Guest Houses, what a great alternative to the Bed and
Breakfast. A Guest House is and can be very similar to a Bed and
Breakfast. Similar in the fact that you usually deal with a
private owner, not a huge hotel/motel chain with an employee
sitting at the front desk. The owners at most B&B’s are very
friendly, likewise as with the Guest House owners. They offer
the personal service much lacking in the hotel environment.
However, with the B&B, the owner usually lives on the premises
whereas, the Guest House owner lives off the premises making the
guest a little more relaxed. Staying at a Bed and Breakfast most
times you share one or more of the amenities offered. These
amenities could be the gathering areas such as the family room,
living room, library, porches, patios, driveways and sometimes
bathrooms are also shared. The Guest House is much more private
as you are the only occupant. Nothing to share, such as a
computer, television, or just sitting on the screened porch in
your robe if you want to, having the entire home to yourself and
your family for the length of time you have rented it. As for
the breakfast part of the Bed & Breakfast, it is usually very
good offering a gourmet designed egg dish along with all the
accompanying meats, fruits and muffins. The kitchens are usually
reserved for the owners or hired help to prepare the meal. The
Guest house offers a kitchen many equipped with everything you
would need to prepare your own meal. Granted when you’re on
vacation you might not want to always fix a meal, but if you
have special needs, or maybe affordability is an issue. Making
your own meals is an excellent option. Guest services can be
similar, the B&B’s might change your bed linens daily, many do
not. Usually fresh towels are offered. The Guest House comes
equipped with fresh linens, towels usually for two to three days
then they will come by and clean and replenish. Usually anything
you need is just a phone call away while staying at the house.
Cost can be same but with the Bed and Breakfast you get a
bedroom, possibly a suite, but everything else is shared. The
Guest House you enjoy the entire home. Now I understand the
premise of the B&B is to socialize, get to know your fellow
travelers, which at times can be enjoyable. But sometimes it is
wonderful to have the total peace and solitude of a home away
from home like a Guest House. They are a great alternative to
the Bed and Breakfast.

Are you planning a trip to Kiev, Ukraine? If so, you may be
wondering whether it is better to stay in a Kiev hotel or rent
an apartment in Kiev. The purpose of this brief article is to
list here some of the factors that will hopefully help you take
the decision right for you.

Staying in Kiev hotels

Kiev hotels vary in quality and prices. Daily rates for some of
them start from around USD50 per night, but usually hotels
within this price category are located outside Kiev downtown and
have pretty Soviet-like style. The average hotel rooms cost
about USD100 per night and provide major amenities that you may
need while in Kiev – room with a bathroom and hot water,
telephone line, satellite or cable TV. More expensive hotels can
provide high speed Internet and other nice amenities like hotel
gym or nice swimming pool. Charge for some Kiev hotels includes
breakfasts that may be pretty convenient way to start your day.
The daily rates for some of the most expensive Kiev hotels are
around USD500 per night.

Advantage of staying in a Kiev hotel is the ability to check-out
any day you wish or extend your stay for as long as you want.
Also, every-day cleaning, room service, some in-house
restaurants, cafés, gyms, swimming pools can be a nice thing to
have around. Disadvantages include relatively high price for a
small space you are getting, and low privacy.

Staying in Kiev apartments

Renting an apartment in Kiev is becoming increasingly popular
among foreign guests to Kiev. Kiev apartments provide a lot of
space (one-bedroom, two-bedroom or even three-bedroom
apartments), excellent western-standard renovation, variety of
amenities. All of Kiev apartments have telephone lines, cable
TV, fridge, oven, kitchen with everything you may need to avoid
expensive Kiev restaurants. Many apartments have satellite TV
with numerous international channels, air-conditioning,
CD-players, DVD-players. Some apartments have high-speed
Internet or Jacuzzi.

