So my family survived another trip to California. Here is some highlights of are trip and what I learned.
#1 I don't think I'll be returning to California any time soon. You realize real quick you are small and valueless in Cali. Nobody cares and it seems as if every driver in Cali. Needs to get somewhere quick. What's the rush?! Seriously.
#2 Going along with number one, I don't think I'll be returning to San Diego unless I'm completely out of debt and have my honeymoon done. Again with my "finding value" thoughts. For an out of stater California has some of the highest prices and lowest value for an economical traveler. I personally feel like I gained very little visiting such a crowded city.
#3. This isn't something I learned but I did get into an argument this last trip that turned the trip from a good trip to a worthless trip. After examining it in my mind. I feel I'm right and my wife's right. In the end my wife should have been "more"right and the trip could of been a bit better had I put my wife first and my feelings last. Without going into what happened. Here is the jist. I argue that for a short trip to get the maximum out of a trip plan on one fun activity to do and then plan around that activity. That way your not using alot of time traveling on overcrowded roads from one place to the next. My suggestion was the beach. My wife wanted a few bucket items off her list. I failed to see value in it and when things started to go sour I let my emotions get the best of me in a crappy situation. To prevent this from happening again 1st during the planning is where we will have our arguments, not on the road. There are no "I told you so" once the plans are made. We make a plan together and stick to it.
2. I am going to have an envelope with a certain amount of cash in it. I'm thinking it may be called, the "no questions asked cash". This will be determined at a future date but I'm thinking 100 dollars. The purpose of this cash is for those moments where the service or product doesn't meet our, or more commonly, my standards for value. For example. Let's say I'm at a restaurant where the prices are 50% higher than what I am used to. Maybe they are a 100%. Like Disneyland? I would then take out the difference in cash from this envelope to cover the difference. It also would be for unexpected purchases. You go to an attraction not realizing they charge for it or they charge more than you were planning. The "no questions asked" cash envelope would pay or make up the difference.
#4 Don't always trust your road directions. I did that and in my opinion I ended up taking an extra half hour to get back to our hotel.
#5 I usually abide by hotel guest rules. If I have 6 in my group I'll pay for a room for 6. I broke rules on this trip and it was an interesting experience. We decided to fit 6 in room that only fits 3. How'd we do it? We snuck in the side door. We used sleeping bags to sleep 3 on the floor and we split up to go eat. When we realized the hotel wasn't watching our every move we relaxed and decided to just see what happens. Nothing did it was actually kind of fun.
#6 again I did not pay for ice. I refilled old water bottles to freeze, used the free ice machine at the hotels and even filled up my small personal cooler to freeze a huge chunk of ice. Unfortunately it didn't last all day but it did save me money!!
I think that is it for now.
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