It looks like another MLM is going down and they will be going down fast. On the eve of their convention, the California Attorney General sued YTB for $25 million for being a pyramid scheme. Our AG, Jerry Brown, wants YTB "shut down." Bravo to our former governor and now AG.
It is quite amusing to read the other blogs and listen to what the RTAs and Reps from YTB have to say. Sometimes you have to wonder if these sheep are just plain stupid or in denial. I'm convinced they're not too bright of a bunch.
My comments are short on this subject as it has been covered on other blogs quite well. If you haven't already, check out this blog with the most information: http://notravelmlms.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 8, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
What is this blog all about?
It's about anything and everything. Rants, raves, advice, and opinions. Unlike some blogs that are moderated, this blog won't be unless you violate the Blogspot rules. Not my rules, Blogspot rules. I am open to your suggestions, all comments, and opposing views.
I'm a pretty tough old bag, so tell it like it is. I do. Just because I state my own opinion does not mean I'm always right. Please have a sense of humor! Some people take all of life so seriously. You may be passionate about something, but if someone makes a joke, don't become all offended. If you insult someone, please do not bring their family members into it. Even for me, that's below the belt. I doubt any children are going to be reading this blog (if anyone), so adult language is allowed. If you're offended or thin-skinned, well tough. You can leave and never be forced to return. Is that fair?
This blog is also not a bash YTB site, although that would be an added pleasure. It is not a copycat blog of John's MLMs and Travel: A Bad Mix.
This blog does not and will not contain any side ads, me trying to sell my services (unless you're a hot sailor or Marine and then it's free, Baby), or any clutter junk.
Please have fun and express yourself, good, bad or indifferent. And me? I remain magnificent!
I'm a pretty tough old bag, so tell it like it is. I do. Just because I state my own opinion does not mean I'm always right. Please have a sense of humor! Some people take all of life so seriously. You may be passionate about something, but if someone makes a joke, don't become all offended. If you insult someone, please do not bring their family members into it. Even for me, that's below the belt. I doubt any children are going to be reading this blog (if anyone), so adult language is allowed. If you're offended or thin-skinned, well tough. You can leave and never be forced to return. Is that fair?
This blog is also not a bash YTB site, although that would be an added pleasure. It is not a copycat blog of John's MLMs and Travel: A Bad Mix.
This blog does not and will not contain any side ads, me trying to sell my services (unless you're a hot sailor or Marine and then it's free, Baby), or any clutter junk.
Please have fun and express yourself, good, bad or indifferent. And me? I remain magnificent!
Can You Really Travel for FREE?
Yes. You don't have to be in an MLM, you don't have to do much of anything except work with a travel agent, you can fly free using frequent flyer miles, and that's about the only way. Forget all the nonsense you read about getting paid to travel, etc. Here is how you can travel for free:
The most common way is to apply for a credit card affiliated with an airline. Currently Citibank and American Airlines have one of the best offers going. Go to the AA.com site and sign up for an Advantage Citibank Mastercard. You will get 25,000 miles after you make $500 in purchases. There is no fee for the first year on this card and it's enough miles for a domestic round trip ticket. There are a lot of other airline miles offers with credit cards out there. Just do a search and you'll come across the sites. Pay attention to the fees. If you don't pay your credit card off each month, pay particular attention to the interest rate. Nothing is really totally free in the long run.
Free cruises and vacations: If you are able to put together a group, it's possible to go free. With cruises, you usually have to sell 10 cabins for one free cabin and that can be you. It's really not difficult. If you belong to a church, get a group together at work, or any organization, make up a flier with the help of an agent and you collect the money and have them sign the contracts. It's really that simple as your travel agent will process the rest of the booking and send in the money. It's getting your passengers to commit that is difficult.
Same goes for a land and air tour. Say you want to go to London for a week. You get a group of 20 people, 10 rooms with air and you can go free. It's handled the same way. Sometimes the amount of the group will depend upon the tour company, but that is currently the standard. Just about all destinations are included.
It is important that you have a clear contract with your travel agent and that agency. The agency must be IATAN accredited, willing to do a contract, and it meets both party's needs. Do not cut corners and I suggest you do not tell anyone you're going for free. You are responsible for providing information on the passengers, collect the money, make sure they know the travel rules, passport requirements, and you may be asked to be the leader. You should also have a contract with each passenger with everything spelled out including the cancellation penalties, insurance offered, etc. This is your compensation for your "free" trip.