Prices for Kiev apartments vary depending on the amenities and
the exact location of any specific apartment. In particular,
apartments in the very center of Kiev near Khreshatik St. and
Independence Square are much more expensive than those further
from Khreshatik or in other areas of Kiev. Accordingly, rates
for the apartments vary considerably depending on those factors.
The least expensive one-room apartments outside Kiev center can
be available at the rates starting around USD30 per night, the
most expensive luxury apartments can cost up to USD300 per
night. The average rates are around USD60 for a studio,
USD80-100 for a one-bedroom apartment, USD120-130 for a
two-bedroom apartment. The above rates tend to change and may be
different at the time you are reading this article.

There are no two Kiev apartments alike. It is not a hotel where
you book one of the rooms which are all nearly the same. All of
Kiev apartments are unique. Though, it is obviously an asset of
apartments, it has also some downsides. In particular, it may be
hard (if not impossible at all) to change the dates of your
stay. For example, if you want to extend your stay in the
apartment for a few days more, the apartment may already be
booked by someone else. On the other hand, if you want to leave
the apartment earlier, you will be required to cover for the
whole period of your booking anyway, since the apartment was
kept for you, and all other clients interested in the same dates
were refused. The above disadvantages can be easily eliminated
by more careful and thorough planning of the exact dates of
stay.

The same uniqueness of the apartments causes another
inconvenience. Landlords of good apartments are reluctant to
commit to bookings shorter than five nights. If someone agrees
to book an apartment for a shorter period, it often means that
they will accommodate you in any apartment available at the date
of your arrival. One-three night stays are not attractive for
apartment landlords and agencies at all, so they will hardly be
able to book anything specific. Exception is the situation when
there is a few day opening between other bookings that fits the
dates you are interested in. Four-night stays are somewhere on
the edge. The agencies may book a specific apartment, but there
is always a chance that its landlord will let the agency down
and do not keep the apartment for such a short period.

In order to book a Kiev apartment, you will be required to
provide a booking deposit in the amount equal to a one-night
stay or a higher amount depending on each particular apartment
and the length of your stay.

Availability of specific apartments is changing very fast, and
some agencies have availability calendar with bookings a few
months in advance. So, it is always good idea to book an
apartment well in advance, at least three or four weeks before
your trip.

Those are basically the major things to keep in mind when
choosing between a stay in Kiev apartments or Kiev hotels.
Regardless of what kind of accommodation you choose, you will
enjoy your stay in this beautiful European city with so many
things to offer to its visitors.

There are various things which need to be thought about when deciding what kind of

href="http://www.yourfloors.co.uk">flooring to get fitted. Getting new flooring put in in your

home can breathe new life into it and can be a great way to reinvigorate your living environment. It

may not be as expensive as you think either.

A big consideration on what flooring to choose is the function of the room it will go in. Flooring

which makes sense for the front room may not be appropriate for the bathroom or kitchen for example.

Some of the more widely used types of flooring are carpet, vinyl, wood, and laminate.

Laminate flooring can be a great alternative to wooden flooring if you are looking for a wood effect

floor at a lower cost. Laminate flooring is made from a sheet of MDF with a wood-effect plastic

surface attached to it. The downside of laminate flooring is that whilst it is scratch resistant

once it is scratched it is impossible to repair. That aside it can still be an ideal choice for a

kitchen, where the plastic coating provides an easily cleanable surface. On the other hand a solid

wood flooring would not be a good idea in a bathroom, or indeed any room which is likely to get very

humid and wet. Some woods are more vulnerable to the wet than others.

If you are looking to fit a wooden floor, its important you have a suitable surface to fit it on.

Ideally your existing floor needs to be flat, and dry. There are options however to resolve uneven

flooring problems, such as laying ply throughout, or employing an underlay to create a floating

floor.

Often laminate flooring is sold as a product you can assemble without help which is a great way of

keeping costs down. Solid wood flooring requires however a higher degree of DIY skills, so it can

sometimes be advisable to get solid wooden floors fitted professionally which on the downside can

add substantially to the cost.

Something many people do not realise when they measure their room to work out how much flooring they

will need ” is that it is important to include a 10mm gap around the edge of the room for the wooden

flooring to expand and contract.

