Skiing in North Carolina

Well, with the holiday season rolling around we decided it might be beneficial to get out of the house and go somewhere… cold? Yes you heard me, despite the fact that were living in Florida to escape the cold we are now yearning for the opportunity to meet it for a few short days. We went over out options for ways to spend our times up north and we came to a few conclusions, some of renting a cabin others of meeting with family. As we talked about these things we pondered over our glory days skiing and came to the conclusion that we wanted to go skiing. Now it’s been a great sum of years and we know were getting into our grand old days but we really wanted to do this, regardless of how stable our legs were.

So we made reservations to go skiing in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. Now it’s a two day drive up that way and we decided we did not want to take a plane ride so we set off to rent a car. We went to Alamo this time, we periodically change who we rent from for no particular reason at all, however we had the interesting question to ask them about what car would work best in the snow covered mountains. Of course, they suggested a Jeep. Now after my recent trip to South Africa I was exited to show my wife the ropes of a Wrangler.

We made our way up there on a Monday morning and we were in North Carolina and traveling over rolling hills through Pine Trees by Wednesday morning. The Jeep was definitely beneficial; we got up the mountain and to our lodges with absolutely no problems at all. We spent the rest of our day in front of a roaring fire with warm cider and just enjoyed the northern weather. The next morning we were at the ski lodge and renting skis. Now it had been a long time since we had skied, so get attuned to the slopes was an entertaining time for onlookers to say the least. However after about an hour of slipping and falling we were happily gliding at a slow speed down the slopes. We didn’t go on any of the more complicated trails but we enjoyed our slow speed that allowed us to stay close together and get a view of the scenery.

We did this for several days, suffice to say that we got pretty used to cruising up and down the mountain trails in a very slow and entertaining fashion. By the end of the week we had skied every slope, taken pictures of every mountain and accomplished every obstacle the courses had to offer. We were never in any particular hurry around the slopes so we just enjoyed the calm and quiet of the mountains and thoroughly enjoyed views and smells.

When we got home a week later we were so happy to have had our time skiing. However we both realized we were sore and that skiing was beginning to become too much for us. But we may make a few ventures up there in the years to come, and we will definitely go back to the Appalachian Mountains.

"Well pick you up."

Enterprise has been, and always will be an interesting Rental Car Agency. The agency has a small business feel, with a large business profit.

"Enterprise is a Big Company with a small business feel. How have we sucessfully increased revenue and income every year throughout our history? And more importantly, how do we do it with expectional customer service? The Answer lies in the powerful dynamics of our powerful culture, and the the dynamics that bring that culture to life."

This is the first thing you read as you enter Enterprise's "About us" section. This about sums up the mega companies mission statement. Also owning Alamo and National, this company has quite the business prowess. The president of the company was quoted saying, "Making sure our customers are completely satisfied, is the driving force behind our company. No pun intended."

One thing this company is known for doing, is setting up offices and locations in small communities, instead of major places such as Airports and coast locations. These locations are run by a small, highly entrepreneural team.

The company started as a survey team in the basement of a St Louis office building for a car dealership. This team included a few people including an accountant, phone screeners, and a car washer. After countless surveys, the company got a majority of their ideas from people saying that they wanted to "Rent cars from places they live and work." After having enough, Enterprise was born. The mega-company still uses models developed by the original team. Since this company was built slowly, it built relationships with its customers. Enterprise has considered this a strong-point in their business models.

With more than 7000 locations nationwide, this make Enterprise one of the largest agencies in the world. They have an office within fifteen minutes of 90% of the United States. They also do their part in the economy by purchasing their new vehicles from smaller dealerships, instead of major corperations (ie. Ford, Kia, Chevrolet, GMC).

The other different thing that Enterprise does, is rate their branches based on "Exceptional Customer Service Index" (EQSi) rather than sales. If a EQSi for a branch is high, and their sales are low, they will recieve a higher rank than a branch that has a gigantic sales chart, and a low EQSi. This is one way that Enterprise stands out from other rental car agencies. Jack Taylor (Owner and president of Enterprise) says "EQSi is just one way, we are trying to to put our customers first. The result is that we have millions of smiling faces and happy customers. Business usually comes after that. Not before."

While enterprise has been doing well, even in the economic state, its easy to tell why. Its rare that you find a company that treats their customers so well. Make sure, the next time you get ready to book a vacation, look into Enterprise. They'll look after you.

Thanksgiving 09'

One of my favorite times of year is Thanksgiving. No doubt about it when your family gets together and celebrates over a huge home cooked meal its just something you cant get anywhere else. In my home it feels as if you just but all the worries aside and just eat, which is my favorite thing to do! Now I love my mother’s cooking and so does everyone else in my family, in fact every one of my cousin’s aunts and uncles love it too so they drive from all parts of the country to come enjoy our food. Now though Thanksgiving is a time to put all your worries aside you’ll always have the family members that worry about money instead of having a good time, so in order for everyone to get over to our house I linked them to an endless amount of coupon codes so they can rent cars for as little money as possible. I had people renting everything from coupes to 12- passenger vans, yep 12-passengars when I say I have a big family I mean I have a BIG family. People were coming from as far north as New York and as far west as Nevada. At about noon today the last of the people arrived at my house, my entire road was filled up and wrapped around the block! We had so many people we couln’t even divide them among 4 tables, we had people eating on the couch, the back porch, the garage, on the stairs. It was amazing how uncomfortable it looked yet how no one seemed to mind at all because there was a fat plate of food in front of them and family all around them. The worst part of thanksgiving is the clean up, but like everyone always says family will be there through thick and thin so we got a lot of help cleaning up – a lot more than we really needed! Overall we had a great time and this family tradition is something that will carry on for many, many years to come.

Texas, dallas cowboys stadium

The lone Star state, what better place to get the family back together? Since I knew I would be working hard through Thanksgiving holiday, the family decided to meet in Texas for a few days. We hate putting that kind of miles on our personal vehicles, so we went out and rented a Ford Expedition from Thrifty Car Rental, now I don't normally like vehicles this big, but if you're going to Texas, you better go big or go home.

The associate at Thrifty had everything ready for us when we arrived to pick up our vehicle. The service was friendly and very efficient, we inspected the vehicle and it was perfect. After driving it home I had fallen in love with it. I was feeling very proud of having such a safe and comfortable vehicle that would fit everyone for a long trip. This time we decided to follow the GPS. Since we wouldn't get to watch the football game on thanksgiving. We decided to take a tour of the brand spanking new Cowboys Stadium.

So of course the first address typed into the GPS was: 925 N. Collins St, Arlington, TX. And every Dallas fan knows what that address represents; This is where America's Team calls home. This is where the new era of Dallas Cowboys superheros will make their mark. And what a playground for the gods it is. With enough space to an approximate 80000 loyal fans, and expandable to about 111000 fans, so that more of us fans can show up to support America's team as Tony Romo leads them to yet another winning season. Many titans will step foot on this magnificent field, and legends will be made on this magnificent stadium.

Now that you might have a clue how I feel about the Cowboys, you might understand why I had to go straight to the stadium first. We decided to just drive by the stadium when we first arrived to Arlington. The family was just too tired to stop and take pictures after the 20+ hours drive to Texas. Once we settled into the hotel, we simply slept. When the rest of the family arrived, of course we were woken up by their loud knocking on our hotel room door. Typical loud, annoying relatives; But love them until the end. I can't say I would ever complain about family, they can be annoying at times, but the love is always there.

After a day of relaxing around town with the family, the day had finally arrived for our tour of the World's largest domed stadium, I enjoyed the tour to the fullest, it was an experience like no other, it was also very affordable. Since we took the entire family on the tour, our tour guide was bilingual which helped out tremendously, since some of the older members of the family are not very fluent in English. After enjoying the amazing tour, we decided to do some more site seeing and ended up at the Legends of the Game Museum. The place was beautiful, we could not have had a better day for the guys of the family; A day filled with sport history both recent and ancient. Since the guys in the group had their fun, of course we had to endure an extremely long shopping day with the ladies. But I will say that I enjoyed the end of the shopping day at this Lincoln Square shopping center. This was a beautiful sight. So I can't say the entire day was torture, we had lots of fun.

Our last day in Arlington, we had already agreed it would be a family day, spent the entire day together as a big family. We had loads of fun with mini golf and go-kart riding ( big difference between go-kart and expedition). After the outdoors fun we ended the evening at a local steakhouse, and we were there until closing time. It was an amazing time. Lots of pictures to share with the friends back home.

The drive back was a breeze, the Ford Expedition was the most comfortable vehicle I have driven so far, none of the family complained even once while we were away from home. The gas was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, so that was a big relief. The return process was as quick and easy as the check out. I will definetly be back to Texas, and this next time, it won't be a tour of the Stadium, it will be a Cowboys playoff game.

