I lived in Mexico & Guatemala from July 1985 to July 1986. I learned Spanish in Antigua, Guatemala at Centro Linguistico Internacional. I had classes six hours a day one-on-one with my teacher plus I lived with a local family. I learned it so well, I haven’t forgotten it! I do use Spanish regularly, too.

Coincidentally, Peter Greenberg wrote this on his blog, too:

“Families can learn Spanish at the Centro Linguistico Internacional in Antigua, Guatemala. With the Learn Together program, parents and children can sign up for language lessons.

Monday through Friday, each family member receives three hours a day of individual study and at least one hour working with each other to better than Spanish. The program also includes extracurricular activities like soccer matches, bicycle tours, museum tours and much more.

The best part is – these activities are all included in the price of the program. Families can chose from several different types of accommodations, including on-site apartments or living with a Guatemalan family. The price of the program is approximately $225 a week, plus $90 a week for each additional family member.”

I was named after my Grandpa: Steve Dasseos. My Grandpa was a Greek immigrant who came to the US when he was 14 years old. He built railroads and like many Greeks ended up in the restaurant business. I was blessed to have my Grandpa until I was 22 years old and my Grandma until I was 40, so I was able to get to know both of them really well.

For as long as I can remember my Grandpa always told me “If you want to get ahead, you need to be your own boss”. The key to my business’ success is the same philosophy my Grandpa Steve taught me: “give personal attention to each customer.’’

Now, the city we’re from is having a City-wide celebration. They are honoring my Grandparents as part of it. Here’s a copy of an article about my Grandparents - it’s called Steve’s Place Returns:

You can also read the article here.

Steve’s Place Returns

By Linda Tyssen
Staff Writer, Mesabi Daily News
Published: Tuesday, June 17, 2008

By today’s standards Steve Dasseos’ hamburgers could be called heart attacks waiting to happen.

But oh, the taste of those beef patties fried in lard in a cast iron skillet was, you might say, to die for, and for decades Steve’s Place was a mainstay on Virginia’s culinary scene.

Those good old days will be relived during the Great Virginia Get-Together when Steve’s Place will be recreated next to Bailey’s Lake between Natural Harvest Food Co-op and the Flags for Peace on Sixth Avenue North. The burger stand will be staffed by the Virginia Rotary Club from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, July 2-5, said Tom Nordling, a Virginia native who is helping organize the project. The burgers will be served from a trailer designed to look much like Steve’s Place in its final location.

Now don’t go to the modern Steve’s looking for hot dogs or sloppy joes. And surely don’t go looking for ketchup. The burgers will be served just as Dasseos and his wife Katherine did — mustard and onions and no red stuff. Mrs. Dasseos “felt the ketchup made the burgers too sweet’’ and the customers would fill up too fast, said Nordling. The goal, after all, was to sell beef and lots of it.

The burger shop was opened by Greek immigrant Dasseos and his wife in 1930 after he had worked for other vendors such as People’s Cafe at Fifth and Chestnut and the White Castle burger place. Next door at a coffee shop he met future wife Katherine. Early on he had known what he wanted to do in life — to feed people and be his own boss.

When he wanted to build a place to sell his burgers, the lumber cost $35, but he didn’t have the money. Katherine’s father gave him the cash, and the building went up in a day or two. “The day we put the key in the door, there was always a line of people waiting to get in,’’ Dasseos said in a newspaper story of several years ago. Over the years it was located at three different sites.

“It has become an institution in Virginia,’’ a 1977 newspaper story said. Loyal diners “have been raised on the ground beef fried in pure lard and smothered with onions, fried or raw, whichever the customer prefers.’’ Dasseos said back then, “Our ears are burning all the time because someone is always talking about us.’’ The key to the business’s success was “the personal attention they gave each customer.’’ The prices in 1930 — 5 cents for a burger, 5 cents for pop. Dasseos operated on the premise, “Make only one thing and make it good,’’ and he would say, “Virginia has been good to us.’’ Besides the burgers, customers got the coldest milk in town.

School kids would head to Steve’s after football games to get burgers and popcorn from the little shop painted orange and black. “Simple and primitive as that little place was, Steve Dasseos was clean enough and gave his customers full measure with plenty of salty opinion at no charge,’’ Virginia’s Chuck Pottsmith said in a newspaper story several years back. “He could handle rowdy kids or the boozy types in no hurry to go home.’’ His big trade was the lunch crowd. “That black fry pan was deep enough in grease to drown the patty, and the top half of the bun was just dipped long enough to get hot and spongy,’’ said Pottsmith. Dasseos would buy whole pickles, stand them on end and carve them in slices across a cutting board.

