Over the years, I have been fortunate to see many, many Springsteen shows. My most recent trip was to Atlanta and Greensboro; they were great shows. Often I am asked how I can afford to see all the shows I see and the key is to minimize the costs.
The tickets are pretty much a set cost, but traveling there and hotel costs are easily minimized with some thought and some experience with some online apps.
Car Rental
You may be asking yourself, "Why would I need to rent a car when I already have one?"
My SUV gets 21 miles to the gallon on the highway. My rental got 37.7 miles to the gallon for a Toyota Yaris. I drove a total of 1324 miles from Louisville to Atlanta to Greensboro and back to Louisville.
In my SUV, that would have taken 1324 (miles) / 21 (miles/gallon) = 63 gallons of gas.
In my rental, it was 1324 (miles) / 37.7 (miles/gallon) = 35.1 gallons of gas.
Gas costs along the way ranged from $3.56 to $3.95. Average was about $3.77.
Cost in my SUV would have been $237.51.
Cost in the rental was $131.95.
Thus, the key is to get a rental for cheaper than ($237.51 - $131.95), or $105.56. If you opt for the insurance for the rental, be sure to include that into your cost-benefit analysis.
We got our rental for $74.00 for 4 days.
It was a great price. Plus I did not put 1324 miles on my car! Using the IRS designated rate of 55.5 cents per mile, that represents a quasi cost of $734.83 that I don't feel indirectly on my car.
It was also timely as when I pulled in to get the rental, I kid you not, my check engine light came on!
When traveling by a car, you can easily minimize the cost with Hotwire.com in aquiring a rental. My experience is to wait until the two weeks leading up to the show. You can get the 4 cylinder high mileage cars for $14.00 to $16.00 per day plus all the taxes they heap on you.
Having a travel companion always helps as well to cut this cost in half.
Hotel
Priceline has been a godsend for me. With Priceline, I have gotten 4 star (their designation) rooms in Boston for $65.00. That was even during May when about 8 colleges had graduations going on. The regular price for that room would have been $324.00 as I recall.
We got the rooms in Atlanta at the downtown Hilton for $55.00 using Priceline. Parking at the hotel was $21.00 for the night, but we were walking distance to the arena and did not have to pay $10.00 at the venue.
To create a strategy for Priceline, I would advise you become familiar with BiddingForTravel.com. It is a site where folks share their winning bids for the various hotels in every city throughout the country. It also has strategies for hitting certain areas and certain star rated hotels. It's here where you can save the most money for your trip.
Our Greensboro room was $50.00 each (plus all the taxes) and it included a free continental breakfast.
If you desire to save more money, you can go for lower than a 2 1/2 star hotel.
You can do this for more than just Springsteen, of course. There are lots of bands that have big fan followings that can use these two strategies.
If you chose to split a room, it halves the cost. I chose not to, so all my savings come just from the Priceline savings.
Airlines
Yes, I have flown for shows (Boston, Fargo, Orlando, Memphis.) Using Priceline is tricky though as they can pick your flight and time for you. Use Priceline cautiously unless you plan on arriving a day before the show.
To have more control over the time, I have used Southwest's site, Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. Check the option for neaby airports as well. When I lived in Marysville, Ohio, I was almost directly between Columbus and Dayton's airports. Cincinnati was 2 1/2 hours away. Consider the cost of gas and parking when determining the cheapest overall price plus what you consider the cost of your time to travel an extra hour or two.
Risks, in general
Priceline and Hotwire are non-refundable.
Read that again and say it out loud so you realize this.
At one time, Hotwire did allow you to cancel reservations without paying.
If a show gets canceled, you eat those costs. When Danny Federici died, I had tickets to three shows in Florida, hotel rooms in Orlando and Tampa waiting and the cost of my airline ticket I ate. I was lucky though to have family to stay with and was able to spend a 6 day vacation in Ft. Lauderdale and see my nieces and nephews.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Shame on you Sherrie Holmes
I moved back to my hometown a couple years back and I have honestly not gotten out as much as I would like. I really don't know a lot of folks outside of family here as I moved away 22 years ago, so someone clued me in to meetup.com.
I joined and started going out with the Louisville Hiking Club and have enjoyed all those experiences. The hikes introduced me to some of the local trails and it has been a fun experience that I don't get to enjoy as often as I'd like.
Someone mentioned another group to me where the focus was social events for people over 40.
Sherrie Holmes is the moderator of the group and it turns out it has a lot of overlap with the hiking group. On Sunday, I received the following email from Sherrie. This is cut and pasted verbatim.
From: "Sherrie Holmes"
To: Socializers-announce@meetup.com
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 12:23:38 PM
Subject: [Socializers] Gay and Lesbian members......
It is with great apology that I send this email. I am aware that hurt feelings will result in it. Again I apologize in advance. This is not easy for me.
