Surprise Kiss

Archive for the ‘Romantic Travel’ Category

Have you ever checked into a hotel and it ended up not looking like the photos on the internet? We’ve had that happen to us a few times. Thank goodness not very often.

Anthony Melchiorri of the Travel Channel’s “Hotel Impossible” was on the Today Show with Kathy Lee Gifford & Hoda Kobt and gave some great advice on how to deal with a hotel that doesn’t quite meet the standard you expected.

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Love the tip about calling the hotel manager and letting them know you are coming and what you have reserved. I will be using this idea from now on.

One time we checked into a room in Las Vegas late at night after an unusually long drive and discovered ants crawling all over the bed. We immediately walked out of the room luggage and all and went directly to the lobby and told them our situation and like Anthony said we were friendly and nice to the front desk and were given an upgraded room minus the ants. We still laugh about the story but it wasn’t too funny at the time. We were tired and hungry.

Remember that old saying “You can get more with honey than vinegar.”

For Men Only: Check in on Friday for a romantic idea to give your wife for Mother’s Day.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

***My free eBook is coming soon! Be on the lookout for it and when it comes out you can be one of the first to get it. ***

“Your marriage is a gift from God; how you treat it is a gift to him.”

© 2013, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Need help with finding the best travel deals for a romantic weekend away? The Today show recently had Sarah Spagnolo from Travel and Leisure magazine talk about the latest travel tips.

Watch the video to find out the best deal and how to find them right now:

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Here are the links to the two hotels Sarah talked about:

Ocean Edge Resort, Brewster, Cape Code

Sky Hotel, Aspen CO

Check out these links to find the best deals on the internet:

Backbid.com

Tingo.com

HotelTonight.com

Don’t forget to use Twitter to find out about the latest deals with your favorite airline.

Plan your perfect romantic weekend away and pay less with a little help from Sarah Spagnolo from Travel and Leisure and the Today Show.

keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

***My free eBook is coming soon! Be on the lookout for it and when it comes out you can be one of the first to get it. ***

“Your marriage is a gift from God; how you treat it is a gift to him.”

© 2013, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Do you have hotel loyalty rewards that you have been saving and haven’t used yet? You will want to watch this short video from the Today Show and read the Rossen Report.

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Rossen Report – Hotel Loyalty Points

After watching the video and reading the article we are making plans to use our points with the Marriot by making reservations for a trip to Reno and New York before our loyalty rewards go up.

Plan your romantic trip with the points you have and use them before the deadline. Imagine the fun you and your sweetheart will have with the money you have saved if you get your room for free.

Your $260 you saved for a whole year will go a lot further if you use your loyalty rewards.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

***My free eBook is coming soon! Be on the lookout for it and when it comes out you can be one of the first to get it. ***

“Your marriage is a gift from God; how you treat it is a gift to him.”

© 2013, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Are you saving your money every week for a romantic weekend away? If you are then you will want to watch the Today Show with Nilou Motamed from Travel and Leisure magazine talk about 5 hotels that have affordable weekend rates during the month of March.

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Check out the hotels they talked about:

1. B Ocean, Fort Lauderdale, FL – $199.00
2. The Graham & Co, Phoenicia, NY – $99.00
3. Agate Gove Inn, Mendocino, CA – $189.00
4. Grand Geneva Resort, Lake Geneva, WI – $209.00
5. Red River Ranch, Teasdale, UT – $160.00

Would you like to get out of town with your sweetheart and you have enough money put away to stay at one of these lovely hotels? Then you may want to try and make reservations while the rates are still low and have a much needed romantic weekend with your sweetheart.

Don’t live near one of these places? Call around your area and I am sure you will find something just as nice or nicer close by.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

“Your marriage is a gift from God, how you treat it is a gift to him.”

© 2013, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Plan on traveling in 2013 with your sweetheart? You will want to watch this video from the Today Show about rising travel fairs and what to watch out for.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In the past when I have written about staying at a hotel, I have mentioned there could be hidden fees that you may not think about. Like the extra fees for parking? The video even mentions about looking out for additional fees for a newspaper at your door, snacks in the room and internet.

So be a savvy traveler when making reservations for a rental car, hotel or travel fares. You will want to find out if there are any additional fees.

