Fast-track airport clearance lets travelers skip passport lines

By Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times Travel staff

For $100 and a copy of your fingerprints, U.S. citizens flying from abroad into some U.S. airports, can skip passport-checking lines and proceed almost directly to baggage claim.

The Global Entry program, which was added Chicago’s O’Hare airport recently, is run through U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It’s designed to let travelers get through certain airports faster but also affords a key benefit for the Department of Homeland Security: It makes it easier to track who is coming into the country.

Global Entry has been rolled out this year at seven of the nation’s busiest airports, and it’s hoped will expand to 20 within the next year. The nearly 5,000 people who have enrolled nationally are able to pass through security at automated kiosks instead of standing in sometimes painfully long lines to have their passports stamped. The process at the kiosk takes about a minute and involves having your photo taken, letting both index fingers be read on a scanner and answering a few questions on a computer screen. Passports are not stamped for people in Global Entry, and customs declarations are done on the kiosk screen.

“The goal is obviously to make things faster,” said David Murphy, director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Chicago.

Only travelers deemed “low risk” are eligible, he said, and must undergo background checks. Any criminal conviction — even misdemeanors — is grounds for rejection. The $100 fee is good for five years.

Other airports participating in the Global Entry program are New York’s John F. Kennedy International, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental, Dulles in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles International, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and Miami International.

On the Web: Global Entry Trusted Traveler Program

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Destination Phoenix: “Expo-nential” Timeshare Fun

Billing itself as the “premier meeting destination of the Southwest,” the Phoenix Convention Center is in the throes of a $600 billion renovation and expansion project. When the construction is complete (scheduled for December 2008), the facility in downtown Phoenix will have more than 900,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space.

Traditionally, the Phoenix Convention Center has hosted 275 meetings with 900,000 guests annually. It’s no wonder the Greater Phoenix area is so attractive to trade-show planners, given the region’s glorious desert climate, golf courses, trendy shopping, cultural attractions and plethora of spas.

If you’re planning on attending a meeting or expo in Phoenix in 2009, think about a week-long timeshare resort vacation in conjunction with a business- or hobby-related trip. After all, with all the aforementioned things to see and do in Phoenix, it would be a shame to visit this area of Arizona without taking the time to enjoy some of the local sights and activities.

Here are a handful of events scheduled to take place at the Phoenix Convention Center in 2009:

Bridal Fashion Debut
“Arizona’s Biggest and Best Bridal Show!”
January 10-11, 2009

Imaging USA
“Imaging USA ‘09 features the largest, most vibrant photography EXPO in North America with the most tradeshow booths ever. You’ll be amazed when you see all the latest products, essential tools and software at the cutting edge of technology.”
January 11-13, 2009

Arizona National Boat Show & Watersports Expo
“See the latest in ski boats, cruisers, fishing boats, power boats, pontoons, fishing boats. Tour luxurious houseboats, find the latest in marine accessories, water skis, scuba gear and more!”
January 21-25, 2009

Diabetes EXPO
“It’s one stop shopping for everything related to diabetes, healthy eating and active living.”
May 2, 2009

Commercial Construction Show
“This combined show, which features the Retail Construction Expo, the Hospitality Construction Expo and the Healthcare Building Expo, will help expand your playing field to discover new contacts with this one-of-a-kind, cross-industry event.”
June 2-4, 2009

The History of Leisure

By David Skinner

I. EARLY AND CLASSICAL PERIODS

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. On the seventh day, he rested. This is the first acknowledgment we have of leisure. But it wasn’t long before Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden of Eden to toil and suffer in the world as mortals. Until that fateful bite, theirs was a life of leisure.

Since then, mankind has longed, if not for eternity, at least for seven days per year to return to the Garden, to the life of leisure. Many words today share at least in part this essence of leisure, such as vacations, holidays, weekends, and time-off. Each entered common usage at different times with different purpose. Today their nuance is lost, their import forgotten. While their meanings have been mixed, their essence remains leisure.

The Greeks in all their wisdom revered leisure. They believed leisure was the quintessence of civilized living. They called it schole, the pursuit of experience and scholarship. An apt word which we have adopted as our own word “school,” a place of learning!

The Romans adopted the Greek’s high regard for and pursuit of leisure. They added their notions of celebration, health spas, and hedonistic lifestyles-many of the things still sought by vacationers today.

