Why You Want To Visit San Diego Right Now

Balmy San Diego is the perfect escape hatch, particularly at this time of year when even the toniest hotels are offering deals.

12 Vintage_Large_Letter_Postcard_San_Diego_California_02__45737.1345432544.1280.1280

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY| Admit it fellow workers: a monitor tan is not a real tan. Office coffee is no substitute for a pink drink with an umbrella in it. A promotion cannot take the place of a vacation—especially one in a place where the sun always shines, and we can play lighthearted tourist for at least a long weekend. Read more

Boat Bluff Lighthouse - Kristien Rogister

Must-See BC: Ann Rose Picks Her Top 3 Spots

What’s on your provincial Travel Life List? Westworld magazine editor Anne Rose picks three of her top spots.

Boat Bluff Lighthouse - Kristien Rogister

 

OUR CANADIAN LIFE | Can familiarity really breed dismissal? When it comes to travel, there is always the possibility that locals, wherever they live, will think that only destinations far from home are remotely exotic and rare.

British Columbia has plenty of peerless places the rest of the world flocks to see, and if you haven’t taken the time to visit any of them, you don’t know the whole story about where you live. Anne Rose, editor-in-chief at Westworld magazine, has travelled extensively close to home. Here she shares with Frugalbits readers three superior ways to experience what’s exotic about Canada’s westernmost province. Read more

Four Seasons Georges V Hotel, Paris

Get Memorable Hotels At Enviable Rates

Contrary to popular thinking, the best rate for a room in a high-style hotel isn’t always the one found online.

Four Seasons Georges V Hotel, Paris

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY | Many people we know who stay in memorable hotels for enviable rates direct dial the reservation desk at the actual property they want to visit. They do not book online or through off-site call centres where the wiggle room on rates may be minimal. Before dialling direct, they check hotel’s current rates, what Internet-based travel reservation websites (Expedia, Orbitz, et al) are showing and what rates the hotel’s direct competition is charging. Read more

Great Wheel Seattle- SeattlePI

The Best Happy Hour Meals In Seattle

While top Seattle hotels remain pricey, you can get a sublime meal and drinks in this town for surprisingly little.

Great Wheel Seattle- SeattlePI

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY | Wanting to get out of town two weeks ago, we headed for Seattle. High-style hotels are pricey in this city, but we snagged a lovely room at Seattle’s Pan Pacific for $185 per night (parking was $20 extra), at least $70 less than every other top-name hotel we checked with. Plus we saved a bundle on dinner.

The Pan Pacific is located in trendy South Lake Union, a mere five-minute walk into the heart of downtown where, after a day of exploring and shopping, local friends introduced us to another great Seattle money saver: happy hour meals. Read more

sliding house-nova scotia

Out Of The Ordinary Vacation Rentals

This curated catalog of VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) is an invaluable resource for chic nomads wanting cool places to hide and play.

sliding house-nova scotia

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY | If you are a great fan of architecture and interior design and want to stay somewhere visually interesting when you travel, you’re going to love boutique-homes.com, a website that features a collection of thoughtfully designed accommodations (both private homes and wee hotels) that you can rent around the globe for a wide range of prices.

“Temporary housing for the incurably stylish nomad” is how Californians Heinz Legler and Veronique Lievre describe their curated cache of creative digs—everything from a trailer in Texas to a palace in Italy—which you can view and book online. The couple’s handpicked assortment of VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) is a testament to their impeccable taste and investigative eyes.

CLICK THROUGH to see a few of the awesome lodgings they’ve discovered both near and far away. You’ll want to start packing now. We know we do.—Eds Read more

Oosterdam Holland America

Baby Let Me Take You On A Repo Cruise

How to get from here to Seattle and back on a highly original, supercool mini vacay for a shockingly low price.

Oosterdam Holland America

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY | It doesn’t take career counselling to conclude that all work and no play leads to burnout. If you want to take a quick break before this occurs, we’ve got just the ticket, a micro-mini vacay involving glamorous accommodation, all you can eat and multiple modes of transportation. And did I mention the best part? This adventure is priced so shockingly low you might even want to treat your partner or BFF. Read more

Exterior Wing Sang Gallery On East Pender Street, Vancouver

Visit The Wing Sang Soon—It’s Free!

Kudos to Bob Rennie for giving us another spectacular reason to love Vancouver.

Exterior Wing Sang Gallery On East Pender Street, Vancouver

 

FREE & SPECTACULAR | Vancouver real estate marketing mogul Bob Rennie’s private art gallery in the Wing Sang Building on East Pender Street has been open to the public just over two years now. I had been putting off seeing it for a completely irrational reason—you need to sign up in advance to get in. Lucky for me, friends added my name to their group of four planning a visit, and we all went for a free one-hour guided tour last week. Read more

Lululemon Athletica

Where To Find lululemon For Less

Here is where you’ll find everyone’s favourite jock togs at a ridiculously discounted price.

Lululemon Athletica

 

OUTLETS WE LOVE | Generally I put little stock in outlet merchandise, imagining most of it to be cheaply made items by high-end labels looking to cash in on the wannabe crowd, but recently I found myself in the enviable position of cruising through two Lululemon Athletica Outlet stores (one off Interstate 5 in Burlington, Washington, and the other in Burnaby) and I have to say that I was dead wrong about outlet shopping where Lululemon is concerned. Read more

Mayflower Park Hotel

A Sweet Deal On A Sleepover In Seattle

Minimoon, romantic getaway or whatever—here’s a sweet deal we’ve found on a romantic boutique hotel in Seattle.

Mayflower Park Hotel

 

TRAVEL ADVISORY | Married in a quiet ceremony over the holidays, our good friends B&C are just back from a “minimoon” in Seattle. “We want to go to Europe on a honeymoon but it’s cold there right now, so Seattle’s our stopgap,” says B. “We’ll take a longer trip this spring,” says his partner.

Even in the off-season, Seattle hotels never seem that cheap, but B&C did manage to find a great deal on an elegant little boutique hotel right downtown. Read more

Bald Eagle - Shutterstock

It’s Eagle Counting Time In Brackendale

The place to be this coming Sunday is Brackendale, B.C., for the 26th annual bald eagle count.

Bald Eagle - Shutterstock

 

MUST SEE B.C. | Most of us, consciously or not, keep a running record of places we must absolutely see before our particular shot clock runs out. Chances are many of these destinations are the same: Paris, Prague, Katmandu. Probably not Brackendale, B.C. Exoticism requires distance, or so we imagine, and Brackendale is way too close to home to offer anything surprising or remotely unfamiliar.

But what if you could experience something extraordinary close by Vancouver in Brackendale, something exotic that people from other places make an effort to see—wouldn’t you want to experience it too, particularly if it were free? Read more