Tipping

It seems like every other day I am learning something new about my iPad or about features within iTunes. My latest find has been podcasts!

I have always heard about podcasts, but didn’t really know what they were. In case you don’t know what a podcast is, it’s a type of digital media consisting of audio or visual information that can be downloaded or subscribed to. I always knew they are informational, but I had no idea that they are free to download or subscribe to in iTunes. Yes, you read correctly…FREE and iTunes in the same sentence!

So, the other night I decided to download a few podcasts to see what I thought. The first podcast (and so far only one) that I have listened to is from series called “Stuff You Should Know”, and this particular episode is ‘How Tipping Works’. (And if you’ve been reading my blog for any period of time, you should already know that I’m all about useless information, so this is right up my alley!)

Well, tipping has always been kind of a gray area for me. I have worked in the service industry as server in which I relied on tips for my income. So I have always had an appreciation and understanding of people who work in a tip driven environment. Although sometimes I think that since I was ‘one of them’ at one time, I tend to learn toward the side of over tipping.

It seems like 20% is my automatic base percentage to base tips from. So if the service is great, the percentage increases; if the service is poor the percentage decreases. Let’s be honest, if the service is poor my base percentage should probably be a lot less. But then I feel bad for leaving a poor tip. But does the person feel bad for giving me poor service? I don’t think that I am high maintenance customer. In a restaurant setting, I want my server to be knowledgeable about the dishes and available options, anticipate my needs (keep my drink full, make certain I have the necessary utensils, etc.), and bring my check at the appropriate time. I don’t think I’m asking for much.

From reading my blog, you already know that I frequent a lot of different places that tipping is required. I always tip my hair stylist, esthetician, and manicurist 20% of the total bill. And that has always been a given no matter what. Like the other day I went to have my eyebrows waxed. I had a scheduled appointment, yet still waited for 20 minutes before she was ready for me. Somehow she still received a 20% tip. So, was the tip for the great job she did once she finally completed my services? Honestly, I probably should have adjusted the tip since I had to wait. Although I left with great brows, I was still unhappy that I had to wait.

When traveling, I am all over the board about tipping. When I know that my suitcase might be a little bit over the weight limit, I’ll check the bag curbside and have a nice $5 tip waiting. Typically this $5 (and a nice smile!) will insure that I won’t be paying the overweight baggage fee. I also typically tip anyone who touches my luggage (ex: shuttle bus driver to car rental center)

No matter what the situation, the podcast explains that you should always tip on the full price even if you have a discount coupon. Although I agree with that, I don’t think that I should have to tip on ‘added on’ charges. For instance, the transportation service that I use to get to back and forth to the airport charges a flat rate, toll charge, and a fuel service charge. Well, I don’t think I should tip on the tolls and fuel service charge amount. So now it appears that I might seem cheap, but then again I am also tipping 15% - 20% on the flat rate when I think the standard tip is 10% for this type of transportation.

Overall this particular podcast was entertaining and informational. The two guys had a great banter between one another and there was a lot of useful information. So I would highly recommend this podcast if you’ve never tried a podcast before or if you want to know more about tipping.

Are there any podcasts that you’ve listened to that you can recommend?

On The Road To...

Indianapolis, IN!

This past Saturday as I was on my out the door to meet a friend who recently relocated to the Big D for lunch, the dreaded 'Bat Phone' (a.k.a. my company cell phone) rang. I can't say that I was surprised since 1) I work for an insurance company in their catastrophe response division and 2) some very bad tornadoes had touched down and did tremendous amounts of damage the previous two days.

The good news (if there can be good news in spite of devastation) was that I was being sent to Indianapolis. In case I have never mentioned it before, Indianapolis is a city that I lived in for 8 years. For me moving to Indy, marked a lot of things in my life...I was newly married and starting what I considered my first real job with real pay. Although the marriage didn't last, I am still working for the same company.

While I lived in Indy, I met a lot of friends (who I am planning to see as soon as things slow down a bit) and I really enjoyed living here. Indy is about 3 hours from where my family lives, so it made it a lot easier to travel home for a weekend. Indy is also a great small large city. Meaning...although the city is metropolitan, it is very easy to get around. The city hosts major sporting events (basketball, football), has lots of cultural events, and is a great place no matter if you're single, married, or have children.