II. FROM MEDIEVAL AGES TO THE BIRTH OF NATIONS

Leisure for the next fifteen centuries was enjoyed solely by those of noble birth. The peasantry was considered a part of the land and property of the king. Their work was hard, their future bleak. Their years were few. Even so, there were occasions for celebration, such as harvest time, the solstice, and the occasional witch burning or public hanging.

Etymologically, the word leisure descends from the Latin word licere, meaning “to be permitted,” or “to be free,” via the Old French leisir. It first appears in the early 14th century. Scholars believe the “u” was added in the 16th century, by analogy with words such as pleasure. Since that felicitous addition, “leisure” has also symbolized luxury, freedom, pleasure, and satisfaction.

By the mid-eighteenth century, a very important event advanced the history of leisure-the American Revolution. Their struggle by any other name was the yearning for leisure. Democracy broke the chains that bound them to earth and king. Unfortunately, independence to govern did not provide time for leisure. That would remain a distant promise of the American Dream.

One hundred years later the American Civil War gave those living in slavery their right to leisure. These two war-ridden events were pivotal in the history of leisure’s advance. They granted every man the freedom of choice, “the permission,” as the French word licere implies. Lacking now was only the time for its pursuit.

III. EARLY MODERN ERA

This was the period of the Industrial Revolution and rapid societal change from a craft-based economy to one of machines and mass production. Leisure’s role in culture was debated, too. At stake were its classic values and lofty intent. As the German philosopher, Joseph Piper, wrote, leisure is a “condition of the soul” or a “state of being” to be pursued during “free time.” In opposition, a growing school of intellectuals rejected leisure as a pointless diversion of the rich. Thorstein Veblen, in his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, labeled it “conspicuous consumption,” and “conspicuous leisure.” Their goal was to strip leisure of its noble purpose and reduce it to the mundane. They defined leisure as merely “time not occupied by paid work, unpaid work, or personal chores and obligations.” Leisure, now drained of spirit, was merely the hours between work’s beginning and end. This was a severe blow to leisure’s central role in culture. Replaced by work it languished for decades.

About this time, the word “vacation” came into popular use, signifying a time away from work or school. Its British origin referred to the long break taken by courts of law and universities as they vacated their institutions for the summer. Perhaps the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz said it best: “A vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer.”

The early twentieth century was a time of great political upheaval when social philosophies emerged, governments formed, and labor united. The “worker class” found its champions in the writings of Marx, the revolution of Lenin, and the trade unions. Marx wrote, “Work is a necessity of life. To eat, you must work,” and that, “freedom begins where work ends.”

Following WWI, Europe, specifically Italy and Germany, was in the grip of economic despair. As a means of political control, politicians used the desire for leisure to win popular support. Italy’s fascist regime sponsored the Dopolavoro, or “After Work,” organization. Nazi Germany took the concept of nationalistic leisure much further with its “Strength through Joy,” or Kraft durch Freude (KdF). It endeared its citizenry by subsidizing leisure travel, building seaside and Bavarian resorts, even launching cruise ships.

One of the KdF’s more famous projects was the building of an economical auto to make leisure travel more affordable. It was called the People’s Car, or Volkswagen.

As WWII approached, the resources of the organization were redirected to the war effort and the KdF became a tool for the sinister atrocities of the Third Reich. Eerily similar was the sign on the gate at Auschwitz. It read: Arbeit Macht Frei, Work Brings Freedom. It was a dark and desperate time for leisure.

IV. LATE MODERN ERA

The end of World War II marked the return of leisure to its rightful place in society. It was heralded by returning GI’s determined to make babies not war. And make ‘em they did. With the economy humming and work aplenty, couples during the Fifties and Sixties, when not pursuing each other, were pursuing leisure. From the newly invented television to interstate highways and commercial airlines, travel and leisure become a national passion. The American family now had time and a station wagon full of reasons.

It was not long before Madison Avenue discovered leisure’s commercial potential. They beckoned all to “See the USA in your Chevrolet.” Leisure had become a commercial commodity. A travel and leisure industry emerged to fill the demand. Speculators and land developers, in turn, built theme parks, motels, and resorts. All inspired by a mouse named Mickey.

By the mid-70s, two bright fellows pushed leisure’s pursuit yet further. Thinking to make resort stays more affordable, they adapted a European concept of shared ownership. Each condominium unit was subdivided into weekly usage periods. Timeshare was born. It endowed leisure with a sense of tangibility, of accessibility, of ownership. It was deeded like real estate, yet resembled a security.

