Shame on the benefits of a rental car (road trip pt1.) (2023)

Introduction

The downside is renting with Advantage... take a look and find out why!

Going to Birmingham for another monthly UAB hospital visit for Mel, we decided to rent a car for this particular trip. Through our online booking, we end up renting a car from Advantage Car Rental, which ultimately seems like a disadvantage. From the lady at the desk challenging us about our filming (even though we turned off the camera when she asked us to) to the difficult overall checkout process, we will definitely not be renting from them again. After that fiasco, we hit the road and grabbed some Starbucks before heading to Mel's meeting. Mel always has some time on these trips to think about his journey with CF and what these visits and medications might mean for his overall health. The staff at UAB is always wonderful and treats us like family, and Mel ALWAYS has the best behavior despite all the hustle and bustle during the 4+ hour visit! Finally, we have the opportunity to stop in the small and very cute town of Athens, Alabama, where we find a delicious deli that has strawberry pretzel salad. Although Mel has never eaten it, Kate is sure it's a sweet from her childhood. After seeing and trying it, Mel is convinced it's the best thing ever. Looks like Kate will be digging into her old family recipes to make it soon!

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Learn more about life with #TheVanCutlers!

DAILY ROUTINE OF A CF WARRIOR -youtu.be/y8_WGVba67k
EATING HABITS OF CF WARRIORS -youtu.be/8mRLsnwhp2I
HOW WE MAKE EXTRA INCOME -youtu.be/tYvVDpWyQig
FOLLOW US WE ARE LOOKING FOR A PUBLIC CHEF! -youtu.be/n934CwuLbGk
OUR FAVORITE PLACES TO STAY -youtu.be/XOG8BnM5qaI
5 MILLION TULIPS?? -youtu.be/1BUVY2vxqx0
LIFE IN A GREENHOUSE -youtu.be/lPq86z_GK64
OUR BIGGEST MOVE TO DATE -youtu.be/ehq4H2veWwI
BEHIND THE SCENES AT CMA FEST -youtu.be/aIx_TmXcwCE
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Part ordinary married couple, part travel company owners, and part cystic fibrosis-conquering duo, Mel and Kate Van Cutler candidly and playfully show the reality behind the "good life." The two share the complexities behind living with a life-changing genetic disease as they push boundaries with travel, work and love, where laughter is always the best medicine.

video

Back at the airport, yes we are, leaving for another trip, one of our famous monthly trips to Alabama.

Once a month, we both participate in a cystic fibrosis study, I'm the one who crunches and pushes, she can hold my hands and make sure I'm strong, and we'll rent a car and then drive away.

Here we are, and now I will hello.

How are you, yes, take it easy, do it with your driver's license and credit card, yes, have a good day today.

It's me.

How is it with you being filmed, are you here, and why is this happening? Because you will be part of our vlog.

Well, if it didn't happen, I'd rather not, so we had a very interesting experience.

Maybe it's a simple car rental or a cheap car rental.

It was our first time renting from them.

Well, a few things.

First of all, we went up there.

You know we shoot a lot of stuff, but people are usually very excited about it.

They love being a part of it.

You know what he said to me when we were walking and he put the camera on the camera.

Ladies, like: have you said yes to anything yet? You know you have a blog and he said that's fine and he said actually I'd rather no I'd rather you not.

He said ok, turned off the camera and finally said.

If you've been shooting today, you know you just have to.

Tell me your name - you know, your blog or whatever, so I have to report it to management.

So they can watch these things and I was like what do you need a name so he told her and she started filming and she was fine when we got to where I was filming but then I turned around and said and then she turned it off.

When you asked her, and she said, it was very, very strange, like you were trying to trick him, I don't know, I don't know, he just didn't trust us or believe that, and then another thing that I think is really bullshit, because we rent cars, a decent amount, he really charges.

You have $13 a day to add a driver's wife. We're only renting a car for a few days so you just decided not to because it's $26 more for one of us to drive to work so we can both drive so we said no except me.

Consider the last two or three car companies we've rented with, including budget.

They add spouse for free, it's free.

They automatically put you in your husband's shoes, which is very convenient and awesome.

