Debo Hobo dot Com finally purchased a Flip Camera and filmed and uploaded our first video. We are away on a weekend getaway to the Back Forty Bed & Breakfast in Fredericksburg, Texas. The very quiet and quaint town dates back to the to the mid 1800’s formed by German settlers. The main street offers an abundance of German restaurants, bakeries and clothing shops.
I shot this video while sitting on the back patio of our private cabin for the weekend. Driving away from here is going to be really difficult. Fortunately it is an easy five hours drive just southewest of Dallas and is not over priced like many BNBs can be.
Fredericksburg, the county seat of Gillespie County, is seventy miles west of Austin in the central part of the county. The town was one of a projected series of German settlements from the Texas coast to the land north of the Llano River, originally the ultimate destination of the German immigrants sent to Texas by the Adelsverein. In August 1845 John O. Meusebach left New Braunfels with a surveying party to select a site for a second settlement en route to the Fisher-Miller Land Grant. He eventually chose a tract of land sixty miles northwest of New Braunfels, where two streams met four miles above the Pedernales River; the streams were later named Barons Creek, in Meusebach’s honor, and Town Creek. Meusebach was impressed by the abundance of water, stone, and timber and upon his return to New Braunfels arranged to buy 10,000 acres on credit. The first wagontrain of 120 settlers arrived from New Braunfels on May 8, 1846, after a sixteen-day journey, accompanied by an eight-man military escort provided by the Adelsverein. Surveyor Hermann Wilke laid out the town, which Meusebach named Fredericksburg after Prince Frederick of Prussia, an influential member of the Adelsverein. Each settler received one town lot and ten acres of farmland nearby. The town was laid out like the German villages along the Rhine, from which many of the colonists had come, with one long, wide main street roughly paralleling Town Creek. The earliest houses in Fredericksburg were built simply, of post oak logs stuck upright in the ground. These were soon replaced by Fachwerk houses, built of upright timbers with the spaces between filled with rocks and then plastered or whitewashed over. More history…
Planning on taking a cruise in the Caribbean? These five tips will help you make your cruise a great one!
1. Everyone thinks of only one clothing item to pack when planning a Caribbean cruise; their swimsuit. Eventually, several tank tops and shorts are packed, as well. Mother Nature can be very unpredictable, so you should always include a light jacket and at least one set of warm clothing, as rainy days and cool weather can sometimes surprise the most well prepared travelers. When filling your suitcase, be sure to remember sun block, sunglasses and sun burn ointment, just in case. To ensure maximum enjoyment, bring your camera, some reading material and your favorite portable music player with music.
2. How much cash can you carry and still feel safe? A good rule of thumb is to carry as little cash as possible. ATMs have made this much easier and more convenient to achieve. Cash may be required for some island shopping excursions, as well as, for the customary tip at the end of the cruise. Try to use an ATM whenever possible, though, to avoid carry excess cash.
3. Leave your house in good hands while you are gone. This will help you relax and thoroughly enjoy your cruise. Make sure that you plan ahead of time for someone to watch your pets, if you have any. Also, it is a good idea to have a neighbor, friend or family member check on your house every few days while you are gone. Have them retrieve your mail regularly or place your mail on hold at your local post office for the duration of your stay. Leave close friends and family members contact numbers for the cruise line and any on shore locations in case of emergency.
4. Being sick is never a good way to enjoy a Caribbean cruise. Do your best to stay as healthy as possible before you leave on your cruise. Because sickness can pop up at unexpected times, bring any medications you’d need for different sicknesses. And, find out the best way for you to prevent sea sickness.
5. Above all, choose a destination that interests you and fits within your budget. Find out which durations and destinations best suit your interests and your cruise experience. A first time cruise passenger might find that a shorter duration cruise is more to their liking. Gradually work your way to longer cruises. Popular cruise destinations are popular for a reason. Stick to the main destinations for your first time, and let your experience guide you on future destinations.
Book flight Book a flight on Orbitz and they’ll start tracking to see if another customer books the same itinerary at a lower price.
Refund earned
They’ll continue tracking until the day you fly. Each time the price drops and someone books your flight for less, they’ll issue a cash refund for the difference, between $5 and $250 per traveler.
Check mailed
Expect to get your refund check about 30 days after your trip. It’s automatic — no need to call, e-mail or fill out forms. Just make sure to cash your check within 90 days of the issue date.
Of course there is that pesky fine print, let’s take a look at some of it:
Listed are the first 5 must read Terms and Conditions:
1. Orbitz Price Assurance is available to any customer who makes a qualifying airfare booking through the Orbitz Web site. Qualifying booking must occur on Orbitz.com on/after June 6th, 2008.
2. Orbitz Price Assurance applies only to airline tickets booked on Orbitz, and only for tickets booked using a valid credit card with a United States billing address.
3. Orbitz Price Assurance applies only to the total airfare (base plus taxes plus government fees plus airline imposed fuel and other surcharges) and does not apply to differences based on service, booking, processing, shipping, paper-ticket and other fees and other charges not collected on the airline ticket.
4. If Orbitz finds, after you have booked your flight, that another Orbitz customer has booked the same flight(s), meaning the same dates/times of travel, on the same airline, with the same flight numbers, for the same passenger type, itinerary, cabin, and subject to the same fare refundability, or other restrictions, that is at least $5 lower than the airfare you booked on Orbitz, Orbitz will refund you the difference up to a maximum of $250.00 per ticket.
5. The confirmed airfare and itinerary you booked on Orbitz.com will be compared to the same itinerary on Orbitz for drops in fare up until the day you fly. Fares are compared with like fare restrictions, so for example, if an unrestricted airfare is booked on Orbitz, it will not qualify for the Orbitz Price Assurance if compared to a restricted airfare found on the Orbitz Web site.
This is my special group of coffee buddies that provided me with the caffeine to continue to blog and chat. Won’t you join us by buying Debo Hobo a cup of Coffee?
