Watching Out for Travel ScamsHello dear friends. I hope your Tuesday is turning out to be a good one. My day has gone off without a hitch - first to my morning coffee klatch with Denise and then off to the gym for an hour cardio & weight training class. 
I have to say, I'm rearin' to go now! I was so happy to read in Tanya's Daily yesterday that she is seriously considering coming to Portugal in 2016. It's a long way off, but we are all too well aware of how fast time flies and it's always better to have long-term travel plans on the calendar then to leave it to chance. Before you know it, that day will be here and you may have wished you set the wheels in motion for a great vacation months or even years in advance for the best possible prices, accommodations and scheduling. Today, I wanted to share some eye-opening information with you about travel scams and your hard earned frequent flyer points. I read a very interesting and somewhat disheartening article in USA Today yesterday about the many scams and unsavory practices that take place in the travel industry. If you are like me, you love loyalty programs and building your bank of points with those companies you patronize on a regular basis. For me, that includes retails stores, restaurants, credit cards, hotels and airlines. By the very nature of its name, a loyalty program is a way for companies to reward their customers for their loyalty, thus, encouraging repeat business over and over. But, what if you were to discover, to your horror that after years of loyal patronage to a particular airline or corporation and a bank full of points that you were saving for that special trip or multiple trips, that your points were all gone. In today's world of corporate mergers and acquisitions, it is not uncommon for the rules you were living by under one corporate veil to become null and void under the new rules and regulations if that company were to be purchased by another. "Insincere offers aren't confined to airline loyalty programs, although they can be among the worst offenders" | Don't Lose Your Vacation Days!!!Being here in Southern California, I am 3 hours behind New York and Elisa usually writes her Daily before I do. There are days that I read her daily and then write mine and others when I write mine and then read hers. I guess it's a little game that I play with myself to see how often we are on the same wave length with what we are sharing with you on any given day. Anyhow, today was one of the days that I read her Daily first and when I got down to the bottom and read the quote that she chose for today, it had immediately made me think of a certain someone and their avoidance to Be a Better Person and their actual desire to do the exact opposite! "It's not about being the Best, it's about being a Better you than you were Yesterday" Stubbornness and pride seem to get in the way and all you have in the end is hurt and pain that you have inflicted upon yourself and usually upon those that you really do love and care about. Don't let your EGO get in your way. And this pertains to everything that you do in life. The EGO has a funny way of sneaking it's head in there when you least expect it. The EGO is nothing but FEAR. And if you can realize that, then why would you allow your fear to rule your life? Do some soul searching and think about if this relates to you. And if it does, then there is only one thing to do...MAKE THAT CHANGE! Catch yourself in the act and decide to go for it against whatever your ego has whispered in your ear. Don't let your dreams and goals be destroyed and certainly don't be the destroyer of other's dreams and goals. 
Next subject and one of my very favorites...TRAVEL I read something yesterday that had the statistic of how many Vacations Days went unused last year. The number is astonishing! Try to guess how many... *The answer can be found below Now while I know that not everyone loves to travel as much as I do, and some people may not like to travel at all - but not using your vacation days is just plain STUPID. Use them for a staycation if you don't want to go anywhere. Use them to spend more time with your kids, your family, your friends...doing something you love. Let's please work at getting this number much lower for the years to come! In 2013, I traveled at least 112 days for the year, and this year (2014) I'm on track for at least 137 days for the year! And like I said, if you aren't the type who has the same interest, then just get out there and do what interests you, brings you joy and puts a smile to your face! Well today is Travelin' Tuesday and it's also a Stable Day for Cosette! She'll be taking her lesson early today, and then she'll be heading to the other stables (where the family keeps their horses), with my sister Jet and little Chaplin, to go groom and care for 'Dream' and 'Star'. 
Only 8 days to go for our Pre-NM Road Trip and being that ours starts and ends in SoCal, we will be gone for an extra week (not getting back until the night before Cosette's Birthday), so I got everything ordered and ready to go for her big day! Packages have been arriving daily!! And now, I've got to work on costumes for halloween! The kids have finally informed me that they are interested in dressing up as a Greek God and Goddess! It's time to figure out what I'm gonna be and what Dave B. is gonna dress up as! I'm open to suggestions :) 
Halloween 2012
Hope you have already been having a great day and that you continue to do so! -T ANSWER: 429,000,000 Vacation Days Went Unused Last Year! |
