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Won't let me search how I want (with a couple of exceptions).
I live in the middle of England, almost exactly, I can easily get to all the major airports, do not make me select just one before I can search.
I don't care where in the world I go, don't make me select a specific country before you let me search.
I want to search by features, not departure and destination.
I have a budget, I want to go for 11 or 14 nights, I want all inclusive, I want kid friendly pools, I would prefer some sort of free water park access, I want evening entertainment.
I don't care where.
Thomson / First Choice seem to be the only people who let you search like that, although you do have to make some sort of choice in either the from or two fields, you can make multiple selections.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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Lot's of the All-Inclusives in Jamaica are:
Truly all-inclusive (tipping forbidden)
Take Kids off your hands all dayHave nightly entertainment (sometimes great, sometime cheesy)Water Parks? Not so much - but beaches, pools, windsurfing, cruises, human-powered water stuff, etc.Kid(s) stay free with parents at many resorts (you do need to get them there)Most have restaurant style dinners - but (massive) buffets for breakfast, lunch, which generally include custom cooking on the spotI actually recently booked through "CheapCarribian.com"[^]
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I went to Barbados on my honeymoon, some 12 (I think) years ago this summer. And I started off looking there, but it is well out of my budget at the moment. Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic have turned up inside it though.
My brother has just been to Mexico with his two kids, and I know someone who has been to the Dominican Republic before, but I don't know anyone who has been to Jamaica.
The one question that nags away at me from things I have heard is, is it safe? I have heard suggestions that once in your resort in Jamaica you stay in the resort and straying from it is not a smart thing to do.
North Africa is very cheap at the moment, for those of us in the UK, but I'm not sure I trust it not to blow up at the moment.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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Jamaica: Most guests go on various tours - but we, ourselves, stay on sight. However, a few years ago we went to a rather small resort and decided to walk a km down the road to a public beach. No problems.
Cancun isn't the safe haven it used to be and 'tips' have become the norm. Some of them have also added what amounts to time-share scams. If you're going all-inclusive (in my opinion, at least) you want a vacation without money in your pocket. Cancun's big deal is it's night-life - but the resorts often call a bus ride to a club 'entertainment'.
Dominican Republic: two parts. The cheap part (I've been there) and the nicer part (I heard about later). The cheap part was, at the time, heavily frequented by English and German guests. The food, whilst delightful for their taste was horrific for us. The Riu owned property sucked as it had 'seatings' for (buffet) dinner and we couldn't eat when we wanted if we wanted no-smoking (the 'seats' were taken). For that matter, assigning seats at the buffet was ridiculous, anyway.
Barbados, Antigua, etc., and most of the other islands are too rich for our blood.
Essentially we find Jamaica affordable and more hassle free than the other locations.
Always do your homework.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Went to Jamaica in 2010 and stayed at Sandals Ocho Rios. Walked ~2 miles from the resort into town. It was interesting as were approached by many people to come into their shops, but a polite no thank you worked just fine. Never felt unsafe.
Hogan
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We went to Sandals several times - were even members of their 'frequent guests' club. We don't go there anymore.
Why? Well, starting when we arrived, and multiple times throughout the week, we heard the line "we're out of that". Also, disrespect by the staff. E.g., when I asked for a "Bob Marley" at the bar (which was not busy) I got a green slushy instead of the multi-layered/colored shot. The (pure Bull-shirt) excuse? I should have asked for a Bob-Marley shot. Then next day, whist awaiting a shuttle to their sister club, my wife asked for a "Bob-Marley Shot" at the (except for us) main bar - and got a shot full of goo. This is a 'national drink' of sorts and there's no mistaking what we wanted for what we got. Just lazy bastards who learned that most guests don't want to make a scene - so they do what they want.
We got so fed up we talked to the main manager (and a manager-in-training) - who were sympathetic, but, as I pointed out to them, if I want to hear "we're out of that" I can save a few thousand dollars on the vacation. They nodded there heads, but I never heard anything from Sandals by way of apology. Also, they're heavily oriented towards newlyweds - which has a number of down-sides for the non-newlywed-guests. Not the least of which is we like talking to all sorts of people from all over. The newlyweds kept to themselves and perhaps other newlyweds. There were one or two weddings every day. We had other problems, too. Couples, on the other hand, has been sweet. We'd done Tower Isle a few times, but this time we're going Swept Away.