The Wonders of New York City

New York City isn't the most delightful place in the middle of the winter. Movies try to make it the romantic spot of the world when it snows in the city. Truth be told, its freezing. And the cold stays trapped between the buildings. So no matter where you are in the entire city, its still just as cold as the last place you were at. Central Park is NO exception. While lovebirds will make a point to take a stroll through this hot-spot of a make-out-spot, the snow turns to ice, and the ice turns to mud.

We flew into Laguardia airport at about 7:30pm. Ran down to Enterprise and picked up our Charger. It was a nice car. A lot nicer than i expected. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it. It made the trip all the easier. To be honest, i didn't want to be there for my 10 year high school class reunion, but since the majority of my close friends were going, i dropped my guard at the last minute. By the next minute, i was on a plane headed to New York.

The trip didn't turn out to bad. I got to see my childhood friends, and it was interesting to talk to ex high school girlfriends and see where they ended up in life (Exactly where i expected. Waitressing at a Denny's). A lot of the bro's i hung out with on weekends went on to create their own graphic design company, and were very successful. Are very successful. My Spanish teacher ended up being a translator for a crusade that travels all around South America. I had a lot of fun catching up on the new news with old friends.

A group of us decided to spend out last day in the NYC. Cruising around on a Vespa was NOT as fun as it looked. I almost ran into a taxi that looked strangely like the CASH CAB. Could have been my lucky day, instead i grazed the curb and slammed on my brakes before i hit him. This provided a laugh that embarrassingly enough, ill never forget. We stopped in China Town for a quick bite to eat before we dared to trek into Canal Street to see what kinda useless stuff we could buy from the vendors. My favorite part about New York City is the food. So i had no complaints about this excursion. My Won Ton Soup hit the spot, and gave me the up i needed to survive the southern NYC district.

Canal street, dare i say it, was kind of fun. A lot different than i remembered it. My friend bought about 30 DVD's for next to dirt (Which he, believe it or not, carried around for the rest of the day) and another friend bought a bunch of I <3 NYC souvenirs for his family back in Indiana. I bought a bunch of stickers and key-chains for my family in Orlando. We were able to make our way out of that street before....

It got cold. REALLY cold. Below freezing cold. Since our car was almost 18 blocks away, we had quite a ways to walk before we would get out of it. Since they all wanted to see Central Park was (Thank you Cloverfield), we made a 5 block detour, past the car, to the location. Now, if you've ever been to NYC, you know Central Park can be kind of rough after dark. After many many warnings, majority vote decided to head in. Luckily, no problems, except that i couldn't feel my fingers or toes.

Overall, moral of the story. Don't go to New York City without proper winter cloths, and expectations of the temperatures. Preferably a Parka, or the like. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, but i wish i had been better prepared. And living there for 13 years of my life, you would think i would be. Make sure you don't miss New York City on your next trip to New York. Just go in the summer, or make sure your dressed like an Eskimo. ;]

South Africa

So we decided to leave the country, and when we decide to do that it’s usually a big deal. We spent weeks in advance planning for this trip, and now we had an opportunity to go to South Africa. We were going to zone out the areas and get ready for the 2010 World Cup. I’ve never mentioned it before (At least I don’t think I have) that I am a huge soccer fan. So after we had gotten into the whole idea of scoping out the landmarks and finding places to stay for the big show we decided we would just go early. Unfortunately at this time my wife ran into some troubles, she had obligations to be elsewhere and my first thought was that we would postpone. However through some miracle she convinced me to go it alone, and that’s what I did. Now it took me nine shots and three medicine prescriptions to get the okay, and when my visa returned I was all set. I made preparations to go, and wham I was on a plane head for South Africa.

Now before I left I made plans with Budget to have a Jeep Wrangler awaiting me at the airport, because hey, it’s South Africa it seemed fitting. Unfortunately the grand images you see in photographs and on the internet are only of the rural areas, and I really didn’t have any intentions of going off the trail. However looking back I think that any vehicle would have sufficed, but the Jeep sure was fun.

Now when I arrived in Johannesburg the Jeep was waiting, I don’t think I need to go over how easy it has been for us to get vehicles from rental companies, you just gotta make the reservations, and you don’t get any of those hassles so many people argue about. Now do to the nature of my trip I cannot sit here and tell you all about the great 11 days I spent there, so I think I would rather just tell you about a few of the high points.

I went to Rustenburg, a small city with three massive nature reserves, which I circles once or twice with the car, didn’t see much but there was an enormous amount of tour opportunities around the area. I went to the Rustenburg arena, one of the venues for the World cup and man, this stadium was massive! There is going to be thousands and thousands of people watching these games and this is a perfect arena for that sort of thing. I will be returning here for a game next year and the whole thing kinda exited me. I watched a team practice, although with my pour language skills I wasn’t able to find out what team it was, or if it in fact was a professional team.

The next day I made my way to Johannesburg the “Soccer City.” To fulfill my want for soccer I figured there was no better place to go than the city named after the sport. The stadium here should be a world wonder, it’s the coliseum of soccer, and it was a spectacle to behold. The stadium can hold 80,000 people and is going to be a prime area for the 2010 World Cup.

The rest of the time I was there I experienced local attractions and went on some nature tours. But if you ask me the best part about the entire trip was mapping out what games I wanted to see and what stadiums I want to visit. The whole experience was fun and I wished my could have made this trip, guess she will have to wait till 2010.

Rallying in PA

Now as you may already know I’m a man of many hobbies, one thing that has been keeping most of my time lately is Rally Racing. With some spare money I’ve been saving I bought a Subaru WRX STI and began rally school in a closed course in Sebastian, Florida. Since this car is not a everyday driver we usually have to rent a truck or anything capable of pulling a trailer so we can move it from point a to point b without putting miles or risking anything going wrong with “the beast”. Now when it comes to rallying I’m no Ken Block or Travis Pastana, I’m far from it! I usually race in a lot of amateur races and since Florida is about as flat as it gets we have to drive a great distance to get to a decent track. I’m not new to driving long distances in fact I’ve been doing it as long as I’ve been driving, so I don’t mind a long road trip here and there I actually find it quite relaxing, But, back to the story a few buddies and I decided we would take a stab at the Sherwood Forest Rally in Wellsboro, PA which is quite a distance from our small town outside of Orlando, Florida. Though it’s a more miles then some of the people in the car could actually count it was much more simple to just get in a car and take off then you’d imagine. I’m a Gold member at Hertz Car Rental, and at their location at Orlando International Airport they pretty much know me by my first name! We went there and rented a Chevy Silverado, which I has previously rented last month and loved it so much I just had to get it again! Our drive up to Pennsylvania was not as bad as I thought, the best thing was I was totally surprised at how fuel efficient the Silverado was, I used to drive an older model one a few years ago and this new one was nothing like it! When we got to the rally there was a few guys who disliked the fact that we brought the car in on a trailer not knowing we came all the way from Florida! Some people always seem to think cars that are brought in on a trailer are always all show and no go. We sure were all show when it came to showing those guys who the winners were! I was so excited to come back home and share the news I didn’t even stop like I usually do! We had a great time in PA and were happy it was all possible because of Hertz.

Grand Canyon

If you know us you know that we enjoy taking trips, probably far often, but hey we enjoy every moment of it. And so we decided recently to make a trek we have never made before, but one we definitely need to. So we went to AVIS and picked up a Ford Fusion; we got the color black and wow did it have power. I know I keep repeating this every blog but we never have trouble with these car rental companies. We have a tradition to rent a car every trip, and only once or twice has the car we wanted not been on the lot, and all that means is we choose a different car. We made the proper reservations and we were in and out in 15 minutes, with our car loaded and set to go a half hour later we were headed to Arizona.

We drove through the night, making our way across several states, now if you have read any of my past blogs you know that my wife has a very expensive camera and enjoys stopping at locations that catch her eye along the way. Suffice to say it took us countless extra hours to get out of Florida on this stop and go pace. However that was of no concern, we intended to make reservations with the hotel hours before we arrived, so we were in no particular hurry. We stayed at a few Holiday Inns along the way, and it took us about four days to get to Arizona, we drove two of the nights and slept two of the nights. Upon arrival they had our room ready for service, and we placed our things in the room and then went out for dinner. We found a small restaurant in the area that had the best lobster I have ever tasted, that is to say that neither of us can remember the name of the place, fortunately for us we know where its located if we ever return.