Originally, timeshare, or vacation ownership as it was often called, was limited to a single location and fixed week each year. Soon companies were formed to facilitate the trade of one location for another. Like stocks on Wall Street, leisure now had an exchange.

To provide greater flexibility, timeshare developers devised a floating week reservation system and moved away from timeshare’s “gold standard” of the fixed week.

Popular locations and seasons reflected greater demand and were more valuable for exchange. Absent the “gold standard,” value was based on market opinion. Leisure had become monetized.

Lastly, the floating reservation system was divided into points. The number of points reflected its exchange popularity. In a few short years, leisure had become commercialized-exchanged as a commodity, valued by market opinion, and monetized like currency. Leisure now resembled the American capitalist system.

The technologies of the computer and the Internet enhanced access to, and widened the scope of, the pursuit of leisure. It now took only minutes to explore, decide, and book travel reservations. At the same time, technology encroached upon leisure’s sanctity as those same computers were often taken on vacation, too. Leisure had become networked.

As the 21st century began, leisure once again came under attack, this time by radical ideologues who sought nothing more than the anihilation of Western Culture. Their Jihad and angry rhetoric was directed against freedom, directly at the heart of leisure. Still, leisure endures, albeit with long lines at the airports.

V. THE AGE OF LEISURE

As we approach the present in this History of Leisure, another demographic phenomenon demands our attention: the aging baby boom generation. Born between 1946 and 1964, it was raised with the expectation of leisure. “Boomers” now think of it as a necessity, if not a right. These seventy-seven million Americans with time on their hands and money to burn will pursue leisure like no generation before. They will define it on their terms; they will adapt it to their means and pursue it to their ends. They yearn for the Garden. And it’s likely to get crowded.

VI. EPILOGUE

The pursuit of leisure has been a long and arduous journey. Throughout the ages it has persevered, it has adapted, it has served, and it has survived. Like the distant horizon, it remains beyond reach, yet firmly planted in our hearts. Leisure is within us and it is without us. Pursue it!

____________

David Skinner is founder and CEO of the Holiday Group.

To see an illustrated version of this article, click here.

December 2008 Q & A

Q: “I want to sell one or two of my five timeshares for top dollar, but not as low as I see advertised with Holiday. There are so many to choose from and I just don’t know where to start. Do you have any recommendations or companies in mind who could possibly get this done?” –Reggie

A: Reggie, the truth is that there are too many companies out there willing to scam your money from you in return for a promise of a quick sale. Don’t fall for them! NEVER pay anyone a listing fee to sell your timeshare for you. Nine times out of ten, they are only interested in the listing fee, not selling the timeshare.

My first recommendation would be to rent out the timeshares in question for a few years and get some money. Hopefully, you didn’t buy these timeshares under the assumption that they go up in value, because they generally don’t. That shouldn’t be the motive for buying a timeshare.

Timesharing Today is a wonderful publication out of New Jersey where you can advertise your timeshare for rent or for sale. They charge an advertising fee, not a listing fee.

Q: “I own three timeshares, which gives me 3 weeks at the end of the year to add to the 4 weeks I already deposited with RCI. I’m thinking about trading some of the weeks for a cruise. What do you recommend?” –Imitiaz

A: Wow! Seven weeks to use. I don’t suppose you would give me one, would you? Kidding aside, I’m not a big fan of trading your timeshares towards cruises, whether using RCI Weeks, RCI Points, or ICE. More often than not, you end up getting a value of, say, $350 for your week, and you and I both know your weeks are worth more than that.

Many timeshare people will tell you that you can trade your week FOR a cruise, when in fact, you end up trading your week TOWARD a cruise. By the time you add up the charges for food, drink, entertainment, and other extras, you can get a better deal yourself, without giving up your week.

If you aren’t going to use all of your weeks for resort vacation, don’t lose them! Rent them out or roll them over to next year, if you can. If you’re going to rent them, by all means control them yourself. Don’t give them to the resort to rent out for you, because you have no control of what they charge and no way to find out if they were really rented out at all. Happy vacationing, Imitiaz!

Q: “Which weeks are high season, and what are the other weeks?” –Gladys in California

A: The answer, Gladys, is that high season varies from region to region. High demand season in Colorado may well be in the winter; i.e. skiing months. In other places, Missouri perhaps, the winter may be the low-demand season. Be careful though: some resorts in places such as Orlando, Las Vegas, and Hawaii will proudly announce to the world that they are “all high season, all year around.”