So for me, returning to Indy is like returning home...returning to someplace that I know and that feels comfortable. I enjoyed flying in and looking at the city and the new landmarks (JW Marriott and Lucus Oil Stadium). When I arrived at the new airport,I immediately saw a Cafe Patachou which was one of my favorite breakfast spots when I lived here. And driving to my hotel, I passed places and streets that brought back memories.

This is the first time that I will say that I hope my work assignment lasts a good while. Being here feels like cuddling up in a chair with a blanket and a great book with a nice hot cup of chai tea to sip on. For me, it doesn't get too much better than that!

Next Stop....Orlando, FL!

Duty called and I had to travel to Orlando, FL for a few days (I know, wow is me). Unfortunately my allergies decided to join me on the trip which made the trip a lot less pleasant. Fortunately after a day of staying in bed, I feel like I am finally back on track to feeling better.

While in Orlando, I had the pleasure of staying at one of the hotels at Universal Studios, Loews Royal Pacific Resort. Since it's the off season for the Disney properties, Universal Studios closed at 6 pm daily, so I didn't get the opportunity to go check out any of the attractions after my work responsibilities were over. Fortunately, Universal City Walk was open late and I did have the chance to try The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Emeril's Restuarant Orlando. About the resort...

Until I arrived I didn't realize that the resort has a Pacific Islander theme to it. When I arrived, the valet person said "Aloha!" and I felt like I was back in Maui again! All of the staff were very nice and accommodating during my stay. The resort is a mid-size resort, and it was very easy to get from my room to the conference area. (I've stayed at properties in Las Vegas where it was a solid 15 minute walk from the room to the conference area)

The nice thing about the resort is that the hotel stay included admission to Universal Studios, which was a short walk or water taxi ride away (an $87 a day value!). If I had been able to go to Universal Studios, my room key also would have given me access to special lines to access the attractions quicker. So if you are ever traveling to one of the Disney properties, you might want to consider staying on site and inquiring if the resort offers this amenity.

About the food...

While I was there, I was pleasantly surprised by a tasty and colorful grilled shrimp salad that I had at Bubba Gumps. And if you plan on dinign there, you might want to be up to speed on your Forrest Gump trivia!

I've been fortunate to dine at a few different Emeril restaurants before (Las Vegas, New Orleans, and this was my second visit to the one at City Walk). The service is always outstanding - my glass was never half full, crumbs were quickly brushed away from the table, and finished dishes were quickly removed. I had a wonderful Cioppino (seafood stew) which certainly helped the sore throat that I was nursing.

If you ever plan a trip to Orlando, always consider the time of year when making flight arrangements. Since the Orlando airport is extremely busy, you'll want to make certain that you have a solid two hours to return a rental car, check in your bags, and get through the long security lines. I also don't recommend flying standby either since the flights are typically full. I thought I would try for my return flight home since I was able to leave earlier than I thought. In the end, I was able to get home about two hours earlier that I was scheduled to, and I don't know if it was worth all of the hassle.

All in all the business to trip to Orlando was good. Hopefully next time I'll find more time for pleasure!

The Fountain on Locust

My work assignment in the St. Louis area ended a few days ago. In a small way, I was sad to leave. I think mainly because I wasn't able to see (or eat) all of the things that I wanted to. Typically for me a work assignment can last up to 90 days which allows me to pace myself a little better. Unfortunately, only being someplace cool for a week and a half, causes me to cram everything in.

Before I left, I did have the chance to try The Fountain on Locust which was an "I INSIST you go there!" recommendation from a friend of mine. And he was right on point!

The theme of The Fountain, is what I envision as a old time fountain and ice cream shop restaurant. It's a very small place yet packed with character and great food. I decided to have a egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, with a cup of Tuscan bean soup.

OK, you might be thinking, "What's so special about egg salad?". Well, this was the best egg salad sandwich I had ever had! It was a hearty sandwich and wasn't overly mayonnaisey (if that's a word). It was made with Dijon mustard and had capers in it which give it extra flavor. The soup was....it was an AWESOME bean soup! Full of beans and small bits of potatoes and lots of flavor. All of The Fountain soups are homemade every day too. (You might notice a partial view of a fountain glass in the upper left corner of my picture. That was a Pomegrante Egg Creme...delish!)

My friend who INSISTED that I go to The Fountain, is a big (and I men really BIG!) ice cream lover. The Fountain has all types of wonderful ice cream drinks (adult and non-adult) and ice cream concoctions. I decided on a butter pecan ice cream cone. Now, this was just any butter pecan ice cream cone. It was the creamiest butter pecan ice cream I have ever had, and it was in a homemade pretzel cone!

