The holiday season is meant to be a fun and carefree time of year—a time when families can be together and friends can, once again, gather to reminisce about old times and create new memories. However, the holidays can be a bubbling cauldron of stress due to the worries and pains of holiday travel. This year, don’t let the small things stress you out.

Instead, take a look at these tips on what NOT to do throughout your holiday travel, and you are bound to have a happier, more enjoyable holiday experience:

• Do not plan travel days for the busiest dates of the season.  Inevitably, and especially on the weekends surrounding the holidays, there will be delayed flights and busy roads that can rack up the stress of holiday travel.  While most people attribute their terrible travel planning to work schedules, it is almost a guarantee that avoiding the busy travel days of the season will allow you to travel with little delay and minimal stress.
• If you are flying, do not get carried away with carry-on.  Typically, it is smart to pack all you can into a carry-on bag and avoid the mess of holiday checked baggage, but even the carry-on method can get hectic if you are not careful. If the carry-on is too cumbersome the airline may require that you check even your carry-on at the gate, which gets you nowhere fast.
• Do not wait long to book flights and other accommodations.  You can instantly relieve the stress of holiday travel if you book flights and other accommodations early.

Follow these tips on what not to do during holiday travel, and you will be sure to have a more enjoyable time this season. Happy Holidays!

As winter approaches, you may find yourself dying for a break from the cold, wind, and snow that the winter season provides.  As you consider your winter time travel, there are many different places that may seem appealing, and what it comes down to is finding the best choice for you.

Your choice in winter destinations will depend on what you are looking for in a vacation spot.  If you are hoping to take advantage of the cold weather for winter sports, you will have a very different destination than if you are hoping to escape the cold of your home town.  As you decide your priorities for your winter travel, consider the following vacation spots.

1. For winter sports locations, consider checking out the slopes in Park City, Utah, or Aspen, Colorado.  These locations will give you plenty of outside winter activities to do as well as an opportunity to put on your favorite winter sweater and drink a cup of top-notch hot chocolate.
2. A warmer but economical destination may be the northern coasts of Florida.  Although the north is a bit cooler than southern Florida, you will skip the crowds and still experience temperatures in the 70’s.
3. Another great option is a repositioning cruise; these cruises allow riders to experience a relatively long vacation with the opportunity to see many great sights! Take advantage of this kind of cruise to have an exciting winter vacation with your family.

Wherever you decide to go for your winter vacation, remember to have fun and enjoy the season!

Business meetings are great forums for team members to become acquainted with new material, and to encourage cooperation between employees and supervisors. However, when business meetings aren’t structured, they can become tangential and ineffective.  Learning to run effective business meetings is imperative for a successful business, and can be accomplished with a few easy tips:

• Have a Plan.  One of the most important elements of an effective business meeting is to come prepared with the most important issues to be covered.  A loose outline can serve to guide the conversation and to steer the meeting back on course to prevent tangents.
• Use Media.  Meetings that are effective and remembered include more than one type of communication, especially a combination of visual and verbal.  Keep your employees engaged by including visuals to accompany your instructions.
• Encourage Participation.  When employees have a voice in business meetings, they not only feel included but are also able to add new ideas and perspective that can improve the company as a whole.
• Provide Materials Before Hand.  Discussion-based meetings are especially effective, but they can only take place if there is something to discuss.  Giving employees useful materials before the meeting can help them feel informed and provide useful input.
• Summarize at the End of the Meeting.  As the business meeting comes to a close, make sure to briefly sum up the key points so your employees can leave with an idea of how to use the new information.

Holding regular business meetings encourages employees to continually improve and participate in the discussion.   So remember to follow these guidelines, and you will see the difference an effective meeting can make.

Whether it is a wedding reception, family reunion, charity fundraiser, or corporate presentation or retreat, planning and paying for a large-scale event can be a difficult task. One of the most difficult aspects to planning a well-organized and successful event is making sure the costs for the event fall within the proposed or set budget.

Because it can be difficult to include all of the niceties and frills of a pleasant event within the constraints of a tight budget, those who are involved in planning such an event may wish to consider the following few suggestions on how to save money on large-scale events:

• Location, Location, Location.  This old and accurate adage for business can be applied here as well. A person or organization that is planning a large event should consider, and reconsider, their options for the location of the event as this can often be one of the biggest expenses. City parks (if the weather is good), public buildings, and hotels are all great places to start a search for an affordable and elegant location.
• Garner Volunteers.  Setting up, taking down, and providing for the various services of the event can run up quite the tab if these services are hired out. One should look, instead, for volunteers who would be willing to help out or initiate an inner company promotion to garner the free labor.
• Save on Invitations.  Formal invitations may be socially required for some large-scale events, but if these are not deemed necessary an individual or organization can save precious bucks by opting for more social ways of inviting, i.e. social media or word of mouth invites.
• Use Electronics Wherever Possible.  From handouts to guest books, electronic documents and reproductions can be far less costly than printing each informative packet or cutesy favor in hardcopy.

