Tamron 18-250mm

Both of the new lenses are designed specifically for ASP/C-sized sensors, in other words the prosumer DSLR market. The Canon 18-200mm is obviously not offered for any camera outside the Canon range, and is positioned as a late entry to compete alongside the Nikon 18-200m with above-par performance and above-par pricing. A nice touch is the addition of IS found in most of Canon’s DSLR targeted products.

The Tamron lens is intriguing, because it provides a never-before seen combination of wide-angle and 13.8x super-zoom capabilities. The price point is also interesting, sitting in showrooms next to the Sigma 18-200mm with OS.

The pros over at Digital Photography Review have reviewed the Canon 18-200mm, and a review for the Tamrom 18-250 can be found at PopPhoto.

Booking trips, whether for business or pleasure, has never been easier.

Like most people, I like to do my vacation planning online, while I’m supposed to be hard at work. It’s pretty easy to look like you’re performing an important task as well; just furrow your brow, get really close to your computer monitor, and start clicking away at the mouse. It’s a foolproof system, unless of course, your job does not involve a computer. Then the whole activity would look pretty foolish and more importantly, you would not actually be booking a trip.

There is a number of quality websites dedicated to finding a number of different trip options in a matter of seconds. Travelocity, CheapoAir, Travelation, Kayak, Orbitz, Lowfares, Priceline, and my personal favourite Expedia – and this has little to do with preferential service, and everything to do with singing out a twangy “dot com”, just like in the commercial, as I type in the web address.

Every once in a while however, flight prices take off and border on the outrageous. Especially, if you are booking on short notice and need to fly on less than 7 days notice. With limited notice, these websites will return flight prices from their search engines, double what they were a few days prior. At this point there’s no need to type harder on the keyboard, throw the mouse or curse the twangy little “dot com” diddy.

It will save a lot of time – and more importantly, money – to pick up the phone and get a little personal.

Call a travel agent.

It may be a little unorthodox in the wonderful world of technology, but actual people can help. Travel agents will have access to flights a typical search engine will not; because if they didn’t, well travel agents just wouldn’t be around anymore.

On 8 days notice my flight to Dallas was about $550. On 7 days notice the exact same flight was $1275. On 6 days notice, after talking in person to the wonderful people at Flight Centre, the flight was $650.

So if you can’t book early, or maybe if you’re just looking for a better deal, just pick up the phone and get a little personal.

Coincidently enough, it’s also pretty easy to look like you’re busy at work while on the phone as well, so it can even still be done while pretending to work.

Anyway you look at it though, holidays are becoming about experiences, not just about laying on a beach drinking a resort out of its margarita supply.

Read the full article here.

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1. Tectonic Plate Diving ($2,000 including flight & hotel) – Dive in between tectonic plates off of Iceland.
2. James Bond Bungee Jump ($1,200 including flight & hotel) -Jump off of the famous Verzasca Dam, just like Bond did in Goldeneye.
3. Shark Diving in Cape Town ($4,000 including flight & hotel) – Crazy. Nuff said.
4. Fly a MiG-31 ($27,000 including hotel) – get taken for the ride of your life above Moscow in a fighter jet.
5. Bolivia Challenge ($4,000 including flight & hotel) – a week of biking and ice climbing in Bolivia, including a stint on the famous death road. And yes it is named that for a reason.

Check out the entire reviews at CNNmoney.com

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In addition to being nearby all the sights in Rome, you are also situated just blocks from the train station on the famous Via Nazionale. Pricing on this four-star hotel starts at €130 for single occupancy or €150 for double.

Nice Touch: The complimentary mini-bar is refreshed daily.

The Camelback Inn is a Marriott hotel is located in the spa and golfing mecca of Scottsdale, Arizona. This resort is a luxurious hotel where you are treated like kings and queens from the moment the reservation is made. Not only are the grounds beautiful to walk around, there are several swimming pools to choose from and several different restaurants on the grounds that are bound to fulfill any cravings.

I had the opportunity to stay at the Camelback Inn on a spa trip with my sister. We got our first glimpse of the impeccable service offered at the resort when we phoned to make reservations. Once the trip was official we mulled over the extensive spa menu for a few weeks before finally committing and planning out our luxurious spa day; this was not an easy task. When we phoned to book all of our spa treatments, the service we received was second to none. They accommodated our every request and offered further suggestions for activities and dining needs. This only served to whet our appetite and made us even more excited for the experience that was to come! When we arrived at the Camelback Inn we were absolutely blown away at the beauty that surrounded us, the resort sits comfortably in-between Camelback Mountain and Mummy Mountain and is covered in beautiful gardens and fountains. The rooms were gorgeous with a private patio surrounded by gardens. There were plenty of paths if you wished to stroll around the grounds that boast 300 rooms and almost 20 suites and enjoy the scenery.

Once we got settled in we enjoyed dinner at the Navajo Restaurant. The food at the Navajo was great, as was the service, which we soon came to expect of our stay at the Camelback Inn. After an exhausting day of travel we were greatly looking forward to our day of relaxing at the spa. That is precisely what we did. The award winning spa at the Camelback Inn was certainly everything we had hoped it to be! The spa itself is 32,000 square feet of luxury, including its own healthy restaurant called Sprout’s. You can’t help but be relaxed from the moment you slide into your robe and slippers in preparation for your day of pampering. While there, we met people from all over the world who were there to enjoy everything the Camelback had to offer. All of the treatments we received were amazing, our only regret being that we didn’t spend every day at the spa!

We decided to try and enjoy as much of what Scottsdale has to offer while we were there, so of course we did some shopping, which was no problem as the Camelback was located close enough to all of the desirable shops that we weren’t able to get lost! There was also a myriad of activities going on while we were there including star gazing, carriage rides, and other such activities directed at different age groups that you could participate in if you so chose. They really had something for everyone

Although they are not usually full – for some reason a lot of us can’t stand three weeks of relaxation – they still offer the full menu’s. They typically occur in the spring and fall and mix a few port days in different regions with most days spent at sea. Some of the cruises come down to about $35/day, but there’s even some great deals on the major lines. Celebrity’s Galaxy repositions from the Mediterranean back to the Caribbean in December 2008 over 14 days. It’ll spend some time in Morocco, Canary Islands and the British Virgin Islands. The inside cabins go for $749 ($54/day). If you ask me that’s crazy. I can’t even get a three star hotel in the Caribbean for that price, let alone including the premium food and service.

Take the time to drop a comment if you have ever taken one of these or would like to. And if you’re more into island hopping vs. cruises take a look at our post on Renting an island for $7/day.

The owner of Necker however was in financial difficulty and finally sold it for £180,000 in 1979. Crazy. Necker is now rented out at $46,000/day for the whole island, which can accommodate 24 people.

But you don’t have to spend a fortune now to stay on an island. Enedrik Island in the Marshall Islands is a 14 acre beauty with rustic accommodation for eight people. You can rent the entire island for $395/week. That’s about $7/day per person. Now that’s a deal. You get 1000 foot long white sand beach, great snorkeling spots, two cabins and a boat you can use to explore. I never thought they had deals like this out there, but they are, you just have to look for them.