Planning a trip to Vermont? You might want to consider adding a trip to Waterbury to you agenda. That’s where the Ben & Jerry’s Factory is, and they offer a Factory Tour. On a Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour you’ll learn about the history of the company, how their mission is incorporated into their business and how their ice cream is made. Oh yeah, you’ll get to sample some ice cream too. Yummy! Tours run seven days a week except for holidays. The cost is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and children under twelve are free. Suddenly I wouldn’t mind a trip to Vermont.

We all take pictures when we go away, no matter if it’s a quick trip or an actual vacation. I love looking at pictures from trips we’ve gone on, especially the family Disney trips. Wouldn’t it be cool to see your pictures in a photo book! Inkubook has given me a special code to share with you that will allow you to create your own photo book for FREE! The offer is only good for a short time, it ends on 11/03/08. Inkubook is an online photo book creation service. Members can create their own photo books individually or with others.

If you join now, by November 3, you’ll have up to 30 days to create your photo book. The book will be free, all that you would need to pay is shipping of under $9. If you’d like to create your own free photo book (and who wouldn’t!), go to inkubook.com and register for your free account. You’ll need to use code TVL655 in order to get your free photo book. This is a terrific offer, so be sure to share your friends using the “invite friends” feature. Then your friends can get a free photo book. And your friends can tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. I’m considering putting pictures together from the big family Disney cruise and vacation of 2006. What will you put in yours?

If you’ve got a laptop that’s wifi ready you can blog in all different types of places. Many new retail franchises are offering wifi in order to attract customers, including hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and even gas stations. If you’re looking for a wifi spot in your area or planning a trip and hoping to get online for a few minutes check out Wififreespot,a website that allows users to locate free publicly accessible wifi by searching by state within the US and by country outside of it.

I was browsing through Buy.com books today (they’re promising to beat pricing on many Amazon books by 10%) and I noticed they were selling a number of atlases. I’ve had one in my car for a long time, and it reminded me of a list of a dozen things that are good to always to keep in your car.

Ten things to always keep in your car are

• an atlas
• a blanket
• a set of jumper cables
• a first aid kit
• a flashlight
• emergency road flares
• a towel
• a change of clothes
• a can of fix a flat
• a set of gloves, hat and scarf

Two things to always keep in your car that need to be replaced/replenished occasionally are

• a couple of bottles of water
• a couple of snacks

With these things in your car you’ll be prepared for some of the most common situations and emergencies.

Are you interested in taking a cruise but find they’re way out of your budget? Or are you one of those people that loves to do things on the spur of the moment? If you make and/or change plans at the last minute then you can save a lot of money on a cruise by booking at the last minute. The cruise lines would prefer the ships to be full rather than not so as it gets closer to the sail date they’ll lower cruise prices. Usually about 30 days before a cruise sails you can find some really great deals. Prices are slashed and cabin upgrades are two things you might find by booking at the last minute. If taking a trip on short notice isn’t an issue for you then call the cruise line and see if they have any deals or just search on the internet on one of the last minute cruise deals websites. Don’t be afraid to ask. You never know what kind of deal you’ll find. Wouldn’t a deal on one of those super European cruises be terrific?

If you know my Mom then you don’t have to be involved in futures trading to know that she sometimes has problems getting where she’s going. Today I came up with an idea that I’m going to tell her when she returns from her trip. It’s an idea you might want to consider using if you’re going to take a trip and rent a car. When you book your car rental ask if it has a gps in it or if one is available. If one is not, consider bringing your gps with you from home. Had my mother done this, she would not have called me from Waikiki today in a panic because she got lost on the way to the airport.

I just started seeing commercials for this within the past several days. Beginning on January 1, 2009, people will be given access to one Disney theme (Walt Disney World, FL or Walt Disney Land, CA) park for free. Registration online at www.disneyparks.com is recommended but not mandatory for this offer, visitors at the park may also take advantage by going to the will call window at the park. This is a free offer open to everyone over the age of three. All you’ll need to do is provide proof of identification when you get to the park. Disney has even set it up so that Season Pass holders and people that have a multiday ticket who don’t need free entry into the park on that day can take advantage of the offer by making other gifts available to them. This is a nice offer.

I flew to England when I was in high school, so I do know what it’s like to take a really long flight. I had such a hard time napping and relaxing on that flight. Today was the first time I found out that you can actually get a seat that turns into a bed on some airlines. Tonight we saw a commercial for the international first class and business class bed seat on United. It was the neatest looking airplane seat I’ve ever seen. The seat turns into a fully reclining 6′ 4″ bed with adjustable lumbar support and headrest. The seat is semi private, with short dividers forming from placement of the 15″ flat panel monitor and console. The tray table is designed to hold a laptop. Each seat also features a built in usb port, iPod adapter, reading light with dimmer, noise canceling headphones and power outlet. Has anyone traveled in one of these seats? Are they as nice as they look?

Noone likes to be stuck in traffic. The phone number 866-698-7232 can be called anytime, from anywhere. It’s the phone number for Traffic.com. When you dial in you can give the name of a major city and get a report of traffic delays. Traffic.com also offers a website that powers the phone number I gave you. Listings keep visitors informed of traffic incidents, events and roadwork and monitor traffic hotspots. The site is easy to use but I think it needs to cover more areas to be truly helpful.

I recently saw something called Postcrossing mentioned on someone’s blog. I wasn’t familiar with it so I decided to find out it was. Postcrossing is a site whose international members exchange postcards by mail randomly. That is to say, the members are not pen pals, you never know who your postcard will be from or who you’ll get to send one to next. The site is free to join. Members receive the name and address of the person they’re to send a postcard to, as well as a code that must be included on the postcard. Once their postcard is received, the code on it is registered on the website and their name and address is sent so that they’ll receive a postcard. The number of postcards one member can send is directly related to the number of postcards you have previously sent. Postcrossing seems like an interesting idea, but I’m not crazy about total strangers getting my address. I’d go for it if perhaps postcards were all sent to a central place and remailed, but that would cost money and then it probably wouldn’t be able to remain free.

EDIT TO ADD: For anyone wondering, this is not a paid post. It’s simply a review that I did, just like it says. A link in a post does not mean that post was necessarily paid.