Since we were just talking about Universal Studios yesterday (even though that was Hollywood and this is Orlando) I thought this would be a perfect time to mention a new roller coaster that was just announced for Universal Studios Orlando! It’s called the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit and looks really cool! It is going to have a lot of loops, twists, turns, and will even go out into CityWalk…so it goes outside the theme park!

It’s going to open next spring. This is one of many attractions that are currently being worked on in Universal Studios Orlando. I must admit, I’m really looking forward to going next year once all of these new rides and attractions open up.

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When you travel, no matter where you go, there is almost one thing that always happens. You have to wait. You can be stuck in an airport waiting for them to call your flight, you can be on that 9 hour flight that doesn’t feel like it will ever end, you can even be sitting in a car driving to your destination. No matter how you travel though, there will always be time that you don’t have anything to do.

A lot of people like reading books, watching DVDs, or even listening to music while waiting. Have you considered listening to books or podcasts though?

These days almost everyone has an mp3 player. You can easily download some of your favorite podcasts, and listen to them on your trip. Sometimes you can even find a podcast about your destination, so you can listen while you’re on your way to your destination!

Even better, podcasts are free, so you can just download them and go! You can get great entertainment (and learn a lot as well) without having to spend any extra money. Sounds good to me!

Here is a perfect example. Here is a list of podcats by Frommers.com. You’re sure to learn something great from them! Just taking a quick glance, they have a podcast about taking better pictures, saving money in Washington D.C., standing up to the airlines, and a lot more. You can be sure that the next time I travel I will be downloading some of these podcasts and will be bringing them with me. What a fun way to pass the time!

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If you love to travel, you might also love taking pictures of your vacation. It’s so much fun to be able to go through your pictures months later, remembering and reliving all of your trips.

As we all know though, it isn’t always so easy to take the perfect pictures while on your vacation.

While at the New York Times Travel Show, I saw a vendor that I had also seen mentioned in Popular Photography Magazine. They’re called Mentor Series, and do Worldwide Photo Treks. Basically, you book with them and go to a travel destination. They have people there that will help you take better pictures, go over the pictures you took, and will give seminars to help you take amazing vacation photos.

They travel all over the world, so you are bound to find a destination you like. Here are just a few of their upcoming trips this year:

• San Antonio - March 28th - 30th
• Kentucky - April 11 - 13
• Norway - April 20 - 30
• Vermont - May 30 - June 1
• Venice & Tuscany - June 19 - July 1
• Turkey - September 4 - 13

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One of the best parts of the Travel Show that I attended last Saturday was getting to attend a seminar given by Arthur Frommer and his daughter Pauline Frommer. The title of their seminar was “The Top Travel Bargains for the Year Ahead”, and boy did they give some good suggestions! Plus, it’s Arthur Frommer! You can’t go to the travel section of any bookstore without seeing many of his books. Who wouldn’t love the chance to hear what he has to say?

I knew this was a seminar not to miss because last year I had gone to the same one (with very different bargains!) and it was a great hour. This year the suggestions were very different from last year’s, and I would love to share some of their suggestions. Maybe it will help you decide where to go on your next vacation!

• China - From now until the summer Olympics start, and then starting again the week after the Olympics end for another few months, China is going to be a great deal. The exchange rate is pretty good, and you can book an entire trip that is 1-2 weeks long (including airfare, hotel, etc..) for under $2,000 per person.
• Vietnam - This is becoming a more popular tourist destination, and prices are still very low to visit.
• Panama City - Pauline Frommer referred to Panama City as “Costa Rica without the crowds”. In other words, there are still some amazing things to do and see, but since it isn’t as popular or built up yet, it’s not only inexpensive, but less crowded. (I have to tell you, after leaving the seminar the first thing I did was go back to the vendors that had information on Panama! I look forward to reading them.)
• Costa Rica - As is widely known, Costa Rica is a great place to vacation, and prices are still pretty low to visit.
• Utila or Roatan (Both are part of the Bay Islands off of Honduras) - These are also very inexpensive, and are beautiful places to vacation. (I spent a day on Roatan as part of a cruise that I took a few years ago, and it was a fun day.)
• U.S. National Parks - With the dollar being so low, it’s expensive to travel to many countries! The U.S. National Parks are kept in good condition, it’s really cheap to get in, and can be a lot of fun!
• Kenya - If their new elections stick, Kenya will soon be a great place to visit. You will be able to go on an amazing African Safari, and it won’t be very expensive.