Haven't been to Sandals, since. They keep emailing me with offers of all sorts. On occasion, I'll reply with how I'm still waiting to hear back with respect to the problems we had.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Dang, sounds like you had a bad time... I didn't care for my experience. Not because it was bad, but because I'm a restless soul. On the first night we were there, I asked the wife how many more nights we had there. All inclusive packages make me feel like a hostage. Once you're bored, you can't leave without giving up lots of money. If I wanted to sit still and sweat looking at a beach, I would change the desktop background on my work machine.
Hogan
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I have never been able to do the resort/cruising thing, tried both, thankfully for really short periods. As for repeatedly going to the same place, it means we might miss out on something new and different. I last about 2 hours sitting by a pool or a beach before boredom sets in.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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There's a philosophy I to all of this. It's all based upon Mrs. Wife's attitude and enjoyment, and by proxy, my own:
"The man may wear the pants in the family . . . but it's up to his wife when he gets to take them off."
She had periodic annoyed spells at that Sandals fiasco - not good.
But, with this exception, having nothing to do or care about until saturated with it has a good effect which lingers for a while.
[Aside: My best (work-friendly!) desktop backgrounds are photos I take in Jamaica, anyway.]
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I have been using AVG for awhile and have disabled some components for a faster boot time with it (Make sure you disable phishing protection which is what I found out caused me a long boot time.). However, I noticed that around the 2013-2014 versions of the software some improvements were made which allowed me to gain speed. I normally do a custom install and uninstall extra components or install the anti-virus version to avoid all the extra unneeded components. However, I cannot say its the fastest but I've had it catch virus's before they were on my computer before with the download scanner.
Currently, I have Norton 360 installed on my computer and its worst then AVG at the moment. I got it for free by beta testing Norton on my computer. It crash's about one week through using it. If you have a better suggestion then AVG please share it with me. I've been using it because it's worked for me in the past. The 2015 version I have not tried though yet.
P.S. I already know about Microsoft Defender but prefer something that has higher detection rates (It's rates may fair well but I know their is other anti-virus software out their that has better detection rates).
jeffery
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Hi,
On my Windows 7 Pro I use MSE for real-time protection and MBAM for custom scannig 1 x a week. MBAM had very good reviews as a "cleaner" but is rather slow. Combination of both works well in my case - no issues with my system whatsoever. MBAM seemed to raise more alarms by finding suspicious pieces than MSE, and its cleaning has always been effective (in my case...)
Cheers,
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I liked hijackthis but i think they let it drop and its not built to work on windows 7/8
One of the big names , might had been AVG sold out to Google and i think Adobe tries to trick people into installing AVG each time they update Flash.
No thanks, i want nothing to do with someone who tries to get code running on my machine by using cheap skate tricks.
Funney that it took a Russian company "Kalsproskhy" Well i won't try spelling it to inform the world that the CIA/NSA had been infecting the boot sectors on our hard diaks so what does that say for microsoft, AVG and a host of other names ?
The world is waking up to all the big american corporations peeking at our data, things will be changed and the US monoply on software will be broken for the good of everyone.
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AVG works on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. In addition, Windows Security Essentials is built into Windows 8.1 from what I can see. If I go off what your saying Kaspersky is equivalent to the SVR/KGB looking at our stuff too. A Russian company trying to masquerade as security trying to spy on US. Ha, Ha. Good one.  AVG and Google are not tied up from what I know besides to offer secure search which Norton and a fair amount of other anti-virus software does now too. Moreover, normal people mistakenly think apple computers are immune to viruses which is not true. The hardware is good but the software is expensive and takes awhile to find in some instances. I am not talking about I-Phone apps but Mac software. Anyways, back to the topic, I wonder if anyone has more suggestions besides Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG mentioned above? I have been having success with AVG but if their is a solution that gives me less startup time and performs well against viruses I'll take it. Is spy bot search and destroy still any good? I wondering if anyone has had any success with ESET anti-virus? I have been thinking about trying it but wonder how well it works.
jeffery
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Yes you could be right about "Kaspersky" being KGB but it was not the KGB that got caught this time.
Do spare me the Google making the world safe because the safe browsing list excludes lots of sites that go against what TPTB like, nothing to do with safty, its censorship.
"secure search"
Have you ever taken the time to inspect the scripts google is downloading to pull a finger print from your machine because I have and it's nothing about security for you or me.
