Testing 123
this is just a test please ignore
5 Things to Know About Tech Friendly Cruises
Does your life style revolve around scanning your feed reader and checking YouTube for the latest Stephen Colbert video? Are you suffering from “carpel thumb†from using your Blackberry or Motorola Q to update your blog and read your email? Do you dream of a cruise vacation but dread leaving your wi-fi coffee shop world? Not to worry. You can travel and stay connected. You can exercise your mind, never break a sweat, and maybe even get a tan!
Continue Reading 5 Things to Know About Tech Friendly Cruises »
Mardi Gras 2006
Even Mother Nature can’t stop it! The city of New Orleans has announced that there willbe a Mardi Gras 2006.
The party will begin February 18th and culminate, as always, on “Fat Tuesdayâ€- February 28th. At this time nearly three quarters of the carnival krewes, the social clubs that sponsor the floats and parades, have agreed to participate. A single parade route, St. Charles Avenue, will be used for all the participating krewe’s.
The event is seen as a “coming out†party for the beleaguered city. “2006 was already primed to be a special year since it marks the 150th anniversary of Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. Now it has an even greater significance,†said Arthur Hardy, author of the Mardi Gras Guide.
The Mardi Gras celebration is only part of a larger effort to bring visitors back to New Orleans. The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau anticipate that there will be almost 25,000 hotel rooms available in the city by January.
If you’ve never visited this amazing city and always wanted to or if you’ve always loved the city and want to show your support this could be the year!
Get Your Passport!
The days of traveling out of the country with your birth certificate or drivers license are coming to an end. New Travel Document requirements will go into effect December 31, 2006. This “Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative†will affect air or sea travel to and from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda. As of that date United States Citizens will be required to present a current passport. The second part of the initiative rolls out December 31, 2007 and extends the requirements to land border crossings.
These new regulations will not affect travel between the United States and its territories. For example, U.S. citizens traveling to Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands will not need passports. Now, these dates may seem far in the future but savvy travelers are already getting prepared. Their theory is “why wait!†A great many cruise itineraries include stops at multiple islands- some U.S. territories but not all. With that in mind some of the cruise lines are already asking for passports as the preferred form of ID.
According to the U.S. government the peak processing time for passports is between January and July. For faster service they recommend applying between August and December.Applying is a snap! You can download the application at home, in some cases have your picture taken at your local Post Office and mail it off. Passports are valid for 10 years- that’s a lot of happy traveling.
Be Safe- Get Your Passport Now!
