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Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fin. Fin is the perfect solution for small business owners (like me!) to balance high priority work with other menial tasks. All opinions are mine. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog.
Next week, Finn and I are heading to Quebec City for a mini winter vacation! To say I’m excited would be an understatement. After seeing lots of pictures of this magical place, it has been on my bucket list for quite some time now. I keep describing it to people as “Santa’s Village” because during the Christmas season it’s lit up with lights, trees, and there are plenty of activities outside in the snow.
We’ve had this trip booked for a few months now, but things have been incredibly busy and I haven’t had a ton of time to sit down to research and plan out this trip. Normally I’m one to research for hours and create a detailed itinerary for our trip (like I did when we went to Italy), but the holidays have been craziness and there has been a lot going on with the blog as we finish up projects before Christmas.
Planning a Trip to Quebec City
Luckily, I was able to outsource a lot of the research (more on that below), and I’m now feeling much more confident about our trip next week. So let’s dive into how I’m planning for our winter vacay to Quebec City!
Book the Right Hotel
I asked you guys for advice on where to stay in Quebec City and you guys offered some great insight. The most popular suggestion was Chateau Frontenac, which is a huuuuuge stunning castle! Unfortunately, it was a bit out of our price range. But we definitely plan to visit to get a look at this amazing location and we hope to grab a drink and dinner there too!
We ended up booking the Hotel Du Vieux-Quebec and it looks like a charming place to stay. Many of you recommended it and our aunt also stayed there and loved it. It seems like it’s in a great location and we cannot wait to check it out in person. I’ll report back with how thing go…
Plan Fun Activities
As I mentioned, I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to devote to researching this trip. Finn and I are good at heading to a new place and figuring things out as we go, but this is a short trip and I wanted to have some sort of plan of attack. That’s where the service Fin came in to play (and yes, Fin is the name and my husband feels extra cool having a similar name!).
It took me a little bit of time to understand what Fin does exactly, but after using it for the last month, I’m pretty much obsessed. I like to think of Fin as a personal assistant who is available 24/7/365. If a task can be done online, Fin can probably do it for you. For example, Fin can schedule meetings, book appointments, buy gifts, arrange travel, do research and so much more. They even store all of your preferences for airlines, restaurants, food, etc. And all tasks use both human and computer intelligence. Which means a real person in the US is on the other end using technology to complete your task.
Because I’ve been slammed with Q4 projects for the blog, I asked Fin to research Quebec City activities for me. I haven’t had a few hours to sit down and dive into research, so I figured this would be the perfect first task for my assistant.
I signed up for Fin on their website and messaged directly through the site. But, you can also text and email requests to Fin, which is super handy. Here’s a look at the request I submitted…
Within 24 hours, I received a google doc with must-see attractions and ideas for activities. It was incredibly thorough with maps, pricing information, and summaries of each experience. It would have taken me HOURS to research and compile that information myself. I ended up spending about $30 for this task, which was well worth it for me. With Fin, you pay for what you use and tasks are given a price range based on their difficulty.
Here’s a quick glance at the activities we’re thinking of doing while in Quebec City next week…
If you’ve been to Quebec City, I’d love your recommendations too! I think we have a great start but would love to hear your thoughts.
Packing the Essentials
If I know one thing about Quebec City, it’s that it’s incredibly COLD. I’m used to winters here in the midwest, but apparently, this is a completely different kind of chilliness! The last thing I want to do is be stuck inside because of frigid temps, so Finn and I have slowly been adding warmer pieces to our wardrobes.
Everything I’ve read has advised wearing tons of layers and some people even recommend donning snow pants when out and about touring the town. A warm winter coat is a must-have, and I actually just upgraded to this one. I originally bought this parka that I showed you guys on Insta Stories, but it ended up being too big for me and I was too impatient to wait for a smaller size to come back in stock. I ended up finding this one at a great price and I’m loving it so far!
I also asked my mom for these boots for Christmas (they were on my wishlist!) and I’ve picked up a few pairs of these socks. I should be ready to handle the cold!
Finally, I got some long underwear and undershirts for both Finn and I. This brand is supposed to retain heat and wick away moisture, so it’s great for wearing under sweaters and jeans. I’ll let you know how it goes for us!
Make a List of Restaurants
Eating and drinking are usually at the top of our vacation to-do list. We love trying different cuisines and always try to fit in as many restaurants as possible into our trips (usually by only eating a little bit at each place, so we can move around to other spots throughout the day!). I also used Fin to compile a list of must-visit restaurants in Quebec City. Here are some of the places we’re hoping to check out next week.
- Le Café Du Clocher Penché
- BEClub Bistro-Bar
- Le Billig
- La Pizzaio
- Bistro Le Sam at Chateau Frontenac
Once we got the list back, I also had Fin go ahead and book us a few restaurant reservations. While I mostly used Fin for research for this trip, a big part of what Fin does is travel booking (they can even securely store your payment and login info in their vault to manage it all for you). It was nice to have all of these tasks crossed off my list before our trip next week!
I was telling Finn about Fin (yes, confusing…I know!) and we both said how we needed this service back in 2014 when we were planning our wedding! What a lifesaver it would have been to have someone else narrow down the best florists and caterers to help with planning.
Fin Giveaway
If you’re busy (heck…who isn’t?) and could use some assistance, you’ll want to enter our giveaway. Fin is giving 3 lucky readers a chance to win a $200 credit. I’m confident you’ll find plenty of tasks for Fin to help you get done! Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and comment on today’s blog post letting us know how you would use Fin in your everyday life!
I cannot wait for our winter trip to Quebec City next week. Finn and I are planning to Insta Story the heck out of our vacation, so be sure to tune in. I’ll also do a little recap in January with all of the details, so you can plan your own trip to this magical destination!
Casey
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