Poker Quartet

When choosing your vacation at Reunion Resort, Orlando, you must first select how you would like to book- either as a complete package through Reunion itself, where they take care of everything from checking you in to arranging everything you may need or wish for e.g. tickets to attractions etc. Alternatively you can book with a property’s individual owner so that you know precisely what the home looks like, its exact location within the development etc. Either way you are assured of the utmost quality to make your stay memorable.

Condominiums vary in size from 1 to 3 bedrooms and the villas can range from 2 to 7 bedrooms. Of course with the villas you have your very own private pool/spa and quite often a games and/or fitness room in addition to all the facilities Reunion has to offer generally.

Recreation

Golf is a major feature of the Reunion Resort, Orlando. It can very proudly boast THREE Championship Courses: – the Legacy Course (Arnold Palmer Signature Course), the Independence Course (Tom Watson Signature Course). Both of these are already open and the Tradition Course (Jack Nicklaus Signature Course) is currently under construction and plans to open early in 2006.

Additional recreation facilities include:

Equestrian Centre and Stables (due for completion late 2005). This will allow guests to indulge in their passion for horse riding or for beginners it is a perfect way to get around and receive an alternate view of Reunion.
Water and Swimming Pavilion (due for completion summer 2005). This is going to be a state-of-the-art; multi-level, multi-acre water park, which will include rubber tube, rides along a lazy river, waterfalls, 2 thrilling waterslides and children’s pools. Surrounding these features are lovely landscaped gardens where you can relax in the wonderful Floridian sunshine and enjoy a refreshing cool drink at the pool bar.

In addition to the Water Park, there are several “quiet pools” scattered throughout the Resort as well as the Seven Eagles Pool Pavilion which offers a beautiful pool, 2 jacuzzis and the chance to dine at the Pavilion Bar and Grille.

Kids facilities…

Adjacent to this is the Kids Activity Centre where children aged 4-12 are invited to join in all the many varied activities on offer. In addition to daily activities (a small fee may be applicable for certain activities) there are Kids Crew Camps on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Older children are catered for too. They are invited to come along for volleyball, movies and many other fun things with people their own age.

Nearby is the Fitness Centre. It offers an array of cardiovascular equipment and hopes to introduce group classes and personal trainers in the near future.

Other facilities which are planned for the future include a Spa and Wellness Centre (due 2007), more Resort pools, tennis courts (due late 2006), biking/hiking/walking trails and Reunion Square Entertainment Complex consisting of shops, restaurants, and lots more (due 2006).

Once Reunion Resort and Club is completed (2008), it will be in a class of its own offering you the ultimate vacation. You will be based in a luxury Resort with varied and up to the minute facilities and yet will remain a mere 6miles/10minute drive away from Walt Disney World and all it has to offer.

Peter Kenny has been travelling to Florida for the last 20 years. You can find more articles on renting and buying private vacation homes here www.windsorpalmsflorida.com and www.reunionresort.us.com

Should you have travel insurance? An interesting question. But if you question the need for travel insurance, perhaps you are the same person who questions the need for any kind of insurance. Most people have auto insurance, health insurance, homeowners’ insurance or renters’ insurance, and maybe even life insurance or disability insurance – so I ask you: Why not have travel insurance?

Insurance is for “What if’s”

Insurance is protection for that unwanted and unexpected challenge. Your auto insurance protects you from shelling out $2,000 for that unexpected fender bender that wasn’t even your fault. Travel insurance does likewise. Have you ever had luggage “misplaced” by an airline and been left with no clothes to wear on your trip? Have you ever had to cancel a trip that was fully paid due to some unforeseen incident that arose before you even had an opportunity to leave? Or have you had to cut short that cruise because of something that happened at home? Ever gotten sick on vacation?

These are all travel problems that can be covered by travel insurance. One company I reviewed will reimburse your trip cost for covered (always read the small print) cancellation, and 125% of the cost due to an interruption of the trip. They will also pay $500 for your accommodations if you missed your connecting flight and can’t get another until “tomorrow morning, at the earliest.” Ever slept in an airport on behalf of your Atlanta-based flight crew, who were very happy to serve you, but couldn’t manage to get the airplane to your connecting airport by the time they said they would? A $500 hotel room might not get you to your destination, but it sure could be a sweet wait. Can you say “honor bar?”

Here’s another swell deal: your travel insurance could pay you $1,000 for lost luggage, or $200 for delayed luggage. That’s some pricey underwear and deodorant, but I’m not arguing.

