When I travel it’s usually to Disney World. That’s the only place I’ve been to as a whole family together. And then we use our Disney Vacation Club rental. Recently I did go on a cruise but my mother treated us and she did the reservations. Hubby didn’t come along.

Next summer we’re going to eBay Live in Chicago. It’s going to be held June 19 - 21 at McCormick West Plaza. This will be our first trip together as a family out of state. I went to

to check on the hotel pricing.

This site is very easy to navigate. On the home page I simply typed in “Chicago” and the dates - I added a day before and one after - and clicked. This brought me to a page chock full of hotels in Chicago. I realized I could narrow my search by using the drop-down box that lets you map hotels by landmarks. The only thing that was a bit frustrating was once I got the hotels locked in by the convention center, I couldn’t use the other tools like best value, quality, etc. That just brought me back to the whole list of Chicago hotels.

Each hotel also has an information button where there’s tons photos and details. For someone who will be bringing a child and a scooter and is disABLED I need all the info I can get. I took a look at the Hamptom Inn Chicago Midway Airport. It’s 12 miles from McMormick and is $189/night. There’s a photo gallery of at least 15 photos. You only click once and then just keep moving along the arrows to see the rest of the photos. The description and list of amenities is enough to help you make a decision quickly.

The rates are really good here. I’ve been checking with some eBay groups who are already in the planning stages for Live. They’re looking at sharing rooms to lower the cost. With the rates here we can handle this on our own. I’d even be able to afford it if I was going without hubby and dd.

For next year we’re thinking of driving up to Canada. I checked on hotels in NYC for a stop along the way. The Broadway Plaza is $199/night on Sept. 22 - 24. On another well known site it’s $219. HotelReservations rocks!

Ok now I’m dreaming a lot here. Maybe a trip to Rome. The Grande Hotel Del Gianicolo sounds gorgeous. And it’s only $175/night. Wait is that right? On that other site I’m told there’s no rooms available for December 11 - 20. That darn elf is ruining my vacation!

Since we took our cruise Peanut and Lady Ali are begging for another one. Mom wants to treat again. We’re definitely staying away from the travel agent we used. First it was long waits on the phone and then empty promises. She didn’t get any kind of deal at all we realized too late. I’ll be sure when it comes time to plan our next cruise I’ll do the planning. And I’ll be using HotelReservations. Even though the name doesn’t say it, it has cruse deals, vacation packages, flights, car rentals, condo rentals and some of the best prices I’ve seen around.

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