WHO ARE WE?
We are Steve & Pat, the Travelin' Tanenbaums.
We are the authors of The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations and The Cheaptskate's Guide to Cruises (Citadel-Kensington Press).
Our CTN newsletter has published continuously since 1999 and is proudly celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Steve is currently a 'Budget & FREE Travel' expert with AllExperts.com. In addition to our books we have written national magazine articles and have made numerous radio & TV appearances. We early retired from our day jobs in 1999 and embarked on a seven year travel odyssey, globe-trotting six months per year. Currently, we average about 2-3 months of exotic travel yearly. Our most recent journey, during the Summer of 2009, found us living for one month each in Barcelona and Paris, two of our favorite cities.
We are Steve & Pat, the Travelin' Tanenbaums.
We are the authors of The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations and The Cheaptskate's Guide to Cruises (Citadel-Kensington Press).
Our CTN newsletter has published continuously since 1999 and is proudly celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Steve is currently a 'Budget & FREE Travel' expert with AllExperts.com. In addition to our books we have written national magazine articles and have made numerous radio & TV appearances. We early retired from our day jobs in 1999 and embarked on a seven year travel odyssey, globe-trotting six months per year. Currently, we average about 2-3 months of exotic travel yearly. Our most recent journey, during the Summer of 2009, found us living for one month each in Barcelona and Paris, two of our favorite cities. Pure and simple, we enjoy a love of travel and do our best to share travel related comfort, convenience and money saving TIPS with our loyal readership. We always encourage and appreciate reader input. Our travel 'motto' these many years remains: NOTHING BEATS FREE TRAVEL!
ONLINE CTN IS A HUGE SUCCESS
MAKE IT FREE AND THEY WILL COME....
OK, so no surprise that CTN's subscriptions sky rocketed with the advent of our new FREE online CTN. Still, this is the very best way to share our savvy TIPS n' TALES with the traveling public. As we have always said.....nothing beats FREE travel!
HOW TO GET YOUR FUTURE FREE CTN EDITIONS:
It is always best to receive the newsletter on the day it is published. To do this send us your email address and we shall add you to our subscription list. Rest assured, e-mail addresses are kept strictly private. Send your free subscription request to: stevepatctn@yahoo.com
Or you may simply Google our CTN periodically for new issues.THANKS TO ALL
THE NEW BLOG 'LOOK' - The column on the right is a vertical 'album' of many of our favorite travel photos. Want to view some or all of Steve's 190+ YouTube videos? First, go to YouTube.com. Then, in it's search box type our screen name: worldromer. You will have instant access to our videos.
ONLINE CTN IS A HUGE SUCCESS
MAKE IT FREE AND THEY WILL COME....
OK, so no surprise that CTN's subscriptions sky rocketed with the advent of our new FREE online CTN. Still, this is the very best way to share our savvy TIPS n' TALES with the traveling public. As we have always said.....nothing beats FREE travel!
HOW TO GET YOUR FUTURE FREE CTN EDITIONS:
It is always best to receive the newsletter on the day it is published. To do this send us your email address and we shall add you to our subscription list. Rest assured, e-mail addresses are kept strictly private. Send your free subscription request to: stevepatctn@yahoo.com
Or you may simply Google our CTN periodically for new issues.THANKS TO ALL
THE NEW BLOG 'LOOK' - The column on the right is a vertical 'album' of many of our favorite travel photos. Want to view some or all of Steve's 190+ YouTube videos? First, go to YouTube.com. Then, in it's search box type our screen name: worldromer. You will have instant access to our videos.
FONT SIZES: Due to technical glitches there may be occasional mismatched text sizes and fonts.
Note: Grab of pair of those old red/blue 3D glasses. Some of our videos and personal photos are in very cool to view 3D. ALSO, most photos are clickable for larger size viewing.
MISCHIEVOUS LINKS: There may be occasional glitches with some LINKS. If any LINK, when double clicked, indicates the link is broken or otherwise not working try copying and pasting the link to your browsers address line. We have found this to be a solution for the one or two troublesome links.
Note: Grab of pair of those old red/blue 3D glasses. Some of our videos and personal photos are in very cool to view 3D. ALSO, most photos are clickable for larger size viewing.
MISCHIEVOUS LINKS: There may be occasional glitches with some LINKS. If any LINK, when double clicked, indicates the link is broken or otherwise not working try copying and pasting the link to your browsers address line. We have found this to be a solution for the one or two troublesome links.
THIS ISSUES HIGHLIGHTS
* MIAMI GET-A-WAY - SIGHTSEEING FUN & MORE
* A FREE MIAMI ONE BEDROOM LUXURY SUITE IS YOURS FOR THE ASKING!
* LETS GO GLOBAL - FREE HOTEL ROOMS/SUITES FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
* OUR ‘NEAR PERFECT’ ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL
* DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR MILES ARE? AND WHEN THEY WILL EXPIRE?
AWARD WALLET MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU
* NEW CTN COLUMN: FOOD CORNER - A GOOD PLACE FOR A GLOBAL NOSH
* GIZMO COLUMN: (1) AWESOME iMAC EDITING + $500 OFF (2) AN AMAZING HD POCKET ‘DUAL’ CAMCORDER/CAMERA
MIAMI GET-A-WAY
During the first week in January we completed all online bookings for our Summer 2010 seven weeks trip to Italy. It was the perfect time to lock up great bargains on two apartments, several B&Bs and a top rated Genoa hotel. These bookings also solidified our final itinerary which will have us visiting Genoa, Porto Maurizio on the Italian Riviera, Lucca, Pisa, Turin and a fun month in a deluxe Firenze (Florence) apartment. With this important work behind us were ready for a more immediate departure. On January 6th we waved good-bye to Max Cat, locked the front door behind us, packed the car and headed to the last gate at San Francisco Airport. Our destination was Florida’s West Palm Beach airport.
The main purpose of our trip was to visit two of our closest friends recently retired from Staten Island to Lake Worth, Florida. Together with Ed and Melody we planned to explore the nearby towns of Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Ratan. After several days of local sightseeing the four of us headed out on a four day road trip to Key West. During the final days of the trip the two of us boarded the NCR Sky for a four days cruise to the Bahamas. Upon disembarkation we would have the final two days to explore Miami. Here are some tales ‘n tips from our trip.
TIP: OUR MANTRA - Join all the major frequent flyer programs and good
things will come your way. We reiterate that ‘joining’ is always free. What kind of ‘good things’ you may be asking? Read-on to learn how this TIP resulted in our dirt-cheap Florida air fares.
Our top recommended free travel airline program (often referred to as frequent flyer programs) remains American AAdvantage. The reasons include: (1) Extensive global routes to choose from (2) great partners like British Airways and Lufthansa. Are such partnerships important:? YES. On many occasions when American did not have free award seats they quickly found us awards seats using partner airlines. We were put on a free British Airways flight to Israel and more recently flew partner Lufthansa from Barcelona to Paris. (3) extra free U.S. gateway city flights (4) unlike virtually all other programs American still has the hands down lowest award travel to Europe, just 40,000 miles for RT Europe tickets off season from Mid-October to Mid-May. (5) Great customer service always helping us find necessary free award seats.
In addition to American Airlines we do follow our own advice (the above TIP) and also belong to most other major frequent flyer programs. When we say ‘good things will happen’ consider this. When it came time to book our SF to Florida flights we were hoping to find a way to avoid using the 50,000 American Airline miles (25,000 each) required for two domestic award tickets. Instead, we needed to find cheapskate priced tickets so that we could later use the 50,000 miles for a free RT ticket to Europe.
