The flight had to be diverted to North Carolina where FBI agents boarded the airplane and took Ms. Castillo into custody. She is now facing several federal charges

Some witness said they saw Ms. Castillo having drinks at the Airport bar and she also ordered a drink on the plane.

Friday the State Department warned 400 passport applicants of a security breach in its records system that may have left them open to identity theft. Although the breach is not related to how your personal information is stored in your passport, it does represent a major issue that only increases the fear some people have about how their private information is handled by the government and the private sector.

The State Department have already notified 383 people (most from Washington DC) that their passport application containing personal information, including Social Security number may have been illegally accessed and used to open fraudulent credit card accounts.

The breach was noticed back in March, but the State Department has not released any additional information on how it occurred, other than to say that it is still under investigation. So far one man has been arrested and one State Dpt. employee had been reassigned and might face further disciplinary action pending completion of the investigation

Since I live in South Florida, I am very familiar with all these places and I have been to every single one of them, so my recommendations are first hand.

Miami:

Night time:

Bayside Marketplace
401 Biscayne Blvd., R106
Miami, Florida  33132-1924
Website: http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/html/index.asp

Bayside Miami

Bayside is a beautiful marketplace in Downtown Miami. You can find everything in there from free live music, to restaurants, shops and nightclubs. There are also a couple of party boats that take you out to the intercostals waters for two hours. From these boats you can see Star Island where many famous artists such as Gloria Stephan, Julio Iglesias and other have their homes.
If you want to experience latin cousine, Bayside is the place to go. They have several Cuban, Brazilian and Argentinean restaurants right by the water. Their prices are very reasonable. American food is also available. The place is kids friendly and full of fun.
The place is very safe, however you shouldn’t wonder around the downtown area at night.
Bayside is right next to the Port of Miami. Most shops close around midnight, but the nightclubs and restaurants are open until 1:00 AM.

Bayside Market Place is also open during the day.

Day Time:

Miami has several places you can visit during the day, and they are all relative close to the Port of Miami.

Here are some suggestions:

Miami Children’s Museum
980 MacArthur Causeway
Miami, FL 33132
(305) 373-5437
www.miamichildrensmuseum.org
Driving Distance: 10 minutes drive from the Port of Miami/Downtown Miami

Parrot Jungle Island
1111 Parrot Jungle Trail
Miami, FL 33132
(305) 400-7200
www.parrotjungle.com
A fun place for kids. The children can interact with many of the parrots and other animals at the park.

Driving distance:10 minutes drive from the Port of Miami/Miami Downtown

Miami Seaquarium
4400 Rickenbacker Causeway
Key Biscayne, FL 33149
(305) 361-5705
www.miamiseaquarium.com

Driving Distance: About 15 minutes from Port of Miami/Downtown Miami

Food:

Miami is well known for its international cuisine. If you want to experience the flavor of Cuban, Spain, or any Latin American food, then you must visit Calle 8 (SW 8^th Street), a long street that if full of restaurants and shops. Calle 8 extends all the way to Downtown Miami, however I don’t recommend the area closest to downtown, as it is not well kept and you see a lot of homeless people roaming the streets. Drive a little bid farther to the West and after you cross 17^th Avenue the area is much better. On both sides of the street you’ll find plenty of Latin restaurants at very reasonable prices. (NOTE: Calle 8 is a one way street from 27 Avenue to Downtown, so if you are driving West, you must take SW 7^th Street, then turn left on 27the Ave. One block later you can make a right or left to take Calle

Driving Distance: About 10 to 15 minutes.

If you have never eating Cuban Pizza, I recommend you visit Rey Pizza. Their address is 6340 S.W. 8th Street
Miami, FL 33144 (305) 265-2040. Rey Pizza is on Calle 8, but farther West, about 25 minutes drive. Well worth the extra drive.

Fort Lauderdale

Night Time:

The best place to visit in Fort Lauderdale at night is Las Olas Boulevard. In the heart of Fort Lauderdale, you can find plenty of entertainment there. Restaurants, shops, nightclubs, bars and much more open every night. Las Olas also have several galleries that are open until late at night. Most night you can find live music and local artist playing in the different restaurants, so you can enjoy your meal while listening to live music.

Driving Direction:

From I-95:

Take the Broward Boulevard exit east to SE 3rd Avenue.

Make a right (south) onto SE 3rd Ave. and proceed to 2nd light. (Las Olas Blvd)

Make a left (east) onto Las Olas Blvd.

From US1:

Take Broward Boulevard west to SE 3rd Ave.

Turn left on SE 3rd and continue south to Las Olas Blvd (2nd light)

Turn left (east) onto Las Olas Blvd.

Driving Distance: 10 to 15 minutes from Port Everglade

Hard Rock Café and Casino

Website: http://www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com/

This place is more than a Casino or a hotel; it is a whole entertainment complex full of shops, nightclubs, and much more. If you have children, you can certainly go during the day as it has a small Seminole Tribe museum on the site, and many kids friendly restaurants, but the real action is at night. The place is packed during the weekends, where you can see live bands playing in the plaza, and party goers flocking the place.

Driving Distance: About 15 minutes from Port Everglade.

