Timesharing Without Owning A Timeshare

 by: Dana Sanders

If youre dreaming of a unique vacation experience, but dont have a budget to cover outrageous hotel expenses, or to even purchase a timeshare yourself, there are ways to take advantage of the great deals offered by timeshare owners without actually becoming one yourself.

With timeshare locations found all over the globe from the snow-capped Rocky Mountains to the tropical beaches of the Bahamas, the only thing limiting a destination is a persons own imagination. But, how does one afford these great vacation destinations without taking out a second mortgage? Its simple, shop around for timeshare opportunities online where you can look at what various resorts that handle timeshare condos have to offer and even get hooked up directly with a timeshare owner. A timeshare owner just might have a slot open in a location you want, but not have the time to take advantage of it him or herself.

Timeshare locations around the world basically work by having multiple owners for a single condo or unit within a resort destination. Each owner is given a set number of days or weeks to use that location for their own personal vacations. These owners can sometimes trade their time with an owner in another location, effectively increasing their ability to vacation around the world, but sometimes owners simply are looking for a return on their investment.

When a timeshare owner is either unable to take advantage of their time slot, or simply prefers to rent out or auction off their time at their resort, non-timeshare owners can get involved in the action for a fraction of ownership costs. This provides an advantage to the timeshare owner in that his or her slot can now earn them money on their timeshare investment as a rental or auction can cover their money invested, or even exceed it in some cases. For those looking to enjoy the amenities of a timeshare without actually becoming an owner, these situations are boons. Owners will often set a flat-rate fee for a rental or put up their time slot and destination as an auction on an Internet site or other location.

When looking to deal with a timeshare company directly, you can sometimes get fantastic incentive deals by agreeing to visit a resort location and listen to the companys sales pitch. Some destinations offer timeshare condos for as low as $50 a night and sometimes even free for those who will come and listen with an open mind.

The best places to start looking for timeshare opportunities without actually buying into one are on the Internet, auction sites and through newspapers and travel magazines. Anyone in the market for a vacation will quickly find these offers are available in almost every major vacation destination city around the globe. Orlando, Florida, for example, has literally dozens and dozens of timeshare resorts. Many even offer other discounts for those who come and listen, rent or buy. These discounts can include dining coupons and theme park and other attraction tickets.

If vacationing is on your mind, but spending a lot of money isnt, timesharing without owning a timeshare might be a great way to see a new part of the world without breaking your bank. To learn more about timeshare rentals and the unique vacation opportunities they provide, just log on to the Internet and visit locations such as http://www.atimesharesz.com/timesharecondorentals to do a thorough search and decide what is the best location for you and your family to enjoy.

© Copyright 2005 by Dana Sanders. All rights reserved.

About The Author Looking for information about timeshares? Go to http://www.atimesharesz.com. A Timeshares Z is a timeshares and vacation, resort and condo rentals and resales directory. webmaster@atimesharesz.com

Need a Place to Stay While in Maine? Try the Ever Popular Bed & Breakfast

 by: Grant Segall

Have a Perfect Bed & Breakfast Getaway in Maine

Situated on the shores of the Atlantic, the state of Maine is like a fairytale with colorful, sun-soaked atmosphere, beautiful views of shorelines and wonderful mountain vistas. Thoughts of coastal regions with small town allure and taste of exquisite cuisines, seaside resorts, charming villages, glacier-carved peninsulas, romantic getaways and covered bridges bring to mind only one name - Maine.

Maine is truly a paradise for travelers and nature enthusiasts with its numerous bed & breakfast inns located all over the state and around its neighborhoods that provide excellent getaway opportunities. Maines Bed and Breakfasts are matchless and exclusive in every way; either its the matter of structural design, decor, or ample space for convenient staying, or its about their exceptional amenities and the reliable generosity of the innkeeper.

Enjoy the Elegance of Years Gone By at Maine’s B & B

Various regions like Maine highlands, the South Maine Coast, Mid-Coast, Greater Portland, Down east and around the lakes and mountains offer excellent homey B&B. Some Visitors prefer relaxing stay close to the nature, and outdoor enthusiasts prefer adventurous stay while lovebirds look for romantic getaways providing perfect seclusion.

Whatever the option you choose, Maine is sure to serve you enjoyable and comfortable leisure the best holidaying experience with its stylish Bed & Breakfasts constructed out of historical mansions and colonial houses. Each inn offers breathtaking view of sloping hills, perfectly manicured lawns with large maple trees, and antique and historic backdrops of 17th century. Thus, whatever is the idea behind holiday its fulfilled in this picturesque, gracious and elegant place.