Let us back track a bit. We were long time Delta frequent flyer members and a year earlier had obtained a Delta credit card as part of their new free miles promotion. The promotion included a certificate good for one $99 companion domestic fare. This was one of those ‘good things’ that happen when you join multiple frequent flyer programs.
In short order we dusted off the Delta file, found the certificate and began (uurrrggg) reading all the small print. More good news. The companion ticket was valid for current use and the ‘paid’ did not exclude very low bargain priced tickets. In short order we purchased two RT Delta tickets for San Francisco to West Palm Beach airport. The first full price ticket was $341 and the companion ticket was $99. The total cost for our two RT San Francisco to Florida flights was net priced at $220 each. Our saved 50,000 would be used to purchase a future tr ticket to Europe valued at $700-$1,000!
ENTERTAINMENT PUBLICATIONS.....THE MIAMI CONNECTION
On one hand you will see that the Lion Safari web site offers a printable $6 off per adult coupon. On the other hand two coupons may not be combined leaving the Entertainment free $30 ticket coupon the clear winner.
* 2 for 1 Miami Aqua Tours Coupon that offers a free $27 harbor cruise.
Note: The web site lists their old $23 fare now $27. To their credit the coupon was honored for the full $27.
Here is the colorful Aqua Tours web site:
http://www.miamiaquatours.com/
The savings on our single joint visit to Sawgrass Recreation Park more than paid for each book. As always, we never look at the 90% or more of unused coupons so long as an Entertainment book saves us $$$$$. Aside from our use of some restaurant coupons we saved $77 on jour combined Jungle Island, Sawgrass air boat/park and Aqua Tours Miami harbor cruise. This was a solid $62 savings over the $15 cost of the book. And our friends will be using both books for the remainder of the year. Now that was a good deal!
TIP: This very day, March 16th, Entertainment is offering their St. Patrick's Day special.....all books for $17 including free shipping. It appears this offer runs until 1am March 17th PST.
Here is the Entertainment web site: http://www.entertainment.com/discount/home.shtml
Phone: (561) 470-9963 • Fax: (561) 470-4963
Expect great pastrami and corned beef, awesome matzoh ball soup and more. Imagine this signature dish:
Chicken or Beef In The Pot
With a matzo ball, noodles, kreplach, peas
and fresh garden carrots. A real nostalgia
trip to the days of your youth!
With half a kosher chicken PLUS
vegetable of the day AND potatoes all for. . . $15.99
For steak eaters there is the Kosher version of Filet Mignon:
Broiled Roumanian Tenderloin Steak
Considered by many the most flavorful
of steaks, ours are chosen and amply cut
by the chef, broiled to your taste and
served with sautéed onions . . . . . . . . . 21.99
Here is the Ben’s Del web site: http://www.bensdeli.net/
A FREE MIAMI ONE BEDROOM LUXURY SUITE IS YOURS FOR THE ASKING!
Our wonderful 14 days visit to Florida included a visit to our closest friends new Lakeworth home, a memorable road trip to Key West, a mini-cruise to the Bahamas and at the tale two days reserved for Miami sightseeing. Once our NCL ship returned to port we were off-loaded to the Miami dock and on our own for two days.
Where to stay for two nights in Miami? We put on our best ‘cheapskate’ thinking caps and grabbed a favorite file aptly titled ‘Freebie Hotels.’ Every reader should have one. Residing in the file were several pages devoted to the Marriott Rewards program. You may recall a few issues ago we reported on our east coast three day get-a-way to
historic Philadelphia. We had participated in the Marriott Rewards super bonus
promotion which had each of us obtaining 22,500 points plus a free night ‘E’ certificate. Since the ‘E’ certificates expired in six months we used them first, for two FREE nights stay in a luxury studio apartment at Marriott’s Deptford, NJ Residence Inn. The going rate for the studio apartment was $165/night so that we saved a whopping $330. On top of this each of us had our remaining 22,500 points with no expiration date.
In a flash we booked two nights at Marriott’s north Miami Aventura Residence Inn. This time around we did even better. Their normally 30,000 point per night one bedroom apartments were on ‘sale,’ via Marriott’s Point Saver discount, for 20,000 points the very same price as their studio apartments, a deal we quickly accepted. Two nights in a luxury one bedroom Marriott Residence Inn apartment for FREE. Once again our cheapskate strategy was in high gear.
Check out this shot of our free 1BR Aventura Residence Inn suite.
Our three days at the Aventura Residence Inn was delightful. In addition to the huge apartment, with TWO large screen TVs, and yummy breakfast buffet with many hot cooked items, was their 5-7 pm nightly themed happy hours. What sounded to be the usual cheese and crackers etc. turned out to be so much more. One night we returned to the hotel for a rest before heading out for dinner. The happy hour was in full swing their lovely restaurant-sofa lounge large screen TV area. There they offered the following bountiful free dinner buffet:
Beer on tap
Soda on tap
Nachos (tortilla chips and hot melted cheese)
Delicious BBQ or hot chicken wings
Platter of assorted veggies, cheeses and dips
Large hot pretzels
Ice cream and hot fudge sundays
On top of that all items were quickly refilled as quickly as guests devoured them. Needless to say we not only enjoyed their leisurely happy hours BBQ chicken ‘and more’ dinner buffet but delighted in saving the cost of dining out that night. Sadly we missed the next evenings ‘Italian’ night’s goodies. More on the Miami Aventura Mall Residence Inn later. It is now time for YOUR Marriott deal.
THE CURRENT MARRIOTT ‘NOT TO BE MISSED’ FREE HOTEL/APARTMENT ROOMS DEAL:
We happily report that Marriott is once again offering NEW Reward members the very same deal, 22,500 points good for one free night at their category 1 to 4 hotels and apartment Residence Inns (our choice) PLUS an ‘E’ certificate good for a second free night. Note: Just as before their ‘E’ certificate must be used withing six months. Since Marriott’s category one hotel rooms are only 7,500 a new member could use the points and ‘E’ certificate for as many as FOUR FREE NIGHTS rather than our choice of TWO DELUXE free apartment nights at one of their Residence Inns. Here is the LINK with all the details of this current not to be missed promotion:
http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/4000009/Rbp2.aspx?CELL=6ZB7
TIP: The Marriott Rewards Card you apply for in this promotion is also FREE for the first year. At which time one may cancel the card of keep it by paying the usual $30 annual fee. More useful details:
Marriott Rewards points needed for a standard reward free night range from 7,500 points for Category 1 (3 free nights at cat. 1 = the instant 22,500 bonus points)hotels to 35,000 points for Category 7 hotels.
22,500 Bonus Points: You will qualify for and receive your bonus after your first purchase/first use of the card. please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your Marriott Rewards account. This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first time Marriott Rewards Credit Card Cardmembers.
Free Night Stay E-certificate: Please allow 6 to 8 weeks after account opening for your Free Night Stay E-Certificate to be automatically deposited into your Marriott Rewards Account. Free Night Stay E-Certificate is valid for hotels in categories 1-4. For participating category 1-4 locations, log onto MarriottRewards.com or call 1-801-468-4000. The E-Certificate must be redeemed within 6 months from date of issue.
THREE EXAMPLES OF HOTEL/APARTMENT FREEBIES USING THIS OFFER:
EXAMPLE ONE: Using the free nights at a the category 4 Marriott all apartment north Miami Aventura Residence Inn. Here is Marriott’s description:
Experience the ideal home-away-from-home environment at the Residence Inn Aventura hotel - nestled in one of the most upscale areas of Miami, adjacent to the Aventura Mall. Perfectly positioned between South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, this all-suite hotel provides the ideal haven of comfort for leisure travel. Select from 191 472 sq.ft. studio, one-, and two-bedroom suites - each featuring a full kitchen and exceptionally comfortable living space. Start each day with a complimentary breakfast buffet, and join us for our evening hospitality hour. Experience world-class shopping, renowned beaches, and a variety of entertainment options - all within minutes. When not sightseeing why not relax in our beautifully landscaped swimming pool, whirlpool, and fitness center.