As an integral part of any interior design scheme, it is vital to select the right flooring. Whilst

wooden or laminate floors can be ideal ” often for a more chic minimalist look; carpet can be a

better option if you are trying to achieve a more traditional home feel. The important thing is you

take into account the various factors you need to consider before ordering new flooring.

Top Ten Tips–Get Through the Airport Checkpoint–Quickly

By ElmerFizz.com

http://www.elmerfizz.com

Seems travelers love to hate the screeners at the airport. Keep in mind, the front line personnel that you see as you make your way toward the gate are just the worker bees. They’re not Congress and they’re not the big wig decision makers. If at times they seem like robots, deviating very little from their spcheel, it’s because they have procedures that they must follow and deviating from the standard operation procedure is not an option.

There are a number of things you can do yourself to speed things along. Listed below are the top ten tips to help your visit to the airport security checkpoint hassle-free.

1. Have your boarding pass and government issued photo ID readily available. Some airports have someone checking your boarding pass and ID as you first approach your concourse, then shortly thereafter there is another employee asking for the same thing. Actually they may be asking for the same thing, but these employees, often one a federal employee and one a private company employee, while looking at the same thing, aren’t looking for the same thing. Each person has a different role to fill. If you have to dig in your purse or wallet for these items, that will increase the wait time. Ensure your boarding pass is pulled out of the airline envelope.

2. Wear tennis shoes or known airport friendly footwear so you’ll avoid setting off the alarm on the walk through metal detector. Often the screeners will encourage you to take your shoes off before passing through the metal detector. What many passengers fail to recognize is that many, many shoe manufacturers place steel shanks (supports) in the souls of the shoes. Just because you don’t see metal, doesn’t mean they are metal-free.

3. Laptop computers and video cameras that use cassette tapes, not digital cameras, need to come out of their carrying case prior to passing through the x-ray machine. Have these items out of the case before you reach the table to divest your items.

4. Only undeveloped film with a speed of 800 or higher should be hand checked. All other disposable cameras, film of 100, 200 or 400 speed and digital cameras are safe to pass through the x-ray. Know your film speed before reaching the x-ray machine.

5. If you have an inkling that your belt buckle or larger metal watch may set off the metal detector, remove them while you’re waiting in line and have them ready to place into a bin.

6. Don’t wear pants or suspenders that contain a lot of metal. If you can’t remove the metal prior to passing through the metal detector, you’ll be sent for additional screening, thus increasing your wait time.

7. Most smell jewelry such as rings, necklaces and earrings will not set off the alarm. Don’t bother wasting time removing them.

8. Yes your fanny pack, hidden money belt and wallet on a string around your neck must pass through the x-ray, have it ready to place into a bin.

9. Leave all tools, Swiss army knives, pointed end scissors, and bladed corkscrews in your checked bag. You may not bring them onboard the aircraft in your carry-on bags. If your bag must be searched to find these items, it’s definitely going to increase your wait time.

10. Strollers and pet carriers need to pass through the x-ray machine. Remove your children and pets from this equipment prior to reaching the x-ray.

If you’re standing in line merely waiting for your turn to walk through, use this time to your advantage. If everyone were already ready to walk though the metal detector BEFORE it was actually their turn, the wait times would be greatly decreased.

Next time you fly, instead of grumbling about the procedures that neither you nor the front line screeners can change, try having some fun, being prepared and perhaps even thanking the screeners for doing their part of keeping the aircrafts safe.

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Arusha National Park is close to Arusha Town in Northern Tanzania. It is nestled against the impressive Mount Meru which dominates this park; Mount Meru can be climbed over a two or three day period. It is a steep climb on loose scree. The climber being rewarded with impressive views of the park and the plains beyond sweeping all the way across the African bush to the snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro. Half the crater of Mount Meru was blown away sometime in the distant past; this has exposed an impressive and rather huge ash cone. The remainder of the crater has resulted in exposing 1,500 meters of vertical cliff face, which makes for a rather unusual and dramatic final trek to the summit.