Travel insurance can also be purchased to cover emergency medical treatment or “medical evacuation and repatriation.” Or, if you prefer, you could just click your heels together three times and say, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place…”

Yeah, but how much is it going to cost me?

The cost of travel insurance is based on the number of people traveling and the value of the trip. Time away can also be a factor if you will be gone for more than a month. For example, a family of four taking a trip valued at about $3,000 could expect to pay in the neighborhood of $250 for all of the coverage mentioned above. Is it worth it? On the website of one travel company it stated, “If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel.”

Can I ask my uncle?

Sure. Uncle Sam says medical evacuation from a foreign country can cost $10,000 and up. And in his inimitable way, he warns that Social Security Medicare does not provide coverage for hospital or medical coverage outside of the US. If you have a private insurer, you might want to check on what out-of-country coverage you have if your trip will take you outside of the good ol’ USA.

OK, OK, you’ve convinced me. Any last bits of advice before I leave for Katmandu?

I am so glad you asked. Here’s a little extra for you – at no additional charge:

1. Take all your travel insurance documentation with you – DON’T put it in your luggage! 2. Put all of your policy numbers on a separate piece of paper in a separate location from the actual policies in case of loss or damage to your policies. 3. Leave a copy of your policy(s) at home with next of kin, or whomever knows your whereabouts. 4. To expedite service in case of an accident, fill in all of your vital statistics on the information page of your passport (name, address, phone number, etc.), or carry it on a card that you keep in your wallet or stuffed into the sleeve of that tag that says Hello My Name Is_____.

In a coconut shell…

Travel insurance can help you with: Reimbursement of your travel investment due to cancellation or early termination Reimbursement of unexpected travel expenses (delays, loss of luggage) Covering emergency medical assistance and medical referrals Obtaining medical assistance abroad

Bon Voyage!

© 2005 Travel Insurance Directory

If you’re going to pursue an e-commerce site, hosting is going to be an issue. Here’s a primer on web hosting for your site.

E-commerce web hosting is the technology of storing, servicing and maintaining files for one or more web sites selling products or services online. Web site owners who pay for a web host (generally on a monthly basis) upload their web pages to a shared or dedicated web server through an ISP (internet service provider). The web host should ensure a fast and consistent connection. Experienced web entrepreneurs desire flexibility, security and high performance from an e-commerce host. An e-commerce web server also stores information, images, videos and just about any other content that can be retrieved from a web site. Security is a priority for e-commerce web servers.

E-commerce web hosting can be divided into two major components, the site and the host (where the site is stored for access on the web). Web hosts are computers that offer storage space and Internet connectivity. Web hosts make your web site work with and connect to the Internet. E-commerce, or web commerce, allows people to buy goods and services online. On the Internet, one can buy almost anything, at any time.

E-commerce web hosting must support e-commerce software. Often a web host will provide the tools that handle online transactions and sales. In other cases, the web business owner is on their own to ascertain e-commerce software. Common tools that are provided with e-commerce web hosting are shopping carts, business account services, SSLs (secure socket layers), secure transactions, web promotion applications and advertisement packages.

While choosing a web hosting company for your E-commerce business, it is helpful to decide how much data storage is required and the data transfer rates you require for your site. A web host is the physical location of a web site, so you must be confident in the connection and security of the hosting company. Doing some research to make sure that data reaches the end-user quickly and efficiently can payoff in a big way. Backup systems should be in place so that data is routed even if there is a router failure. Web hosts should be able to accommodate a client’s web traffic (measured in volume of data transfer) in peak hours as well.

Security is a major issue for E-commerce transactions. Private information needs to be kept safe from unauthorized parties. SSL, from Netscape, helps a lot with secure transactions. SSL is an encryption technology that encodes a message that a receiver decrypts by using RSA security. For integrity and authentication of messages, digital signatures, or certificates, are required. Digital signatures ensure that sensitive information is not picked up by any other party, by posing as a legitimate e-business or in any other way. A digital certificate is a document, issued by a certificate authority, which recognizes a legitimate online business. To ensure security, many web companies store confidential information on offline disks or on a separate PC. E-commerce web hosts should also maintain multiple backups of vital information. SSL uses PKI (public key infrastructure) and digital certificates to ensue privacy and authentication. Bear in mind that security can be an expensive and complex business.

In short, when selecting an e-commerce web host it is often best to look for a pre-packaged solution that allows you to create a shopping cart, an online catalog and a secure credit card transaction and storage system. Selecting an e-commerce web host with a broad range of tools and a solid reputation is an important step for just about any e-business.

Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm – www.marketingtitan.com – a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems – www.businesscreatorpro.com – create web databases, e-commerce sites, business lead management systems and more.