* An easy 15-20 minute drive to downtown Miami
* 19900 West Country Club Drive, Aventura, Florida
* Phone: 1-786-528-1001 Fax: 1-786-528-1002
EXAMPLE 2: Using the free nights at another ‘bargain’ Marriott Residence Inn. The Deptford Residence Inn by Marriott offers all that the business and leisure traveler is seeking. Enjoy all the comforts of home in our oversized suites that feature a full kitchen, living area, and work space. Located TEN minutes from HISTORIC downtown Philadelphia. CAT 3 15,000 POINTS
* Cat 3: Spacious studio suites with full kitchen and separate areas for sleeping, working, eating and relaxing
* Complimentary hot breakfast buffet which includes freshly made waffles and all the traditional items
Who says you need to stay ‘local.’
EXAMPLE 3: Using the free nights at elegant category 4 St. Petersburg, Russia Marriott Courtyard Vasilievsky hotel. That is the hotel pictured on the right. Marriott describes this hotel as:
OUR MIAMI ADVENTURE CONTINUED: OUR ‘NEAR PERFECT’ ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL
Another handy use of Entertainment books is there variety pack of car rental coupons some so-so and others offering more substantial savings. With coupons and their ‘codes’ and ‘800' numbers in hand we charged ahead. This time, our goal made a bit more difficult by the fact that our return flight departed from the West Palm Beach Airport. This presented good news and bad news. The good news: Our friends Ed and Melody lived just 12 miles from that airport so that our 7pm departure left much time for a final get-together for a leisurely lunch in very lovely downtown West Palm Beach. The bad news: The West Palm Beach airport is 67 miles north of Miami which meant we needed a one-way car rental in Miami with the drop-off at the West Palm Beach airport.
Drop-off rentals can be both a hassle to find and expensive to reserve. Our Miami Entertainment book made the process an easy one. And forget about computers. We love em’ but just try to nail down such as one-way rentals and the cost, if any, of an additional spouse driver and see how cyber land fails to deliver the necessary answers.
Our fourth car rental phone call hit pay dirt. Enterprise Car Rental came through in two
out of three ways. Their touted “we pick you up and take you to our office’ did not work from the Miami cruise dock but not their fault since they are not permitted, by port rules, to do this. On the other hand we snagged a one-way rental with a drop-off fee of about $40. While free drop-off fees are always welcome we were happy to at least find a company that permitted the us to book the essential one-way rental. Also Enterprise does not charge for a spouse second drivers. Other rental companies often ask for as much as $10/day for the second spouse driver. Another plus, Enterprise was located about ten blocks from the dock which meant a low cost taxi ride.
AWARD WALLET - A ‘PAY WHAT YOU WISH’ SERVICE THAT TRACKS YOUR MILES FOR YOU
TIP: Ever go online or otherwise learn that your precious miles or points had expired for lack of ‘recent activity?’ You will be saying ‘Never Again’ if you join AwardWallet.com
Aside from the above dastardly ‘miles expired’ scenario we often wish to simply view the miles in one or another account or even better how about seeing all our frequent flyer account balances and expiration dates on a single up to date list.
Can any of us be that organized? The Travelin’ Tanenbaums admit here and now that even we have suffered the loss of miles in smaller seldom used accounts by way of expiration for lack of current activity. Even keeping track of current balances in our major accounts has become more and more of a chore.
We have been members of AwardWallet.com for about five months and can say with all our thumbs way up that this service is near and dear to our traveling hearts. How Awardwallet.com, which was founded in 2004, works:
First we provided AwardWallet, in encrypted form, with airline account logon
information for each of our frequent flyer award program. Award wallet then stores the information in the "My Balances" section of its web site and immediately begins tracking each program.
Now comes the best part....aside from allowing us to instantly check the miles balances in all our airline accounts (so time consuming when logging into each account separately) Award wallet also lists all expiration dates will notify us via email when miles are nearing an expiration date. This is akin to airline miles ‘expiration’ peace of mind insurance. The site also offers a frequent flyer program forum and a section on trip planning.
The site lists two ‘testimonials’ set forth below. I confirmed both but note that one, by The Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney merely mentions the program sans any recommendation. His mention of AwardWallet would be expected to entice Wall Street Journal readers.
On the other hand Scott J. Wilson, former staff writer for the LA Times (now staff writer for the Washington Post) gives his personal endorsement. While Mr. Wilson lacks journalistic travel credentials he is likely a savvy frequent flyer who clearly endorses AwardWallet.com. Here is what each has said:
"In the end, I decided the service that best met my needs was Award Wallet, so I'm going to stick with it. Now, rather than worrying about how many frequent-flier miles I've got, I can start thinking about where they can take me."
Scott J. Wilson
Los Angeles Times
"AwardWallet.com is a free service that can track programs at airlines, hotels, car-rental companies and other merchants"
Scott McCartney
The Wall Street Journal
AwardWallet’s pricing is unique for this type of membership online service and may be described simply as:
Each member pays what ever he/she feels the service is worth for their six months membership (the program must be renewed each six months.) You heard it right. The membership is always reasonable since YOU set the price. We recall reading that $15 was a fair ‘low’ price for six months with some paying more and some less. We paid the $15 and have enjoyed using the program these past five months. In a matter of seconds we can logon and view the current balances in all our airline and also hotel programs (like Marriott Rewards) plus all important expiration dates.
To summarize, Award Wallet according to its founders offers the following to frequent travelers:
1. Time. We will save travelers time. No need to login to each award program website. All your frequent flier info in one place.
2. Expiration notification. We will let you know if miles or points are about to expire so you can create some activity in the account and not loose your miles.
3. Auto login. Click on the Hotel, Airline or other program name and we will take you to the award program site and automatically log you in.
With close to a dozen major/minor airline/hotel accounts to deal with AwardWallet.com has come to our rescue with its above features. Gone is the worry and stress related to multiple accounts management and threat of expiring miles.
For more information on the program including its all important security features, read this interview with AwardWallet.com’s founders. The article which is titled: A Few Questions About Award Wallet’s Security and Features Answered is found at:
http://www.techguidefortravel.com/2010/02/23/a-few-questions-about-award-wallets-security-and-features-answered/
Here is the AwardWallet web site: http://awardwallet.com/
FOOD CORNER - A GOOD PLACE FOR A GLOBAL NOSH
THE GROCERY OUTLET ‘TRAVEL’ CONNECTION
Plain and simple Grocery Outlet and LIDL markets, though separated by thousands of miles, appear to be clones of one another. They are the same size, sell mostly food and offer everything at discount prices far below other traditional super markets. With that said here is Grocery Outlet’s home page ‘Who are we’ description:
Grocery Outlet has been a tradition for bargain-seeking customers since 1946.Today, Grocery Outlet is a third-generation family run business, recognized as the nation’s largest grocery extreme-value retailer. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, Grocery Outlet currently encompasses 130+ independently operated stores in 6 Western States. We offer brand name products at 40% to 60% below traditional retailers. Our buyers shop the nation and the world by traveling thousands of miles each year just so we can offer the best brand-named products for less than you would pay conventionally. We love to save you money.
Grocery Outlet short changes itself: Grocery Outlet fails to pat itself on the back for offering many items, some brand name and others not, that are UNIQUE NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OTHER LOCAL MARKET ITEMS. For us that is part of the fun of shopping at our local Grocery Outlet. And it is this very attribute that has had a global travel connection for us.