The combination of sweet and salty was WONDERFUL! The ice cream comes from a dairy in Wisconsin that some how ages its ice cream. Whatever they do to it, it is beyond awesome. By time I got to the ice cream cone, some of the ice cream had melted inside it, which made the cone even better. The cone was salty and it tasted like a fresh baked pretzel.

You definitely have to try The Fountain if you are ever in the downtown St. Louis area!

Fly, Fly Away...

Wow, I can hardly believe that it's the last week of January! Where has the month gone?! Mine started with two weeks vacation, and the rest has been busy with work responsibilities. I'm glad that I will be headed home on Wednesday. I'll only be home for a little over 24 hours, and then I'm off on my next business trip. Whew! Unfortunately, February is already looking to be a busy travel month too.

Speaking of travel...

Most of the travel that I do is by commercial airline. I've been fortunate to have elite status with American Airlines for the past two years which certainly helps make traveling a bit easier. If you fly a lot, I strongly encourage you to book your flights with the same airline. This will help you reach elite staus with one airline a lot quicker. All airline programs are different, so you'll have to check the program rules for the airline you are interested in.

To achieve gold status with American Airlines, you have to fly 25,000 elite qulaifying miles OR 30 airline segments in a calendar year (January - December). 'Elite qualifying miles' means actual miles flown on an airplane. (Although I also have an American Airlines credit card, the points from the credit card go toward a free airline ticket not elite status qualification). A segment is each time an airplane takes off and lands. (So a non-connecting round trip flight would count as two segments.)

You might be wondering what the benefit is. Well, here are some of the benefits (in no particular order):

1) Seat Selection: I'm able to select any seat (except for First Class unless I purchased a First Class ticket) on the plane when I book my ticket. Since I'm tall I like to sit in the exit row for the extra leg room.

2) Boarding the Plane: I'm one of the first people to board the plane after First Class passengers. This means that I don't have to worry about finding room in the overhead compartment. (If you've ever been the last person to board a plane, you know what I mean...there's no place to put you're bag!) Which seagues me to the next benefit...

3) No Baggage Fees: I am able to check 2 bags ABSOLUTELY FREE! This is a savings of $120 round trip. The only thing I carry on is my purse and laptop bag.

4) Flight Check In: Although I typically use the self service kiosk to check in, I have the option of checking in the First Class line. This line is always considerably shorter than the regular line. Which can come in very handy at a really busy airport.

5) Priority Access Line: I have access to the Priority Access Line when going through airport security. Although I live in Dallas and typcially the wait times aren't that long due to the number of security check points, this sline has come in very handy in busy airports (Denver, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta) where the security check in lines can be ridiculous.

6) Complimentary Upgrades: For every 10,000 miles I fly, I receive 4 complimentary 500-mile  upgrade credits. Each upgrade credit is used to fly First Class. So if a flight is 800 miles, I would need to use 2 upgrade credits. A year ago, I purchased a ticket on an overbooked flight, and I received a First Class upgrade without having to use any of my credits...sweet!

These are just some of the benfits that are important to me. Traveling can be stressful enough. Why not have a little help to make it better?

Historic St. Charles

Since my trip to the St. Louis area is short, I decided to make the most of it and venture out on my second day there. The front desk representative at my hotel recommended walking Main Street in the historical area of St. Charles, so I thought "Why not?". Well...the first reason should have been because it had been a little rainy that day, and the second reason was that my newly coiffed curls were going to get damp and fall. But determined to do something, I set out for St. Charles.

And am I glad that I did! 

Once I reached the cobble stoned streets lined with beautiful historical homes and buildings filled with unique shopping, I knew I was in for a treat! I parked at one end of the 19 block area and decided that I would walk (or shop!) my way up and down the street.  

It didn't take long before I came across this cute little shop, I Am What I Am:

The store is owned by one person, although it has a collection of unique items created by local artists that are sold in the store. (If I even had a creative bone in my body, this place would have certainly given me LOTS of ideas!) The best thing about this store is that I was able to find a Christmas gift for someone. (And yes, I DO shop for people other than myself!). This year I am determined to purchase more thoughtful gifts for people other than the simple option of gift cards. (Although I love to receive a gift cards!)

