Budget Books

I travel to Europe a couple times a year for business -without a corporate budget! I needed a guide book that would help me find reasonable places to stay and the main sites to see in various European countries during my trips. (I rarely go to the same city twice.)

The Rough Guides are GREAT guide books. They are not for the backpacker crowd like Lonely Planet tends to be, nor the rich. Rough Guides cater to that middle crowd - me. Their single country or city guides go into great detail on each location. Don't miss these guidebooks if you are traveling extensively in one country. However, that's too much for my 2-3 day visits. That's where the "Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget" comes in.

The Guide covers 30 countries and appears to be an update of the The Rough Guide to Europe 2006 (Rough Guide Travel Guides). It gives a brief history, tips on culture, hotel and dining recommendations. It lists details on the top sightseeing sites. The photos and maps are better than many other publishers' single-country guide books. On my recent trips I found I was just as informed as my colleagues who invested (weight being a larger consideration than cost) in a single country guidebook.

"The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget" has plenty of information for the business or limited time traveler. If you are going to spend a week in a country sightseeing upgrade to a single country guidebook.

Reveiwed by Bill Cooper for Reader Views (7/06)

Kevin Aguanno provides us with yet another good management tool to enhance performance, work ethics, internal relationships, and improved outcomes. Taking a concept every manager has dealt with and learned either through education or experience, he discusses a brief history of rewards, as well as a more in-depth and analytical approach to the benefits and deficiencies of various rewarding systems. He asks and answers really legitimate questions, such as why reward at all, how do we reward properly and consistently, and what kinds of rewards are applicable to what types of circumstances.

Mr. Aguanno also chats about the differences in rewards and recognition, then the various types of rewards, emphasizing the reward needing to be suitable both to the person and to the accomplishment. This 40-minute CD is full of good management principles, good advice, and good rewards ideas. I recommend it to managers, leaders, and students of those sciences and arts.

You can't get a room during peak season at a resort for $1,500 a night --- the rich took them all long ago.

So what can you get for less than $250 a night?

You'd be surprised.

The editors of Budget Travel challenged themselves to find resort hotels "that don't show up on big online booking engines or get written about in fussy travel magazines."

They discovered an interesting, unreported truth: Not everyone who goes to live in a beautiful place is filthy rich. Some bliss-seekers have just enough capital to get themselves there and make the down payment on a property. A season of sweat equity later, and they're the proprietors of a small hotel --- a human-scaled retreat, "run by real people for real people, and run with love."

This book features picture-and-text profiles of eight destinations: Provence, Bali, Cornwall, Costa Rica, Tuscany, the Caribbean, the French Riviera and Tahiti. I've spent a fair amount of time in Provence, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, so those are the sections I read most closely.

Provence: I expected to find all the recommended hotels far from the madding crowd, tucked away on rocky hillsides in the Luberon. Well, the Mas du Loriot (the book says it's $63 to $157 a night --- but that was before the Euro began to stomp the dollar) is in those hills, but that's a good thing: Each room has a private terrace overlooking lavender fields. If you're off to see the Pont du Gard, La Begude Saint-Pierre ($88 to $251) is nearby; with welcome candor, the text alerts you that a few of its 23 rooms are right near the road. There's an urban hotel in Arles, a 12-room inn just five miles north of St.-Remy, a 23-room charmer five minutes from Avignon, and, to round it off, an auberge in a 12th century building in the Luberon. A nice selection, all with contact information that includes web sites.

Costa Rica: We were there as eco-tourism was just revving up. But we never got to the Ylang Ylang Beach Resort (from $120, including breakfast and dinner), reachable by a 15-minute beach walk. Might have been worth it just for the swimming pool that has its own waterfall. We also missed the more developed Pacific coast, though the Amor de Mar (from $55) seems absolutely bucolic. Also on the Pacific side is the dramatic Moana Lodge (from $60), where surfers chill under Zulu shields. From the photographs, I could easily develop a soft spot for the 8-room, Swiss-owned hotel called The Place, and I am a fool for any hotel that's named after Milarepa, the Tibetan Buddhist saint. The rest of the hotels are all on the Pacific, which made me wonder: nothing in the rain forest or the Ossa Peninsula?

