Monday, June 30, 2008

Vacation

I'm back from Chicago. It was certainly an adventure. David and I did enjoy ourselves at the zoo and aquarium. As always, the Beluga Whales at the Shedd were my favorite critters.

The traffic, well, that was another story! Taste of Chicago and a Cubs game were in full force when we decided to venture out of Schaumberg and into Chicago. Several of the roads that map quest said we should use were closed.

Overall, it was a fun trip and pretty inexpensive. We did this trip on the cheap by agreeing to attend a sales presentation for Star Vacation Club. Before I went, I googled this organization. I read many awful things and I was fully ready to have some sort of scam attempt occur. We were promised the following things for agreeing to the presentation (a) hotel stay for one night at a holiday inn, (b) reimbursement for up to 25.00 at a restaurant, and (c) reimbursement for up to 50.00 in gas. I will mail in my receipts tomorrow and we'll see how long the reimbursement takes. I was immediately presented with our hotel coupon and that worked out just fine.

We, of course, declined to join the vacation club, but were given our "rewards" just the same. The whole thing went just fine. I have to say, however, I did not see any sort of scam going on. The group was very up front. "Yes, this IS a sales presentation." "Yes, we do want you to buy." They did not pressure us and did take "no" for an answer. That being said, if you are a person who REALLY likes to travel this would be a very good thing for you. The trips and vacations they can offer are VERY inexpensive and they will match prices--so if you find it cheaper they will match it.

David and I are going to Florida and the Bahamas next year. Had we not placed a deposit on our trip, this would have been a VERY good way for us to choose to travel.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm so glad you posted this! We were offered this kind of "vacation package" several times, but I always get freaked out and think I'm going to get scammed and screwed over royally. I'm glad to hear a firsthand account from someone who has actually been to one of these. Very cool.

Razzle said...

Glad you liked your trip to Chicago! I know, the traffic is nuts right now with the Taste of Chicago and various other festivals going on. The Shedd Aquarium is fantastic, and you can't beat the price of the Lincoln Park Zoo! :) I hope you get all your rebates back! It sounds like that organization was pretty upfront, so I'm sure it will all work out fine. What a smart way to travel!

Rachie-Babe said...

C--we're actually doing the same thing for our trip to the Bahamas. It is a timeshare presentation and we know that going in. We're going to find it very interesting now that we attended the Star Vacation Club presentation. I'm looking forward to it because I'm armed with all this information. ;-) It should be fun!!!

Razzle--Yes--the Zoo is STILL free! I love that place. I enjoyed the trip--it was much needed. I contacted three people before leaving--I was hoping that I was going to get to adopt a hedgie on my way home, but it just didn't work out. All three turned out to either have changed their mind or sold to someone else. I guess when it's meant to be it will happen.