As I continued walking, I quickly realized that I couldn't stop into every store due to my urge to want to purchase items! But I couldn't help but go into Di Olivas, a olive and vinegar emporium:

I had heard of this type of store previously, but never knew exactly what it was. Basically it is a store that sells high quality extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) and balsamic vinegars. Before even tasting one, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the store.

 

Fortunately there was an extremely nice salesperson to walk me through the process of trying different oils, vinegars and mixing the combinations together. (And thankfully consuming 2 tablespoons of good oil is on the Weight Watchers plan!) I ended up purchasing a butter flavored EVOO (yummy!) which the sales person said some WW members purchase it to spritz on their air popped popcorn; it also will be amazing to drizzle on baked fish. This way I am getting the taste of butter, but with the healthy, good for me oils that I should have. I also purchased a cranberry-pear balsamic vinegar (tart, yet a hint of sweetness) to spritz on my salads. I will also visit their website to order some gifts for other people for the holidays because this is GREAT stuff!

Although the day was a bit chilly (and I quickly lost my curls), it was still a great day to be out and walk about. Before I knew it, I had spent 3 hours walking in and out of shops, and I hadn't really stopped at all of the stores I wanted to!

There are lots of restaurants, some with very hip, cool and inviting outdoor seating areas that I am certain must stay busy in the spring and summer months.

So if you are ever in the St. Louis area, it's definitely worth it to make the drive to historic St. Charles!

On the Road to...

St. Louis!

Although I'm not quite ready to return to work, I have to admit that I am looking forward to traveling to the St. Louis area. Mainly because I've never been there before and I always like to travel to places I've never been.

With my job, it's possible that I could travel on any day of the week. Although today is Saturday, I love to take Saturday flights. Depending on where I am traveling to and from, Saturday flights tend to be less crowded. Business travelers typically travel the most on Sunday, Monday or Friday; and people traveling for pleasure typically travel before the weekend to get to their destination.

My flight today was no exception - thankfully plenty of empty seats (no one likes to sit cramped up next to someone else) and I had an entire exit row to myself! I love to get an exit row seat due to the extra leg room (I'm 5' 7"). And just in case there is an emergency, I always say a short prayer before each flight that everything goes well so I won't have to be responsible for the exit row door in the event of an emergency. (I also like to think that a kind gentleman will be more than willing to assist me with this responsibility if needed)

This morning as my flight left the gate, we quickly returned to the gate due to a problem with one of the instruments. The pilot was very kind to keep us updated throughout the process. Although an hour after returning to the gate an announcement was made that the plane was 'out of service' and we would need to deplane. By time we deplaned, another plane had been located for us just a few gates away. After waiting another 30 minutes, we were able to board. Only to get on the second plane to be told that there was an auxiliary unit that wasn't working properly. So after another hour on a plane we were finally off into the clear blue ski. Even after the 3 hour delay, I still stand by Saturday being a great day to fly!

The morale of the story is to make certain you bring things to keep you busy when traveling, like reading material, your iPod, or some type of electronic device (I guess kids can be entertaining too depending on their age). Unfortunately there was a problem with the Nook app on my iPad to read the books I recently purchased and downloaded. Fortunately I found out Citi/Advantage Card was offering 30 free minutes of Internet access, which allowed me time to reinstall the app and download the books again. Problem solved! This little nugget of info was only learned after checking my email during one of the delays. So see, some good can come from subscribing to emails from the airlines that you frequent.

Don't forget to check back to see what I figured out to do (in additon to working) while in St. Louis. And if you've ever been to St. Louis or the surrounding area, please feel free to recommend some things for me to do!

T.G.I.F.

I'm certain that you are pretty glad that today is Friday! Possibly the end of a short week (if you had this past Monday off for Dr. Martin Luther King Day) or a long week if you had to work everyday. Seems like everyone looks forward to Friday no matter what!

For me, today means the end of staying home and being a lady of leisure. (No more sleeping in, staying up late, or wearing my PJ's all day) Duty calls and my next work assignment begins tomorrow. Be sure to check back to see where I land!

Since I travel for my company a new aspect of my blog will be me posting about the places I travel too and what that area has to offer. (Don't worry, they don't send me anyplace too exotic!)And if you've ever been to the same area, hopefully you can point me in the direction of some cool things to do while I'm there!

Well, my bags are packed and it's time to say goodnight!