Wrong. Even within year-round, high-demand areas, there will be “better tradeable” weeks than others. While RCI still relies on the “Red, White, and Blue” color charts, I find I.I.’s Travel Demand Index a much truer glimpse into what really qualifies as “high season.”

Q: “I recently received a Bonus Week from Interval International. Can I rent this week out to someone else?” –Edward

A: First of all, I.I. calls them Getaway Weeks. I don’t want anyone to be confused about the correct terminology. The answer is, YES! You can purchase a Guest Certificate for whomever you want to give the Getaway Week to. Whether you are going to charge them more money than the actual cost of the Getaway Week is entirely up to you.

Do you have a timeshare-related question for Lisa? Click here to send your question.

More Money-Saving Ideas

Of course, the best way to save money is to start with a resale timeshare, which will save you 60% to 80% right off the top. But here are a few articles that offer other suggestions on how to cut back on expenses. Not all of the ideas are directly related to timesharing, but others can be quite helpful for stretching your vacation dollars.

Saving Money While On Vacation

Save Money for Your Family Vacation

Save Money on Vacation Dining

(Don’t forget to pre-plan to utilize your timeshare’s kitchen as often as possible for making meals. Cut down on food bills by planning ahead where and when to dine out.)

Ten Money-Saving Vacation and Travel Tips

Destinations for Families: Top 10 List

Travel + Leisure Family magazine recently unveiled its list of Top 10 Places to See before You’re 10. Many of these attractions are located in or are within driving distance of popular family timeshare resort destinations. Here’s a sneak peek:

Stay in Ocean City and visit the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Perhaps the least known attraction on the T+L list, this museum exhibits all sorts of eye-popping sculptures, like a four-story, outdoor “whirligig” creation and a car covered in Noxzema jars. Discussion-provoking, to say the least!

Stay in Williamsburg and visit Colonial Williamsburg. It’s the ultimate interactive, living history attraction for kids: Colonial Williamsburg transports visitors back to the late 18th century. Original and recreated buildings, actors in period dress, and exhibits that show how people lived and worked during the Revolutionary War era all converge on the 301-acre Historic Area.

Stay in Anaheim and visit Disneyland. Travel + Leisure magazine says Walt’s Disneyland is more charmingly retro than its Orlando counterpart, Disney World. Buy a park-hopper pass to enjoy the sights and attractions at next-door (and newer) Disney’s California Adventure Park, and go shopping and eat out at the Downtown Disney District.

Stay in San Francisco and visit Muir Woods. Children delight in the gigantic redwood trees (the tallest in the world) found in Muir Woods National Monument – an oasis of nature just minutes from an urban center. Stop at the visitor’s center to pick up a Junior Ranger activity book so your kids can earn their ranger badges.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership Opens Highly Anticipated WorldMark Anaheim Resort

From the StreetTalkBlog

ANAHEIM, CA: Wyndham Vacation Ownership expands its selection of resorts in Southern California with the opening of its newest flagship vacation ownership property, WorldMark Anaheim. Operating within the company’s WorldMark by Wyndham portfolio of world-class resorts, the 241-unit, 14-story property is one of WorldMark’s largest resorts and is the company’s second property in Anaheim. The company acquired the premier land for development of the property in 2005 and began construction the following year. WorldMark Anaheim marks the company’s 15th WorldMark by Wyndham resort in California. Read the rest of this entry >>

Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results

From the StreetTalkBlog

DALLAS, TX: Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVLF) has reported the following results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2008.

Financial highlights for the third quarter of 2008 (compared to the third quarter of 2007):

* Vacation Interval sales increased 5.6% to $66.8 million
* Total revenues increased 1.3% to $68.4 million
* Net income of $2.9 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.07

Robert E. Mead, CEO, commented, “We continue to be challenged by current economic conditions, coupled with the negative impact from Hurricane Ike on our September sales. However, in spite of these events, our sales have continued to increase. Furthermore, we are also extremely pleased by the progress we have made in improving the credit quality of our new originations while prudently managing our liquidity through controlled and measured growth. During this period of tight credit we are very fortunate to have been able to extend our long-term lending commitments as well as raise additional financing to support our business model into 2010. While we are pleased with our continued success, we recognize the ongoing challenges this turbulent and unpredictable period presents. Consequently, we are suspending our 2008 net income guidance.” Read the rest of this entry >>