As I walked into a travel agency today, I read on their wall that their mission statement was to provide a great travel destination at a great price.  I knew after reading this that I was in the right place as we were looking for one of those cheap holidays that you read about in magazines.

The catch was that we didn’t know where we wanted to go so we were counting on the travel agent to give us good suggestions as to where we should spend our holiday.

Lucky for us, they had a special on cheap flights to Turkey with our final destination being Icmeler Turkey.  According to the travel agent, Icmeler was a beach resort town and one of the best destinations in Turkey.

So we about our trip for the last weekend in August and I’m very excited to go on vacation on the other side of the world.

When I go traveling, I can’t really be bothered by looking at everything.  I believe that it makes more sense to visit a few things and get the full experience, than visit everything, buffet style, and just get a taste of everything.  Though this means that I can’t see everything in one trip, it means that I have reason to go back again for another trip.

While researching my next trip, I found myself reading many Las Vegas reviews to get the list of the best Las Vegas attractions to visit.  I figured by reading reviews online instead of just buying a book, I would get the real story as to which places where the best to visit.

This type of planning for trips have worked very well for me in the past and I am sure it will work well on my trip to Vegas.  I can’t wait until I step off of the plane and see the city for the first time.

My wife and I have talked about traveling to Europe for many years, and we finally have the money that we can do it.  We have been saving up for the better part of two years, and we will finally have the chance to enjoy what we have been patiently been waiting for.

But we have been undecided where we really want to go when we get there.  It is hard to decide as it will be a completely new experience for us.  We just want to make sure that we can enjoy the whole experience and have some sort of plan for when we get there.

So, we have picked up some worldwide travel guides and we will be sitting down tonight to figure out what we are going to do and where we are going to do it.  We are going to make some sort of rough schedule, so that when we are on the trip, we will have all the information we need and we can just follow our plan.

It will be interesting to see how much work it will take for us to come up with some sort of consensus - the last trip we planned took forever.

Some people might think I’m a little weird, but I’ve always been fascinated with architecture.  What makes me unique is that I’m interested in sports arenas in particular.  I made a point of traveling the world to look at the many Arena and stadium designs and breathe in the magnificence of their design.

Last year, while traveling through Europe, I had a chance to go see the Coliseum in Rome.  It was a marvel to behold and it made me feel like I was in a place where the whole concept of arenas began.  It was at that point I decided that instead of checking out traditional tourist attractions, that I would check out the designs of the arenas in Europe.

Of all the stadiums and arenas that I had the pleasure to look at, I would have to say that the London sport complexes were my favorites of the whole trip.  I have a number of pictures that I took while there that I will print out and put on my wall as a remembrance and tribute to the great architecture of Europe.

The last couple of times that I have gone to Philadelphia, I have been very disappointed with my cab drivers.  It seems as though they must be experiencing a staff shortage, or something as each time that I was there, none of the cab drivers were able to get me to my destination in a timely manner.  Talk about frustration.

So, when I learned that I would be in Philadelphia for a business meeting last Wednesday, I knew that I would have to make alternate arrangements for this trip – or be angry at the cab services again.

A colleague of mine suggested that I use the Philadelphia Airport Transportation Limousine Service that he had used last time he was there.  According to him, the prices were reasonable, but the service was excellent.  I decided that I would try them out.

All I can say, is that renting a limousine was the smartest thing I could have done.  Not only were they prompt and courteous, I was able to get work done in the limo on the way to the business meeting.  I will definitely be using their services again in the future whenever I am in Philadelphia.

Hot air balloons - they are something in this world that fascinate me.  Ever since my children were little, I would always point them out to them and we would watch them on a warm summers day.

We had been planning to take a trip to Temecula, California this summer to visit some friends.  They had sent us a great Temecula information package that had all the tourist attractions in one place.  They have a valley that is full of wineries that we will just have to visit.

But, looking through the RAAS, a local magazine that our friends provided us resulted in finding something even more interesting: the Temecula Balloon Festival.

I know that the kids will love to see the balloons, and we will have to make a point of going there during the Balloon festival - they will love it.  The only challenge we will have is the festival is at the beginning of June, when the kids are still in school.  So, I might just have to sweet talk my wife.

I have been awarded to do a study on the variation of car rental rates in different centers in the Sate of Florida.  The findings of my study will be published on a blog and economic journal when it is completed.

In order to get accurate results and trend data, I have decided to select 25 car rental companies in each of Tampa, Orlando, and Miami.  The study will then collect data for twelve months and observe the trends in pricing in these three markets.

There will also be monitoring of rate increases during special events or holidays.  This is important as many companies will increase rates on days or weekends when there are conventions, sporting events, or other activities that will drive up the demand for car rentals.

First off though, I will need samples of companies that offer Orlando car rentals, Tampa car rentals, and Miami car rentals.  We will be using the Internet to gather the companies in the area, compare their offerings, and find a common class of vehicles to base our studies on.  So, I better get working on it – it will be interesting to see what the results show us.

The last time I was in Spain, I was traveling with my buddy and we were fresh out of high school. We did the whole cliché backpacking trip and it was great, but not valuable for planning future holiday rentals in Spain. I am planning my second trip there now and this time my “buddy” happens to be the love of my life. She does not know that we are going and I am hoping that on this trip, she will agree to spend the rest of her life with me.

We are starting the trip by meeting and staying with one of the families that took us in when I went five years ago. From there we are going to go into town to the business that does Motorhome rentals and we are going to drive, leisurely,  for three days until we reach Barcelona.

I have a couple of different villa rentals lined up for us there and I plan on popping the question on the balcony of one of them under the stars. This trip is going to be so amazing for her as she has never traveled out of the country before. She deserves it and I want to give her these kinds of surprises forever.

This past summer, I worked as a nanny for a family of five.  Their children ranged in age from four to nine - and there were three of them.  Both of their parents were doctors so they worked long hours - so I lived at their place.

They didn’t let me know until the last minute that they were taking me on the family vacation to Universal Studios and Disney World.  I was so excited when I found out - I have wanted to go to both of these places since I was a child.

When we arrived at out hotel (one of the Disney World Resort Hotels) I couldn’t help but stand there in awe.  I have never stayed at such an amazing place and I was truly thankful to the Stevens for taking me.

We were there for just over two weeks.  I felt that my trip was so amazing that I chronicled my trip in a thread over at the Disney World forum.

Well, this past summer is not a summer that I will forget in awhile.  It was very much like a dream come true.

Ever since I was little, my mother has always talked about how she wanted to go to New Zealand someday.  Now, almost thirty years later, she has not had the opportunity to make the trip.  I thought us kids should book her a trip to go for her birthday, or she may never get the chance.

We decided that Auckland would be her destination and proceeded to check out the hotels in Auckland New Zealand for a place for her and my father to stay.  It wasn’t long before we realized that there were quite a range of hotels to choose from, and we would have our work cut out for us.

After a few hours of research we booked them in both the Heritage Auckland and the Hotel Airedale.  This way they could experience the city from two different locations and get a bigger view of the city.

Now that we have the hotels lined up, our last task is to find an airline to get there.  I think Jennie (my sister) is going to talk to her boyfriend who is an airline pilot and see if we can get a deal.  Hopefully we can have this all ironed out by her birthday - we still have a few months till then.  I can’t wait to see her face when she opens the present!