A highlight of Arusha National Park is driving up through the cool rainforest, to the top of Ngurdoto Crater. Ngurdoto is a caldera of an extinct volcano. You will stop often to watch the striking black and white colobus monkeys as they sit in the branches of ancient cedar trees and groom one another and occasionally stare back at you. Listening to these monkeys bark through the forest along with the call of the horn bill is a thrilling experience. These haunting calls are truly African.

Ngurdoto has a ring road that allows fabulous views down into the lush crater interior. The views on offer are stunning – remember to bring your binoculars. The crater floor has swamps, clumps of trees and some grass land. It is so green and some time can be spent at the view points drinking in the view. The crater is home to elephant, buffalo, baboon, reedbuck, colobus monkeys, leopard and duikers.

To leave your vehicle and walk has not been possible until recently; but now you are allowed to walk around the rim. This crater is a small version of the huge Ngorongoro. This added attraction will make this small beautiful park even more interesting to visit.

Mosses, ferns, lichens and orchids thrive in the damp atmosphere of the Crater, giving way to huge mahogany, olive and date palm trees on the drier crater walls. The crater floor calls out to be explored on foot but unfortunately descent into the Crater itself is not allowed.

Once you leave the forests of Ngurdoto it is possible to get a clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro, weather permitting. It is now time to head for the lakes and to explore these areas each lake seeming to have a different colour and smell. There are picnic areas around the lakes as well as opportunities to get out the safari vehicle and have a canoeing safari. This is a great way to see the bird life and the park from a different perspective. Flamingoes can be seen in huge congregations on the Momella lakes.

This park does not lay claim to be unique in any way, it is not off the beaten track, nor is it renown for anything in particular. However, it is accessible to everyone visiting Northern Tanzania; it offers a verity of habitats in a small area and is a real jewel. Do not miss an opportunity to visit this park should you get a chance.

Acquiring ladies lingerie is defiantly 1 of the most frightening things to try. If you don?t obtain the suitable information or have some experience procuring women’s silk lingerie, it may perhaps be entirely taxing and puzzling. Primarily there is a considerably wide range of ladies lingerie items to make a choice from, with varying varieties, styles, colours and sizes and second, you would have to tolerate a lot of hassle and awkward instances when trying to weigh-up every lingerie item that tickles your desire. Last but not least, if you do not get the appropriate advice in acquiring lingerie, specially designer ladies lingerie, it is really viable that you may possibly spend a lot for one single lingerie item that perchance would not look perfect on them. Find affordable, gorgeous and stylish women’s lingerie and bikinis from designers such as Livia, Verde Veronica, Sunflair, Lola Luna, Phax and Sielei.

Taking this into account, before you go sprinting off to the closest womens lingerie shop, here are a range of exceedingly handy info that would unquestionably make shopping for lingerie a lot more straightforward.

It is critical to guarantee make a note of their body form and lingerie size ahead of going shopping. The best way to identify what the best products are for them is to study their body style so that you would know what brand of lingerie would help to bring out the attractive parts of their body and keep everybody’s attention away from those sections of theirs body that make them feel self-aware.

There are mainly three lingerie sizes: thin, medium and size plus. The lingerie size that would best complement a specific person depends on their body form. Their body size would also aid in determining the selection of women’s lingerie that would be just the thing for them, for instance a garter set for an individual who has thin, narrow hips & tiny busts or a halter bra for a person who has trouble with petite busts.

It is very important to know ahead of going shopping the precise parts of their body that they would like to be improved or accentuated with a particular lingerie item. For instance push-up pads for the corsets or bra would support a person who wanted their bosom to seem substantially bigger, whilst somebody with a pair of elegant long legs would look good with long stockings.

