All About Our Trip...

Our vacation was an experience we will never forget. We wanted to make it special because it's our last vacation with just Sam. The next time we take a trip like that we'll have Andy with us too. We wanted this trip to be extra special so that we would have this memory of taking Sam to Disneyland for the first time. It was also my first trip as a travel writer. Maybe I should explain for those of you that don't know what a travel writer is.

Travel writers write stories about vacations, cruises, restaurants...anything having to do with the tourism industry. Public relations professionals from all over the world try to recruit travel writers to write about their destination usually by giving them free trips, meals and other perks. Becoming a reputable travel writer is extremely hard. Many so called travel writers have burned bridges with PR people for pretending to be interested in writing a story but instead only doing it for the free stuff. As you can imagine, businesses and PR people have to be very careful when trusting a self-proclaimed travel writer. My situation is a bit different. Because I've been in the travel industry for over 10 years, I know all of the dos and don't. In addition, I have a travel column I write monthly for two Naval newspapers. I focus on discounts and special deals given to the military such as discounted hotel rates, meal discounts, free tickets to amusement parks...and so on. With that explained, let me tell you about our trip:

First of all, our only expense was our airfare. Our five nights hotel, our tickets to Disneyland, Universal, and Knott's Berry Farm (for 4) and our meals were all free. Once again, a perk of being a travel writer. In exchange for these gifts, I committed to write stories about their destinations in my newspapers. A good deal for the people giving me the free stuff because written text is worth twice as much as ad space. If they were to by an ad in either of my newspapers it would cost them about $250 or more. Their free gift to me is worth less than that and yet they get something better than an ad - they get a recommendation by word of mouth which in the travel industry is EVERYTHING!

So anyway, we arrived in Anaheim Wednesday and stayed at a beautiful new hotel by Disneyland called the Sheraton Garden Grove. We were given a beautiful room on the club level (meaning breakfast and snacks throughout the day were available for free in the club level lounge). Wednesday night we were invited to a bowling alley called "300 bowling". It's a new kind of bowling alley geared towards adults. It has loud music videos playing on IMAX style screens. You are also offered a gourmet style menu while bowling. It was wonderful! The food was fantastic and bowling to 80's music videos was a blast! Sam really enjoyed it.

Thursday, we spent the morning at Disneyland. It was so much fun to see Sam look overwhelmed with everything around him. We took a break from Disneyland to go to lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp House. We had been invited by the management to enjoy a great shrimp lunch. It was wonderful. They loved Sam so much they gave him a sweatshirt as a gift from the restaurant. After lunch we took Sam back to the hotel for a nap and then returned to Disneyland later in the afternoon. Thursday night we left the park to have dinner at Catel Restaurant at Downtown Disney. It's a 4 star restaurant that is out of this world. The food and the service were excellent. We were treated like VIP's. It was great.

Friday morning we headed back to Disneyland. This time we went to the Disney's California Adventure (Disneyland's new park). We had lunch at Naples at Downtown Disney. It is a fantastic Italian restaurant. Once again, we were treated like VIP's and treated to the best Italian food and pizza I've ever had. It was wonderful! Later that day, we picked up Michael (Ryan's brother) at the Long Beach Airport. He flew in to spend the weekend with us. He arrived in time for our dinner appointment at Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. Once again, we were treated to a fantastic meal and service. That night, we changed hotel and headed to Buena Park (home of Knott's Berry Farm). We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites. They gave us a family suite that consisted of two adjoining rooms. Ryan and Michael got us settled in to the hotel in time for Sam to go to sleep at 8:30pm and then they left to enjoy Disneyland Park until 1am. They had a great time.

Saturday was the day to do Knott's Berry Farm. Saturday morning, the PR director for Buena Park took mom, Sam and I to breakfast while the boys watched the Texas game and waited for the park to open. At 10 am, it was time to go to Knott's. At this point, I had over done it physically so I stayed in the hotel with Mom and Sam for the morning while Michael and Ryan went to the Knott's. By noon, Ryan called that he was very disappointed with Knott's Berry Farm and wanted to call it a day. He didn't care to spend any more time there and didn't think I would enjoy it at all. So mom, Sam and I went to pick up him and Michael, and we all went to lunch at the Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant (our only meal of the trip that wasn't free). After lunch, Michael and Ryan bought an extra ticket to Disneyland and decided to spend the day at Disney. I decided to spend the day recovering in bed. The trip, mixed with my pregnancy, had been hard on me so I needed the rest. That night, Michael, Ryan and I were treated to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure in Buena Park. Mom and Sam stayed at the hotel since it was a late dinner show.

Sunday, it was time for Universal Studios. Once again we changed hotel to be closer to Universal which is about an hour away from Disney. We were invited to stay at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. It was very nice. Upon arriving in Burbank, we check into the hotel and then headed to lunch. We were invited to the Hard Rock Cafe at the Universal City Walk (outside of Universal Studios). We were a bit early for lunch so Mom and Sam walked around City Walk while Michael, Ryan and I headed to the Universal gate to pick up our free VIP passes to Universal. While in line at the VIP window, we stood in line next to Neil Patrick Harris (better known as Doogie Houser!). He was so cute in person (but quite petite). That made my day! After picking up our tickets (and finding out they gave us front of the line passes which meant we would hop right on to any ride without having to stand in line all day!), we headed back to City Walk to have lunch. Our lunch at the Hard Rock was very enjoyable. We enjoyed the music, the food and once again being treated like VIP's. After lunch, Mom and Sam headed back to the hotel for a nap and Ryan, Michael and I headed to Universal. After about three hours (since they didn't have to stand in line for anything), Michael and Ryan were done with Universal. They had ridden most rides twice. I just walked around and enjoyed the shops (and looked for Doogie Houser). We headed back to the hotel so Michael could get ready for his flight home. The hotel treated us all to dinner that night and then Ryan drove Michael to the airport.

Monday morning Ryan, Mom, Sam and I headed to Anaheim to shop at Downtown Disney. Our flight was not until 3:30pm so we had all morning. We shopped then went to Tortilla Jo's at Downtown Disney for our last free, VIP experience. It was my favorite of all our meals. It was fantastic! They brought out samples of different foods and have some of the best homemade corn tortillas ever! Their salsa(s) were wonderful and the food was divine! It was a perfect way to end our trip! Afterwards we headed to the airport and flew home.

As you can see, we truly had an adventure we will never forget (and gained at least five pounds in the process!). We were very fortunate to have such an extravagant trip for only the cost of airfare (and spending money). It is a memory I will treasure forever!