Hi All,

Are you going somewhere? Are you taking a plane? Are you flying overseas?  FlightAware is company that offers free flight tracking services for private and commercial air traffic. Its free!

The site provides live flight data, airport delays, fuel prices, weather maps, flight routes, oceanic tracks, navigation charts, aviation news and more on the website FlightAware.com and mobile apps.

Users can find flights by airport, browse by operator (airline), log in to discussion boards and more on the site.

Okay..okay..click on this link to get to the part of the page that everybody wants to see...Flight Tracker.  This particular link goes to JFK International Airport...

The link has a section for Arrivals and Departures and there are links on the Identifier column and Type of airplane.  Flight information is given (type of aircraft, speed, altitude, distance, average fare and route are listed as well.  A map of the flight is also included.  

Very cool information is you are an aviation buff - or if you want to see if you flight is late.

And....if you are interested in reading more about airplanes, aviation or flying, click on this link which connects you to the library card catalog.  The topic of the link is aviation and you'll find books in the Farmingdale Public Library on the topic.

Enjoy the flight information!

Regards,
Stu

City Travel Planner - Plnnr.com

 Hi All,

Just found out about this wonderfully odd, interesting travel planner website called Plnnr.com.

So, what does Plannr.com do for you? Plnnr automatically generates your free personalized ready-to-use itinerary in a few short seconds.

Clicking on the 'Get Started Now' icon on the Plnnr.com homepage takes you to the Plannr.com wizard.  There are five steps to get your itinerary:
1. Where to
2. Dates
3. Theme
4. Intensity
5. Luxury Level

Clicking on Where to leads you to a screen with  choices like Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, London, Milan, New York City, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and more.

Clicking on one of the options - I chose Rome - sends you to a page where you choose the date you intend to leave - and an option for you to select how long your trip will be.  Length of trip runs from 2-7 days.  I chose, a four day trip.

Next you come to a screen that asks you to select what your trip is going to be like?  With Kids, Outdoors, The Best of..., or a Culture based trip.  I chose Outdoors.

Users can make choices that vary from Light, Easygoing, Moderate, Vigorous and Extreme.  I chose a Moderate trip.

Users are then brought to a page where you can select the number of stars for your hotel (1-5).  I chose 3 stars for the hotel.

At this point the Plnnr wizard jumps into action and a new screen appears with the trip options that you've chosen.   Users can click on the orange dialog box to view the final results.  And oh, what results! Users can see the itinerary day by day. 

There is a list of sites to visit - and the length of time it should take to view the site.  Specific category of the particular site is listed as well (historic site, panorama, world heritage, history and culture and more). Users have the option to 'rank' the particular sites to either include them in their itinerary or not.

A map of all the sites is available as well.  Users can also book a hotel on Plnnr.com in order to actually make the trip a reality.

Finally, on the right side of the page are a few choices that users can use to further customize their trip. Most importantly is the 'Trip Profile' option which lets users change  the number of adults, the number of rooms, update the mode of preferred transportation and intensity of the trip.

There is also a 'word cloud' in which users can change each category weight to best match their trip preferences.  That is, users can add, delete or enlarge or shrink various categories - which will then be used to further customize the trip experience.

Hope you enjoy the site - Plnnr.com is a great way to get a customized trip if and when you want to go to some of the worlds greatest cities.

Regards,
Stu

Warm Weather Bargains in the Middle of Winter!

Hi All,

Regular readers of this blog might realize that I try to make the entries interesting, unique and value added. Regular readers might also realize that I sometimes have themes for each entries.

Well, today I'm going a step further. I'm going to write an entry that is somewhat related to yesterdays' blog entry dealing with 'Saving Money in the Winter By Saving on Heating Bills'.

Today's entry is something akin to that entry: Warm Weather Bargains in the Winter. The connection or 'theme' goes something like this: Yesterday I wrote about saving money on your home heating bills in the winter. Since it is so cold, what better way to beat the cold than to get the heck out of dodge and (like birds) go south for the winter with the family? So, after that buildup todays' entry is all about travel sites and how to save on the air fare, lodging and rental once you get to that nice warm place (wherever that might be).

Well, first folks have to decide that they even want - or even if they can - to take a vacation. Once you get that first decision out of the way, you might want to click here for a link on how to plan your winter vacation. Once you've done that you obviously have to figure out where to go on vacation...the next link set of links should help with that question...

Live from the Travel Channel.com is this link entitled, Best Vacations With Kids. An alternate site for winter vacation ideas comes from About.com and you can click this link for 'Family Getaway Ideas For Winter Vacations'.

Okay, now that you've got some ideas, you probably need to find a flight, a room, and possibly even a rental car. Folks might have heard of this next site: Expedia.com. Or not. Click here to visit Expedia.com

So, what's so great about Expedia.com? Well, first the site is easy to navigate and to use. Second it has tabs at the top of the page dealing with Vacation Packages, Hotels, Cars, Flights, Cruises, Activities, and Deals and Offers. Click on any of the phrases above and you'll go to that particular section on the Expedia website.

Notice that on the Deals and Offers section of the site you'll find a link called ASAP which gives users one 'mega-discount in a top destination for only 12 hours'. On the same page you'll find a link to the Best Deals of 2010.

So there you have it - some vacation ideas and a website that can possibly help you make your vacation dreams come true.

Enjoy!
Stu

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Long Island Lighthouses

Hi All,

Here's a fact I suspect you didn't know: did you know that Long Island has 24 lighthouses located in both counties? Yep - we do. Click here for a map of the 24 lighthouses.

Why a blog entry on lighthouses? Well, they are interesting, and since we live on Long Island we have a lot of them. Plus there has been a resurgence in interest in lighthouses over the past 10-15 years or so.

Also, taking a mini-vacation to visit the various lighthouses can make for a very pleasant break in an otherwise dull week. A trip to a lighthouse or two can break the monotony of the daily grind...

Click here for a presorted list (chronological) of books that the Farmingdale Public Library owns regarding lighthouses.

This page has the name of the lighthouse, the county it is located in, the township and Lighthouse Viewing Guide. Included in this viewing guide are maps and driving directions. Site is neatly organized and pretty darn interesting.

Click here for a site that discusses the history of Long Island lighthouses. Note that on the left side of the page are Quick Links that includes information about presentations, upcoming events, and more. Note that the author has written 2 books on lighthouses - one called Long Island's Lighthouses: Past and Present and the other called New York State Lighthouses.

Finally, click here to find a link from the United States Lighthouse Society which is located in Washington state. The site has information regarding their membership, tours, resources and much more.

The resources link has a 'National Archives Database', comprehensive Lighthouse Lists, actual lighthouse videos (not for sale - free from Youtube), educational materials, lighthouse facts, and much more.

All in all the USLHS site is almost one stop shopping for everything related to lighthouses.

Enjoy the lighthouses.
Stu

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