Great blog!

WHO ARE WE?
We are Steve & Pat, the Travelin' Tanenbaums.
We are the authors of The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations and The Cheaptskate's Guide to Cruises (Citadel-Kensington Press). 

Our CTN newsletter has published continuously since 1999 and is proudly celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Steve is currently a 'Budget & FREE Travel' expert with AllExperts.com. In addition to our books we have written national magazine articles and have made numerous radio & TV appearances. We early retired from our day jobs in 1999 and embarked on a seven year travel odyssey, globe-trotting six months per year. Currently, we average about 2-3 months of exotic travel yearly. Our most recent journey, during the Summer of 2009, found us living for one month each in Barcelona and Paris, two of our favorite cities. 

Pure and simple, we enjoy a love of travel and do our best to share travel related comfort, convenience and money saving TIPS with our loyal readership. We always encourage and appreciate reader input. Our travel 'motto' these many years remains: NOTHING BEATS FREE TRAVEL!

ONLINE CTN IS A HUGE SUCCESS
MAKE IT FREE AND THEY WILL COME....
OK, so no surprise that CTN's subscriptions sky rocketed with the advent of our new FREE online CTN. Still, this is the very best way to share our savvy TIPS n' TALES with the traveling public. As we have always said.....nothing beats FREE travel!

HOW TO GET YOUR FUTURE FREE CTN EDITIONS:
It is always best to receive the newsletter on the day it is published. To do this send us your email address and we shall add you to our subscription list. Rest assured, e-mail addresses are kept strictly private. Send your free subscription request to: stevepatctn@yahoo.com
Or you may simply Google our CTN periodically for new issues.THANKS TO ALL

THE NEW BLOG 'LOOK' - The column on the right is a vertical 'album' of many of our favorite travel photos. Want to view some or all of Steve's 190+ YouTube videos? First, go to YouTube.com. Then, in it's search box type our screen name: worldromer. You will have instant access to our videos.

FONT SIZES: Due to technical glitches there may be occasional mismatched text sizes and fonts. 
Note: Grab of pair of those old red/blue 3D glasses. Some of our videos and personal photos are in very cool to view 3D. ALSO, most photos are clickable for larger size viewing.

MISCHIEVOUS LINKS:  There may be occasional glitches with some LINKS.  If any LINK, when double clicked, indicates the link is broken or otherwise not working try copying and pasting the link to your browsers address line. We have found this to be a solution for the one or two troublesome links. 

THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS:

* BRITISH AIRWAYS 50,000 MILES GIVE-A-WAY - One Way to Europe $75
* 25,000 ‘FREE’ DELTA BONUS MILES (ANNUAL FEE WAIVED)
* PROTECTING YOUR HOME WHILE YOU ARE OFF EXPLORING THE WORLD
* 4-STAR APARTMENT LUXURY FOR MUCH LESS THAN THE COST OF A 2-STAR HOTEL ROOM - WHETHER RENTING FOR ONE WEEK OR ONE MONTH
* FOREIGN APARTMENT RENTALS - TROUBLE SHOOTING
*  KEY WEST GET-A-WAY - AMERICA'S GREATEST WEEKEND ADVENTURE
* GIZMO COLUMN - COOLEST, CRAZIEST ULTRA-LIGHT TRIPOD OF ALL TIME
* GIZMO COLUMN - BEST EVER ‘CHEAPSKATE’ COMPUTER REPAIR SERVICE
* GIZMO COLUMN - MINI PORTABLE HARD DRIVES - THE ‘KEY’ TO NEVER RUNNING OUT OF VACATION MEMORY

  TIP: When you see photos of interest be sure to click on them. They will usually show double size or larger.

BRITISH AIRWAYS 50,000 MILES GIVE-A-WAY - Round Trip to Europe for $150
We give two big thumbs up to British Airways (BA) free travel promotions. For many years our BA miles increased with leaps and bounds as each August we submitted our Diners Club miles to BA who then doubled those miles. Just last November we collected 200,000 BA miles via its very short lived one month long promotion. The

What about the here and now? BA’s  current promotion, with its two nearly free travel options, is one of the best deals around. Here is how it works:
 * Use the below LINK to visit the promotion’s web site.
* Apply for and obtain a British Airways Chase Visa Signature card.
* You will need to pay the $75 annual fee which is why we say travel is ‘nearly’ free.
* Upon receipt of the card make any first purchase Ex. Use the card for a gas fill-up.
* In 6-8 weeks receive 25,000 BA miles in your BA executive club airline account. If you do not have a BA frequent flyer account call BA and set up your free account.

