dreams of Provence

what person who have even the slightest dreams of traveling the planet has not included in her list of places to visit the South of France? since i had my first taste of travel outside of this little group islands i call home, i couldn't stop thinking of which places to see next. a European vacation tops the list and if i were to choose where to go first, it would be on a lovely beach holiday in Provence.

so i went on the net to do some searching on this area. even if i cannot just hop on a plane soon does not mean i cannot start my research on my next dream vacation. after all, they say the first step to making dreams come true is to visualize it. since budget is always the first concern in planning trips, i have to find someplace that i could afford the soonest. and this is how i came across self catering holidays in Mallemort en Provence.

hotels are always an expensive alternative especially for family trips. hotel rooms usually have strict limits as to how many it can people it can sleep understandably because of a very limited space. therefore, house rentals are a better and cheaper alternative especially for a big family like mine. not only is there more space for my kids to play in, there's also more privacy because i don't have to worry about who goes into the hotel room to do housekeeping.

looking through the choices available on the net from the smaller 2-bedroom houses to large fairy tale villas in Mallemort, i couldn't help but be awed by the lovely French countryside photos. it's truly looks like one gets a sampling of decadent French living at luxurious Mallemort with proximity to the Pont Royale golf course and the French Riviera (Cote d'Azur) which is famed for being health vacation resorts for the British since the 18th century. it is also a favorite area for artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Now that decides it for me! This definitely one spot that goes on my bucket list.

shopping gets wiki-ed!

The first time i heard the term "wiki", it was attached to the word "-pedia". Everytime I google something, the results invariably include a weblink to a wikipedia page and these are the ones i often click on first. The results are comprehensive and often with referenced photos to make it more relevant. I'm not sure if I get how this works exactly but I do understand that a "wiki" is a very useful piece of software some web genius developed to make finding information on the web easier. Wiki software collects information from all over the net via some kind of webcrawler and compiles them for the researcher (or googler) to find in one simple and useful page.

Now imagine this technology working for the shopper. I think this part is the most interesting to readers here since scrapbookers (or almost any person with an XX pair of chromosome, for that matter) are such notorious shoppers. So I am happy to point the way to ShopWiki.com. This is definitely one place on the web you would appreciate having at your furiously typing fingertips. Go ahead and try it. Search for something to shop. Enter a brand, article or item you would like to find anywhere in the world and it turns up results plus matching photos to make your search experience even better. As a concrete example, here's one on a lamp search. Not only does it turn up a variety of lamp classification to help organize your search but clicking each segment educates you as well on the details of lighting fixtures! Talk about informed shopping. :-D

I think this is especially useful at this time when most people are crazy shopping for xmas gifts both for the officemate at the next cubicle or the loved one on another continent. It is great as an idea starter at the very least whether or not directly used for online shopping. Shopwiki.com is a definitive tool for the guerilla shopper's arsenal.