It has been brought to my attention that we have had a few Gay and/or Lesbian's join our group lately. I feel strongly, as do others for keeping this group a Heterosexual group. I don't personally have anything against Gays or Lesbians. I just don't want to send out the wrong message out as to what sort of group we are.
An example of possible issues to come....... We have a group of us women that just dance. We dance with each other. This is done in fun. Personally I have a very difficult time spotting a Lesbian, so I would be the first to dance with one unknowingly. Yes this can be in fun, but it can also send out the wrong message to the other person. This is what I want to prevent before it happens.
With this in mind and other issues, I am asking the one's of you that are Gay/Lesbian to leave the group. I am so sorry. Please know I wish all of you well. I know there are groups out there almost identical to ours that are designed for Gay/Lesbian members. I hope you can find and enjoy these groups.
Again, I cannot apologize enough.
Sherrie Holmes
These were the list of events that I had received invites to before quitting after less than a month:
A bus trip to Keenland
Celebration of St. Patrick's Day at Porter's
A bike ride at the Louisville Rowing Club
Visit Volare (it might be a bar, I don't know)
Dinner at Senor Iguanas
NCAA tournament bracket
A game watch for the Louisville Cardinals basketball game
A wine tasting
Creation of a league softball team
Meetup at Drake's (a bar in St. Matthews)
Bowling
Plans for a Derby party
I guess I don't get why they would change their charter to exclude a group of people for what is described purely as a social group other than fear or hatred. These are all very normal events as far as I can tell.
I guess my time in Ohio has given me a more worldly life experience as I currently have one good friend I know of that is gay and another friend who passed away three years ago from cancer.
Doug was a terrific guy and genuinely the nicest person out of our circle of friends in college. He also was always able to get all the pretty girls to come to the keg parties. :)
And I have been to a lot of Springsteen shows over the years with Chris and spent countless hours on the road driving to those shows. He's also one of the nicest, friendliest people I have ever met.
My purpose here is to call the group out publically and bring attention to this ridiculous situation. Unfortunately I can only call out the moderator Sherrie, as I have no idea who in the group objected.
I know there were a couple others who also objected as I did because I saw their posts on the discussion board before I quit the group.
At the very least, a couple dozen folks who read my blog will know of the group's actions.
I joined and started going out with the Louisville Hiking Club and have enjoyed all those experiences. The hikes introduced me to some of the local trails and it has been a fun experience that I don't get to enjoy as often as I'd like.
Someone mentioned another group to me where the focus was social events for people over 40.
Sherrie Holmes is the moderator of the group and it turns out it has a lot of overlap with the hiking group. On Sunday, I received the following email from Sherrie. This is cut and pasted verbatim.
From: "Sherrie Holmes"
To: Socializers-announce@meetup.com
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 12:23:38 PM
Subject: [Socializers] Gay and Lesbian members......
It is with great apology that I send this email. I am aware that hurt feelings will result in it. Again I apologize in advance. This is not easy for me.
It has been brought to my attention that we have had a few Gay and/or Lesbian's join our group lately. I feel strongly, as do others for keeping this group a Heterosexual group. I don't personally have anything against Gays or Lesbians. I just don't want to send out the wrong message out as to what sort of group we are.
An example of possible issues to come....... We have a group of us women that just dance. We dance with each other. This is done in fun. Personally I have a very difficult time spotting a Lesbian, so I would be the first to dance with one unknowingly. Yes this can be in fun, but it can also send out the wrong message to the other person. This is what I want to prevent before it happens.
With this in mind and other issues, I am asking the one's of you that are Gay/Lesbian to leave the group. I am so sorry. Please know I wish all of you well. I know there are groups out there almost identical to ours that are designed for Gay/Lesbian members. I hope you can find and enjoy these groups.
Again, I cannot apologize enough.
Sherrie Holmes
These were the list of events that I had received invites to before quitting after less than a month:
A bus trip to Keenland
Celebration of St. Patrick's Day at Porter's
A bike ride at the Louisville Rowing Club
Visit Volare (it might be a bar, I don't know)
Dinner at Senor Iguanas
NCAA tournament bracket
A game watch for the Louisville Cardinals basketball game
A wine tasting
Creation of a league softball team
Meetup at Drake's (a bar in St. Matthews)
Bowling
Plans for a Derby party
I guess I don't get why they would change their charter to exclude a group of people for what is described purely as a social group other than fear or hatred. These are all very normal events as far as I can tell.
I guess my time in Ohio has given me a more worldly life experience as I currently have one good friend I know of that is gay and another friend who passed away three years ago from cancer.
Doug was a terrific guy and genuinely the nicest person out of our circle of friends in college. He also was always able to get all the pretty girls to come to the keg parties. :)
And I have been to a lot of Springsteen shows over the years with Chris and spent countless hours on the road driving to those shows. He's also one of the nicest, friendliest people I have ever met.
