PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy (AP) — Divers have been searching the submerged part of a luxury cruise liner that went aground off the Italian coast in case any of 70 people unaccounted for might be trapped inside, a coast guard official said Saturday, as passengers described a delayed and terrifying evacuation.

Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the tiny island of Giglio near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, tearing a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in its hull and sending in a rush of water. The ANSA new agency identified them as two French passengers and a Peruvian crew member but did not cite a source.

Passengers described a scene reminiscent of “Titanic”, saying they escaped the ship by crawling along upended hallways, desperately trying to reach safety as the lights went out and plates and glasses crashed.

Authorities say there are 70 people of the 4,234 on board who are still unaccounted for amid the confusion. Capt. Cosimo Nicastro cautioned there is no firm indication anyone is inside the ship, but he said since sea searches yielded neither bodies nor survivors, there is a possibility those unaccounted for are in “the belly of the ship” some 18 hours after the it apparently hit a reef near Giglio island — then lurched over on its side.

Passsengers complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.

Authorities have been checking names against the passenger list, but have had a hard time accounting for everyone. Helicopters whisked some to safety, some survivors were rescued by private boats in the area, and witnesses said some people jumped from the ship into the dark, cold sea.

By morning Saturday, the ship was lying virtually flat off Gigio’s coast, its starboard side submerged in the water and the huge gash showing clearly on its upturned hull.

Authorities still hadn’t counted all the survivors by the time they reached mainland 12 hours later.

The evacuation drill was only scheduled for Saturday afternoon, even though some passengers had already been on board for several days.

“It was so unorganized, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5 p.m.,” said Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, who had set out on the cruise of the Mediterranean hours earlier. “We had joked ‘What if something had happened today?’”

“Have you seen ‘Titanic?’ That’s exactly what it was,” said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was traveling with her sister and parents on the first of two cruises around the Mediterranean. They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.

“We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing,” her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. “We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls.”

She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall. “He said ‘take my baby,’” Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. “I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn’t want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn’t hold her.

“I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby,” she said.

“I wonder where they are,” daughter Valerie whispered.

The family said they were some of the last off the ship, forced to shimmy along a rope down the exposed side of the ship to a waiting rescue vessel below.

Survivor Christine Hammer, from Bonn, Germany, shivered near the harbor of Porto Santo Stefano, on the mainland, after stepping off a ferry from Giglio. She was wearing elegant dinner clothes — a gray cashmere sweater, a silk scarf — along with a large pair of hiking boots, which a kind islander gave her after she lost her shoes in the scramble to escape. Left behind in her cabin were her passport, credit cards and phone.

Hammer, 65, told The Associated Press she was eating her first course, an appetizer of cuttlefish, sauteed mushrooms and salad, on her first night aboard her first-ever cruise, which was a gift to her and her husband, Gert, from her local church where she volunteers.

Suddenly, “we heard a crash. Glasses and plates fell down and we went out of the dining room and we were told it wasn’t anything dangerous,” she said.

Several passengers concurred, saying crew members for a good 45 minutes told passengers there was a simple “technical problem” that had caused the lights to go off. Seasoned cruisers, however, knew better and went to get their life jackets from their cabins and report to their “muster stations,” the emergency stations each passenger is assigned to, they said.

Once there, though, crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even thought the ship was listing badly, they said.

“We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side,” said Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa. “We were standing in the corridors and they weren’t allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble.”

Passengers Alan and Laurie Willits from Wingham, Ontario, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, said they were watching the magic show in the ship’s main theater when they felt an inital lurch, as if from a severe steering maneuver, followed a few seconds later by a “shudder” that tipped trash cans over. The subsequent listing of the ship made the theater curtains seem like they were standing on their side.

“And then the magician disappeared,” Laurie Willits said, saying the magician left the stage and panicked audience members fled for their cabins as well.

Once at their life boat station, crew members directed passengers to go upstairs from the fourth floor deck; Alan Willits said he refused.

“I said ‘no this isn’t right.’ And I came out and I argued ‘When you get this boat stabilized, I’ll go up to the fifth floor then,” he said. Eventually, his lifeboat was lowered down.

But things didn’t improve for passengers once aboard the lifeboats or on land.

“No one counted us, neither in the life boats nor on land,” said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer from Marseille. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded in Marseille, France on Jan. 8.

A top Costa executive, Gianni Onorato, said Saturday the Concordia’s captain had the liner on its regular, weekly route when it struck a reef.