Experience a never before welcoming ambience in Maine’s Bed & Breakfasts.

Most of the bed & breakfasts in Maine are known for its superb tourist welcome and outstanding comfort offered. All travelers can enjoy this wonderful stay with price range starting from as low as $40 and going up to $700 per night, providing the best invitingly warm live with meticulously perfect service and exceptional hospitality.

These B&B create romance in the air for lovers by offering relaxation by the fireplace, big bath tubs or even marble Jacuzzi (some offer in-room whirlpools or out-door hot tubs) for a love filled soak, various outdoor activities like swimming, tennis, biking, golfing, canoeing are offered for outdoor activists, and beautiful gardens, lawns and meadows for nature lovers.

Room amenities like telephones with data ports, hair dryers, ironing boards, mini refrigerator, cable television etc combine to make visitors stay the most memorable and enjoyable. Maine’s B&B are also world wide known for their wonderful mouthwatering recipes, freshly brewed coffee, granola, fresh fruit, pastries and flavored yogurt.

About The Author Grant Segall For more information about Maine, visit http://www.themaine.com.

The Rise of UK Theme Parks

 by: Robin Richmond

Since Blackpool Pleasure Beach opened the Pepsi Max Big One in 1994, UK rollercoaster construction and theme park competition in general has been gathering pace. New parks have been built across the country and established centres such as Thorpe Park and Aulton Tours have battled for supremacy. This was a scenario that was hard to conceive 15 years ago with the impending opening of EuroDisney (now Disney Resort Paris), as many thought the UK theme park industry would struggle to survive and thrill seekers would instead be enticed through the tunnel to one of Americas biggest brand names.

Unfortunately, for the Walt Disney Company this did not quiet materialise. The first sign of problems was when French locals started holding protests due to concerns the park was going to damage and dilute the proud local culture. These protests partly led to crowds in the opening year falling drastically lower than predictions. EuroDisney also had to deal with the problems of an excess of under-populated hotels which had ran drastically over budget. This combined with high prices led to the closure of hotels during the winter months. By the start of 1994, EuroDisney was in serious financial difficulties and press speculation indicated that the park was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Meanwhile back in the UK the theme park industry was enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. 1994 was hailed as The Year of the Rollercoaster as new rides sprang up across the country. Drayton Manor opened its Shockwave ride along with Alton Towers who launched the famous Nemesis. At the same time Blackpool opened its 11th roller coaster, the Pepsi Max Big One, which for a short time was the tallest in the world…suddenly the UK found itself gripped in roller coaster fever which contrasted harshly with the negative press emanating from the outskirts of Paris.

Over the next ten years the UK continued to ride at the forefront of theme park technologyeven out doing stateside industry giants such as Six Flags. Alton Towers - www.alton-towers.co.uk - ensured its park received world wide attention with the launching of the first ever vertical drop roller coaster, Oblivion in 1998 and the worlds first flying roller coaster with Air in 2002. Not to be outdone Fantasy Island near Skegness opened the tallest and fastest type of this ride in the world in the form of the 2002 Jubilee Odyssey and in 2002 Thorpe Park opened a record breaking ten inversion rollercoaster named Collosus.

By 2002 EuroDisney had now become Disney Resort Paris - http://www.disneylandparis.com. With the addition of more attractions and the re-branding of the entire theme park complex, to better appeal to European tastes, the Walt Disney Company finally announced their first annual profit for the park. Disney had at last found the right balance between implementing such a strong American brand on foreign soil without diluting the local culture. However, the time it had taken to find the balance ensured that Disney has not achieved the domination in the European market that many predicted.

At the present time the UK theme park market seems to be going from strength to strength with continued investment in their facilities. For example, Drayton Park have spent over 2 million in time for the new season upgrading their entry and ticketing facilities, while the ever inventive Alton Towers are launching their new ride Spinball Whizzer which has the carriage as the focus of the ride rather than the actual track!

With the volume and popularity of parks increasing all the time in the UK, the demand for accommodation in surrounding areas has also expanded. Last year Alton Towers opened its second hotel, Splash Landings, which boasts an exciting all-weather water park, Cariba Creek. In addition to this companies such as UK short break specialists Superbreak.com http://www.superbreak.com have a number of excellent package deals with parks such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Aulton Towers and Legoland near Windsor which has over 50 interactive rides, live shows, building workshops.