GIZMO COLUMN: AWESOME iMAC EDITING + $500 OFF and AN AMAZING POCKET HD CAMCORDER
Many of you have a favorite hobby. One of my favorites was video editing using my reliable Apple G3 and its iMOVIE2 editing program. With virtual ease I was able to turn out Hollywood style mini-movies. With the advent of YouTube I was able to feed my ego and thrust many of my videos onto the global cyber stage. Some years later I have about 200 videos on YouTube over one half million global viewers. Here are two of those iMac-iMovie edited YouTube videos (both filmed and edited by yours truly).
First, is my Sherlock Holmes video. Here actor Roger Llewelyn performed excepts of his one man show, Sherlock Homes the Last Act, exclusively for our video camera.
Next, the majesty of a crystal clear day flight to the summit of Mt. Mckinley. One of my best ‘edited’ combination of stunning visuals and a soulful music track.
A few years ago my decade old hobby was shattered with the advent of digital memory card using camcorders. My good ole iMAC is totally unable to import video from memory cards. These days I am using two ultra light weight cameras on our travels. They are a Sony T30 Cybershot which is a pocket cam used mostly for still though it takes usable fine mode video. I also use a Panasonic SAR-S150 pocket size camcorder. The Sony uses DUO memory cards and the Panasonic uses SD for its Mpeg2 video. After 2-3 years in the editing wilderness I just purchased a the 21.5" iMac upgraded model MC413LL. Upgrades on this model include a one terabyte internal hard drive and 4 x faster AT Radon HD 4670 graphics processor.
Whether you are tired of watching dreary raw footage run from your camcorder to a TV or you feel the time is right to do editing justice to your video efforts the new iMac which includes iMOVIE 9 is a fun, effective and rewarding answer.
TIP: Checked around and find iMac are pretty much price fixed? I saved about $500 on my iMAC purchases AND SO CAN YOU. DO NOT pay FULL price for an iMAC.
HOW I SAVED ALMOST $500.
*Imac store price for my upgraded 21.5" iMac is $1499. The Applecare plan which offers 2 years 9 months of extended phone tech service and two years of extended warranty on the computer, is ESSENTIAL and sells for $169. With California sales tax my local Apple store’s out the door price is $1806. I shopped ebay very CAREFULLY and found a reliable vendor Cheetahexpress, selling on ebay since 2003 with a remarkable feedback score of 99.8%. I paid $1449.95 for the same upgraded model including the Applecare plan, free shipping and NO SALES TAX. I also obtained 3 rebates.
I used Bing.com to go the Ebay and enjoy their 10% Microsoft cashback rebate. With the Cheetahexpress ebay pay on the screen I opened a second window and logged onto www.ebates.com and used that site to go to the same Cheetahexpress ebay page. The microsoft logo is atop the page so confirm I qualify for their 10% cashback. I received another 2% from Ebay Bucks. Many long time ebay customers have been ‘invited’ to receive Ebay Bucks. My net price was $1,297 so that I save a whopping $507 over Apple store’s net price of $1,806. Who says you can not save big time buying an Apple? Visit Apple.com and check out this and also their higher priced 27" model iMacs. The fun and satisfaction of digital, travel video editing may be closer and cheaper than you think. Note: I purchased my ebay iMac from theCheetahExpress.
See CheetahExpress's current offerings at:
http://shop.ebay.com/thecheetahexpress/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
EBATES: http://www.ebates.com/
BING's cashback stores: http://www.bing.com/shopping/pages/stores.aspx?scope=cashback&FORM=R5FD1
AN AMAZING POCKET HD CAMCORDER
Most of the traveling public enjoy returning home with photo and/or video highlights of their trips. Gone are the days of simple point and shoot cameras. They have been dispatched and replaced by one word and one word alone....DIGITAL. The mixed-bag world of digital photography offers us technical wonders like the ability to review every photo we take so that bringing home ‘bad photos’ is pretty much a thing of the past. On the other hand those who wish to do something other than watch photos and raw video footage directly from camera to TV have a bit of work to do. That work can be as easy as plucking a memory card into a viewer at Costo or Sams club and then running off beautiful low cost prints to the much more involved world of photo and video editing and with regard to the latter putting the edited movies onto DVDs.
Let me describe this very new HD camcorder including the reasons it is atop my list of contenders. Here is the Sanyo Xacti Dual Camera VPC-HD2000 and below a list of features that are greatly enticing me to purchase one:
* Amazing low price of about $499.
* Ultra-light. The camcorder with battery weighs a mere 10 ounces.
* Dual camera. You can shoot video and/or 8-megapixel stills
Let me expand a bit on my favorite very hard to find feature which may be a deal maker for me. The feature is the mike input and cold shoe. I went shopping at Frys Electronics, my local mega electronics department store, and found this feature on one Sony camcorder priced at $1,000.
Ask any serious video hobbyist and they will say there is nothing that improves home videos more than the use of wireless mikes. Here are two good examples. First, the dramatic use of a wireless mike at Australia's Remarkable Rocks. I was literally hundreds of feet away and yet my voice comes through crystal clear.
This is another favorite. I shot this video of a Paris metro street artist who I call
'Opera Gal.' When the camera zooms to wide angle you can see that I am a distance away with passengers walking between the young performer and my camcorder. Opera Gal kindly permitted me to 'wire her' with a lapel mike. The result is her awesome performance unencumbered by the surrounding station and train noises.
TIP: There are hundreds of cameras and camcorders on the market. Be sure to make a list of features YOU want, the price you can afford and do your research including formal and user reviews. For me, here and now, I have yet to find another ultra-light pocket dual camcorder that has all the above features at anywhere close to the $499 price.
Here is the LINK for more information:
http://us.sanyo.com/Dual-Cameras/VPC-HD2000ABK-Full-1080p-HD-Video-and-8MP-Digital-Photos
* OUR 2010 SUMMER APARTMENTS IN FLORENCE & PORTO MAURIZIO FOR ABOUT $85/night
* PREVIEW OF OUR 2010 SUMMER 7 WEEKS TRIP TO ITALY
* MUCH MORE!
HAPPY AND SAFE TRAVELS TO ALL!
* MIAMI GET-A-WAY - SIGHTSEEING FUN & MORE
* A FREE MIAMI ONE BEDROOM LUXURY SUITE IS YOURS FOR THE ASKING!
* LETS GO GLOBAL - FREE HOTEL ROOMS/SUITES FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
* OUR ‘NEAR PERFECT’ ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL
* DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR MILES ARE? AND WHEN THEY WILL EXPIRE?
AWARD WALLET MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU
* NEW CTN COLUMN: FOOD CORNER - A GOOD PLACE FOR A GLOBAL NOSH
* GIZMO COLUMN: (1) AWESOME iMAC EDITING + $500 OFF (2) AN AMAZING HD POCKET ‘DUAL’ CAMCORDER/CAMERA
MIAMI GET-A-WAY
The main purpose of our trip was to visit two of our closest friends recently retired from Staten Island to Lake Worth, Florida. Together with Ed and Melody we planned to explore the nearby towns of Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Ratan. After several days of local sightseeing the four of us headed out on a four day road trip to Key West. During the final days of the trip the two of us boarded the NCR Sky for a four days cruise to the Bahamas. Upon disembarkation we would have the final two days to explore Miami. Here are some tales ‘n tips from our trip.
TIP: OUR MANTRA - Join all the major frequent flyer programs and good
things will come your way. We reiterate that ‘joining’ is always free. What kind of ‘good things’ you may be asking? Read-on to learn how this TIP resulted in our dirt-cheap Florida air fares.
