This requires embracing a bit of flexibility as you can’t choose the specific hotel you stay in. But as long as you’re comfortable with any hotel in a specific area (and you can choose the quality of your hotel), then this is ideal for affordable travel.

How to Book Resorts and Hotels for Motel Prices

You’re going to name your price. But with a twist…

1. Visit the Priceline and Hotwire Forum. This site lets people post the deals they’ve gotten on hotels, organized by state. Select the forum for the state you’re interested in and browse it for posts regarding the city you want. These posts will tell you the winning bids people have gotten in that city and what hotel it booked them.This will help you gauge what price you can get away with bidding (if you bid too low and don’t win a booking, you only get so many chances that day to change your price or other factors such as lowering the quality of the hotel you’re trying to get or changing the area of the city you want). It’ll also give you a clue as to what hotel that price might get you.
   
2. Make sure the posts are for roughly the same time of year you’re trying to book and pay attention to whether it’s around a holiday or a weekend.  Holidays and weekends will typically cost more. If a bid is during the week but you’re booking a weekend you may want to slightly raise your bid. The same holds true in the reverse. Also make sure they’re for the same quality hotel, or at least take the discrepancy into account.
   
   
3. Visit Priceline.com and “Name your own price.” Most cities, particularly urban areas, will have several areas of the city you can select for your hotel. You can also choose the lowest quality you want your booking to win you, such as two-star, three-star, four-star or resort. Priceline will tell you which selection will get you the best deal, i.e. the largest discount on regular pricing.
4. Once you make your selection, Priceline will tell you the average rate for your selection. When I look at this rate, I try to bid around 50% of that rate. Since they say that you can get as much as 50% off the typical rate, and an average means there are hotels with a lower rate than the one shown, I figure I can even go slightly below 50% off and still win my bid. If I’m flexible and willing to change the options I selected on my second round if I don’t win the first bid, I’ll gamble a lower than 50% bid, especially if I saw that price win when I browsed the Priceline and Hotwire Forum. But if I know what I want and I really want it then I’ll bid a bit higher to ensure I win the bid.Upon entering your bid Priceline will also tell you if it thinks it likely your bid will win. Once you’re satisfied, submit your bid. As their terms explain, you must pay before you see if your bid won. If it does win, you’re charged and you can’t back out. So you’re paying before you know which hotel you get. However I don’t mind it and the huge savings are totally worth it in my opinion.

There’s also another side to this that is particularly attractive to me.

I find I’m happiest when I invite a bit of uncertainty and surprise into my life – when I invite the unexpected. Adventure and synchronicity usually swing by for a visit when I do this and the flow allows the universe to step in and orchestrate in my favor. Since I’m not controlling where I end up I give permission to the divine to place me where I need to be to attract what I want (which isn’t always what I think I want).

I wish for you the same adventures, bliss and growth in this that I have experienced!

I read it for the first time three years ago while traveling in Italy. At the time I was struggling to understand my place in the world when my passions and career firmly placed me in the bustling material world and my spiritual journey deeply rooted me in a consciousness that showed me the illusory nature of that material world.

My feet in both worlds, I couldn’t sell out to the mindset many of my friends and colleagues held. But I wasn’t about to spend my days meditating in a cave somewhere either. My colleagues couldn’t fathom why I stayed in hostels and “cheap places” when I traveled. My hippie friends couldn’t comprehend why I would own a BMW if I was “spiritual.” I felt I had nowhere to fit in. No one understood me. I didn’t belong.

Reading Siddhartha I discovered that my “feet in both worlds” predicament was a common theme and the book explored it beautifully. It illuminated the shortcomings of many paths (as well as their grace and beauty) and demonstrated how sometimes the most enlightened, peaceful and happy people are the quiet ones you’d never notice whose sole and sacred purpose is to ferry you from one side of the river (one aspect of our dual nature) to the other side (your divine nature beyond the dual).

What I loved most about the book was this ferryman did not tell people which path to seek once they reached the “spiritual” side of the river. They were free to explore and choose their own path.

Reading Siddhartha helped me wrap my head around, and accept, my greatest fear and hope: to liberate people from the ties that bind them and carry them into a space where they can begin their own search for meaning, spirit, and purpose.

Here in Las Vegas, where I’m currently visiting for a few conferences and meetings, I came across the following passage painted on the wall of my favorite raw cafe here. Reading it brought me back to that day, on the roof of this quaint hostel in Ischia, when I finished the book and exhaled deeply feeling I had finally begun to guess at where I’d one day belong…

I would not interfere with any creed of yours, or want to appear that I have all the cures.