The next day we went to the Grand Canyon, and purchased a tour that would start around noon. Before that time we decided to take more pictures, and ventured to the edge in designated areas. We took an abundance of pictures and ate our mornings breakfast on the edge with a few other families. All in all it passed the time till the tour started, and the guide walked us around several areas that we had missed. He began by explaining the several theories that people had as to why the Grand Canyon was hollowed out, and then informed us that we would get a chance to go down into the gorge. We learned a few interesting facts about the canyon, such as the fact that is nearly 6000 feet deep in most areas and was carved by the Colorado River.

We got a chance to walk down a narrow path to a shallow area in the gulch. We didn’t go to the bottom as was said but we went deep enough in that we felt like we were being consumed by the massive red walls around us. Using the cameras zoom we could see hikers down in the valley below us, and we longer for the chance to do it ourselves. So we talked to the tour guide and he gave us information on how we could make reservations for a hike back at the cabin where we had gotten tickets for the tour. However after the tour ended it was too late to make a trip into the canyon, so we got tickets for an early departure in the morning.

The next morning we made our way down at a very early time in the morning. The guides were waiting for us and we made our way down the side of the cliffs with another family and the guide. It was easy getting down, the guide knew all the slopes that weren’t to steep and almost two hours later we were at the bottom… after one or two trips from those around us. The whole thing was simple no one got hurt and enjoyed the few hours down at the bottom… that is until the sun came up. You are basically sitting in a pan once that happens, and by noon the guide informed us we were heading back, no one complained. The amount of time it took to get back up the mountain was a much longer time than going down. We stopped often for water brakes and rested repeatedly. Once we got to the top we were all exhausted, and awaiting the cool air-conditioning of our car. We went back to the hotel and laid in bed for several hours, our back and knees aching.

The next morning we got in the car and made our way around the canyon, stopping at the high points and taking pictures, once we believed we had enough we made our way back home around 3pm. Overall the trip was amazing, but we’ll never do it again, at least that is we wont hike to the bottom. We have more pictures than we can count and a fond memory of that amazing view, something we will never forget.

North Carolina 08'

I dont think we could have had a more perfect trip to the Mountains in North Carolina. Snowboarding has always been a passion of mine. I usually take multiple trips a year. Michigan, Montreal, and North Carolina. My favorite of all these trips, is North Carolina. We usually take a group of about 20 to 25 college students to the montains in Appalachian North Carolina. The thing i like about this place, is that its very private. Its a full-fledged ski Resort, but its very secluded and it isnt over-crowded. This is exciting for someone who enjoys the sport for what it is, and doesn't want to worry about dodging kids and people new to the sport. This year in particular, i was incredibly excited because we were going before christmas, and not after. This means even LESS people would be on the slopes.

We rented 4 different 15 Passenger vans from Hertz, and met at a church at 4am. We need to be at the resort by 6pm, and its a 10 hour drive without stops. That being said, we pulled in at 6:10pm and they let us check in without penalty. We got unpacked and went to a local barbecue place that was right on the mountain. It had a beautiful overlooking view of the valley below, complete with snow and sunlight. Perfect. The food was also incredible. There is nothing like home-cooked North Carolina Barbecue. This "Whatever-the-cook-makes" style restaurant was a nice change of pace from the main-stream dining style of Central Florida. It was the highlight of the day. We went to bed and started on the slopes the next morning.

Now, the funny thing about Appalachian Ski Resort, is that if it is too warm to snow, they make their own. And the first day, they made plenty. Three feet exactly. Now, if you have ever been in three feet of snow, you would know it doesnt allow alot of snowboarding leverage. We had to wait for the rollers to pack it down before we were able to snow board. Unfortunately, this took awhile. Two Hours. We had to sit on the balcony overlooking the slopes. Kind of a tease. But we were able to get on the slopes as soon as the Rollers were done, and get a good 3 or 4 hours of boarding done before we called it a night. We went down the mountain and into town to get food and gear from the local Wal-Mart located at the base of the mountain. We decided to do the cooking at the resort instead of eating out all the time. This saved money and provided more time to be on the slopes for the group. Dinner that night consisted of Lasagna and salad. Perfect Dinner for the day.

The second day was perfect. With tempertures in the low 50's, it wasnt to cold and it wasnt too hot. I was able to snowboard in a T-Shirt. Absolutely perfect. We had one of the kids in our group get a concussion, which kind of put a damper on the mood because we had to rush her to the Emergency Room at the bottom of the mountain. Luckily, she was fine, and was back at the cabin by nightfall. She wasn't able to ski the rest of the trip, but she was alright. Luckily, the Cabins were nice enough to make her stay enjoyable anyway.

The Third and final day was rough for me especially. After spending the first two days snowboarding incredibly, my trip ended on a bad note when i went down a Black Diamond slope at the wrong time. A small kid was learning to ski with the trainer and swerved off from her group and in front of me. This was fine, i was gonna go around her. But when she tried to stop and tumbled in front of me, i had no choice but to jump her. Unfortunately, i landed on a path of ice and did a little tumble myself. I dislocated my shoulder and pulled two muscles in my back and stomach. Wasnt my plan on ending my week. But it was alright. At least it was at the end of the trip, and not at the beginning.

The bus ride home was uncomfortable because my shoulder had to be elevated higher than my collar bone. Luckily i had my laptop and a bunch of movies to keep me occupied. It was a productive trip. Although, the hospital trips werent the pride of the excursion, they brought the group closer than they were due to spending hours in a cramped hospital room together. We got home in less time than it took us to get there. We returned the cars, said our good byes, and when on our ways. It was a productive experience, and i look forward to next years trip.

Smart Cars Available for 35 Cents per Minute

One of the newest more popular cars is being used in a new type of business. The smart car is now becoming rentable by the minute! In Texas if you are looking for a car but are not necessarily looking to buy one Daimler, a German car manufacturer offers the great option for you. At the moment there is a total of 200 Smart cars in the Austin area, that are available for use for over 13,000 city employees. The company noted that the vehicles will be available to the public sometime in the near future. For the small price of 35 cents per minute you can use the Smart car and get across the city. All you have to do when you’re done is leave it in a parking lot near the destination where someone else will pick it up and use it. In the 35 cent per minute rate both gas and insurance are covered both saving you time and a great deal of money as well.
Though this phenomenon is a first is the United States the Car2Go program has already been released in the city of Ulm, Germany and doing well at that. In the Car2Go program you can request a car over the phone or through the web site, the best option is that if you see one you can just use your membership card and get in and go to your location.

The executives Car2Go say that this program will be an aid in boosting the use of public transportation, in the 17 square mile area of downtown Austin, Texas. Doing this will encourage more people to use less gas while coming downtown from their suburban homes.

Overall I think this is a great idea however I’m just not accustomed to the fact that you just leave a car outside and if someone else wants to get it and drive off its perfectly fine. The only downfall I can see with this program is that if you take one to work, and an emergency pops up, are you stuck ride-less until another Smart Car is available in the case that someone else is using the car you came in with? Though this can be saving a great deal of money it will also be a little inconvenient for the every day workers who have emergencies, or need to make a trip to the bank, or run to the store, if someone else keeps using an available car.

Into The Wild

Its that time of the year again. The Annual Michigan Snowboard trip. My family looks forward to this every year. We have friends up in Michigan who live on a mountain and have built a freestyle course on their property. Perfect. We bought our plane tickets and headed on up to the lake. We all knew that hiking was going to be one of the 4 days, so we packed our boots and jackets and hats and went on our way.

The plane ride wasn't that awful except that the guy next to me had to go to the bathroom more than a race horse. That made it a little uncomfortable at times. That being said, i was glad we landed. We went on over to Alamo and rented our car which turned out to be a Dodge Caliber. Not my choice, but worked out perfectly for the kind of cargo we were toating. Snowboards fit in beautifully and left enough room for the four of us to sit comfortably. Looking back, im glad we didnt decide on the Pontiac.

The first day, we went and did our winter preparation shopping for the snowboarding trip and got all our gloves and hardware. This didnt take very long and soon we were back at their cabin putting our boards together and mounting our boots. We did this all in a fire den with a big fireplace in the middle of the room. With Hot Chocolate and Cheese and Crackers, you couldnt ask for a better winter night.

Snowboarding the next day worked out just perfectly. We were able to go for a good 4 or 5 hours before everyone got tired and decided to call it a night. We went to bed at about 9pm. Early right? Not after 5 hours of snowboarding. Everyone got an incredible nights sleep. The next day rained. Which made it freezing. Too cold to snowboard with the gear we had. So we took another trip to the snow-shop to get face guards and scarfs. This cut our board time to about 2 hours. Which was alright since everyone was already sore from the day before.

