Los Angeles Holiday

Archive for July, 2010

Myrtle Beach is the second most visited vacation family resort destination. The Grand Strand provides more than 100 amazing golf courses, 2000 delicious restaurants, numerous entertainment, exceptional shopping centers and exhilarating amusement parks. Come get refreshed on the 60 miles of the golden sandy beaches where the warm gentle waves of the Atlantic meet.

Whether you want to relax or visit many of the different attractions, Myrtle Beach has plenty of resorts to choose from. Amenities found in the majority of Myrtle Beach Resorts include: Designer furnishing, elegant decors, full size well-equipped kitchens, outdoor and indoor pools, hot tubs, relaxing lazy river rides, exercise facilities, etc.

If you?re looking for a quiet relaxing resort with extra ordinary scenic beauty, along with historic landmarks in the north end of the Grand Strand; The Prince Resort is the place you?ve been looking for. The Prince Resort is approximately 27 miles from Myrtle Beach International Airport. This Myrtle Beach resort offers many features: new luxury 1, 2, and 3 bedroom oceanfront suites, outdoor pools, lazy river, and Jacuzzis, game room, fitness room, business center, full kitchens, coffeemakers, iron and ironing boards, hairdryers, FREE high-speed Internet in all suites, 3500 Ocean Grill Oceanfront Restaurant, Cherry Grove Pier with Boardwalk Beach Cafe, ice cream shop and gift shop.

There are so many more amenities they offer, the list continues. What makes this Myrtle Beach Resort different; it?s adjacent to one of the most famous Cherry Grove landmarks: the Cherry Grove Pier. This historic landmark brings over a million visitors each; it was built in the 1950s and recently been renovated. This pier is always enjoyed by guest with hours of live entertainment, fishing and watching fireworks. The great part is the Cherry Grove Pier is only footsteps from this Myrtle Beach Resort. However, this Myrtle Beach Resort is still close to everything else The Grand Strand has to offer.

Los Angeles Holiday | LA Sitemap

First time in Las Vegas? Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world – there’s no other place like it. But if you’ve never been there before, you could end up missing the best Vegas has to offer or worse – spending more money than you’d planned.

If you’re booking your first Las Vegas vacation, the following tips will save you time, money and frustration.

Vacation Tip #1: Book Your Vegas Package Early

Try to make your reservations and ticket purchases at least 21 days before your trip. Some fares require an advance purchase of 3, 7, 14, or 21 days, while others may require no advance purchase at all.

Also, many Las Vegas hotels give you a discount incentive for booking your vacation early. As more people book the hotel rooms, there are less spots available and prices can rise.

Vacation Tip #2: Bring High Quality Running Shoes

If you’re going to be exploring the gorgeous hotels and various attractions on the Las Vegas strip – make sure you take high quality, well-fitting running shoes. Most of the surfaces you’ll be walking on are either concrete or stone.

While it’s lovely to stroll along the cobblestone streets of the Venetian or the Paris hotels – if you’re in shoes that don’t give you adequate cushioning you’ll be in pain by the end of the day. And after 3 days, forget about it.

Vacation Tip #3: If It’s Your First Time In Vegas Try To Stay On Or Near The Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas strip is the best place to be – especially if it’s your first time in Las Vegas. Enjoy the fountains of the Bellagio, see the lion habitat at the MGM Grande, watch the pirate show at the Treasure Island, view the white tigers at the Mirage.

When you’re on the Las Vegas strip most of the attractions and hotels are within walking distance so you don’t need to rent a car. Staying at one of the hotels on the strip will ensure you see most of the main attractions in Vegas.

Some hotels on the Las Vegas strip are the Bellagio, MGM Grande, Mirage, Ceasar’s Palace, Aladdin, Circus Circus, Treasure Island, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, New York New York, Bally’s and the Paris Hotel.

Vacation Tip #4: Be Prepared To Eat

Las Vegas offers some of the BEST buffets and restaurants in the world. Two of the most popular buffets in Las Vegas are the Buffet at the Bellagio and the Spice Market Buffet at the Aladdin. They are a must try!

The buffets offer a huge selection (so everyone in the family is happy)at mid-priced rates (depending on where you go). The food quality is extremely high so forego your diet and enjoy! After all, you’re on vacation.

