As some of you may already know, my friend Colleen and her husband Jim are preparing for a trip in a few weeks. So exciting! They were supposed to be traveling to North Carolina for skiing but when the opportunity came up for this trip, Colleen jumped on it.

She’s already told me that she won’t pack me into her suitcase so I can go with her (darn!) but she did offer to let me give you all a clue as to where she’ll be vacationing. You see, Colleen is holding a contest on her blog, and will be awarding some fantastic prizes to those who correctly guess her destination.

What kinds of prizes, you ask? Fantastic ones, of course:

1st Prize – a $50 Travelocity Gift Card, and a souvenir from her trip!
2nd Prize – a $25 Travelocity Gift Card, and a souvenir from her trip!
3rd, 4th, and 5th Prize – a souvenir from her trip!

I can tell you that Colleen has great taste so even if you get the 3rd, 4th or 5th place prizes, I know you’ll be thrilled. All you have to do is visit Colleen’s blog each day to find out where the next clue will be. Then just take a guess and email your guess to: colleen_ccATyahooDOTcom
Subject Line: Where In The World Is Colleen? DO NOT post your guesses in the comments here or at Colleen’s blog. Email guesses only. All entries will be collected and winners will be randomly selected from the correct guesses. Oh, and even if you don’t guess correctly, you can still win. Just blog about the contest and let Colleen know. You’ll earn 10 entries that way! Cool, huh?

So don’t wait another minute. Get over to Colleen’s blog to read her first clue. And the second clue is right here:

Clue #2 – Colleen and Jim need to pack their warm clothes. The weather at their destination during this time of year is definitely cooler than they’re accustomed to in Tampa.

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We’re still waiting to find out if Brian will be heading back to Hawaii this winter to work. Jesse is looking into another stone job so that’s a possibility. This one could last a while and if it does, Brian is considering a vacation to Australia for a week or so. That’s always been his dream.

Traveling out of the country, though, presents some different challenges. For one thing, health insurance that works perfectly in the US may not cover you in other countries. Did you know that? Apparently, some insurance plans will pay up to 50% but others will pay nothing. That’s a scary thought when you’re in a different country, so far from home.

I’ve been comparing prices on Travel insurance and found that for just a dollar or so a day, I can purchase travel medical insurance. Brian doesn’t usually get sick and even when he does, he seldom sees a doctor. However, you just never know when sickness or an accident will happen. It’s really best to be prepared. From what I’ve read at MultiNational Underwriters, there are several different plans available. That should make it easy to find the one that works best for our family.

If you’re traveling outside the US, you might want to look into a similar plan. Just Click Here for a FREE Quote to see how reasonable these rates are. In fact, if we decide to travel to Canada next summer (we’ve been planning it for two years!) I’m going to look into rates for families, too. I’m more concerned about the kids than I am about myself. Must be the mother in me.

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I was helping my kids with their homework and realized that if not for my kids, I probably wouldn’t be nearly as aware of many things as I am. It isn’t that I don’t watch the news or keep up with current events. It’s just that I don’t always commit facts to memory. Case in point: one Geography lesson and I want to book a flight to visit Hong Kong. My kids think I’m crazy, of course.

I remember when Hong Kong was turned over to China by Great Britain in 1997. Although China provides national defense, Hong Kong maintains its own autonomy, at least until 2047. I’d love to visit the city now, while still under it’s own government control. And I can’t help but wonder what will happen in 2047 when it’s time for China to take over.

Like I said, my kids think I’m crazy for being so interested in cities and countries that they read about in school. Maybe I wasn’t all that interested at their ages, either. I don’t know when those things change or what happens as we grow older to make us want to explore more, but I hope that someday I’ll be able to satisfy most of my curiosity about this great big world.

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I’m always talking about Hawaii and how much I love it. I was wondering earlier today if I ever got the chance to live there, if I’d lose that desire inside me to travel. If my husband would agree to it, I’d join a traveling club like Buena Viva Exeter, so I could just let them know where I want to go and then let them do all the work to arrange it.

I know that I’m disappointed right now that I won’t be joining my friends in Las Vegas this week. I know it just isn’t the right time. And yet, my mind wanders and I find myself planning a trip for a few months down the road, wondering if a quick weekend trip might tide me over until after the first of the year.

Where does the need to travel originate? Did I inherit it from my Aunt Jo? She did love to travel! Or is it just something inside me that can’t be explained? Whatever it is, I do think I need someone to assist me in setting up an itinerary and booking flights and rooms. Let’s see…. New Jersey in May? Does that sound right?

