Author Archives: simply three cents

December 3, 2011

Cyber Monday Winners and Losers

By simply three cents

Cyber Monday is the online shopping equivalent of Black Friday. Since I am not a fan of crowds and early morning wake ups and there’s nothing I absolutely must have, I did not feel any urge to go shopping on Black Friday.

But of course I wanted to check out the deals offered from my favorite retailers on Cyber Monday from the comfort of my computer. I was bombarded with emails promising big savings and my Facebook feed was overloaded by retailers trying to entice me to check out their wares.

I only checked out stores I like but even then there’s bound to be some winners and some losers. Here’s my recap.

Winners 🙂

Magellans

This amazing travel store offered an amazing deal. If you spend over $50, you get free shipping. If you spend over $100, get 20% off your total purchase. I had no problem spending $100. In my excitement, I goofed and ordered two things in the same color. Instead of calling and editing with a person who would probably be overwhelmed, I just redid the order, called customer service and asked them to cancel the first, which they happily did, and since I did it quickly, my card doesn’t even get charged twice.

A+

Stash tea

Long a favorite online site of mine, Stash had a very small discount on a tea set I have had my eye on for a while. It wasn’t the greatest ‘deal’ but I got suckered in by the site and also added a full price item to my order. You dangled free shipping, and voila, an order was placed. 

A

Ebags

Another favorite of mine and a customer service superstar. The PacSafe I had been eyeing was discounted 25% with free shipping. I must have been so excited that I accidentally clicked ‘place order’ twice. One simple phone call, not a long wait, and just one PacSafe is en route.

A+

Losers 😦

Ann Taylor Loft

Oh Loft. Poor poor Loft. Your site went down…on Cyber Monday. In fact your site goes down every.single.time. there is a sale. You kept adding fuel to the fire by posting images of clothes (that people couldn’t buy) on Facebook, which only enraged your customers.

Your day was like a train wreck and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I was so intrigued that I monitored your Facebook feed throughout the day and boy, are people passionate about their clothes. 

Your online shopping site is normally annoying because you can only click on one item at a time instead of opening different pages to shop more easily. It was especially annoying on Cyber Monday because the site was slow and at some times failing to load properly.

Also, the way you manage your online inventory is problematic because you are usually only left with sizes 0, 2, 16 and 18, which leaves out the rest of us who fall somewhere in the middle.

On my way home I even stopped at your store in Times Square (G-d help me) because I wanted to pick up another pair of your Marisa petite black pants that I love. The store was insane (probably filled with the people who couldn’t get online) and I get easily frustrated with shopping anyway so I gave up and left empty handed.

I also realized that even with your 50% off sale, the pants were still a whopping $20 more than I paid when I paid ‘full price’ and a 20% coupon a mere month ago. Raising your prices to ‘discount’ them? Fail.

You need a new server, a new social media team and a new e-tailer strategy. And know that your customers are smarter than you think.

Loft, I will continue to shop with you because your petite pants fit me perfectly without a visit to the tailor but I will not waste any more of my time on your website. 

F (and I still don’t have a second pair of the Marisa pant)

Converse

Oh Converse, I’m already a huge fan with my off-white high-top and grey low-top Chucks. I wanted (note: not needed) another pair of low-tops and a pair of slip-ons. I think you may have raised your prices, to say that there was a sale. I don’t recall Chucks being $55.

So if you were raising prices to discount them, that’s a no no. Your free shipping offer was nice but I think you normally have free shipping offers on regular shopping days so I declined to place an order.

Like I said, I don’t need another two pairs of Converse, I merely wanted them. And if you’re upping the price so you can reduce it to still more than the normal price, well I can wait.

D

Pottery Barn

You and your no coupon policy annoys the crap out of me.  The item I want, two of them actually, are $79 each. I was willing to spend the money had you offered me a coupon so I could feel like I wasn’t paying your inflated full price. 

I commend you because you FINALLY offered free shipping (because this item is only available online) but I can wait you out Pottery Barn. I’ve had my eye on this for months. I’m sure it will be discontinued soon. But I will take my chances and I will wait.