Our top recommended free travel airline program (often referred to as frequent flyer programs) remains American AAdvantage. The reasons include: (1) Extensive global routes to choose from (2) great partners like British Airways and Lufthansa. Are such partnerships important:? YES. On many occasions when American did not have free award seats they quickly found us awards seats using partner airlines. We were put on a free British Airways flight to Israel and more recently flew partner Lufthansa from Barcelona to Paris. (3) extra free U.S. gateway city flights (4) unlike virtually all other programs American still has the hands down lowest award travel to Europe, just 40,000 miles for RT Europe tickets off season from Mid-October to Mid-May. (5) Great customer service always helping us find necessary free award seats.
In addition to American Airlines we do follow our own advice (the above TIP) and also belong to most other major frequent flyer programs. When we say ‘good things will happen’ consider this. When it came time to book our SF to Florida flights we were hoping to find a way to avoid using the 50,000 American Airline miles (25,000 each) required for two domestic award tickets. Instead, we needed to find cheapskate priced tickets so that we could later use the 50,000 miles for a free RT ticket to Europe.
Let us back track a bit. We were long time Delta frequent flyer members and a year earlier had obtained a Delta credit card as part of their new free miles promotion. The promotion included a certificate good for one $99 companion domestic fare. This was one of those ‘good things’ that happen when you join multiple frequent flyer programs.
In short order we dusted off the Delta file, found the certificate and began (uurrrggg) reading all the small print. More good news. The companion ticket was valid for current use and the ‘paid’ did not exclude very low bargain priced tickets. In short order we purchased two RT Delta tickets for San Francisco to West Palm Beach airport. The first full price ticket was $341 and the companion ticket was $99. The total cost for our two RT San Francisco to Florida flights was net priced at $220 each. Our saved 50,000 would be used to purchase a future tr ticket to Europe valued at $700-$1,000!
We continue to extol the virtues of Entertainment 2 for 1 discount books which are available for most U.S. cities as well limited cities in Canada and Australia. Even though their 2010 books had just gone on sale Entertainment publications was quick to email purchase discounts. We received an Entertainment email in December offering many of their books, including Florida books, at half price. For about $15 each we ordered two Miami books realizing full well that we would be sightseeing in Miami for just TWO DAYS. Here are the money saving reasons for buying the Miami books for our two days visit:
* 2 for 1 coupon for SeaWorld valued at about $30
* 2 for 1 coupon for the Miami Zoo
* 2 for 1 coupon for Miami’s Jungle Island. We used this coupon and saved $28 on our one free adult entrance ticket
* Sawgrass Recreation Park - We used the $20 value 2 for 1 free admission coupon for their exciting thirty minute air boat tour plus a 90 minute visit to their reptile, "Swamp" yard and exotic wildlife exhibits. A minimum of two hours is recommended time for the total visit. Just how much fun was Sawgrass? And here is the Sawgrass web site:
http://www.evergladestours.com/
Check out our YouTube video which includes Steve holding a baby GATOR!
* 2 for 1 coupon for the Miami Zoo
* 2 for 1 coupon for Miami’s Jungle Island. We used this coupon and saved $28 on our one free adult entrance ticket
* Sawgrass Recreation Park - We used the $20 value 2 for 1 free admission coupon for their exciting thirty minute air boat tour plus a 90 minute visit to their reptile, "Swamp" yard and exotic wildlife exhibits. A minimum of two hours is recommended time for the total visit. Just how much fun was Sawgrass? And here is the Sawgrass web site:
http://www.evergladestours.com/
Check out our YouTube video which includes Steve holding a baby GATOR!
* 2 for 1 coupon for Lion Country Safari. Before leaving for home we gave both Miami
books to our friends Ed and Melody for their use during the remainder of the year. Within a week or two after our departure they used the free Miami Zoo admission coupon and a few weeks later used both books, with two of their friends, to visit Lion Country Safari. The free 2 for 1 adult admission ticket coupons saved each couple $30. Here is the Lion Safari web site:
http://www.lioncountrysafari.com/
books to our friends Ed and Melody for their use during the remainder of the year. Within a week or two after our departure they used the free Miami Zoo admission coupon and a few weeks later used both books, with two of their friends, to visit Lion Country Safari. The free 2 for 1 adult admission ticket coupons saved each couple $30. Here is the Lion Safari web site:http://www.lioncountrysafari.com/
On one hand you will see that the Lion Safari web site offers a printable $6 off per adult coupon. On the other hand two coupons may not be combined leaving the Entertainment free $30 ticket coupon the clear winner.
* 2 for 1 Miami Aqua Tours Coupon that offers a free $27 harbor cruise.
Note: The web site lists their old $23 fare now $27. To their credit the coupon was honored for the full $27.
Here is the colorful Aqua Tours web site:
http://www.miamiaquatours.com/
The savings on our single joint visit to Sawgrass Recreation Park more than paid for each book. As always, we never look at the 90% or more of unused coupons so long as an Entertainment book saves us $$$$$. Aside from our use of some restaurant coupons we saved $77 on jour combined Jungle Island, Sawgrass air boat/park and Aqua Tours Miami harbor cruise. This was a solid $62 savings over the $15 cost of the book. And our friends will be using both books for the remainder of the year. Now that was a good deal!
TIP: This very day, March 16th, Entertainment is offering their St. Patrick's Day special.....all books for $17 including free shipping. It appears this offer runs until 1am March 17th PST.
Here is the Entertainment web site: http://www.entertainment.com/discount/home.shtml
ONE EXAMPLE OF MOUTH WATERING 'LOCAL' EATERIES
We stayed six days at our friends spanking new home in Lake Worth which is 12 miles from West Palm Beach and close to retirement population laden Boca Ratan, Ft. Lauderdale and Boynton Beach. Here are a few mouth watering eateries we enjoyed:
* BEN’S Kosher Deli: This is the real deal, a clone of a splashy and very noisy N.Y. Deli. Ben’s is an upscale version of the Brooklyn neighborhood deli Steve literally cut his ‘Kosher-Dedli’ teeth on. While this big, bustling deli takes its food very seriously Ben’s Deli has enough of a sense of humor to frame this oversized quote on one wall. "For 5,000 years we were a wandering people. Then we found Boca Raton." David Sax, author of "Save the Deli" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), includes Ben's among his three favorite South Florida spots
DETAILS: Ben’s of Boca Raton
9942 Clint Moore Road • Boca Raton, FL 33496
* BEN’S Kosher Deli: This is the real deal, a clone of a splashy and very noisy N.Y. Deli. Ben’s is an upscale version of the Brooklyn neighborhood deli Steve literally cut his ‘Kosher-Dedli’ teeth on. While this big, bustling deli takes its food very seriously Ben’s Deli has enough of a sense of humor to frame this oversized quote on one wall. "For 5,000 years we were a wandering people. Then we found Boca Raton." David Sax, author of "Save the Deli" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), includes Ben's among his three favorite South Florida spots
DETAILS: Ben’s of Boca Raton
9942 Clint Moore Road • Boca Raton, FL 33496
Phone: (561) 470-9963 • Fax: (561) 470-4963 Expect great pastrami and corned beef, awesome matzoh ball soup and more. Imagine this signature dish:
Chicken or Beef In The Pot
With a matzo ball, noodles, kreplach, peas
and fresh garden carrots. A real nostalgia
trip to the days of your youth!
With half a kosher chicken PLUS
vegetable of the day AND potatoes all for. . . $15.99
For steak eaters there is the Kosher version of Filet Mignon:
Broiled Roumanian Tenderloin Steak
Considered by many the most flavorful
of steaks, ours are chosen and amply cut
by the chef, broiled to your taste and
served with sautéed onions . . . . . . . . . 21.99
Here is the Ben’s Del web site: http://www.bensdeli.net/
A FREE MIAMI ONE BEDROOM LUXURY SUITE IS YOURS FOR THE ASKING!
