London

Okay, I've booked my accomodation in London. I'll be staying at the Rhodes Hotel.

I've also booked two tickets to go see A Moon for the Misbegotten. I have an old friend who is living in London and she wanted to see it, so we're going.

Very exciting!

7-7-7

Apparently, this is regarded by some as a lucky number.

Right now we have a couple in our office planning a destination wedding for July 7, 2007. "7-7-7". This makes the 2nd couple this month getting married on this day.

I suppose, in light of current divorce statistics, a little luck couldn't hurt.

(I could go into a diatribe about how there is no such thing as luck, but I'll refrain.)

More Later.

My Favorite Travel Doo-Dads

I love travel gadgets. Every month, the Travelsmith and Magellans catalogs come on the same day. I love looking through them, thinking about how cool the various items are, and how much I would love to have them on my next adventure.

For instance, you know I'm planning a solo trip to Europe next month. There is actually a Magellans catalog on my desk right now. Here are the items on the dog eared pages that I am actually going to order for this trip:

The WonderVase

Travel Wash (This is actually a "restocking" I've used this for years.)

Converters and Adapters. (I've actually had a set of these, but I don't think they were very good...my curling iron actually burned a chunk of hair off my head because it was getting too much voltage and got too hot.)

I just recently purchased this Wheeled Backpack.

Some old favorites include:

Travel Pillow

Travel Blanket

Money Belt

What?! No Email?!

Our website is hosted by Verio. Just two days ago they migrated our server from the Boca Raton facility to a new facility in Sterling, Virginia.

I'm happy about that, because after Hurricane Wilma did her bit in the Yucatan, greatly affecting business in the last part of 2005, she veered to the east and took out our webservers in Florida. Our website was down for two days, as was our email.

That was horrible.

Well, today, one day after being migrated to hurricane free Virginia, our servers were down because of a massive power outage there.

So, if you have trouble reaching our website today or reaching us via email, either call our office at 972-517-9130 or try again in a little bit.

We're here...we just have no email.

More Later.

Planning for Europe

I've chosen my accomodations for everywhere but London. Here's where I'm staying:

Cesky Krumlov: Castle View Apartments. I'm staying in the "Attic Castleview"

Prague: Cloister Inn

Vienna: Pension Hargita

I haven't chosen London yet...it's SO expensive there!

More Later.

What a great time to travel

I sent out an email yesterday containing this link:

http://www.legacytravel.com/falldeals.html

Every year I can't believe how great the Fall travel deals are from Texas. This year they are especially good because of the harsh hurricane season last year. If anything, last year's storms have improved the destination, but they also have left people needlessly "gunshy".

The storm season this year has been unusually mild, thankfully. I'm a big fan of off-season travel. It's a great deal if you can actually get away this time of year!

Cancer Sucks

With many Texans tonight, I am sad to hear the news of the death of Ann Richards .

While I didn't vote for Ms. Richards, we are definately poorer tonight for her passing. She died of esophageal cancer. She was diagnosed back in March. All reports are that she was quite active up until the cancer.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I lost my own Mom to Pancreatic Cancer two years ago. It just hits me in the gut to be reminded how this horrible disease can take a vital energetic, beloved person and take them apart day by day.

My heart hurts for Ms. Richards family tonight. I know very well what it is to lose someone so precious.

So much to do...so little time...

So, this weekend I spent hours working on a project with which I am currently totally consumed. More about that later.

Also, it occurs to me that I am actually going to Europe next month and I might want to start planning. I do have a basic idea in mind of what I'm going to do, I just need to reserve my lodging, rail tickets, and a one way airline ticket from Prague to London. It really wouldn't take me too long if I would just do it!

I'm so obsessed with this other project though. (Again, more on that later.)

As far as Europe, at least I did go to REI this weekend and compare the two packs I've been considering. I've come to a decision to purchase this one. I was originally considering an Eagle Creek model as well as the 26 inch size of each. I tried on each one and, since I'm a mere 5' 3.5" (if I stand up really straight) I think I will go with the 22", even if it means I'll have to pack even less.

That's progress, right?

Finally!

I've had it "on my list" to put a place for people to sign up for our periodic emails for quite some time. I finally got it done today!

In fact, Sign up for our hot deals email!

Yes, YOU!

More Later.

Again with the "I'm going no matter what."

Life never ceases to amaze me. We've got a group of folks traveling tomorrow. None of them took insurance. Now a baby of one of the couples had an accident involving a severed finger.

I absolutely hate that it happened, and I hate worse that these folks will lose the money they spent on this vacation. I have no control over it.

Take the insurance!