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You know how sometimes you start out looking for something online and then you end up finding something else, that leads to something else, that leads to something else? Well, that happens to me all the time.

Right now, I’m looking at travel information about Vegas because it looks like that’s where I’ll be heading right around my birthday. Cool, huh? (Keep your fingers crossed that the flight arrangements work out right!) Anyway, just as my thoughts go off in odd directions, so do my searches. Somehow I got from Vegas and sights and casinos and restaurants to thinking about how much I love open air cafes and ended up reading about a very nice Barcelona restaurant. Seems that because of the great weather, most restaurants in Barcelona open onto a type of patio for outdoor dining.

Then, being the pampering-loving girl that I am, I looked into spas in the Barcelona area and now I’ve added a new destination to my Must Visit list. You know, that list keeps getting longer. It seems every time I vacation someplace, and get to mark off a place from my list, I end up adding two or three new places.

At this rate, I’ll never get done traveling. Hey! I like that idea!

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We’ve had a cool day here and there this month but we’ve had mostly warm weather. That’s uncharacteristic for our area. In fact, the local weather report is calling for temps in the 80s tomorrow and Monday. Amazing.

When things cool down, though, Brian does have some options open to him. Naturally, I want him to go to Hawaii because I love it there. He also has a pending job in Phoenix. I know the Arizona real estate market is much better than it is around here so there’s a chance he could drum up a few more jobs while doing that one.

I may get to live out my dream of traveling, yet!

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I was looking for some papers the other day and found an old SD card that I used in my last digital camera. That got me a little angry because I remembered all over again that the camera turned up missing from my luggage on our return flight from Hawaii in March.

I love my new camera but I don’t like that someone swiped my camera. It’s fine that the TSA searches our luggage; I want to be safe when I travel. Really, though, how safe are we when the airlines or the TSA have employed theives?

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WhooHoo! I mentioned to Brian that Jake’s next football game is about 2 or so hours from here and that it would be a great weekend trip for us. And guess what? Brian agreed! I still can’t believe it.

Brian usually has to be coerced and bribed to go on trips, even short ones. When he said it sounded like fun, my jaw hit the floor. That was just really easy.

So now I’m looking into nearby hotels or maybe a nice Bed & Breakfast for two nights. I figure if we leave late Friday, watch the game on Saturday and spend the evening there, we can head for home on Sunday. It might just be fun.

I need to call my sister to see if she’s going. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn’t change his mind. He does that sometimes.

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I don’t normally get involved in reality TV shows because I can’t remember to watch every week. Sometimes, though, I get caught up during the “marathons” that run for an entire day or weekend. I did that recently with America’s Next Top Model although I have no idea why I was so fascinated. Maybe it was the international location, Japan. I’d met a sweet, elderly Japanese woman from Okinawa while I was visiting Hawaii two years ago; the all day marathon rerun of that season of ATNM sparked my memory and I was hooked.

As a matter of fact, I’ve been curious about Japan ever since then. I’d love to learn about the ceremonial tea service as the models did on ANTM. Oh, and sushi! There is no place around here to get sushi. The woman I met in Hawaii encouraged me to try sushi; I’d never eaten before. I couldn’t believe how wonderful it was! I just never expected to like it as much as I did.

I’ve done my research and I figure since Japan is so close to Hawaii, that would be a great “extra” stop the next time we’re out in Hawaii visiting my son. Now I just need to learn more about the culture and fashion. Especially the fashion!

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Anyone who travels even a little bit knows about the sites where you can comparison shop for flights. Every time we plan a trip I hit a half dozen sites just for the airfare part. Finding a hotel is another online adventure in itself. Have you ever tried to compare the best hotel rates in a specific city? My brain hurts just thinking about it! Most destinations have hundreds of hotels to available and each has its own site. I still remember trying to enter prices, ratings, etc. into an Excel spreadsheet when we were deciding on a hotel in Rehoboth Beach, Deleware. I’m still not sure if we got the best price available or not.

If you’re like me, you want an easier way to find the best hotel prices when you travel. Since several of my online friends and I will be staying in Las Vegas soon, we’ve been searching for good prices within a reasonable distance of the Convention Center. I’ve found great options using the HotelsCombined.com – Free Price Comparison Tool. I’ve managed to narrow down our choices easily and quickly. In fact, it looks like we’ve found the ideal hotel for all of us – and at a price we can all afford, too.

I wish I’d known about this tool before; it sure would have saved me a lot of time! Oh, and it even covers international hotels, in up to 200 countries around the world. That should come in handy when Brian is ready for that Australian vacation he keeps mentioning.

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