Plan on having a fun filled vacation with your sweetheart and make sure you don’t have additional fees you were not planning on that could spoil your trip.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2013, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

There is a new Bed & Breakfast in the quaint historic Village of Arroyo Grande I wanted to let you know about. The Inn is called Grandview Manor Bed and Breakfast. It is owned by my very dear friend, Terry Fowler-Payne.

Terry has traveled across the United States and stayed at many beautiful Inns. As a little girl she was raised in the historic Coffee Rice House located on Hwy 1 and the Grieb Farm House on Halcyon Road which are both in Arroyo Grande.

Terry designed and built this beautiful home on a hilltop overlooking the Village of Arroyo Grande. Her daughters where raised here and are now all grown and gone so she decided to share her spectacular home with guest visiting the area.

Check out her website:

Grandview Manor Bed and Breakfast:

The room that is the most spectacular is the Master Suite which is only $150.00. There is a double sided fireplace which faces the bedroom and bath. The bath has a spa tub and spacious shower. The Inn is on a hill overlooking the quaint Village of Arroyo Grande and the Master Suite has the best view. So if you saved your $260 and spent one night you would have plenty of money to go out to dinner.

Amenities:

• Gourmet Breakfast
• Morning Coffee & Tea
• Evening Reception
• Porches with Views
• 5 Hole Putting Green
• Gazebo & Barbecue
• Kitchen for Your Personal Use
• Televisions in Each Room
• Smoking is permitted outside in designated areas only

Grandview Manor Bed and Breakfast is a beautiful place to have a memorable and romantic anniversary getaway.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2012, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Looking to getaway on Halloween with your sweetheart and want to stay at a hotel where there is paranormal activity or a lot of Halloween fun? You are going to want to watch the video from the Today Show where Sarah Spagnolo from Travel and Leisure tells you of some great hotels to stay at during this spooky time of year.

For some reason I wasn’t able to imbed the video on my website so here is the link:

http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49516692#49477254

Here are the links for all four hotels Sarah told us about:

• Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CO:

http://www.stanleyhotel.com/

• Universal Studios/Loews, Royal Pacific, Orland, Fl:

http://www.loewshotels.com/Royal-Pacific-Resort/gallery/photos

• The Orlando on Third, Los Angeles, CA – Holly-Ween Package

http://www.theorlando.com/

• Virginia Hotel, Cape May, NJ:

http://www.virginiahotel.com/?src=ppc_google_brand_officialsite

FYI, if you can’t click on the links then you will need to copy and paste the links to view the hotels and their rates. Sorry for the inconvenience but for some reason my website just isn’t cooperating.

If you live near any of these places pack your bags and grab your sweetheart and have a very romantic and spooky Halloween!

***Don’t forget to check back on Friday, 10/26/12, to see the suggestion I have for you to have a romantic Halloween with your sweetheart.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2012, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Is your wedding anniversary during the fall season or are you planning on taking a quick weekend trip away with your sweetheart? Have you considered making a point to enjoy the fall foliage in your area? Well the Today Show has some great suggestions on where to go to enjoy nature’s spectacular show.

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Don’t live near these areas? Then research the area nearest you to take a moment with your sweetie pie to enjoy the colorful show nature has to offer.

Don’t have a weekend to spare? Make it a day trip, go pick apples to enjoy and make apple pie or buy apple cider to make hot apple cider. See my famous recipe below I gave you on Oct 27, 2010.

I’ve got the Hots for You Apple Cider

1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp allspice
1 cinnamon sticks
Pinch nutmeg
Cheese cloth or paper coffee filter
4 cups apple cider (1 quart)

Combine the cloves, allspice, cinnamon stick and nutmeg in a cheese cloth or paper coffee filter and tie with a string at the top. Put in a pan with the 4 cups of apple cider. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. If you want a sweeter drink you could add ¼ cup of brown sugar when brewing your drink.

*If you really want to spice things up you could add 1 oz of rum or brandy at the end to each mug and fill with your hot cider.

Enjoy the fall foliage and your time together whether it is for a weekend away or just a few hours or perhaps making hot apple cider together.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2012, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

I bet you thought I forgot about you? Larry & I just got back on a whirlwind trip to DC and New York compliments of our daughter, Denise and her husband, Tom. We were able to stay for 10 days and Tom flew in on the 2 weekends we were there. We saved our money for all other incidentals, food, tours, etc. while we were there. We had an absolute blast!