“The ship was doing what it does 52 times a year, going along the route between Civitavecchia and Savona,” a shaken-looking Onorato, who is Costa’s director general, told reporters on Giglio, a popular vacation isle about 18 miles (25 kilometers) off Italy’s central west coast. The captain is an 11-year Costa veteran, he said.

He said Costa was cooperating with Italian investigators to find out what went wrong.

Costa Cruises said about 1,000 Italian passengers were onboard, as well as more than 500 Germans, about 160 French and about 1,000 crew members.

Some 30 people were reported injured, most of them suffering only bruises, but at least two people were reported in grave condition. Several passengers came off the ferries on stretchers, but it appeared more out of exhaustion and shock than serious injury.

Some passengers, apparently in panic, had jumped off the boat into the sea, witnesses said.

The evacuees were taking refuge in schools, hotels, and a church on the tiny island of Giglio. Those evacuated the port of Porto Santo Stefano on the nearby mainland.

Passengers sat dazed in a middle school opened for them, wrapped in wool or aluminum blankets, with some wearing their life preservers and their shoeless feet covered with aluminum foil. Civil protection crews served them warm tea and bread, but confusion reigned supreme as passengers tried desperately to find the right bus to begin their journey home.

Tanja Berto, from Ebenfurth, Austria, was shuttled from one line to another with her mother and 2-year-old son Bruno, trying to figure out how to get back to Savona, where they began their cruise a week ago.

“It’s his birthday today,” she said of her son, rolling her eyes as she held Bruno and tended to her mother, who had grown faint and was lying on the ground. “Happy birthday, Bruno.”

Survivors far outnumbered Giglio’s 1,500 residents, and island Mayor Sergio Ortelli issued an appeal for islanders — “anyone with a roof” — to open their homes to shelter the evacuees.

Paolillo said the exact circumstances of the accident were still unclear, but that the first alarm went off about 10:30 p.m., about three hours after the Concordia had begun its voyage from the port of Civitavecchia, en route to its first port of call, Savona, in northwestern Italy.

The coast guard official, speaking from the port captain’s office in the Tuscan port of Livorno, said the vessel “hit an obstacle” — it wasn’t clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio — “ripping a gash 50 meters (160 feet) across” in the side of the ship, and started taking on water.

The cruise liner’s captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier. But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said.

Five helicopters, from the coast guard, navy and air force, were taking turns airlifting survivors still aboard and ferrying them to safely. A coast guard member was airlifted aboard the vessel to help people get aboard a small basket so they could be hoisted up to the helicopter, said Capt. Cosimo Nicastro, another Coast Guard official.

Costa Cruises said the Costa Concordia was sailing on a cruise across the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia with scheduled calls to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

The Concordia had a previous accident in Italian waters, ANSA reported. In 2008, when strong winds buffeted Palermo, the cruise ship banged against the Sicilian port’s dock, and suffered damage but no one was injured, ANSA said.

Source: AP

LEAPIN’ LIZARDS, LADIES! IT’S POP-THE-QUESTION YEAR

LONDON, England (01/2012)  If your significant other has been dragging his feet, making excuses or changing the subject, take charge and pop the question on February 29^th, a date that comes only once every four years. (According to the time-honored tradition, both here and in Great Britain, this is the day when it’s legit for the woman to propose.)

Chris McIntyre of Expert Africa, one of the leading destination management companies in Southern Africa, offers these suggestions for the most romantic, original, personal and private places to go down on bended knee:

FIVE SUPER ROMANTIC PLACES TO PROPOSE

1. Since no little blue box has been proffered, get your own quality sparkler in Botswana. Then head with your honey to Okavango Delta and stay at Jao Camp, which McIntyre describes as “one of the lushest, greenest, most tropical and watery areas of the Delta.”  Each of its nine rooms has its own outdoor ‘sala’ (an open-air bed under a roof ), a great spot to spend a lazy afternoon and weasel an “I do” out of him.

2. Even in the middle of the wild, you’re seldom alone at safari camps.  However, on “bush night” you two sweethearts can be the only guests at Beho Beho, a tiny, super-luxurious fly-camp set up in the heart of Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve. After a private safari with your top-notch guide, a hot shower, sundowners and a first-class dinner, the good folks at Beho Beho will arrange for you to be totally alone together for betrothing.

3. Expert Africa can arrange for lovebirds to enjoy a private dinner on a dune of the Namib Desert.  One couple recently did so, and the proposal was made — once the geckos stopped barking. Stay at the charming and intimate Wolwedans Dune Camp, located on the edge of a 750-foot-high dune. Sleep out under the stars after your heavenly agreement to tie the knot.

4. Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the natural world, is famous as a classically romantic spot. Nearby, is one of the dreamiest ever places to stay, Tongabezi Lodge, where you can savor a sumptuous candlelit dinner on a private sampan floating in the beautiful Zambezi River. Your waiter will ferry the courses to you via canoe. On the shimmery water, under a moonlit sky, after a satisfying spread, it’ll be a cinch to get your hold-out to take the plunge (not into the river).

5. A low-key place is the Pole Pole on Tanzania’s Mafia Island, where on “Sandbank Days,” you can sail in a traditional dhow to one of the sandbanks uncovered by the tide. A turquoise-blue Indian Ocean is wrapped 360° around you. After the boatman barbeques freshly-caught fish for lunch, snorkel to the coral reef or just wade into the shallows, kneel down and ask for his hand in marriage!

For more information:  info@expertafrica.com

We love Lonely Planet, and thank them for creating this list of newest countries on the map over the last 20 years. Our world is ever changing. We travelers are thirsty for history in the making, and relishing in emerging cultures to learn from. This list will do the trick! So, as Lonely Planet says, “Turbo boost your passport by venturing to these recently minted destinations, as highlighted in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2011. It’s also a good chance to increase your collection of miniature national flags.”

Let’s get started…

Czech Republic

Following Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Czech Republic and Slovakia finally sealed their Velvet Divorce in 1993. Less than 20 years on, Prague neighborhoods like elegant Vinohrady and energetic Žižkov are buzzing, and a country full of emerging microbreweries proves there’s more to Czech beer than Pilsner Urquell or Budvar.

Add virtue to these delicious liquid vices by cycling and hiking through the idiosyncratic landscapes of Bohemian Switzerland or the ?eský ráj region. Away from bustling Prague, discover quieter provincial gems like Olomouc, Tel?  and Loket, all still retaining the essence of Bohemian and Moravian culture.

Explore the Czech Republic’s rapidly expanding beer scene at Prague’s Czech Beer Festival or the Olomouc Beer Fest.

East Timor

The 21st-century’s newest nation finally achieved independence in 2002, 27 strife-torn and tragic years after initially declaring independence from Indonesia in 1975. Look forward to basic roads and infrastructure, but be rewarded with an intensely warm welcome from the locals.

The easygoing capital Dili is a hub for thirsty UN and NGO staff looking for new drinking buddies, and across on sleepy Atauro Island, a fledgling ecotourism scene supports hiking and diving. Explore East Timor’s Portuguese heritage amid the faded colonial architecture of Baucau, and check travel advisories on the country’s security situation before leaving home.

A 30-day travel permit (US$30) is issued to most nationalities on arrival at Dili airport. See the Immigration Department of Timor-Leste for the latest.

Eritrea

How far would you go for a really, really good coffee? What if it was a superb macchiato served in an art deco cafe in an exotic country in the Horn of Africa? An addictive combination of sleepy African vibes and an Italian colonial past also showcases cubist, expressionist and futurist architecture in the Eritrean capital of Asmara.

In nearby Massawa, centuries-old Islamic buildings linger in narrow, labyrinthine streets, and the port is the departure point to diving amid Red Sea corals in the Dahlak Archipelago.

Tensions are still rife between Eritrea and Ethiopia – and for now, the border between the two countries is closed – so be sure to check current travel advisories carefully. Visas are required by all visitors and should be obtained in advance from an Eritrean embassy or consulate before entering Asmara.

Slovakia

In a region crammed with dramatic castles, Slovakia‘s Spiš Castle trumps most with an audacious hilltop location and craggy towers and gloomy dungeons straight from a Hammer horror flick. Visit in summer for a full program of events including  concerts and mock battles.

Following Slovakia’s independence in 1993, Bratislava seems in no hurry to become a bustling Central European metropolis, and the cool cafes and bars of the Slovakian capital’s beautifully preserved old town are still largely tourist free – take that Prague! Look forward also to being continuously surprised by the funky street art lurking around every corner.

Get active in the High Tatras National Park before dissolving your weary limbs into Pieš?any‘s healing spa waters.

Palau

How many jellyfish is just enough? How about 10 million, especially when you’re swimming with them in Palau‘s renowned Jellyfish Lake? (Don’t worry, the local species have evolved with an absence of stingers).

