Jul 23, 2009

Finding the best satellite internet solution in your city

When considering my own experience as a businesswoman but also as a traveler who loves to know more about the destinations all around the world, the truth is that satellite internet comes to my mind as the ultimate way of getting essential information that really plays an important role in my life.

Keeping this in mind, if you still have a dial up Internet connection and if you would like to get more speed, reliability and better prices, then I would personally advise you to have a look at these satalite internet deals that will surely show you how incredibly affordable a great internet satellite can be.

So, why don’t you also consider the possibility of taking some time to discover more about the great deal that you may get on the website above?

The best views of NYC


NYC is surely one of the most visited cities in the whole world and one of the biggest icons of the USA. Still, the truth is that we often find it difficult to have great views of the city if we decide to live in the city. Anyway, it seems that it is about to change as you may discover by reading the msnbc.com article below:

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Jersey City and Hoboken offer great views of Manhattan from across the Hudson River. But New Yorkers and tourists don't generally consider the two New Jersey cities destinations worth leaving the Big Apple for — unless they're touring locations connected to "The Sopranos."

Now both of these cities on the waterfront are home to new luxury hotels, The Westin Jersey City Newport, which opened in January, and the W Hoboken Hotel, which opened in March.

The hotels, 2 miles apart, are hoping to lure business travelers and tourists away from New York with larger rooms, cheaper rates, views of the Manhattan skyline and access to the city via the convenient 24-hour, $1.75 PATH train.

But besides opening in the worst recession since the Depression, the hotels face big challenges: Overcoming the not-so-favorable reputations of their locales and attracting out-of-town travelers to what may be unfamiliar terrain.

To be fair, Hoboken — population 39,000 — and Jersey City — population 240,000 — have undergone dramatic changes. Twenty years ago, Hoboken was a "lower income city in need of economic redevelopment," said Bjorn Hanson, associate professor of hospitality and tourism at New York University. It has since been transformed into a popular place to live, with upscale condos, and bars, restaurants and shops along the main drag.

Jersey City had more of a reputation of an industrial city than Hoboken, said Hanson. Now it has a financial center and a development called Newport, with fancy office towers, condos, rental towers, a mall, parks and a marina. The city is not without front-page crime, however: A July shootout left two police officers wounded and two robbery suspects dead.

Construction on the hotels began several years ago, when hotels in Manhattan were so full they were turning tourists away and it wasn't unusual to find Jersey City hotels, such as the Hyatt, DoubleTree and Courtyard by Marriott, booked. At one time, the Courtyard commanded one of the highest rates in the Courtyard chain, according to Jamie LeFrak, a principal of the LeFrak Organization.

But rates at New York-area hotels are now 26 percent lower than last summer, according to Travelocity's senior editor Genevieve Shaw Brown. And while hotel rates in Jersey City can run 25 percent cheaper than New York, a resourceful traveler can find competitive rates in Manhattan, said Hanson.

For example, The Waldorf Astoria had a promotional rate this summer as low as $199 a night, the lowest rate in six years, according to Mark Ricci, spokesman for Hilton Northeast US and Canada. Around the same time, W Hoboken rates started at $229, Westin $129.

But the Jersey hotels will have to do more than offer cheaper rates, said Jan Freitag of Smith Travel Research. Business travelers are looking to be close to a meeting — not necessarily for the cheapest stay; leisure travelers are looking for value, which may not mean the lowest rate, but the best bang for the buck, he said.

"So, maybe offer free breakfast, free Wi-Fi, free water, free upgrade, free whatever and keep the rate intact and communicate those special offerings that the guest would have to pay for in other hotels," he said.

Getting the word out is tough. While The Westin and W Hoboken come up in a search of New York and vicinity hotels on Expedia and Travelocity, neither show up on Priceline, according to spokesman Brian Ek. The person would have to search those cities separately, he said.

Ek said North Jersey, with Jersey City, Hoboken and Newark, did appear on Priceline's survey of the 50 most-popular destinations for Independence Day weekend (at No. 34). But that was the first time it had appeared on a most popular destination list for a holiday since August 2008, he said. The ranking was no doubt helped by July 4 fireworks on the Hudson, making Jersey City and Hoboken ideal viewing spots.

Despite the challenges, The Westin and W Hoboken are holding their own.

Counter to current hotel occupancy trends, The Westin's occupancy since opening is about 70 percent, with demand coming from meetings, airline crews and leisure travelers, according to Robert McIntosh, director of marketing and sales. Occupancy at the W Hoboken is about 60 percent, mostly business travelers followed by leisure.

The hotels, both part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, are designed to appeal to niche travelers.

The Westin is for the more conservative traveler, with 429 guest rooms, including 14 one- or two-bedroom suites, a Presidential suite, and ample banquet and meeting space, including the largest ballroom in Jersey City. Conventions are booked through 2010, according to McIntosh.

Rooms booked by pharmaceutical, technology and food companies, many of which have New York and New Jersey offices, are making up for the loss in business from financial companies, he said.

The W, built by Ironstate Development, is for a hipper, cooler traveler, with a red 'W' on the 250-foot-high building, serving as a billboard to Manhattan. The hotel, the sixth W in the New York area and the first in New Jersey, has 225 guest rooms, including 23 suites and 40 condos.

Locals hang out at The Chandelier Room, an indoor and outdoor lounge and bar, dine at Zylo, a Tuscan steakhouse, or pamper themselves at Bliss spa.