* OPTION #1 -  Use the 25,000 miles immediately. These miles qualify for a round-trip U.S.domestic lower 48 flight on sister airlines American and Alaska.
* OPTION #2 - Wait 12 months and pay the credit card’s $75 renewal fee. In 6-8 weeks you will receive another 25,000 bonus miles. Your 50,000 miles qualifies you for a Round Trip ticket to any of BA’s zone #1 European countries which include: the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland.
* Your double yearly fee payments (2 x $75 = $150) means you will be paying $75 for your flight from the U.S. to Europe.  Ex. San Francisco to Paris will cost you $75 each way. Note: All airlines charge additional fees and/or taxes on award flights.

Here is the promotion’s LINK:
http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/2000003/Default.aspx?CELL=6BZQ

25,000 - 50,000  ‘FREE’ DELTA BONUS MILES (ANNUAL FEE WAIVED)
Delta Airlines bucks the trend away from ‘annual fee waived’ promotions with this current deal:

* Instantly earn 25,000 to 50,000 100% FREE bonus
miles when you apply for a 

personal card (25,000) or both personal and business cards (50,000).
* These miles are instantly good for a domestic U.S. lower 48 round trip award ticket on either Delta or Northwest Airlines (25,000) or Hawaii, North America and South America (50,000).
* To obtain your free bonus miles you must be a new applicant for Delta’s Gold SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express
* Upon receiving the card and making our first purchase you will receive 20,000 free miles
* Collect another 5,000 miles for adding 2 Additional card members (no cost for doing this)
* No annual fee for the first year - a savings of $95

* Delta is offering both personal and business cards for the same deal. Apply for both
and receive a total of 50,000 good for 100% free round trip tickets to Europe.
* Do not have a small business? No problem. See our article “Why run a small business that earns as little as $1.00 per year?” in our Spring CTN edition. Here is the LINK:
http://ctnspring2006.blogspot.com/

Here is the LINK to the Delta promotion:
http://www.delta.com/marketing/amex_gold/index.jsp?Log=1&MkCpgn=SEzzzn1a&ccsgeep=40436&openeep=42419&s_kwcid=TC|14660|frequent%20flyer%20mile||S|b|4110273821

WHAT TO DO WHEN THERE ARE NO FREE AWARD SEATS AVAILABLE?
I highly recommend   an article, The Extra Mile, written by Tim Winship (July 20, 2010).
The article is found at :

http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/no-frequent-flyer-seats-there-are-alternatives.html?id=5182820

Tim simplifies comparisons of miles used to obtain free flight awards and miles used to ‘purchase’ products and/or services such as hotel lodging. Tim uses a formula that I have favored over the years. The idea is to calculate the average value in dollars and cents of a typical domestic flight award i.e. a 25,000 miles round trip flight from New York to Los Angeles. If we assume one can buy a ticket for this ‘average’ flight at about $350 then the value for each mile flown is calculated at about 1.4 cents.

The bottom line is that miles may be used to ‘purchase’ anything from a  Blu-Ray DVD player to a night of lodging at top name hotels. These alternative options will likely have a net cost in the range of .66 to .90 cents per mile which confirms the fact that our miles are always best valued when used to obtain free award travel tickets.

Tim’s article does a fine job of laying this out and putting it into proper reality based prospective.

PROTECTING YOUR HOME WHILE YOU ARE OFF EXPLORING THE WORLD

There is no better time than now to re-visit the issue of protecting one's home whilst you are off on a lengthy trip exploring the world.  Many of these tips hold true for shorter vacations as well. Consider doing the following to insure you will be returning to the same home you left when you locked the door behind you and headed for that 'last gate at the airport':

* Have friends or family members 'move-in and occupy your home while you are away. We have a long list, headed by Pat's son, who move in lock-stock and barrel so that our home is no less occupied when we are traveling then when we are at home.  By having the house 'lived in' we also save hundreds of dollars we would otherwise spend on pet sitters for our favorite kitty. Thanks 'son' and this time keep the partying down!
* Consider a paid home sitter assuming he/she is credentialed or otherwise vouched for. This can often be done on a barter basis.
* Swapping homes not only works for many but provides huge savings on lodging.
* Kill all mail deliveries if your home will not be occupied.  Have a friend or family member pick up your mail periodically at the post office so they can go through it per your instructions.
* Set up auto lights and TV/Radio.
* If you have a pet sitter make sure they check for flyers, errant newspapers etc. and bring any into the home.
* If your home will be occupied you can tell the world about your vacation plans. On the other hand if your home will be vacant  then do not broadcast your travel plans. 
* If your home will be vacant inform neighbors so that your neighborhood watch team is on alert.  
* Electrify your entry points so that anyone attempting entry will be fried to a crisp (kidding).