Daytime:

Jungle Queen Cruise

Website: http://www.junglequeen.com

This boats takes you sightseeing along the intercostals waters of Fort Lauderdale. They also have diner cruises with all you can eat buffet included

Food:

If you want to go for something different, I recommend the Mai-Kai restaurant. A Polynesian restaurant beautifully decorated with different Pacific Island themes. Dinner includes a very well created show with dancers, singers and performers. The restaurant is a little pricey. Show and dinner is about $45.00 per person, but well worth it.

You can find more information, including menu, show times and driving direction at their website: http://www.maikai.com/

Driving Distance: About 20 minutes from Port Everglade

Anyway, CCL broke the previous records with its 10 meters in diameter ball, and it was officially registered in the Guiness Book

I leave you with a video of the world’s biggest beach ball

Yesterday one of my cousins came over my house to help him find a good deal on airline tickets from South Florida to Las Vegas. Since I got a good deal before on  Spirit, I went to their site and got them a decent price on a round trip Fort Lauderdale – Las Vegas.

During the booking I entered his information, along with his wife and son. Spirit Air gave me the quote and I proceeded to the check out. Immediately after the payment was completed, I noticed that they had charged him for only two passengers instead of three. I soon realized that because my cousin’s name and his son’s name are the same, Spirit booking system rejected the third passenger thinking that I had entered the same person twice (even thought I had put his son’s middle name to distinguish it from his)

I quickly called Spirit Air to clarify the error and include the third passenger in the reservation. To my surprise, Spirit Air wanted to charge an extra $10.00 fee to change the reservation! No matter how much I argued with the customer service person and even her supervisor, they wouldn’t budge. My cousin was left with only two options: either pay the $10.00 fee or pay a $90.00 per person and cancel the reservation and re do it again. Just when I was about to scale my complain to the next person in command, my cousin gave up and agreed to pay the $10.00.

Obviously this is not about the $10.00. This is about a company who wouldn’t even acknowledge their own mistake and do something to remedy the situation. I have heard plenty of complains about absurd fees and bad customer services that plagues the travel industry, but I think this one tops the charts.

As far as I am concern, if you find a competitive rate, fly with a company that really cares about its customer.

Pleasure Island opened in 1989 and since then had attracted million of tourists who visit the place for a night of partying, drinking and fun.

Disney is keeping as a secret what their plans are for the place, but the company said they will make an announcement soon.

I am not sure if this is related to the new Disney’s initiative to attract sports fans with the construction of the biggest bowling alley in the world

I’ll keep you post it as soon as I find out their plans… hopefully it will be something fun.

Michele spent two days as a flight attendant with American Airlines to write her article titled “Flying the unfriendly skies”

She reported that unruly passengers, crying children, long working hours, and relative low salaries make flight attendant jobs very hard. Gone are the days where stewards would fly for 4 hours, then hit the beach on an exotic destination to wait for her fly home the following morning.

Among the most interesting facts she found about flight attendant jobs are::

• Flight attendants make an average of $35,000 a year.
• They only get pay for the actual flight time (if the flight is delayed or if they have to spend the night over they only get $1.50 an hour flat rate)
• Flight attendants earn between 7 and 20 percent less today than before 9/11
• Though the benefits, like free flights for your entire family, still exist on paper, they are hard to claim as airlines continue to pack planes full of paying

The article was an eye opening for me, and I really recommend you read it if you are thinking on changing careers.





 Free Disney Park Ticket

 Disney just announced a new marketing plan to give free park tickets to any person on their birthday. That’s right, if you want to celebrate your birthday with Mickey, you can do it w/o having to pay a penny and go see the famous mouse.

All you have to do is register on their website and they’ll email you a coupon valid for a free ticket to the park that you can print and present at the park entrance along with an ID to show it is really your birthday and that’s it.

Please not that the free ticket offer is only good the day of your birthday, not a day before or after, so plan accordantly. Here is the website with all the FAQ and the page where you can register

 Free Cruise

Yeap, you can even take a free cruise to the Bahamas any time during your birthday month. Discovery Cruise Line takes you from Fort Lauderdale to Bahamas on a one day cruise where you can enjoy a little bid of gambling, sun, or simply doing some shopping at the Bahamas.

All the information about this offer can be found here

 Free Food

Do you remember way back when Denny’s  Restaurant used to invite you to have free dinner on your birthday?. Well those days are gone, but there are still plenty of places that offer you free dinners, ice cream and other food related items during your birthday.

I found an excellent list on this site, so check it out and Happy Birthday!.

Bald Head ad

Bald people now have a reason to celebrate their lack of cranial hair. New Zealand’s national airline is looking for 50 bald people to use them as walking billboards by temporarily tattooing an ad on their head advertising a new speedy check in service the airline will begin offering.

For allowing the airline to use their bald head, each person will receive $666.00 (any resemblance to the “mark of the beast” is just pure coincidence as this is the equivalence of $1,000 NA dollars each person will receive)

The idea is that people standing in line at the check in line can learn about the service by reading the ad on the head of the person in front of them.

Would you shave your head and temporarily tattoo it for $666.00? With the economy the way it is, I would at least consider it!