There is so much to know… so many things are true… The way my feet must go may not be the same for you.

And so I give this spark of what is light to me, to guide you through the dark, but not to tell you what to see.

Author Unknown

• Narrative & Archetypes
• Travel & Adventures
• Marketing & Consulting
• Sacred Feminine & Spirituality

And of course my crazy daily life. All will be back to good soon! Thanks for your patience.

This is the beginning of a sacred pilgrimage. After exploring the States I will go after the new year to Egypt, India and Thailand. Then to Europe, Asia, Australia…

To me this is not vacation. This is my new vocation. And so I have created a special site dedicated to my travels where I have weekly video columns, personal journalings, travel reviews and recommendations and more.

Visit it. Let me know what you think. I hope it inspires you. Living it inspires me.

Anagamin.com

]]> http://www.jaimemintun.com/travel/anagamincom-for-ones-who-never-return/feed/ 1 http://www.jaimemintun.com/travel/anagamincom-for-ones-who-never-return/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jaimemintun/news/~3/TbuA2iUbYPQ/ http://www.jaimemintun.com/my-life/my-very-own-paparazzi/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:49:26 +0000 Jaime Mintun http://www.jaimemintun.com/?p=69 Lucky you…

My brother and I are known for our infamous house parties. It doesn’t take much to please us. Just give us Guitar Hero and a game of Hide-and-Go-Seek (yes, we honestly play it every time around 4am when it’s so dark people can hide in a shadow and not be seen!) and we are having a blast!

But we’re often so lost to the festivities that we never get around to documenting the fun.

Well now I have my very own personal paparazzi to follow us around and take pictures! His name is Eric and is one of my brother’s best friends. He’s actually a professional paparazzi and got some awesome shots of us…

Enjoy!

You can see plenty more pictures (nearly 70 more!) on my Facebook Page

A few months ago I had the pleasure and honor to meet Vivian Glyck, founder of a soulful and effective charity called Just Like My Child Foundation. It’s just one of the things that makes Vivian a stunning and wonderful woman. She is someone I have hoped to learn from, assist, and befriend.

This month I have started that journey, helping to raise funds for her charity by offering tickets to a mega-event Just Like My Child is hosting the weekend of August 15th.

It’s called Paid for Life. I invite you to check it out.

Geared toward entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone interested in using an automated business model that generates consistent monthly income, this exclusive event puts attendees front and center with the top marketers and business coaches in the world, including:

• Brendon Burchard: Sponsorship expert and bestselling author of Life’s Golden Ticket (a wonderfully charming book that I absolutely love!)
• Mike Koenigs: Marketing Expert and Social Media Expert whose client list includes stars like Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy
• Eben Pagan: Business Development Expert and creator of one of the most successful dating advice companies on the planet ($20 million in sales/yr). (Eben is THE marketer I have the most respect for and have attended is $10,000 Altitude Business Coaching Seminar… hearing what he has to say is PRICELESS in my opinion)
• John Assaraf: Featured Expert in The Secret and Author of “The Answer” (I recently had lunch with John and his wife at his home and he’s one of the few people of his stature that I’ve met and can absolutely say… he walks the talk through and through. Deep deep respect for this man and what he teaches)
• John Carlton: One of the most renowned copywriters on the planet. (I recently paid him several thousand dollars for a 1 hour copy critique for a sales page and when it comes to sales, language, buyer psychology, and copywriting, he is the MASTER. That one hour improved my writing literally at least 200% (and improved conversions by nearly that much) and enabled me to now write for some of the largest launches in internet history. His advice is GOLD.)
• Shawn Casey: Entrepreneur and marketing expert who has sold over $40 million in information products.
• Len Foley: Top Member Site Expert for bestselling author David Wolfe, T. Harv Eker, MLM superstar Sonia Stringer, and many others. (I just worked personally with Len Foley on David Wolfe’s recent LongevityNOW promotion and he is the best, most organized and effective client we’ve ever worked with. Mega-gurus come to Len for advice. He’s also one of the nicest, most quality people I’ve had the pleasure to know.)
• Jim Kwik: Memory Expert, Speaker and Trainer for Fortune 500 companies. Internet marketing launch strategist. (Jim is one of my business partners and one of my closest friends. He’s truly taught me the art of listening to people and shown me again and again how we can always achieve win-win-win situations in business. Most of all I honor him because my life truly took off, my income skyrocketed, and my life transformed when I began working with him and our other partner David Bass. In my opinion there is something magical about Jim and his ability to deliver exactly what you need.)