 4-STAR APARTMENT LUXURY FOR MUCH LESS THAN THE COST OF A 2-STAR HOTEL ROOM  WHETHER RENTING FOR ONE WEEK OR ONE MONTH
Over the years we have extolled the virtues of renting foreign apartments mostly for long term rentals of one month or longer. Our basic mantra has been PAY LESS for so MUCH MORE then you get when booking a typical small, amenity starved hotel room.

The timing for this update could not be better. Our upcoming 7-weeks Summer trip to Italy finds us renting BOTH a long term one-month apartment in Florence and a one- week apartment on the Italian riviera in Porto Maurizio.

These days most travelers are paying  $100 TO $150  for a basic tiny but clean, nicely situated 2-Star hotel room. The pictured Italian Riviera 2-Star bare bones hotel room is priced at $140/day. 

Such rooms offer little more than a small European bed and a small but adequate private bath. At the other end of the lodging spectrum some pay hundreds of dollars per night for an upscale address hotels with ornate lobbies and restaurants. However, even these hotels, for their sky high prices, still offer small to medium size rooms, albeit nicely furnished, but sadly lacking the major amenities of the apartments we have rented  i.e. 100's of square feet of extra living space, extra rooms and full kitchen.

The average 2-Star hotel measures about 130 sq. ft. of living space. For much less then the cost of this small hotel room we rented our favorite Paris 2 BR apartment (2007 and 2009) with an astounding 1,016 sq. ft. of living space. In addition, we saved hundreds of dollars, on meals. Imagine the sheer luxury of sacking out our own living room as well as having a spare bedroom (or living room with sofa bed in one BR apartments) for drop-in guests. ALL OF THIS FOR 15% to 40% LESS THAN THE COST OF 2-STAR HOTEL ROOMS. In travel as in life MORE FOR LESS should rule the day.

START EARLY:

With regard to our current Summer 2010 trip we began our apartment quest fully 7-8
ago in the Fall of 2009. Planning early gives you the best shot at the very few apartments that will meet all your criteria at the lowest price.

SET YOUR CRITERIA:
Next, we put together an all important list of our apartment criteria which includes such as:

1. Good city center location or has excellent metro connection to the city center.
2. Elevator building or no more than one flight of stairs
    NOTE: Europeans may use different definitions for ground, first and second floors
so it is best to confirm the apartment location in terms of street level and flights of stairs.
3. Very good to excellent block and neighborhood. Forget dreary side streets with a long walk to shops, markets and metro.
4. 500 to 1000 square feet of living space (the latter is the size of a small 2BR house). At least 1 BR or super bargain priced.  Always check square footage and have that metric converter web site handy. 
5. A/C if the weather will be hot.
6.  Washer in the apartment.
6. Full size kitchen  with all pots, pans. stove, microwave and ‘full-size’ refrigerator with freezer compartment. Note: Many apartments sport below counter mini-size refrigerators. We are not into ‘kneeling’ to see into a freezer-less mini frig.
7. Dining room or adequate dining area, table, chairs etc.
8. Living room with good TV, DVD entertainment center.
9. Bath tub (if that is your ‘thing’ and especially for longer rentals).

Optional goodies: Telephone with free local and incoming calls, dryer, cable TV with CNN, BBC, Wi-Fi, balcony with chairs or lounge chair

COST: OUR APARTMENT RENTAL BUDGET IS $100 OR LESS PER DAY
During the past five years all of our rentals in Paris, Barcelona and now in Italy have been priced well within this budget, at $65 to $87/day.

OUR PYRAMID THEORY:

At the outset of every apartment search it seems there is vast selection of available apartments. It only ‘seems’ that way. Think of a giant pyramid of rental apartments. As we work our way up through the pyramid we find only a hand full of apartments, at the top of the pyramid, that meet all our above needs. Those few ‘best’ apartments will be available 6-8 months prior to your departure date.
 