It was all part of the charm of “Greasy Steve’s,’’ as some would affectionately call the little burger shop. As years went by, meat prices went up and finally Dasseos had to charge a dollar for a burger. Then one day he said, “It’s not right to charge so much. The time has come for us to close.’’

But for a time during Virginia’s celebration, Steve’s Place will be up and running again, so put your cholesterol concerns aside and enjoy.

Do you use Microsoft Internet Explorer? I do and I’ve used it for years mainly because it came with my Microsoft Windows. But, a few years ago, my friend Amrit suggested I start using Firefox. I was lazy to switch to it, but that was a mistake! Now Firefox is my main browser.

Why do I like Firefox?

Better Security
If you look around you find that better security is often the main reason users switch from Internet Explorer (Microsoft) to Firefox (Mozilla). And, why not? You want to be sure you are safe and secure online if you are conducting high security risk activities like online banking.

Firefox has fewer security holes and a tighter schedule of disclosing them. The enhanced security in Firefox is due to a multitude of factors the system’s inclusion of more source code reviewers and a better bug reporting system and exclusion of VBScript/ActiveX, often the source of vulnerabilities.

Firefox uses much less memory
Our computers at TripInsuranceStore.com have 2 GB of RAM so it’s not like we’re hurting for memry. But, as often happens to me, I have too many windows or tabs open at the same time (too much multi-tasking). Right now I have 12 Firefox windows open.

Browsing speed
Internet Explorer loads all the page elements before the page is displayed. This means if the page has a lot of images and elements in it, you’ll have a delay after you type the address in the address bar. Firefox shows the page elements and images immediately after they are loaded, and you will see first the header, then the menu. You don’t need to wait to see the header until the footer is loaded.

I’m sure Firefox enthusiasts can come up with many more things they like about Firefox over Internet Explorer, so you’ll need to forgive me if I didn’t mention what you like best.

If you want to try out Firefox, you can download it for free here.

My air tickets are “nonrefundable” but can be reissued or changed for a “change fee.” I know that all trip insurance policies will only refund the “change fee” and not the cost of the tickets. Why then do I have to insure the “full cost” of the trip? Dion

Hi Dion,

Unfortunately, you’ve been given the wrong information. I can’t say how all travel insurance companies work with “nonrefundable” tickets, just the ones we offer. All our plans will refund you the full out-of-pocket cost you paid for your tickets if you cancel or interrupt your trip for a covered reason.

Therefore if you want to be able to be reimbursed for the money you paid for your ticket or are concerned about pre-existing conditions, you need to insure the actual out of pocket prepaid cost of your trip.

On April 8, 2008 I wrote a post called “Does Somebody Want to Transfer Millions of Dollars Into Your Account?“. Since I hate phishing scams and all other fraudulent uses of the Internet I always forward a copy of the suspicious e-mail to the companies that are being defrauded.

For example, at PayPal the e-mail address is spoof@PayPal.com, at eBay it’s spoof@eBay.com and at pretty much every other company it’s abuse@(companydomainname)

Another reason why I stay up too late
Late last night I received an e-mail supposedly from FedEx. I put the entire email at the end of this post so you can read it at your leisure. I naturally went to www.FedEx.com and found this:

“If you believe that you have received suspicious e-mail, or have any questions or concerns, please contact us immediately at 1.800.GoFedEx / 1.800.463.3339 or via e-mail at abuse@fedex.com”.

Being the nice person I am, I immediately forwarded that suspicious e-mail you’ll find below to abuse@FedEx.com. Guess what? Almost immediately I received, in my inbox, this delivery failure message:

“Hi. This is the qmail-send program at ______. I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out. abuse@fedex.com: failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 554 The message was rejected because it contains prohibited virus or spam content”

More than a surprise
That was a surprise. No, it was a shock! - how stupid can that be for FedEx to reject emails it tells you to send to them! Since I wasn’t completely frustrated I went ahead and called FedEx’s toll-free number 1.800.463.3339 at 1:03 am. Eventually, I got to speak to someone live in their customer service department. I explained exactly what happened and they told me that FedEx doesn’t accept spam.