The pet monkey named Joyng bit through her leash and romped through the fronds of the palm trees, celebrating her freedom. She paused occasionally to heave a coconut down at the sweat-soaked baseball cap of her frantic owner, who was chasing wildly after her and, in the Terengganu dialect which Joyng knew, beseeching her to come down. Such is life in tropic Malaya’s resorts–better known to Europeans (especially Germans) than Americans. Guests enjoy the sun, sandy beaches, swimming pools, eco-tourism, river cruising, ocean diving, jungle trekking, remainder-to-remnant massages and spacious villas in the architectural styles of the Malayan Archipelago.

They will also find crab-feeding monkeys, noisy hornbills and monitor lizards sunning them selves on the green lawns as their neighbors. Our press grouping’s have was limited to impertinent local culinary art, sleeping in comfortable villas, snorkeling in warm seas and partaking in 3 health club treatments, which together created a perfect high gear-enjoyment refuge memory. We had first base flown into Kuala Lumpur, ’s modern capital city, which everyone calls “KL.” The cosmopolitan city and business center gained new public awareness when the Petronas Twin Towers topped out in 1996 and occupancy began in early 1997. Tower One is occupied by Petronas, the state-owned petroleum corporation. Tower Two houses Petronas’ associate companies and multinationals. The towers are joined by the 192-foot-long sky bridge on levels 41 and 42.

Our final examination dinner was at the Fisherman’s Cove Restaurant, which offered an Asian-fusion of Western grill, Taiwanese dishes, Italian specialties and impudent seafood. The open kitchen, views and state-of-the-art design made it the ultimate dining know at Pangkor Laut. Our drive back to KLIA for our flight home was notable because it was on Ching Ming, the day that people from the Formosan communities traditionally sojourn cemeteries to honor and show respect to their ancestors. The many final exam resting places that we passed, all senior high school on hillsides, were thick with devotees and there were no places left to park on the highway.

is a great place to inflict, but be prepared for heat, overwhelming humidity and thunder-showers every afternoon, depending on the time of year. Monsoon temper starts around the beginning of October and continues to January-February. A haunt arrest, with its breezes, is fresher than a check in KL, and dress is more casual. Airlines flies five times a week ‘tween Los Angeles (LAX) and KL via Taipei and III times a week betwixt New York (JFK) and KL via Stockholm. Airlines’ crown jewel, the Golden Lounge, is the world’s largest business–and first gear-class airport passenger lounge, with good food plus corners in which to relax and check your e-mail. Pangkor Laut Recourse was included on the Circus tent Ten Overseas Hotel Spas-Asia and 100 Big top Spas Worldwide 2004 lists by Conde Nast Traveller.

Opened on March 1, 1979, the repair has been extensively refurbished under new management. It features 126 luxury villas and 22 resort hotel villas plus a watering place building and two swimming pools. It is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World mathematical group. Tanjong Jara Refuge won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its updated interpretation of a 17th-century sultan’s palace.

It was given the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences’ 5-Star Diamond Award and the top award in the Malaysian National Landscaping Competition.

For the latest deals on airline tickets please see my website at http://www.vegaskyle.com/airline

There are so many airlines and so many online websites selling tickets that the prospect of buying the perfect ticket at the right price seems daunting. When you look at the entire picture, it does seem overwhelming but if you break the task up into small and manageable pieces you are sure to get the best price possible on the airline ticket that you want.

Most importantly- you can save money on your airline tickets without having to rely on airfare price wars or on travel agents. The first thing you need to understand is that prices depend on three factors. Supply, demand, and competition. These are the same market forces that affect prices in the rest of the real world.

What increases prices? A decrease in supply, an increase in demand, or a decrease in competition.

On the flip side, prices decrease when there is an increase in supply, a decrease in demand, or an increase in competition.

So, here are some secrets…

Call the airline directly just after midnight during the week. First, there are few people calling at that time of night. Second, the price changes almost always take effect at midnight. This isn’t as true as it used to be but sometimes still effective. The internet has caused the airlines to be more efficient at changing airline prices.

If you have other airports nearby consider using them. This works not only for destinations but also arrivals. But, consider all costs involved (parking, cab fare, and of course, your time.

Book your flights as soon as your travel plans can be finalized. By doing so, you give yourself more options. Some tickets may be non-refundable so check all of the fine print.