METHOD AND CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING  A RENTAL WEB SITE:
When doing our internet research we look for:

* A professional looking web site run by an owner or agency
* Web site includes extensive contacts including email, land line and
cell phone numbers that work.
* Extensive, professional detailed description including room measurements
and list of all amenities
* Clear pricing indicating what is and is not included in the rental fee i.e. cleaning fee extra, heating extra.
* Prompt reply to email questions regarding the apartment, neighborhood, all and any aspects of rental
* High quality, multiple view apartment photos. Beware when most of the photos are neighborhood or exterior building shots.
* Good description of the neighborhood including location of nearest metro.
* Testimonials
* A small deposit of 15% to 25% payable in advance with remainder of rent paid upon arrival.  Keep a good record or your credit card or wife transfer deposit payment.
* We love this one! On longer rentals, for example one month, the fourth week is essentially free. Example: A typical apartment that rents for $700 per week will rent for $2100 per month.
* Web site uses a rental calendar that instantly shows availability.
* A written rental agreement with cancellation provisions spelled out

OUR ONE WEEK PORTO MAURIZIO RENTAL:
Why Porto Maurizio? Because we are a few blocks from this Porto Maurizio beach for starters.

*Italian riviera twin towns of Imperia and Porto Maurizio
* Only 20 minutes from famed jet set San Remo
* Nice beaches and overall looks to be a fun location for a one week
R & R vacation within our seven weeks journey
* Apartment is on a pedestrian ‘mall’ palm lined street
* Great rental price for a short term one week rental
* These pictures say thousands of words.  Our apartment is on this pedestrian mall, palm tree lined street.  Below living room, full kitchen and long hallway to bedroom.
Remember, all this for half the price of a small double hotel room. 
 

Our web research led us to a German site for a Porto Maurizio apartment. The site is:
http://www.maremonti.de/  As you can see the site is a bit difficult to navigate. We then found our apartment listed on a third party rental site. This English web site offers good descriptions and photos of our apartment.  http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p512286#photos-bar

How to navigate the German site that does not include an English version. This one was a bit tricky. If you go directly to the site it is in German. However, if you enter the web site’s address on Google then when you see the web site listed in the Google search results you can click on the word ‘translate’ and you arrive at the English version of the site. If you then click on top right House Select box you will see a drop down menu of the many properties offered. Finally click on Carletto and you are seeing the page for our apartment including all amenities and photo gallery. This web site meets all our above rental web site criteria.

Here some photos of the apartment. If your screen does not show all three photos
then click on the photos for full view.


Final short term one week rental price, including cleaning fee, is $83/day. This 1BR Italian Riviera apartment includes:
* Ten steps from the street to the apartment
* Nice sized at 600 sq. ft.
* Full kitchen with full size appliances
* Wi-Fi and satellite TV/DVD
* Palm lined pedestrian street a short walk to the beach
* Washing machine
* No A/C but temperatures should be moderate. Will buy a small fan is necessary
* Guest sofa bed in LR
Since one week rentals are usually much high priced then one month or longer rentals this apartment, on the riviera, is a great buy at just $83/day
 

OUR FLORENCE ONE MONTH  APARTMENT

This was the ‘big one’ for our trip. A full month in Florence. Steve does our apartment search and put his ‘all’ into the task.  He came upon RentFlorencecity.com a rental web site whose components met our criteria. He spotted a great prospect and all his query emails were answered promptly, professionally and in detail. Eventually we rented one of their apartments. Here is the LINK to our apartments rental page:
http://www.rentflorencecity.com/capponi_apartment_for_rent.html?
 
What made this apartment stand out:
* Top floor of an ancient but now elevated building with Veranda, table/chairs overlooking the red roofs of Florence & the Duomo. Here is our veranda and views. Be sure to CLICK ON THIS PHOTO:

* Huge 871 sq.ft. of living area. This apartment rivals our favorite 2BR Paris apartment.
* Fabulous location on Via Capponi which is one block from the Academia, home of  Michelangelo's The David which is thought by many, including both of us,  to be the single greatest piece of statuary every created. 

Here is a kitchen/dining room merge shot (CLICK ON THIS PHOTO):

* Just three blocks from the Duomo
* Top floor of an ancient but now elevated building
* 1BR with A/C, Wi-Fi, Satellite TV/DVD, full Kitchen with full size appliances
* Veranda with table/chairs overlooking the red roofs of Florence & the Duomo.
* Price: great price well within our budget.
* These amenities leave even expensive 3-4 Star hotel rooms in the dust!