Overall, the trip was amazing. The flight back was great. I slept better on the plane than i do in my own bed. I couldnt have asked for a better trip. The time spent with family and friends was priceless, and the cold was a good Change of pace from living in Central Florida. The car rental was nice and easy, and the flights were relatively cheap. Im glad i was able to go, and i look forward to going next year.

Wyoming 09'

Ever since Las Vegas I haven’t seen much of my buddy Brock. He has been working and going to school so much he doesn’t even have time for himself. Luckily enough he got a few days off of his classes for mid-terms so we took advantage of the time and went to Wyoming. Why, Wyoming you ask? One word Fishing. We went all the way to Wyoming to enjoy the great chain of lakes that the workplace fisherman Jerry has not stopped talking about since he got back from his own trip to Wyoming. Brock has a pretty nice boat and a pretty nice truck to tow it with but since he loves his Nissan Frontier Nismo more than breathing he was not going to be the one to put the miles on his beloved vehicle. Now I drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse and if you can find someone who can tow a boat with one of those, I’d like to meet them! We decided we would need a specialty vehicle to get the job done. I pass by a nice black Hummer H3 on my way to work every day, and I didn’t let this opportunity slide. I quickly convinced Brock to rent the Hummer and so he did. Our trip to Wyoming was one to remember, before we left I stopped at my desk at the office and had to pick up my camera, while picking up my camera I noticed a cup full of change and proceeded to bring it with me towards the Hummer. Our first stop on the list was a local Wal-Mart where we used the coin star machine to cash our coins, we then went to one of my life long favorite restaurants (Taco Bell) and spent most of the money. 4 Crunch wrap supreme’s later we were on our way to Wyoming. Our itinerary was pretty intense, we stopped in 5 states for our trip and it was about a day and a half in DRIVING HOURS each way! Though Brock did most of the driving and I did most of the sleeping, I can honestly say the trip was well worth it. I’ve recently been doing this new thing where in order to save time I try not to stop for any reason other than sleep on my way to a location. It’s been helping a lot these days in saving time and making sure I’m not late to any reservations. However on the way back I make as many stops as possible and in this case we even left Wyoming a day early to catch up on the missed stops! Our first day in Wyoming was pretty boring actually we arrived late in the afternoon so there wasn’t much to do besides eat, which is what growing boys like us do best if you’re ever going to Wyoming one of the best restaurants you must stop at before leaving is the altitude restaurant, we had some of the best foods we’ve ever had in our lives and not only was it the greatest it was the most we’ve ever ate. It’s something about us Flatland Southerners and Up-North Mountain food that get along just fine! The next day we took the boat to its limits and dropped it off in the Plains Lake and fished on! In this season our buddy Jerry told us it’s the best time to fish pretty deep for Cat Fish and Bass, and boy was he right! We were catching fish like nobodies’ business. On our way home from Wyoming we stopped at every state once and Tennessee twice just because we both love everything about the state, returning back to Florida we didn’t even go home before we stopped at the office and showed everyone our pictures, Brock made it his best effort to show the pretty lady behind the counter his fish pictures in attempt to brag! In every way this trip was great! I wouldn’t have changed a thing!

Dollar-Thrifty 3rd Quarter

Dollar-Thrifty is one of the leading names in Rental Cars. Boasting in their cheaper rentals and quality service, they have done well for themselves in the Rental car Industry. Struggling through this recession, a little silver lining has shown itself to Dollar. Their sales have finally shown and increase in Year over Year sales.
"In spite of the difficult economic environment, we achieved our third quarter year over year improvements." says Chief Executive Officer and President Scott Thompson, "The difficult and painful steps we have taken over the past twelve months to maximize profit and cash-flow, combined with the improvement in residential Values, positively impacted this quarter. We expect both of these factors will continue to benefit future operating results."
We certainly hope so. With a profit this quarter of $30.1 million dollars, they have increased a solid 11.2 million dollars over last years third quarter. Stocks have gone up $0.15 compared to last years third quarter drop of $0.02. They have been able to cut costs per vehicle by $35 a month on average.
Thompson has said that this third quarter has been on track with what they had expected. And also expects revenue to increase come October - December. An even bigger increase come 2010 due to the continuing recovery of the economic state. While no one can guarantee or set in stone future improvements, Dollar-Thrifty is continuing to hold their head up. And the encouragement they have received via the Third Quarter numbers, it looks like Dollar-Thrifty will see better days.

Clearwater Trip

Taking more vacation time is extremely refreshing. So, after the North Carolina trip, we decided to make the short drive to Clear water.

I know that many people in the Orlando area don't really consider Clear water a true vacation since it is so close. However, (since it is winter) the beach is not really packed, so you get to enjoy that close time with the family without too many distractions. This time we decided to rent a mustang since it is not a long trip (and lets be real, who doesn't like that feeling that comes with driving a mustang). The type of respect you get from people when you pull up to a stop light and your engine just happens to rev up a bit.
So we decide to just go down there, we packed light since we would only be there for a couple of days. Again we returned to the same friendly associate at Enterprise, who was kind enough to give us a discount because of our previous trip to North Carolina. She kindly walked us over to this beautiful red Mustang Convertible.

The trip was amazing the kids enjoyed riding down with the top down. Since it was still day time the sun was beautiful. We got to see the sunset as a family which was amazing. After we were settled in the hotel, the wives decided to head down to the store and get some soft drinks. The next morning when we decided to go out for breakfast we discovered that the wife had forgotten to turn off the headlights when she came back from the store the night before. So, stranded and hungry with our emotions flaring up, we contacted Enterprise and they actually had a technician out to work on our car within 30mins. I was very pleased with Enterprise. They helped turn those emotions around for me and my family. What could have been a long dreadful day, turned out to be pretty exciting. The technician was very friendly and he had us on our way in no time.

After breakfast, we drove around town checking out the scenery. It was beautiful, the kids again enjoyed the convertible since it was pretty warm during the day, and when it got to be night time, we simply put to top back. After finding an amazing restaurant and feasting on some amazing seafood combinations, we had decided to call it a night. We headed back for our last night at the hotel.

Checkout time had arrived; but none of us were ready to go just yet. We requested a late checkout from the hotel and ended up staying in the room pretty late in the morning. Once we were all packed and ready to rumble, the kids decided they wanted to cruise around town again since, they had enjoyed riding with the top down the previous days. We again cruised around town and had a blast. Once heading home, the entire family agreed that we should head home locally, no highways just going through all the small yet colorful towns in between Clear water and Orlando. We were able to return the car on time, and to my surprise the technician service was actually complimentary. All the perks are simply too good so pass up. Our family continues to enjoy far and close getaways and all without having to deal with the stress of security at the airports or having to put miles on our personal vehicles. Enterprise has once again helped our family get that much closer. Who knows where we'll end up next time.

Fantasy Fest 09'

Usually in October tourism in the Keys picks up a lot, and if you’ve ever been to the Keys around that time of year you’ll know exactly why. The reason behind the major pick up is the famous Fantasy Fest®. You know when fantasy fest is in town because bars, restaurants, hotels, and local business get swarmed with new customers both locals and foreigners looking to take part in this event. Of course who wouldn’t want to take part in a huge 10-day festival full of costumed fun and excitement!

My co-worker has always enjoyed going to this event and has been for the last few years, however I have never been. Since we all had no plans on Halloween most of the guys at work decided to attend this unique event. The only problem is none of us drive cars big enough to carry all of us and our luggage. The next option was to use multiple cars, it sounded like a good idea at first but then I was told that’s its very rare to find a good parking spot for one car – let alone 3 or 4. Our last option was to rent a vehicle and drive down there, and after hearing that I couldn’t believe it didn’t cross our minds at first!

I have a reputation for renting the big 12 passenger vans when there are at least 6 or more people however this time we didn’t really need that much room so we went with a nice Chevrolet Silverado which was considered a premium car at National Car Rental. I actually used to drive a Silverado a few months ago before I got into an accident so I offered to drive the whole way so I can get back into the feel of things and reminisce on the past.

We arrived pretty early in the morning because we didn’t want to miss a thing, the day that we chose to go were the only days that they were having the massive street fairs so we couldn’t have chose a better time! We settled down in our hotel and got something to eat at a local McDonalds and just aimlessly roamed around town until the party started.

Before it even got dark the streets began to get packed with people and you could already tell you were in for a good time, it felt like the day instantly turned to dark and the party just began that’s probably because time went so quickly, before we knew it we were all dancing around these pretty ladies in costumes to some of the newest music out. I couldn’t believe how much fun I’ve been missing out on during all these years!

To tell the honest truth I had so much fun I’m highly considering building a float for next year’s event! After seeing all the fun everyone was having at this event I can say that this is something you want to do at least once in your life, so don’t miss out on it! And you have no excuses when it comes to finances because with the rental car codes I used renting the car was almost just as cheap as filling up my gas tank on my car!