Just because you have packed your handy power converter don’t get too confident that all your electrical problems are solved. Electronic appliances (CD players, stereos, VCRs) require a transformer instead of a voltage converter. Single Volt products with electronic circuitry need a specific sine wave to operate. An AC transformer will maintain the quality of the sine wave where as an AC power converter won’t, and therefore damage the electronic circuitry. Fortunately many dual voltage converters include a built in transformer.

Another thing that you will want to factor in is the difference in Hertz (50 and 60Hz). Even with a travel converter, AC motors brought from North America (60Hz) to Europe (50Hz) will run slower. In some cases, like a hair dryer or electric razor, the difference won’t be noticeable and as long as you used the correct AC voltage converter you should be ok. However, other devices, like tape and CD players or electric clocks, even with the use of your travel voltage converter, will not operate correctly. These devices, operating at 5/6 normal speed will be noticeably slower (i.e. Music will be played slower and clocks will lose time). When purchasing your voltage converters you I suggest purchasing a battery operated travel clock.

Some things, even with an AC power converter won’t work at all. For example, don’t bother bringing a television with you. Despite being able to overcome the differences in electricity with an international voltage converter you still will only receive rolling static as the broadcast signals in Europe and North America are different. Another thing you need to worry about is old wiring. Bad wiring will defeat a transformer or a converter every time. Many older European hotels have older electric wiring and will not be able to support your 1000 watt travel iron. Luckily most hotels have warning signs; however, if the lights start to flicker unplug your electrical device immediately.

And finally, be very careful with the European bathroom electric shaver socket. They are designed for low wattage electrical appliances (shavers and toothbrushes) and are not meant for use with a hairdryer or curling iron.

About the Author

Tara Pearce is the publisher and webmaster of http://www.a1-travel-accessories.com
Visit us for great information on all manner of travel tips and accessories resources.

It is easy. You don’t have to pull hair while trying to build a professional looking website. Thanks to something known as a WYSIWYG editor or website builder.

WYSIWYG (pronounced “wizzy wig”) stands for What You See Is What You Get. As the name suggests, this is a tool that allows you to see your site as it would look like in a browser while you are building it.

For people who are busy, don’t have the time and/or inkling to learn HTML, and don’t have several thousand dollars to pay a web designer, this is the best option.

But, WYSIWYG editors are not created equal. Some require that you have a masochistic streak. They can be that frustrating to work with.

My experiences with website builders/editors have been an encounter with the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Let’s take a look at some of the better ones, including their downsides and limitations.

Side note: This article assumes that you are willing to part with some money for a quality website builder that will most likely give the results you seek. If you’re looking for something good and for free please move on and good luck.

Website Complete: One of the easiest and cheapest. Great for someone starting out.

Comes with 400+ templates, plus a large variety of images. Spell checker, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and preview included plus is an interactive user guide that is easy to follow. Custom buttons and pages are easy to insert and edit.

Downside/Limitations: You can only publish your website as a package with in-built FTP client. Java not well supported. Works best with the publisher’s hosting.

Actual Drawing: Actual Drawing is a more full-featured low-cost website builder. The learning curve is a little longer due to these extra features, but once you get the hang of it you’re on the roll.

This WYSIWYG comes with in-built FTP, spell-checker and preview. Tables and forms are easy to insert and/or edit. Custom scripts and Java also easy to work with. Very good software, this one is.

Downside/Limitations: I found none, except the user guide which can be a little hard to understand.

Web Easy Pro: This one will give you some pretty neat results if building a small (two to three pages), simple website.

But, start plugging in custom scripts (Java especially) and it begins to… well, suck. Your page might not even be seen and you could find yourself spending too much time to publish just one page.

Web Easy Pro comes with a good variety of templates and images, as well as in-built FTP, forms and tables. Easy-to-understand user guide included, with examples.

Downside/Limitations: Not very flexible. Not easy to customize either. I particularly didn’t like the page-naming (example, yourdomain/yoursite/002.htm) though this can be avoided by creating your own templates.

123 WYSIWYG: I have left the best for the last. 123 WYSIWYG was created by a couple of internet marketers who know from experience what one looks for in a website builder.

The creators of 123 WYSIWYG had two main things in mind:

1) Ease of use
2) Great results.

This WYSIWYG is really easy to learn. Simply follow the 20-minute video guide while building your first site and you’ll have a nice-looking website in a pretty short time.

Another thing that makes it a winner is flexibility. On this, it might well beat some of the much more expensive templates out there.

