TRAVEL TIPS

What should I do if I'm taking a road trip?

• Look at maps and plan your route.
• Research the roads you'll take. You'll especially want to know if you'll be traveling through areas of major road construction.
• Make estimates of travel times along the route, so you'll have an idea when you'll be at certain points on your trip. This will help you to plan rest and meal stops. It will also help you plan to avoid traveling through a major city or area of road construction during rush hour.
• Get the car checked, especially the filters, belts, fluid levels and have the oil changed. Don't wait until the last minute, it may take time to get an appointment and parts may need to be ordered. You also want some time to drive around town and make sure that whatever they fixed stays fixed.
• Check the condition of your wiper blades.
• Check the operation of your turn signals, brake lights as well as the high and low beams.
• Examine the tread on your tires.
• Make sure your car is prepared for the weather it will encounter on your trip. You might need more antifreeze, snow tires or recharged air-conditioning.
• Today, many cars have fancy wheels instead of hubcaps. These wheels usually have a lock to prevent them from being stolen. If you have a car with wheel locks, make sure you know where the key is stored (often with the jack). Otherwise, a flat tire will become a major problem since you won't be able to get the wheel off the car.
• Get your car cleaned. You'll feel better in a clean car.
• Pack an emergency kit in your car. Include motion sickness medication if anyone in your group suffers from it. Remove any items from the car that you won't need on your trip.
• Prepare some on road entertainment for your trip. Include games and CDs of music and/or audio books.
• Check your plates, registration and insurance information to make sure they are all valid. Be sure to place your insurance company's emergency contact number in your car.
• Check with all the drivers in your party to make sure their driver's licenses haven't expired.
• Check your insurance for expiration dates and coverage for your automobile.
• Arrange for someone to start your other car, if you leave one home, during very cold or very hot weather.
• Fill the car with gas before you pack the car so all the fumes won't bother your passengers. Check the fluid levels and tire pressure, your tire pressure will affect the ride and gas mileage you get on your trip.
• Pack the car inside the garage, with the door down, so people driving by won't find out you're leaving.

"No Act of Kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -Aesop

I am your constant companion. 

I am your greatest helper, or your heaviest burden.

I will push you onward, or drag you down to failure.

I am at your constant command.

Half the things you do, you turn over to me, for I do them correctly and quickly.

I am easily managed but you must be firm with me. Show me how you want something done exactly and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I will accept any repeated act or attitude as a traning experience.

I am the servant of all great people, and alas, all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine, but I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a human. You may run me for profit or you may run me for ruin. It makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me....and I will destroy you.

Who Am I?

I AM HABIT

1. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird following. By flying in a "V"           formation the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if the bird flew alone. 

• LESSON: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of another.

2. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

• LESSON: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to the others.

3. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

• LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. With people, as with geese, we are interdependent on each other.
  

4. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

• LESSON: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging - and not something else.

5. When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation or catch up with the flock.

• LESSON: If we have as much sense as the geese, we too, will stand by each other in difficult times, as well as when we are strong.

TRAVEL TIPS

Planning Your Trip: Know Before You Go!
Travelers should familiarize themselves with their destinations, both to get the most enjoyment out of the visit and to avoid known dangers. Travelers should also be aware of restrictions on items that may be taken overseas and even on items that may be brought back into your country upon your return.

Customs and Import Restrictions
Customs Restrictions of Foreign Destinations – What You Cannot Take to Other Countries 
Many countries have restrictions on what may be brought into the country, including food, pets, and medications. Even over-the-counter medications may be prohibited in some countries. Check with the embassies of your destination countries as to prohibited items. Foreign embassy and consulate contact information can also be found on the Country Specific Information for each country.

Taking a Pet Overseas
If you decide to take your pet with you when you go abroad, you should check with the embassies of the destination countries as to specific requirements that must be met before a pet may be brought into the country. Many countries have strict health, quarantine, agriculture, wildlife, and customs requirements and prohibitions. Foreign embassy and consulate contact information can also be found on the Country Specific Information for each country.

Note: In a crisis in which chartered or military aircraft or ships are used to evacuate civilians from a danger area, pets will not normally be permitted on the carrier. The pet owner will need to make other arrangements in order to remove the pet from the area. (Service animals, such as guide dogs, are not considered pets and will be accommodated if possible.)

Places to Receive Mail
If you will be abroad for an extended period, you may want to arrange for the delivery of your mail. Some banks and international credit card companies handle mail for customers at their overseas branches. In addition, post offices in many countries will hold mail for travelers under their General Delivery (Poste Restante) services. U.S. Embassies and Consulates do not handle private mail. Check with the embassy of your destination country to see if that will be possible there.

This story is about four people:
There was an important job to be done and everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure that somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was everybody's job.

Everybody thought that anybody could do it, and nobody realized that everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that everybody blamed somebody when actually nobody blamed anybody.

Does all this sound familiar to anybody?

What is your WHY? Why are you doing YTB? Jim Rohn said, "Your WHY is your definite purpose." What makes you get up in the morning? What makes you stay late at night? What is your reason for having your own travel company with YTB? 

I'll tell you what mine is. My mom works at a Hyatt Hotel as a housekeeper. She works from 8 to 5 but she sets her alarm clock at 4:30 in the morning. The reason why she gets up that early is because she has an hour to get ready before she walks to catch the bus at 6. She gets to the hotel around 7:30 and change to her housekeeping uniform then off to cleaning rooms. When she gets off at 5...she takes the bus again so she doesn't get home until 6:30. She cooks, we eat, she watch a little bit of TV and goes to bed. She wakes up in the morning and do it all over again. She's been working there for 26 years now and she only gets 8 dollars and hour. I remember when she got excited for a .25 raise. 

The reason why I'm telling you this story is because I want to go to her work, find her at one of the hotel room she's cleaning and have her put on this T-shirt I got her that reads "My son just retired me." Tell her to go up to her boss and say, "I QUIT." I take her home and my dad is waiting for her with luggages and a Limo in front of the house. I said, "Get dress, you and dad are going to Hawaii." When they are about to leave, I pull out my rubberband bank out of my pocket and say, "Wait, here's 5 grand dad and here's 5 grand mom. Go have fun. Just get me a t-shirt when you get back." Retiring my mom and sending my parents to the island they always wanted to go is great but to see the look on their faces...I want to remember it for the rest of my life. I can't wait to see it.

That's my WHY! One of them at least. Find out what your WHY is and engrave it in your heart. A lot of people wants to be successful but don't know how to. "If you know your WHY...the HOW to is easy." Whatever your WHY is...go after it...with a passion.