Here is a living room/bedroom merge shot (CLICK ON THIS PHOTO):

A word about apartment prices: Note the high season weekly rate of $588 euros. That is an amazing $105/day for a short term one week rental.  Now consider the discount we received for our longer term one month . Where three weeks cost 1764 euros (about $2200) we are paying just 1600 euros (about $2000 or $67/day + utilities) for one month. This is like getting 1 1/4 weeks free. We love month long rentals. 

HAPPY APARTMENT HUNTING!

FOREIGN APARTMENT RENTALS - 
TROUBLE SHOOTING
Has anything ever gone WRONG with our half dozen foreign apartment rentals?  Have we had bad dealings with owners or agents? What to do if and when a problem arises?

These may be some of the very reasonable questions you may be asking. Why raise this issue now? Because we just dealt with a very interesting issue that arose with our  upcoming Porto Maurizio one week rental.

At the 5 weeks pre-departure point Steve realized there was a problem with the apartment’s address. Steve had taken the address, Via Vente Settembre, to mean number 20 on street Via Settembre. As we got into trip planning we noticed Via Vente Settembre was popping up on other nearby city maps. A bit of quick research revealed that Vente Settembre is a major holiday with many streets named in its honor. This meant that we had the street location, Via Vente Settembre,  but we did NOT have the building’s street address. This seemed a curious oversight. Hmmmmm.....

Did we need the actual address since this rental includes pick-up by the owner when we arrive at the town’s train station. The answer is always a resounding YES. One should ALWAYS receive the full address of the apartment building once the deposit it paid. Prior to that time owners/agents will usually identify the street but not actual building address.

We contacted Julia Betzl, the rental agent in Germany. She always replies very quickly to emails and did so this time. She repeated the address she previously gave us, Via Vente Settembre sans any building number. Strange we thought. After all, it took Steve only minutes to find Speedy Pizza at 18, Via Vente Settembre on the very block of our apartment......but where oh where was our apartment?

We shot off another email. This time Julia’s reply was disturbing.  A full long paragraph giving us the history of the street’s name, indicating that she saw no problem and that we should just ‘go to the apartment.’  At the same time ignoring the fact that we could not go to the apartment sans its full street address. Worry beads were forming on our collective foreheads. WHAT TO DO without descending into super nasty land? Could this be a scam? The first ever we encountered?

We took a deep breath and Googled ‘Julia Betzl SCAM’...... deep sigh of relief when nothing came up.

After some further thought and a review of all our few documents Steve took the bull by the horns and eliminated Julia from the equation. We had the owner’s phone number, to be used when we arrived at the train station. Steve dialed the number and in short order the nicest of landlords answered in very respectable English. He not only gave us the building number (32) but also told us he could pick us up at the train station two hours earlier then planned which was perfect for our arrival time.

MORAL: Make sure all documents are in order and that you have all needed information for arrival and check-in. Double check all of this well in advance of your departure.

APARTMENT ARRIVAL TIP: This one is sometimes overlooked. Many apartment buildings require that a code be entered in order to get past the building’s front door. Always be sure to ask the ‘ how do we get into the building’ question....you will be glad you did.

In this case only our small deposit was at risk and worst case scenario we had time to   book other lodging.

Why did Julia fail to give us the building number? We shall never know for certain.  Our emails were crystal clear and Julia’s English (Steve previously spoke with her on the phone) was fine.

We can only speculate.  It may be that prior renters, knowing they were to be picked up at the train station, never asked for the actual building address. What about those arriving by car? Good question.
End of our apartment morality tale.

KEY WEST - ONE OF AMERICA'S BEST ADVENTURE WEEKEND GET-A-WAYS

WHAT IS KEY WEST: The string of islands off the southern tip of Florida. There are 800

Keys, 30 are inhabited by people, the rest are animal sanctuaries. Key West, with its population of 25,000 people, is the southern most island in the chain as well as the southernmost city in the Continental United States, 160 miles south of Miami but only 90 miles north of Cuba. It is 1.5 miles wide and 4 miles long. There are 42 bridges connecting Key West to the mainland making for an amazing four hour drive.


