Tag: time

Cat Links VACATION

Dear Abby: My sister often plans vacations for us. The thing is … I don’t enjoy traveling with her.

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DEAR ABBY: I have an ongoing dilemma with my sister. She often plans vacations for us to take together and springs them on me out of the blue. She then pressures me to say yes and becomes impatient when I tell her I need time to think about it.

The thing is, she isn’t a great travel companion and I don’t enjoy going on vacation with her. I have taken trips with her before. She is finicky and picky, and she often expects me to front the money for expenses. I have limited vacation time, and I’d rather spend it with my significant other and friends who are better travel buddies.

I can’t be honest about this with her because she is extremely sensitive and would take it poorly. On the other hand, I feel guilty dodging all her requests for vacations. She doesn’t have close friends because her attitude tends to repel others. I want to do the right thing, but I don’t want to feel used or guilted. How would you handle this? — PUT UPON IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR PUT UPON: I would handle this by telling her no and following it up with why — that although you love her as a sister, you do not enjoy having plans sprung on you and demanding an instant answer, fronting the money for expenses and spending time with someone who is finicky and picky. It’s the truth, and it may be the wake-up call she needs. Above all, remember that the truth will set you free.

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MORE FROM DEAR ABBY:

Dear Abby: My 12-year-old grandson doesn’t talk to me

Dear Abby: I’m writing because I feel useless … I don’t even have a hobby I’m good at

Dear Abby: Travel adviser loses friends and clients

Dear Abby:

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Cat Links VACATION

Fans Say Nelly Sold 50 Percent of His Music Catalog to Pay for Trips with the ‘Queen of Vacations’

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It looks like Nelly has secured the bag for future trips with Ashanti around the same time he rekindled his relationship with “the Queen of Vacations.”

The hip-hop lovebirds dated for 10 years in the early 2000s, but lately, both artists have been spending more time together on and off stage.

The two have been spotted together at various events and performing on stage around the world over the past few months, and their chemistry is beyond undeniable.

Ashanti and Nelly's 'Body On Me' Performance Has Fans Wishing for the Former Flames to Reconcile
Ashanti and Nelly. (Photos: @ashanti/Instagram; @nelly/Instagram)

But the rapper’s new deal has fans believing he had to step his game up to keep with the former Murder Inc. Princess.

A purported source told “Entertainment Tonight” that Nelly nelly-sells-50-percent-of-his-music-catalog-for-50-million-207471″sold a significant portion of his music catalog to HarbourView Equity Partner for a whopping $50 million. The deal includes “select recorded assets,” including some of his biggest hits such as “Ride Wit Me,” and his two Grammy-nominated hits, “Hot in Herre” and the Kelly Rowland-assisted, “Dilemma.”

Social media users had a ball guessing how the chart-topper would spend some of his money. But it’s pretty clear many believe it will go toward his and Ashanti’s future baecations.

“Ashanti likes to travel hunty.”

“My sis came back at the right time secure the bag @ashanti.”

“Ashanti like “I’m not always there when you call, but I’m always on time.”

Assuming that Nelly will be joining his “Body On Me” collaborator on her regular trips, some believe it will be another nine years before we get a follow-up to her 2014 “Braveheart” album.

“Oh we never getting an Ashanti album now. Travel plans extended,” wrote one person.

Meanwhile, one fan

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Cat Links VACATION

Taking vacation back to the open road: Ann Norman

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Ann Norman is editor of the Sun Newspapers.

Can we get some love for the good old summer road trip?

In these days of less-than-relaxing air travel, and despite the cringe-inducing price of gasoline, I’m thinking a return to the open road – winding though it may be – is calling my name when it comes to vacation travel.

This spring, my husband, his brother and our sister-in-law flew the not-so-friendly skies to enjoy a week of spring training baseball in Arizona. The trip was great – except for the time spent in the airports.

What with canceled flights, delays, long lines to check in, malfunctioning check-in computers, the rush-rush-rush TSA rigamarole (my husband actually lost his driver’s license in the hectic juggling of shoes and carry-on bags and impatient business travelers behind us), paying extra for those carry-on bags, squishing my personal item into an ever-shrinking compartment under the airplane seat (and the ever-shrinking seats themselves), I was ready to turn around and go back home.

Everyone was grumpy, travelers and airline workers alike.

Compare that to our 12-hour road trip to Kansas City a few weeks ago. Aside from some road construction in St. Louis, it was an enjoyable time. My husband and I chatted about anything but work, listened to music and podcasts, stopped whenever we felt like it for a snack or to stretch our legs.

