We would like to welcome newbie traveler Recya Robertson to reflect upon her recent 2 day mini-break to Myrtle Beach.

On April 20th I decided to take a mini break from everybody. I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wanted to go to Savannah, but didn’t know the area well enough to go by myself. This was a must need break for me because I’m either always working or sitting at home doing nothing. I made reservation at Days Inn a couple days before I left. When I got there, the hotel wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. I was like "nope"..this is not the area/hotel that I booked a couple days ago. When I went to confront the receptionist about it, she told me that the pictures on the internet were taken years ago. Many of the hotels around here get most of their business by submitting "old pictures. I’m looking at her like "what the world... that’s false advertisement" etc. I wanted to cancel my reservations all together. Then I started thinking if I did, where was the next place I can go or call to stay for the weekend. What I end up doing was staying there because there was nothing I could do about it at that moment.

The good thing about my break was me enjoying the sun, quietness, the birds chirping, beach, and my daughter. The bad thing about this trip was not being able to sleep. Meaning, I got bitten by a couple of times by bed bugs while I was there. I end up throwing all of my clothes and shoes in the trash. I lost my belongings, but gain freedom. I’m now able to do a lot of traveling by myself. I was very afraid to do that before.

The things that I got out of it was take somebody with me the next time I go because being by myself is not always good. The lesson I learned was never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever book a hotel in Myrtle Beach on the south side. Will I ever do it again? The answer will be YES, but on the north side.

​Thanks Rhonda Washington for that extra push. You’re a good person inside and out. 

We want to thank Recya for sharing her story. It takes courage to travel solo even when you have a family. 

We often take surveys that provides us points and/or money that we use towards travel.  The three we use most often are erewards.com, pointsforsurveys.com, and Toluna.com  E-rewards has several travel related options that can utilize the points earned.  We often alternate between IHG Rewards (Holiday Inn, etc) and JetBlue reward points.  Points For Surveys is completely tied into JetBlue, and allows you to ramp up your reward points with the airline carrier.  Toluna Surveys provides cash payouts of upward of $30 or more after you meet a high threshold level of survey points achieved. 

Each survey tend to take from as little as 5 minutes to more than half an hour to complete.  The longer the tests, the more points it tends to be worth.  A downsize to these tests is that by asking of demographic questions, you may not always qualify.  In most cases, they'll give you some of the points. For example, Points For Surveys will give you 10 points for not qualifying for a survey, but after 5 non-qualifiers in 24 hours, you will earn no points.  With Toluna, it can take upward of 3 months or more of taking tests daily to earn the $30 threshold for cash payout.

Do you take surveys, and utilize the points for travel, money, or other? If so, which ones?