WHY KEY WEST? Because this is one of America’s best super fun, super adventure, scenic and history laden long weekend get-a-ways. Getting there is half the fun. We drove the Overseas Highway, completed in 1938, for 113 miles including dozens of bridges to travel from Miami to the southernmost point in Key West. In 1982, 37 bridges were replaced with wider spans, including the well-known Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon. Trip time, non-stop, is under four hours. But plan for many short stops to take in the ever-changing scenery of the seas and wilderness bordering the roadway. Here are tons more reasons to visit:

* MALLORY SQUARE: Located at waters edge in the heart of the historic district in Key West Mallory Square is a gathering place for shopping, eating, people watching, street artist watching and the daily sunset celebration.

    Sunset Celebration: A nightly arts festival at Mallory Square Dock in Key West, Florida. The participants of this Key West attraction consist of arts and crafts exhibitors, street performers, food carts, psychics and of course the thousands of tourists from around the world who visit this Key West art show. Each night around two hours before sunset masses of people, both locals and tourists alike, flock to the water's edge to experience a multi cultural happening and to watch the sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico.

* Famous People who have lived in Key West include Earnest Hemingway, Harry Truman, Jimmy Buffett, Winslow Homer, James Audubon, Tennessee Williams, Kelly McGillis, Mel Fisher and Ralph Lauren.

* Key West’s beaches are created by sand brought in on barges from the Bahamas.

* Hemingway House: There are about 40 cats living at the Hemingway House, all

descended from Ernest Hemingway's cat. Most have six or seven toes on their front paws. All of them are named for movie stars.

* There are more bars per capita in Key West than anywhere else in the country, and more churches per capita! City. Many of the clubs and bars feature live entertainment that ranges from Broadway to country, Latin to the blues, rock'n'roll to island rhythms.

* The third largest coral reef in the world is seven miles off the coast of Key West. It runs 160 miles, from Key Biscayne to the Dry Tortugas. Take a glass bottom boat or snorkeling trip to the reef

* Join a SCUBA trip to dive to a Spanish merchant ship from the 1600's.

* Fishing trips, dolphin watching and back country kayaking.

* Climate: The record high in Key West was 97̊ in 1880, and the record low was 41̊, in 1981. The average daily temperature in Key West is 77̊. The last hurricane to directly hit Key West was in 1919. Key West is the only frost-free city in the Continental United States.

* Famous for its Key Lime Pies! And, eat conch fritters, conch chowder, and any of the other 24 ways to prepare conch

*  Explore the Cuban influence at El Meson de Pepe's and Casa Cayo Hueso y Habana

*  Butterfly Conservatory,

* Pet a live shark at the Key West Aquarium

* Climb to the top the of Key West Shipwreck Treasures Museum to see all the way out to the reef

* Visit the only presidential museum in Florida, Truman's Little White House
http://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com/
 
OUR FAVORITE: THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE
Built in 1890 the building initially served as the command headquarters of the naval station during the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. In 1946 the historic building first served as the winter White House of President Harry S. Truman.

In 1974, changing technologies closed the Key West Submarine Base and the Little White House went through a twelve year period of disuse. On January 1, 1987, the titleto this presidential museum was transferred to the state of Florida for permanent protection. Beginning in 1988, more than two million dollars have been privately raised and gone into its restoration.

Today, the Truman Little White House is a public, living museum as well as a retreat and place of government business by our nation's leaders. Here is a history of Presidential visits to the Little White House:

President Truman made 5 post-presidential visits to Key West between 1957 and 1969. Each time visiting his former Little White House, but staying in a private residence in town.

President Dwight Eisenhower used the house for meetings in December 1955 and January 1956 while he recovered from a heart attack.

President John F. Kennedy used this site for a summit meeting with
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on March 26, 1961 just 23 days before the Bay of Pigs. On November 26,1962 he returned following the Cuban missile crisis for an inspection tour.

In April, 1972, King Hussein I of Jordan was a guest of RADM John Maurer.

For twelve years the property was abandoned.

President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter used the house for a family gathering. In 1999,

On April 2-6, 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell opened peace talks
in this house between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In 2005, President Bill and Senator Hillary Clinton used the house as a
weekend retreat.

In December 2007, former President Jimmy Carter and family returned for
a visit.