If you find an inefficiency—Where one site is offering the same flight for less than other sites then you need to jump on the flight and purchase it now before the inefficiency goes away. How does this happen? There are 4 different central reservation systems that various airlines use. They all update at different times so therefore inefficiencies do often happen.

But, great deals can also be obtained at the last minute. Once an aircraft has left the airport the empty seat is worthless so sometimes airlines will, in fact, reward procrastinators for booking their flight at the last minute. Often, you must be much more flexible in your travel plans.

Mid-week travel is often cheaper than beginning and end of week travel. Wednesday is typically the cheapest day to travel followed by Tuesday and Thursday.

Seasoned travelers may consider the use of split tickets or one-way tickets to save money. Sometimes, a one way ticket to your destination and a one way ticket from your destination is cheaper than the original round-trip. Or, a split ticket can be used. For example you might fly from your airport to some intermediary city then from that city to your destination. This often works better when you can fly into an airline’s hub.

Your age can play a factor in airline discounts. Ask for student or senior citizen discounts. What is the worst thing that can happen? In some cases, just one member of the party needs to qualify for everyone to get the special price.

Military discounts are also a possibility if you or a family member serves in the military.

Do not be afraid to use the internet to search for the cheapest flights available. One caveat, not all airlines appear at all internet search sites. In fact, Southwest appears at none of them. So, if you are using an internet search engine like Travelocity or Expedia you will want to get their lowest price then compare it to Southwest.

Here is what I often do. First, I check airline prices on Travelocity, then compare it to Orbitz, and then to Expedia. If I feel adventurous, I go to Priceline and attempt a cheaper price there. If unsuccessful, I continue by checking the airline website to ensure it is the best deal. You would want to check independent airlines like AirTran and Southwest If you would want to fly them as well.

If you have some time to book your airline ticket you can watch the Sunday edition of a local paper near an airport for advertisements from “Bucket Shops” or “Charters”.

Bucket Shops buy seats from airlnes that are going to be unsold at a severe discount. They in turn try to fill them at a profit. A charter company might actually book an entire flight and crew for their own customers and hope to fill the plane. The downside is that they are much quicker to cancel a flight that is undersold leaving the customers with no way to reach their destination.

Some additional tips once your flight is booked.

Get extra leg room by flying in the emergency row. Of course, you must be willing to assist in the event of an emergency. Get BUMPED! I love to get bumped from an oversold flight if I am not in a hurry. The compensation can range from cash to a free room or airline ticket voucher or even a free meal. It is a great way to get something for just some of your time. Travel as light as possible. Traveling light allows you to be more flexible if you need to change flights or get bumped. Check into first-class upgrades. Sometimes, these can be bought for just $25! Remember, asking is a no-obligation question. If the price is too high, just pass. If there is a problem at the airport, use a cell phone or pay phone to call the airline’s central reservations center. It will be quicker than waiting in line with a whole plane full of angry passengers and only two clerks.

Finally, start your search at our website

http://www.vegaskyle.com/airline

Are you having a hard time finding the tickets you want? We’ll help you by email if you are ready to buy now and through our links. Email me at kyle@mcpeck.com.

Have a tip that we did not mention? Email us at the same address and we’ll mention it in our next update and give you the credit.

Now, get going. Get your cheap airline tickets now!

Additional Resources:

Our Forums:

http://www.vegaskyle.com/forums

There are several insurance coverage issues when you drive a vehicle that you do not own especially when traveling. Here are some examples:

1. Even if you decide that your predominate means of transportation for traveling will be by either airplane, train, or bus, when you finally reach your destination you will probably want to rent a car.

2. You may know somebody who will let you drive their car temporarily while you are visiting.

3. You may want to drive to your vacation destination. You have a perfectly good drivable insured vehicle, but you may still decide to rent a car before you leave home so you do not put any additional wear and tear on your own vehicle.

4. You may be an employee who is the custodian of a vehicle you use everyday that is either owned or leased by your employer and you want to drive that car on your vacation.