Arthur and Pauline Frommer also had some other suggestions on how to make your next trip less expensive. Next week I’ll share some of those suggestions! Tomorrow I’ll share a few deals to show you how good some of these destinations can be!

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This past Saturday I attended the New York Times Travel Show at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC. I can’t tell you what a really fun day I had! I look forward to it each year, and I am never disappointed.

This is the 5th year that they have run the show, and the 5th year that I have attended. Each year it keeps getting bigger, and there really was a lot to see and do!

They had hundreds of vendors, 2 seminar rooms full of great speakers such as Rick Steves and Arther Frommer, a cultural stage, and even a “taste of the world” cooking area where you could watch them make items from all over the world.

It wasn’t even expensive to get in. Tickets were $15.00 each, or $10.00 if you used your American Express card.

So what did I spend my day doing? Well, I spent most of it walking up and down all of the rows, looking at all of the different vendors, talking to some of them, and getting information so that I could look at it later at home.

That really is the best part of the show for me. You can talk to people who really know the area you are interested in, and ask any questions you have. They also have some great brochures, so when you get home you can learn more information about the destination or company. While websites are great and can give you a lot of information, sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to look at a quick brochure that highlights the best “things to do” in a certain city or country.

I also attended one of the two seminar’s that Arthur Frommer and his daughter Pauline put on. I’ll talk more about that one tomorrow, since I learned a lot there as well.

Each year I go, I tell myself that even though I am interested in many places, I will try not to take too many brochures. This is because the first year that I went, my friend and I took brochures for everything we were interested in, and our arms hurt for days! Even this year with trying to be careful, I still took too much information. The only good thing is that I am interested in what I took, and will be happy to read it all as I get the time.

It’s so great to see so many people interested in traveling all over the world. They had people there promoting everything you can thing of. Some were there to promote a country - there were big displays set up for Turkey, Ireland, and Greece for example, while others were promoting a company, like NCL, Princess Cruise Line, or even a private touring company.

Destinations from all over the world were represented, so whether you were interested in going down to the Jersey Shore, or to Australia, you would have had no problems finding information.

As I get to go through all of the information that I got, I’ll share with you all the great things I learn!

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Do you love to share your past vacations so that others can know what you liked and disliked? If so, you can earn up to $30 in Amazon Gift Certificates for sharing about your recent trips! BzzAgent is a company where you can buzz products (good and bad) and get a chance to tell others what you think about them. They have all different types, and they also have what’s called the FrogPond, where you talk about different cool websites that are out there.

Well, BzzAgent is having a really amazing promotion right now. If you go through their link to take a look at a website called GoneGoing (a travel site), and post 3 articles, you can earn $30.00 in Amazon Gift Certificates - $10 for each post.

GoneGoing is a travel website where people post about different places they’ve been. It’s a site where you can share all about your vacations, or go to the site to read about what others thought of a destination. If you’re still deciding where to travel on your next vacation, GoneGoing can really help by reading what other people thought of different destinations.

Through March 31st, if you create an account with them using this link, you will be able to get $10.00 for each article that you write (up to 3) about a recent trip that has at least 200 words, and 4 pictures. Isn’t that a great and easy way to earn a little extra money? You can buy almost anything on Amazon, so you will easily be able to spend it!

It’s a great way to earn a little extra to get something for your next trip. $30.00 will easily get you a travel book, or something else you might need for your next trip.

It’s also fun to talk about a vacation you’ve taken, so it hardly feels like work…at least to me! I have already signed up, and already posted my 3 articles. Enjoy!!

If you want to earn up to $30.00 in Amazon Gift Certificates, click here to sign up.

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This weekend (Saturday March 1st and Sunday March 2nd), the annual New York Times Travel Show will be going on at the Jacob Javits Center.

If you live near NYC and love to travel, or are planning your next trip, you might be interested in going. The travel show has hundreds of different vendors, all trying to convince you that their location is a great place to visit. They can answer any questions you have about a destination, or if you’re just looking, you can get tons and tons of guidebooks to anywhere you might be interested in visiting.

