My Hometown - Fairfield, NJ

While we slowly work our way back up north to our place in New Hampshire after spending the winter at Cherry Grove Beach in South Carolina, we have been visiting my dad in Fairfield, New Jersey. I grew up in Fairfield, having moved here when I was three years old.

Because we don't have high speed internet at my dad's place, we came over to the Fairfield Public Library. Wow, how things have changed! I was telling one of the library staff that back in 1963 or so, when Fairfield opened their first library, I had the eleventh library card issued in town. The library then was a tiny 2 or 3 room building on Fairfield Road (it is still standing, and is currently housing a barber shop).

My dad would take me to the library on Saturday mornings for story hour, and I just loved going there!

After a while, the library moved to larger quarters - an old school located across from the Police and Fire Station. Then, sometime long after I left Fairfield for my various adventures, the town built the Anthony Pio Costa Memorial Library located on Hollywood Avenue - and what a wonderful library it is!

The library is adjacent to the marvelous Fairfield Recreation Complex, where - prior to coming to the library - we played a great set of tennis (I lost miserably), and watched people as they walked on the park fitness trails. The town has beautiful ball fields at the complex as well as a gorgeous pool for the townspeople to enjoy during the summer. My dad has a great place to walk, which he does almost daily, and a wonderful library to visit as well.

We're so thankful that while we travel we can pop into public libraries almost everywhere and find internet access and computers for our use. And I'm equally thankful that I had an opportunity to take advantage of this great complex in my old hometown of Fairfield, NJ - which truly is a great town.

I'm glad I'm from here.

Next Adventure: Banner Elk, North Carolina

The last week and a half was filled to overflowing with activity as we prepared to end our 5-month stay in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was with mixed emotions that we closed the door behind us for the last time on Friday morning, 5/1/09, car packed to the brim, to begin our trip back to northern New Hampshire.

We made some wonderful friends in South Carolina, enjoyed true southern hospitality, and expanded our interests and knowledge in ways we never could have anticipated. What an adventure! And we plan on returning next winter.

Instead of racing home, however, we decided that it was time for a little vacation. I know a lot of people think of our winter in SC as more of a vacation, it really wasn't. One of the advantages of working online for yourself is that you can pretty much live wherever you want (within reason!).

Anyway, since we market luxury resort vacation memberships, we took advantage of one of the resorts, and booked a week here in Banner Elk, NC at the Blue Ridge Village resort. You can check out the resort here at the resort registry at my Fine Resort Vacation website.

In the one day since we've arrived, we realized that I'll have a lot to write about! This area is just magnificent! Even though we live in the mountains of northern New Hampshire, these mountains are different, and the communities offer different activities which we are going to be exploring this week.

Stay tuned for more! For now, it's time get ready to go hear some bluegrass... :)

What Smoke on a Beach is Like. Nasty!

Well, this is certainly as close as we ever want to be to a wildfire. A couple of our neighbors up north in NH have worked on forest firefighting crews, and until we actually saw the smoke billowing up yesterday during the Myrtle Beach, SC wildfire that began yesterday (Wednesday, April 22, 2009), we had not seen anything like that.

Believe it or not, this is supposedly a clear and sunny day here in North Myrtle Beach. This is not fog - it's smoke. I have never seen this before, and I have a renewed and deepened appreciation for people who risk their lives to fight fire. And we're not even near the fire!

We've also heard that the National Guard mobilized this morning to help, as have a lot of organizations (Red Cross, etc). It's just incredible to me when I see how many people in this great land volunteer to protect and serve us when they know that they are putting themselves at risk. Wow!

The winds were howling yesterday, and the smoke from the fire was blowing towards the ocean - and of course through a lot of other places. It was pretty frightening to see.

When I see smoke like that, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to be a firefighter. My hat is off to all of them.

Overnight, the winds shifted a bit, so smoke and ash was travelling up the coast a little to where we are in Cherry Grove Beach (northern part of North Myrtle Beach, SC). When I took the photos (above) and video (I posted the video here) this morning, I was only out on the deck for a minute or so, and came in smelling like I'd been near a campfire.

And even though we are proably 10-20 miles away from the areas hurting from the fires, we can taste the smoke and feel it in our throats.

So, my message today is to thank a firefighter for his or her service! Also, let's thank the police, volunteers, the folks who serve in the National Guard...the rest of the Military... everyone who steps up to help others.