The Cactus Cowboys Return

Howdy Partners!

Just wanted to tell ya'll about me and my fellow compadres return back to good ol Dallas, Texas. Me and my compadres had a rodeo to attend in Dallas, Where we always ride away with the Gold if you will. Ridin horses is what we do best. We always have a Rootin Tootin of a time. Love to lasso up me some calf. We do a little bull ridin too. I had my lil' sis hook us up with a good rental car company before we trampled into town. Once we arrived we walked into Enterprise like we were coming threw the doors of a old time salon. So much fun. A bunch of cowboys with hats, chaps and all will get anyones attention. So we picked up the biggest Dodge truck they had and we were off like a Black Stallion in the Wild West. We stopped at our partners house to pick up our rifles and six shooters so we could practice on some varments and then had a good ol fashioned Bar-B-Q. We had a nice big ol fire going while we told crazy cowboy stories. What a night. A classic way to unwind before our big day at the rodeo. The guys sure liked the Dodge we rented from Enterprise. Sure was a purdy one. It's a shame it was going to get all durty. It can get pretty dusty in the desert. The day came for us to lasso up some calfs and cowgirls. We did'nt take home the gold this time. We took home the diamond HA! HA!. We kill 'em everytime. Hints the name The Cactus Cowboys! We celabrated with our beautiful cowgirls and had grand ol time. Gotta love cowgirls. It's a shame we had to head back home. Sure did'nt want to return that purdy truck of ours. But we did. Til next time.......... So long folks. POW! POW!POW! Yeeee Haaaaa!

Hawaii

Hawaii, yes, the Great Islands, and we were psyched to finally be able to tell our friends we were going. Of course whenever you go somewhere over seas per say you have to make arrangements for the trip to go smoothly. Buying a plane ticket is an easy task, finding a hotel for when you land is slightly harder, but surprisingly the easiest part of the whole thing was setting up reservations to have a car ready to rent upon arrival. And the easier part was that we were able to pay and choose the car from home, so once we were there it was sign a paper be handed a key and drive off into the sunset. We chose a Dodge Charger because we didn’t know what to expect and honestly… I really wanted to drive it, who wouldn’t? So I argued with my wife that the trunk space would be beneficial, my devious plan worked!

Upon arrival we were several hours late, now I’m not complaining, seventy years ago it would have taken us a month to get here, an hour or two isn’t so bad. We landed on the Island of Molokai, and the coolest part is that the islands are so close together, when your flying in you can see almost all the islands! We were taken to Dollar Rental Car where we picked up our Dodge Charger, sleek and black and so fun to drive. We went to our hotel and dropped off our stuff, changed cloths and went to the beach, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in Hawaii? We now know why the beaches in Hawaii are raved about, I have never seen water so clear, I felt like it was clearer than the water that came out of tap at my house. Every single little fish was lit up in the sun and sparkled in the water, not only that but there was a lot of fish.

The next day after we purchased and island tour of Hawaii “The Big Island.” No joke that’s what they called it, we took a ferry over to the island and got in a bus, where they carted us in a circle around to all the special sites and major “cities.” The whole deal was awesome, we got to see volcanoes, beautiful sites, lagoons and day to day life for Hawaiians. We learned a great amount about the history and current events of the Islands, overall we are very happy to have taken the tour. We went back to Molokai, and spent the rest of the day relaxing down on the beach, where we found out that there was a stall to make reservations for a variety of different attractions.

The next day we visited the stall and purchased a diving class and experience, where we would meet on the beach and be given equipment and the training to go out around the reef. When we arrived there was only us and two other couples, and the instructors were nice and great tutors. They had us in the water and we did a few exercises, and then it was diving time. We each got our own set and an instructor to lead us through the reef, they explained many warnings and concerns as well as state laws for protecting the reef, and we were away. The first thing that we saw was the massive reef surrounding the island, of course once we got closer we saw an abundance of sea-life. Schools and schools of fish were everywhere, and the further we went it appeared as if the sea-life became more exotic. We saw eels, sharks, anemones, exotic fish and more, if you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii you MUST go diving, it’s an experience I will never forget.

We spent the next two days at the beach, and even rented a jet ski one day, but the best part was definitely the diving. We took the charger into a rural part of the island some of the locals had said was a great lagoon no one visited, and we ended up relaxing on the beach and exploring the nearby jungle. If you can get to Hawaii do it, it was simply amazing, and we will be looking to go back whenever we can.

Wisconsin Dells 09'

Now usually my in-laws are the last people on the list of people I’d like to hang around with in my spare time, however my new brother in law is quite the character. He has one of the most unique jobs I’ve ever heard of and I assume it’s probably among the most fun jobs that exist! His job is to create rides for theme parks – mainly focusing on water rides, technically he’s an engineer however engineer doesn’t sound as fun as “Water Ride Creator”. For his job he wanted to travel around and take a look at some small scale water parks so he could be able to see some unique and old fashioned design to inspire him for his next big project. A very small scale watermark that he was very interested in going to was Noah’s Ark Watermark in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and since time for me to rent a car was long overdue I decided it would be a great idea to take a road trip all the way to Wisconsin. I’ve been on plenty of road trips in my day and an estimated drive time of 20 hours has never been a problem to me, in fact I’ve drove probably 3 times that a few months ago on my journey around the continental United States. However since this trip had to be cut short due to work obligations we had to get there in as little time as possible and since we would be doing more driving than stopping it was critical that we chose a comfortable car. A nice full size premium car that had all the comfort options we could ask for was the 2009 Nissan Maxima, boy was this thing nice we were so happy that Alamo could provide us with a car that catered to every one of our needs. My brother in law drives the previous model of this car and loves it; I could only imagine how he felt 4 hours into the trip when I let him drive! We started off our trip in Orlando as usual and we planned our route to go through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and finally arriving in Wisconsin. I’ve been to the states that we’ve passed through about a million times each; however my brother in law on the other hand has never been to any! I could only imagine his temptation to just stop and explore like I usually tend to do, but since he is a man of strong work ethic he made it his job to fight temptation and get to Wisconsin in as little time as possible. The twenty continuous hours we spent driving was pretty intense it was a good thing we switched often and we each got to sleep for a little. We got a room at a little motel off the side of the highway and stayed for the night, the next morning we woke up and went to Noah’s Ark Water park where we got to act like little kids and get the job done. After our day of a splashin’ good time we departed back to Florida. The great thing about leaving at the time we did is that we were doing great on time, we were able to stop in Kentucky and Tennessee on the way back and we were able to enjoy almost everything these states had to offer, over all it was a great trip and I wouldn’t mind doing it again!

New Orleans

We decided to go up New Orleans, mostly because the heat from the hurricanes had calmed down and we were interested to see what exactly had happened to the area and what they had done to clean it up. However our main priority was to get some of that amazing New Orleans sea food on one of their sea-side diners. Well, not really sea-side but on the Lake Pontchaitrain, which is best described as a harbor.

Now if anyone has read our previous blogs you know that our tradition is to rent a car on every trip, it’s always a fun thing for us to do. Pick a car that we enjoy and go, however we recently became fans of hybrid cars, but this trip we were told by some friends that the Sebring was a fun convertible, and so when we arrived at Hertz and saw it on the lot we asked. Of course we have never had trouble with car rentals as everyone else swears they have and we in and out in twenty minutes in our temporary Sebring. Wow did this thing book, traveling down the highways at 65M.P.H. our hair blowing in the wind was such a cool experience, and the top was so easy to put up and down. Not a ton of trunk space but a large backseat and even a new HD radio was in the car. We listened to comedians and old times 70s music on the way up, it was fantastic.

When we arrived in New Orleans we went straight for the restaurant, and found Jacques-Imo's Café a nice little restaurant with friendly service. The food was great in this surreal and small business, and I really mean great, the drinks were nice and the atmosphere perfect. The best part was the corn bread that we were given prior to the meal, its one of those appetizers to die for, I’m not joking, I could go all the way back to New Orleans just for a piece of that tasty bread.

We went to and from the next day after spending a night in a hotel, we really didn’t intend to spend a lot of time here just one or two days. Anyhow we asked around and found where some of the hurricane damage had been restored and most of the locals just wanted to talk about how bad it was and their losses. So we went to find some of the dams and systems they had constructed to relieve the area of the previous floods, they intend to leave them there just in case this happens again. They had created dams and ditches and a variety of pumps and system to carry the water out of the inner city towards the lake, it was truly impressive. We traveled to some of the areas hit by tornados and found the few areas that were still underwater, we must of spent seven hours in our Sebring.

