Everyone Loves To Travel!

Costa Rica Vacation: A nature lover's dream!

Costa Rica is a small country of some three million inhabitants, but it is a vacation destination with an abundance of variety.

Once you “settle in”, you are struck by the lush, green beauty of the countryside. It seems that everywhere you look, you see palm trees, banana plants, and sugarcane as well as coffee plantations and many kinds of exotic plants, bushes, and flowers. Costa Rica is a nature lover's paradise. If you enjoy being at one with nature, you will get enthralled by this fascinating vacation destination.

Enjoy the lush variety of plants and trees, the tropical flowers, the cultivated flower nurseries protected by black netting, and the intensive strawberry farming.  Take a picture standing next to the huge leaves of the sombrilla del pobre (poor person’s parasol) plant.

During your Costa Rica vacation, you will see butterflies everywhere. Within easy reach of San José, there are a couple of butterfly farms where you can see and photograph butterflies in a natural setting.  Another example of variety in the wild is the birdlife of Costa Rica. You have to be alert to see some of the birds and even faster to photograph them!

Costa Rica is famous for its wide variety of national and private parks, Indian reserves, and wildlife refuges. In fact, almost 27 percent of the land is protected, the largest proportion of any country in the world.

There is so much to see and absorb in Costa Rica that a two-week vacation will only allow you to scratch the surface, so be prepared to plan a second vacation to this fascinating country. 

10 Helpful Fundraising Websites

If you are looking for helpful resources and ideas for your fundraising activities, what you need might be just one click away.    Here are links for  ten helpful fundraising websites & resources:

Top School Fundraisers - Part of the Step By Step Fundraising family
Grassroots Fundraising Journal - Fundraising news and ideas
Forum for Fundraising - Online resource for the development of senior fundraising professionals
Fundraisers.com - Fundraising magazine with many great ideas
Fundraising Network - Online directory of fundraising companies
Fundraising FAQ - from North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
Marc Pitman - Extreme Fundraising Ezine
Tony Poderis - Fundraising Information
Fun For Life Club Fundraising Program - Unique Fundraising Concept
FundraisingDeals.com - Attractive deals for a variety of fundraising products

And remember to keep the "fun" in fundraising!

10 Popular Caribbean Island Cruise Stops

Here is a smart and cost effective way for  you to see the Caribbean:  take a  7 day Caribbean cruise. 

You can expect to see lots of sea, sun, and sand!  As you  sail around the beautiful Caribbean islands, you can relax on a sandy Caribbean beach, listen to genuine Caribbean music, eat at a Caribbean restaurant, walk through island rain forests, hire equipment and go Caribbean scuba diving or sailing around the spectacular coral reefs.

Many cruise lines will allow you to choose where you want to start your Caribbean trip, and then all you have to do for the next 7 days is just enjoy the warm Caribbean hospitality as you go from port to port.
So...get ready for some Caribbean magic!!  Decide how many of these ten popular Caribbean destinations will be on your cruise itinerary:

Puerto Rico
Jamaica
Aruba
Barbados
St. Maarten
US Virgin Islands
Bahamas (Nassau)
Antigua
Martinique
Caymans

Happy sailing!

How to Solve Your Staffing Problems

If  you are a healthcare employer you may be experiencing staffing problems on an ongoing basis.  High turn over rates and disgruntled de-motivated  health care employees are important reasons for you to look for creative ways to improve employee satisfaction. 

Here are a five suggestions worth considering:

1. Offer a luxury vacation gift certificate as a sign-on bonus for new healthcare staff
2. Offer a luxury vacation as a referral bonus to any employee who refers an acquaintance that is subsequently hired.
3. Offer a luxury vacation as a retention to any employee who stays with the organization for one year or more
4. Offer programs to meet the needs of your employees (e.g. day care, tuition incentives, flexible shifts)
5. Develop an employee recognition and reward program.  People stay where they feel appreciated and important.

Individual incentive programs allow participants to choose their own reward based on the parameters you set. Learn more about how Fun For Life Club does individual travel incentives!   This could be an effective tool in reducing your staffing problems.

Travel Incentive Programs can Boost Your Business

Few would argue that travel is the most exciting of all business incentives.

When a hardworking employee, a  loyal customer or an important business partner is rewarded with a luxury vacation based on performance, as a means of saying  “thank you”,  or as a business gift, the gift recipient has a visible symbol of achievement, prestige, status, and recognition!  That means that a travel incentive program is a great way to influence sales and create powerful alliances.

Let's Plan a Trip: Travel Destinations

International travel is within the reach of far more people today than it was just a few years ago.   Choosing a travel destination is one of the really fun aspects of planning a trip...and there is lots to choose from.

Start by choosing a vacation destination from the list below:

• Europe

• Africa

• Asia

• The Caribbean

• Central America

• The Middle east

• North America

• Oceania & The South Pacific

• South America

• Antarctic Arctic

Let's Plan a Trip: Set your Travel Budget

In order to plan a fun filled trip, you will have to decide how much you can afford to spend, the time available and the countries that you want to visit.  Your biggest expense will probably be your airline ticket, accommodations and meals.  But do not overlook other expenses such as airport taxes, bus, train or taxi fares and money to spend on entertainment, sight-seeing and purchases. These expenses add up quickly.

One way to reduce costs is by planning a trip with a group.  Group travel tours can reduce costs by as much as 40 percent when the group is large enough to travel by chartered plane.   Customized group travel packages with accommodations, tours and some meals, can also provide good value for the cost.

On the other hand, if you are like me. you may desire the freedom of traveling alone or with a companion or two. There are often a number of air fares to choose from for any destination, dependent on the route, stopovers and length of stay you select.

Fun For Life CLub International is an exclusive travel club that can be of great assisstance in helping you plan a memorable trip within your travel budget.

Let's Plan a Trip

Just about everyone has dreamned about distant horizons.  Many people often wonder what the rest of the world is like.  who wouldn't like to see the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon, or the grandeur of the snowy Swiss Alps?

Others may be fascinated by places full of reminders of ancient civilizations, such as pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens,  or the almost endless catacombs in Rome. The past can come alive before your very eyes.

But the present is exciting too.  You may have heard about the famed Paris with its Eiffel Tower and Champs Élysées, or Hong Kong with its colorful streets and shops. You could gaze at a koala bear in Australia, or have a plate of sukiyaki served by an almond-eyed kimono-clad lady in Japan.

How to Reward Good Tenants

Good tenants, like good help, are hard to find.  If you are a property manager, there is an excellent way to encouarge your tenants to stay with you a minimum of three years: Reward them with a luxury vacation!   Let me introduce you to the Fun For Life Customer Loyalty Program.

How do you develop a customer loyalty program for your tenants?  Start with this checklist:

• Start by considering the demographics of your tenants. 
• What are their income levels?
• What will it take to turn them on?
• What is their experience level with incentive programs?
• How much could you spend on the tenant loyalty program?

Reward Your Employees with Free Vacations

What do employees really want?

Regardless of helpful advances in technology in which many routine tasks can now be automated and done by a “machine”, human capital will always be an essential part of any successful business. This is because, at its core, business is all about relationships - something a computer or other man-made machine knows nothing about and cannot duplicate.

Customer service requires human involvement. Quality employees can explain the value of the product to the customer and can offer satisfying customer service, which of course translates to more profits for your business. So how can you keep your employees motivated to do just that?