D

Recap — To my winners, you rock and I will always be loyal. To my losers, I still love your products, but you failed on Cyber Monday, in my opinion. I have not received anything yet, so hopefully my three orders (from the winners) will arrive on time and intact. I am hopeful.

For the record, free shipping is the cost of entry for Cyber Monday so that should be a given.

Readers — Did you encounter any winners and losers in your shopping excursions on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday or in the weekend between? Share your story in the comments below.

Leave a comment | posted in shopping

December 2, 2011

Where I Have Been

By simply three cents

While this may not include every single small town I have set foot in, I would say this is a pretty exhaustive list for my travels up to this point.

I also realize that I am severely lacking travels in Asia, Africa and Australia, as in none. That’s what a wish list is for 😉

Travels

EUROPE                                                                   

England: Bath, Cambridge, Isle of Wight, Leeds, London, Salisbury, Wiltshire

France: Paris

Belgium: Brussels, Bruges

Italy: Rome, Milan, Sienna, Tuscany, Greve in Chianti, San Gimignano, Florence, Fiesole, Bologna, Venice, Brescia

Scotland: Edinburgh

Netherlands: Amsterdam

Ireland: Dublin, Galway, Killarney, Cork, Limerick

Spain: Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Grenada, Malaga, Marbella, Puerto Banús

Switzerland: Zurich, Lucerne

Denmark: Copenhagen

Croatia: Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Plitvice Lakes, Zagreb  

Bosnia-Hercegovina: Mostar

SOUTH AMERICA                                                     

Argentina: Buenos Aires, El Calafate, Tigre, Ushuaia, Martillo Island, Beagle Channel

CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN       

Bahamas: Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

St. Thomas

St. Martin/St. Maarten

Puerto Rico: San Juan, Fajardo, Culebra, Culebrita

Costa Rica: Alajuela, Arenal, Monteverde, San Jose

St. Lucia: Gros Islet, Rodney Bay

NORTH AMERICA

Canada:  Niagara Falls, Toronto, Vancouver

Mexico:  Cancun

United States:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Washington D.C.

I’ve only seen the Airport:
Detroit, Frankfurt, Houston

1 Comment | posted in in and around the world

December 1, 2011

Day 335

By simply three cents

Entering the last month of my year-long challenge to myself. Wow.

It started as a New Year’s resolution to get myself doing what I love, writing. And it worked.

I can’t believe it. Only 31 days left.

Just wanted to say thanks for following along. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing.

Leave a comment | posted in introduction

November 30, 2011

2012 Ticket #indie30

By simply three cents

Today is the final prompt of the BootsnAll indie writing project.

Where are you going in 2012?  Why is that place great for indie travelers?  

Somewhere cool.

Stay tuned.

Leave a comment | posted in travel, wanderlust

November 29, 2011

One Word #indie30

By simply three cents

One word is the 29th prompt of BootsnAll’s indie travel writing project.

What does travel mean to you in one word?

I couldn’t have written this any better. Take a read at what Adam Seper says. I concur.

Leave a comment | posted in observations, things that make me smile

November 28, 2011

Love affair #indie30

By simply three cents

Love affair is the 21st prompt of the month-long BootsnAll indie writing project.

When we travel, our senses are heightened. We feel more alive and we’re more free to do things we might not at home. We can be who we want. There’s an air of urgency to everything we do – we know our time here, in this place, and with these people, is limited. If we want to do something, we have to do it now. It’s no wonder then that many travelers have relationships on the road. Tell us about a “special someone” you met while traveling. 

My love affair on the road is with the city of London.

It was my first time crossing the pond, and I was moving there. For six months. As soon as I arrived, I had fallen in love.

I knew my time was limited and I wanted to experience as much as I could. So I did.

I loved everything about the city. I loved Trafalgar Square, I loved trying to figure out the A to Zed maps, I loved seeing the little schoolgirls walk two by two in their school uniforms on their way to school in the morning, I loved the history. I loved the accents. I loved the pizza place on the corner of my street that would invite me in, pour me wine while I waited for an order I hadn’t even placed. I loved the Crunchy candy that you could find in the vending machines in the tube stations. I loved walking in the spitting rain. I loved going to pubs and I loved eating crisps in lieu of dinner. I loved jacket potatoes (remember, I was broke). 

