Shirley Simpson writes for All Area Codes where you can easily locate area codes for all cities and states and even perform a reverse phone search.

Instead of staying cooped up this winter, consider going on a great vacation to the mountains, escaping to a metropolitan city, or warming up in the desert. There are so many places to explore in a wide variety of price ranges, so pack up the car, bring your skis, or swimsuit and don’t forget to pack some sunscreen. Consider these five destinations to make your winter memorable.

1. Colorado. This state is full of ski resorts for the whole family to enjoy. The powder is fresh and the scenery is beautiful, especially at the popular resort Vail. This famous resort has five thousand two hundred and eighty nine acres of land available to ski on. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just skiing. Snowboarding, cross-country skiing, and ice-skating are also available at this unforgettable resort. If you are more interested in a fun nightlife, consider visiting Beaver Creek Village. This mountain getaway features theaters, jazz concerts, and movies amidst the beauty of the mountains.

2.     Boston, Massachusetts. This city is rich with history and would make a great destination for the winter. The freedom trail, which recounts the revolutionary war, is a fun 90-minute walk taking you around the city. You could always visit the U.S.S. Constitution, which is the oldest commissioned warship in the U.S. There are several four star hotels downtown that are close to subway stops, making it easy to navigate through the city. Boston has enough activities to keep any family entertained for a week.

3.     Palm Springs, California. If you can’t stand the cold and need to be warmed up, consider visiting Palm Springs. This popular desert town is just a few hours away from Los Angeles and features several fun activities for kids. The city features a rotating tramcar, an air museum and a children’s discovery museum. Enjoy yourself at Splashtopia, an outdoor water park that has waterfalls, a lazy river, and a sandy beach. The best part of Palm Springs is enjoying the sun outdoors playing golf, going hiking, or having a tennis match.

4.     Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont. If you want to try something out of the ordinary, consider traveling to Vermont this winter to indulge in 1,000 acres of ski resorts. This charming town has activities for all ages including tubing, sledding, riding a snow mobile, and even dog sledding with Alaskan Huskies. Most resorts contain indoor pools and hot tubs if you need to warm up after an afternoon skiing.

5.     Ice Hotel, Sweden. For those of you that want to travel abroad, try heading to Jukkasjarvi, Sweden to explore the world’s largest hotel made of ice and snow. Try sleeping in an ice room, where you can fall fast asleep in a thermal sleeping bag rolled out on reindeer skins. If the cold is too much for you, warmer rooms are available in a separate part of the hotel. Hunting, hiking, and ice fishing are also popular activities in this town. This would be one unforgettable winter vacation.

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1. 10 Must Haves for Winter
2. 5 Travel Destinations for Your Bucket List
3. Great Day Trips From New York City

For my birthday this year babycakes & I decided to pay Las Vegas a first time visit; and what better way to celebrate the last year of my 20s!
Going to Vegas in January did not sound like the best idea, besides isn’t Vegas about crazy hot weather, crazy hot parties, crazy wild drinking and gambling?! Of course it is, but maybe not quite in January. This is my Las Vegas, first time experience, in a nutshell.

4 Days 3 Nights

• Early flight to LAS from JFK
• Arrival at LAS…wait did I just see Slot machines at the Airport. Nah, my eyes are seeing things…let’s go claim our luggage…
• Huh, more Slot machines. Does anyone have a quarter?! Ok, NO, let’s keep walking, we have plenty more to see.
• Inexpensive shuttle service through Showtime Tours right outside the airport, thank goodness we didn’t purchase the shuttle service through Orbitz.
• Arrival at the Bellagio, wow, how beautiful! Even though check in wasn’t until 3pm, our room was ready before 3pm, that was a plus!
• How do we get to our room again?! Where’s that Bellagio Hotel Map when you need one?!
• After making a left at the bar, and passing the slot machines and blackjack tables, we finally found the elevators to the rooms.
• Bellagio = Amazing! The décor, the bathroom, the king size bed, it was all great!

Ok, so the Bellagio is nicely situated in what I would call the middle of the Las Vegas Strip!

To the right of the Bellagio are New York, New York, Excalibur, Tropicana, MGM Grand, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo, Aria, etc…

To the left of the Bellagio you have Caesar’s Palace, Ballys, Harrahs, Treasure Island, Venetian, Mirage, Palazzo, Wynn, Encore, Trump…

and further down the strip you’ll find the Stratosphere, Sahara, Circus Circus, and Fremont/Downtown Las Vegas hotels such as Golden Nugget, etc…

Across from the Bellagio you’ll find Paris, and Planet Hollywood hotel. (I’ve only mentioned a few, there are many many more hotels, but these are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head and that popped out the most when you go out there.

The bus tour was good, they played a documentary about the Hoover dam and the Grand Canyon and on our way back a movie about Las Vegas. Very informational/educational, makes you appreciate visiting the state of Nevada even more.

