MORE SAVINGS- FOOD AND BEVERAGES 1

OUR FIRST MEAL AT HOME IN SLOVENIA. AN APPROPRIATE FOR THE REGION GERMAN SCHNITZEL AND A VERY GOOD LOCAL WINE.

EXTRACTED FROM MY BOOK: MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME. MORE BY CLICKING ON THE COVER PAGE AT THE PICTURE.


WE SAVE BIG ON MEALS FOOD AND BEVERAGE:

The cost of everyday consumables will incur savings compared to other holiday options because you will be living in your own fully furnished home. It is my good fortune to be married to an excellent cook who delights in preparing meals. For my part, I delight in contributing all the necessary products that go into a well-stocked beverage department. Most of the places we have lived also have afforded me the opportunity to buy many fine local wines, often labels not available to the general public in the United States, but easily purchased in the home country. Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia,and even the Guadalupe Valley of Northern Mexico
have all contributed fine local wines to our table and Estonian vodka, Mexican tequila, and Irish whiskey have each contributed their share.

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that we stay at home for every meal. But, living at home without a stressful time schedule to catch a boat, bus,
or plane allows us to pick our restaurants with care, sometimes participating in discounts because we are able to schedule our dining during non-peak periods.
In every country we have stayed, Elysee and I keep a short list of restaurants that, once sampled, demand a repeat visit. We enjoy fine dining as much as anyone,
but on our terms. A second key factor on food and beverage is the opportunity to include local products in the meals.

Everywhere we have stayed fresh, locally grown food
products have made their way to our dining table. For
someone such as Elysee, who enjoys the adventure
of cooking, the opportunity to include local fresh
products is exciting.

Some examples are:

IRELAND: Mackerel fresh from the Irish Sea, lamb,
beef, and kidneys from the village abattoir, and
Mrs. Murphy’s scones cooked every morning
and delivered to the news store by 6 a.m.

MEXICO: Pacific yellowtail and halibut caught 500
yards offshore in front of our casita on the Pacific
coast of Baja California, prepared for dinner the
same evening.

CARMEL, CA.: Wild salmon caught that day and an
abundance of produce from the nearby Salinas Valley.

SlOVENIA: Fresh fish from the Adriatic Sea brought
to the village of Bled each Thursday, a wide variety
of locally grown vegetables, buckwheat dumplings,
and honey.

AUSTRALIA: Antelope and ostrich from the nearby homestead.

NEW ZEALAND: Blue tip mussels from the seas around Nelson.

ANNAPOLIS, MD.: A fine garden market every Sunday.

AND OF COURSE FRESH MAINE LOBSTER!!!

SECOND HOME RENTING VERSUS CRUISES OR TOURS

Excerpted from my book: MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME which can be purchased by clicking the cover on this page.

This is another way to compare the value of renting a second home each summer. Lets compare renting for an extended stay of three months or more versus a comparably priced tour or cruise.

My rentals are for about 100 days and typically include all utilities,
local phone service, as well as cable TV and Internet
access. At the conclusion of the lease there might be a few hundred dollars clean up fee. That’s about $75 a day to be in your own place, at your own pace.

Compare that to European cruises, tours. I’ll use
Europe having stayed there for extended summer rentals
on three recent occasions. All prices are for two adults traveling together.

CRUISE: A quick scan of early booking for Mediterranean cruises in 2011 revealed the following:
• A low-level twelve-day cruise for two would cost* approximately $7,500.

• A mid-level twenty-one day cruise for two would cost approximately $8, 600.

• A high-level eight-day cruise for two would cost approximately $15,000.


*This includes travel insurance, meals and on board entertainment but not other costs such as excursions, beverages, options or upgrades. For the high-level cruise all costs, other than ashore options, are included in the price.

TOURS:
• BOAT. Stay one week on a twelve passenger barge, cruising the canals of the French
Burgundy region, fine meals, wines and local excursions for about $7,300.

• BUS. Join a Smithsonian-escorted coach tour of the Baltic countries for ten days for $7,800.