With a population of just 20,000, one of the world’s newest countries is also one of the smallest. The tiny island nation of Palau showcases some of the Pacific’s best diving opportunities with more than 60 vertical drop-offs punctuating locations like Blue Corner, Shark City and Turtle Cove. In 2001, the Palau Shark Sanctuary was established to further protect Palau’s sharks from the Asian shark-fin industry.

As Palau only achieved independence from United States trusteeship in 1994, you’ll need to come equipped with US dollars.

Serbia

Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia from 1990, Serbia has been less open to travelers than neighboring Croatia or nearby Slovenia. Now Belgrade‘s gritty cityscape and Europe’s most energetic nightlife scene are attracting a vanguard of curious expat residents and intrepid visitors. It’s probably your best chance to experience what Prague was like following the fall of communism in 1989.

Other essential musical thrills include the annual Exit Festival – recent acts have included the Chemical Brothers, Patti Smith and Kraftwerk – and the wildly frantic Guca Festival, drawing 600,000 visitors annually for the best in manic Roma (gypsy) trumpet playing.

Check out the Belgrade Foreign Visitors Club for the latest expat-informed lowdown on the Serbian capital.

Bosnia & Hercegovina

For centuries Sarajevo was on the fault line of religion, culture and history, and in today’s capital of Bosnia & Hercegovina, mosques, churches and synagogues all huddle beside each other and the Neretva River. The city has emerged from the dark days of the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996 as an inclusive and collaborative center for the arts.

The annual summer festival Nights of Bascarsija showcases music, art and dance in Sarajevo’s compact Ottoman quarter, and the Sarajevo Film Festival is one of Europe’s most important. Poignant memories of the Balkan Wars include Mostar’s reconstructed bridge.

Bosnia & Hercegovina is an emerging adventure-tourism destination, with excellent whitewater rafting on the Una and Neretva rivers.

Kazakhstan

Was the inaccurate depiction of Kazakhstan by Borat a few years ago a blessing or a curse? The film certainly lifted brand awareness for the Central Asian republic made independent from Moscow in December 1991, but the planet’s ninth-largest country remains a mystery to most.

Fueled by revenues from copious oil and gas reserves, Almaty and Astana have emerged as modern-day boom-towns from the Central Asian steppe, but Kazakhs’ nomadic roots are still celebrated with one of the world’s more…er…interesting cuisines. How does beshbarmak (an offal stew) and horse-meat sausage washed down with a shot of vodka sound?

Celebrate the coming of spring with dancing, Kazakh food and equestrian events at the festival of Nauryz in late March.

Montenegro

The denouement of the inevitable dissolution of Yugoslavia came in June 2006 when the citizens of tiny Montenegro voted to separate from the federation of Serbia & Montenegro. Despite Montenegro being the smallest piece of the Balkans jigsaw, the rugged country packs in a geography textbook of natural features and spectacles.

The country’s eponymous ‘Black Mountains’ cradle the perfect medieval town at Kotor, and the pine-scented Tara River is Europe’s deepest canyon and a growing location for river rafting. The tiny island of Sveti Stefan, irredeemably picturesque and joined to the mainland by a slender isthmus, is rapidly regaining its pre-Balkan Wars status as one of Europe’s most exclusive destinations.

Passionate twitchers (birdwatchers) should pack their high-powered binoculars for Lake Skadar, one of Europe’s most important bird sanctuaries.

Kosovo

Consider the evidence. Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008, but Kosovo’s closest neighbor refuses to accept the declaration. China and Russia agree with Serbia, but almost 70 other nations including the US, Germany and the UK accept Kosovo as an independent state. Membership of the World Bank and the IMF are a given, but UN membership remains elusive due to the veto-trumping machinations of the Security Council. The presence of the UN and NGOs keeps accommodation prices relatively high, so this is definitely one for the true country collectors out there.

In the Kosovar capital of Pristina, visit Bill Clinton Blvd, complete with a giant billboard of the former US president.

For a complete list -Read on for more countries to gain independence here:

SOURCE: Lonely Planet

Kiawah Island, South Carolina

About an hour outside Charleston, South Carolina, sits a pristine island made just for a golf resort. Play on any one of five championship golf courses designed by Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Gary Player and Clyde Johnston.

Kiawah hosted at The Ocean Course, the 2007 Senior PGA, the 1991 Ryder Cup, the 1997 and 2003 World Cups, the 2001 UBS Cup and 2005 PGA Professional National Championship. In 2012 Kiawah Island Golf Resort will host the 94th PGA Championship, only the fourth course to host each of the PGA of America’s major championships.