The next day we visited a church that was carried out on a vacant lot where the church used to be, that was an interesting site, the people were still content. Then when this was over we went back to the hotel, checked out and venture back towards home in our Sebring. All in all this was a fun way to spend 3 and a half days and relatively cheap. And the Sebring was a fun way to spice it up, it was fantastic, and after writing this, I want more corn bread!

The Horror!

Smells like Halloween in Orlando. Halloween Horror Nights. Howl-O-Scream. Mickeys Halloween Party. Paranormal Activity. Saw VI. This halloween, there was always something to do in so little time to do it. It appeared that this year would be a busy halloween season for me. The event i look forward to the most is New Hampshire's Annual Fun Spot Halloween Party. I never miss this event. I go every year and wouldn't miss it for the world.

Since my previous venture to Tallahassee blew my cars head gasket, i needed once again to rent a car. I went on over to Avis (as usual) rented my Pontiac G5, and went on my way. We packed about 32 Mountain Dews, and Red-Bulls reserved for the drivers. A couple friends and i started our road trip. There was Steve, who is a little indie rocker kid with more metal in his face than ironman. Emma, who looks so much like Pam from The Office its scary. Paulah, who is the stereotypical ditzy cheerleader. And me, Travis. So this could have been a pretty uncomfortable ride had Avis not provided us with a car as roomy as te Pontiac. Thank you Avis.

The ride was long, and since Steve and i had a not so similar music taste as the two female passengers, we had to make a truce. We wouldnt play metal, if they didnt play pop. So 30 Seconds to Mars, All American Rejects, and Matchbox Twenty became popular bands on Emma's "Neutral playlist". This in turn, made the ride even LONGER. I was able to make good time on I-95 cutting about 2 or 3 hours off the trip. We made it in just under Twenty Two hours. I regret driving the whole thing by myself. Paulah offered to drive. Had she asked fifteen minutes earlier, i probably wouldnt have downed the Red-Bull. That being said, i turned her down and she went to sleep. While everyone was asleep, i turned the radio down and put some refresher music on (Yes, i broke the truce).

We arrived at the Comfort Inn at about 4:30am and crashed. Im glad we made the reservation on Hotel Momma ahead of time so we didnt have to waste time that early making reservations. They even gave me a little bit of a discount on the villa.

Being a morning person as it is, i didnt sleep much later than 9am. So operating on 5 hours wasn't the most fun i've ever had. The rest of the crew didnt get up until after one PM. Seriously. I dont understand how they do that. In the meantime, i went out and did some of New Hamshire's sights and nature walks. I got breakfast at one of their homestyle meals and it was incredible. I've never had anything as good as that. Denny's has nothing on Tubby Mama's Diner.

I got a call at about 2pm and went to pick up the rest of the crew and we went and got some food. After all, they needed to have a full stomach for the party that night. We stopped at a Red Lobster for lunch.

After getting ready for the party, i realized that i had left my costume in Orlando. Dang. No biggie, i didnt really want to wear it anyway. Steve dressed up as Optimus Prime. Yeah, it was as stupid as it sounds. Emma was, you guessed it. Pam from the office. Paulah? An old cheerleader uniform. Go figure.

We arrived at the field and i couldnt believe what i was seeing. Soooooooo many costumes. I saw things that were so creative they would stretch Barney's Imagination. There was a guy who dressed up as a bubble. No joke. A Bubble. I would say though, that a good 35% of the costumes were Twilight characters. Or what looked like Twilight Characters. We had such a good time. We even witnessed a Kanye and Taylor Swift in a pie eating contest. Guess everything worked out with them.

The local bands that came out did a great job, and made an awesome soundtrack to the nights festivities. Steve rode the storm until he threw up. Seriously. His whole funnel cake.

Overall, it was a worthwhile trip. I always look forward to my New Hamshire excursion every year. Thanks to Avis for making renting the car so easy, and thank you to FunSpot for making it my Halloween season so fun and enjoyable.

Renting a car in Vegas

My good friend Ryan and I took a trip to Las Vegas with his father to go and see the races. Little did I know, this would turn into a wild adventure. Now as the old saying goes "what goes in Vegas stays in Vegas" always applies, so I cant let you in on all of the juicy details, but I will however mention a few.
Straight from the races Ryan and I decided that it was time to rent our own car and visit some of the sweet spots that Vegas has to offer. We proceeded promptly to Alamo Rent a Car and picked up a 2009 Nissan 370Z and ohh baby did that car have some power. Just hearing the engine rev could make anyone excited. I sped out of the Alamo parking lot revving up my engine and squealing the tires; we were set for success.
We immediately picked up some fresh shades and headed straight for a casino and oh man were we turning some heads. That 370Z is an all around head turner. Ryan and I went straight up to valet parking, threw the valet a couple of fresh $20s and we were on our way. Now I'm not going to lie, walking around a casino with one of your good friends is fun, but its even better walking around with your good friend and some beautiful ladies to keep you company. Now in Vegas beautiful ladies aren't very hard to find, especially for two good looking bucks like ourselves. We found ourselves some keepers and started doing what Vegas is primly known for, gambling. I headed straight for the Black Jack table chipped in and then started to play. I played for a good 20 min and then reached into my pocket and was grabbing nothing but lint. Ryan and I quickly grabbed our belongings and what was left of our dignity and left the casino (not forgetting our beautiful ladies). We went straight to valet and once the ladies saw our 370Z they were so excited. Lets just say that the ladies loved that 370Z. We all decided that it was time to take a cruise down the famous Vegas Strip to take a look at what else their was to see. It was amazing all of the buildings all light up at night. Things such as the MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, and Circus Circus to just name a few. Now as to what we did with the rest of our night I can't get into to much detail (what goes in Vegas stays in Vegas), but one thing is for sure, if it wasn't for Ryan and I renting that car from Alamo I don't know how we would have pulled it off. This is for sure a trip that you would never want to miss.

Starting a Catering Business with Hertz

Usually when renting a vehicle, it’s usually a car- however the occasion this time was a lot different. My wife is starting up a new catering business and did not want to make a big investment and buy a new van to bring everything around for the customers, so thankfully Hertz has a business rental program for people just like us! When starting out the business she had wanted to get a mini-van but my favorite saying came into play “go big or go home” so she went with Hertz’s Chevy cargo van. Now the first week of business was absolutely hectic, in all 5 days of the business week we probably only got about 6 hours of sleep! The website was going crazy getting all sorts of e-mails and requests for huge orders and the planning process was unreal. We got our first real customers on the second day of business it was a huge group of people that were getting ready to have a birthday party and anniversary combined into one! So we had to make a ton of food for them and believe me it was not easy-Good thing we had rented the cargo van from Hertz because we definitely wouldn’t have been able to stock up all of that food in my sedan or on her moped! As we arrived to the planning of the event we pulled up our customers were impressed that a first time catering business that just started up was looking as professional as we did, the van was a brand new model and we had the vinyl stickers printed at a local shop. We set everything up and everyone was amazed at how organized we were. Even I was a bit impressed because it was the first time I’ve ever done that in my life. Overall we had a great time our customers were extremely happy and so were we. We set up this business and so far it is doing very well, we have at least one event per week until March next year. All this would not have been possible if we didn’t get a cargo van from Hertz!If you are ever looking to start a business and don’t want to put down such a large investment on a vehicle Hertz is the way to go, we saved a ton of money and don’t have to worry about extra expenses that come with purchasing a new vehicle. Plus with all the extra values Hertz has to offer we were in the clear of any car problems at all.

Cool and Relaxing Getaway: The return trip

After a very enjoyable long weekend with the family, we are now closer than ever, spending time hiking and taking beautiful nature walks, the family has been able to talk through problems, issues, and concerns, as well as the enjoyable great moments in our lives.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and it was time to head back to the Florida heat. Once in the vehicle and ready to head back to Florida, the kids began complaining about the car being cold. We turn on the heating system and it immediately warms up, it is a fabulous system. Heading down to Florida is just as exciting as the other way around. By this time everyone is excited to get back to their beds and friends and just regular life. The trip back down seemed a lot faster. We of course had some snacks ready and tried less drinks so that we would need to make fewer bathroom breaks.

Once we were in Florida, we went by the house and decided to unload and rest up, since we had been so tired from the trip, we took a long nap and ended up waking up the next morning. Having gone over our rental time by one day, I expected outrageous fines. However, once we showed up at the office, the same associate took care of us. She had explained the fees that we had incurred from our extra day with the car. The Enterprise associate was so kind that she waived those fees for us. After inspecting the vehicle we signed the return paperwork and were on our way back home.

