Starling Travel

I’m a tent camper, but I’ve been obsessed with camping with a trailer lately. I’ve looked at owning a trailer seriously and I can’t justify the expense and difficulty of owning a trailer. No matter how I look at it, tent camping comes out ahead.

Tent Camping is Cheaper

When you take into account the cost of the trailer, the vehicle to tow it, the gasoline to get it there and the increased fees at the campsites, tent camping is MUCH cheaper. I asked Reed what MPG he gets on his truck when he’s towing his trailer and he said 12 miles to the gallon. Compared to the 40 mpg I get with my Prius (fully loaded to the ceiling with camping gear), I can go three times further away for the same money.

Then, there are the charges for the trailer when I’m NOT camping. Unless I could store it on my own property, I’d have to find an RV storage facility. When I checked some storage places near my home, the prices ranged from $50 a month to $150. To store my camping gear, I stuff it in the garage. Even if I needed a storage unit for my camping gear, I could get one for FAR less than that.

Finally, I don’t need to pay license, registration and taxes on my tent, whereas a trailer has those fees in addition to insurance riders. I really can’t see any financial advantage to having a trailer over a tent.

Tent Camping is Interchangeable

When I get sick of my tent, it costs me very little money to trade it out for a different one. If it starts leaking or mold has started growing on it, I can just toss it and buy a new one. If I don’t like my camping stove (or it starts leaking), I can exchange it without having to worry about ripping it out of a permanent fixture. I just leave the old gear at home and take the new gear next time we leave.

With a trailer, changing elements is a difficult task, requiring handiwork and knowledge of electrical, sewer or propane lines. Changing the entire trailer is not only costly, but a giant pain in the butt when it comes time to get rid of the old one. If you thought storing one trailer was expensive, try storing two. Storing two tents, on the other hand, is entirely doable.

Tents Never Flip My Car in the Wind

There is a lot of talk on the trailer forums about how to avoid sway. On windy days, even the best sway control and driving abilities will tip your trailer right over, damaging it, your car and maybe even injuring you. This video shows an RV that was blown over by the wind. The driver wasn’t injured and looks like he was driving slowly and safely, but the wind pushed him over anyway.

Now, a fifth-wheel might have survived that wind gust a little better, but if it didn’t, then the truck AND the trailer would have been on their sides, skidding down the road. My tent in the trunk of my Prius, as heavy as it is, will never catch enough wind to wreck my car.

Black Water Is Black Water

Having a toilet and shower in a trailer might seem like a way to enjoy the comforts of your home, but in the end, you have to deal with the gray and black water tanks. It’s not like at home where the stinky stuff disappears down the drain never to be seen again. With a trailer, you have to empty out every “deposit” you make.

If you have to deal with the unpleasantness of emptying a black water tank, then you can just as easily empty a port-a-potty. The most expensive portable toilet I found on Amazon was just under $150 (Thetford 25112 Porta Potti 365 Level Gauge and Lid Latch with Piston Pump Flush). Emptying a black water tank is no different than emptying a portable toilet. They’re both gross.

Propane Heat is Dangerous

The biggest reason I wanted a trailer is because I thought it would be warmer than my tent. The REASON why it’s warmer, however, is due to propane heat. Propane heaters are the same devices that kill at least one or two hunting parties every year in the mountains of Utah. If I have to worry about carbon monoxide and low oxygen monitors, I’m not going to use the device, so I’ll be freezing in a trailer just as much as I freeze in a tent.

If I have electricity, I can use an electric heater in my Springbar tent and be toasty warm all night long. It’s the electricity hookup at the campsite that makes the difference, not the trailer.

Trailers Don’t Have Generators

I was shocked to learn that trailers don’t come equipped with their own generators. If you want to boondock or camp at a site without electricity, you have to buy a separate generator to power your trailer. I could do that while tent camping just as easily as a trailer can. The trailer doesn’t provide the electricity to charge my cell phone or run an electric heater, the campsite or generator does.

Setting Up A Tent Doesn’t Take As Long As You Think

Another attraction for trailers to me was the thought that I could just pull up and start camping, but disconnecting the trailer from the truck, attaching it to the hookups, opening the slide-outs, leveling it and setting up the awnings can take as long as setting up a tent and camp kitchen. Mike and I have camp setup down to a science and it only takes us about an hour to set up or pack up. I’ve watched many a truck inch forward and back trying to line up correctly with the trailer hitch for longer than that at the campground.