The Ocean Golf Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort – 18 holes, designed by Pete Dye, Named “#1 Golf Course in South Carolina” by Golf Digest. Turtle Point at Kiawah Island Golf Resort designed by Jack Nicklaus gets a near perfect 4.5 stars by Golf Digest. Osprey Point, Oak Point, Cougar Point round up the Kiawah’s fab five.

www.kiawahresort.com

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

The Carambola Resort, on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, was once a private estate of Laurence Rockefeller. Robert Trent Jones-designed the par-72 Carambola Golf Course, which opened 30 years ago.Golf digest gave it a four-star rating and Golf Magazine gave it a gold medal for being one of the best resorts in the world.

www.golfcarambola.com

Amelia Island, Florida

Amelia Island Plantation boasts 54 championship holes and consistently garners  ”Silver Medal Golf Resort” each year by Golf Magazine, Amelia Links, designed by Pete Dye and Bobby Weed, is a 36-hole configuration with two signature courses, Oak Marsh and Ocean Links.

Long Point, Tom Fazio’s design, is an 18-hole layout and must be booked a day in advance.

http://www.aipfl.com/golf/golf.htm

St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Golf courses are hard to come by in the US Virgin Islands, but George and Tom Fazio created a beauty– a 6,022-yard par-70, 18-hole course at Mahogany Run with stellar views of the Atlantic and the British Virgin Islands. A recent multi-million dollar course make-over included an irrigation system, recently re-grassed greens and renovated bunkers. The course has three signature holes known collectively as The Devil’s Triangle.

www.mahoganyrungolf.com

Marco Island, Florida

A recent redesign by acclaimed golf course designer Robert Cupp, Jr., is nestled in shallow wetlands. The Rookery at Marco Golf Course is 7,100 plus yards in length, players will experience great fairways, over-sized greens, and the choice to play from one of five teeing locations.

Designed with nature in mind, The course is a member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, paying close attention to the preservation of the ecological balance by providing areas where native bird life reside.

www.marriottgolf.com/leisure/golf-courses/rookery-at-marco-golf/course-overview.jsp

Catalina Island, California

A couple hours off the coast of Long Beach, California, a simple ferry ride lands you on one of the So. Cal’s only inhabited islands.

Santa Catalina Island’s Golf Course is the oldest operating golf course west of the Mississippi! A scenic 2,100-yard course has nine challenging holes, two sets of tees for 18-hole play, and is the former home of the Bobby Jones Invitational Tournament. Originally built by the Banning Brothers in 1892, this is history, folks!

What began as a three-hole course, it was expanded to 9 holes in the early 1900′s.  In 1929, The Catalina Golf Course graduated to an 18 hole tournament-worthy course. The course features five Par 4 and four Par 3 holes.

www.visitcatalinaisland.com/avalon/acti_golf.php

Hawaiian Islands

There’s not much here to say about Hawaii’s jawdropping golf courses. So many to choose from at all playing levels, I’ve decided to just add this link for you to check then all out. Meander through the various options on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, and Oahu.

Aloha!

www.hawaiigolf.com

Bald Head Island, North Carolina

The Bald Head Island Club is an 18-hole seaside golf course. George Cobb, who for 20 years was the lead consultant at Augusta National, designed the course, leaving much of the terrain to nature.  The Bald Head Island Club Course has a slope rating of 139, course rating of 74.3, making it a top 20 percent of course in difficulty. Golf Digest’s Places to Play gives it 4.5 stars.

www.baldheadisland.com

Wellesley Island, New York

The Thousand Islands Country Club began in the late 1800’s when they were known as a palatial playground for some of the wealthiest families in America.

The location sits across from the resort village of Alexandria Bay in the heart of the 1000 Islands. 36 holes of pure golfing magic. The Old Course  and it’s original 9 holes were built in 1894 by George Boldt, with an updrade in 1924 by course designer Seth Raynor who expanded the course to its present 18 holes.

The Lake Course, a slightly smaller and more “golfer friendly” for more casual play.

www.ticountryclub.com

Sea Island, Georgia

Sea Island Resorts and golf is located off southeastern Georgia’s Atlantic coast, along five miles of private beach, The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club offers two championship Georgia golf courses. The Seaside Course — updated in 1999 by Tom Fazio is on Golf Digest’s list of “Top 100 Courses in the United States,” and rated No. 1 in the U.S. among the “World’s 50 Best Golf Hotels” by Golf Digest Index. It has hosted multiple USGA events, challenging golf’s best amateur players, and will again host the PGA Tour’s McGladrey Classic in Oct. 2011.

