Entries about tips and tricks

CRUISE FACT: Cruises give travelers the convenience of packing and unpacking once, the comfort of a “home away from home” for the duration of the trip, but also the opportunity to visit a multitude of destinations on one vacation.

When I recently looked at planning a trip to Italy with a group of friends, we discovered that a cruise in the Mediterranean was not only the most cost effective way to see Italy, but it was the most time effective.

Through our time study while planning, it didn't take us long to realize that while cruising the Mediterranean, traveling from port-of-call to port-of-call, our floating hotel traveled while we slept.

In twelve days, of our cruise, we were able to visit a majority of the popular coastal cities of Italy. We left from and returned to Civitavecchia. Italy. We were able to visit Naples, Pompeii, Positano and ride along the Almafi coast, two days in Venice (overnight there was a treat), Livorno, Pisa, Florence, Rome & Vatican City on the mainland. On Sicily, we were able to visit Messina, Syracuse, Tiromina and the volcano Mt. Aetna.

Then, there were bonus cities in countries that we hadn't planned, nor would we have seen if we would not have opted for the cruise as a way to visit Italy. We visited Dubrovinik in Croatia. What a lovely country and the people were marvelous. Barcelona, Spain found us grabbing a taxi and toured the entire city. While stopping at Cannes, France, we were able to visit the area of the film festival. From there, we visited Nice & the ancient walled city of Eze in France and the country of Monaco.

We even had three entire days at sea to relax on this cruise to enjoy our ship and regroup from the hurried tour pace that we had planned.

Although most of us were fairly comfortable visiting a foreign country, it was still nice to come back to our safe haven. Our "home away from home."

With all of the places that we visited, our luggage had gained a good bit of weight. But then, because of the good food available around the clock, so did we.

Enjoy you cruise!

Oh and for your excursion planning, contact us R&R Xcursions (rrxcursions.com). We can hook you up with a wonderful person to book your cruise as well.

In this tough economy, one doesn't have to look far to find someone who has been down sized. With their job position eliminated, they suddenly find themselves looking for a place that will provide financial security. A place that will appreciate their experience and utilize their skill set. In fact, everyone that reads this blog, either has a close friend, family member or relative that has lost their job, or has a neighbor or someone that they know, who has someone close to them in that position.

The majority of jobs landed in today's economy are landed by a connection. Either somebody knows somebody, or somebody knows somebody that knows somebody. Networking is today's means of landing that special job. This puts a positive spin on the act of Job Search. Networking has you remembering people and organizations that you've come in contact with over the years. Some are people that you have lost contact with, some since early childhood. As you are forced to turn back to the basics in life, you realize a few things. You realize that you can live without certain things that you just thought that you absolutely couldn't live without. At the same time, you find that you are reaching out to people that you haven't had contact with in many years.

Whether you currently have a job or are in job search, you should be networking with everyone you know. Strengthen those relationships, new and old. Make an attempt to connect to those that have been lost over time.

People are connecting through blogs and sites like Facebook. But, a web site that connects people professionally, that I personally recommend, is LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=hb_home This site, if you are not already familiar with it, was designed by the same folks that set up PayPal. They are very sensitive to security.

As a suggestion, keep your blogs and Facebook type connections for your private connections and use LinkedIn professionally.

Connecting with someone might just land that job that you want or it could really help land a job for someone that you know. It could also get you in the door of a company not currently hiring, or perhaps get you the job that you've always wanted. If you are currently in job search, think about what you really want to be when you grow up. Go for it. Now would be a good time to think about scheduling a little additional training if you are not already qualified for that job. Look around you. There are lots of resources that are providing free training or training and instructional sessions at minimal cost. Turn this uncomfortable turn of events into a positive experience.

I know this because I'm currently in job search. I encourage you to be LinkedIn. Once I land a job, I'll be back with additional travel information and with a little more regularity.

Remember this: When a door closes, God will open another one for you. If you are not the one in job search, you might just be the one that He needs to open that door for someone.

I have never seen so many low offers on cruises as I have during the past few weeks.

In addition to record breaking low prices, I've seen each or a combination of the following offered:

~Anywhere from three to SIX category upgrades.
~$25.00 per cabin to $300 per person in ship board credit
~Other ship board credits of $500 balcony and $700 suite
~Free airfare
~1 night free hotel stay
~Bottle of champagne
~Coupon Booklets
~Large Spa discounts

Cabin discounts have been as deep as 86% off list prices, with some including taxes, port fees and fuel surcharges.

If you've cruised before, then you probably already know most of this. If you've never cruised, and have the cash, perhaps it's time to find those sea legs. There may be no better time than the present to plan and book that first cruise.

Do your home work, search across the internet and check with at lest three sources prior to booking that cruise. Real deals are to be had for the smart shopper. After the research, go to your regular travel contact, or find a reliable one and negotiate your booking.

Consider this, rather than book a balcony, book an inside cabin and perhaps you'll receive a few category upgrades. Then, with the money that you saved by not booking the balcony, book another inside cabin for another cruise. You can book them at different times of the year, or consider booking back to back cruises.

As long as you have the vacation time and the cash flow, the end result is that you will cruise twice as long for the same, or perhaps less money.

Looks like it's time to book. Mother Ocean is calling you!

In our recent visit to Italy, as wonderful as it was, one thing that our group of travelers had to learn, at times, was impatience.
We purchased a few books while planning our journey and had learned a few basic words and phrases, along with a few etiquette topics, so as to not offend the country that we were about to visit. Nothing had fully prepared us for what we had experienced. It seems that at times and in most places where we traveled throughout the country, a key action of survivability in large the masses of people, was to push, shove, elbow, knee, jab, smile and verbalize our newly learned phrase, 'scuze! (skoo-zee).
We soon came to realize that it wasn't just the Italians, but was comprised mainly of Europeans. After all, it was tourist season, and we, along with many others, were tourists, mainly in tourist spots. I'll reserve revealing who the worst nationality seemed to be. If you've been to Europe, then you will certainly know the nationality that I'm referring to. Somehow, I don't feel that they will ever change. If you haven't yet been there, but plan to visit, you will learn about them very early in your journey.
After a bit of reflection, we soon realized that most every Italian citizen that we had personal contact with, was extremely nice to us, showed very little impatience, was rather comfortable in their ways and were quite easy going.
I must admit, after traveling in that environment after a short period of time, I soon found myself attempting to make the adjustment to my surroundings. My thoughts quickly turned back to an early high school class that I took in basic psychology where we learned a very important fact. You are your environment.
So then, are we to surmise that Americans are just too patient, just far too nice? When traveling abroad, that we need to quickly adapt to our new environment and resort to those ways, much like that of the sharks' feeding frenzy? Or should we simply smile, step aside, allow that moment to pass, and set an example for those that we have the fortune to come in contact with? Should we continue to show why it's great to be an American?
Sometimes, the easier road to travel is not the wisest.