Tuscany: It's the Provence of France. And so my initial thought was: Why not Umbria, just as nice and delightfully overlooked? Then I looked at La Rignana ($133 to $177), in the vineyards of Chianti, and Podere Torrena ($240, including breakfast and dinner) in nearby Radda. Ancient houses, carved furniture, family-style dinners --- what's not to like? I was particularly struck by the variety in this section. On one hand, there's a fairly-tale village on a hilltop that's home to Castello di Gargonza; on the other, there's a restored 17th century farmhouse at the end of a two-mile dirt road.

The thing about secrets, of course, is that no one keeps them --- especially the editors of Budget Travel. Is it possible that you'll go to one of their suggested hotels and find it booked solid with people just like you? Oh, yes. So it's always best to consult tripadvisor.com and compare notes with veteran travelers. And if the parade's moved on, don't tell anyone where the smart money is vacationing --- except, maybe, me.

If you've ever wondered (and I doubt anyone has) about the history of the Senate Caucus Room, this little government document is calling your name. It discusses the construction of the Russell Senate Office Building, describes the architectural design of the Caucus Room, and provides a short bio on designers John Carrere and Thomas Hastings (both of whom, I was sad to learn, were educated in France and thus brought a distinctly French flavor to their otherwise classical design). The Senate Office Building itself opened in 1909 (although the fourth side of the building would not be completed until 1933, strangely enough), and I was surprised to learn that senators didn't even have real offices prior to this. Of course, the main focus here is the Senate Caucus Room. This document gives you a little tour of the room's architecture and overall style (including some of the furniture), lets you take a gander at the original architectural design plans, and then goes on to discuss some of the historic events that have taken place in the room - including Senate investigations of the Titanic tragedy, the Teapot Dome Scandal, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, and Watergate. Prominent testimony regarding organized crime in the 1950s and 1960s as well as some of the McCarthy hearings also took place there. Additionally, a number of senators have announced their candidacy for President in the Caucus Room (of those listed, only JFK went on to actually become President). Interspersed throughout the text are photographs of the room itself, as well as photographs of (and a few cartoons about) some of the historic events held there.

This government document is actually a fairly interesting read. One of the photographs really caught my attention; it is a picture of Woodrow Wilson being blindfolded prior to drawing the first draft number of World War I - it looks as if he's getting ready to go before a firing squad. All in all, I would much prefer my President to never be blindfolded - especially when surrounded by Senators.

This book was written by my father 59 years ago. He is still with us at the age of 96 and was so pleased to find out that it is still for sale!

Shea Oakley

Essentially Ms Grigson has aimed to produce a book full of hearty and traditional British Fayre for a small budget.
Some of the "cheap" ingredients in Britian may not be so elsewhere in the world but otherwise the book does not dissapoint. Hearty feasts abound and are not complex nor troublesome to produce.
Ms Grigson is an enthusiatic and rustic cook and has little pretention or fashion conscious in the Kitchen (thank goodness, mention a "jus" and I think she'd probably thump you!). A season by season layout and easy reading.
Personal favourites would be; Summer Pudding, Potato and Marrow Soup, Brown Sugar Lemonade (strangely gingery in taste!), Cheese and Chutney Purses and Rice Pudding Brulee, yum, yum ad yummy!

A fascinating look into the dynamic world of 4 digit numeric codes describing the gamut of economic activities, from 3842 (Abdominal supporters, braces, and trusses) to 2052 (zwieback manufacturers). This is a MUST READ for all fans of numeric classification schemes.

This CD promotes energy. Just listening to it a couple of times was enough for me to get on my feet and start acting. I highly recommend it.

Simple easy to follow recipes for cooks looking to control costs. I got this book as a high school graduation gift(1978) and it was indespensible during my college years. I still use it today.

This book is full of great tips for the single mom.....Easy read,
which is great for the busy schedule that comes with it! A definite
must-read for any mom looking for tips to save some extra $$!