The Plantation Course lends to both accomplished and novice players at any level.

www.seaisland.com

For Immediate Release:

ST. LUCIA’S TOP-NOTCH ROMANCE VACATION RESORT

ANNOUNCES LUCKY 10.10.10 DESTINATION WEDDING PACKAGE

VALID THROUGH ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2010

CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA (AUGUST 10, 2010) — The award-winning Green Globe Certified Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort, St. Lucia, not only offers true paradise to destination wedding couples, but also allows them to enjoy the luck and good fortune of being married on 10.10.10 through the entire month of October 2010. Now when a romantic Caribbean destination wedding is booked at the luxury St. Lucia resort, couples will receive 10 romantic wedding gifts as part of their honeymoon stay. Destination wedding couples at this Caribbean paradise can also enjoy a complimentary wedding package ($1,099 value) when they book a honeymoon stay of seven nights or longer.

Windjammer Landing’s 10.10.10 destination wedding promotion throughout October 2010 includes the following 10 gifts to bring extra romance and good luck to the newlyweds who wed on St. Lucia:

• Fresh bouquet of tropical flowers in villa
• Champagne breakfast
• Romantic In Villa Dinner for bridal couple prepared by resort chef
• Fun-filled sunset cruise
• Serenity Spa couple’s massage
• Shopping trip to Pointe Seraphine
• Romantic gourmet picnic lunch
• Professional wedding photograph
• Windjammer Secret Love Potion cocktail for two
• Windjammer Landing souvenir

Couples book Windjammer Landing because it is renowned for its dramatic Caribbean location on St. Lucia, impeccable personalized service and stunning private villas, and for its capability to accommodate an intimate wedding for two to a larger destination wedding with up to 100 guests.

A personalized romantic Caribbean destination wedding can be performed on the powdery beach, on a stunning hilltop terrace, under a fragrant flower-bedecked gazebo, or on a romantic sunset cruise. Customized entertainment and reception menus, including simple fare to Windjammer Landing’s signature gourmet cuisine, can be arranged to suit each bridal couple’s desires, as well as personalized welcome gifts for their guests. Villa accommodations, featuring one bedroom Villas to four bedroom Estate Villas, offer five-star luxury and are the perfect setting to gather friends and family together on St. Lucia.

“Windjammer Landing Beach Villa Resort loves to cater to bridal couples planning the ultimate destination wedding that is truly one-of-a-kind. We know many brides want to be married during the ‘luck of 10’ so we anticipate our romantic 10.10.10 destination wedding promotion to be highly popular. Our romantic destination weddings on St. Lucia are highly customized and romantic so couples are always made to feel special at our upscale St. Lucia property versus many Caribbean resorts that do multiple daily weddings,” states Anthony Bowen, Windjammer Landing managing director.

Patterned after the picturesque hillside villages of the Mediterranean its stunning villas–many with private plunge pools and multiple terraces–are spread among 60 exotic and flowering acres. Estate Villas offer the ultimate in romance and come complete with full sized infinity pools and private chefs. Windjammer Landing features the blissful Serenity Spa, where the bridal party can enjoy a romantic pre-wedding pampering experience or a bride can have a special wedding hairstyle fashioned. The St. Lucia resort features a multitude of tropical excursions and beachfront activities, as well as the Jacquot Fun Club for kids, important for couples planning larger wedding events with guests of all ages.

Windjammer Landing also features an all inclusive Caribbean vacation escape like none other. The comprehensive all inclusive package features welcome cocktails; breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner – available at five restaurants; all beverages including wines by the glass and premium and local brands of cocktails; room service items*; wide variety of complimentary motorized and non-motorized water sports like water skiing, wake boarding, knee boarding, Hobie cat sailing, snorkeling, banana boat and tubing rides; daily fitness activities; tennis; complimentary fitness center; complimentary shopping shuttle; nightly entertainment; welcome package of bottle water, tea and coffee; tax and gratuity.

For reservations, contact (800) 958-7376; (877) 522-0722 (Canada) or visit www.windjammer-landing.com.

*Nominal room service delivery fee exclusive.

I happened across a TV show one night about small businesses looking for investors in their companies. They had to stand in front of several “sharks”/investors and pitch their products.

One company caught my attention, and the woman who believes in all good things come from Positive Energy Transfer (PET). With that- I jumped to the website to find some pretty cool trinkets.

Soul’s Calling was founded by President Gina Cotroneo in Dallas in 2004. The company creates and markets a “fashion-with-a-purpose” accessory and gift line.