The rain was still coming down hard, and as we were on our way to the Grand Canyon and up those steep mountains the heavy rain turned into heavy snow, and it was beautiful! We knew by now we weren’t going to be able to see the Grand Canyon completely and make it all the way to the top. The people planning to do the Skywalk and/or helicopter rides weren’t going to be doing that either. We pretty much were on the “let’s enjoy this while we can, because in a few minutes, we’ll have to turn around”. The bus made a pit stop to see if the roads were clear enough to continue, bus driver made a few calls and it was a no go. Zero visibility = NO Grand Canyon! = Full refunds for everyone. So even though we didn’t get to see the entire Grand Canyon and the Skywalk, etc… we got to see Hoover Dam and the snow in the mountains and other cool stuff, and still get our money back. I liked this tour!

Later in the evening we got lost in the Forum Shops at Caesar Palace, eventually made our way out and around the other hotels on that side of the strip and we checked out a celebrity car show at the Palazzo.

Day 3 was my Birthday! No more rain! YES! The Sun was out, the sky was clear, it was a beautiful day! Lots planned! We started with a nice breakfast buffet at the Wynn, (highly recommended), then a bus ride down the strip towards Downtown Las Vegas, The Deuce Bus – $3 one way, $7 all day. Quick stop at the Stratosphere, where they have cool rides at the very top of the building right where the needle is pointing. I was too punk to get on any of them, maybe next time.
Back to the Bellagio to get pampered at the Spa, where couples massages waited for us. The Bellagio Spa is HIGHLY recommended.

We also stopped by Mandalay Bay and checked out the Shark Reef Aquarium, beautiful hotel, cool aquarium.

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After a well deserved vacation to Aruba, I am now back to the States. Not super excited, but I am excited to share my Aruba vacation with my blog readers, and list some of the PROs and CONs of visiting Aruba.

PROs

If you are going to Aruba, you must fly JETBLUE, great flight, great staff, non-stop, free in-flight movie, free drinks & snacks it’s the best way to go.

Stay at a high rise hotel such as: Holiday Inn, Occidental, Riu Palace, one of the Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, etc… They are worth the money and their pool, and beach is pretty amazing.

Pick a place near or on Palm Beach. To me Palm Beach was the nicest, cleanest, relaxing beach on the island. Perfect for swimming with less waves.

Arashi Beach was also nice not too far from Palm Beach, but has a little more waves.

Eagle Beach wasn’t one of my favorites, this beach is located by the Low Rise Hotels. Most low rise hotels are not located right on the beach, and you have to cross the street to get to the beach. To me that’s too much work, I guess I got spoiled with the beach right by my hotel.

If you are using a timeshare and your hotel is not all inclusive, it’s ok, just go food shopping when you get there. Buy enough food to last you the amount of days you are staying there. I stayed for a week, so we bought plenty of food and still went out to eat on some nights. Your money goes a long way this way.

Take advantage of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse $89 dollar Special for two. You get a lot for your money.

Be smart – ask questions at your hotel concierge, they are very helpful and friendly, no question is a stupid question.

Take the bus to the mall and/or the supermarket and if you have a lot of bags take a cab back to the hotel.

You can pay in Dollars or Aruban Florins.

If flying out there, take CASH with you. There are ATMs pretty much everywhere but your bank might charge you extra fees.

Do the tours – plan at least 2 tours if you are staying there for a week. They are worth the money. Some tours that we did were:

ATV Extravaganza
AWESOME. If you going to rent a jeep to tour the island, DON’T. ATVs is the best way to tour the island. SOOO much fun, the terrain is PERFECT for ATVs, and you get to see a whole lot for your money.

Helicopter Tour
Viewing the island from a different point of view. Very nice!! You get amazing shots this way. You get to see places you didn’t get to cover with the ATVs. You feel safe, secure, very exciting.

One tour/activity that we probably regretted not doing was the Kukoo Kunuku. After hearing so much positive feedback on this one, we were a little disappointed we didn’t look into it before. But definitively recommending it to my readers and I’m hoping to do it on my next trip to Aruba.

Other noticeable info/facts about Aruba:

The Sunset! You have never seen a sunset until you’ve seen one in Aruba! BEAUTIFUL!

Their license plates says: ONE HAPPY ISLAND. (indeed it is)

If you ask anyone that has been to Aruba before if they like it or not or what’s so special about it, I’m pretty sure one of the things they will say is THE PEOPLE and how FRIENDLY they are.

Being from Dominican Republic myself and I do love my country. I have NEVER seen such FRIENDLY, STRESS/DRAMA free country, and HAPPIER place than Aruba. There weren’t any angry bus drivers, or people in the streets causing ruckus or being disrespectful to women for wearing skimpy outfits. I felt completely SAFE!

The weather is PERFECT. VERY HOT, but WINDY, to keep you nice and tan but yet nice and cool.

Minor CONs:

I could really write about Aruba pros all day, but here are my only two (2) CONs:

Iguanas
Lizards

They are nice to look at, but they are EVERYWHERE. Kinda scary after a while, but they don’t seem to bother people if you don’t bother them.

*For more information and to plan your Aruba vacation visit: Aruba.com

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