"Windows Security Essentials is built into Windows 8.1"
Turned it off, lots more too in trying to stop windows calling home or having to install 100 security patches each month.(Yeah i know, its a joke) microsoft also hard codes IPs into its code and bypasses the DNS server windows has been told to use, ditto for the proxy server, don't even talk about allowing ipv6 on the machine.
My PC would be little more than a remote terminal for microsoft if i let them, it does not feel very "Personal" at all and i see windows as a virus that must be tamed, kept on a short leash and i am sorry to people near me because windows and google is pulling wi-fi MAC addresses using my machine and uploading them when i am not careful.
Why do you think microsoft locked out truecrypt, won't run anymore on win/8 and forces you to use bit-locker ?
My advise to you would be to invest time, money and effort in a hardware firewall to protect all your devices running made in the USA O/S and try to buy a router/firewall made in China because they don't care who you are sleeping with or vote for i don't think.
Yeah one last thing Firefox on Android devices is using DLNA to pull serial numbers from your smart "TV's" and the last time i looked FF didn't have the "Play To" option that worked with my TV
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Microsoft makes sure it has your consent before installing big patch's. Most corporation license terms state any information you give them is available to the owner of the company. So, anyone that buys out Microsoft, Apple, or any other corporation can ask for that data in most instances. Note: You can opt-out to feedback information sent by Microsoft during installation of software with the checkbox that say something like: "Send feedback to Microsoft". Microsoft is pretty clear that most of the information sent happened because of that. Anyways, patch's are the #1 way for hackers to get into your computer (At least for Microsoft, Linux, or Mac). I had to perform a buffer overflow attack on a windows server computer in a Virtual Machine (unpatched) in my security class. It was a simple attack for an unpatched RCE(Remote Code Execution) Vulnerability which usually involves bad kernel code. It does seem like a joke to update windows but the advantage is you get to play with more devices (Linux is catching up though). If you are a programmer, I understand the need to manually update your computer (I do automatic and uncheck unnecessary updates that add features I do not need like office 32-bit on my 64-bit computer. why do I need that?).
jeffery
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"Microsoft makes sure it has your consent before installing big patch's. Most corporation license terms state any information you give them is available to the owner of the company."
Well yes and i turn updates off but still microsoft calls home, well tries too.
I also have terms and conditions and it says to all the corporations that if they try to track me then i will feed them automated lies in any packet data that leaves my machine so we are cool.
"I understand the need to manually update your computer"
Mine are off, it works fine and not much gets past the routers firewall in any direction now that Ipv6 has been removed (teledo tunnel was leaking tons of stuff) and i would love to say nothing gets out but i know the beast we are dealing with, its a cat and mouse game.
For example the HTML5 Canvus in a browser can run a script that pulls a fingerprint from your machine. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas_fingerprinting[^]
I don't know how to stop it and the bottom line is that as one so called back door exploit is found (Becomes public knowladge) they put in another one and pretend to have fixed the first little deliberate bug.
No one is immune from this and that includes AVG who must also play catch up.
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Oh sh*t, you were a beta tester for a Symantec product, you poor bugger. And now you want something better, pick anything but Mcaffee and you will be better off.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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I should have went back to AVG. Its better then Norton but not #1 in my opinion.
jeffery
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Seeing the wifes rellos: Started off just over the border from England, near Chester, then drove to Angelsey, then back across the center to the east of the country, then down to Swansea, on to Pembrokeshire, and finally back up across it to Liverpool airport.
Its a beautiful place, jaw droppingly stunning at times, the roads are excellent, and mostly empty, and the biggest surprise? Just how damn good the food is! What's happened in the 15 years since I have been away? Some kind of revoloution? The ingredients are stunning, from beef, lamb, seafood, and dairy; I haven't eaten stuff this good for a long time, if ever and the preparation the equal of anything I have had in France.
If you don't mind a bit of mist and rain on your hols, and quite frankly, the castles and countryside look more dramatic that way, then I can recommend the place, it really is a little gem these days.
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I didn't think it opened till the Summer.
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And closed the following day!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Shhhh! We are trying to keep it a secret!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I am from Devon myself, and particularly the Pembrokeshire coast reminds me a lot of it, but a lot less built up. I don't see why it isn't attracting a lot more interest in Wales, there is so much going for the country. It should be on the international tourist to do list up near the top IMO.
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