So, I explained again why was trying to forward them this because someone was impersonating FedEx, but they told me abuse@fedex.com is the only e-mail address Fedex has to receive these complaints about scams. After I asked “doesn’t this sound silly that abuse@FedEx.com rejects all forwarded spam e-mails?”, the kind man I was speaking to put me on hold for a few minutes to see if he could find anything else out.

When he came back he told me that I had to wait until after 7 a.m. Central time to call the Technical Support Department at 1-877-339-2774 and maybe they can figure out how to email Fedex.

I called FedEx’s Technical Support Department this morning. They said that abuse@fedex.com is the only e-mail address Fedex has to receive these complaints. And they wanted me to call Customer Service again!

Oh well, I guess FedEx doesn’t really want to know who’s impersonating them and damaging their good name.

PS - here’s that email that FedEx won’t let me give them:

Subject: FedEX PARCEL DELIVERY NOTICE
From: “FedEx Online Team Management.”
Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 11:34 pm

Dear Customer!

We have been waiting for you to contact us for your Confirm able Package that is registered with us for shipping to your residential location.We had thought that your sender gave you our contact details.It may interest you to know that a letter is also added to your package.However, we cannot quote its content to you via email for privacy reasons.

We understand that the content of your package itself is a Bank Draft worth of $120,000.00 USD, FedEx do not ship money in CASH or in CHEQUES but Bank Drafts are shippable.The package is registered with us for mailing by your colleague, and your colleague explained that he is from the United States but he is here in Nigeria for a three (3) months Surveying Project as he works with a consultant firm in Nigeria West Africa We are sending you this email because your package is been registered on a Special Order.

What you have to do now, is to contact our Delivery Department for immediate dispatchment of your package to your residential address.Note that as soon as our Delivery Team confirms your informations, it will take only one working day (24 hours) for your package to arrive it’s designated destination.For your information, the VAT & Shipping charges as well as Insurance fees have been paid by your colleague before your package was registered.Note that the payment that is made on the Insurance, Premium & Clearance Certificates, are to certify that the Bank Draft is not a Drug Affiliated Fund (DAF) neither is it funds to sponsor Terrorism in your country. This will help you avoid any form of query from the Monetary Authority of your country.

However, you will have to pay a sum of £82GBP to the FedEx Delivery Department being full payment for the Security Keeping Fee of the FedEx company as stated in our privacy terms & condition page. Also be informed that your colleague wished to pay for the Security Keeping charges, but we do not accept such payment considering the facts that all items & packages that is registered with us have a time limitation and we cannot accept payment not knowing when you will be picking up the package or even responding to us.So we cannot take the risk to have accepted such payment in case of any possible demur rage.

Kindly note that your colleague did not leave us with any further information.We hope that you respond to us as soon as possible because if you fail to respond until the expiry date of the foremost package, we may refer the package to the Nigerian Commission for Welfare as the package do not have a return address.

Kindly contact the delivery department (FedEx Delivery Post) with the details given below:

FedEx Delivery Post
Contact Person:Daniel Christopher
Email:dchristopher1960@gmail.com
Tel: +2348053062492

Kindly complete the below form and send it to the email address given above.This is mandatory to reconfirm your Postal address and telephone numbers.

FULL NAMES:
TELEPHONE:
POSTAL ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:

Kindly complete the above form and summit it to the delivery manager on: dchristopher1960@gmail.com

As soon as your details are received, our delivery team will give you the necessary payment procedure so that you can effect the payment for the Security Keeping Fees. As soon as they confirm your payment receipt of £82GBP, they will not hesitate to dispatch your package as well as the attached letter to your residence. It usually takes 24 hours being an over night delivery service.

Note that we were not instructed to email you, but due to the high priority of your package we had to inform you as your sender did not leave us with his phone number because he stated that he just arrived Nigeria and he hasn’t fix his phone yet. We indeed personally sealed your Bank Draft and we found your email contact in the attached letter as the recipient of the foremost package.

Ensure to contact the delivery department with the email address given above and ensure to fill the above form as well to enable a successful reconfirmation.

Do not reply this email because this email account is not monitored.Send your details to:dchristopher1960@gmail.com

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Margaret Blaire.
FedEx Online Team Management.
All rights reserved. © 1995-2008
———————————————————————————————————-
This E-mail is only for the above addressees. It may contain confidential or Privileged information. If you are not an addressee you must not copy, distribute, disclose or use any of the information in it or any attachments.
———————————————————————————————————-
FEDEX INTL>>>

As you know, there’s unimaginable human suffering in Burma after the devastating cyclone. And on top of that the evil military junta that rules Burma is preventing most aid from entering the country. In fact, the UN had two shipments seized by the government at the airport.

