HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

When I lived in the city, lots of articles touted the importance of having an “insider’s view” and finding the places the “locals” hung out at. You want to know a secret? This “local” found more interesting sites she never heard of by visiting the tourist kiosks and welcome centers. I found an outlet mall slightly out of town, had a good time at some plays that were put on in a period-correct manner in a historical playhouse and even found a few new restaurants.

If you are native to New York, check out the CitySightsNY.com Coupon on Price Pickle. It will give you 5% off your total ticket order. Take a double-decker bus tour through a section of town, with lunch included, or take a private tour. Private tours are a little more and for smaller groups, but you can go incognito like a celebrity in a limousine and folks will stare and wonder what important person you must be.

Right now, some parts of New York are recovering from hurricane Irene, so check for availability of your route when scheduling. Book a big bit in advance to show your support for the businesses.

You could always go under the guise of entertaining out of town guests, but you might just surprise yourself in discovering new eateries and sites that you just haven’t ventured out to see yet.

In my much earlier years, my parents had the ingenious idea of saving gas on the “trip to Grandma’s house” seven hours away. The Chevette Scooter was infinitely more fuel efficient than any sort of Malibu Classic station wagon. Great idea, except they forgot to consider that sitting on one side of a hard plastic infant car seat when you are ten years old only solves the problem of “Mom, he’s touching me/looking at me/breathing at me” with your brother on the other side of the car seat in theory. While we dare not volley any projectile action figures or sticker books over our baby sister, any little wiggle of the car seat was theorized to be the other sibling shoving it to cramp the other against the door. Add that we actually had luggage, parents and a dog in tow. Oh, and the dog loved it. She was the only one thoroughly satisfied with snuggling the whole way there.

You might not have experienced vacation travelin such cramped quarters, but surely that double room with two beds and a cot looked very good on paper. You know – you calculated the number of suggested beds for the exact number of bodies and forgot that the “don’t breathe near me” factor involves dad sharing a bed with the boy kid, and the one that feels they are too old to share with their mom or dad sleeping on the floor and making noises all night to emphasize their dramatic huff.

Another idea, that is often better if you have a dog or even two dogs and an unusual pet is to look into renting a whole house for a week instead. While it may seem expensive, per week it often is comparable or a bit less expensive than a four night hotel stay, especially when you consider that everyone may have their own room, or you only have to double up and not triple up. The pups may even get a yard to run in, or at least a neighborhood where you don’t have to worry about walking them along a busy thoroughfare. The cost of meals plummets when you can cook. You can even rent a house, in some cases, for just a night or two. If you click for a Homeaway promo code, there are a few that are redeemable for $30 per night Florida stays, $85 in Mexico and you can even get a discount on listing your guest house or property for a period of time. It just may make ends meet for the house you bought as an investment somewhere and now can’t part with.

Have you ever swapped houses or rented a home for a quick getaway? If you did, tell me what you thought, especially from the pet’s perspective.

Dad is easy and impossible to buy for at the same time when it comes to his birthday of Father’s Day. His socks are really popped off by a few golf balls or a small tub of chocolate coated popcorn, but sometimes it just doesn’t fee like enough. Maybe it is, but I just feel so outdone by my siblings all the time who sometimes go in on something big. Since F.D. is kind of a “Hallmark Holiday,” I usually don’t go too crazy. It got me thinking about how I lived far away from my dad for more or less ten years. Sure the cards were okay, and I thought that was fine, but I didn’t realize the thing he would have really liked and that was to have me around. It didn’t mean I had to move back in with mom and dad, or even see him on the exact day, but at least knowing I was in the area or could see him once in awhile would mean more than an expensive knick knack.

For those of you with fathers that you hardly see, especially if you keep putting off doing so, there is another round of fresh discount codes and coupons at http://www.savings.com, particularly for airfares and hotel stays. I was contemplating what to get Dad for Father’s Day. I am lucky enough to have my dad around, but I know that there are friends that regret either not living where they can see their parents at least every few weeks, or their dad passed away and they would do anything to have gone and seen him.

Don’t let the days slip by (and with the savings, bring your pup or cat, too). Little did I know a few years back that my Great Grandmother wouldn’t always be there forever, that my grandparents would be in their 80s despite the mental picture I have of them having been 60 for the past twenty plus years, or a woman I admire who is close to my age would have triple negative breast cancer. I thought that was only supposed to happen to “old people,” not the kind that don’t have to cover their gray yet…that is, if we choose to.  There are about ten people on my list that I it has been long enough not to see them.  Who is on your list?