I simply love the recycled flip flops. Cute, Stylish and a “PET” message worth wearing. The soles boast indentations, which when walking on a soft sand surface share the words, “Love” and “Earth”… try a pair on for size and let the positive energy trail behind you…

You can find them at Soul’s Calling: http://bit.ly/aEvEqo

Available in Women and Men sizes

$22.00 US

www.soulscalling.com

LONG BAY BEACH RESORT HOSTS TORTOLA’S “DOW LIVE EARTH RUN FOR WATER”

Global Environmental Campaign to Raise Awareness About Water Conservation

Plus Resort Features 20 Percent “Instant Savings” on Caribbean Vacations

TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS (MARCH 19, 2010) – Long Bay Beach Resort & Villas proudly announces its participation in Tortola’s first ever “Dow Live Earth Run For Water” – the largest solutions-based initiative aimed at solving the global water crisis in history. The global event takes place in multiple countries on April 18, 2010, which consists of a series of 6km runs/walks. The famed full service resort on Tortola, Long Bay Beach Resort, will kick off the race at 10am, where it travels around the pristine Smugglers Cove with the race ending at Long Bay. The race entry fee is $10 per adult and $5 per child. Entrants will receive a T-shirt for participation, discounted Sunday Brunch at the resort, DJ to kick the race off plus live entertainment, pre and post race fruits, plus water provided by the BVI Environmental Council, whom is co-sponsoring the event. Prizes will be awarded for complimentary spa treatments at Long Bay’s Spa Tranquility and dinner on property. Visit http://liveearth.org/en/run for more information about the “Dow Live Earth Run for Water.”

Long Bay recently won TRAVEL WEEKLY’s prestigious 2009 Silver Magellan Award for “Best Beach Resort.” In addition, the British Virgin Islands won first place in 2009 by SCUBA DIVING’s readers for “Top Wreck Diving,” Top Ten for “Top Snorkeling” and “Top Beginner Diving.” Plus, Concierge.com recently rated Tortola as one of the “World’s Sexiest Beaches” rating it “among the 15 of the steamiest stretches of sand.”

To enjoy the race and discover the magic of Tortola and the BVIs, Long Bay is now offering “Instant Savings,” reflecting 30 percent savings with nightly double occupancy EP rates starting now at $183 for Caribbean vacation travel April 14 through August 30, 2010.

“Long Bay is delighted to host Tortola’s first ‘Dow Live Earth Run for Water’ race and hopes the day provides a fun opportunity for our resort guests and island participants plus raises awareness for water conservation,” said Steven E. Heydt, Elite Island Resorts’ president. “Now is also the perfect time to escape to Tortola and enjoy a great value on a Caribbean.”

Long Bay Beach Resort & Villas, a casually elegant plantation-style resort ideal for diving, sailing and spa indulgences, nestled among verdant hills overlooking its mile-long white sand beach. Its 157 beautiful guest rooms and villas are hidden away on a 52-acre estate, giving guests a feeling of exclusivity and privacy. Long Bay offers caring, personal service.  For reservations, call (866) 237-3491 or visit www.longbay.com.

–NO OSCAR REQUIRED: ULTIMATE “RED CARPET” TAHITI EXPERIENCE FEATURES FIRST CLASS AIR, PRIVATE ISLAND ESCAPE, YACHT CHARTER, BORA BORA ROYAL ESTATE, HELICOPTER TRAVEL & MORE

13 Nights From $170,000 Per Couple; Travel June 14, 2010 – May 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 1, 2010 – This year’s Academy Awards takes place Sunday, March 7, and promises its usual bevy of sensational movie icons, glittering gowns and glamour-filled bashes. But A-list celebrities aren’t the only ones who can enjoy star treatment. Jet-setting travelers can sashay in ultimate VIP style onto their own red carpet in Tahiti and Her Islands with Tahiti Legends and Air Tahiti Nui’s “Ultimate Tahiti Experience.”

Starting at $170,000 per couple and valid for travel June 14, 2010 – May 31, 2011, this unique travel-like-a-celebrity experience kicks off with VIP airport handling and first class (Poerava) roundtrip flights from Los Angeles to Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui.  The first five nights of the 13-night package are spent in wonderful solitude in a luxury villa on Motu Tetaraire, a completely private nine-acre Rangiroa island with no other inhabitants except the tropical fauna and attentive wait staff who cater to every whim.  Next it’s time to hit the water with three nights sailing the magnificent crystal clear French Polynesia lagoons on a customized course aboard the Roa, a privately chartered 77-ft motor yacht.  Then it’s off to the luxurious St. Regis Bora Bora, where the 2009 blockbuster movie Couples Retreat was shot, for five nights in the resort’s famous 15,000 sq. ft “Royal Estate” where Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban honeymooned.