Where to stay for two nights in Miami? We put on our best ‘cheapskate’ thinking caps and grabbed a favorite file aptly titled ‘Freebie Hotels.’ Every reader should have one. Residing in the file were several pages devoted to the Marriott Rewards program. You may recall a few issues ago we reported on our east coast three day get-a-way to
historic Philadelphia. We had participated in the Marriott Rewards super bonus
In a flash we booked two nights at Marriott’s north Miami Aventura Residence Inn. This time around we did even better. Their normally 30,000 point per night one bedroom apartments were on ‘sale,’ via Marriott’s Point Saver discount, for 20,000 points the very same price as their studio apartments, a deal we quickly accepted. Two nights in a luxury one bedroom Marriott Residence Inn apartment for FREE. Once again our cheapskate strategy was in high gear. Check out this shot of our free 1BR Aventura Residence Inn suite.
Beer on tap
Soda on tap
Nachos (tortilla chips and hot melted cheese)
Delicious BBQ or hot chicken wings
Platter of assorted veggies, cheeses and dips
Large hot pretzels
Ice cream and hot fudge sundays
On top of that all items were quickly refilled as quickly as guests devoured them. Needless to say we not only enjoyed their leisurely happy hours BBQ chicken ‘and more’ dinner buffet but delighted in saving the cost of dining out that night. Sadly we missed the next evenings ‘Italian’ night’s goodies. More on the Miami Aventura Mall Residence Inn later. It is now time for YOUR Marriott deal.
THE CURRENT MARRIOTT ‘NOT TO BE MISSED’ FREE HOTEL/APARTMENT ROOMS DEAL:
We happily report that Marriott is once again offering NEW Reward members the very same deal, 22,500 points good for one free night at their category 1 to 4 hotels and apartment Residence Inns (our choice) PLUS an ‘E’ certificate good for a second free night. Note: Just as before their ‘E’ certificate must be used withing six months. Since Marriott’s category one hotel rooms are only 7,500 a new member could use the points and ‘E’ certificate for as many as FOUR FREE NIGHTS rather than our choice of TWO DELUXE free apartment nights at one of their Residence Inns. Here is the LINK with all the details of this current not to be missed promotion:
http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/4000009/Rbp2.aspx?CELL=6ZB7
TIP: The Marriott Rewards Card you apply for in this promotion is also FREE for the first year. At which time one may cancel the card of keep it by paying the usual $30 annual fee. More useful details:
Marriott Rewards points needed for a standard reward free night range from 7,500 points for Category 1 (3 free nights at cat. 1 = the instant 22,500 bonus points)hotels to 35,000 points for Category 7 hotels.
22,500 Bonus Points: You will qualify for and receive your bonus after your first purchase/first use of the card. please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your Marriott Rewards account. This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first time Marriott Rewards Credit Card Cardmembers.
Free Night Stay E-certificate: Please allow 6 to 8 weeks after account opening for your Free Night Stay E-Certificate to be automatically deposited into your Marriott Rewards Account. Free Night Stay E-Certificate is valid for hotels in categories 1-4. For participating category 1-4 locations, log onto MarriottRewards.com or call 1-801-468-4000. The E-Certificate must be redeemed within 6 months from date of issue.
THREE EXAMPLES OF HOTEL/APARTMENT FREEBIES USING THIS OFFER:
EXAMPLE ONE: Using the free nights at a the category 4 Marriott all apartment north Miami Aventura Residence Inn. Here is Marriott’s description:
Experience the ideal home-away-from-home environment at the Residence Inn Aventura hotel - nestled in one of the most upscale areas of Miami, adjacent to the Aventura Mall. Perfectly positioned between South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, this all-suite hotel provides the ideal haven of comfort for leisure travel. Select from 191 472 sq.ft. studio, one-, and two-bedroom suites - each featuring a full kitchen and exceptionally comfortable living space. Start each day with a complimentary breakfast buffet, and join us for our evening hospitality hour. Experience world-class shopping, renowned beaches, and a variety of entertainment options - all within minutes. When not sightseeing why not relax in our beautifully landscaped swimming pool, whirlpool, and fitness center.
* An easy 15-20 minute drive to downtown Miami
* 19900 West Country Club Drive, Aventura, Florida
* Phone: 1-786-528-1001 Fax: 1-786-528-1002
EXAMPLE 2: Using the free nights at another ‘bargain’ Marriott Residence Inn. The Deptford Residence Inn by Marriott offers all that the business and leisure traveler is seeking. Enjoy all the comforts of home in our oversized suites that feature a full kitchen, living area, and work space. Located TEN minutes from HISTORIC downtown Philadelphia. CAT 3 15,000 POINTS
* Cat 3: Spacious studio suites with full kitchen and separate areas for sleeping, working, eating and relaxing
* Complimentary hot breakfast buffet which includes freshly made waffles and all the traditional items
Who says you need to stay ‘local.’
It has a perfect location in the historic city centre of charming St. Petersburg, Russia. Whether you accommodate for business or choose the hotel for vacation the Courtyard by Marriott St. Petersburg Vasilievsky will contribute to making your visit more memorable and comfortable. You will surely appreciate the location, its modern design, the view to the River Neva and free broadband Internet in the public areas.
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ledcy-courtyard-st-petersburg-vasilievsky/?clusterCode=MW1
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ledcy-courtyard-st-petersburg-vasilievsky/?clusterCode=MW1
OUR MIAMI ADVENTURE CONTINUED: OUR ‘NEAR PERFECT’ ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL
Another handy use of Entertainment books is there variety pack of car rental coupons some so-so and others offering more substantial savings. With coupons and their ‘codes’ and ‘800' numbers in hand we charged ahead. This time, our goal made a bit more difficult by the fact that our return flight departed from the West Palm Beach Airport. This presented good news and bad news. The good news: Our friends Ed and Melody lived just 12 miles from that airport so that our 7pm departure left much time for a final get-together for a leisurely lunch in very lovely downtown West Palm Beach. The bad news: The West Palm Beach airport is 67 miles north of Miami which meant we needed a one-way car rental in Miami with the drop-off at the West Palm Beach airport.Drop-off rentals can be both a hassle to find and expensive to reserve. Our Miami Entertainment book made the process an easy one. And forget about computers. We love em’ but just try to nail down such as one-way rentals and the cost, if any, of an additional spouse driver and see how cyber land fails to deliver the necessary answers.
Our fourth car rental phone call hit pay dirt. Enterprise Car Rental came through in two
out of three ways. Their touted “we pick you up and take you to our office’ did not work from the Miami cruise dock but not their fault since they are not permitted, by port rules, to do this. On the other hand we snagged a one-way rental with a drop-off fee of about $40. While free drop-off fees are always welcome we were happy to at least find a company that permitted the us to book the essential one-way rental. Also Enterprise does not charge for a spouse second drivers. Other rental companies often ask for as much as $10/day for the second spouse driver. Another plus, Enterprise was located about ten blocks from the dock which meant a low cost taxi ride.AWARD WALLET - A ‘PAY WHAT YOU WISH’ SERVICE THAT TRACKS YOUR MILES FOR YOU
Can any of us be that organized? The Travelin’ Tanenbaums admit here and now that even we have suffered the loss of miles in smaller seldom used accounts by way of expiration for lack of current activity. Even keeping track of current balances in our major accounts has become more and more of a chore.