Denise is currently living and working in Arlington, VA while Tom is still living in Nipomo, CA. They make it a point to either meet in DC or Nipomo every other weekend and Denise travels for work quite a bit too. They are racking up points in airline miles which allowed us to fly for free and stay at Denise’s beautiful two bedroom apartment for free.

DC is a beautiful clean place with lots to do, free museums, historic places to see and great restaurants. They have a fabulous Metro system to get around and it is easy to use. We walked every day until our feet were ready to fall off and saw as much as we could but we just couldn’t see it all.

Here are some of the highlights we did while in DC:

• Spy Museum
• Museum of Engraving & Printing (Money)
• East Market on Sunday (Flea Market/Farmers Market)
• Air & Space Museum
• Double Decker Bus (Red Line & Blue Line gave us an overview of everything in DC & Arlington, VA)
• American History Museum
• Smithsonian Castle
• Lunch @ the American Indian Museum (Great place for lunch)
• Metro Station
• White House
• Capital
• Strolled around Georgetown

I could go on and on about how much there is to do and see. You cannot see it all in 10 days.

On our second weekend Denise surprised us with a train trip to New York to visit our granddaughter, Dani, who is going to the Fashion Institute to study to be a Fashion Merchandiser. She is 20 years old and just moved there a month ago and is loving school and the city. We are so proud of her and the goals she is setting for herself and her future.

Me, Larry and Denise arrived Saturday, in New York, at 12:30 PM and Dani was waiting outside of Penn Station for us. Tom surprised us by being here too. We stayed at the beautiful Marriott Marquis. Larry and I felt like we got the best room of all. We were on the 36th floor which overlooked the Hudson River. That evening when we went to bed we left the drapes opened because we had a spectacular view of the city and river with no obstructions in the way.

Here are the highlights of our stay in NY:

• Lunch at Madison Park
• Century 21 Building (Shopping at a discount!!!)
• In the evening we walked the Highline (Train tracks no longer being used turned into a wild flower and plant oasis)
• Dinner in the Meat Packing District
• Sunday Brunch

We left New York on Sunday at 2:00 PM on the train to DC while Tom flew back home to California. We arrived in DC and dropped our luggage at the apartment at around 6:00 PM and went out to dinner in Arlington. We then headed back to the apartment to pack and prepared to leave the next morning at 7:00 AM for our 9:00 AM flight back to Santa Maria and reality.

We were back at work on Tuesday a little tired but with lots of wonderful memories.

While our travel and sleeping quarters were taken care of via Denise and Tom we did plan and saved money for our trip, this enabled us to enjoy our trip without using our credit cards.

I am ready and excited to bring you more ideas and reasons to keep the romance in your marriage.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2012, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

SurpriseKiss.com is always looking for ways for you to save money when traveling and still stay and eat at nice places. There is one place I haven’t mentioned yet and it is a great place to start with before and while you are traveling. This is a place where there will be discounts at hotels, restaurants and local attractions.

So the next time you are traveling stop at the Visitors Center and find out what type of deals they have for you in the area you are visiting. One year Larry and I decided to visit Northern California in our car. We had never been above San Francisco and wanted to explore beyond our normal destinations and see areas we had never seen.

Our stays were pretty much planned but there was one community we hadn’t made reservations yet and that was the Napa Valley. As we drove through picturesque Napa valley we stopped in a cute little community called Yountville and checked out a beautiful Resort Hotel and Spa and went inside to get prices. The quotes they gave us were above our price range so we reluctantly left the Hotel and started to look for another place.

We drove on to Napa and check out a couple of Bed & Breakfasts but they didn’t stand out as a place we wanted to stay at.  Since the afternoon was getting late we stopped at the Visitors Center and talked to one of the customer service representative there about a place to stay for the night.

They were able to get us a wonderful Resort Hotel which included a spa tub, a bottle of wine in our room, fireplace, and a private patio along with hors d’oeuvres and wine in the evening and a continental breakfast in the morning at a rate that was half the price it normally goes for.
 
The hotel it turns out was in Yountville and it was the same one we had stopped at earlier!

The next time you are planning a trip to an area you have never visited and are not sure where you want to stay stop by the Visitors Center in the area you are visiting. You may get lucky and get a fantastic deal like we did.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2012, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.