Travel with Power and Style: Puku Portable Charger Review #TeamPuku

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puku review

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I was in DC for a girls weekend with my sister and niece. We only had 4 days to see and do as much as we could and were on-the-go quite a bit! There wasn’t time to sit around waiting for our phones to charge up and we couldn’t leave them in our hotel room since we needed them to take photos and summon an Uber driver when we wanted a ride.

Thanks to some great timing, the good folks over at #TeamPuku had just sent me one of their fabulous new products so that I could try it out and share my thoughts with our readers. It’s the Puku S8 Portable Battery, and it lets you charge your devices on-the-go with no outlet needed. You just charge it up before you go, and then take it with you. It comes with a standard USB to Micro USB cable, but if you travel with multiple devices, make sure to bring an extra charging cable since you can charge TWO devices at once. You’ll simply connect your iPhone, iPad, Android or other Micro USB device to your Puku and Power Up!

I was travelling with my new Google HP11 Chromebook so I could keep up with work,  and my Samsung Galaxy S3 Android phone for navigation, Uber and photos. My sister and niece each had their iPhones, along with one iPad mini. HOW did we ever manage before without all this technology???

lunch with puku

Luckily we didn’t have to go without Google maps, Urban Spoon, Uber and text messaging or miss out on a single photo opp during our whole long weekend. I let the Puku recharge at night in the hotel room and then we took it with us while we went out exploring, dining, shopping and happy hour-ing each day. You can use it in your bag while walking around and I loved being able to just sit wherever and visit over food and drinks without worrying about finding a nearby outlet. SO much more fabulous to just BYOP (bring your own power). And the Puku is SUPER fabulous-looking, too. I received the purple one, which is gorgeous. Puku comes in 6 beautiful colors so you can choose your favorite.

puku airport

I didn’t keep track of exactly how many hours of charging we got out of the Puku but never ran out using the system of charging it up at night and using it throughout the day. The evening I flew home, I had an unexpected flight delay and used my Puku with my Chromebook at the airport so I could get caught up on some work while waiting the extra couple of hours for the plane. It was great since all the available outlets were already in use by other travelers. In the photo, you can see the red light has come on. This means that it has 0-35% power left to use. Not bad after using it several times earlier in the day!

The product info says a single charge gives you at least 900 hours of standby time, 36 hours of talk time and 153 hours of media play time. You can use Puku to charge Apple and Android devices, digital cameras and gaming devices.

I don’t travel super frequently, but I know that the Puku will come in handy quite often since we live in South Florida. You wouldn’t believe how often we lose power during tropical storms and heatwaves. After Hurricane Wilma, we didn’t have our power restored for 2 full weeks! The people at Walgreen’s were super nice and let everyone charge up their cell phones at the store but it sure will be handy to have our Puku whenever we need it in the future.

To learn more about Puku and get your own, you can visit their website and check them out on Facebook.

Summer Travel Deals: SAVE Big in San Antonio!

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of SAVE . All opinions are 100% mine.

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Looking for an exciting travel destination AND big savings? SAVE – San Antonio Vacation Experience offers BOTH! San Antonio’s SAVE program has a website offering more than $600 in savings to theme parks, animal adventures, shopping and historic tours, plus great deals on some fantastic hotels! You can even take SAVE on the road because there is also a handy phone app, too!

Use SAVE to plan your entire vacation to San Antonio and see the savings add up. My dream itinerary would go something like this:

Hotel: the historic Dury Inn & Suites right on the famound Riverwalk! In addition to great SAVE rates, the deal also includes FREE hot breakfast, FREE evening food and beverages, and FREE Wifi! Summer travel can get pricey, so I like the extra freebies!

Must-Do Attractions for Animal Lovers (with SAVE discounts):

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch ($2 Off)

San Antonio Zoo ($2 Off)

Sea World! ($10 Off + more)

Special Event 8/4-8/5: The Dog Days of Summer at the Botanical Gardens! A special event at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens where visitors can tour with their dogs. Daisy would LOVE that!

