Hotwire failed me

Until now, I have had a good experience using hotwire to book a great hotel room. I found out the hard way that if you choose a 2 1/2 star "hotel" you can end up in an awful "motel." This happened to me last week when I wanted to stay in Tifton, GA overnight on my way to Ellijay. I ended up in a Holiday Inn motel, which was pretty awful, scary, and with a creature crawling up the wall the moment I stepped into the room. Earlier in the day, I had called both hotwire and the Holiday Inn trying to change, to upgrade, to cancel, whatever, but once you book it, you are stuck, unless there's a funeral in the family, or a written doctor's rx. No exceptions, I don't think. Of course I survived the night, but it was mostly sleepless since anyone could have broken into my room. Therefore, with hotwire, I'll stick to 3 1/2 stars and up in the future. That just might insure a Hotel. Comments welcome, I'm all ears. - Susan

My blog on Yahoo News Reader

I just added my blog url to My Yahoo News Reader. You can too, and you will receive an alert whenever a new blog is published. http://susansmusik.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Keep your children happy in the car with music

Going on a road trip this summer with your children? Don't forget to take your favorite music with you. Before you starti hearing "Are we there yet?" just put in your cd or i-pod and play some broadway tunes, your Musikgarten CD, or whatever music you and your family enjoy together. If you are singing along with the CD, you will soon discover that your children will sing along too. Find a song that you ALL like, then turn off the CD and see if everyone can sing the song without the CD help. Have a contest to see who can sing all the words from memory! With music, you'll arrive at your destination happy, with a lot fewer sibling arguments.

One Week in Paris, France - Part One

A week in Paris, Part one



Money – if we paid 10 euros for a meal, that meant about $14 US – per person of course. 10 euros for a "plat du jour" would be a really good find – appetizer, entrée, drink, and dessert. Most places were from 16 to 19 euros for a "plat du jour" or "prix fixe."



You will need euros the minute you land in France, so have about:



40 – shuttle from airport to hotel or to the Etoile for two people



12 – lunch (for one)



12 – dinner (for one)



10 – tips



5 – internet café unless your hotel guarantees you internet access



5 – metro tickets



Total for first day: 84 or 85 Euros – so just make it an even 100 euros (buy these before you leave) (85 euros translates to about $118 US) Here in the U.S., it can take about 3 business days for your bank to obtain your paper euros, so plan ahead.



Actually, add 20 euros if there are two of you who would like to eat (and who doesn’t?).



The ATM machines in airports often charge a hefty transaction fee for the exchange.



If you arrive on a Sunday, as we did, be prepared to find very few places open, sigh.



Bank of America is a good choice, because they are a partner of BNP ParisBas. As far as I know, when you withdraw euros from one of their ATM machines (and they are all over the place), they charge you a 1% transaction fee - but I'll confirm that and update with a future blog. We were allowed to withdraw 400 euros daily from the ATM. Yes, there is a limit as to how much you can take out. Maybe your limit will be higher than ours. The one we used the most was the BNP on the Champs Elysee near the George V Metro stop.



There were many places that took Mastercard and VISA but not American Express cards. Watch out – you will probably be paying extra fees for using your credit card to pay for purchases, meals, or hotels, and the cashier is not about to disclose any of that to you as a general rule.





Bon Voyage!

Go to Fodors for free travel answers

If you want some great, up-to-date travel advice, sign up for the forum on www.fodors.com

It's free - just post your question and you'll probably get some good answers within hours.

Going overseas? Buy an international calling card - cheap!

Flying overseas this summer?

If you go to Europe this summer, be aware that vendors will now add on a 3% charge to your bill when you use your credit cards like VISA www.fodors.com

Also, if you plan to wear a mask on the plane, make sure it is at least N95 particulate to be effective. Check with the cdc website before you pack...

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/

A great game to play with children on a plane is Monopoly (or so many others) on your laptop -

http://www.boardgamecentral.com/games/monopoly.html

Advice on choosing your seats on a plane

Experience may not be the best teacher, but it's a surefire way to learn. I just learned about seats on a huge transatlantic plane and how to choose yours. Before you make your selection, go to http://www.seatguru.com

Have the name of the airplane handy, such as Airbus A333
Then you can see which seats are better, which have less leg room, which to try for, and which ones to avoid.
I wish I had known this before my husband and I chose our seats for our Paris trip. We have seats with almost no leg room, and seats that are a bit more narrow than the rest of them! I'm hoping to be able to change them somehow, but yesterday that was not possible.
Yes, I know this has nothing to do with music but it might help with parenting if you are taking your children with you on a long trip.