The old fogeys quest for good cheap travel ideas.

Before we go on, let me just say that this is a long article. Most people would suggest breaking it up into a series, but why? Personally I hate it when people do that. No, really. Let ME decide how much I want to read. If I don't have time to finish, I can come back. If I want to read it all now, well then let me read it all now! I hate it when people make decisions for me. Now that that's out of the way!

I frequently travel to California and stay there a while. I went for a month this past January. I'm also leaving in a couple of weeks for a couple of weeks.

And yes, I've seen this commercial....



It doesn't matter though because I hardly live alone. I have a house full of adults and really BIG dogs. lol! Not to mention an alarm system. Needless to say, I'm not overly concerned with that part.

That said, my biggest problem is packing light. I really REALLY try, but after traveling a lot, I've learned that to be really prepared for what I need to do, I can't pack light. Well, that's not true. I can. I just hate trying to.

My grandmother was queen of the packing world and was simply amazing. She traveled the world and carried one small bag, for her and my grandfather, at all times. This was way back in the 70s when baggage wasn't a big deal too. She carried two outfits, a camera, film and shoes. That's it. That's all she took. She would hand-wash her clothing at night and hang them to dry. She swears that they were dry by morning and then they'd shower and put on the clean clothes.

Back then hotels didn't have hair dryers, irons, microwaves, etc. You had a bathroom, some soap and a bed. Heck, you didn't even have an alarm clock! You had to ask the front desk to call you.

Anyway, as much as I would LOVE to travel like my Granny did, I can't. To begin with, I eat like a 3-year-old. I have large breasts and even if I lean over my plate, my food drops on my boobs. Yes ladies! You with the smaller girls, be happy. You've no idea what a pain in the ass it is. For this reason I have to take several tops. It's that or wear a freaking bib every meal which is NOT going to happen.

An easy, less expensive, grain free, hypoallergenic pill pocket substitute.

I have a dog that is seriously allergic to everything on the planet. I've never had a dog with allergies like hers before, so this has been a lesson that I could write a freaking book on. No kidding.

I think she's also allergic to grass, so that doesn't help. How do you keep a dog off of the grass? Well the simple answer is YOU FREAKING CAN'T!!!

The truth of Baking Soda and Baking Powder in dog foods.

Quickly I wanted to write this up. I've seen websites that warn people that baking soda and baking powder are highly toxic for dogs. The problem is that they're not explaining the whole story.