I have never been so pleased with a rental company, like I am with Enterprise. That associate helped make the trip even better, since there was no hassle involved at any point during our business transaction. The vehicle kept up pretty well, and the entire family was comfortable.

I will definitely be planning another trip shortly, maybe somewhere local this time. Perhaps the Keys will be our next destination. And I will make sure that I rent from Enterprise again. Their service was exceptional and the vehicles were in perfect condition.

Cool and Relaxing Getaway

The Cold season had finally arrived. In most of the country, that is (lol). Our beloved Florida is still pretty warm with temperatures as high as 81, as opposed to our fellow northeast states who's temperatures have already began dropping down to the 50's and 40's. So being tired of the heat, decided to take a trip up to North Carolina. Why not? Enjoy the cool mountain breeze, enjoy the season changes. The trip seemed just perfect to go up and be able to relax for a few days. Since we wanted to enjoy the scenery, we decided to drive instead of flying. Of course the economy had a lot to do with this decision as well. However, going on a road trip always gives you that much needed quality time with the family; Now on the road you get to catch up with everyone's life since is only your family and the road.

Since it's supposed to be a relaxing vacation, we decided to get a bigger vehicle, so we decided to go to Enterprise and rent an SUV, we ended up deciding on the Ford Escape, once we were now ready to sign the paperwork. Our friendly associate helped us with the paperwork and even helped inspect the vehicle inside and out. Once out of the Enterprise shop in Florida, it was time to head home and load our luggage.

After the loading was complete, we were finally on our way to a relaxing long weekend. I must admit, leaving at 4:00 p.m. might not have been the brightest idea, since we did run into traffic both on I-4 and I-95. But it didn't seem to bother the kids since the Escape had an amazing sound system, and they also had all this space to stretch out their legs. So yes with such an amazing system in the vehicle, of course some Karaoke took place; and it was a much needed fun family time. It's those simple moments singing over 'N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye" that seem to bring the family closer together.

After all the laughs and good times, night time had set in, kids already had fallen asleep. Since it is only a 10-12 hr trip we decided to catch a little shut eye in South Carolina, since it would only be a few hours of sleep, the decision was made to sleep in the vehicle in one of the rest shops in South Carolina. Since the vehicle was so comfortable, we simply leaned our seats back and lights out it was.

Waking up a few hours later, surprisingly well rested; We decided to take the off-ramp for some much needed breakfast at the local IHOP. After the nice warm breakfast we were finally ready to resume our trip. After another four hours of driving and a few more pop teen sensation impersonations, we finally arrived at our destination. Everyone simply thrilled about spending the weekend at such a beautiful place. The kids were loving the mountains which we don't get at all in Florida, it was simply spectacular.

Avis-Budget Group 3rd Quarter 09'

Avis-Budget is one of the leading Car rental brands in the world. It has two branches of agencies that rent cars to anyone and everyone. With very few decreases on record, this company is thriving.

In the third quarter months of 2009 (ending september 30th), Avis has released information regarding their sales results. Their revenue was well over 1.5 Billion dollars. This is a 13% decrease from a year-over-year basis. This is due to a 21% decrease in rental days recently.

Their Fleet (Car inventory) cost decreased by 25% mostly due to a 21% decrease in average fleet use. Their cost was actually better than anticipated because of the temporarily low gas prices during the summer.

International sales were down 9.1%. Avis reports that this is entirely do to the impact of the exchange rates costing them over $10 million dollars. Their projection is that this cost will be offset by the fourth quarter.

Avis projects that the rental demand will be stable during the fourth quarter and into the 2010 year. While the projection for the 4th quarter is lower than the third, they expect to catch up and increase in 2010. They also expect to keep the size of its rental fleet the same through the end of 09' and a possible 15% increase in size by 2010's second quarter. The company also expects to launch a program that will help minimize costs and enhance productivity called the Performance Excellence Initiative. They expect the benefits of this program to exceed $100 million dollars by the end of 09' and an annual savings generated of $270 million in following years.

Overall, this company is moving in directions to increase sales and meet demands. They are projecting that the 2010 revenue will increase upon the 08-09 years.

I know that in the last 6 months I have used nothing but Avis because I have never had a bad experience with them. I travel alot because of my job, and renting cars has always been a drag. The last six months have been significantly easier because of the help Avis has been able to provide. When our company has outings and business trips, we rent up to 8 or 9 cars. And Avis has been more than patient enough with us and our large orders. I am more than excited to hear that they are pulling through in a hard time so that I can continue renting with them in the future.

NHRA Tournament - Las Vegas 09'

My father is a pretty big race car fan; his truck is covered with a million and half Nascar, NHRA, and Mobile 1 stickers and my mom jokes around that he’s spent more money on the stickers than the truck itself! Just last week was his birthday and instead of sitting down and watching the NHRA on the television from the comfort of his own home he decided to go big, real big- like 12 passenger van on a 2,500 mile long road trip to watch it live big! Now I don’t usually care much about NHRA enough to drive out there however I was pretty much forced. Well we started off the day by going to the Avis Car Rental at the Orlando International Airport and picked up the massive van and drove back to my house where we all got ready to load up, once we all got into the van it looked like there was a bunch of extra room so I invited a friend to come along, about 10 minutes later my buddy Brock showed up at my door a funny thing about Brock is that he always walks with a BBQ Grill I’m talking all day every day and I’m not talking about a portable George Forman grill I’m talking a big stainless steel grill- why he does it no one knows but if you’re looking for a BBQ Brocks your man, but back to the story we were all surprised because he lives about 20 minutes away and we assumed it would take a lot longer however he assured us that he borrowed his friends Nissan Altima SE-R and made it to my house in no time flat. After checking out his borrowed ride we embarked on our journey to the land with no stories – good ole’ Las Vegas. I’ve been to Vegas once before but I was in the 4th grade so I didn’t have any “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” stories to tell…yet. Since my dad was driving the Van we did not stop once, and everyone that had to use the bathroom on the way there heard the same three lines over and over “too bad!” you’re out of luck!” or just the plain and simple version “hold it!” there was nothing going to stop this NHRA mad man from getting to his event extra early so we just put up with the bladder torture until he decided to stop in the middle of a dessert in Nevada on a back road with one gas station, well as soon as pops got out of the van Brock didn’t let us down-he yanked out his handy dandy BBQ grill and made some burgers and if anyone knows my dad he never says no to a good burger so we stopped and ate, just like any other road trip we’ve been on and he hurried back in and we headed off to Las Vegas to watch the National Hot Rod Association do what it does best. Brock and I were very excited that we were also able to see Freestyle Motocross in the same area it was a total coincidence that they were there and we had a blast watching all of the stunts being performed, after the show we decided to see exactly what Las Vegas had to offer, I’d love to tell you but like I said earlier what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and the only way for you to find out is rent a car and find out yourself!

Florida Keys

We decided to go to the Florida Keys this time, and kayak down some of the rivers, or through the rivers or just explore. I don’t know exactly how to explain it but the whole thing is just a maze of rivers! Once again as is our usual tradition we decided to rent a car to take us there and back. Of course this time we would be taking more equipment, and camping out on the trail. We also had to bring the kayak, so we needed a vehicle with a sturdy roof, lots of room for our stuff, and a comfortable sitting space for the drive. Of course if you have read my previous blog we just recently had rented a hybrid to take to Daytona, and now we wanted another for this trip. With the standards we had for getting there and the want for a hybrid we were offered the Ford Escape, an SUV with all the needs we wanted, and of course, a hybrid.

This SUV drove beautifully and when we picked it up from National we were in and out in minutes. I’m not sure why I keep hearing all these bad stories about car companies, because to me it seems like every company we have rented from has treated us well, and we keep changing companies nearly every trip. I think most of these people don’t call ahead of time and expect a walk in walk out experience; it’s quick and easy if you prepare.

We took the car down to the Keys, it was only a five or six hour ride, and we stayed a night in a hotel before getting an early morning start into the state park. We made safety protocols with the rangers incase we got lost and were given a camp site, directly off the campsite was the water, I’m not even joking you could step out of our tent walk twenty feet and be swimming. We place our kayak in right there about noon after the campsite was set up, placed our valuables in the car and set off and immediately flipped the kayak. We would have been aggravated except that we had a waterproof food cooler and my cell phone was in a plastic bag. Soaking wet in our bathing suits we didn’t necessarily laugh it off but we got back in and set off again this time paying more attention to how we distributed our weight. It took a few minutes for us to relax but then we were a mile away from where we started and nearly dry from the Florida sun.

