Restaurant.com

It's travel day! Heading to Burlington this afternoon, on to JFK, and then our 11 hour flight to Cairo. We'll be arriving at 4:30 pm Cairo time on Monday (7 hour time difference with New York). Our next blog will be Arrival in Cairo!

Not long ago, our oldest son told us about restaurant discounts on restaurant.com. When looking at their website, we said, what's the big deal? They're advertising $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10. That's a bit of a savings, but not a lot. However, there's more to it. If you know the secret word or promo code of the week, then there is an additional discount of 70-80% off the $10 fee. In fact, knowing the promo code gets you the $25 gift certificate for a mere $2-3. Now, that's a pretty good deal!

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City, we got to see the gift certificate in action. Our son had purchased online a $25 gift certificate (for just $2) to one of their favorite restaurants in the city the Himalayan Kitchen. The requirement was that we had to spend fifty dollars on dinner in order to use the gift certificate (many restaurants only require spending $35). Our table was covered with Nepalese and Indian delights and at the end of the night our total dinner bill was only $25 for the four of us. We have since used restaurant.com gift certificates in other restaurants in Utah, NY, and Vermont. Only certain restaurants are part of the program, but most geographic areas have a number of possibilities. Of course, larger urban areas have many more choices than Plattsburgh, NY (but there are a couple of participating restaurants even in our area). When we're traveling in the states, we go online and check out the restaurants in the area where we will be visiting. Very often, we find something well worth trying at a very reasonable price. Not long ago, when overnighting in Burlington to catch an early morning flight, we had a great Italian dinner at Juniors. We tried it because of the gift certificate. Very good food at a reasonable price! Although this restaurant is no longer on the list, other new places have been added in the Burlington area. The next time we're in SLC, we plan on going to Kobe Japanese Restaurant that was featured on the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food program. It, too, is one of the participating restaurant.com businesses.

If you want to check it out, this week's promo code is: fresh.  Once you buy your first gift certificate, you're then on the mailing list to get the updated promo codes that change weekly. Gift certificates are good for a year from date of purchase. A great $2 investment!

Honey, where do you want to go out to dinner tonight?

Tomorrow: Arrival in Cairo