Dear friends, I am writing this email from the Boston Gift Show. I wish I could have read suggestions on how to travel as a jewelry entrepreneur on a budget; especially when you are doing those so called wholesale shows.

We are ALL living though times in is economy and we certainly have to watch every penny we spend, right?. And especially if you are doing a show far away from home. In this case I had to consider not only the booth fee, electricity, gas & parking but I also had to include airfare, hotel & meals and transportation.

So I search my hotel on Priceline and I also made a few calls/emails to my friend who work at different hotels to see if I could get a friends & family discount but their rates were higher than the one I found. In this opportunity the Boston Gift Show had special hotel rates if you booked directly with them, so I found a fairly decent hotel 6 miles away from the Convention Center for about $80, pretty descent huh?!

Don’t forget that when you travel you need to arrange pick up/drop off from the airport, too. Thank GOD I have SO MANY friends & family spread all over so luckily there is always someone living wherever I go. Although in the beginning I was thinking I don’t have anybody in Boston and it ended up that one of my good friends from high school lives only 15 minutes from the airport. We probably haven’t seen each other since high school but once we saw us it was like the time never passed and we reconnected very easily.

She picked me up from the airport and took me back to the airport. That saved me like $40  each way. The Best Western Adams INN in Quincy Massachusetts where I stayed, offered complimentary breakfast and complimentary shuttle service to and from the Boston Convention Center. Right there I saved $35 cab ride for each they of the show, and it was a four day show. So you can imagine how much I would have spend in just cab rides.

Anyways, another advice if you are trying to eat at the convention center – NEVER DO IT – How can you save money and help in this economy charging $3.50 for a bottle of coke or $3.25 for a cup of tea or coffee!!!? I think that is outrageous. The 1st day of the show I had to pay but then I saw my neighbors who brought chips, nuts, crackers, cookies, sandwiches for launch so they did not have to buy lunch. So lesson learned next time I plan on coming ready, right?

I look forward to come back to The Boston Gift Show in 2013

Hasta la proxima!

Evelyn Brooks

Dear friends, I am writing this email from the Boston Gift Show. I wish I could have read suggestions on how to travel as a jewelry entrepreneur on a budget; especially when you are doing those so called wholesale shows.

We are ALL living though times in is economy and we certainly have to watch every penny we spend, right?. And especially if you are doing a show far away from home. In this case I had to consider not only the booth fee, electricity, gas & parking but I also had to include airfare, hotel & meals and transportation.

So I search my hotel on Priceline and I also made a few calls/emails to my friend who work at different hotels to see if I could get a friends & family discount but their rates were higher than the one I found. In this opportunity the Boston Gift Show had special hotel rates if you booked directly with them, so I found a fairly decent hotel 6 miles away from the Convention Center for about $80, pretty descent huh?!

Don’t forget that when you travel you need to arrange pick up/drop off from the airport, too. Thank GOD I have SO MANY friends & family spread all over so luckily there is always someone living wherever I go. Although in the beginning I was thinking I don’t have anybody in Boston and it ended up that one of my good friends from high school lives only 15 minutes from the airport. We probably haven’t seen each other since high school but once we saw us it was like the time never passed and we reconnected very easily.

She picked me up from the airport and took me back to the airport. That saved me like $40  each way. The Best Western Adams INN in Quincy Massachusetts where I stayed, offered complimentary breakfast and complimentary shuttle service to and from the Boston Convention Center. Right there I saved $35 cab ride for each they of the show, and it was a four day show. So you can imagine how much I would have spend in just cab rides.

Anyways, another advice if you are trying to eat at the convention center – NEVER DO IT – How can you save money and help in this economy charging $3.50 for a bottle of coke or $3.25 for a cup of tea or coffee!!!? I think that is outrageous. The 1st day of the show I had to pay but then I saw my neighbors who brought chips, nuts, crackers, cookies, sandwiches for launch so they did not have to buy lunch. So lesson learned next time I plan on coming ready, right?

I look forward to come back to The Boston Gift Show in 2013

Hasta la proxima!

Evelyn Brooks