebook.

No Print Boarding Pass

I had to print my boarding pass for tomorrow’s flight but only one problem – no printers in the house! I know it sounds ridiculous but not really, it happens all the time. For instance, when I visit my folks. They have an old computer to connect to the internet for email, etc. but they don’t have a printer neither. Then there’s my home away from home, in a hotel on a business trip. They don’t have printers installed in your room but you can print it downstairs in their business centre for a nominal charge.

Tonight I wanted to be creative so I went to the Air Canada site and did an online check-in. When ready to print my boarding pass, I saved it as a PDF. Next I went to http://www.faxzero.com and entered my information. I chose my boarding pass PDF and entered my fax number. To confirm your email, they will send you a confirmation to which you have to respond by clicking on a link inside your email. After they confirm your email, they send your fax. Within a few minutes, my boarding pass was on my fax machine.

With FaxZero.com, you can send two faxes free everyday. If you need more, you can pay $1.99 for premium service. Otherwise, two a day is fine with me. Next experiment is to check-in with my iPad and fax my boarding passes to the hotel so that I don’t incur any printing charges.

What can $99 buy?

What can $99 buy you today? How about a winter escape to Huatulco, Mexico. If you don’t mind flying between January 23rd and the 30th, then get yourself on Escapes.ca and book away. Huatulco is one of Mexico’s latest recreational resort projects. Not as familiar to travellers as Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan, Huatulco offers golf, horseback riding, tennis, boating, beaching and surfing. 

When I was in Las Vegas over the Christmas week, I went to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian and KA, a Cirque du Soleil theatrical show at the MGM Grand. Now you can too for only $244 from Calgary which includes airfare and a week stay at the Primm Valley resort. Be sure to check out Half-Price Tix for all your discounted entertainment tickets. Don’t expect to get 50% off popular shows like the Phantom or KA but you can get some pretty good savings if you show up in line early. 

If the hustle and bustle isn’t your thing then pack your swimsuits and head for Puerto Vallarta. For only $497, get an all-inclusive vacation with air from Calgary. Stay at the Costa Club Punta Arena hotel which is only 5 minutes away from downtown Puerto Vallarta and 15 minutes from the international airport where you will fly into. Visit Hume-Travel.com for more details.

Planning for Valentine’s Day? Sail on the NCL Pride of America for only $999 and visit all the Hawaiian Islands. Did you know it’s a great time to be in Hawaii? During December to April, you can see humpback whales and their youngs up close and personal with a Zodiac tour. To take advantage of this cruise, visit CheapTickets.com

Magically Free Shuttle

When it comes to running a small business, either from home or in an office, it is vital that you fully stock your business with supplies. I’ve shared a Staples $20 off coupon with you before but it comes with a $150 minimum purchase. It’s not hard to rack up the bill, especially if your business needs a new external hard drive or a new printer. Even school supplies can easily make up for the $150 minimum. Here’s the coupon anyways: 5991592125470472. Use it online or by phone.

Any of you planning a Walt Disney World vacation? If so and you are planning to stay onsite at one of the WDW resorts then get free shuttle service from Orlando airport to your Disney resort. This is called the Disney Magical Express and is available to guests staying at all the WDW resort hotels. To get this service, simply ask for it by name when reserving your WDW vacation. Reservations made prior to 30 days from departure will get special luggage tags sent to you. Disney will automatically transfer your luggage from the airport to the resort.

While in Florida, rent a mid-size SUV from Dollar for only $37.99 per day. Or in Tampa, get a mid-size SUV for only $169.00 per week from Alamo.

Free Cruise and Air

What would you prefer, a trip that you would have to pay for or a free trip? I think most of us would prefer the latter. I am redeeming my Air Miles for a possible cruise and airfare. Affliated with Air Miles are two cruise lines, Holland America and Carnival. Unfortunately I am too late for the Holland America cruise that departed on October 18, 2008 and returned with memories. Carnival on the other hand has a whole list of cruises that are eligible for point redemption. The one I’m interested in is the one that sails February 7th from Port Canaveral. If the port city sounds familiar, it should because that’s where the space shuttle launches into space from. Visiting the Cape (Canaveral) is really something else. If you love rockets, space voyages and the shuttle, be sure to stop by and spend a day there. And if you’re lucky, you might arrive on the same day as a night launch. The cruise sails to Belize City, Costa Maya and Nassau, Bahamas. Belize is known for world-class snorkelling and scuba. Costa Maya is beach, beach and more beach. And Nassau has golf, shopping and the Atlantis Resort.