Overall the future seems bright for the theme park industry across the UK and Europe as a whole. The slow progress of Disney Resort Paris has allowed other parks to get on an even footing and with continued investment in rides and general infrastructure competition should continue to be fierce between the major parks which can only be good news for the consumer.

About The Author Robin Richmond http://www.bigmouthmedia.com robin.richmond@bigmouthmedia.com

Getting Your Digital Photos Ready For Sharing

 by: Valerie Goettsch

One of the main reasons people buy digital cameras is so they can share their photos with others. Even if you are just going to print your photos for yourself, you will want them to look their best. Here are some tips on getting your images ready for sharing or printing.

1. ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS

Delete the ones you don’t like or those that are near duplicates of others. No sense in clogging up your hard drive or CDs with junk. Use a good photo management software program like ACDSEE 7, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5 to view, organize and name your images. These programs also let you batch rename so you can give more descriptive file names to a group of photos at the same time. You can add key words and tags to make finding your photos easier. Be detailed in your photo descriptions, not just “John and Laurie.” You’ll probably have hundreds of photos of your kids and it will be harder to find the one you’re looking for. Better to say “John and Laurie waterskiing on Lake Powell, May 2004.”

2. BACK UP YOUR ORIGINALS

Mistakes can happen. It is a good idea to back up all your images to a CD before you start editing or changing them. That way you always have the original to go back to if you accidentally save over an image or made changes to a photo that you later decide you don’t like. CDs hold lots of photos, making it cheap insurance.

3. ROTATE IMAGES

Trying to look at a sideways photo is annoying. Use your photo management or editing software to rotate photos as needed. And if you have any images that are a little crooked, you can fix that using your editing software. Most photo editors have an automatic “straighten” function, or you can manually rotate the image a few degrees to straighten the horizon line.

4. REMOVE RED-EYE

Even with your digital camera’s auto red-eye reduction function, your subject’s eyes may still have red-eye. Use your photo editing software to remove it. Zoom in on the eyes and it will be easier for you to correct the red-eye. I’ve tried a number of red-eye correction tools and find that the one that comes with ACDSEE 7’s photo editor is among the best. It zeros in just on the red eye and doesn’t darken the surrounding eye area like some other software does.

5. CROP YOUR PHOTOS

Crop out unnecessary or distracting backgrounds and focus in on your subject. Most photo editing programs will keep the aspect ratio, so when you draw a box around the area you want to focus on it will crop it as 4×6 or whatever you have specified. That way you won’t end up with an odd size photo. Ofoto, the online photo printer (now called Kodak EasyShare Gallery), also has a very good cropping tool for maintaining the proper print size. It comes with its free photo editor.

6. ADJUST LIGHTING AND CONTRAST

Some of your photos may have come out washed out or too dark. You can automatically adjust the color, brightness and contrast of your photos. The better programs like Photoshop Album 2.0, Jasc and ACDSEE also have tools for making manual adjustments for fine-tuning. Be careful not to overdo it, though, or your picture could come out grainy.

7. PREPARE TO SHARE

There are a number of ways to share your images. Several programs, like Roxio Photo Suite 7, ACDSEE7, Photoshop Album and Paint Shop Photo Album allow you to create digital photo albums or slide shows, complete with music, transitions and captions. You can burn them to CD or resize and optimize for emailing directly from the program.

Online photo services such as PhotoWorks, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery (Ofoto) also let you share your photos on line, for free. You simply upload your images to their server into your own photo albums and add captions if you wish. Then email your friends with a link to your albums. With most of the online services your photos stay on their servers as long as you have an account with them, for free. Signing up for an account is free, you only pay for photos you choose to purchase.

For hardcore photo sharers, there are also dedicated photo sharing applications such as PiXPO v1.5.0, which lets you share photos right off your hard drive. This is a peer to peer software application that allows you to connect directly with your friends and family to share and view pictures online with no uploads. Unlike traditional photo sharing services, you have unlimited storage and you don’t have to upload your photos to a distant server or wait for friends to log onto some photo sharing site. The application is easy to install and use and it’s inexpensive, around $30. PC Magazine rated it an Editor’s Choice in their January 3, 2005 issue.

About The Author Valerie Goettsch publishes the digital photography website http://www.digitalphotos101.com featuring reviews of photo editing and album software and digital photo printing services. info@digitalphotos101.com