These videos showing the setup procedure for a trailer convinced me that camping in a trailer is ANYTHING but just pulling up and camping.

Compare that video to this video of the setup procedure for my Springbar tent. It’s not filmed in real time, and honestly, pounding in those stakes is what takes MOST of the time, but Mike and I can get our tent up in about fifteen minutes.

Sure, the first time you set up a new piece of equipment, it will take a long time, but every time after that, you gain a little speed. Once Mike and I timed ourselves, we realized that setting up a tent doesn’t take as long as I thought. Ironically, I’ve watched people setting up a trailer take FAR longer than I would have expected.

Setting Up Camp Is Kinda Fun

I know this might sound crazy, but I enjoy getting to a new campsite and deciding where everything is going to go. It’s like I get to decorate my campsite differently every time we go camping. This time, I might put the camp kitchen near the picnic table so I have double the counter space. Next time, we might abandon the picnic table altogether.

I decide where the awning is going to be and how I position my shady area for my chairs. I’m not at the mercy of the floor plan of my trailer. I don’t have to always have my awning on the passenger side of the camper, irregardless of the sunshine. I get to choose where everything goes and it can be different every time.

Does It Count As Camping When You’re in a Trailer?

When I sleep in a tent, I hear every little crunching footstep of the animals outside. When I am cooking at a propane stove on a picnic table, I feel the wind on my face and the chill of the early morning. When I sit by the campfire, I see bats swishing above me, eating all those pesky mosquitoes.

I realize that I could do all those things with a trailer, but would I? If I have a trailer, am I going to sleep in a tent outside just so I can hear all the animals as I fall asleep? If it’s chilly outside, am I going to bring my propane stove out to the picnic table, or am I going to just cook on the stove inside the trailer? Would I even start a campfire when the propane heater in the trailer could keep me so warm?

At some point, it’s no longer camping. It’s just living in a tiny, tiny house. The simplicity of that has an appeal, but it’s completely different than what I get from camping in a tent.

Despite all these reasons that I think tent camping is better than trailer camping, I have to admit that I’m still attracted to owning a trailer. Even building my own teardrop trailer in my garage still sounds appealing, even though I have absolutely no use for it. I can look at it logically, but there is something about the idea of a trailer that attracts me. For now, Mike and I are staying tent campers, but I can’t say that I will always feel the same in the future.

Update 03-31-12: After months of fighting a teardrop trailer obsession and several cold and unsuccessful camping attempts, we have finally bought a trailer. I revisit how teardrop trailer camping compares to tent camping again here:

• Starling Travel: Teardrop American Outbacker: Our Dream Teardrop Trailer

I will provide updates on how camping with the teardrop is different than a tent over the next few months.

Update 01-03-13: After adding a ten year old boy to our family, we couldn’t fit in the teardrop anymore, so we got a cheap tent trailer and our adventures continue. We haul it with our Prius and still get 29 mpg, so we have been very happy with our camper. We literally have the best of both worlds because we have the exact same car as we used to tent camp with, but we have access to the campsites with electricity, so winter camping is WAY warmer than it was in a tent. If RV parks would just let tent campers have electricity at their sites, we probably would still be camping in a tent today, but as it is, the tent trailer has been great.

I love this little cartoon showing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy going camping.

That teardrop trailer is so vast on the inside; it’s like a Tardis!

It has been over two years since my last Delta flight. Mike, Stacey, Dan and I were taking a Christmas flight to California from Salt Lake City, Utah. After a long delay, they finally boarded our plane and we thought we were going to get to California, even if we were more than a couple hours late. Then we sat in the plane. And we sat. And we SAT! Our plane was still at the gate, but the doors were closed and we were not allowed to leave. We waited in that damn plane for FIVE hours before they finally taxied down the runway.

That wasn’t even the end of the story. Because they had waited so long, they couldn’t land at our destination airport because it was CLOSED, so they landed at Orange County and “graciously” offered to bus us to John Wayne Airport. Of course, it was closed, so we wouldn’t have been able to get a cab there to our hotel, so we ended up paying THREE times as much for a cab ride to our hotel in Anaheim.

They offered us some points on our Delta Miles, which turned out to be useless (like all those miles are). They didn’t feed us. They didn’t let us just GET OFF the plane. They barely apologized. In the end, it took us ELEVEN hours from the time we arrived at the SLC airport to the time we got to our hotel. We could have DRIVEN it in that time and Delta did NOTHING to reimburse us.

We haven’t flown Delta since.