The folks at Air Miles are really helpful, as they instructed me to take the cruise and the air for all the points I have. It’s not totally free because you are still responsible for port charges, taxes, air and security fees. And if you have sailed on Carnival before, they will look up if there are any promotions or specials for past passengers. In this case, my wife has sailed with Carnival before and we were entitled to a free 2-cabin upgrade. They also offered an Oceanview cabin for lower air miles than an Inside cabin so the total air miles required was only 6832 for two plus $700.08 fees. The airfare required 6480 air miles and $259 fees. 

With this free trip in mind, it gives me added incentive to shop at Safeway’s, buy gas at Shell and bank at the Bank of Montreal.

Stay Here, Fly There

With dropping gas prices, travellers are still not seeing better air deals but wait, here is a great deal from Holiday Inn. Book and stay at any participating Holiday Inn location now through December 31, 2008 and get a voucher redeemable for $198 roundtrip between 198 US cities or $298 roundtrip to Canada and Mexico.

What is the catch? Read the terms and conditions here. If you’re ok with it, go and find a location to spend the night then within three weeks after your stay, you will receive the voucher via email. One more condition, you have to book it online with Holiday Inn or by phone.

Sample rates include Scottsdale at $127 per night, North Vancouver at $159 per night, Las Vegas at $129 per night.

Cheap gets Cheaper

The cheap gets cheaper and the rich gets richer. Free with cheap hotels include free breakfasts, free parking, free local calls, free internet access and free newspaper. I guess they figure that if you could afford the five star luxury hotel rates, you can afford to buy yourself breakfast, pay for valet parking and pay a dollar for each local call. I think it is ridiculous.

Travelodge and ThriftLodge has the Stay for Two, Save a Few offer that entitles you to save 15% off if you stay at least 2 nights. Quote the coupon: SP2 to receive this offer. It is good until March 31, 2009 so you have plenty of time to use it. If staying in Calgary, be sure to quote the Meal Deal Package where from $139 per night, you get 2 free breakfast vouchers for a hot buffet breakfast and a large pizza.

If in Barrie, Ontario, quote the Golf Package and get 2 rounds of golf, accomodations and a $20 gift voucher to a Keg restaurant. Or go for the Deluxe Golf Package and get 2 rounds of golf with power cart, accomodations and a $40 gift voucher to the Keg restaurant.

There are more deals on their website. Check it out.

Hotel Season here again

It looks like it’s hotel season again. Every hotel in Calgary seems to be booked up. My friend from North Carolina is in town and he had to stay up by Motel Village on 16th Ave while his coworker stayed at the very plush Fairmont Palliser hotel downtown.

If you are planning a trip, consider staying at a Starwood hotel. Sheraton for instance has a deal, stay 2 nights and get the 3rd night free. Don’t know where to go? With the Indian summer, I think anywhere in Canada is nice this time of year. Perhaps, Montreal is where you should go.

Or if you hurry, before October 4th, stay at the Marriott Courtyard Providence and get the VIP treatment. Quote promo code P53 or enter it in the Corporate/Promotional box online to get breakfast for two, a $25 gas card, discount offers for shopping and a deluxe room.

Closer to home, check out the Rocky Mountain Two Night Getaway in Canmore at the Falcon Crest Lodge. For $179 per person, you get a 5 course dinner and Oh Canada Eh? Dinner Show, two nights deluxe accomodations, cruise to Devil’s Gap with Lake Minnewanka boat tours and free passes to Banff Upper Hot Springs.

Free Golf

We all know that once the leaves are on the ground that fall is around the corner. With the coming of fall, the golf season winds down and golf deals emerge. Golf courses in the Columbia valley will probably stay open for a few weeks more but as far as Calgary is concerned, most courses will close before the third week of October.

New in Kimberly are premier accomodations on Northstar Mountain Village offering ski-in/ski-out access, hot tubs, fireplaces, fitness room and fully equipped kitchens. Now if you call and make an early booking, you will receive 2 rounds of golf free at Bootleg Gap. Just call 1-800-665-1801 and quote ‘Kimberly Fall Special’. Don’t try to book online to get your free golf because this is not available for everyone. Hurry because this offer is only limited to the first 30 bookings.

Want to stay closer to Fairmont and Radium Springs? No problem. With High Country Properties, you can now stay for 3 nights and only pay for 2. Call the same number above and quote ‘Pay for 2 Stay for 3 Special’. Offer is good until October 31, 2008.

There’s a lot of golf left in this season. I hope you will take advantage of the late summer/ fall specials that I find for you.