• RAIL. Take a fifteen-day escorted tour of Switzerland, using Swiss trains to get around the country staying in hotels, for $6,000.

Or a thirteen-day Berlin and Poland tour, again traveling between cities by rail, for $8,000.

COMPARISON

On a dollars per day cost, there is no argument that renting a home for several months maximizes the dollar value compared to cruises or tours.

The average daily cost of the rental is $75 (plus you food and beverage) versus $500-600 a day for cruises and tours. I admit it all depends on what you want.

For us, we would rather stay in our own place for fourteen weeks than on a programmed cruise or tour for fourteen days. We take many meals at home, Elysee likes to cook, experimenting with native cuisine. We do travel around, even taking long excursions, but at our pace and our design. I have an entire chapter on our excursions each summer. Check it out.

FINANCIAL COMPARISON OF RENTING VS OWNING A SECOND HOME

This is excerpted from the revised edition of Make The World Your Second Home.

APPENDIX II:Cost Comparison: Renting vs. Owning

Another way to examine the cost advantages of renting a “second home” each year rather than owning is to compare my experience of renting to a person who might have bought a property and kept it for ten years. I have ten consecutive years of summer rental experience. (See chapter six, Our Love Nests.) My average per daily rental cost for one-hundred days each summer has been $7,500 or $75 a day.
I have estimated the market value for each of the ten properties to arrive at an average second home market value of $750,000. For comparison I assume purchase of a similarly priced second home and keeping it for ten years.

Other purchase favoring assumptions are a ten-percent down payment, five-percent mortgage interest, and a three percent compounded increase in the value of the property every year for ten years.

BOTTOM LINE: OVER THE TEN YEARS, EVEN WITH FAVORABLE ASSUMPTIONS FOR OWNING, IT COST MORE THAN TWICE AS MUCH TO OWN A SECOND HOME THAN RENT FOR 100 DAYS EACH YEAR.

NEW EDITION OF: MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME

Announcing a revised edition of MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME. I have been able to reduce the price to only $12.95 and have opened an E-Store which can be conveniently accessed simply by clicking the book cover to the right. Please see also, my next posting which includes a new appendix to the revised book containing an analytical comparison of renting versus owning a second home. Of course this is only one reason for renting, but it is a compelling one.

USED CAR RENTAL OVERSEAS: POSITIVE EXPERIENCE

I AM SEALING THE DEAL WITH HANNES IN TALLINN, ESTONIA



ELYSEE LOOKING OUT FROM OUR APARTMENT WINDOW AT THE 1992 FORD STATION WAGON


EXCERPTS FROM MY BOOK: MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME: AMAZON.COM

This entry concludes discussion about saving a lot of money on rental cars when overseas. My three such rentals, each for a period of about three months, were all positive.

We drove the Honda Accord that was rented in Slovenia (which I nicknamed “My Chariot of Hire”) on separate trips to Budapest, Vienna, and Venice, as well as frequent trips to the golf course, all around Bled, several trips to the capital, and at least three several-day excursions around Slovenia. In Australia, besides frequent trips to the grocery store, we took our trusty Kia on journeys to the capital Canberra, the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, and many trips to the local golf courses. In Estonia, the Mondeo was used for several excursions around the country, one extended trip to Latvia, and another by ferry to the offshore islands that lay off Estonia’s west coast.

The agent in Australia provided free service should I encounter any problem. One morning Elysee and I were preparing to play golf and I took the clubs to the car, discovering a flat tire. I contacted the agent and in fifteen minutes a worker arrived, replaced the tire, no charge, and we were on our way. Didn't even miss our tee time.

In Slovenia I informed the agent as he had asked us to, that we were making a trip out of the country to Hungary. Marko showed up at my apartment in Bled with additional papers for out of country travel travel. Good thing, too. In the Lake Balaton area of Hungary, late in the afternoon on a rainy day we were pulled over by the police. As we were not even close to Budapest the officers did not speak English, and I don't speak Hungarian, one of the most difficult languages to learn. I just handed them Marko's papers and sat back. I could see the conferring and on the radio. After twenty minutes they came to my car, handed back the papers, saluted and waved us on. T have no idea why we were pulled over. Could we have looked suspicious? Two Americans, in a 1991 Honda, with Slovenian plates, driving around remote parts of Hungary on a rainy, Friday afternoon. Anyway, Thank you Marko for looking out for us. His papers did the trick.