The most common way is to apply for a credit card affiliated with an airline. Currently Citibank and American Airlines have one of the best offers going. Go to the AA.com site and sign up for an Advantage Citibank Mastercard. You will get 25,000 miles after you make $500 in purchases. There is no fee for the first year on this card and it's enough miles for a domestic round trip ticket. There are a lot of other airline miles offers with credit cards out there. Just do a search and you'll come across the sites. Pay attention to the fees. If you don't pay your credit card off each month, pay particular attention to the interest rate. Nothing is really totally free in the long run.
Free cruises and vacations: If you are able to put together a group, it's possible to go free. With cruises, you usually have to sell 10 cabins for one free cabin and that can be you. It's really not difficult. If you belong to a church, get a group together at work, or any organization, make up a flier with the help of an agent and you collect the money and have them sign the contracts. It's really that simple as your travel agent will process the rest of the booking and send in the money. It's getting your passengers to commit that is difficult.
Same goes for a land and air tour. Say you want to go to London for a week. You get a group of 20 people, 10 rooms with air and you can go free. It's handled the same way. Sometimes the amount of the group will depend upon the tour company, but that is currently the standard. Just about all destinations are included.
It is important that you have a clear contract with your travel agent and that agency. The agency must be IATAN accredited, willing to do a contract, and it meets both party's needs. Do not cut corners and I suggest you do not tell anyone you're going for free. You are responsible for providing information on the passengers, collect the money, make sure they know the travel rules, passport requirements, and you may be asked to be the leader. You should also have a contract with each passenger with everything spelled out including the cancellation penalties, insurance offered, etc. This is your compensation for your "free" trip.
Martha's Handy Tips for Buying a CRUISE
Love, exciting and new,
Come aboard.
We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow,
it floats back to you.
The Love Boat
soon will be making another run.
The Love Boat promises something for everyone.
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
It's Looooove!
Welcome aboard - It's Looooove!
OK, do you remember that junk? Cruises aren't exactly like the Love Boat, has-been stars and all. But cruises have become cheap, cheap, and are getting cheaper by the day. Our economy stinks and they need to sell cabins. Supply and demand, however, they're going to nickel and dime you to death. Is it worth it? If you like cruising, it is.
As with just about everything, you pretty much get what you pay for with a cruise, but sometimes you get a lot more. No, I'm not talking about the norovirus either. You have your cheap cruises and cruise lines, your medium priced, and then your luxury. Anyone reading this is probably opting for a cheap or mid-priced cruise. Don't be fooled though, some of the cheap cruises are pure junk and are like going on a tug. Then you have your mid-priced cruises like Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, and a few others. So how do you decide? First determine what you want to see or what type of weather you want. Then call your local travel agent. I strongly suggest NOT booking a cruise online. Travel agents have specials, incentives, and shipboard credits not available to the general online sites and you get white glove service from a travel agent at no additional charge.
Which cruise line should you choose? In my opinion, Carnival is at the bottom of the heap, next in line is NCL. Some of the newer Carnival fleet are nicer, but the older ships are simply tugs. The food isn't great, the service is adequate at best, and speaking of being nickel and dimed to death, they do. NCL isn't so fantastic either, but better than Carnival. My clients prefer Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. Remember that it also depends on the ship and it's staff. Your travel agent can and will give you the best advice and recommend what is best for you based on location and price.
Check out the online reviews at cruise-addicts.com or any of the others but keep in mind that a lot of those sites are biased because travel agencies or cruise agencies own them. Stick with the ones that are opinion based from real people and not professional.
Come aboard.
We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow,
it floats back to you.
The Love Boat
soon will be making another run.
The Love Boat promises something for everyone.
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
It's Looooove!
Welcome aboard - It's Looooove!
OK, do you remember that junk? Cruises aren't exactly like the Love Boat, has-been stars and all. But cruises have become cheap, cheap, and are getting cheaper by the day. Our economy stinks and they need to sell cabins. Supply and demand, however, they're going to nickel and dime you to death. Is it worth it? If you like cruising, it is.
As with just about everything, you pretty much get what you pay for with a cruise, but sometimes you get a lot more. No, I'm not talking about the norovirus either. You have your cheap cruises and cruise lines, your medium priced, and then your luxury. Anyone reading this is probably opting for a cheap or mid-priced cruise. Don't be fooled though, some of the cheap cruises are pure junk and are like going on a tug. Then you have your mid-priced cruises like Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, and a few others. So how do you decide? First determine what you want to see or what type of weather you want. Then call your local travel agent. I strongly suggest NOT booking a cruise online. Travel agents have specials, incentives, and shipboard credits not available to the general online sites and you get white glove service from a travel agent at no additional charge.