Try these suggestions when planning your next big event and you will be sure to save money and meet your designated budget.

So you are out of ideas on where to travel this year? Search no more! Connecticut is here and has been here for longer than scientists would like to guess. If you are convinced that Connecticut just isn’t right for you then take a second look. Here are some things that may just steal your heart away.

Gamblers Escape
That’s right, you can try your luck any day of the week at two of the largest casinos in America. Most people think Las Vegas is where its at but people in Connecticut know the truth. If gambling leaves a nasty taste in your mouth then try out some of the more than palatable fine dining in the casino. There are also hundreds of event going on like concerts, shows and all sorts of entertainment.

Mystic Seaport
This quaint coastal area brings to life history with its famous maritime museum, historic ships, and 19thcentury coastal villages with all sorts of exhibits and attractions. You could even hitch a ride on a steam boat and get a real picture of what America used to be like.

Beachers Haven
Hammonasset Beach State Park is the largest in the state and offers warm current with gorgeous beach front that attracts millions of tourists each year. Why not relax and enjoy some waves while camping seaside for a few days?

Norwalk
If you are feeling like the rest of the “upper-crust” and you want to see the finer things in life, then head on down to Norwalk and see the old Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum. This 62 room mansion is considered one of the oldest and most prestigious country homes in the US. Don’t let this amazing experience pass you by.

Keep your eyes open because there are hundreds and hundreds of adventures to be had in the gorgeous and unique state of Connecticut.

If you are getting married soon, you are probably getting stressed out from all of the planning. You never know how much goes into a wedding until you are actually planning your own. One of the most overlooked parts of wedding planning is the rehearsal dinner. You may not feel like having a rehearsal dinner, but if you decide to have one, your actual wedding is likely to go much more smoothly.

Most people decide to have a rehearsal dinner as a celebration, rather than just a formal event that needs to be checked off the to-do list. The rehearsal dinner is an opportunity for the members of the bride and the groom’s family to get to know each other in a less stressful environment.

In order to have a successful wedding rehearsal dinner, you will need to plan. Trying to throw it together at the last minute is most likely going to blow up in your face. Make sure you talk about how much of your budget you are willing to spend on the rehearsal dinner. It is important to make sure that you don’t spend too much on the food; but, on the contrary, make sure that you don’t spend too little on food either. If the food isn’t good, then your guests may not enjoy themselves as much as they could have.

The most important part of a rehearsal dinner is that everyone feels like they can be comfortable, relax, and just have a good time. You should definitely plan for your rehearsal dinner, but try not to stress too much about it.

Ever heard of a boutique hotel before? They’ve been around since the 1980’s and offer more unique settings than you’ll find at a standard hotel.

A boutique hotel is often a luxury facility placed in a unique or intimate setting. They offer full service accommodations, like many of the hotels you stay in, but are great for getting into the culture of the city.

A big difference in these types of hotels is that they are generally smaller than the familiar skyscrapers you’ll see in each city. Rooms will normally number no more than one-hundred. This allows the staff to create a customer-focused approach to their business. In many cases, the staff will know the name of each guest.

The smaller environment allows them to personalize the dining experience a bit more. They can offer unique healthy food choices that are harder to implement into the hotel chains that draw larger crowds.

The architecture tends to fit in with the rest of the city, and there’s usually only one of its kind in the world, i.e. they’re not usually chain hotels. Some are appropriately themed to the city. Others present a very modern atmosphere that almost makes you feel like you walked into a museum. Many will adhere to this theme in their decorations from the main lobby into the furthest away room.

Hotel Zero Degrees is one of those that adhere to the modern atmosphere. Walking into the lobby looks and feels like you’re walking through the welcome area of an art museum. The furniture, architecture, and room design all reflect that modern theme, creating a beautiful experience for their visitors.

Boutique hotels are designed to provide a unique and memorable experience for travelers while providing luxury service throughout their stay. Next time you travel, create a lasting memory in a local boutique hotel rather than just another mundane visit.

There’s a new boutique hotel in town that couples old-world hospitality with an urban-chic vibe, high-tech amenities and a competitive price. We just did a hardhat tour of the partially complete Hotel Zero Degrees on Main Avenue in Norwalk, and based on what we saw, the new property with 96 rooms has the potential to be the next go-to spot for business travelers and out-of-town guests. And it could also become a new favorite for locals in search of a cool new venue to host an event.

There is one groovy boutique hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, the “Land of Jerry Springer and Corporate Headquarters.” It was re-adapted from a well-used YMCA dorm and is now a New England Travel Best of New England Travel award winner for best boutique hotel.