Vacation Tip #5: You Don’t Have To Spend A Bundle On Entertainment

While some of the shows in Las Vegas can be expensive, there are lots of things to do (especially with your family) that are low cost or absolutely free. Some freebies include:

Lion habitat at the MGM Grande

White tigers at the Mirage

Fountain display in front of the Bellagio

M&M’s Store near New York, New York hotel (free M&M’s movie)

Pirate Show at Treasure Island

Rain Storm at the Dessert Passage next to the Aladdin

Circus Acts at Circus Circus

Human Statues at the Venetian

Various specialty displays and gardens inside different hotels – depending on the time of year

And they’re always adding more!

So those are 5 general tips for Vegas first-time vacationers. The can save you time, money and frustration (and hopefully sore feet). There’s no other place like Las Vegas – it’s like a giant playground for adults and kids. Regardless of what you choose to do, you’ll never forget your first time in Vegas!

Los Angeles Holiday | LA Sitemap

Flying an aircraft is a complicated task in and of itself.  Navigating from one point to another over unknown terrain can be even more complex, but trying to do both at once quickly becomes overwhelming.  This is why proper flight planning is such a necessity to any good pilot or airman.  Luckily in today’s world, flight planning software exists to help speed the process along while maintaining accuracy.  By entering such variables as wind speed and direction, aircraft weight, course and temperature, flight planning software programs can calculate a host of important information such as wind correction angle, true airspeed, runway crosswinds, and magnetic variation.  Great aviation websites like Student Flying Club even offer pilots a free online E6B flight computer!

For many new pilots, mastering the E6B flight calculator is one of the most complicated tasks to learn.  And although becoming a pilot requires learning how to use such a great tool, online flight planning software including an E6B can help speed up the learning process.   Any calculation that can be made on a manual E6B can usually be made on an online version of such flight planning software.  Temperature conversions from Fahrenheit to Celsius and wind chill calculations are possible, as well as density altitude, pressure conversion, heat index, dew point, and relative humidity percentages that help determine whether or not a flight is viable that day.  Magnetic variation calculations for flight planning also help determine course corrections by entering the latitude and longitude needed for different parts of the Continental US, Europe, and even Alaska.  In the past these figures needed to be calculated either manually or through a hand-held E6B calculator, but with new flight planning software this information is available with just a few short keystrokes.

Aside from the online E6B computer, pilots can take advantage of other pieces of flight planning software available to them as well.  Airport Distance calculators are a great tool for determining the distance and heading between two distinct airports.  Some of these distance calculators go through great lengths to maintain a large database of airports – not only those larger ones in class C and D airspace but also the smaller, non-tower controlled airports.  This helps student pilots in flight planning by allowing them to plot several different courses from their own home airport, regardless of how small it may be.  Learning to fly while based at a larger airport can be daunting, and most pilots get their private license flying out of smaller home airfields.

Online flight planning also includes takeoff and landing distance calculators, as well as complicated weight and balance charts.  These online flight planning tools take most of the manual mathematics out of the picture, allowing for less margin of error.  Aviation flight planning of course may also include the filing of an actual flight plan with local airport towers or FSS (flight service stations), and such a flight plan is required for IFR routes.  While there’s currently no direct online way to file a flight plan, some flight planning software offers helpful printable forms that can be filled out from your keyboard and then printed on paper.  Required fields and form checking help maintain that such  forms are properly filled out before being submitted to the proper authorities and filed as flight plans.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of planning a flight is the observance of up-to-date current weather conditions.  Flight planning software comes in extremely handy here, where most every website or application can now be easily linked to the NOAA’s National Weather Service.  Forecasting is still never an exact science, flight planning tools and applications can usually come pretty close to determining near-future weather conditions.  Immediate airport condition reports from across the US and even the world can be instantly collated into a central location and displayed for pilots right before a flight so they can make a go or no-go decision right before scheduled takeoff.  And as satellite-driven GPS technology becomes sharper and smaller, such GPS units become more readily available to today’s pilot.  He or she can fly their aircraft and get up-to-the-second weather information simply by looking at their externally mounted GPS units or even their glass cockpit displays.

Flight planning software has come a long way in a very short period of time, and there seems to be no limit to the amount of good it can do.  Technology has made today’s pilot a safer, more educated airman.  Planning a flight has been made easier and more error-free, and keeping track of flight plans has become a lot more manageable.  In the end, as long as technology continues to advance, piloting an aircraft will continue to be made safer.

Los Angeles Holiday | LA Sitemap