This past Saturday, we flew on Porter Airlines from Toronto to Newark, in order to get to the apartment we rented in Brooklyn.  We could have flown another airline that would take us to JFK or LaGuardia airports, which are much closer to Brooklyn… but we chose Porter specifically because we’ve had great experiences with them in the past, and we trust their high level of customer service.

I was very apprehensive about flying with baby Clara, who is just over 5 months old.  Before our trip, I googled air travel tips, trying to find as much info as I could in advance.  I even called the airline’s customer service line and asked all kinds of specific questions (exactly how much baby formula can you take with you?  can we bring our own bottled water for mixing the formula?  can we gate check the stroller AND the car seat? etc etc).

In the end, the flight went swimmingly.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.  Both Porter and Clara were amazing.

Now that we’ve done it, I’d like to share some tips with you, if you’re interested.  (click on those three little dots below to continue reading)

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See… I told you I couldn’t stay away for long!  I saw this list of the Best Travel Websites Ever on the Guardian’s website and had to share.  It really is the best roundup of “insider” travel websites I’ve seen in a long time.  Peruse, and enjoy!  (I might be back soon with more info about a few of these that are personal faves.  Otherwise, I’m still on holiday!)

Have you signed up for Groupon Getaways yet?  The service hasn’t launched, but you can join, so you’ll get the deals when they do launch.  Groupon Getaways is a partnership between Groupon and Expedia, and will feature special travel deals, often at 50% off or more.  For more info, read an article about Groupon Getaways on Budget Travel’s blog.

I read about this iPhone app in the Globe and Mail last week.  It’s a guide to wines and wine pairing, which is really nothing new.  But what’s cool about this app is the barcode scanning function, which will definitely come in handy next time I’m standing in the LCBO staring at bottles, trying to pick one that’s not the same-old, same-old.  Just scan the barcode of a bottle and read reviews.  It will even tell you where the wine is in stock at LCBO locations.  Amazing!

…But you don’t have a car?  No worries, you can drive someone else’s.

If you’re a good driver with a clean record, you can sign up to drive someone else’s car from one location to another, and get paid for it.  Or at least get your flight home covered.  For example, think about all the snowbirds that need their fancy automobiles driven down to Florida for them each year.  Or the people that are moving across the country, but don’t want to drive their own cars (I guess because they’d rather fly).

Sound interesting?  There’s a Toronto company that’s always looking for new drivers: Toronto Drive-Away Service.  Or check out the US-based Auto Driveaway for opportunities in locations across America. Also check with any major car rental agency – they’re often offering one-way rentals at a steep discount.  For example, check out these one-way Florida specials from Avis.

If you want to do a really big road trip, consider driving an RV one-way.  The big RV rental companies need their vehicles moved around, and will often offer a big discount on the cost of a rental if you pick up the rig in one town, and drop it off in another.  Have a look at the one-way rental deals offered by Cruise Canada here.

Do you subscribe to any daily deal emails (like Groupon, Living Social, Wagjag, FabFind, etc)?  If you subscribe to more than one, do you feel like you’re inundated with emails every day?

A couple of months ago, I was receiving around 10 daily deal emails every morning, and I got sick of how they were clogging my inbox.  So I unsubscribed from all of them, and signed up for JUST ONE daily email from OneSpout.  OneSpout indexes all of the daily deals in your area, and sends one (sometimes long) email with all the deals.  Then you can read them all at once, or just delete it.  Love it.

Warning though – once you get all those deals every day, you might become addicted to them like I am.  I’ve purchased deals for spas, restaurants, interior room painting, duct cleaning, landscaping… it goes on and on. I guess I’m a real sucker for a good deal.

Maybe you remember back in May when I wrote about my love for Jessica Hische (the amazing letterer and illustrator).  I briefly mentioned her “Mom, This is How Twitter Works” guide – which started as an image file.

Her simple guide to explaining Twitter went viral, and now she has made it into a webpage with more detail (explaining retweeting, hashtags, and a comparison between Twitter and Facebook).  Check out www.momthisishowtwitterworks.com and learn a thing or two!

It’s minus 10 degrees in Toronto – time to start planning your Winter Beach Getaway.  Or if you’re not taking one, you can still dream (like me).

Budget Travel magazine has just released a great list of the Best Caribbean Vacation Deals for 2011.  Of course, this is all for Americans, but with the dollar basically on par, there are some insane deals here, including Guavaberry Spring Bay, where you can get your own treehouse style vacation home that’s only a 10 minute walk from the Baths on Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands – pictured above), starting at $155.  Crazy.

And it’s Honeysuckle Pink.  And if Pantone says it’s gonna be hot, then you can bet it’s gonna be hot.  Kind of like a chicken-and-the-egg scenario, Pantone knows what’s hot, announces the colour, then it becomes more hot, etc.  Take last year’s pick of Turquoise as an example.  Or 2009′s Mimosa.

I’m sure I’ll have at least one client in the coming year who wants to use Honeysuckle in their design…

I’m sure you’ve heard about Black Friday – the largest retail shopping day of the year in the States, on the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday.  But did you know about Cyber Monday?  It’s the Monday following the Thanksgiving weekend, and there are many deals to be had online.  Cyber Monday is mostly an American thing, but many American online retailers will ship to Canada, so we can enjoy the deals too.

Apparently Cyber Monday is catching on – according to the Huffington Post, “Cyber Monday was the second highest spending day of 2009, with buyers charging nearly $890 million during the special shopping event.”

So, you ask, where are the deals?  I’ve seen a few good ones this morning:

Amazon.ca (yep, the Canadian dot ca website, not just the American dot com) has deals across their entire site – books, DVDs, electronics… check it out.

Moo.com: Buy a pack of Holiday cards, and then receive 25% off your entire order (including the Holiday cards and anything else you want, like business cards, postcards, stickers, etc).

TigerDirect.com has some insane deals on laptops, external memory, and other electronic goodies, including $60 off an 8gig Flip Video Camera.

If you want insider tips on the best Cyber Monday deals, head over to Twitter and follow @CyberMonday, @bestCyberMonday, and @CyberMondayNews.

Good luck and happy shopping!

[image via Daily Word Buzz]