I personally have never lived in a disaster zone. I did, however, volunteer for six weeks with the Red Cross in Mexico City after the September 1985 earthquakes. I was living in Monterrey, Mexico and as soon as I heard the news myself and my friends went down to Mexico City to help. Nobody knows what the final death toll from the Mexico City earthquakes was, but after what I saw I know it was well over the estimate of 25 people dead.

As bad as it was in Mexico City, it’s multiple times worse in Burma. Mexico had an earthquake which is clearly a disaster, but a cyclone is worse. You have rain, high winds, storm surge and lots of standing water around afterwards. It destroys bridges, roads, railroad lines and makes the country impassable.

But a least, Mexico City was easy to get to and in the days after the earthquake the weather was warm and sunny. Just think of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans and you’ll get an idea on a small scale of what’s happening in Burma.

You personally can help the cyclone victims in Burma. 100% of your contributions go directly to Burma. My family and I have known Steve and Kathy Gray since 1998. Steve & Kathy have a long-standing relationship with a Burmese pastor, Timothy Laklem of Asian Tribal Ministries, one of the few Christian ministries with access into the country.

TripInsuranceStore.com’s clients and visitors are generous and kind people. Even though budgets are stretched, any amount of money you give will help. No gift is too small. Click Here & You Can Help The Burma Cyclone Victims

PS - I’m not pushing any religious agenda. My purpose is to see people get help without administrative expenses & advertising dollars eating up the donations.

And, if you want to know more about Steve & Kathy Gray, go here: (it’s aways a good idea to know something about any organization you give money to)
http://www.steveandkathygray.com/index.php - you might be suprised to find church leaders who will openly say “Yes, the churches in the USA have problems…”

Sometimes it’s a good idea to have some local currency before you arrive at your destination. Chances are you’ll need some money in the local currency - for a cab, public transportation or even a meal.

You might say “I’ll get money at an ATM”. Unfortunately, if you’re traveling to a developing country an ATM might not even be available. Or maybe the ATM won’t be compatible with your card (this could happen anywhere). Either way, it’s a good idea to have some local currency on hand even before you leave the USA.

There are some other options (though you might get gouged or taken advantage of):

- Go to a restaurant or a store in the airport, pay your bill in US dollars and ask to get the change in the local currency
- Ask a taxi driver to exchange money for you
- Convert some of your money at one of those money exchange kiosks

There is another way: you can get the local currency before you arrive. That is, you can order currency ahead of time, before you leave on your trip and have it delivered directly to you.

If you’re a US Resident, here’s where I recommend you get local currency: Go to www.BuyTravelMoney.com. The cash can be delivered straight to your doorstep. Rates are competitive and two-day shipping is free on orders of US $750 or more.

Hi, I’ll bet you’re afraid to answer this question: Isn’t insurance just legalized gambling? I think every time I don’t file a claim, the company wins. Right? (anonymous question)

I wouldn’t say it’s a gamble, though there’s risk involved with any kind of contract you enter into. Insurance is a unilateral contract because only one party, the insurer, has made a legally enforceable promise, such as to pay covered claims.

Here’s what I say on TripInsuranceStore.com:

Buying travel insurance is a risk: You are trading a known certainty (your hard earned money) for an unknown quantity - the promise of the insurance policy doing what it says. This is why I pre-screen our plans.

People manage the risk of losing money on a trip different ways:
- Some people use the same insurance company for every trip
- Some self-insure
- Some ignore travel / trip / cruise insurance altogether
- Some take their agent’s advice
- Some shop around
- Some forget

Even though I sell travel insurance, I believe insuring a trip is a personal decision. None of these choices is inherently right or wrong, they are just a matter of personal preference.

Now, sometimes you have to lay aside your own prejudices in order to protect other people from the negative result of your decision. For example, when I was a life insurance agent, it surprised me how many people purposely ignored their family’s financial condition should they die young. They always thought they’d beat the system by living long. The trouble is that death is permanent & guaranteed.

If losing money by not traveling, having an expensive medical claim or needing a costly emergency evacuation wouldn’t burden you nor destroy your finances, then the need for travel insurance probably doesn’t exist for you.