So as you can see from my little notes, I personally know most of the speakers at this event (pure coincidence by the way, which again points me to the beauty and truth of synchronicity and the Law of Attraction. I personally feel that something powerful and magical will happen for me when I attend this event. I felt this way one other time and dropped $3,000 I didn’t have (on a credit card) to attend that charity event… and it changed my life. I met everyone there that later factored directly in my personal transformation and income.

I find that the more I give to charity and participate in events where others who care for philanthropy attend… well those are the kinds of people I want in my corner, as my advisors, as my circle of friends.

We need to be where the people we honor walk and run. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Paid for Life will be that for me. I can’t WAIT to go! I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

And of course if you’re inclined to join me there, I’d love to see you. We can indulge in the magic together.

Check It Out Here.

Also, if you know anyone who would like to attend, you can win free tickets for yourself and more! You can see those details here:

Promote the Paid for Life Charity Event!

The money raised from this event will help build at least three more schools, complete the construction of a new hospital, and save roughly 10,000 children’s lives by providing healthcare, microenterprise, and education for mothers in Uganda.

It’s amazing how far our actions can reach!

“Why the heck are you going to Alaska?”

My favorite response was “I told my brother I’d take him anywhere in the world for his birthday. He picked freaking Alaska!”

But then I set foot in the savage, stunning, completely breathtaking beauty of Alaska and now I can’t thank Matthew enough for picking this wonderful state. I got to go whale watching, ride a four hour train through White Pass in Skagway, past sprawling jagged mountains bathed in snow and waterfalls dancing across all of them, close and far. So many waterfalls! Beautiful conifer and broad leafed trees, jade green and bright yellow. Snow everywhere and yet we enjoyed 80-degree F weather.

You can see all my Alaska pictures (and some from Sedona on my birthday) here on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/warwagon/sets/72157619419238765/

I can tell you right now one of the best parts of this trip was being reunited with my travel partner and best friend, Rachel Rofe! Now that she lives quite a ways south of me, it’s hard for us to hang out as much as we’d like. But this cruise was a blast.

One day our entire ship coursed up Endicott Arm, through ice fields and fiords toward a massive glacier. Most will enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity nestled in heavy jackets, mittens, hats, and scarves, bracing themselves against a torrid wind and icy air.

But for us, we sunned ourselves in tank tops and bathing suits. 90-degrees that day. Clear blue skies.

I got a lot out of this trip. More than I could have hoped or imagined.

• It somehow reignited my creativity. I’m writing about 10 pages a day of my noir fantasy novel and wrote my first poem in 12 years
• I was the only single, young woman on the boat. Let’s just say it was nice being popular!
• My taste for adventure returned and I have planned a solo trip for the entire month of August. I’ll go up the coast from Los Angeles all the way into Canada, then cross over the Rockies into Calgary and down through Montana, Utah, and my beloved Arizona.

And the strangest thing of all…

My bag got lost on the way back and never turned up at the airport. That bag had over $3,000 of my most prized possessions, including my $600 blender (for my raw food smoothies), several $100+ necklaces that I prize as my “Goddess Necklaces”, several healing stones I found along the banks of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau that had the most soothing, cooling energy I’ve ever felt, personal affects that have been gifted to me or that I’ve gifted myself that hold many memories, and so much more.

Somehow I wasn’t mad. But I was bummed. Some of you who are my friends on Facebook consoled me and told me that perhaps I was letting go of things I no longer need. I pushed that idea away. These were mainly new, and very sacred belongings.

Then last night I was listening to one of my favorite songs, “Citizen of the Planet” by Alanis Morrissette. She says, “So I pack my things. Nothing precious. All things sacred.”

I realized that at a higher level all that is material is precious. What makes it sacred is ourselves. The meaning we bestow on it.

I recently posted on my company blog about my recent weight release challenges after the fibroids (I’d just gotten back into shape before they hit, and then the trauma to my body caused me to hold weight for several months as I healed). I talked about how we have to let go. And focus on other things.

Last night I had this spontaneous episode where suddenly everything lifted. I can’t explain it and don’t think I need to. But I knew, beyond a doubt, that I was free. I’ve arrived. That unknown place I’ve been fighting toward my whole life… I’m finally here. A lot of it has to do with my novel and with the immense success my companies are now experiencing. We’re in flow. We’re having fun and we’re doing what we love.

But it’s also about release and letting go and I realized that what I had to let go of was all this evidence to help me validate that I was who I wanted to be. Everything in that bag was a physical statement I could use to label myself: I am healthy. I am a raw foodist. I am spiritual. I can feel energy and sense the essence of natural things. I am divine feminine.

These were all labels I desperately clinged to in the past. In the not so distant past.

But I am free of them now. I simply am all these things, without the need to make them evident. I AM SELF EVIDENT!

