In two days anyway! I can’t believe it’s finally here. Today I made sure to print out all the documents I needed and placed them all into a folder. I have everything from coupons for dinner to important items like the confirmation email for the car rental. Now I just have to remember to bring the folder!

I’ve already packed as well but still need to pack a few important items like the various chargers I’ll need and my GPS. No need to pay an extra $15 a day when I can just bring my own! Hopefully I don’t forget to bring it. I’ve been checking the weather on a pretty regular basis as well and might need to throw in an extra pair of jeans just to be safe.

I can’t wait to leave!

Thanks to the internet it’s never been easier to save money while on vacation. I don’t know about you but before I buy anything online I always do a search for discount codes and coupons. It shouldn’t be any different when it comes to vacation.

While looking up different things to do in Miami I discovered that many of the tours offer discounts if you purchase your tickets online. In most cases the discounts are only $3 but if you have a large group/family or you plan to do a number of tours, it can add up quickly. I actually noticed the samething last year when I was looking up things to do in Playa Del Carmen. There were plenty of discounts to be found if you booked early and online. You could save 30% or more!

Don’t think the savings stop at tours and excursions. There’s plenty of websites out there to help you save money on dining as well. Restaurant.com is a great place to find deals when it comes to eating out. The website is very easy to use and let’s you search by zipcode, state or popular destinations. Just make sure you read the fine print. In some cases you have to spend X amount of dollars before you can use the coupon/gift card or it’s only good for X amount of people. You don’t want to show up with a coupon/gift card that you can’t use or that leaves someone out.

Another website that I’ve found recently is Groupon.Com. You sign up to recieve emails that contain discounts for various cities. We’re talking discounts and deals from everything from restaurants to spas and even zoo’s and attractions. It’s worth checking out. The best part is they email them to you but it’s always good to check out the website too for any surprise deals. Some of the cities they offer include Miami, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta and many more.

Obviously what I’ve shared here is just a small way to save some extra money while on vacation or planning one. As I mentioned before I always do a Google search for discounts/coupons to see what’s out there. It’s something that only takes a few minutes to do but might save you some money in the end.

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.

Well the various 4 day passes are anyway! Single day passes will go on sale December 15th.

I can’t believe it’s already sold out. In the days leading up to the sell out they had placed a little graphic on the Comic Con website that told us what precentage was sold already. I’d say within 2 days of putting that graphic up the passes were sold out. Nothing like causing a mass panic to make people rush and buy tickets. I honestly think if they hadn’t put that graphic up 4 day passes would still be available. They never did post how many passes were actually available though. Perhaps they’re really trying to put a limit on the amount of people next year because of the complaints about crowds and what not.

I’m glad I was able to get my pass when I did but sadly my friend missed out and is hoping to pick up some single day passes. She has a plan though and hopefully it’ll work!

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.

While we don’t want everything to be planned out for us on our Miami trip there are a few things we’ve talked about doing.

I’m a big Burn Notice fan and since they film in Miami I want to check out some of the locations they use. I know we’ll be checking out Bay Front Park which was used in the pilot episode and we’ll be visiting Coconut Grove Convention Center which is where they film some of the loft scenes. Maybe we’ll get lucky and even run into an actor or actress from the show. I know they finished filming a few months ago but you never know.

We’re all big NASCAR fans as well which means we plan on checking out Homestead Miami Speedway. We’re actually missing the race only by a week or two but it’ll still be neat to visit. I’ve only been to one NASCAR track (Dover) so it’ll be nice to see something different even though we won’t be attending any races.

The last time I was in Miami I went on one of the Star Island type cruises that are offered. I think we might try and do that again if we have the time or maybe a differnet type of tour. I’ve heard the Miami Duck Tours are pretty good. Perhaps we’ll check them out this time. I even heard Miami has a ghost tour which I might have to find more information on.

Of course we plan on spending most of our time just checking everything out and having a drink or two or ten. We might even get a tattoo while we’re down there. Miami is actually where I had my 2nd tattoo done years ago.