5. You may be required to drive that company owned car on a business related trip within the scope of your employment.

6. Your employer will pay for you to drive a rental car while you are within the scope of your employment on a business related trip.

I cannot tell you in any case whether or not you have insurance coverage without reading your individual insurance policy with all of the conditions and exclusions to determine which insurance coverage is primary, what is supplemental or excess, and where there is no coverage at all. For example, if you are an employee on a business trip driving your employer’s vehicle or a rental vehicle within the scope of your employment, worker’s compensation may come into the equation also. However, I will point out some important things that you should be aware of that many people overlook and let you know what you need to ask so you can find out the correct answers from the appropriate people and also make sure that you have all of the proper documentation so there is no misunderstanding or confusion.

The best, easiest, fastest and most reliable way to determine what type of coverage you have on a non-owned or rental vehicle is to call and ask your insurance company (or agent) or ask your employer if you are driving a company vehicle. Also, call and ask your credit card company if you plan to use it to rent a vehicle. Find out if they offer some type of insurance coverage when you use their credit card to rent a vehicle and if so, specifically what type of coverage and what the limits are.

FIRST, for employees driving your employer’s vehicles, not all company vehicles are insured by an insurance company with an insurance policy. Some company vehicles are Self-Insured. Employees driving company vehicles need to know because different rules apply. Your employer should let you know this on the day they give you the keys, but if they don’t you need to find out. Also, you need to know if your company insures anybody other than the employee to drive your company car and are you allowed to drive the company car outside of your state or outside of the country.

I was an Insurance Claims Adjuster for 17 years in Los Angeles. All of us adjusters as well as the appraisers and managers drove company cars. The company made it crystal clear to all of us that the only people who had permission to drive the company owned cars were the employees and their spouses. We were allowed to drive the cars for business and personal reasons including going on a vacation and we had permission to drive the cars out of the state of California if we wanted to. Employees did not have permission to allow their licensed teenage sons or daughters, nor their friends, neighbors, parents, siblings, cousins, other relatives or anybody else to drive the company vehicle.

In summary, as adjusters we had 4 basic responsibilities: 1st was to confirm or deny coverage. 2nd was to investigate the claim and determine liability, and how much liability was attributed to the claimant(s) and how much to the insured. 3rd was to determine the amount of damages including bodily injuries and property damage and 4th was to either deny the claim and prepare for litigation or attempt to negotiate and settle.

If there is no insurance coverage, then the rest is irrelevant.

The driver of a vehicle must have permission from the vehicle owner to drive a vehicle. The simplest way to illustrate this is eventhough you may have full insurance coverage on a car you own, if somebody steals your car, then the car thief gets into an accident while driving your car, (obviously without your permission) and causes bodily injuries, death and / or property damage to a claimant(s), there is no coverage for the car thief on your insurance policy.

SECOND, for people planning to rent a car, make sure that you give the names and licenses of all the people who will be driving the rental vehicle to the Rental Car Company. You are also normally suppose to let them know if you are planning to drive the rental car out of the state or out of the country. Do not assume that when you drive either your own vehicle or a rental vehicle out of the country that the insurance will automatically transfer. You may not have any insurance coverage once you drive across the boarder into another country. This is something you need to find out from your insurance company.

There may have been people tell you that your personal car insurance will automatically transfer to a rental vehicle. This is not always true. If you look on your insurance policy you may see the terms “Non-Owned Vehicle” and “Temporary Substitute Vehicle”. Some insurance policies make a clear distinction between the two. Others make you read the fine print to try to understand the difference.

Remember to always ask your insurance company if there is anything that is not clear and you do not understand. Insurance policies of different carriers are written differently. But in general, usually what it means is when your vehicle is not drivable or is not safe to drive, out of service, broken down, in a repair or body shop, in for servicing or maintenance and you rent a vehicle as a temporary substitute to replace your own insured vehicle for a limited time, that is normally when coverage will transfer from your vehicle to the rental. You still have to ask if your insurance requires you to rent the vehicle from a Public Automobile Rental Agency or if you will be covered and can be reimbursed for renting a vehicle from a friend. Depending on how your policy is written, it may transfer the full policy limits or coverage may be reduced down to the state’s minimum liability requirements. Something else very important to find out is if only liability coverage transfers or if collision and comprehensive damage also transfers.