THE ‘MUST DO’ TROLLEY TOUR: $29 VERSUS ONLINE $26.10 ALL DAY HOP ON OFF
    
Here are just a few reasons why Old Town Trolley is the best sightseeing tour in town:           

* For over 30 years, Old Town Trolley Tours has provided sightseeing tours highlighting the best of Key West. Enjoy a delightful combination of transportation and entertainment. Our friendly conductors narrate the tour with a fascinating and fun mix of trivia and humorous stories.
* 100% Money Back Guarantee           
* Hop on and off at your leisure           
* On and off FREE reboarding at 12 stops (CLICK ON THIS PHOTO):
      

  
* Colorful anecdotes and well-research historical facts       
* Exclusive stops and attraction discounts           
* More than 100 Points of Interest
* Frequent pickups at all our stops, this helps you avoid walking long distances.
http://www.trolleytours.com/key-west/day-tour.asp


BEST BARGAIN HOTEL:

Rule #1 for Key West is this: Hotel bargains are RARE.  One can easily spend $150 to $300 per night which is way beyond our $100 or less budget. The number of ‘acceptable’ bargain priced hotels, meaning good location, generous amenities, good user reviews and low price are scarce. After much research we chose Comfort Inn, Key West recently renamed Quality Inn as part of the Choice Hotels group.
http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-key_west-florida-FL320?promo=gchifl1320
 
Price: Using Priceline.com we booked our 3 nights at $109.99 per night for queen or 2xdouble bed rooms. A special Priceline promotion cut this price to $95/night.

Reviews: Using our favorite TripAdvisor.com site we found there were 160 reviews. A whopping 79% found Comfort (now Quality) Inn to be Excellent to Average.
We considered other hotels, location, amenities and price and went with the vast majority of users on this one.....and were DELIGHTED WITH OUR CHOICE.

Pros:
1) Great North Roosevelt Blvd. location just off the bridge that takes one into Key West.
2) About 50 feet from the Hop on and Off Trolley stop.
3) Cinder block walls so very quiet.
4) Basic but large oldie but goodie hotel room.

5) Some upgraded furnishings and carpet.
6) Room had table and chairs and large screen TV.
7) Old style motel parking just outside the room, very convenient.
8) free deluxe continental breakfast, large outdoor pool and sundeck.
9) Free Wi-Fi
10) Free newspapers and fruit at the lobby reservation desk

11) Sightseeing desk in the lobby offered great ‘free’ advice

We give our two big thumbs up for a long weekend adventure trip to Key West.
 
STEVE'S GIZMO COLUMN
MOST AMAZING ULTRA-LIGHT TRIPOD OF ALL TIME - THE TAMRAC ZIPSHOT

I bumped into this new tripod while surfing for camera gear. I read about it and then viewed the YouTube video over and over. I could barely believe my eyes. From fully closed to fully open and ready to use takes maybe 5 seconds or LESS! In a very few blinks of ones eyes voila, like magic, this mini-tripod is ready to use.

Here is that amazing YouTube video from Lehky Stativ. If you do not understand Russian you want to turn your volume down (just click on center arrow to play):




If, for any reason, the video is not playing here is a LINK to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE-mH9cuxMM    

I ran to a local dealer and had it in my hot little hands. Would it really do its magic as seen in the YouTube video??? YES! Simply amazing.

Cost was $58 at a local shop. I purchased it online for $48 delivered.
The specs:
    * Ultra-lightweight. Weights only 11 oz. (312g).
    * Ultra-compact. Only 15” (38cm) when folded.
    * Convenient. Stands 44” (112cm) tall.
    * Quick. Tripod legs spring open in seconds.
    * Easy to Carry. Attaches to camera bags and luggage.
    * Sturdy. Heavy-duty, metal ball-head with strong aluminum legs.
    * Max Weight Load. 3 lbs (1361g).

Company web site:
http://www.zipshottripod.com/product.cfm
 

GIZMO COLUMN - BEST EVER ‘CHEAPSKATE’ COMPUTER REPAIR SERVICE

Today many or even most of us use our home computers to edit and/or improve our photos and videos and to share them with family, friends and the entire world.  A sick PC can put a damper on all our travel photo/video efforts and that simply will not do.

I am now sharing 200+ of my mostly travel videos with over one half million viewers around the world. And that number may even include a few family and friends. At the same time I have over 10,000 still photos in cyber albums.

My good VAIO desktop has been showing off its old age in ways that have been   driving me to the edge. Sloooooowwwww, draggginnngggg, freeeezzzzingggg.......you know the drill, it happens to all our PCs at one ‘bad PC day’ time or another.