If these would cause you distress, consider getting travel insurance for your trip. Go here to get some side-by-side comparison quotes.

Are you cruising to Cozumel?

Here’s a useful tip to save you money on souvenirs at Cozumel’s cruise ship docks:

Don’t buy at the shops near the docks when you come off the ship in the morning. Wait until the afternoon when people are starting to head back to the ship. At that time, you’ll see the vendors putting up their “Big Sale” & “Prices Slashed” signs. They do this every day. You may notice the signs are a little worn, too.

BOLD TOURISM SHAKEUP:

CANADA TO PURCHASE ELY, MINNESOTA

Deal Could be Final by Early 2009

ELY, MINN. - April 1, 2008 - Today it was announced that Canada has made an unprecedented offer, as a boost to tourism, to purchase the famous Boundary Waters town of Ely, Minn., and relocate it north of the U.S./Canadian border.

In a prepared statement, the Premier of Ontario pledged Ely will retain its worldwide reputation as the entryway to the Boundary Waters, though now from the other side, as well as its legendary lakes, resorts, restaurants, gift shops and museums, including the world-famous International Wolf Center.

Reportedly, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has entered into negotiations with the Minnesota DNR and the Governor’s office to arrive at a satisfactory price. Sources close to the deal say that Ely will become Ely, Ontario as early as 2009.

Minnesota residents are left wondering if this might be the last summer to enjoy the one million acres of unspoiled wilderness Ely is known for worldwide. It’ll certainly be the last summer we can spell neighbor without a ‘u,’ ” says Ely mayor Charles Novak. “And all the schools will have to start using zed instead of ‘z’ when they teach the alphabet, and we’ll all have to learn the value of a loonie, I guess.”

Outraged Minnesotans have launched a counterattack and are petitioning the state and considering a protest at the capitol. Interested citizens can visit ely.org or call 1-800-777-7281 to sign the petition or to volunteer for the protest, or just to book one last summer fling in Ely.

I like roadtrips. Especially leaving the interstate and following backroads to get to where we’re going. The only drawback (other than making the trip longer) is finding somewhere good to eat.

A few years ago, I happened upon Roadfood.com. They say “The only web site devoted exclusively to finding the most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America”. I’ve found this to be a good place to start when planning a roadtrip.

Check out Roadfood.com - The most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America.

Here’s another tip to make submitting your travel insurance claim form easier. If you look at a travel insurance claim form (or any insurance claim form), you’ll see there’s never enough room to fill in the doctor’s information. Nor is there room to put the prescription information.

Judith B. of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida wrote: “I photocopied the doctor’s business cards instead of trying to write them all on the form. And I did the same with the prescriptions.” Thank you, Judith for a great tip!

You’ve probably seen this on paragraph TripInsuranceStore.com. If not, here it is for your convenience:

Buying travel insurance is a risk: You are trading a known certainty (your hard earned money) for an unknown quantity - the promise of the insurance policy doing what it says it will do. This is why we pre-screen our plans.

The promise by the travel insurance company to pay is based on the policy’s wording - commonly known as the “Certificate of Coverage”. Unfortunately, the majority of buyers (and in my opinion sellers, too) only read the policy brochure.

Why do I think this is “unfortunate”? It’s because a travel insurance company has spent thousands of dollars and hired skilled and competent lawyers to write their travel insurance policy’s wording. I don’t believe the “good travel insurance companies” are out to trick anyone with obscure words and semantics games.

They are trying to explain what is, at best, a complicated set of concepts and ideas, in a way their customers can understand. From the customer’s point of view, this may seem nearly impossible, though.

Let’s say you are looking for travel insurance. Where do you start? In a nutshell, you start with asking the right questions, reading the fine print and making sure that you’re actually getting what you think you’re buying.

But, what are the right questions? That’s what I’m going to make the subject of some future posts. Stay tuned.

Since TripInsuranceStore.com is open 7 days a week including holidays, somebody has to be available to answer the phones. So I worked on Easter. In case you’re wondering if I spent time with my family, yes I did. I don’t sit by the phone the whole time. I use voicemail if I’m unavailable and of course I call everyone back.

Yesterday I had 2 calls from unrelated people who had their wallets stolen. One was in Rome and the other was in Paris. That got me thinking about Pickpocketing.