This isn’t the first time something like this happened. Here is a famous YouTube video of someone who had a VERY similar experience as ours:

Just watching that video gives me flashbacks. In fact, it became so ubiquitous that 30 Rock wrote a plot line about being trapped on the tarmac. You can actually watch the whole episode on HULU here:

• Hulu – 30 Rock: Double-Edged Sword

I broke into a cold sweat as I watched that episode and when Liz Lemon tried to defend us, I applauded.

You know what? This is WRONG! I can see the terminal from my window, where people are buying new magazines and crossing their legs and eating at a Chili’s Express. We were like them once and we CAN BE AGAIN! We still have our dignity.

Are your passengers just cattle, or are maybe some of them, maybe even just ONE of them, someone you care about?

If this is you doing your job, you’re TERRIBLE at it!

That entire episode left me shellshocked from our experience. It’s nice to know that the Department of Transportation is trying to do SOMETHING to protect us from situations like this. Consumer Reports gives us the information on the new rules that the airlines have to follow.

• New rules to protect airline passengers go into effect Tuesday

Here are the rules to protect you:

• If a U.S. or international flight sits on the tarmac for more than four hours the DOT can impose fines of up to $27,500 per passenger.
• Passengers bumped from an oversold flight must be compensated double the price of the purchased ticket (up to $650), unless the airline gets them to their destination within a few hours. Currently, compensation is equal to the ticket up to $400. If the arrival time of bumped travelers is delayed by more than a few hours it would mean payments of four times the value of a ticket, up to $1,300. Currently, that compensation is capped at $800.
• Airlines must prominently display all fees on their websites, including fees for checked bags, in-flight meals and cancelled reservations.

Had Delta been facing a fine of almost two million dollars for my flight so many years ago, I think they would have cancelled it rather than lock us in that plane for HOURS. The four of us could have retrieved our luggage and driven to California in the same amount of time that they tortured us. Hopefully, these new rules will urge the airlines to treat us more like customers and less like cattle.

Via: Lifehacker: Make Sure You Get Fair Treatment Thanks to the Department of Transportation’s New Air Travel Rules

This summer, many people have forgone their vacation to save money. You might think this was a new phenomenon, but it isn’t. Here is a war poster from World War II, advocating just that.

It reads:

Me travel?

… not THIS summer!

Vacation at home!

Whether you’re staycationing because of financial reasons or to “aid the war effort,” here are a couple of tips to make it a good one.

• Clean your house before your staycation starts:I don’t know about you, but I have trouble relaxing at home when there is clutter, laundry and cleaning to do. Make sure you do all your chores before you start, so that you won’t be tempted to work your way through your off time.

• Turn off the phone and the computer: Part of the fun of vacationing is being isolated from daily life. If your coworkers and in-laws can still pester you with a phone call or email, you won’t feel as refreshed after your week at home.

• Hometown Tourism: Before you would go on a trip, I’m sure you would research activities at your destination. Do the same for your staycation. Make a list of all the museums, tours, excursions and events in your hometown that will be available during your time off and schedule some into your week.

• How do you relax? After thinking about my favorite vacations of the last few years, I’ve realized that I relax by experiencing new things and by giving myself time to read good books. For a staycation to really work for me, I need to plan some new experiences and take the time to just let myself read, whether it’s in the sun or holed up in my room. Think about your favorite trips over the years. What was the best part of the trip? Make sure you schedule that into your staycation.

The idea of a staycation is an old one. The practicality of staying home during your time off work is appealing and can be just as refreshing as travel if you plan for it appropriately. Happy Staycation, Everyone!

Advert via: vintage_ads: Contest Entry

I love this old advertisement for TWA:

It reads:

Las Vegas

Fly TWA

I love how it showcases the two faces of Las Vegas:

• The unrelenting sun and heat that makes you want to spend the entire day in a swimsuit.

• The nightlife and gambling that makes you want to dress up in a sparkly dress.

Just seeing this old advertisement makes me want to hop into the car and spend a few days down in Vegas, despite the 104 degree weather!

Advert via: vintage_ads: CONTEST ENTRY: Las Vegas! Fly TWA

Whenever we fly, there is a new skid mark on our luggage. I always feel a little angry about the damage, but at the same time, I feel amazed that it arrived within thirty minutes of my disembarkation. I am constantly in awe at how airports are able to get my luggage onto my plane, transferred to my second plane and off the plane with as little damage as I see.

Sometimes, your luggage is damaged FAR more than the minor scuffs and scrapes. If it is, here is how to deal with it.