Something else that’s really great is that they also have seminars going on all weekend. You will get to see some of the top travel experts, if you’re interested. Rick Steves is doing a seminar on both Saturday and Sunday, and Arthur Frommer and his daughter Pauline will be doing 2 seminars on Saturday. I was lucky enough to listen to all 3 of them speak at last years event, and I can tell you it was a lot of fun.

If you want to read more about who will be at the travel show, you can go to The New York Times Travel Show website.If you buy your tickets with an American Express card, you’ll get $5.00 off, making it just $10 to get in. I have my tickets sitting right here, and really can’t wait until this weekend. This will be the 5th year they have run this, and the 5th year that I have gone. I have learned a lot at each one…and more importantly, have had a great time at each.

I really recommend going if you love to travel, or if you have some specific travel questions that you’d like to get answered.

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Are you visiting LegoLand California this year? If so, I have a great way for you to not only save money on admission, but to get a lot of other cool things too!

If you buy your ticket at the gate, or online, you will pay $59.00 for an adult admission (anyone over 13), and $47.00 for anyone under 13. It is possible to get a discount. Many websites sell tickets for up to $8.00 off.

Well, it turns out that LEGO themselves offers an even better deal. On their website, you can get a LEGO® BrickMaster™ One Year Subscription for $39.99. What is included with this?

• 6 LEGO Magazines (1 every other month) with building ideas, sneak previews, comics, contests, and more.
• 6 LEGO toy sets (1 every other month).
• 1 FREE Legoland California Admission Ticket!!!

So not only do you get to go to Legoland, and pay a lot less…but you also get 6 LEGO toy sets as well as magazines! In case you were wondering, I did call, and these tickets are good for any age…so adults can use them as well.

Also, if you want to order multiple subscriptions to the same household, you can…but you must do them in separate orders and with each person’s name. You can’t use the same name for more than one subscription.

You might ask why 2 adults are going to Legoland without any children. Well, we don’t plan on going on the rides, but we really can’t wait to see Miniland USA, and all of the other cool LEGO structures.

We ordered 2 of these subscriptions, and received the first shipment just a few days ago. It’s great…and we even enjoyed building the first LEGO sets! We look forward to receiving the rest over the remainder of the year. It’ll be great souvenirs from our trip, and will remind us of our vacation all year long.

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Are you looking to plan a trip with friends or extended family? All of the planning, getting everyone’s opinions, getting details out and all of that can be very cumbersome.

You want to make sure everyone knows what is going on, and that everyone has a say in what the trip will entail. Here is a great website that will help you with all of that!

I’m In will help you from the beginning. Say you want to go on a trip with a bunch of friends. Well where should you go? I’m In has many ideas of where groups of friends can have fun together - especially depending on what type of group it is. Is it a girls weekend away? Or a bunch of singles going away? The site will help you come up with some really great ideas.

Once you have decided where to go, you can use the site to help make sure everyone stays in the loop. Exactly how many people are going? What are the plans? Things like that. It’s a really helpful site, and I know I will be using it soon. A bunch of friends want to plan a trip together, but we really don’t know where to start. We think we might do a cruise, but it’s still in the VERY EARLY planning stages. We don’t know when we’ll be going, or even exactly who will be going! So this site will definitely come in handy!

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Royal Caribbean is building 2 new ships in a new class - the Genesis class, and wants your help in naming them! These ships will be bigger and better than any of their previous ships. For now, they are referred to as Genesis I (which will launch in 2009), and Genesis II (which will launch in 2010).

This is where you come in. Come up with a name for both ships. They both have to end with “of the Seas” just like the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet. They also must go together, since they are a part of the same class of ships. Other then that, the choice is up to you and your imagination!

If you win, and they choose your name for one of the ships, you will win a few amazing prizes. First off, you will be flown to England to attend the naming ceremony of Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, in April 2008. You will get one night hotel as well as a 2-night cruise on the Independence of the Seas.

You will then get to go to the naming of the ship for Genesis I or II (in 2009 or 2010) in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. You will also get to go on the inaugural cruise for that ship as well!

If that wasn’t enough, you will also get a 7-night Caribbean cruise on that same Genesis ship! Talk about an incredible set of prizes.

If you think you have what it takes, try to name that ship now, as you only have until February 29th, 2008.

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