And thank you to everyone who could so easily see what I had refused to know: that I do not miss my bag full of all those precious gifts. I have myself. And that’s pretty much the point.

This post was really just for me to share a deep part of myself. I apologize if it wasn’t entertaining reading!

Much Love,

Jaime

Oh and I’ll leave you with the poem I wrote as we floated through the ice fields of Endicott Arm. Disclaimer: I am not a poet! So don’t expect much!

“The Return”

Savage with Grace
I plunge my roots deep into the terrain,
hoping for the fortitude of ice
and the noble ambivalence of fir and limestone.

I settle for some flicker of knowing…

Some empty grace I hope to recognize
one day,
with the eyes to see it
and the soul to know it…

As already my expression and always my source.

I had never left
though somehow
being here feels like coming
home.

It’s surreal to return to a time in your life that has almost become myth you’ve churned it around in your head so many times. I remembered being made fun of and attacked by my classmates – coming home every day with gum in my hair or pretending not to hear snide remarks tossed at me from across the hall…

But no one else remembered those things. They just remembered I was the shy quiet tall girl that intrigued but intimidated them.

Who’d have guessed?!

Following Thanksgiving Weekend, I had two days to pack up my apartment as my brother and I were moving into our brand new house on Dec. 1st. Of course, then we did our walkthrough and got so excited we decided to move in THAT NIGHT!

So Matthew drove back with me to my apartment in Venice Beach and we packed up the entire place, starting at 7pm. By moving up our truck rental to that night, the only truck they had available was their largest one. THANK GOODNESS is all I have to say! We had gotten two sizes smaller originally. And we barely had enough room for all our stuff with the large truck!

The only hiccup in all this was that the truck we rented didn’t come with a dolly! We rented one, but it was nowhere to be found. As per usual with me, luck has a random way of working out (actually the Law of Attraction, but I’m not going to knock you over the head with how well that works just now). We went to all the local stores to buy one, but none were available. Then as we walked back to my apartment, we noticed an unlocked, empty Uhaul in the 99 Cents store parkinglot.

Yep. It had a dolly.

We “borrowed it,” did our dirty work and then replaced it at about 3am. Well someone must have noticed, because now their truck had a lock on it! Oops! We placed the dolly next to their driverside door with a thank you note.

After a quick bite to eat at IHOP, we drove the hour north to my parents house where my brother had still been living. I grabbed a quick nap while he loaded all his stuff. At 10am we were ready to rock and roll down to Irvine where our new house awaited!

Look at the freaking SIZE of our truck!

And then we moved into Paradise…

Now the story behind how we landed this house is pretty crazy. I had come out of my fibroid surgery in quite the pickle. I’d been out of work for several months due to the pain, surgery, and recovery process. The day I returned to work the bailout was announced and all the members of my main membership site (my main source of income) all canceled within 48 hours.

I had no money and no real prospect for making money.

Add on top of that the fact that I had decided two weeks earlier that I wanted to move into a house and get out of my cramped apartment. In typical Jaime fashion, I went ahead and put in my 30 day notice that I was moving out. The universe always takes care of me.

Well this time almost turned out differently and I almost wound up homeless again!

There was a particular night, at the end of October, when all of this got pretty scary. My checking account was negative over $1400, I had no source of income and no way to make money. Everything I’d tried in the past just wasn’t working. The economy had pretty much frozen over with the bailout debacle currently going on.

I drove around in my car and just cried. I mean “I have no pride,” snotting all over, can barely see where I’m driving crying. I finally just went to see a movie to try and calm myself down.

When I got home, I just meandered around the internet. Somehow I came across a book that was public domain. It was called “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles.

That book became my bible.

After reading it, all the lightbulbs went off and I knew how I would make my money, get my house, and everything else. Starting Nov. 1st, I began a 60 day experiment to attract the new life I wanted.

Now let me preface what I’m about to tell you with this:

1. Before I started the experiment, my brother and I were denied 5 houses we’d applied for. They didn’t want people who were self-employed, or the owners would suddenly decide to move back in and keep the house.
2. I had no idea how I would make money. I’d used all the normal tricks I keep up my sleeves and nothing was working.
3. The economy had just been thrown into the most dramatic swing any of us has or hopefully will ever witness in our lifetimes.

Within 48 hours we were approved for ALL THREE houses we’d applied for the day I started the experiment. One of them was the house we were now moving into. This house was a miracle and it hit the market the day I started the experiment. It came fully furnished, was a 3000 sq. ft. home with all the best upgrades and exquisite details and best of all it was $1.3 million and, brand new, could have gone for that much too… yet we got it at a steal!

