Two new blogs launched today for Branwenn...

Two new blogs launched today!

• Crystal Visions Celtic Wicca 101


• Travels with Branwenn

Celtic Colours International Festival (October 5 through 13)

This is a festival that I would love to attend! It is one of the highest rated Celtic Festivals in the world. Anyone want to go with me--next year?--I think it may be too late for this year.

Nova Scotia October 4, 2007: Nova Scotians get out their kilts and fiddles each fall to celebrate their Highland heritage, as many of its early settlers came from Scotland. During festivals like the Celtic Colours International Festival (October 5 through 13) on Cape Breton, and Féis Mhábu (October 7 to 9) in the tiny town of Mabou, the island exalts all things Celtic and Gaelic with concerts, dancing, language workshops, and art exhibits.
Magical Nova Scotia> Cape Breton's Cabot Trail

On A Completely Different Subject--

• In my bio, I mention I have several areas of personal interest. I am going to need more than one blog-maybe several-one for each of the many facets of me. Sounds a bit uppity, but then I am one of those wild, uppity women that Vicki Leon talks about in her three books from the wonderful series that started with Uppity Women of Medieval Times. I have decided to stop apologizing for this and to revel in it as one of the things that makes me the incredible female that I am. One of the mistakes I have made repeatedly in my life is to try to PLEASE everybody. That stops now. I am going to continue to try to be nice when I can, there's no sense in being mean just to be mean, but as of today, I will not back down from something I truly feel deeply in my heart just to make someone else happy.

Part of this incredibleness is complexity. I have myriad parts to that complexity:

• I am Wiccan. I am a Wiccan Priestess who teaches at times and plans to use some of these blog entries to put together a Wicca 101 course which I hope to teach at the local Community College next year. I am a mercurial and free flowing spirit who circles beneath the full and the new moon and at the eight Sabbats.
  (Some of you are saying, “HUH?!?!” Others of you are smiling and nodding saying, “Right on sister!” to themselves. This is one area that my blogs will explore in detail.)
  
• I live to travel. I live to be on the road. How I can do this is explored in more detail in another of my blogs. It is this that I have already started to address in my last post.
  (In typical Branwenn style, I have charged right in and then realized that I need structure to put this all together in a logical readable format—my Earth and Fire sides tend to pull me in two different directions.)
  
• If I could live in the British Isles and Ireland, then I would be there right now. The point of all my traveling and teaching and all of my other endeavors is to get to the place where I can travel and write from a green glen in Scotland or Ireland in the summer time and from a beach in Florida or in the tropics in the winter time. I will be developing these ideas as we roll along through this year ahead.
  
• I own, along with my wonderful husband Jamey, a huge, old house in the center of the Bible belt—making life sometimes interesting for me as such an out of the broom closet witch. We call our homestead “Brugh na Bhride” We have upstairs and downstairs renters, herbs, vegetables, animals, crafts, heavy remodeling and all sorts of Wiccan goodies and old-fashioned leanings to teach and talk about.
  (I could write for years and not run out of interesting things to talk to you about.)
  
• And that’s only the tip of the iceburg---

Hotel Rooms for Free

There are many ways to travel for free or for deeply discounted fares and charges. The first thing any frequent traveler should do is register for as many hotel and airline reward programs as he or she can find. I prefer the hotel rewards programs and have stayed for many free nights the last few years. It takes a lot longer to reap a free flight, especially when you travel in your own vehicle like I do on most of my journeys here in the United States.

The best Hotel rewards programs are:

1. Priority Club Rewards Hotel Reservations The Official Web Site

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/home

IHG InterContinental Crowne Plaza Hotel Indigo Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Staybridge Suites Candlewood Suites

This is the Reward Program for Holiday Inn and its many affiliates. This is my favorite rewards program. (And no--they didn't pay me to say that--at least not yet. I hope they are reading this and will find it in their hearts to reward me for my loyalty.)

2. TripRewards

http://www.triprewards.com/

This is the middle-tier hotel rewards program. True, they also have Wyndham and other more higher priced hotels, but mostly this is :










These are the hotels that most of us stay at when we have to stay in a hotel. Most of these are not fancy, but they should be clean and cheerful.

More tomorrow—I recommend getting registered with these two Hotel Rewards Programs as a good first step. See you tomorrow!

My Igo Ugo Page

One of the most interesting parts of my life is that I travel as often as I am able. I have been to: Iceland, Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, and all over the United States. I use different ways to score free travel perks like discounted or free lodging, dining and activities. First, I belong to every frequent flyer and rewards program that is out there. I will devote an entire post to strategies for acquiring the most reward points and using them wisely for the best benefits. Another way I am able to find free hotel rooms and fabulous free meals is by mystery shopping. Since I must keep my identity as a mystery shopper confidential or I can blow my cover and not be allowed to work for certain companies, I have to keep most of the details quiet. I specialize in hotel and fine dining shops and pick up other mystery shops in retail, banking, gas, fast food and others to supplement my income along the way of my travels. It doesn't pay for everything, but it sure does help out the bottom line. I spent two months in Orlando, Florida shopping this Mecca of vacation hotspots a few years ago. It was a wonderful way to spend what would have been a cold and icy winter. I came very close to breaking even with the combination of freebies and rewards points. In this picture, I combine two of my favorite activities--by cuddling with WB Yeats on a park bench in sunny Florida. Ireland and the British Isles are my favorite place to travel, so WB and I had a lot to catch up on.

PLEASE visit my IGoUGo Account at http://www.igougo.com/profile/myProfile.asp?member=77794 . Make sure to read the posts and tell me if you think they are good or bad or helpful. Thank You!