We could pack whatever we wanted – no running out of sunscreen on this vacation for us. The seats in our Honda HRV were plenty comfortable, and no one stepped on our toes or dropped their luggage on our heads at the end of our journey.

It of course brought back happy core memories of our family road trips as a child. My parents thought nothing of tossing the kids,

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Cat Links VACATION

Total Tranmere – Like the night before Crimbo

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By Bobby Ellis
July 29 2022

Here we are then, a new season awaits. Starting a bit early this year, and there’s the weird bit where we have no League matches whilst the World Cup is on, but tomorrow we go again. The waiting is over, and I for one am as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not expecting much. I don’t even want to say where we will finish, or even if we will come away with a result against those footballing giants Stevenage. No, for the moment none of that matters, what matters is football is back. 

Haven’t we all been here before? We spend the summer, firstly waiting for the fixtures to come out and then contemplating the matches ahead. We are like dieters set free from our restrictions now. We can get to the ground early if we want, sink a few jars, go in the fan zone, look at the newly, slightly refurbished, Aldo’s. Take our seats early, watch the players warm up, trying to work out which of the new signings are a genius stroke, and those that will end up giving us a stroke. The weather will be warm, t-shirts not winter coats, and the season ahead will stretch out in front of us like a long distance road trip. It’s a marathon not a sprint, but if we win on Saturday everybody will hail a new dawn. If we get beat depression will sink in, another 22 home games to endure. Neither response is right or rational, but let’s face it, supporting Rovers isn’t really a sane choice. As Leonard Cohen sang, ‘ I’ve got you like a habit, and I never wanna stop’. 

Then there are the away matches, glamorous trips to Barrow,

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Cat Links TOUR

A Seasoned Photographer Shares Some Tour de France Travel Tips

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Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Miami-based photographer Alexander Aguiar traveled to France for the 2022 edition of the Tour de France. He shares with us some of his favorite images, as well as some travel tips, and photography dos and don’ts. Pro tip: Go with your mom (if your mom speaks French).

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Bicycling: Was this your first time spectating the Tour de France?

Alexander Aguiar: In 2019, My mom and I went to the Tour de France. We had a ton of fun, so there was an itch to go back (I have an itch for a third time). It doesn’t hurt that my mom is French. It was helpful to lean on her for translations since I don’t speak the language very well. I’ve been to France other times with my mom; it’s also nice to connect with my family’s heritage.

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Bicycling: Have you photographed other bike races or just the Tour?

Aguiar: The 2019 Tour was my first time photographing any type of cycling. I shot it on film, and I slightly regret not shooting it on a digital camera… which motivated me to go back for a second time. I don’t shoot the races too literally. I enjoy cycling and find the Tour to be incredible, but I don’t know all the riders competing, I don’t know all the teams, and I don’t know all the stats or standings for each stage. Instead, I focus on embracing the event with an “outsider’s” point of view (although I love my CAAD13, I don’t consider myself a cycling purist).

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Photo credit: Alexander Aguiar

Bicycling: When did you book your trip? Where’d you stay?

Aguiar: We decided to go after the Tour’s route was released in October 2021. Once we decided on the

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Cat Links VACATION

From the Chamber: Vacation

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Summer vacations for some are in full swing. It appears that the challenges of the cost of travel has not discouraged the need to take a break. Business leaders are sometimes torn between taking well-needed time off and worrying about their business while they are away.

I found these statistics in my library of articles and thought you might be encouraged to take some time to just enjoy!

“A vacation away keeps the doctor at bay.” Recent research and a number of experts are finding that the addiction of some of us for all work and no play is bad for our health. Alan Muney, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Oxford Health Plans says, “We need to take vacations seriously.” While we are pretty good at getting those important check-ups, we fall short when it comes time to take a vacation. Dr. Muney suggests that we need enough time to unwind. “A lot of what this is about is a mental attitude. When you come back, you should feel refreshed with a new perspective.”

Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a cardiologist at UConn School of Medicine says, “Too much work and not enough play is bad for the heart…He tells his patients who can’t afford a vacation that they can’t afford not to take a vacation.” He also adds that it is a wonderful time to spend with family and I certainly can attest to that.

An American Express survey found that 33 percent of those on vacation checked in with their office at least once a day. Brooks Bump, assistant professor of psychology at the State University of New York believes that the value of vacations “lies in the change of pace itself – getting your mind off daily worries…it’s taking time out from the everyday, relentless

… Read the rest