We traveled around for hours, and we saw alligators, snakes, loads of fish and tons of birds. We did this several days and on the last day we saw some otter’s right near our campsite. We went fishing and caught two catfish, we didn’t eat them, heck I don’t even know how to filet them. The skies were clear, much like Georgia there wasn’t that much light pollution and we could see constellations that had been hidden from us in our winter home. The camp grounds were clean and the bathrooms were cleaner, so if you’re ever looking for a nice getaway the Florida Keys are perfect.

We returned home the next day, fully satisfied by the vacation, the Keys and our car. I suggest going to the Key’s if you get the chance, we didn’t do everything there was to do, but we enjoyed every moment that we were there.

Big Up Belize!

Fresh off the boat and off to Budget rental car place to pick up our Nissan truck, Which looks a little different from ours in the states But, still cool. For me, This is my kind of trip. Personally I love reggae music and the whole Island feel of things. Growing up in a big city it's the perfect vacation to chill and relax. Of course you get hounded by the locals to by their special BOTANICALS if you know what I mean. But other than that it is the best way to chill out for a while. Plus, I'm a big fan of jerk chicken and rice and peas. Goooood stuff. The only problem was I was broke out with the worst hives I've ever experienced in my life. I couldn't figure it out to save my life what was causing the break out. But, Then while on a trip back from one of the Mayan ruins the boat captain made us lunch and I had these coconut tart type of things (which I ate like 4 of those things) Man I love coconut and that's why my whole right side of my face swoll up like someone was punching me in the face minus the bruising. Come to find out every restaurant we ate at cooks the rice and peas in coconut milk. Bad Bad Bad, I found out the really hard way that I was allergic to coconut. Now that I'm done with that mess I can enjoy my trip. We did some cave tubing in Belize City, That was really cool. While we were in Belize City I had to check out the local CD shop to get my reggae music on. What a hook up. Dubs galore. That made the trip better after suffering from swollen face. The only thing I could eat safely was tilapia which is still good with me. If only I had more time I could have took the Nissan on a 4x4 expedition in the jungle. I would have felt like I was on the Discovery Channel. If you are in Belize you have to dive the Blue Hole. What an experience. Being in the saltwater fish industry this was a cool visual to see the fish in their natural habitat. I also checked out all the Mayan ruins there. One of the ruins which I can't remember the name cause there were so many But all I remember It was really tall. When you climb to the top you had a 360 degree view of the top of the jungle and the rivers surrounding the ruins. On the way down you had to use a rope because the steps were so steep. But me being tall and inpatient i started to walk down one step at a time. As I started to go I noticed that I was picking up speed but at a steady pace. I made it down the front of the ruin in like 60 seconds. The look on all the peoples face as I flew by them was priceless. It had to be the new Jordans I had on cause I was getting some air just going down instead of up, LOL. Everyone was in awe that I didn't fall on my face going down like that. I probably could have gotten in trouble but no one said anything. We took some awesome pictures which we had framed and hung above our bed to remind us of the beautiful scenery. Blues, Greens, Aquas, you name it. Very easy on the eyes. We bought some really nice art work from a cool shop on San Pedro. All in all the trip was great. Budget rental car was quick and easy, The truck was cool and reliable. The food was really good only I paid the price for that. The people were really nice, even when I said I was good on the BOTANICALS. The Mayan Ruins were very educational. And I pick up some good reggae music for time to come. So now when ever some one says they're from Belize I say BIG UP BELIZE!

Alamo's Customer Service.

Jacksonville. That was our destination for the Georgia vs. Florida football game. Two huge rivalries in my home state? Couldn't miss it. Unfortunately, last minute, my car decided to throw a rod bearing. Nice. T-minus 48 hours before gametime. After calling relatives to borrow there car (which isnt that easy with my 0-5 with the traffic police) i decided no one would let me drive. So The problem was resolved. I was gonna rent a car. Its now 36 hours before game time. And i still had to drive the 4 hours!

I called four or five different rental agencies. shows that 36 hours notice was too little. Very few of them had cars available, and if they did, it was luxury cars that i could afford for one night, let alone the two i needed it for. After 6 agonizing hours of trying, i decided i would call one more before giving up and missing the game.

I caught Alamo right before they were closing and they were still able to set me up with a Pontiac G5. While it wasn't their cheapest car, it was about half what the other agencies wanted and with about 30 hours notice... The price was right!

I woke up and went straight to their pickup location to pick up my car. It was hassle free. I paid and showed them my ID and they took me right to my white beauty. They handed me the keys, went over the "Rules" (pretty much what happens if i wreck it. Ha!) and off i went.

After the Game, and oh my, what a game, i drove it back (No tickets!) and returned it to Alamo. Also Hassle free. Gave them my keys, signed it back over and left.

Im not sure what i would have done if i had missed this game. I would have felt like a bandwagon fan. Thanks to Alamo and how easy and quick they were able to hook me up, i dont have to deal with the Gator Blues because it all worked out. Thank you Alamo. Thank you alot.

Birmingham, Alabama 09'

Well it was that time of the year again, what time you ask? Time to take another random road trip to a state I know nothing about! This time of year has always been a favorite. I chose to go to one of the states where I’ve been to countless times yet haven’t stayed in longer than a week, the good old “Yellowhammer” state seemed to be the best bet. Now renting a car to Alabama was no problem at all, then again it usually never is when renting from the Budget Car Rental in the Orlando International Airport since I’m a member of the Fastbreak® program where I was able to bypass the line and walk directly to the rental car I wanted. Usually when I go on these aimless road trips I rent a sports car however during my last experience I got a speeding ticket and to fight temptation I just went with a luxury car this time. The car that really caught my eye from the get-go was the Cadillac STS, and that was the car I was riding in for the next 6 days. Unlike many other of my road trips I just went straight from point A to point B so I can soak up as much time in Alabama as I could. I wanted to relax most of the time and there is nothing more relaxing to me than just sitting on a boat and catching fish. I went on a few guided fishing tours my first one was A-Team Fishing Adventures where I everyone on the boat was after two main fish, the speckled trout and a red. Luckily enough I caught both of those fish now they weren’t the biggest in the sea but at least now I have bragging rights! Another thing that I really enjoyed doing was the Alabama Hunting and Fishing trail, this trail was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been in my entire life I’ve never wished I had an Alabama state hunting license so bad in my life-but of course that’s not a normal thing everyday people wish for, however I did have my fishing pole where I took a sit down and cast my line and caught some bass. After my day at the trail I was exhausted I took a rest at the hotel and woke up early the next morning to check out some of the local museums and shopping options. I checked out the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum solely because I was told about it by a co-worker who has been to Alabama and would not shut up about it, and to be completely honest everyone at the job might just get an ear full once I return as well! After leaving the museum I decided to pick up some souvenirs for the friends and family. And had to make my way home I got a nice 3 days of rest and an even better 3 days of doing fun activities overall I regret all the times I went to Alabama and didn’t stay for longer, but now I know that the next time I need some rest and relaxation I’ll head over to the good ole’ Yellowhammer state.

Hybrids

We were getting ready to make a trip to Daytona for a week of camping, and as is our usual tradition for our trips, we decided to rent a car. With the races coming up on this getaway we decided to attend one, so getting a car that would fairy us through the ruff race day traffic would be nice. We wanted to get to and from the track easily. But my blog today isn’t so much about the trip, because when we decided to pick a car we decided to look into the new hybrids, questioning why they were such the rave.

These cars are amazing, and I mean it, we spent hours researching them, and nearly every rental car company has them; National, Alamo, Enterprise, Budget, Avis, Thrifty, Dollar and more. Because it’s the most recommended we rented a Toyota Prius, and wow did this thing have power. It was only four cylinders but that didn’t seem to hold it back. Not only was it a nice feeling and powerful car, the thing got nearly fifty miles to the gallon, that’s ridiculous! We saved more by renting this car than we would have if we took our own.

While we were researching some of the cars we had trouble choosing between the Ford Taurus, Nissan Altima and Toyota Prius. The Hybrid vehicles use both electricity and gas to fuel their way down the road, which means that they charge up what can be called a separate engine and swap off until the electric engine is out of power, and then they go back to gas. With this said these cars only use as much gas as is needed to charge up the electric engine; at least that is the way I understood it. We took this car all the way to Daytona from Central Florida and we used it throughout the entire week. We only filled up the gas tank on the way back before we turned it back in, as is part of the rental-car deal. We saved so much money renting this car that you can expect my next few blogs to include some for of hybrid. These cars are amazing, I dont know why we all dont have them!

Each one puts out only a small amount of toxins, as it is impossible to completely eliminate them. Its enough that if we were all to convert over to hybrids we would stop global warming. I know that sounds funny but when you get as old as me these things arent so trivial anymore. I cant wait to rent another one of these, a different model of course, were already planning our next trip and I assure you, we are taking a hybrid.