I found this wording at How Stuff Works: “Pickpocketing is one of the oldest and most widespread crimes in the world. The appeal is its relative safety: A skilled pickpocket can make off with just as much money as an armed robber, without much danger of confrontation or risk of being identified in a line-up. By the time the victim realizes what’s happened, the pickpocket is long gone. And since no weapons are involved, pickpockets who do get caught face minimal jail time.”

And another blog I follow had an article called “How To Avoid A Common Trick“.

I hope what I wrote today protects you and your loved ones.

On Good Friday 2008 (& the 1st day of Spring), we had a big blizzard here in Minnesota. That means I myself got to personally take all the phone calls (I get them on Easter, too). I’m not complaining because I love answering the phones and taking questions.

On one call Glenn told me about a great website to find International Flights and International Airfare Deals. It’s called Vayama.

Check it out - I think you’ll find it useful.

What I’m writing on today about Medicare usually comes as a big surprise to people when we tell them “Medicare does not cover you when you are traveling outside the United States”.

In rare cases, Medicare can pay for inpatient hospital services that you get in Canada or Mexico. Medicare can pay only if:

1. You are in the United States when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
2. You are traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
3. You live in the United States and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether an emergency exists.

This restriction also applies to passengers on board cruise ships that are registered in a foreign country (almost all cruise ships have foreign registry).

Here’s a link to Medicare’s Official Questions and Answers, too.

You’ll find a page on TripInsuranceStore.com with more details: Click here for more about No Medicare Coverage Outside the USA.

A few weeks ago (2-25-08) I wrote a post telling you I decided I would learn to type better. And I’m doing just that.

I have 2 more tips for you. Over the years I’ve used two “tricks” to avoid using my mouse. That takes stress off my wrists which is always a good thing to do. Here are those tricks:

1) Trackball mice
2) Keyboard Shortcuts

1) Trackball mice: I use the Kensington cueball-sized trackball mice. I don’t get them new, since I’m more of a cheapskate (read: frugal). I always get used ones on ebay. I use the Kensington Expert Mouse on my Windows computers & the Kensington Turbo Mouse on my Macs.

2) Common Keyboard Shortcuts For Windows Operating Systems: Instead of using your mouse, try these shortcuts to save time and a whole lot of hand action!

#1 CTRL z - undo
#2 CTRL y - redo
#3 CTRL a - select all
#4 CTRL x - cut
#5 CTRL c - copy
#6 CTRL v - paste
#7 TAB–VERY USEFUL. takes you from one field to another, one “button” to another, one icon to another etc.
#8 SHIFT+TAB — it tabs you backward
#9 ESC — to cancel, or get rid of something like a box or window that popped up when you don’t need it.
#10 CTRL+ALT+DEL–reboots the computer – eventually. First, it’ll tell you what’s stuck.

The Mac uses similar Keyboard Shortcuts, though I didn’t list them here since different operating systems have different shortcuts.

I hope you find these tips helpful & they improve your wrists’ health.

If you’re ever been on a cruise, this may sound familiar as you walk off the pier or disembark the tenders: “Our cab is much cheaper and more convenient than the local bus”.

Cheaper, no. More convenient, probably. More fun and gives you interaction with the local culture, definitely not.

I’ve traveled a lot plus I lived in Mexico & Guatemala for a year when I was single. I’ve been on a lot of public buses, collectivos, subways and trains. I’ve never had a bad experience on any of them. But, the best part has been my (& my family’s) immersion in the local cultures. Plus, we’ve saved a bundle of money.

For example, we were in Grand Cayman in Dec. 2006 with 2 other families. We took the bus to 7 Mile Beach. The cost was $3.60 per person round trip. We got an informal tour (bus routes go in circuitous routes) at a leisurely pace. We got a few good tips from the locals about 7 Mile Beach, too.

The Grand Cayman bus terminal is located adjacent the Public Library on Edward St. in downtown George Town and serves as the dispatch point for buses to all districts. It’s just a few blocks from where the tenders land.

Hey Steve, You must hear of luxury travel websites from your clients & from your own research. Can you share some with me? Sid

You’re right Sid, I do have one luxury travel website I hear good things about. And there are 2 more mentioned below.

The one website I regulary hear about is Luxury Link. Luxury Link has luxury hotels and luxury resorts at auction. Here’s their link: Luxury Link. I’ve heard numerous good things about it.