I can’t explain how or why except that we truly can have what we desire.

We rang in our new house with a housewarming party and many more parties to follow (with lots of Guitar Hero and Hide-and-go-Seek!).

The other part of my incredible birthday was the day trip to Sedona. It was pure magic. Truly. What an incredible way to ring in my new year. We drove the road out to Sedona from Flagstaff and the leaves had just turned their bright oranges and yellows.

And the creek along the road…

We went to one of my favorite lookouts called Airport Rock (near the airport in Sedona) that has an incredible 360-degree view of the entire valley:

Here’s one Matthew took hanging over the side of the mountain:

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But the experience, as incredible as it was, couldn’t compare to what we witnessed next…

A bit of back story first:

As a Scorpio (and on the cusp of Sagittarius), my symbol is the Phoenix. I’ve always connected with the mythology of the Phoenix. My first company was called PhoenixFire, my license plate is FENXFYR, I collect Phoenix, you get the idea…

Well on my birthday, imagine my incredible surprise when Matthew just looks at me as we’re sitting on the top of the mountain, and then looks up into the sky with a wise smile on his face. I follow his gaze, and guess what was soaring above us…

–

My very own phoenix in the shape of a cloud. Can you believe it? If that’s not a sign from the universe, I don’t know what is. I mean seriously…you don’t have to stretch your imagination to see a phoenix in that cloud. It has the beak, the feathers, the plumes, the whole bit. And it’s in similar form as many representations of the Phoenix throughout history:

The day after my birthday, we came through Sedona again, this time bringing Robyn with us. We went to Bell Rock, where we were told the views were gorgeous and you could climb the rock. I figured this would be the perfect time to face my fears of rocky heights and do something courageous and daring. Well unfortunately no one told me it wasn’t so much rock climbing as rock scaling, as in spiderman-style up the sheer face of the rock…

If you look all the way above our heads… the face of the mountain just before the bulbous crown – it doesn’t look like much in the picture, but it’s almost straight up, with a slight curve so you have something for your shoes to grip. Well at first I was determined. I started climbing, but then my fear just gripped me. You know, that completely baseless fear that feels insurmountable nonetheless…I just stood there trying to get myself to take the first step up onto the mountain. Basically I had to stand in front of it, face to face with this giant that had no grab holes or cracks…just sheer rock face. To take a step, I basically had to lift my foot up as high as it would go, almost like on a ridiculously steep stair stepper, and just pray it would hold my weight as I then brought my other foot up and gripped the mountain spiderman-style with all fours. I made it about two more “steps” and then I froze. I just kept imagining gravity pulling me down and off the mountain and falling to the jagged rocks below.

Now keep in mind it probably wasn’t that dangerous. Little kids were bounding up this thing like a ladder at a playground.

I tried again and made it half way up the mountain. Then I froze again and now I was really in a predicament. I couldn’t keep going up, and I didn’t know how to get back down. I just held myself there, all fours gripping the mountain, and my wonderful brother Matthew stayed with me and talked me through it. It took about an hour, and I broke down crying, but he coaxed me back down and off the mountain.

I love him so much for that. And I was so proud of myself for taking it as far as I could handle it…and then just a tad bit further.

I’m quickly recapping the past six months, post-fibroid surgery and pre-my new glorious life, starting with:

–

My 28th Birthday (November 22)

My brother and I took a road trip up to Flagstaff, AZ and Sedona, AZ. We had a blast. Here’s just a sampling of the magical moments:

My birthday dinner with my brother. We were getting ready at the hostel in Flagstaff and a random traveler by the name of Robyn checked into our room just as we were leaving. Cool as she was, she was easily convinced to come tag along with us! We had a fabulous time.

First stop: Sushi:

–

Of course when a birthday is being celebrated, most of us aren’t thinking about the camera! We’re too busy having the time of our lives.

And the night was just getting started…

Next stop: The Monte Vista Hotel where they had a band of Johnny Cash-ish type fellas whose songs all sounded like Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” But it was great!

–

There we go… that’s a better pic of everybody…

–

During their break, the singer of the band started trying to get a bit too cozy with us… but hey, here’s where it gets downright hilarious…

My brother wanted to buy me a drink for my birthday. I told him to get me a Jack and Ginger. He goes up to the bartender and says, “I’ll have a Jack and Gin” thinking that he’s actually ordering a Jack and Ginger. The bartender just kind of stares at him and says, “yeah ok man.”

Can we say worst tasting drink on the PLANET? I’ve since made it a rule that Matthew cannot order my drinks ANYMORE!

Anyway more pics from a good night out with friends:

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