INFORMATION SHARING CENTER
For The Body Soul And Mind
Jamaica - Schedule of Annual Events
Calendar of Events
Spice Up Your Vacation with Island Happenings on Jamaica
Event Search: July, August, September, October, December
While you are on vacation in the islands, you'll want to maximize your stay by enjoying some of the terrific events happening throughout the year.
July
- International Reggae Day
International Reggae Day will be celebrated in July features an on-air and online media festival showing concerts of Jamaica's finest reggae artistes.
- Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest
The world's greatest music festival 'Reggae Sumfest.
August
- Mello Go Round
The best of the Festival of Performing Arts will once again showcase the best of the best of the nation's talent and culture.
- Port Royal Music Festival
- Independence Day
September
- Wine and Food Festival
This signature fundraising event boasts over 30 booths. Funds raised from this event are used for The Heart Foundation's continued fight against heart disease in Jamaica. More than just wine and food, companies are also invited to participate by showcasing their heart healthy products to the patrons.
October
- BEST OF JAMAICA
"Visions For Cultural Expressions - Transformed Into Milestones Of Achievements"This annual signature event is a five day festival highlighting Jamaica's finest cuisine offerings at one of their award winning resorts. It's also a celebration and recognition of the diverse culture, food, heritage and good times unique to the legendary Isle of Jamaica.
December
- Christmas Holiday
Mexico-Pyramid Ruins
Jamaica -Negril beach
Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral
Hawaii II
How to Recognize Travel Scams
Have you ever been scammed on travel offers or having problems detecting travel scams? If so,you are not alone! A day or two ago, I did a hub on how to get great travel discounts. Ironically, a day after, a friend of mine whom I haven't seen or heard from for quite some time, happened to call me from New York. Of course, I was very happy to hear from him, but at the same time sad to know that he was going through a rather difficult time.
He told me that his sister was throwing him out of her house because he had lost his job and also fell for a travel scam that he is currently paying for. As a result, he had not been able to shoulder his share of responsibilities as he should. To everyone out there who have been scammed before, those who have not been scammed yet, or is currently having problems detecting travel scams, this is what you should bear in mind, before you make any decision to accept any travel offers.
First, if you suddenly! get a telephone call, email or letter stating that you have won a free vacation, and you know for sure you did not enter your name for any type of sweepstakes etc; shouldn't you be somewhat skeptical about this? Okay! let's say hypothetically you were told that names were drawn randomly from a mailing list or from a store's customer list, and you have happened to be selected for a free or extremely low-priced vacation trip to a popular destination(usually Hawaii or Florida). Instinctively, these are a few things that you should look or listen for :
* A price that is obviously too good to be true
* You are asked to give your credit card number via telephone
* You are pressured to make a decision immediately
* The carrier simply identified as a "major carrier"
* The person who happened to call you or contacted you was unable to state
specifically which airline you will be boarding, instead, offered a collection of
airlines
* No mentioned refund policy
* No physical address, email address or a listed telephone number for the company
* You are told that you are unable to depart for at least 2 months prior to paying for the trip
When in doubt always go with you gut feeling! If you feel the price is too good to be true, it probably is, or there is simply a catch to it. Make sure you listen keenly, pay close attention, and ask questions in regards to all the other points listed above. Finally, scam artists know that, a person normally has a period of 60 days to dispute charges made to his/her credit card, so if you are told that you will not be able to leave for at least 2 months, this should cause you to immediately become very suspicious!
How To Get Great Travel Deals
There are numerous ways to get great travel deals, both domestic and international. Today, I would like to share a few of these resourceful means with you. First, if you are a frequent flyer, I take it for granted that your are fully aware of the frequent -traveler miles privilege. For individuals who might not be aware of this program, this is how it works; when you signup, the rules allow you to use points to buy tickets for yourself and travelling family members only. It does not allow to transfer points otherwise.
Other means of obtainining travel discount include signing up for free travel deals newsletter. With these newsletters, you will be able to capitalize on subscribers benefits such as insider top travel deals and last minutes email alert deals. You may also signup to get weekly low fares exclusive deals send straight to your email. lowfares.com exclusive hot deals, is one of such links that you may visit to sign up.
Some motor vehicle insurance companies, telephone companies, and even credit card companies do provide you with some form of travel discount opportunities on which you can capitalize. As far as credit card is concerned, each time you use your credit card, you are awarded points, based on the rules of the credit card companies.
Whenever you accumulate sufficient points, you can redeem them for cash, gifts or use them towards the purchase of airline tickets. Geico insurance company for example, frequently allows customers weekly travel and hotel discounts.
If you travel to the caribbean on a regular basis, you might consider becoming a member of the Air Jamaica 7th Heaven Rewards Frequent Flyer Reward Programme. Also, I know for sure that only a few people knew that you can fly first-class to Hawaii at a 60% discount or more off the advertised fare. The secret to this is simple; Instead of calling the airline or booking the flight directly via the internet, you should call the airline's "Vacation" department instead.
The discount often varies from one airline to another, however, this approach allows you to secure a discount most of the time, for other vacation spots as well. Finally, information on travel deals can also be found on social networking sites such as Diggs, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Furl, Propeller, Mixx, myspace and Facebook.
Travel Electronic Dictionaries - ETACO
When planning to go abroad, consider the models included in this section. They provide you with quick access to the words and phrases you will need when visiting a foreign country. These Travel Dictionary handhelds do not educate you on any particular subject. Instead, they conveniently bring you thousands of commonly used expressions so you can explain yourself to the natives. Many additional features are built-in for travelers: currency converters, calculators, travel guides, world and local times, and so on.
