Even though I have the schooling that I need, the agency has an intensive four week training program for all new agents to learn how they do things.  It involves many things including presentations, video training and role playing.  If we don’t pass the training we don’t get the job.

Yesterday, we practiced booking a vacation for a family by setting them up for Cancun Isla Mujeres tours and booking a date for them to swim with dolphins.  We were paired up with travel agents from our location and they sure didn’t make it easy.

With a few more weeks to go, I feel confident that I will pass the training and become a full fledged travel agent - I think I have finally found my calling.

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Many people don’t worry about the cost of business trips, because technically they are business expenses, and can be deducted from your gross income. This lowers your tax liability, and therefore saves you money on your taxes.

However, you still need to be able to pay for the business trip up front, which means that unless your business is very successful, you probably will want to try to save some money on the cost of your trip.

One way of doing this is by looking for the best hotel deals available. You can usually find some pretty good deals online. Just be sure that you also call the hotel to ask what your total bill will be — there are a multitude of fees tacked on to the nightly rate, and you’ll need to take those into account when planning your budget or comparing prices.

You can also find some good deals on airfare online. These tickets often carry a risk, though, because your money cannot be refunded if your plans change. But if you are certain of your plans, go for it, and save some money on your business trip.

Finally, there is a lot of opportunity to save money on the meals you eat during your trip. One big thing is to eat cheaply unless it’s a meeting with a client or a networking event, where you need to impress someone. If it’s just you, though, there’s no reason why you can’t eat for under $10 per meal. If you are not into fast food, try buying food at the grocery store to keep in the hotel room. Many hotels now have at the very least a mini fridge and a microwave. Use them!

By a little bit of careful planning, you can really reduce the cost of your business trip. Of course, this means less to write off as a business expense later on, but if it means you can better afford the trip, why not?

Technorati Tags: Atlanta hotels, business expenses, business trips, hotel deals

Last year my focus was diners. I really love diner food (even though it’s bad for you!) and I also really love the experience at diners. I love the people that you meet there, the music on the jukeboxes and even the different menus that you see when you visit a lot of diners.

This year’s focus is going to be pawn shops. I’ve only visited a few pawn shops on my travels but the experiences were always interesting. It seems that people tend to sell different types of items in different geographic locations. You also learn a lot about the culture in the surrounding area by visiting pawn shops; the Las Vegas pawn shop culture is particularly interesting!

If I just wanted to visit pawn shops to get a good deal then I’d probably look at online pawn shops. However I really want to get the experience of seeing what these places are like in different parts of the nation. That’s this year’s travel plan. I’ll have to let you know how it turns out!

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Some of the incentives to stay at a resort such as this was the fact that everything was included.  We did not have to go hunting for other places to go and visit while on vacation.  There was no stress; everything was available to us at the resort.  If we wanted something we could get it, without worrying about anything at all.  The employees of the resort were an excellent representation of the beautiful people of Fiji and we learned a lot about what the people of Fiji were all about.  IT was a trip of a lifetime.

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When my husband went to Florida for a business conference a couple of months ago, he couldn’t really deal with taking a taxi around.  By the second day, he was already checking into Orlando rental cars.  He had hard time renting one because it was so last minute.  I’m going to make sure that I reserve a car in Cancun before we even get there.  Maybe we can rent something fun, like a convertible!

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In the room, you want to be able to both work and relax. Suites are ideal because there is one room for the work to be done in and another for the relaxation. Make sure that the room has standard features that you’ll need like an ironing board and a desk.

Next look at the amenities of the hotel. Choose a hotel with a gym or spa. Hotels with hot tubs (even cheap hot tubs in the room) are far better than hotels without them because they give you the sense that you’re really on vacation even though you’re working.

Finally, make sure that there are business services offered at your hotel. Is there a conference room there if you need it? Do you have access to a fax machine? Is video conferencing possible on the phones that are there for your use? Figure out what you’ll need for business at the hotel and make sure that you’ve got it.

Many people choose a hotel for their business trip that is luxurious but it ends up being the wrong kind of hotel for business travel. Make sure that you look at these three areas before choosing a hotel for any trips that you have to take for work.

hot tubs, cheap hot tubs

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Even if you do not go in via rail train tour, what are you planning to do? I am hoping to really get into some of the more challenging slopes in the area. Some of the other ones are very packed with tourists and I have taken my time to plan out a few of the mountains I want to go down. Canada tour packages are also a good thing because they can help you to get where you want to go and still help you to save money in the process. There are many great resources available to help you save money, by the way. If anyone is planning a trip, let me know what your plans are.

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The trip that I finally selected to go to the Baja area of Mexico was just perfect. I was able to spend time at the beaches as well as the historical sights of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, which is a bit more traditional than the tourist part of Cabo San Lucas. My family really enjoyed the marine life, especially the whale watching tour we had already organized well in advance. It was so popular that the kids wanted to go back again, which were delighted to do. I guess this vacation really changed my mind about Mexico vacations and package deals, next time we will certainly book the same way as it was perfect.

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