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Make Plans to Visit Old Friends

Call up someone about whom you’ve been thinking and ask if you can stay with him or her for a few days. Plan to stay no more than three. Actually, two nights will suffice, lest you run the risk of realizing Benjamin Franklin’s proverb about guests and fish—after three days they both stink.

When you arrive, let things unfold naturally. Try not to rush to re-create old times. Let the intimacy that is or once was rekindle itself. Be where your hosts are. Go with their rhythm. If they want to talk about old times, join them. If they want to know about you, tell them what’s been going on. If they’d rather talk about themselves, listen carefully.

Offer to take them out to dinner the next night. Show your appreciation of their friendship and the sharing of their home. Buy them something small as a token of your gratitude for their hospitality.
If the time spent with these friends went well, invite them to visit you at some point in the future. If the visit was less than what you expected, thank them for the weekend and think about other people you might want to visit sometime.

Tags: friendship, visit old friends

Improve Your Home as Your Expression

House as the place where we live, is not just a place we sleep at, but it must be able to make its resident love to stay there and feel at home. That’s why we have to array our house, to be what we want to make it, based on our own style and taste.

If you think your house is boring, that is a sign your house is due for another new fresh atmosphere. To make up your house is not always having heavy renovation on the building. Sometimes you just need rearrange the position of your fixture, and it enough to eliminate our boredom. If we have enough skill and free time, we may do home improvement by our self. Prepare some home improvement tools like hand tools, house paints, power drills, power saws, power grinders, etc.
Use your imagination and creativity, your house is your expression.

Tags: home improvement, home improvement tools, house renovation

Finding a Good Travel Agent

The best way to find a good travel agent is to get a recommendation from a friend, says Dick Knodt, executive vice president of the Association of Travel Agents. Then ask your friend to call the agent to introduce you. That way, the agent has the possibility not only of getting a new client, but also of losing an existing one if you’re not happy with the service. According to Knodt, this is the best way to assure you’ll receive the best possible treatment.

Here are some other ways to assess a prospective travel agent:

• The first time you meet, ask what professional organizations the agent belongs to. Agents who are members of professional associations have to live up to a certain code of behavior or risk being thrown out.
• Find out how long the agent has been in business. Agents who have been around for a while and have an established reputation tend to be more reliable. And you can always check with your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau to find out if there are any complaints against the agent.
• Check references. Never make arrangements with an agent who calls you out of the blue. You don’t need to meet face to face, but you should certainly speak to a few of the agent’s other customers before charging a big trip to your credit card number.
• Make sure the agent asks you about trips you have liked and disliked in the past, what kind of airline seats you prefer, and what frequent flier clubs you belong to. The agent should keep this personal information in the computer so you don’t have to answer the same questions every time you book a new trip.
• Book a trip. Then assess how important the agent’s help was in making the experience a pleasant (or unpleasant) one.

Tags: choosing travel agent, find travel agent, plan a trip

When to Use Your Travel Agent

The best times to use your travel agent and the best times not to use your travel agent (described by Robert Powell Sangster, the author of Traveler’s Tool Kit: How to Travel Absolutely Anywhere)

Use your travel agent when:

• You are short of time. You lack knowledge about technical issues like visas and permits.
• You want to review tour brochures and get recommendations.
• You are planning a complicated trip to several destinations.
• You don’t speak the language of a country you’re planning to visit.
• You’re going somewhere you’ve never been before.

Don’t use your travel agent when:

• The agent is unfamiliar with your destination. The agent refuses to use consolidator tickets.
• You’re sure you can find far less expensive tickets on your own.
• The agent doesn’t understand your areas of interest or dismisses them.
• You need only one element of a trip, such as a car rental.
• You’re taking advantage of a special discount.

Tags: Don't use your travel agent when, Use your travel agent when