Which cruise line should you choose? In my opinion, Carnival is at the bottom of the heap, next in line is NCL. Some of the newer Carnival fleet are nicer, but the older ships are simply tugs. The food isn't great, the service is adequate at best, and speaking of being nickel and dimed to death, they do. NCL isn't so fantastic either, but better than Carnival. My clients prefer Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. Remember that it also depends on the ship and it's staff. Your travel agent can and will give you the best advice and recommend what is best for you based on location and price.
Check out the online reviews at cruise-addicts.com or any of the others but keep in mind that a lot of those sites are biased because travel agencies or cruise agencies own them. Stick with the ones that are opinion based from real people and not professional.
Martha's Handy Tips for Buying AIRLINE Tickets
Yes, we travel agents have to charge for tickets. The airlines cut us off from commissions and actually charge us to do a ticket. They even call us their "partners." If I had a partner that treated me like that, I'd cut off their whatchie which is exactly what they did to us. Here are some handy tips in getting the best price for a ticket:
I do recommend that you use a travel agent if you're flying on business, fly frequently, or need an international ticket. Other than that, I recommend that you buy online. Do not use Orbitz, Travelocity, or any of those type of online travel agencies. They charge a fee too. However, you can use their search engines and find what you want or use my favorite, Kayak.com. Once you do a search by date, price, or however you want to do it, go directly to the airline's own site and book it. Not only will you usually get bonus miles, but some are even letting you hold the ticket and giving you a price guarantee for 24 hours, plus there is no fee. If you have to change your ticket, it's easier for them to deal with also.
For international tickets, you should check with a travel agent first or even after you've checked the prices online. Travel agents have access to consolidators that often sell the tickets at net (the agent adds a fee) which is lower than published rates. If the agent's ticket is less, buy it. If not, book it online directly with an airline of your choice. If you are going on a vacation, that's a totally different ballgame and in most cases, you can get the air with the hotel and transfers or car for less in a combo. That should be taken care of by a travel agent.
Last minute travel: Oh no, my uncle's dog died and I have to go to the memorial tomorrow! Yikes! We're talking huge amounts of dollars here. So what do you do if you have to go some where at the very last minute and you can't find a fare for under your mortgage payment? Go directly to your newspaper and look in the classifieds, pick up a Reader if it's published in your city, and look under travel or tickets. You will often find Southwest Airlines reward vouchers from private parties for about $300 to $350 on any round trip. These are not assigned to a certain passenger and are transferable. Make sure SWA has the seats available before you buy the voucher. Coach is coach to them and you can use them for last minute travel, saving yourself hundreds of dollars. You owe me for this one!
You have enough frequent flyer miles for a free ticket but need it for last minute? Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Try out the airline's site first and see if a seat is available for FFs. You would be surprised at the amount of seats that magically appear 2 days before departure. If it doesn't show one but a regular paying seat is available, call the airline and ask them for help on this problem. Don't count on anything, but I've seen it happen. Don't call a reservations agent, call the FF dedicated number.
I do recommend that you use a travel agent if you're flying on business, fly frequently, or need an international ticket. Other than that, I recommend that you buy online. Do not use Orbitz, Travelocity, or any of those type of online travel agencies. They charge a fee too. However, you can use their search engines and find what you want or use my favorite, Kayak.com. Once you do a search by date, price, or however you want to do it, go directly to the airline's own site and book it. Not only will you usually get bonus miles, but some are even letting you hold the ticket and giving you a price guarantee for 24 hours, plus there is no fee. If you have to change your ticket, it's easier for them to deal with also.
For international tickets, you should check with a travel agent first or even after you've checked the prices online. Travel agents have access to consolidators that often sell the tickets at net (the agent adds a fee) which is lower than published rates. If the agent's ticket is less, buy it. If not, book it online directly with an airline of your choice. If you are going on a vacation, that's a totally different ballgame and in most cases, you can get the air with the hotel and transfers or car for less in a combo. That should be taken care of by a travel agent.
Last minute travel: Oh no, my uncle's dog died and I have to go to the memorial tomorrow! Yikes! We're talking huge amounts of dollars here. So what do you do if you have to go some where at the very last minute and you can't find a fare for under your mortgage payment? Go directly to your newspaper and look in the classifieds, pick up a Reader if it's published in your city, and look under travel or tickets. You will often find Southwest Airlines reward vouchers from private parties for about $300 to $350 on any round trip. These are not assigned to a certain passenger and are transferable. Make sure SWA has the seats available before you buy the voucher. Coach is coach to them and you can use them for last minute travel, saving yourself hundreds of dollars. You owe me for this one!
You have enough frequent flyer miles for a free ticket but need it for last minute? Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Try out the airline's site first and see if a seat is available for FFs. You would be surprised at the amount of seats that magically appear 2 days before departure. If it doesn't show one but a regular paying seat is available, call the airline and ask them for help on this problem. Don't count on anything, but I've seen it happen. Don't call a reservations agent, call the FF dedicated number.