We have been members of AwardWallet.com for about five months and can say with all our thumbs way up that this service is near and dear to our traveling hearts. How Awardwallet.com, which was founded in 2004, works:
First we provided AwardWallet, in encrypted form, with airline account logon
information for each of our frequent flyer award program. Award wallet then stores the information in the "My Balances" section of its web site and immediately begins tracking each program. Now comes the best part....aside from allowing us to instantly check the miles balances in all our airline accounts (so time consuming when logging into each account separately) Award wallet also lists all expiration dates will notify us via email when miles are nearing an expiration date. This is akin to airline miles ‘expiration’ peace of mind insurance. The site also offers a frequent flyer program forum and a section on trip planning.
The site lists two ‘testimonials’ set forth below. I confirmed both but note that one, by The Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney merely mentions the program sans any recommendation. His mention of AwardWallet would be expected to entice Wall Street Journal readers.
On the other hand Scott J. Wilson, former staff writer for the LA Times (now staff writer for the Washington Post) gives his personal endorsement. While Mr. Wilson lacks journalistic travel credentials he is likely a savvy frequent flyer who clearly endorses AwardWallet.com. Here is what each has said:"In the end, I decided the service that best met my needs was Award Wallet, so I'm going to stick with it. Now, rather than worrying about how many frequent-flier miles I've got, I can start thinking about where they can take me."
Scott J. Wilson
Los Angeles Times
"AwardWallet.com is a free service that can track programs at airlines, hotels, car-rental companies and other merchants"
Scott McCartney
The Wall Street Journal
AwardWallet’s pricing is unique for this type of membership online service and may be described simply as:Each member pays what ever he/she feels the service is worth for their six months membership (the program must be renewed each six months.) You heard it right. The membership is always reasonable since YOU set the price. We recall reading that $15 was a fair ‘low’ price for six months with some paying more and some less. We paid the $15 and have enjoyed using the program these past five months. In a matter of seconds we can logon and view the current balances in all our airline and also hotel programs (like Marriott Rewards) plus all important expiration dates.
To summarize, Award Wallet according to its founders offers the following to frequent travelers:
1. Time. We will save travelers time. No need to login to each award program website. All your frequent flier info in one place.
2. Expiration notification. We will let you know if miles or points are about to expire so you can create some activity in the account and not loose your miles.
3. Auto login. Click on the Hotel, Airline or other program name and we will take you to the award program site and automatically log you in.
With close to a dozen major/minor airline/hotel accounts to deal with AwardWallet.com has come to our rescue with its above features. Gone is the worry and stress related to multiple accounts management and threat of expiring miles.
For more information on the program including its all important security features, read this interview with AwardWallet.com’s founders. The article which is titled: A Few Questions About Award Wallet’s Security and Features Answered is found at:
http://www.techguidefortravel.com/2010/02/23/a-few-questions-about-award-wallets-security-and-features-answered/
Here is the AwardWallet web site: http://awardwallet.com/
FOOD CORNER - A GOOD PLACE FOR A GLOBAL NOSH
First this reprint, from our 2008 CTN, which revealed our favorite 'super discount' Europe market chain.
Note: During our recent Summer 2009 trip we shopped at LIDL markets in both Paris and Barcelona!
Note: During our recent Summer 2009 trip we shopped at LIDL markets in both Paris and Barcelona!
Many readers have savored apartment life in Paris for weeks or months. We salute you! Recently we referred a friends college age daughter to New York Habitat, the agency we used on two occasions to rent our apartments, for a ‘short term’ one week rental. Of course the cost of any apartment is highest for such a short term rental BUT there are at least three great reasons to consider a short term rental. First, such apartments cost the same or less than better 2-Star Paris hotels currently charging $130-$170 per day. Second, the level of increased COMFORT in larger sized apartments and third the inclusion of a kitchen. Having a kitchen not only insures super savings on daily breakfast but permits home cooked savings whenever one tires of daily restaurant
meals.
meals.
Enter our recent Summer 2007 Paris stay and our neighborhood LIDL SUPERMARKET. What a great $$$$ saving find! This chain has about 25 markets throughout Paris. It offers super discount prices compared to all other markets including our second favorite market MONOPRIX. Ex. gourmet smoked salmon
$50/lb in gourmet markets, $18/lb at Monoprix was just $9/lb at LIDL. And the quality was comparable. Our usual Diet Coke cost about $1.50 at Monoprix and the LIDL house brand of diet cola (amazingly would could not tell the difference in a blind test) cost an incredible low price of twenty cents per bottle or SIX to ONE. The LIDL company motto says it all: Quality is big and prices
$50/lb in gourmet markets, $18/lb at Monoprix was just $9/lb at LIDL. And the quality was comparable. Our usual Diet Coke cost about $1.50 at Monoprix and the LIDL house brand of diet cola (amazingly would could not tell the difference in a blind test) cost an incredible low price of twenty cents per bottle or SIX to ONE. The LIDL company motto says it all: Quality is big and prices
are small at Lidl Here is the LIDL store locator page for Paris:
http://www.lidl-info.com/cps/rde/xchg/eigenmarken/hs.xsl/lidl-info.htm
http://www.lidl-info.com/cps/rde/xchg/eigenmarken/hs.xsl/lidl-info.htm
Here is our mini-LIDL YouTube video:
THE GROCERY OUTLET ‘TRAVEL’ CONNECTIONPlain and simple Grocery Outlet and LIDL markets, though separated by thousands of miles, appear to be clones of one another. They are the same size, sell mostly food and offer everything at discount prices far below other traditional super markets. With that said here is Grocery Outlet’s home page ‘Who are we’ description:
Grocery Outlet has been a tradition for bargain-seeking customers since 1946.Today, Grocery Outlet is a third-generation family run business, recognized as the nation’s largest grocery extreme-value retailer. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, Grocery Outlet currently encompasses 130+ independently operated stores in 6 Western States. We offer brand name products at 40% to 60% below traditional retailers. Our buyers shop the nation and the world by traveling thousands of miles each year just so we can offer the best brand-named products for less than you would pay conventionally. We love to save you money.
Grocery Outlet short changes itself: Grocery Outlet fails to pat itself on the back for offering many items, some brand name and others not, that are UNIQUE NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OTHER LOCAL MARKET ITEMS. For us that is part of the fun of shopping at our local Grocery Outlet. And it is this very attribute that has had a global travel connection for us.
DIET TRAVEL DRINK TIP: For longer than we can remember we have included Crystal Light (various flavors) and diet orange Tang powder canisters on our three month trips. This has been especially helpful since such non-carbonated diet drinks are rarely found in global markets. We save mega $$$$$ by keeping our cruise ship and/or foreign apartment refrigerators stocked with quarts of these yummy drinks. The powders weight very little and we can easily estimate the amounts needed for a few months away from home.
The Grocery Outlet ‘travel’ connection: Diet orange Tang has never been available on the west coast. For years we purchased it directly from General Foods by mail order. One day, out of the blue, our local Grocery Outlet had a three foot display of Diet orange Tang. We knew this would be a one time offering and purchased all in the display, a two year supply that saved us a whopping $200 off the very high mail order price. We believe in the 'spend to save' philosophy.
More recently, last Spring, we saw another unique Grocery Outlet drink display. This time they were selling packets of a never before seen product.....Tang brand Pineapple drink powder. This made in Mexico product was not even sold at any of our many local Mexican super markets. It was available from one online vender at $1.29 per one quart packet plus shipping. The Grocery Outlet price was TWENTY CENTS EACH! Small bi-lingual print on each
package notes: no necesita azucar/no sugar needed. Basically, this is DIET Pineapple Tang rated at only 15 calories per 8 ounce glass. After trying a packet and declaring the drink DELICIOUS we bought all their supply, just enough for three month summer 2009 trip.