I know that I will...

Our NEW SITE! It's Up & Running! Welcome To Fine Resort Vacation!

We did it! We have FINALLY gotten our new Fine Resort Vacation site up and running - and it's looking pretty good! It's pretty exciting to see the progress. So, if you visit us at the site you'll see our smiling faces on the home page - the same picture we are using here at this blog.

We wanted to use the same picture since it was taken on vacation at one of our favorite Caribbean luxury vacation destinations - St. Martin (where, by the way, we'll be heading back to this coming November for a few weeks).

We figured we should use a vacation photo since we are marketing luxury vacation travel memberships at the site. Makes sense, doesn't it? :)

Anyway, we also posted a page if you want to learn a foreign language - John & I have begun using the Pimsleur approach, and lo & behold, the method works! We are retaining what we have learned in our initial lesson, so it's quite impressive. Check it out here.

We also have posted a foreign currency converter, links to the US State Department and other links for up to date information on international travel, and a blog for the site itself (of course!). :)

We've also added a page so that potential members (or anyone who is interested) can view our newsletter where there are some amazing deals. For example, if you wanted to travel to Maui next week, there is a $298 special - which is amazing! $298 for the WEEK! This page gives potential members a glimpse at what the membership portal looks like.

We've also given a dollar-for-dollar comparison of what our timeshare ownership has cost us against how economical our Global Resorts Network luxury vacation membership costs. You can see that at our "About Us" page.

We've added an exhaustive FAQs page that addresses a lot of the questions people have about our luxury vacation travel memberships.

Throughout the site, we have illustrated the pages with lots of photos from the resorts themselves.

We'll post more information as it comes in. For now, I just wanted to share the good news about the new site! Please stop by and visit us - and if you are interested or have questions, don't hesitate to contact us - all our contact info is at the "Contact Us" page.

Review of Two Cool Affiliate Marketing Systems for Global Resorts Network

Most people who see my blog know that I have a bunch of home based business irons in the fire - gotta remain diversified! But, focus and consistency is key.

My favorite affiliate program - and I really believe one of the best affiliate programs out there is Global Resorts Network (GRN). And I'm not just saying that because I'm a member and affiliate. Considering the payout (approx 30% commission) on membership sales versus the payout on other sales that I make on line (approx 10%)it's a great return. Of course, I also love to travel, so that helps! :)

Anyway, I have been experimenting with a number of different marketing systems to promote GRN. My latest is my very own site (which is still VERY much under construction - so if you visit, please be kind!) at Fine Resort Vacation. I've got a lot of work to do on it yet, but at least it's getting there.

I also use a GRN approved system that helps market the stand-alone luxury travel membership as well as the business opportunity. Those two related sites are Fine Resort Vacations (notice the similarity to my newest site), and Presenting GRN. My favorite part about this particular system is the numerous landing pages, along with the retail-only aspect. This is great! After all, some people just are NOT interested in a home based business - but they want to travel. So this is a really great option. It's also extremely affordable - only $30/month.

Then, I use a different internet marketing strategy and system that is really geared for the high energy type of entrepreneur who wants to build a business using article marketing, etc. It is an interesting system that has taught me a LOT about internet marketing. These guys are young and very energetic, and they call it the GRN Team Builder. That system is the one that intially introduced me to blogging!

What I like about that system (besides the marketing techniques that they've taught me), is that I also have the option to have their experts call my surveyed leads. I'm just not that comfortable on the phone, so it's nice to have the option to let someone help me.

Also, when I use the GRN Team Builder site - when the visitors opt in, they receive a nice little Free eBook called, "It's Only Easy If You Know The Truth...Exposing the Lies, Myths and Hype to Help You Finally Succeed Online."

Another thing I really like about this system is that it teaches us about personal "branding," and there are several landing pages where we can write our own text (which I have done here), or put video in (which I haven't done yet! But I will!). What I also like about this system is the price - it's very affordable, and only costs about $30/month to maintain.

But again, consistency is really key - working numerous systems takes quite a lot of effort. Of course, with my very own site, the new Fine Resort Vacation site, I'll promote only the retail product, the luxury vacation travel membership. But, the fun thing about that site is that ultimately, I have control over what is said in it. AND...Yes! I'm adding a blog there too! :)

It's a very interesting experiment! Please feel free to visit my sites! And if you have had any experience with these or other GRN systems, you can comment on them here!