Marth's Handy Tips for CAR Rentals
You need a rental car? Here are a few of my handy tips for getting a good car or van at a decent price:
Believe it or not, I'm not going to tell you to contact your local travel agent. You can most likely get one for less on your own. Forget the Entertainment, the AAA, the AARP, and all those discounts. Your best bet is to use Hotwire. If you want to shop around, then go to a discount coupon code site and choose your coupons. Some you can even stack for a greater discount, but searching is time consuming and you will not save that much over the Hotwire price. www.slickdeals.net has an entire thread with all of the codes for every car rental company out there.
What is the downside to Hotwire? You don't know which company you will be getting the car from, but it will be from the Big 5. I have yet to have a friend or client have a problem using Hotwire and neither have I. Their prices are even lower than I can get at an agent rate. You can try and negotiate a price lower than Priceline's published price and see if they accept, but it's not worth it to save a dime or two. Stick with Hotwire and you'll be happy.
Be aware that a standard, mid-size, and full-size are the same price. Sometimes you can even get a great deal on your rental car and a lot of bonus miles by using an airline site. You do not have to fly that airline to get the miles. Say you are flying on Continental but want to get American Airline miles. Just book the car on the AA site and you get the miles and the discounts. Cool, huh?
You know the print coupons you get in nearly all travel magazines and in the AAA and Entertainment books? You can't use the upgrade coupon online, but once you get to the counter, they will honor it 99% of the time. So make sure you book a full-size to upgrade to a premium car. If you book a mid-size, they will only upgrade you to a full-size a lot of times. That's not a bargain being that it's the same price.
Believe it or not, I'm not going to tell you to contact your local travel agent. You can most likely get one for less on your own. Forget the Entertainment, the AAA, the AARP, and all those discounts. Your best bet is to use Hotwire. If you want to shop around, then go to a discount coupon code site and choose your coupons. Some you can even stack for a greater discount, but searching is time consuming and you will not save that much over the Hotwire price. www.slickdeals.net has an entire thread with all of the codes for every car rental company out there.
What is the downside to Hotwire? You don't know which company you will be getting the car from, but it will be from the Big 5. I have yet to have a friend or client have a problem using Hotwire and neither have I. Their prices are even lower than I can get at an agent rate. You can try and negotiate a price lower than Priceline's published price and see if they accept, but it's not worth it to save a dime or two. Stick with Hotwire and you'll be happy.
Be aware that a standard, mid-size, and full-size are the same price. Sometimes you can even get a great deal on your rental car and a lot of bonus miles by using an airline site. You do not have to fly that airline to get the miles. Say you are flying on Continental but want to get American Airline miles. Just book the car on the AA site and you get the miles and the discounts. Cool, huh?
You know the print coupons you get in nearly all travel magazines and in the AAA and Entertainment books? You can't use the upgrade coupon online, but once you get to the counter, they will honor it 99% of the time. So make sure you book a full-size to upgrade to a premium car. If you book a mid-size, they will only upgrade you to a full-size a lot of times. That's not a bargain being that it's the same price.
Martha's Handy BUS Travel Tips
Don't do it! I swear, don't do it. Every stigma attached to traveling by bus is true. Blue haired old ladies, axe murders, grumpy old men continually passing some obnoxious rotten egg-like gas, huge oil marks left on the headrest, and general weirdos are the norm on a bus. Remember the old Twilight Zone series? There you go. I'm not referring to a tour bus, I'm referring to the Greyhound type. And speaking of dogs....oh never mind.
If you simply must take the bus, I suggest you visit your nearest hamburger or meat processing plant first. Once you see how they process beef and other assorted animal parts into hamburger, you will be ready for the bus passenger ride because it's similar. I only use this comparison because I would rather jump into one of those giant stainless steel grinders and have them hit the ON button than ride a bus again. I'm sorry, but I won't book one either. I just can't bring myself to put someone, anyone, in that situation. Next time you find a button or zipper in your burger, I was given 2 options.....take the bus or the grinder. Now you know which one I chose.
If you simply must take the bus, I suggest you visit your nearest hamburger or meat processing plant first. Once you see how they process beef and other assorted animal parts into hamburger, you will be ready for the bus passenger ride because it's similar. I only use this comparison because I would rather jump into one of those giant stainless steel grinders and have them hit the ON button than ride a bus again. I'm sorry, but I won't book one either. I just can't bring myself to put someone, anyone, in that situation. Next time you find a button or zipper in your burger, I was given 2 options.....take the bus or the grinder. Now you know which one I chose.
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