I decided to try remote PC repair. I did a few hours of quick web research with two goals: (1) quality i.e. user testimonials, large company, good web site, work guarantee and (2) reasonable price rather than some open ended per hour money pit. I never expected the awesome experience coming my way.  I choose Southwest Web Group, also know as Online Computer Repair, because they offer the following:

* FLAT FEE of $69. This seemed way to good to be true but it WAS TRUE
* All USA technicians...... yes I understood every word the tech spoke
* In business since 1997
* Pages and pages of great Testimonials

* Free Chat Line used to discuss each case before will let you use their service
* Available 24 hours /day*

* Work is Guaranteed and if they do not fix the problem there is no charge



I called, chatted, was approved for their service and received a prompt call from Dan in Atlanta, one of their service techs.  Dan was knowledgeable, courteous and patient.  Virtues not always found in PC repair land.

Bottom line: This job was proof positive that Online Computer Repair is dead seriouis about their FLAT $69 FEE.  While I am certain they are happy to do a 30 minute repair my job put them and Dan to the test which they passed with flying colors. Dan spent 2 hours and 50 minutes in ‘surgery’ with my PC using his many, many remote control instruments. I chirped in with an answer or two now and then but mostly Dan just worked away. In the end Dan installed a new free PC ‘cleaner’ called CC Cleaner, gave me tips on future maintenance and most important DAN TOTALLY FIXED MY VAIO to near new running condition....nothing less than a PC miracle at an amazing low price.

The usual competitor’s minimum fee for this job was $130 to $150.




TIP: I am told you may ask for a particular repair person by name and the there is only one 'DAN' working for them in Atlanta.  No more excuses when your PC next cries out in anguished, dysfunctional pain.....DAN is waiting.

Here is their web site:
http://www.southeastwebgroup.com/online-computer-repair.html

Here is more contact info:
Online Computer Repair
2700 Braselton Highway
Dacula, GA 30019
PHONE: (770) 995-1010
TOLL-FREE: (866) 932-4768
 
 MINI PORTABLE HARD DRIVES - THE ‘KEY’ TO NEVER RUNNING OUT OF VACATION MEMORY
This will be short and very sweet.  Last year we purchased our first ever travel computer, a Lenovo S10 netbook. What is a netbook?  A netbook is a smaller version of a  larger laptop. It is further distinguished by the fact that a netbook has no internal DVD/CD drive. Aside from its respectable internal 120gb hard drive a netbook thrives when combined with todays mini-portable hard drives. Who needs the extra weight of a DVD drive and dozens of DVDs one might want to take on a long journey.  I just purchased a Seagate Expansion mini-portable hard drive with an astounding 750GBs of storage for $92 at our local Frys Electronics store. Last week my buddy purchased a 320GB portable hard drive at Frys for $49.99. Since I will be, like many of you, shooting mostly video, my new 750GB hard drive is an extra memory dream come true.

Presently an average 90-120 minute movie saved as a smaller AVI file is about 1GB on average. With a 750GB HD one can easily take a mini-movie library of literally hundreds of movies all inside this 9oz palm sized gizmo.

When it comes to my primary objective, shooting videos, the Seagate 750gb drive (rated at 700 usable  GBs of storage) will hold about 26,000 high resolution 8 mega pixel stills or an equally astounding 131 hours of High Definition video.

Here are pictures I just took of both the 250gb red Hitachi portable hard drive I purchased for Patty’s lighter use and the larger, but still very ‘hold in one’s hand’ small Seagate 750GB Expansion portable hard drive.

TIP: There are dozens of portable hard drives on the market.  I always do my homework and check available reviews including user reviews before making my purchase decision. Both these units rated very high in durability and consumer satisfaction.

Last year I purchased the first of my two portable hard drives, a 200gb Wester digital Passport model. I have been totally satisfied with its performance during the past year.

Portable HD Trivia: Why does my 750 Seagate drive deliver only 698GB of actual usable memory? It seems manufacturers ‘round off’ the measurement of GB’s to the number 1,000 MBs per GB  when actually there are 1074 MB bytes in a gigabyte. Since all manufacturers seem to have agreed to this faux math our lot in computer life is accept the fact that the actual memory is about of 6.9% less then that hyped on the box.

My two portable HD models are:

HITACHI 250GB portable hard drive: 
Seagate Expansion 750GB portable hard drive

HAPPY and SAFE TRAVELS TO ALL
CTN READERS! 

Steve and Patty