No Tahitian experience is complete without sightseeing, and VIP options are included in this ultimate package.  Travelers will enjoy “Taha’a Heli Vanilla,” a scenic helicopter ride from beautiful Bora Bora to fragrant Taha’a, the “Vanilla Island” for a private tour of Vanilla Valley to pick their own vanilla beans before returning to the St. Regis Bora Bora for a three-course gastronomic vanilla tasting menu created by Executive Chef Phillippe Egalon at Lagoon, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant.

On the “Private Lagoon Cruise” guests enjoy an unforgettable day circling Bora Bora aboard a private 23-ft Cap Camarat with a Polynesian guide, stopping to snorkel in beautiful coral gardens alongside graceful manta rays and to discover their own black pearl under the sea.  The day is topped off with a motu barbeque picnic lunch with Champagne.

Finally, the “Luna Sea Tour” is a half-day deep sea fishing excursion in the legendary waters of French Polynesia aboard the Luna Sea, a 34-foot Black Watch.  Deep warm-water canyons just offshore provide the opportunity to catch blue and black marlin, wahoo, mahi mahi and other game fish.  Guests then enjoy their catch during a private sunset dinner on the beach.

Rounding out this uber-luxurious package is a relaxing couples massage and Illuminating Black Pearl Facial at St. Regis Bora Bora’s Miri Miri Spa, plus a memorable dinner for two at Bora Bora’s A-list restaurant Villa Mahana.

Travelers on the “Ultimate Tahiti Experience” will receive private transfers and meet and greets as part of the VIP handling throughout. All meals and most hotel activities are included, in addition to the noted excursions above.

For more information on Tahiti Legends and to book “Ultimate Tahiti Experience”
visit www.tahitilegends.com or call 1-800-200-1213.  For VIP requests, please e-mail sales@tahitilegends.com.
For more information on Air Tahiti Nui, visit www.airtahitinui-usa.com or call 1-877-824-4846.

About AIR TAHITI NUI
Air Tahiti Nui, with a route network linking the South Pacific to four continents, is the leading carrier to French Polynesia featuring daily nonstop service from Los Angeles. Air Tahiti Nui was named the “Best Airline – Pacific Region” and recognized as having the “Best Cabin Staff – Pacific Region” in the 2009 Skytrax World Airline Survey® for the seventh consecutive year; it was also named one of the “World’s Best” international airlines by Travel +Leisure in 2008. The airline has headquarters in Papeete and operates from Faa’a International Airport on the island of Tahiti. The company was founded in 1996 and commenced flight operations in 1998.

The web site www.airtahitinui-usa.com helps travelers plan and book flights and vacation packages to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Taha’a, Rangiroa, the Marquesas, and Tuamotu.  In addition to featuring special honeymoon, cruise and diving packages, flights to Paris, Auckland, Sydney and Tokyo are bookable online or by calling Air Tahiti Nui toll-free at 1-877-824-4846.

This came across my desk this morning. They are offering pretty amazing fares from the East Coast and Seattle.

Boston to

Reykjavik from $449*
Copenhagen from $489*
Glasgow from $539*
Helsinki from $689*
London from $499*
Manchester from $539*
Stockholm from $489*

New York to
Reykjavik from $449*
Amsterdam from $539*
Copenhagen from $549*
Oslo from $459*
Glasgow from $509*
Helsinki from: $609*
London from: $469*
Manchester from: $469*

Minneapolis to
Minneapolis Service Resumes May 11th
Reykjavik from $539*
Amsterdam from $669*
Frankfurt from $629*
Paris from $649*
Bergen from $499*
Copenhagen from $499*
Oslo from $499*
Glasgow from $549*
London from: $509*
Manchester from: $549*
Stavanger from $499*
Stockholm from $499*

Seattle to
Reykjavik from $479*
Amsterdam from $799*
Copenhagen from $679*
Glasgow from $599*
Helsinki from: $799*
London from: $599*
Manchester from: $599*
Stockholm from $679*

Travel Periods:
Boston Apr 10 – May 10
Minneapolis May 11 – May 30
New York & Seattle Apr 10 – May 10
Book By: Feb 25, 2010