For the narrow streets of Tallinn, Estonia, our Ford Mondeo station wagon was a little unwieldy. But we managed. Halfway through our stay I noticed the car wasn't a "peppy" seemed to be faltering, missing a beat. I called Hannes, who exchanged the car for a few days, returning it in top notch condition. The problem was in the carburetors. Excellent, professional response. In a total of nine months of use, travelling far and wide, we never experienced a serious malfunction

Seek out a used car rental overseas and save a lot of money.

RENTAL CAR OVERSEAS-HOW TO SAVE

OUR "CHARIOT OF HIRE" OUTSIDE OUR APARTMENT IN BLED SLOVENIA.




TOASTING THE DEAL WITH MARKO FOR 1000 EURO CASH FOR 90 DAYS. HE BROUGHT THE CAR TO MY APARTMENT IN BLED FROM THE CAPITAL.


EXTRACTED FROM MY BOOK MAKE THE WORLD YOUR SECOND HOME AT AMAZON.COM

Since my costly experience in Ireland, I have rented a Kia from a small independent agency in Australia for $16 a day. In Slovenia, I rented from Marko, a very reliable, never-failed me, 1991 Honda Accord, also for about $16 a day. And in Estonia, I rented a 1992 Ford Mondeo station wagon for $17.50 a day. Compare these to $60 to 490 dollar day at the airport. All three rentals came with the necessary papers and insurance for $17.50 and a promise to repair or replace should I have a problem with the car.

How do I go about this? Basically, once I nail down the lease on where I am going to live, I work on getting the car.In each case I have mentioned, the landlord or rental agent was able to steer me in the right direction. Every country has young entrepreneurs starting up such businesses. These are not “shady” deals mind you. In each case I had a legitimate contract with a viable company and all the necessary documents should I get into an accident or be stopped by authorities.

The owners of these used-car rental fleets were delighted to make a cut rate deal because I was renting the car for a continuous 90 to 100 days. As in renting a place to live for that long a period, they were able to cut their rates by half or more because they were guaranteed a long-term lease. No down time for the car, no redoing the paperwork ten or fifteen times over the same period, and no collection problems. I paid in cash up front for the entire period, in local currency. No credit cards.

And, by waiting until I arrived to seal the deal, I could make a judgment about the dealer and examine the car, and they too could see I was reliable and would not be abusing their vehicle.

My next postings will provide some reassuring anecdotes.

SUMMER RENTAL OVERSEAS? SAVE ON A RENTAL CAR

ELYSEE WITH OUR LITTLE IRISH SCOOTER PARKED IN FRONT OF OUR SUMMER HOME RENTAL


Four of our ten summer "second home" rentals, these past ten years have been overseas. The other six, all being in North America, we drove to in our trusty 2001 Dodge Durango. Lots of room for "stuff."

But what should you do if renting for the summer overseas? You will need a car. In the four overseas countries where we rented for the summer: Ireland, Australia, Slovenia and Estonia we rented a car. Our experience and learning came from our first awakening experience having rented a car for three months from a top-of-the-line agency at the Airport in Ireland. Below is an extract from my book, Make The World Your Second.

I learned the hard way how to solve the problem of expensive rental cars. On our first extended summer abroad, in Ireland, I arranged for a rental car from Hertz.
By corporate habit, I might add. Big, big mistake! The little mini-mite that took me all over Ireland for three months ended up costing about $4,000, or around $45a day. It would likely be double that today. I gritted my teeth, paid the bill, learned my lesson, and became determined to find a better way.

I recently priced a rental car at the airport in Tallinn, Estonia. For the smallest car, a Renault, it would cost me $70 day. The cost of the car would have exceeded the cost of my rental. But by then I had learned how to reduce my daily rental cost to only $16 a day. How? That will be in the next posting.