You know, I'm even thinking about families that have more vacation expenses and adding both spouses as drivers could be an extra $101 or $50 for the trip.

So it's not that big of a deal, but it's these little things and then I said.

Oh, that's interesting, they lost two companies.

Instead of renting from, I think most companies do that and she's like.

No, those are probably the exceptions, so I left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

For me, - we won't be using them anymore.

Evo nas Hyundai Sonata.

Evo.

Another thing about car rental places is that they want to charge you for a full tank of gas.

Yes, sir, we say, yes, you give us a little less per gallon, but if we return the car and it's half full, you still pay.

You're still paying for a full tank.

It was in great shape, so it turns out you're missing out if you don't return the car to a completely empty super shade.

The super cheater didn't have a good experience.

We literally felt taken advantage of, good for them, and that's why ride-sharing companies like Toro or car-sharing companies like Toro are booming, and maybe next time we'll do that.

When we start traveling I have to pee, I often think it's just based on my excitement level and the amount of coffee I've had.

is

Why are we in Harsha and Starbucks bathrooms and Starbucks because we need coffee to keep going, Starbucks burners? Have you tried smoking and drinking? We have? This is good; Thank you, now we can continue our journey.

I think I'm a coffee addict, yes I'm a coffee addict in the morning, more than a few cups in the afternoon, a few more cups, the road, the travel, more coffee and I'm, I just feel exhausted for about three four hours.

My energy just goes away, actually, I had to take a nap, come home at lunch and take an hour, and now it's definitely harder to get on with my day.

I think it's harder to breathe.

Just last month I stopped drug testing and this month today.

So we're going down to Alabama to do a full inspection.

You will see what they do with the blood they take.

PFT tests you will see what they vomit, my nose to test different levels of chlorine and then I will go back on the drug for a month and they will evaluate month by month and see if the drug is really helping and if it is, how much is it really helping? So that's what the whole trial is about.

The exciting thing is that at the end of the year they come out with a new drug.

It is a combination of three drugs, like a cocktail of drugs.

This should work even better than the one I'm on and the one I'm on is a combination of two meds called sand echo which is exciting because it might even help better than the current med I was hoping for.

It was not.

I'll continue with him coming in behind us.

- I think he thought these hilarious things had to happen.

Did you have any snacks for me there? I understand that I'm her husband, it's true, she's very good at bringing me snacks, especially before I'm hungry.

These are great, epic.

Why beef strip and fresh salmon fillet strip, Georgia peach protein blend? Did you hear that car's horn? What kind of rock is this? Where are we Athens Alabama was founded in 1818 baby? Let's take a selfie in front of this thing.

ok are you on it? Okay, I forgot.

It tells us something about the history of this town or cotton and I believe there were musicians here, 200 years of this cotton railroad had music.

Here we are Wildwood, Delhi, 12, star, 12, 5 star.

What's your favorite here and there, strawberry, shortbread, salad, that's dessert, we'll see what it is.

I've never had it before.

We also ordered a Philly cheesesteak which he cuts with some fresh ribeye.

This should be good, but I'm really curious about the strawberry shortcake dessert.

What do you think of their whole number? Well, actually, it sounds like a little strawberry shortcake dessert that my grandmother and mother used to make.

So if that's the case, I'd be very excited to make something like this: yes, strawberry, jelly, with a shortbread crust on the bottom and like whipped cream, toppings.

What can I say shortbread, sweet strawberry with jelly and then look on the side, whipped cream and the bottom crust of the pretzel, my grandmother.

So far it seems to be looking pretty good.

Eat and go or take it on the go? Oh you all have Sloss kilns so we're going we're going to go to Birmingham right now I've got to keep moving because we're going to a place called Sloss kilns.

Mel has learned all about it and can tell you all the details.

But as far as I'm concerned, what I do know is that the Sloss furnaces were actually part of a huge thing.

What Birmingham became famous for was being hot.

The place is amazing: we saw it on the highway many times and it's beautiful, it's big old ovens and buildings.

It just looks amazing and you can go on a self guided tour open for a few more hours.

So we have to get very close.

We are at Sloss Furnaces Sloss Furnaces is a historic place from 1882 to 1971.

This was the active pig they called.

Which is again, a furnace for cast iron with.