Another good site if you want a very nice All-Inclusive in Mexico is Palladium Addict - this is the forum for the Grand Palladium Resort and Spa which is an all inclusive 5 star resort located in the Riviera Maya region of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. A lady named Brenda founded this website. I myself participate regularly in their Monday Night chat.

And here’s another one I found: Globorati - breaking luxury travel news. Visit Globorati here. Globorati’s articles are very well written and cover a number of topics. See for yourself.

If you have favorites, send them to me here and I’ll include them in future articles.

The reasons I think cruising is a good value are:

- You get lodging and meals as part of the total cost
- You get to go somewhere (actually a few different places)
- You get to relax without having to find a place to relax (like on deck) while enroute to your next port

However, this doesn’t mean everything is free once you get on the ship. For example, the staff aren’t quite having the same relaxing experience you’re having. After all, it’s their job. Even though they get to “see the world”, they still are working. And it’s not a 9 to 5 job either. It’s a fairly difficult job.

So, if you’re tempted to complain about having to pay extra for tips and other “add-ons”, don’t go there. Personally, we prefer to tip extra to anyone who’s helpful to us. It’s our way of giving more “foreign aid” to the people directly and we enjoy blessing others when we can.

It’s easy to assume that all Travel Insurance Policies work the same way, but this is a big mistake.

First, as you may or may not know, we only offer Travel Insurance policies from a handful of companies. I wrote more on this in an earlier post here. So, immediately you can see that I don’t believe the idea that all policies are the same.

Next, I believe the key to understanding any travel insurance policy is to know what’s not covered. We spend a lot of time explaining to potential clients what isn’t coverd by travel insurance. The problem is that most travel insurance sellers focus on what’s covered and in turn fail to adequately explain those “pesky” exclusions. Add to that the fact many travelers don’t ever read their policy and you have a potentially bad claim experience.

So, take the time to actually read your travel insurance policy. You can read or download any of them from us before you buy the policy. Plus you have 10 days after you buy a plan to return it for your money back.

Here are 3 Quick Travel Tips one of our clients emailed me:

Dry air in hotel rooms? To combat dry air in the hotel room, fill the bathtub with hot water and keep the bathroom door open - this will allow moisture to escape to the whole hotel suite.

Make friends with a bus driver! A Bus Driver May be Better than a Concierge! - Make friends with any regular bus drivers around your hotel. They’re better equipped to make suggestions than most concierges, and are very familiar with local customs / secrets. A good public bus driver can make an entire vacation!

Ziplock Bags… The Essential Travel Item. I bring them in a variety of sizes. Useful for packing snacks (can’t tell you how much money I’ve saved just by being able to throw an extra muffin or two from a B&B into a bag), wet laundry, trash, organizing film, keeping a camera dry, etc.

Yes, you read that right: “Santa Clause Gets Free Travel Insurance”. By special arrangement, www.TripInsuranceStore.com is giving Santa Clause free travel insurance for Christmas 2007.

What if Santa gets sick or injured and can’t deliver his presents this year? You don¹t have to worry about that because Santa’s getting free travel insurance this year.

“Santa Clause is such a vital part of Christmas, it’d be a tragedy if something happened to him and he had to cancel his trip”, says Steve Dasseos, a leading travel insurance authority. “Everybody just assumes Santa’s showing up. Once we found out Santa hadn’t thought of getting travel insurance, we decided to give it to him free of charge.”

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The quick & simple truth is “No!”. You are asking for problems if you think all travel insurance plans are the same.

The problem is caused partly by sellers who can’t figure out how policies differ. In their minds all plans that include the words “insurance” or “protection” are the same.

Plus, there are many online forums, message boards, chat rooms & advice columns where anonymous posters can say whatever they want without having to be held accountable. For example, if you go to Cruise Critic, you will find I sign my posts with “Steve Dasseos”. Anyone could Google me to track me down.

The only way to know what a travel insurance plan covers is to read it. You can get (to read or download) our providers’ Terms & Conditions here: (it’s a really good idea to review a plan before you spend money for it)
http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/3/what-is-covered.shtml

The short answer is “Yes, Steve, Tara, Deanna, Becky, Teresa & Mary are our real names”.

This is a common question. The nature of this question reveals how little trust there is in doing business both online and offline.

One of my pet peeves is websites that don’t have real people with real names available to speak with. Another is email addresses that are in the format “info@…” or “service@…” How hard can it be to use the real names?

If you want to know about TripInsuranceStore.com’s philosophy, go to our About Us page.