Cooling Off and Relaxing: Splashtown! A day to take it easy with water rides, concerts, and “Dive In Movie” night with the family. (SAVE discount is up to $42!)

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Ready to plan YOUR San Antonio vacation? Be sure to also follow @SAVEinSA on Twitter for tweets about more special events, frequent updates on Limited Time Offers, deals and trip planning tips!

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Pet Travel Tuesday: A Shih Tzu in Peru, Part One

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Pet Travel Tuesday: A Shih Tzu in Peru at Dogster.com

Dogster’s longtime travel columnist, Helen Fazio, recently visited Peru with her intrepid companion, Raja the Shih Tzu. In a two-part special photo essay for Dogster, she tells of their adventures in Cusco, with its friendly street dogs in colorful outfits, and at Macchu Picchu, where she and Raja scaled perilous heights and enjoyed the magnificent views. Be sure not to miss this amazing Pet Travel Series at Dogster.com!

Pet Travel Tuesday: Advantages of Vacation Rentals

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pet travel vacation rentals

There are many hotels offering pet friendly accommodations and packages these days, and they can be great for a road trip or weekend getaway! But some hotels charge extra fees or have weight or breed restrictions. And for longer stays, it’s often more affordable and comfortable to stay in a vacation rental home or condo. VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) is a travel site for vacation rentals, and they’ve put together this handy comparison showing the many Advantages of Vacation Rentals.

25,000+ properties on VRBO are dog-friendly. Just look for the purple paw print icon when searching the listings. They make it easy to contact the owner for more information before you book, so you can make sure that the rental is the right fit for you and your family members, furry and otherwise! Many pet friendly rental owners will even give advice about places to go and things to do near your vacation rental. I found this link very helpful for starting a filtered search to show only those VRBO vacation rentals that are pet friendly.

FlipKey is another vacation rental site and is run by the folks who bring us TripAdvisor. Their blog often has posts that are helpful for finding pet friendly rentals, such as Top 10 Dog-Friendly New England Vacation Rentals. And they also make it easy to search for pet friendly rentals. Just start any search at FlipKey and then click the Pet Friendly filter on the left side of the results.

Have you stayed at a pet friendly vacation home or condo? Please share your advice or recommendations in a comment!

dog friendly vacation rentals

Pet Travel Tuesday: Fort Lauderdale K-9 Splash Water Festival 2011

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dog water park pet travel tuesdayIf you’ve been looking for a getaway idea for a weekend away with your pup then you’ll want to check this out! Every October & November when the Fort Lauderdale area water parks close to humans, several of them open for weekends just for dogs. For the past 11 years, K-9 Splash Water Festival has been one of the most popular pet events at Broward County Parks.

Days: Saturdays and Sundays

Times: First session begins at 9 a.m. and last session begins at 4 p.m. (small dogs only at the 4 p.m. session).

Fees: $5 per dog for a 50-minute session. The parks’ weekend gate admission will be in effect.  Please view the parks’ gate admission fee here.

Schedule and Locations:

October 1 and October 2 at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines
October 8 and October 9 at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach
October 15 and October 16 at T.Y. Park in Hollywood
November 12 and November 13 at T.Y. Park in Hollywood
November 19 and November 20 at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach

Here are the rules for the event:

  • All dogs must be off leash when inside the facility and will be free to play in the water park.
  • Dogs must be sociable and well behaved.
  • Dogs must have proof of current rabies vaccination and county license tag.
  • Water playgrounds will be closed to humans and open only for dogs (and lifeguards).
  • All dogs are limited to no more than two sessions per day.

As with every year, they will be accepting donations of dog and cat food, treats, blankets, and cash for the homeless animals at the Broward County shelters. Check on Sunny.org for over 73 pet-friendly hotels if you want ideas of where to stay.

water dog park photo pet travel tuesday

 

Last year was Daisy’s first year (that’s her in this photo, checking out the kiddy pool) and she is counting down the days until we go again! If you are going to be in the area in October or November be sure to let us know…we’d love to see you there!