I loved the National Portrait Gallery. I loved the Tate Modern. I loved crossing the Thames every day from my flat in Battersea. I loved buying a monthly pass because it meant that I lived there. I loved Covent Garden. I loved peeping into the open windows of beautiful flats in Notting Hill on my way to work in Holland Park. I loved walking on Oxford Street pretending to be able to afford the clothes inside the shops.

I loved the proximity to the continent. I loved riding in black cabs. I loved meeting new people and making new friends. I loved that I learned to bartend and I love that I was unemployed. I loved that I handed out flyers on the street (now I loved that, not so much when I had to do it) and I loved that I found a job with wonderful people who helped me explore the city I loved. I loved London.

Now that I’m a worn-down exhausted city-dweller, I wonder if I would still love London. Me thinks yes.

“No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” — Samuel Johnson

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in things that make me smile

November 27, 2011

Home #indie30

By simply three cents

Home is the thirteenth prompt of the BootsnAll indie writing project.

For some people, no matter how much they love traveling, there’s always no place like home. Other travelers make their homes wherever they happen to be. Tell us about your home – where is it and why do you consider it your home? 

This is an easy answer. Home is where my toiletries are in containers larger than 3 ounces.

Leave a comment | posted in things that make me smile

November 26, 2011

Transit #indie30

By simply three cents

Transit is prompt 22 of the November BootsnAll indie writing project.

How’s this: NYC subway –> AirTrain –> plane –> bus –> train –> bus –> rental car –> Siena, Italy

I had found a great deal – JFK to Milan for the boyfriend and I. Our southernmost destination was going to be the Tuscan countryside. The nearest airport was Florence. Second closest was Rome. Oops. Or not.

We had left late afternoon from Midtown Manhattan. We took the subway to the Air Train to catch our Milan bound flight.

Once we arrived in Milan on our overnight flight (keep in mind the boyfriend doesn’t do well on overnight flights), we had to jump on a bus that would take us to the train station where we would catch a train to Florence.

The train ride from Milan to Florence was just shy of three hours, and when we arrived in Florence, we actually had to get on another bus to go to the airport to pick up our rental car.

Then we had to drive (keep in mind I don’t drive stick) to the Tuscan countryside.

We were checked in late afternoon. We walked around Sienna and had decided to head back to the hotel to eat at the restaurant in the basement. Sounds gross, but it was a Tuscan basement with cafe tables and cobblestone walls. The meal was delicious and the proximity of the bed we were to crash in was well well worth it.

In case you got lost on all the modes of transport, here it is:

NYC subway –> AirTrain –> plane to Milan –> bus to Milan train station –> train to Florence –> bus to Florence airport –> rental car –> Siena, Italy

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in air travel, train travel, travelogues

November 25, 2011

Budget #indie30

By simply three cents

Budget is the 18th prompt of the BootsnAll indie writing project.

Every traveler has a budget; for some it just might be higher of lower than for others What’s your style? What do you spend very little on and what are you always willing to pay more for?

I’m willing to splurge on experiences. After all, what’s the point of being somewhere if you can’t take it all in?

Sleep = bed and breakfasts keep the cost low, and get you more immersed in the local life.

Food = eating in markets, or restaurants that locals frequent are usually much cheaper, and better, than tourist places, or places with menus in many languages, or in key tourist locations.

Experiences = and well worth the splurges.

Leave a comment | posted in tips, travel

November 24, 2011

Along for the ride

By simply three cents

“We all like to think that we have some control over the events in our lives, and a lot of the time we can fool ourselves into thinking that we really are in charge. But then something happens to remind us that the world runs by its own rules and not ours and that we’re just along for the ride.” – Taken (Sci-Fi movie)

Be thankful for what you’ve done, where you’ve been and where you are going this Thanksgiving.

Leave a comment | posted in holidays