Major Airlines Telephone
Air Canada ----------------- 888-247-2262
Air France------------------- 800-237-2747
Air Jamaica ---------------- 800-523-5585
AirTran Airways------------ 800-825-8538
America West Airlines--- 800-235-9292
American Airlines---------- 800-433-7300
American Eagle------------ 800-433-7300
British Airways------------- 800-247-9297
Continental Airlines------- 800-525-0280
Delta Air Lines-------------- 800-221-1212
Frontier Airlines------------ 800-432-1FLY
Luthanasa Airlines-------- 800-645-3880
Midwest Express---------- 800-452-2022
Northwest Airlines--------- 800-225-2525
Southwest Airlines-------- 800-435-9792
United Airlines-------------- 800-241-6522
United Express------------ 800-241-6522
US Airways----------------- 800-428-4322
USA 300--------------------- 877-872-3000
Countries Some Of The Above Airlines Fly To
1.Air Canada flies to:
- Eastern Asia, Europe, Australia
2.Air France flies to:
- All Continents:
Africa- Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa
Americas- Caribbean, North America, South America, Southeast, Asia, Southwest Asia
Asia - East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia
Europe - Germany, Italy, Greece, France, Hungary, and other...
Oceania- French Polynesia
P.S. Terminated Destination in each continent(countries no longer flies to) @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_destinations
Making Vacations Less Stressful
Posted: 2009-12-02 14:01:09 UTC-08:00
The Ectaco-Electronic dictionaries and translators beyond all reasonable doubts were definitely designed to make travelers' business trips and vacations less stressful. Take for example the Multilingual iTRAVL Alpine NTL-9C,a multi-language communicator and electronic dictionary.
This piece of hand held device makes traveling to a foreign country truly enjoyable. This multilingual iTRAVL NTL-9C is equipped with everything you need to begin speaking another language fluently. The following are some of its features:
Language Teacher System:-
With this feature, you are taken from a beginner to an advanced speaker within no time and the ease at which you excel makes it feels like learning another language is nothing but fun. In fact, it's like having your own personal tutor!
Full Text Translation:-
Multilingual iTRAVL NTL-9c- provides accurate 2-way full-text machine translation,allowing you to translate just about anything and get a readable intelligible translation at a very fast and accurate speed. You can translate between various languages such as between English and Chinese, Portuguese, Russian,Polish,French and so on.
Instant Help:-
iTRAVL provides real help when you are on vacation or trying to move around in a foreign country. With features such as detailed maps with destination advices, instructions and addresses, you have more than enough help to find yourself around in no time.
Discover more about the iTRAVL NTL-9C. Click here http://www.ectaco-store.com/com/?refid=36213
Global Travel Information
Travel Insurance -- Is Travel Insurance A Worthwhile Investment?
chances are that you are a frequent traveler, or you might travel only now and then, but have never purchased a Travel Insurance. You probably have never given this much thoughts, or you might be having second thoughts as to whether or not Travel Protection is a worthwhile investment, especially in times like these when money is so hard to come by.
Because life is so unpredictable, even the most carefully planned trips can be disrupted by unforeseen events. Lost of luggage, delayed flights, missed flights, a lost passport or even a medical emergency can turn your vacation into total disarray.
We have all heard of the recent tragedy which occurred on January 13, 2012, where the Italian Cruise Ship -- Costa concordia, unfortunately ran aground off the coast of Tuscany with over 4,000 passengers on board including crew workers and passengers. My best bet, is that nobody saw this coming. Everyone was having a wonderful time, when this unfortunate accident suddenly occurred!
Many victims of this tragedy may be seeking some form of compensation for the death of their loved ones, lost of personal items and even for injury sustained, but the sad side to this is that the liability of most cruise lines are limited. There is also the possibility that their homeowner's and health insurance policies won't even cover a situation like this. However, travel insurance is designed to provide protection against risks associated with travel, prior to your trip, during the trip, and even after you return home.
Why Buy Travel Insurance
Problems can occur without warning, forcing you to cancel, delay or prematurely terminate your trip. Illness, medical emergencies, severe weather condition, missed connections or flight, and lost luggage are among the issues that can hamper your plans. You may experience a job loss, a sudden death in the family or problems related to a natural disaster at home. Perhaps your plane gets snowed in at the airport or has a mechanical problem. Unfortunately, if you have to cancel, or postpone your vacation for any of the above reasons, you will probably lose some, if not all of the money you have prepaid, if you are not covered by Travel Insurance.
If you are forced to return home early, no doubt, you are likely to be charged extra for this change in itinerary. You may have to pay a premium for last-minute airline tickets. You should also bear in mind that you won't be reimbursed for the unused portion of your trip. It's a fact, that quite often, the cost of interrupting your trip can exceed the actual amount you have paid for the trip.
While you are away from home, on your trip, you should also be concerned about medical insurance because your normal insurance coverage may be limited or even nonexistent away from home, so you are advised to check on the specifics of your coverage before you travel. Some providers of Travel Insurance allegedly provide coverage for all the above(trip interruption or cancellation, supplier financial default protection (die, bankruptcy of the ship provider emergency medical transportation), and more.
In addition, some Travel Insurance providers said that they will even offer 24hr emergency assistance, hot-line that can help you with medical and legal referrals, embassy and consular services, interpretation and translation, the replacement of eyeglasses, and even emergency and cash transfers.
Conclusion
The bottom line is however, you have to do your own research. It's your duty to contact different providers of Travel Insurance to compare cost and also to make sure you have all your questions and concerns answered, before you decide as to whether or not Travel Insurance is a worthwhile investment.
