(posted by Ange)
As mentioned in an earlier post, Dave and I spent a weekend up in Whistler recently on one of those "sit through our timeshare presentation and we'll give you a deal" deals. And what a deal we got! Shell Vacations kindly put us up in the Marriott Residence Inn, a ski in/ski out, located right on Blackcomb, complete with kitchen, balcony, big soaker tub and fireplace. I highly recommend this cozy accomodation to anyone looking for a place to stay up there. Only cost us $159 for 2 nights. I suspect you may have to pay a litte more.
All prepared for the big 90 minute spiel on buying a timeshare, we prepared ourselves with plenty of caffeine and pumped up the interest level. We were actually genuinely interested in what they had to offer - who knew, maybe this was something that would actually fit into our plan of work to travel.
We arrived early, taking no chances of missing this thing and having to pay full price for our room! The place was buzzing... Those sales reps had done their jobs in gettning people up there. I was expecting an auditorium style presentation. Instead, we were seated with a sales rep, Mitch who proceeded to chat with us about our lifestyle. Now pay attention. Should you ever be inclined to participate in such a deal, yet not be so inclined to sit for 90 minutes to listen to a sales pitch about something you have no intention of purchasing, you may want to approach it like this:
"We've just been together for 6 months. We love travelling, but no, we haven't really done much travelling together yet. We do have big plans to though."
"We LOVE road trips. We like to camp. We did some great camping in the summer up in Hope."
"We're thinking of doing this road trip through the states where we drive down through Utah, we want to go to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and then drive up the Pacific Coast Highway".
"Dave has travelled to some beautiful exotic destination quite a bit recently. His trips are all paid for, as he travels on business, filming for a T.V. show. He's been to Mexico and Jamaica most recently."
"We're planning a big road trip through Europe. We're going to buy a car and just drive, no real plan, just go with the flow."
"We like to work as little as possible to travel as much as we can. That is our goal in life. Work to travel."
"We like to be spontaneous, not necessarily planning our travels too far in advance."
"One of the main goals of travel for us is culture. Staying in posh resorts is wonderful, but it's really the culture that drives us."
Throughout this conversation, Mitch kept getting up to "deal with an issue". Finally about 20 minutes into the thing he says "How would you like to make this easy on yourselves?" Okay. "You're not going to buy today are you?" Uh, no Mitch. We've got Dave here, there will be no impulse buying today. "Tell you what, we're really busy, overbooked, let me just give you this brochure, you've got your 2 nights at a great hotel and you can be on your way." So he hands us a pamphlet which basically just shows pictures and tells us we can leave. I'm somewhat perplexed - "where do we find out the rest of the information? Is there a website...?" Lightbulb! We are being asked to leave the presentation. Yes folks, after what amounts to 30 minutes we have been kicked out of the 90 minute timeshare presentation.
But wait! There's more! Okay, well, thank you very much, we'll just grab our Edge cards and be on our way. "Edge cards? We don't give out Edge cards." Well according to our sales rep Shane you do...we'll go get our confirmation letter. A short while later we are given $150 worth of gift cards for use at various stores and restaurants in the Village in lieu of the Edge cards, which they really don't give out.
In summary: We paid $159 to stay 2 nights at a hotel that would have cost $650 for those same 2 nights, were excused from the timeshare sales pitch and given $150 for our troubles. SHELL VACATIONS people. SHELL VACATIONS. When they call, say yes and follow the above instructions.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Go With The Flow...
(posted by ange)
Well, it seems that our 6 month Excellent European Road Trip Adventure departing August/September 2007 will be postponed. No, we didn't break up. No we didn't suddenly realize we can't travel together. No, it's not about the car versus train. No, Dave didn't decide to spend all his travel savings on the James Bond box set collection and other assorted HMV purchasing. No, we didn't decide that Europe just really isn't us and we'd rather just camp locally.
Part of this big adventure plan all along has included a stipulation of sorts. I must be stable on some sort of medication regime (when they figure out exactly what that is, I'll let you know) for at least 6 months before we go. Given that at this point, we are still trial and erring away with meds, by my calculations I will not be ready to go by August/September.
So a new plan is now in place: Ange and Dave's Excellent Travel Adventures. These excellent travel adventures may be anything from a weekend in Vegas to a Southern U.S. road trip to an all inclusive week in Mexico to shorter one country at a time Euro trips. We shall work, save, travel (for up to a month at a time), repeat. Our flexible jobs suit this perfectly, and in fact we can take our work with us if need be. We want our lives to be about working just as much as we need to and spending the rest of the time discovering this place called earth.
Things don't always go as planned, as I well know. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. And that is what we are doing.
Well, it seems that our 6 month Excellent European Road Trip Adventure departing August/September 2007 will be postponed. No, we didn't break up. No we didn't suddenly realize we can't travel together. No, it's not about the car versus train. No, Dave didn't decide to spend all his travel savings on the James Bond box set collection and other assorted HMV purchasing. No, we didn't decide that Europe just really isn't us and we'd rather just camp locally.
Part of this big adventure plan all along has included a stipulation of sorts. I must be stable on some sort of medication regime (when they figure out exactly what that is, I'll let you know) for at least 6 months before we go. Given that at this point, we are still trial and erring away with meds, by my calculations I will not be ready to go by August/September.