So on the other hand, that means coverage may not transfer if you rent a vehicle while you are on vacation and there is nothing wrong with your own insured vehicle which is in perfectly good drivable condition just sitting in your driveway at home, or your spouse and kids are driving it at home while you are driving a rental car either on a personal or business trip. Do you really think your insurance company will be covering two vehicles for the price of one? Ask them and find out.

If your own insured vehicle is in good safe drivable condition and you are planning to rent a car while you are traveling, call and ask your major credit card company first because you have a better chance of getting good news from them about rental car insurance coverage while you are on vacation or traveling on a business trip. If you use your credit card to pay for your rental car, there are some major credit card companies that will provide some type of insurance coverage when you rent a car. In any case, always call your own insurance company and ask them what type of coverage, if any do they provide when you rent a car and under what circumstances and conditions it is transferred so there is no misunderstanding.

THIRD, if you are visiting friends or relatives while traveling and they give you permission to drive their vehicle, what you still need to find out is whether the same coverage limits transfer to a driver other than the named insured or does the coverage get reduced down to the state’s minimum liability coverage requirements if for example, a friend of the insured is the driver.

Do not be intimidated by the long list of exclusions under the Medical Payments Coverage. Commonly known as Med Pay, it applies to injuries sustained by the occupants of an insured vehicle which includes the insured driver and all passengers regardless of liability. It only pays for “Special Damages” like medical and dental bills but it does not pay for “General Damages” like pain and suffering.

You may be covered for Med Pay even if you are a driver or a passenger in a qualified non-owned vehicle. So this is definitely something you need to find out from both your own insurance company and the insurance company of the vehicle you are in. Maybe one could be primary while the other is supplemental or excess. Just be aware that there are rules limiting and rules against duplication of coverage. Med Pay could be worth several thousands of dollars toward your medical expenses.

Now do you want to know the inside scoop behind the secret walls of an insurance claims office? No matter how much you may think that you do not have coverage for something, always ask. Especially in unique unusual circumstances I have personally witnessed fierce arguments between adjusters, supervisors and managers over whether or not to confirm or to deny coverage. Think about it, if you put a defense attorney and a claimant attorney in the same room with the same case or 2 different United States Supreme Court Judges in the same room with the same case, you could get 2 totally different opinions. That is why you should always ask and take action before the statute of limitations runs because you might financially benefit from somebody’s mistake.

Southwest does not have reserved seating and boards by groups based on how early passengers check in. “A Group” passengers board first. Southwest’s policy allows 24-hour advance online check-in. APassOnly.com says it uses an automated system to check customers in and charges $2.50, half the price of other found competitors.

“There has to be a better way!” Those were the exact words I heard from a gentleman on my Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. As you can probably imagine, he was referring to the Southwest Airlines boarding process and his lack of a treasured APass!!

Yes, there is a better way!

These comments led to the formation of ApassOnly.com in 2005. The founder is a businessman who was frustrated by the process of obtaining an APass for his frequent flights on Southwest Airlines (SWA). At APassOnly.com, we take the hassle out of securing your APass and take pride in helping you enjoy travel again!

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, we have assembled a team of travel and technology professionals offering a “concierge service” to travelers and busy professionals. Our business philosophy is to use innovative technology to improve our customers’ quality of life. Although APassOnly.com is our first commercial product, more are being developed to continue serving the needs of our customers.

APassOnly.com has simplified the effort required for busy travelers to secure an APass. The days of logging onto the SWA website 24 hours prior to departure are over! Now, simply schedule your APass request online at http://www.APassOnly.com , as soon as you purchase your SWA ticket, and we’ll do the rest!

http://www.apassonly.com