The Grocery Outlet ‘travel’ connection: Diet orange Tang has never been available on the west coast. For years we purchased it directly from General Foods by mail order. One day, out of the blue, our local Grocery Outlet had a three foot display of Diet orange Tang. We knew this would be a one time offering and purchased all in the display, a two year supply that saved us a whopping $200 off the very high mail order price. We believe in the 'spend to save' philosophy.
Did saving all those calories make room for an occasional Parisian chocolate eclair? YOU BET!
Upon our return, as expected, the product was never again seen UNTIL NOW when it magically reappeared. This time we spent $30 buying all their stock, easily enough for our home use plus all we shall need for our Summer 2010 trip to Italy.
Here is the Grocery Outlet web site: http://www.groceryoutlet.com/
Many of you have a favorite hobby. One of my favorites was video editing using my reliable Apple G3 and its iMOVIE2 editing program. With virtual ease I was able to turn out Hollywood style mini-movies. With the advent of YouTube I was able to feed my ego and thrust many of my videos onto the global cyber stage. Some years later I have about 200 videos on YouTube over one half million global viewers. Here are two of those iMac-iMovie edited YouTube videos (both filmed and edited by yours truly).
First, is my Sherlock Holmes video. Here actor Roger Llewelyn performed excepts of his one man show, Sherlock Homes the Last Act, exclusively for our video camera.
Next, the majesty of a crystal clear day flight to the summit of Mt. Mckinley. One of my best ‘edited’ combination of stunning visuals and a soulful music track.
A few years ago my decade old hobby was shattered with the advent of digital memory card using camcorders. My good ole iMAC is totally unable to import video from memory cards. These days I am using two ultra light weight cameras on our travels. They are a Sony T30 Cybershot which is a pocket cam used mostly for still though it takes usable fine mode video. I also use a Panasonic SAR-S150 pocket size camcorder. The Sony uses DUO memory cards and the Panasonic uses SD for its Mpeg2 video. After 2-3 years in the editing wilderness I just purchased a the 21.5" iMac upgraded model MC413LL. Upgrades on this model include a one terabyte internal hard drive and 4 x faster AT Radon HD 4670 graphics processor.
Whether you are tired of watching dreary raw footage run from your camcorder to a TV or you feel the time is right to do editing justice to your video efforts the new iMac which includes iMOVIE 9 is a fun, effective and rewarding answer.
TIP: Checked around and find iMac are pretty much price fixed? I saved about $500 on my iMAC purchases AND SO CAN YOU. DO NOT pay FULL price for an iMAC.
HOW I SAVED ALMOST $500.
*Imac store price for my upgraded 21.5" iMac is $1499. The Applecare plan which offers 2 years 9 months of extended phone tech service and two years of extended warranty on the computer, is ESSENTIAL and sells for $169. With California sales tax my local Apple store’s out the door price is $1806. I shopped ebay very CAREFULLY and found a reliable vendor Cheetahexpress, selling on ebay since 2003 with a remarkable feedback score of 99.8%. I paid $1449.95 for the same upgraded model including the Applecare plan, free shipping and NO SALES TAX. I also obtained 3 rebates.
I used Bing.com to go the Ebay and enjoy their 10% Microsoft cashback rebate. With the Cheetahexpress ebay pay on the screen I opened a second window and logged onto www.ebates.com and used that site to go to the same Cheetahexpress ebay page. The microsoft logo is atop the page so confirm I qualify for their 10% cashback. I received another 2% from Ebay Bucks. Many long time ebay customers have been ‘invited’ to receive Ebay Bucks. My net price was $1,297 so that I save a whopping $507 over Apple store’s net price of $1,806. Who says you can not save big time buying an Apple? Visit Apple.com and check out this and also their higher priced 27" model iMacs. The fun and satisfaction of digital, travel video editing may be closer and cheaper than you think. Note: I purchased my ebay iMac from theCheetahExpress. See CheetahExpress's current offerings at:
http://shop.ebay.com/thecheetahexpress/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
EBATES: http://www.ebates.com/
BING's cashback stores: http://www.bing.com/shopping/pages/stores.aspx?scope=cashback&FORM=R5FD1
AN AMAZING POCKET HD CAMCORDER
Most of the traveling public enjoy returning home with photo and/or video highlights of their trips. Gone are the days of simple point and shoot cameras. They have been dispatched and replaced by one word and one word alone....DIGITAL. The mixed-bag world of digital photography offers us technical wonders like the ability to review every photo we take so that bringing home ‘bad photos’ is pretty much a thing of the past. On the other hand those who wish to do something other than watch photos and raw video footage directly from camera to TV have a bit of work to do. That work can be as easy as plucking a memory card into a viewer at Costo or Sams club and then running off beautiful low cost prints to the much more involved world of photo and video editing and with regard to the latter putting the edited movies onto DVDs.
Let me describe this very new HD camcorder including the reasons it is atop my list of contenders. Here is the Sanyo Xacti Dual Camera VPC-HD2000 and below a list of features that are greatly enticing me to purchase one:
* Amazing low price of about $499.
* Ultra-light. The camcorder with battery weighs a mere 10 ounces.
* Dual camera. You can shoot video and/or 8-megapixel stills
* Dual filming permits taking stills and videos AT THE SAME TIME
* Default iFrame mode makes it easy to both edit & create DVDs on an iMac
* Default iFrame mode makes it easy to both edit & create DVDs on an iMac
* Also films Blu Ray quality video at 1080p (30fps or even 60fps)
* HDMI cable output for direct viewing on your new large flat screen LCD TV.
*10 optical & 16 optical zoom (stills/video). Very rare on pocket cameras.
* HDMI cable output for direct viewing on your new large flat screen LCD TV.
*10 optical & 16 optical zoom (stills/video). Very rare on pocket cameras.
* Built-n flash for still photos
* Mike input and cold shoe. Very rare on pocket cameras.
* Mike input and cold shoe. Very rare on pocket cameras.
Let me expand a bit on my favorite very hard to find feature which may be a deal maker for me. The feature is the mike input and cold shoe. I went shopping at Frys Electronics, my local mega electronics department store, and found this feature on one Sony camcorder priced at $1,000.
Ask any serious video hobbyist and they will say there is nothing that improves home videos more than the use of wireless mikes. Here are two good examples. First, the dramatic use of a wireless mike at Australia's Remarkable Rocks. I was literally hundreds of feet away and yet my voice comes through crystal clear.
This is another favorite. I shot this video of a Paris metro street artist who I call
'Opera Gal.' When the camera zooms to wide angle you can see that I am a distance away with passengers walking between the young performer and my camcorder. Opera Gal kindly permitted me to 'wire her' with a lapel mike. The result is her awesome performance unencumbered by the surrounding station and train noises.
TIP: There are hundreds of cameras and camcorders on the market. Be sure to make a list of features YOU want, the price you can afford and do your research including formal and user reviews. For me, here and now, I have yet to find another ultra-light pocket dual camcorder that has all the above features at anywhere close to the $499 price.
Here is the LINK for more information:
http://us.sanyo.com/Dual-Cameras/VPC-HD2000ABK-Full-1080p-HD-Video-and-8MP-Digital-Photos
CTN SPRING 2010 UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS:
* A WHIRLWIND VISIT TO KEY WEST, FLORIDA
* OUR NCL $259 MINI-CRUISE FROM MIAMI TO NASSAU* OUR 2010 SUMMER APARTMENTS IN FLORENCE & PORTO MAURIZIO FOR ABOUT $85/night
* PREVIEW OF OUR 2010 SUMMER 7 WEEKS TRIP TO ITALY
* MUCH MORE!
HAPPY AND SAFE TRAVELS TO ALL!
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