Ok, the USA is coming out of its dark covid days now. We seem to be rounding the bend, seem to be headed out of this black tunnel.
Most restaurants are open to fifty pct capacity, movie houses are starting to open to reduced occupancy, hotels are booking up and only restrictions like one elevator per person or family, closed gyms and pools in many hotels and restricted dining venues.
But things are looking up. Biden is working on allowing all those vaccinated to remove their masks !
More people are being called back to work (waitresses and waiters as restaurants open up, for example).
Recently Tammy and I have been doing once a month overnighters just to get out of town. We donât go very far, we have headed for Reno twice and lake tahoe now for two times. Next month thinking of an Yosemite overnighter.
And maybe we will do a day trip. Heard the little tiny town of Murphys is worth visiting for the Main STreet wine tastings and closeness to the Calaveras big trees, a place tammy and i have not yet been.
Just came back from a two niter to lake tahoe. Now that we dont have gendut anymore we can stay in lake tahoe (the hotels there donât take cats, some take dogs, but no cats in lake tahoe hotels).
We donât have a travelling cat anymore (ollie failed to make the grade) . So we have found some new freedoms.
Got the Marriottâs vacation hotel wing for 390 for two nights including 30/night valet parking, free in and out. There is no place to park where that hotel is unless you want to walk ten mins or so so we decided to go for it.
Nice hotel. The pool was big , open and heated but i didnt go swimming.
Its in the main complex in downtown Lake Tahoe where everything is located, right at the heavenly ski lift (which is closed as the season is over). Lots of eating nearby, lots of other hotels. Want to try the Holiday Inn Express across the street next time. Cheaper and parking included.
As i said the Marriott is right where anyone who goes to south lake tahoe will end up. The main entertainment square mile (if even a square mile).
Went to check out a boat ride
Twenty years ago did a boat cruise on the lake on a double decker replica of the old steamboats of the Mississippi. SF bay had them too. 3 hour tours with dinner in 2001 was 80 bucks a head in SF and at lake tahoe was 50/head. Did that once , was pretty awesome. 2 hour cruise until the sun sets then anchoring in Emerald bay (out of the wind) and going downstairs to the dining room for a nice little meal accompanied by half a carafe of wine each. Then back upstairs to a live band and some dancing. Very nice !
I also did a yacht tour once and I believe that was 35/head and came with a couple glasses of wine as well. But I just went below deck and ended up catnapping.
So now circa 2021 decided to take tammy on a boat ride. The paddle steamer apparently burned down during a refurbish but the Safari Rose was still going strong. She is a very old boat from the late fifties plying the waters of the eastern USA and then later doing some local Alaskan cruises. Shes not a big boat, only bout 80feet long so pretty small for ocean going vessels. But 19 years ago she came to Tahoe and shes perfect for the calm waters of Tahoe.
Went up to the kiosk and we only found it because we went to check out a local small restaurant serving Empanadas Argentine style. Called EMPANAS. Was a cute little place and we had a couple of empanadas. I liked them, Tina thought they were too full of meat and she doesnt like to eat meat so it was a "im not in a hurry to come back " for her, but for me was not bad at some 6 bucks a piece.
IN the same little shopping area was the boat ride on the Safari Rose it turns out, theres a little dock there.
Enquired about it and found it was 90/head. HmmmâŚbit too much for yours truly for the 3 hours sunset cruise with NO dinner, only ONE drink.
We walked away and was soon intercepted by another tout. This guy said 'you doing the cruise? I said no, too expensive. He said "how bout the two of you on the cruise for 50 total? " I said whats the catch? He said just attend a 2 hours Time Share in the hotel a minute walk away. âPlus you get a 100 dollar dinner voucher at the Hard Rock Hotel after the cruiseâ. I said we are IN.
Now i was in a time share thingy once and they do their best to get to sign your life away basically.
Never ,âŚNEVER get yourself into a time share.
You canât get out without losing thousands at the very least .
The tout was very thorough. He had to get our drivers licenses, confirm we are USA residents and were over 30 and made decent enough money a year.
WE arrived at the time share place, and it was laid out nicely. Cosy place, big sofas to wait. Then you are assigned a salesman. Who tries to win your confidence with a low key sales approach. They had you for 2 hours contractually so I just basically talked real slow and kept things on a slow boil.