• Inspect your bags BEFORE you leave the airport: It might not be too late if you go home first, but you will have to make a trip back to the airport, so make sure your luggage is fine before you leave.

• Take pictures: Take pictures of the damage to your suitcase and then open your suitcase and inspect the contents. If anything is damaged within the suitcase, photograph it.

• Find the baggage handling service desk: This may be a bigger task than you realize, especially if your flight arrived late at night when the airport is nearly empty. Once you find the desk, you’ll need to show your ticketing information and the damaged luggage to make a claim.

• Damage reports are different for each airline: You’ll need to fill out a damage report, so make sure you are given one for the appropriate airline.

• Wait and then call and then wait and then call: Honestly, these claims take FOREVER to process and getting reimbursed is a lengthy process. Expect to call the airline SEVERAL times in order to find out how your claim is progressing.

In the end, it may not be worth your time to pursue a claim against the airline if your luggage is damaged. I have always just thanked my lucky stars that I arrived at my destination with all of my bags, whether they were intact or not.

After my grandpa died, I scanned in all the photos that we found in his house. Going through them, I found this photograph of my grandmother. Click on it to see full-size.

This was my grandma in her blond phase. I remember as a child, she told me that she had been blond for a while, but she didn’t like it. She looks like a knockout to me, so maybe there was something else about being blond that she didn’t like. I have NO IDEA who the ruffian with the bandaged forehead is. It’s certainly not any of her three husbands.

The photograph isn’t quite as important as the cover it was enclosed in. This is the front:

It reads:

Birdland: Nightly Concerts of Jazz

Broadway and 52nd Street, New York

This is the inside cover:

I knew that my grandmother had traveled greatly over her years, but when I saw this photograph, her life suddenly became an adventure that I had only briefly glimpsed. Birdland Jazz Club was the hip jazz club in New York where all the cool cats played.

• Birdland (jazz club) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It still exists today, if not in the original location.

• Birdland
• Birdland Jazz Club on Google Maps

Knowing that my grandmother was a small part of that historical place makes me happy. How I wish she had told me the story of the night she went to Birdland and who she saw play there.

Michael and I were at the car show last week and we saw this truly awesome truck and camper. Click on it to see it full-sized.

I stepped inside and took a peek at the camper and it was the most efficient little space I had ever seen. I imagined myself going to Yellowstone in the sixties and feeding bears out of the window. Maybe we would have taken it to see Old Faithful.

Motorhomes and trailers today are HUGE. I have never camped in a trailer, but I think that a small one like this might be enough to tempt me.

After seeing this video, I immediately wanted to hop on a plane to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Throughout the entire video, I was trying to figure out which city it was. I had pretty much decided that it must be Austin, Texas, because they were the coolest city I knew with bridges and a population willing to participate in a video like this.

This is a LONG video (over ten minutes), but it is totally worth it right to the very last minute. Give it a watch:

Video via: I’m Not Working Hard Enough – Amazing Video | Nice Photography Magazine – The “Why To” Magazine about Creative Photography and Film Making

Mike and I found this old photo of Las Vegas in an antique store a few months ago.

The caption reads:

Modern Version of the Old West – Las Vegas, Nevada

Vegas Studio

The cars in the photo look like they are from the late Forties or early Fifties. The I can see Hotel Apache and its casino, the Boulder Club, Overland Hotel, Hotel Sal Sagey, The Las Vegas Club, and Boulder Drugs.

Seeing the Boulder Club and Boulder Drugs in this photo, made me think that it wasn’t a photo of Las Vegas at all, but rather Boulder City, Nevada. That city, however, hasn’t allowed gambling since 1932, so it couldn’t be a photo of Boulder.

Adding to the mystery is the handwritten note on the back of the photo:

It reads:

This must be one of the side streets, as main street has neon the full length and full height of the buildings.

So, even the person who sent this picture to a loved one so long ago didn’t recognize which street in Las Vegas it was. I was able to find an old postcard for the Apache Hotel on Flicker, but it didn’t have an address.

Hotel Apache was most definitely in downtown Las Vegas. In fact, in 1932, when it was built, it was the first building with an elevator in Nevada. You can find out more about it here:

• Early Vegas: 1930’s Vegas – Apache Hotel

It appears to have NOTHING to do with the current-day Apache Motel that is on Main Street of Las Vegas. The building is completely different.

To me, the best part of this touristy photograph is the title: Modern Version of the Old West. Eighty years after Hotel Apache was first built, this picture is looking not very modern at all.