My purpose here is to call the group out publically and bring attention to this ridiculous situation. Unfortunately I can only call out the moderator Sherrie, as I have no idea who in the group objected.
I know there were a couple others who also objected as I did because I saw their posts on the discussion board before I quit the group.
At the very least, a couple dozen folks who read my blog will know of the group's actions.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Davy Jones
I've been sort of busy lately and haven't had any great stories to share. The only stories I have to share are from work and I don't blog about work, although I think our IT department would make for a great reality show.
Anyways, the end of February brought the death of Davy Jones. I liked The Monkees back in high school when they had their revival in the late 80s.
My friend Leo wrote a story after Davy's death about his meeting Davy back in 1967. I asked him if I could share it and he said that was fine with him.
***
By Leo Munter
It had to be about 1967, and the Monkees were huge. I, was not.
But it was a beautiful day in LA and I was hitchhiking* along Sunset Blvd on my way to my uncle's house in Beverly Hills.
(* Hitchhiking: The most common mode of transportation for young people in the late 60’s. You would stand by the side of the road with your thumb out and very quickly be picked up by someone going towards where you wanted to go. It was usually very quick. Doing it you could make friends, get stoned, get laid, and often end up going to someplace totally different than where you had intended. It was wonderful and I miss it’s passing.)
So I hadn’t been there long when a brand new, red, GTO convertible pulled up. Impressed (you usually got some funky van or VW) I ran over and got it. Who should be driving, but Davy Jones!!!
He was as cool and nice and friendly as was possible. We chatted about innocuous stuff and enjoyed dawdling along Sunset on a beautiful day in an iconic car. It was so cool.
All too soon we got to Palm Drive and I said he could let me out at the corner. He said, “Nah. Where are you headed?” I pointed down Palm and he said, “I’ll take you.” I pointed out the house and he pulled into the driveway. I gushed my profuse thanks, opened the door, and had half gotten out when I turned back around and stopped.
“You know what’s gonna happen here, right? I’m gonna go inside and tell them I was just picked up by Davy Jones [acknowledging who he was for the first time because I was so cool]. They are gonna not believe me and it’ll die there, a story of frustration.
I wonder, would it be possible, if you might, just come inside with me for a moment?”
“Sure!”, said Davy Jones.
So we walked around to the kitchen/side entrance with him about 5 feet behind me. I think my aunt and a couple cousins were hanging around. I went in first saying, “You won’t believe what just happened! I was just picked up by Davy Jones along Sunset and he brought me right to the house!!!
They of course didn’t believe me and started to protest, when Davy walked in on cue, settled the matter, and blew their minds!
A totally great moment!!
RIP Davy. A very cool guy.
Anyways, the end of February brought the death of Davy Jones. I liked The Monkees back in high school when they had their revival in the late 80s.
My friend Leo wrote a story after Davy's death about his meeting Davy back in 1967. I asked him if I could share it and he said that was fine with him.
***
By Leo Munter
It had to be about 1967, and the Monkees were huge. I, was not.
But it was a beautiful day in LA and I was hitchhiking* along Sunset Blvd on my way to my uncle's house in Beverly Hills.
(* Hitchhiking: The most common mode of transportation for young people in the late 60’s. You would stand by the side of the road with your thumb out and very quickly be picked up by someone going towards where you wanted to go. It was usually very quick. Doing it you could make friends, get stoned, get laid, and often end up going to someplace totally different than where you had intended. It was wonderful and I miss it’s passing.)
So I hadn’t been there long when a brand new, red, GTO convertible pulled up. Impressed (you usually got some funky van or VW) I ran over and got it. Who should be driving, but Davy Jones!!!
He was as cool and nice and friendly as was possible. We chatted about innocuous stuff and enjoyed dawdling along Sunset on a beautiful day in an iconic car. It was so cool.
All too soon we got to Palm Drive and I said he could let me out at the corner. He said, “Nah. Where are you headed?” I pointed down Palm and he said, “I’ll take you.” I pointed out the house and he pulled into the driveway. I gushed my profuse thanks, opened the door, and had half gotten out when I turned back around and stopped.
“You know what’s gonna happen here, right? I’m gonna go inside and tell them I was just picked up by Davy Jones [acknowledging who he was for the first time because I was so cool]. They are gonna not believe me and it’ll die there, a story of frustration.
I wonder, would it be possible, if you might, just come inside with me for a moment?”
“Sure!”, said Davy Jones.
So we walked around to the kitchen/side entrance with him about 5 feet behind me. I think my aunt and a couple cousins were hanging around. I went in first saying, “You won’t believe what just happened! I was just picked up by Davy Jones along Sunset and he brought me right to the house!!!
They of course didn’t believe me and started to protest, when Davy walked in on cue, settled the matter, and blew their minds!
A totally great moment!!
RIP Davy. A very cool guy.
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