When it comes to donating money, I proceed with caution. However, I spoke to a dear friend who is Haitian and has family in Haiti. He suggests these two organizations.

The Red Cross is taking $10 donations to its Haiti relief efforts from donors who text "HAITI" to "90999."

Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti charity is asking donors to text “YELE” to 501501 for a $5 donation toward earthquake relief efforts.

The donations are added to your cellphone bill.

I follow a number of travel blogs whose authors, for some reason or another, have the ability to drop everything and travel around the world. One is an attorney who worked for five years just to save for her around the world adventure, other bloggers have sponsors, many have no financial plan in place, while others just “have it like that.” I respect everyone who takes full advantage of their unique circumstances. With that being said, I think it is unacceptable to ask someone about their state of personal affairs. Upon my return from a recent trip, a colleague asked, "How did you pay for that? Did you put it on a credit card?" I thought that was inappropriate. Not that he asked, but the nature in which he did. I believe we all possess an audacious spirit and if something is important to me, I am going to do it.

Quitting my job is not an option, nor a desire [at this time]. That doesn't mean I can’t travel. It simply means I must consider my commitments as an employee while planning. However, the universe does sprinkle some fairy dust my way from time to time. For example, I didn’t think I'd make it to the land of the rising sun, but then my agency issued a mandatory furlough. So there I was with a week off, plenty of personal leave and an invitation to Japan. I booked a flight and a month later was walking along Tokyo Bay!

NYC on the other hand was a bit different. It was the height of the tourist season and the accommodations needed to suite both of our work schedules. Planning for a week long stay was meticulously. We took full advantage of the Google applications and I watched Rachel Ray: $40 a day. I also found a blog that post a daily list of restaurants serving free lunch/dinner. The neat thing about that was discovering places we would have otherwise over looked. We also took advantage of museum coupons and other discount options. For example, The International Center of Photography has Voluntary Contribution Fridays 5:00–8:00 pm. So instead of paying $12, we donated whatever we wanted. Those small savings came in handy, b/c when it was time to visit 5th Ave, we indulged ourselves and escaped without buyers remorse.

Spontaneity can make or break a trip. Some of my best memories weren't planned. They just happen to happen, but I think research is important as well. "Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent Return on Energy!" Brian Tracy. Now I know that sounds a little formal for travel plans, but it has proven to be helpful to me. In 2011, my best friend Kia and I will turn 30 and have decided on South Beach as our celebration destination. That’s 1.5 years away, so every now and then I'll do some research to get a feel for the best time to visit the city, AAA lodging on Ocean Drive [ or the street behind it], best place to snorkel and over time the trip will start to take shape and before we know it, we will be ♪♪ lying under the sun until our skin change ♪♪ [Gotta love Diddy].

Thanks for reading.

Off to eat a bowl Cheerios for dinner [wink]!

*Disclaimer: I am not employed by any network or tv show mentioned. Everything listed is my personal opinion. Picture courtesy of http://www.noelkingsley.com/*