So a new plan is now in place: Ange and Dave's Excellent Travel Adventures. These excellent travel adventures may be anything from a weekend in Vegas to a Southern U.S. road trip to an all inclusive week in Mexico to shorter one country at a time Euro trips. We shall work, save, travel (for up to a month at a time), repeat. Our flexible jobs suit this perfectly, and in fact we can take our work with us if need be. We want our lives to be about working just as much as we need to and spending the rest of the time discovering this place called earth.
Things don't always go as planned, as I well know. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. And that is what we are doing.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
I'm Back Baby!
(posted by ange)
Yes, yes, I'm still alive. I'm sure you've all been extremely worried, although there has been no indication that anyone has been wondering why I haven't been posting. I'm sure you've just been keeping your concerns to yourself. Right?
Well... An update is due. I haven't been feeling well the past several weeks and I am blaming my medications for my writers block. I am not sure if this is an acutal side effect but this is my story and I'm sticking to it.
The biggest adventure lately was our road trip to and from Abbotsford in the Great Snow Storm of 2006. I had my nephew Markus out for his first sleepover the night before (which was a screaming success by the way). Driving him home Sunday was not too bad. The drive home was another story. The drive is usually about an hour and 15 min. It took almost 4 hours. To give you a feel for it...it took us one hour to travel 1 -2 km between one exit. 2 hours later we had travelled a whopping 12 km. Luckily we were fully stocked with cigarettes, water, beef jerky and love. (gush, gush). We kept ourselves thoroughly entertained by watching all the trucks and SUVs in the ditch. I think we counted only 2 cars.
As for travel.. Dave has been busy travelling with The Travel Guys, a local t.v. show on Shaw. He recently went to Mexico and he is in Jamaica as we speak. Feel free to throw derogatory comments his way! :)
Our own travel plans are somewhat up in the air. At this point I'm not sure I'm going to be stable enough to travel for 6 months by September, as we still can't find a drug that works and I need to be stable for at least 6 months, preferably longer before I go for that long. We are starting to consider doing smaller trips and postponing the big 6 month trip. We will just have to see what happens with my health. Thankfully Dave is super flexible and is most concerned that my health is good before we embark on any big journey. I should also note that he has survived his first hypomanic and mixed mood episodes with flying colours. I have no doubt he is able to cope with the stress this brings and am so grateful to have found a man who can be there for me without burning himself out. His boundaries are amazing and his unconditional love overhwhelming.
We do have a little weekend getaway planned...Whistler here we come Dec. 22 - 24. We're going to sit through a 90 min. sales pitch in order to get a studio suite at the Marriot Residence Inn on Blackcomb with ski in/ski out; 2 nights accomodation and 2 edge cards all for $159 total! I think I can sit through any boring sales pitch for a nice hotel room at that price!!! We're really looking forward to it. I can definitely use a change of scene and some relaxation and it will be nice to have a romantic weekend away. I may even get up on skis!
Well...there it is in a nutshell. I'll make my best effort to check in on a regular basis so as not to disappoint my loyal fans. You haven't deserted me have you?
Yes, yes, I'm still alive. I'm sure you've all been extremely worried, although there has been no indication that anyone has been wondering why I haven't been posting. I'm sure you've just been keeping your concerns to yourself. Right?
Well... An update is due. I haven't been feeling well the past several weeks and I am blaming my medications for my writers block. I am not sure if this is an acutal side effect but this is my story and I'm sticking to it.
The biggest adventure lately was our road trip to and from Abbotsford in the Great Snow Storm of 2006. I had my nephew Markus out for his first sleepover the night before (which was a screaming success by the way). Driving him home Sunday was not too bad. The drive home was another story. The drive is usually about an hour and 15 min. It took almost 4 hours. To give you a feel for it...it took us one hour to travel 1 -2 km between one exit. 2 hours later we had travelled a whopping 12 km. Luckily we were fully stocked with cigarettes, water, beef jerky and love. (gush, gush). We kept ourselves thoroughly entertained by watching all the trucks and SUVs in the ditch. I think we counted only 2 cars.
As for travel.. Dave has been busy travelling with The Travel Guys, a local t.v. show on Shaw. He recently went to Mexico and he is in Jamaica as we speak. Feel free to throw derogatory comments his way! :)
Our own travel plans are somewhat up in the air. At this point I'm not sure I'm going to be stable enough to travel for 6 months by September, as we still can't find a drug that works and I need to be stable for at least 6 months, preferably longer before I go for that long. We are starting to consider doing smaller trips and postponing the big 6 month trip. We will just have to see what happens with my health. Thankfully Dave is super flexible and is most concerned that my health is good before we embark on any big journey. I should also note that he has survived his first hypomanic and mixed mood episodes with flying colours. I have no doubt he is able to cope with the stress this brings and am so grateful to have found a man who can be there for me without burning himself out. His boundaries are amazing and his unconditional love overhwhelming.
We do have a little weekend getaway planned...Whistler here we come Dec. 22 - 24. We're going to sit through a 90 min. sales pitch in order to get a studio suite at the Marriot Residence Inn on Blackcomb with ski in/ski out; 2 nights accomodation and 2 edge cards all for $159 total! I think I can sit through any boring sales pitch for a nice hotel room at that price!!! We're really looking forward to it. I can definitely use a change of scene and some relaxation and it will be nice to have a romantic weekend away. I may even get up on skis!
Well...there it is in a nutshell. I'll make my best effort to check in on a regular basis so as not to disappoint my loyal fans. You haven't deserted me have you?
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