New passport fees for the U.S. Passport Book, the U.S. Passport Card, and other passport services will be in effect on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. The cost of a passport for an adult will go from $100 to $135, including a $25 administrative fee. You’ll find yourself paying for additonal pages as well to the tune of $82. I’m not sure how many pages that you gets you but $82? Really?

You can find all the information you need here.

Via the Southwest Facebook account:

Southwest Airlines For 72-hours only! We’re celebrating 39 years with $39 one-way fares! (taxes, fees, and exclusions apply). Read all the details and book your tickets here:

You can get all the details and book here.

Here are a few more details:

For 72 Hours Only, We’re Gonna Party Like It’s Our Birthday!
No need to bring a present to this birthday bash; we’re giving you one instead! For the next three days, you can score some of our most amazingly awesome deals of the year for travel September 8 – November 17, 2010. Our gift to you!

Don’t miss out on this limited-time-only party favor. Book by June 24, and let the celebration live on through your next vacation!

Now a little break from Miami since I still need to write up the last few posts.

Comic Con has released hotel information for next years big event. According to the site, hotel reservations will open up on March 18th at 9am PST. It sounds like they’re trying to make things a little easier for people this coming year when it comes to finding a hotel. You’ll be able to choose from 38 hotels and 24 of them are on the Comic-Con Shuttle route. Another thing that’s new for the upcoming year is all hotel reservations will require a deposit of one night’s room and tax for each room you book. They hope this will keep people from making reservations with numerous hotels and afterwards picking the one they actually want. If you do book a room and something happens where you can’t attend Comic Con don’t worry, hotel reservation deposits are fully refundable until May 14, 2010. You can find more information about the guidelines here.

They’ve actually released hotel names and rates as well. The PDF they have is very well done and breaks everything down for you. You’ll find the hotel name, the rates for single up to quad & even how much they charge for parking and of course if the shuttle picks up from that hotel or not. They even tell you the distance each hotel is from the convention center. You can find the PDF here.

While I already have my hotel booked I’m sure there are plenty of you out there that could use this information.

Like most people out there I’ve been using Flickr to share pictures on blogs and just in general. Well, I started looking around for something a little different and better to show off vacation/travel photos and that’s when I found SmugMug. It’s very easy to use and to organize. What I really like about it though is the way it shows off your pictures. There are a few different color schemes/layouts to choose from to help make your little peice of SmugMug more personal. The only down side is they don’t offer any free levels except for the 14 day free trial.

They offer three different options which include Standard, Power & Pro. You can read about each one here. The prices start at $39.95 for Standard go up to $149.95 for Pro. Obviously if you’re just trying to find a place to share your pictures Standard is fine.

Like with many online companies there are always a few discount codes floating around. If you use my code Xmm6okD5b3Qyw you can save $5 on a membership. Another code and the one that I used when I signed up was Yahoo which saved you 50%! According to some websites the 50% off code is valid until 11/30. Of course to find more discounts just do a simple Google search and plenty of them will popup.

If you’d like to see SmugMug in action feel free to check out my page, Here & There.

MSN has a interesting, useful and somewhat funny article up right now called Keep your vacation moments memorable.

Basically the article gives you some tips on how to look good, or atleast decent, in your vacation and travel photos. The author of the article speaks to a few different professionals in the fields of hair, make up, clothing and photography. The advice is pretty basic and common sense but how many of us worry about some of these things while on vacation? When I take pictures I don’t think about lighting or anything like that. I just hope for a decent picture.

After reading the article though I think I’m going to try and use some of the advice on my next trip. The author of the article makes a great point. Who wants their pictures ruined because you looked a hot mess while standing in front of an amazing backdrop? In most cases you’ve spent a good amount of money on your trip. Why not put a little effort into looking good for pictures that will be around for years? I mean, really? Is this a picture I want to show off from my awesome vacation?

Not really. I look a hot mess. Actually, just a mess because there is nothing hot about it. Hopefully after following some of the advice in the article my Miami vacation pictures will look a little better.

VRBO is the first place I visit when I look for a vacation rental. In case you don’t know VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner. They started in 1995 and now have listings for over 150,000 properties all over the world. Yes, I said all over the world.

Their website is very simple to use and has various ways for you to search. You can search via state, city, country and more. Once you get to the location you need you can then search by price, specific location, number of people it sleeps, bedrooms and more. Next to each listing you’ll see a key that lets you know if the rental allows pets, what type of payment options they offer, if their listing has pictures or video and if anyone has left any feedback on the rental property. I feel the last thing I mentioned is very important. Just like with a hotel it’s nice to have reviews and feedback when selecting a place to stay.

When you select a listing you’ll see all kinds of information. In most cases you’ll find a very detailed description of the rental as well as the location. Some owners will let you know what attractions are nearby as well as some local places you should check out. Along with a detailed description you’ll find a section called “Vacation Rental Features” that breaks down everything you need to know. In this area they’ll let you know if the unit has a washer/dryer, what the kitchen features as well as what the rental has to offer outside like a patio or pool. Also you’ll find a breakdown of bed sizes such as if the property offers two queen beds, or a twin and a king or any other combination. Then of course at the end of the listing you’ll find information on the rates. Some are very detailed and others are basic.

In order to get accurate information about the rates you’ll need to use the form on the right hand side. It’s very simple and easy to use. You just let them know the dates you need and in most cases the owner gets back to you pretty quickly. Before you send an email though be sure to check out the calendar that lets you know when the property is available. This can be a huge time saver if the owner keeps the calendar up to date. If you see the time period you need is already booked you can then move onto the next property.

Having never used a vacation rental before I was nervous going into the process. I had no idea where to start or how it worked. Thanks to VRBO I now feel relaxed when looking and not overwhelmed by the process.