Java and custom HTML codes can be plugged in easily (and work well) by cutting/copying and pasting, typing or drag-and-drop. Images easily inserted. You have choice of creating your own site from scratch, or selecting from the 100+ pre-made templates.

Preview included as well as an FTP that comes with the package.

If there is one WYSIWYG that I whole-heartedly recommend, this is it.

Downside/Limitations: I didn’t encounter any.

David Kamau, owner of http://www.mercantilecentral.com, has built several websites using WYSIWYG HTML editors. For resources and links on the software featured in this article as well as updates see reprint at: http://www.mercantilecentral.com/websitebuilders.htm.

The emotion of colors

Color by virtue of its tremendous expressive qualities is one of the most effective tools in advertisements and presentations. Web design is no exception in this regard. Psychologists have found out that color impression can account for 60% of the acceptance or rejection of that product or service.

Here’s a brief elucidation on varying dimensions of color.

There is a high degree of universality in the implicit meaning of color across cultures and geographies

Name something Green, people will refer to trees, name something blue, people will mean water. People generally associate colors with where each color is predominantly found, regardless of cultures and regions.

Here’s a description of the symbolic significance and potential uses of common colors.

Red

Symbolizes : Passion, fire, love, lust, war, violence, blood, and aggression

Potential Uses : Where the aim is to motivate an individual to initiate action, convey a warning, or stop the user.

When using different shades of red on a website, exercise caution Bright red can be quite irritating if used over large areas.

Pink

Symbolizes: Calming, cute, candy, soft romantic, and feminine

Potential Uses: When you want strike on a user’s caring or romantic side.

Orange Symbolizes: Vibrancy and warmth. It is like a less passionate red.

Potential Uses: Recommended for food sites, nature sites.

Orange is good in moderation. Over-use should be avoided.

Yellow

Symbolizes: Sunshine, caution, happy, cheerful, warmth, hope, light, energy, weakness or illness, or symbolize cowardice.

Potential Uses: To make a webpage brighter and more spring-like.

Like red, it catches attention swiftly, but can be an irritant if over-used.

Green

Symbolizes: Spring, renewal, fertility, wealth, inexperience, health

Potential Uses: Excellent color option for websites about money and growing.

Blue

Symbolizes: Sky, sea, intelligence, reassurance, also depression and sadness.

Potential Uses: To give a website formal look and feel.

Purple

Symbolizes: Creativity, spiritual and mysterious.

Potential Uses: Best for spiritual sites, expressing romantic tenor

Black

Symbolizes: Power, elegance, and sophistication, death (Western context), evil, anger and sadness.

Potential Uses: Be on the safe side, never use over a wide area.

White

Symbolizes: Cleanliness, purity, and spirituality. It symbolizes life and marriage in Western cultures, but it is symptomatic of death in Eastern cultures.

Potential Uses: Great as an accent or background color because it makes other colors seem more vivid and bold

How to make color scheme work for you

Keep it simple . A color palette using three or fewer overall colors contributes to the clarity of a web page.

Use white space . White space does a balancing act for colors, lets the design breathe and makes a large site feel less complex.

Be consistent . Consistency in colors (i.e. links, menu items, instructions etc.) allows your audience to instinctively know where to look for information.

Know your audience. Before you set the ball rolling in design, you should be convinced enough what colors the audience would find compelling and right for your product.

Choose the right temperature of colors . The perception of your site is affected by your choice of warm or cool colors. Cool colors are water and sky colors like blue and purple; warm colors are red, orange and yellow. The temperature of a color affects how your message is likely to be perceived. SALE written in red will be perceived as more vibrant and urgent than soft purple text.

Let color contrast distinguish significant parts of your site.

Contrast between text and its background is essential for legibility. Dark text on a white background, for instance, is more legible than orange text on a red background. Different elements on your web page (i.e. the menu and body of the page) must contrast or they will begin blending together.

Color lesson: A well-considered color scheme can transform an okay website into a great web site

Color is one of the most important yet not-so-thoroughly understood elements of web design today. Whether web designers appreciate it or ignore it, visitors to a site respond to colors and other visual elements on the site on a psychological level, and will continue to do so.

Color affects the emotion of the audience, and emotion, in the process, drives decision-making. An intrigued visitor is more likely to be engaged in your site — whether it is meant to inform, entertain, or to sell products or services or ideas.

But if the colors are unsuitable, or outrageous, or not in line with the underlying symbolism, the visitors can outrightly reject the site–and the products as well–no matter how good they are. So, picking colors on your website carefully can transform your site, and of course, your business too

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