Eva Ziegler, global brand leader for W Hotels Worldwide, emphasizes that the hotel is not only trying to attract New York destination travelers. The W also wants Hoboken and New Jersey companies and residents. (One special offer is a 15 percent discount on the rate for New Jersey residents.)

That is key for both properties.

With the decline in Manhattan occupancies and the loss of those turnaways, the hotels have to appeal to more local demand, said Hanson, especially local leisure guests and low-rate contract business, such as airline crews.

Demand isn't expected to rebound until the first quarter of 2010, said Freitag. But when it does, the hotels should be in position to do well as new properties, he said.

"You just have to figure out, 'What can we do to keep this hotel afloat through the next couple of quarters?'" he said. "Because this will get better. The recession will end."

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Best obesity medical center in Spain


Zync review:

Now that the summer is already showing us how beautiful the nature gets in the beaches, most people tend to realize that their physical condition is not the best and is requiring some attention in order to be able to impress everyone in the beaches to where we go.

Keeping this in mind, I would personally advise all my Spanish readers and people living in Spain to take some time to discover more about the Obesity Medical Center (Spanish readers would refer to them as “centros de tratamientos de la obesidad”), to which I will be linking below, so that you can start reversing the secondary effects of obesity (Spanish would refer to obesity as “obesidad”) and bring back the great physical condition and shape that you used to have before! Moreover, the website to which I have just linked above is so incredibly user-friendly and easy to navigate that I am sure that you will be able to find all the information that you need in just a few minutes! Furthermore, as a woman who works in a company where we tend to deal with web development and design of websites, I can assure you that the design of the website looks extremely professional and it is very functional when we keep in mind the target readers of the website.

So, would you like to start solving your obesity problems in Spain? If you do, then I am more than sure that you would really benefit with a visit to the website to which I have linked above and where you will find the best professionals on the area.

Obama is about to create a Pacific Northwest Trail


Would you consider yourself a traveler who really loves adventure and taking the most out of the nature? Would you like to have better ways of getting to the places that you have been dreaming with? If so, then you will be glad to know what Obama is already planning on doing, just as you may read on the msnbc.com article just below:

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NORTHPORT, Wash. - When the national scenic trails system was created four decades ago, the goal was to build a walking path across the United States.

That goal has come closer to reality with President Obama's signing of a bill creating the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail and two others. They are the first such trails designated in 26 years.

"The dream of a transcontinental pathway across America is 1,200 miles closer to reaching fruition," said Ron Strickland, a former Washington resident who first proposed the Pacific Northwest trial in 1970.

The trail will eventually run from Glacier National Park in Montana to the Pacific Ocean at Cape Alava in Washington. Portions of the trail have existed for centuries, and for the past three decades the nonprofit Pacific Northwest Trail Association has been gradually improving the route and erecting a few signs.

The federal designation means money will be provided to connect all portions of the trail, build bridges and other improvements, and to erect signs and access points along its length, said Jon Knechtel of the association.

"I anticipate that within 10 years, this will gain the same popularity as the Pacific Crest Trail," Knechtel said.

The Forest Service will manage the trail, but "there is no structure or organization as yet," said Tom Knappenberger, a spokesman for the agency in Portland, Ore.

The trail is located in some of the roughest, most mountainous and emptiest country in the nation, along the Canadian border. It passes through three national parks — Glacier, North Cascades and Olympic — and seven national forests.

It is the only national scenic trail that connects two others — the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail — meaning a person could hike from near the Mexican border, up to North Cascades National Park, east to Glacier National Park, and then down to the Mexican border again.

A contiguous cross-country trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans was the dream of President Johnson and Interior Secretary Mo Udall when they created the national trail system in 1968. But the eight existing trails developed independently.

Now that dream is only 900 miles short of reality, said Strickland, who lives in Bedford, Mass.

He would like to see the remaining miles designated in time for the 50th anniversary of the National Trails System in 2018.

After conceiving the idea for the PNW trail, Strickland worked tirelessly to raise funds, recruit volunteers, cut brush and lobby politicians. He also wrote the first guide for hiking the trail, after making his first thru-hike in 1983.

The PNW trail was created March 30 as part of a public lands bill that also created the New England National Scenic Trail and the Arizona National Scenic Trail. They were the first additions to the national scenic trails system in more than two decades, and bring the total number of such trails to 11. The Appalachian Trail is the best known.

While the trail is well-marked and well-used in portions of western Washington state, mostly in state parks, for most of its route it is primitive.

At Northport, seven miles south of the Canadian border, the trail can be accessed at the edge of the local landing strip, and followed up into the Selkirk Mountains. There are no markers, but maps are available at the trail association's web site.

Northport is a former mining town along the banks of the spectacular Columbia River. The 300 residents provide services for people traveling across two nearby border crossings, and also to hunters, fishers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

Boosters of the trail contend it will be a boon for isolated communities like Northport and Metaline Falls, Wash., Bonners Ferry, Idaho and Eureka, Mont. But even people in communities along the route are not exactly sure what to expect.

"I've heard of it," said Curt Balcom, owner of Rivers Edge 1 Stop of Northport. "It would be good for my business."

But Balcom acknowledged that local businesses know almost nothing about the trail, have no maps or other written material, and aren't even sure exactly how to find it.

Knechtel, of Burlington, a retired supervisor at timber giant Weyerhaeuser, got involved in efforts to create the trail in the 1970s.

In the past six years, the trail has seen an increasing number of hikers who travel the entire distance, perhaps 30 to 50 a year, he said. In a few popular areas, more than 1 million people per year walk on the trail, he said.

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