Team Red Mascot

 
Reporting live from St. Pete's Beach on the steamy/rainy Gulf Coast of Florida.  Would I normally choose this time of year to be here? Likely not .. but in the interest of reporting my travels, I am here attending a very large convention.  To keep this writing neutral, I am attending Team Red's big pre-"Super Bowl" gathering.

Team Blue Mascot

  

Just so you follow my drift, Team Blue's gathering is next week in Charlotte.  Of course the big game is November 6th....  And, of course, just getting here from L.A. was a wait-and-see-what-Hurricane-Isaac-may-or-may-not-do experience.  Loved getting that email from AA the day before departure that the flight was cancelled (LA-Miami-Tampa).  Rerouted LA-Dallas-Tampa.   Other than the JOLT during our descent (even the hubby was a bit alarmed) into Tampa, it was a pretty unremarkable journey!      

Pre-Hurricane Isaac

Now back to the trip at hand.  Our hotel is right on a stretch of beach in St. Petersburg at the Tradewinds Island Grand.  We opted for larger accommodations (son Sam is here with us) instead of staying in Tampa proper (smaller accommodations offered) even though it means more daily commute time to the convention center -- some 30+ minutes into Tampa. Most anyone  who has been to a gathering of this size and scope knows hotel space is at an absolute premium.  It's not uncommon for folks to stay 40 miles away just to get a room with "proximity" to whatever is going on.   We did have the added bonus of celebrating son Sam's 23rd birthday the first day with a wonderful meal at Maritana Grill in St. Pete's. 

About to reveal what's inside!

Cheers!

This is my second time in Tampa.  The first was back in the '90s when we came to experience Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.  Yes, that is a family tradition; I have been to a total of 35 MLB parks and must say the one in Tampa is probably the worst (the old Kingdome in Seattle comes to mind as well).  Still remember the fan spitting chewing tobacco in front of me.  Love the team a lot but they need a new stadium! 

Love him or hate him, the big guy has presence ...

 A major part of the fun in attending these events is meeting people from literally every state in the country.  The outfits are quite extravagant and deliberate -- meaning folks work hard to be noticed.  The same is absolutely true whether at Team Red or Team Blue; enthusiasm, patriotism and spirit is abundant everywhere!



  One more comment about the weather -- I applaud anyone who isn't bothered by humidity.  Wish that were me but, as a lifelong resident of So. Cal, I am undeniably spoiled weather-wise.  When you have to stop and let the glasses de-fog when going from indoors to outdoors, that's just not right!

Veal with peppers and tomato sauce

Thankfully Isaac was a no-show and we're all safe and sound.  Dinner the second night was at Donatello, an old-style Italian restaurant where the entrance walls are covered with a who's who of visitors.  The place was packed, food was delicious and it was the day's second sighting of the NJ Gov who is obviously a foodie ...

Included here are some photos from this quite amazing experience.  Hope you enjoy. 

Downtown Tampa

That is CNN's Campbell Brown on the ledge

Beautiful building; had a dinner event in the atrium

Those are all security boats in the water

About to go in for the first night's speeches

Not just yet ... waiting for Thursday.

Did you know that if you Google "Top Ten Travel Websites," the results are in excess of  15,000,000?!  Ay caramba!  So, the question is: How does one decide upon which to rely?

Besides the obvious choice of Travel with Teri B., I thought I would decipher some of the myriad results (really good, fair and awful) because time is always of the essence.  Of course, no single site can be totally comprehensive and may not appeal to certain travelers.  I personally have never been a fan of Priceline, but know others who swear by it.  I like Frommer's a lot, and almost always invest in their guides to countries I'm visiting.  At the same time, I have stayed at some very great hotels that are not even listed on their site for a particular city. The Mandarin Oriental in Geneva is a recent example. 

The upshot is:  it takes a village -- and a variety of sources -- to plan a trip!   At the risk of being declared brain dead from research, following are some of the sites I found and would love to know your thoughts and preferences as well.

1.  Budget Travel:   Right away I'm liking this one alot -- they also list Bing Travel for their Price Predictor tool where you can search flights and buy or wait according to the information provided.

2. Hipmunk:   I don't think I'm hip enough for this site.  But I do like that you can scroll over dots on a map for a preview of a hotel.  For instance, I'm still vetting prices for an upcoming NYC stay over Labor Day weekend, and the site offers a ton of choices.  But, unless you are a fan of Trip Advisor, on which they seem to base their rankings, you probably won't like this site too much.

3.  Smarter Travel: This site was ranked #1 by TechMediaNetwork, as a provider of "unbiased" travel information.  Sounds good to me. I put in my NYC criteria and it directed me to a choice of about a dozen different bookings sites where I could compare.  Good for bargain hunters and lovers of options.

4.  AirGorilla:  This is a well-established site offering discount airfare; i.e., they are a consolidator (buying blocks of seats from airlines that would otherwise go unsold).  Since they have been around for a long time (in the annals of online travel-planning, that is), they have access to lots of discounts; more than some other well-known sites.  Part of their profits go to saving gorillas; hence, the name!

5.  Kayak:   I've mentioned this site before but it is well worth including again.  This is a no-frills website and very easy to navigate.  It has been very helpful in my learning about internal flights in China/So. Korea while planning next year's vacation.

So I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted from all this research!  Time to take a vacation.  Look forward to the next blog, where I'll be sharing the sights and sounds of Tampa-St. Pete's in Florida. ..