He says after talking extensively about how we took vacations decided that a two week thingy per year was most appropriate for us. WE could visit 400 associated resorts world wide with a simple booking ONLINE for our two weeks a year. VERY EASY he said. And no worriees dont like the time share you can always SELL it.
And apparently we needed 15,000 points and today for the low price of 9.97 a point we could sign up.
WaitâŚthats near 150,000 dollars !! My face went blank. And Tammy was the perfect accomplice as she knew what game we were playing⌠We were playing the game of GETTING AWAY FROM THE TIME SHARE AND GETTING OUR FREEBEES.
She looked bored and I looked Aghast at the 150k.
NOT to worry , NOT to worry my friendâŚTODAY if you sign upâŚjust TODAY, this offer will never be repeated !
You can have this 15,000 point program for only 11,000 and there is a monthly 85/month UPKEEP for the time share. I said Im sorry but i think my Fico is 540 and tammys is 550 (not true, hers is 540 and mine is 550) so he didnt miss a beat and came up with a ânot to worry we have in house financingâ "we are all licensed real estate agents and we finance ".
So what dollar figure are we talking about here?
Well, its only about 220/month for TEN YEARS and the simple 85/month UPKEEPING charge.
I seeâŚuhmâŚlook I said, you look like Tom Cruise and your presentation was flawless and I really think this COULD be a thing in our future butâŚI want to just be able to pay CASH for the 11k and then at that time we can join.
He excuses himself politely âŚand âŚminutes laterâŚan older gentleman takes his place. VERY friendly⌠"im not a closer like Jim wasâŚJim makes money closing deals and all thatâŚme, im retired, i just do this for the fun of HELPING people SAVE on vacations they take anyways. LIke yourselves. YOu mentioned you take about two weeks vacation a year and you spend on hotels alone roughly 3600 dollars !! WE can help you save money and get you RESORTS not hotels for LESS than what you are already payingâŚ
He proceeds to knock the price down from 11k to 9700 and the annual maintenance fee down from circa 1100 to only 795/year.
Very nice ! I said with total convictionâŚBUT we are simply not THERE yet. âWhen will you be THERE?â âoh Im thinking in about 3 yearsâ "what happens in three years ? " âim thinking of retiringâ (not true). âoh i see, excuse meâ
Minutes later we are led to another table where an executive type meets up. The GM or some high ranking potato.
I see mister and missus 525 that you are thinking of doing something in 3 years" âyes yes, three yearsâ âwell how about I do this for you todayâ " i can hold this rate for you for TWO years, upon which time you can make a decision? " âOh, why not, yes please HOLD the rate for me for two years thenâ . "oh and all you need to do is gives us a deposit of 2497 , refundable in two years should you decide otherwise and you can use these funds for the African Safari you mentioned you and the missus will like to do? âAnd as well in addition, there is the week in Paris that was also on your agendaâ âSo its a win winâ âOh, that sounds really great, but really I am unable to come up with those funds at this timeâ. "But we do have inhouse financing? " âYes yes of course, really wonderful of you but we really do need to digest this furtherâ.
At which point we were finally excused and got our vouchers at the front desk !!
Whew.
Apparently 9.7 pct of all Americans are presently locked into a time share !! And the Time share industry in the USA took in 650 BILLION (WITH A B) DOLLARS LAST YEAR from all the time share people paying those montly dues. And a LOT Of people have NEVER used their two weeks or however many weeks they bought.
And when you die, you get to pass on this time share to those you dearly loved (read HATE) so they can perpetuate this income. Its worse then being willed a PARROT.
We got out of there with a reduced cruise price and a voucher for 100 for dinner andâŚthere is a coupon for 4 days at a mexican resort.
The vouchers for dinner were honored at the OYSTER BAR at the hard rock. Where we ate exactly 103 dollars and with tax came out to 110, 100 was vouchered and i gave the 10 plus another 20 for the tips.
The resort is a bit rundown but perhaps serviceable in Puerto Vallarta. But the airfare seems to run about 1000 for the two of us?? ! So IF we decide to use this voucher, we may tack on a few more days at a better and all inclusive resort. This voucher included nothing but accomodations and has about a 200 dollar charge for various whatnots and all that , so its not totally free as in free .
Check out the Mayan Palace by Vidanta in puerto vallarta.
And yes the time share industry could GIVE you the points for free and make all that money just from the annual fees they charge you whether you use the vacation or not. And many are selling theirs for a penny and no takers. So NO you cant get out of it.
(And thereâs no ski patrol there)
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