TravelHacks.iExploreFlorida.com

I rambled on here about finding flights and deals online in the ‘traditional’ manner using meta-searchers so you dont have to visit each individual travel site etc, but there is an even more time efficient way by using RSS. I’m assuming that readers have some entry level knowledge of RSS, if not, read this to get some background on the format that’ll help save you bundles of time.

I use the Sage RSS reader in my Firefox browser. Its a great lightweight way of reading RSS feeds without having to log-in to an online reader or fire up a desktop stand alone ( I use Feed Demon for more heavy duty feed trawling). Once you’ve installed Sage in Firefox you can open it in a browser sidebar to view your feeds.

The “big three” online travel agents, Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz all now offer various RSS feeds.

You can customize the feeds to your own search preferences in Expedia. They offer hotel and flight combo’s or just individual flights or hotel feeds. The Florida departure cities covered so far are Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando with Fort Myers and Disney and West Palm Beach added to that list as destinations (as well as other destinations in the USA and Europe). You build your travel preferences, agree to the T&C’s and a feed is built. Unfortunately for me there was no departure point from my nearest airport in Fort Myers, though I could use it in the oposite direction. Read the rest of this entry »

“A potential grouper haven,” a county report opined. Artificial reefs made from tires “appear to be the next best thing to recycling.”

That was back in the spring of 1972, when the dumping of two million or so tires covering 36 acres offshore of Fort Lauderdale looked like ecological enlightenment. The project ultimately failed, and the “reef” has come to be considered an environmental disaster, ultimately doing more harm than good in the coastal Florida waters.

Now the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Broward County Environmental Protection Department (together with Coastal America, a partnership of federal agencies, state and local governments and private groups) are trying to organize a cleanup of what is known as the ‘Osbourne Tire Reef’ as part of a joint project utilising military salvage teams that would use the tire retrieval as a training exercise.

Ken Banks, a reef specialist for Broward County, who recently explored the site told the Washington Post recently. “It’s depressing as hell. We dove in and swam for what seemed like an hour and never came to the end of it. It just went on and on.”

Related Links

NOAA’s Marine Debris Program (Noaa.gov)
Osbourne Reef Waste Tire Removal Pilot Project (Florida Dept. of Enviroment)
Osbourne Reef (Wikipedia)

OK, here was the mission. Find the cheapest return flight from my local airport in Fort Myers (RSW), Southwest Florida International (which is just under 25 miles away and maybe a forty minute drive from my current home in Cape Coral) to my old home back in London, UK.

You can use the same resources for any destination of course but I’ll use this route as an example.

Firstly I decided on a date and to fly midweek when airfares are usually cheaper. So for examples sake we have an outbound flight on Tuesday, March 6th and a return on Wednesday, March 21st.

London Airports

Searching for flights in London, UK is actually a little misleading for none-Brits as both the two largest airports Heathrow (19 miles away in Middlesex) and Gatwick ( 28 miles away in Sussex) are actually well outside the city as are the other major ‘London’ destinations, Luton (43 miles away in Bedfordshire) and Stansted (38 miles away in Essex). The only London airport actually inside London itself is London City.

So, we’ll stick to Heathrow and Gatwick as the main choices as these are the main long haul destinations. First we check with the top four search aggregators.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is just the first test post for the iExploreFlorida.com travel hacks blog. We’ll be featuring money saving resources and time saving travel ideas that we come across online. We’ll be highlighting stuff we come across in our Florida Travel Directory iExploreFlorida.com. Feel free to email in any ideas and tips.