Inbound flights began arriving at two of New York’s major airports – LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International – on Monday night. On Tuesday morning Newark Liberty began receiving inbound air traffic. The total number of flights cancelled at all three airports was around 1,500.

The first plane to land at LaGuardia around 7.40pm Monday was an Air Canada flight from Toronto. “Everyone was clapping toward the end,” said Patrick Wacker, a passenger on the flight. Mr. Wacker was trying to get back to New York after visiting family in Germany and was stranded in Toronto.

Thousands of stranded passengers turned airline terminals into temporary hotels as air travel in the nation’s most crowded airspace almost shut down. There was a long wait while planes took off and landed on ploughed runways.

Travellers spent an uncomfortable Sunday night trying to sleep on hard airport floors, then spent Monday in long lines trying to get taxis, begging for flights or scrabbling for hotel rooms.

No form of conveyance was exempt from the storm’s havoc: from the Times Square bus terminal, usually the nation’s busiest, to the area’s commuter trains, generally known for their punctuality.

Adrienne Leptich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the storm was New York City’s sixth worst since records began in 1869. In February 2006, the 1947 record for the depth of snowfall was broken when a storm dropped 26.9 inches of snow on Central Park. Sunday’s storm, surprisingly, wasn’t a record-breaker, leaving 20 inches of snow in Central Park.

New York taxi driver Shafqat Hayat spent the night trapped in his car on an unploughed street, then struggled to get it moving on Monday.

“I’ve never seen so many cars stuck on the roads in 22 years,” Hayat said.

At the Newark airport Frank Mann turned the situation into a game for his 9-year-old son Stephen and his girlfriend Jackie Douglas, treating their “accommodation” on the terminal floor like a camping trip. They turned luggage trays upside down to make beds and hit the snack bar for hot dogs when they got hungry. Stephen was even able to use his Kindle to finish the book he started at the beginning of the trip.

Reference:

http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2010/12/28/thousands-stranded-trains-planes-northeast-storm/#

Storm Leaves Thousands Struggling To Get Home was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe

Culinary travel is a growing niche for the travel industry and this fabulous coffee table book will not leave you hungry. In fact, you can eat across continents while perusing Food Journeys of a Lifetime without gaining a pound. Sharing food and beverage stories often tops the vacation memories shared upon return. Explore Cusco’s Christmas Market where this Christmas Eve, Peruvians will gather and shop for their yuletide feasts. Indulge as you sample the top 10 cheese tours of France, which of course, must be experienced with a glass of vino. Learn about the most unusual food festivals such as Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas or the Ice Cream Expo in Japan.

LIFE Wonders of the World

If a photo says a thousand words, then LIFE Wonders of the World coffee-table sized photography book is a trillion visual stories of manmade and natural adventures around the world. As you travel from the Coliseum to the auroras borealis and australis – the northern and southern lights you feel as though you could just reach out and touch these stunning destinations and sights. Presented in a gallery format, there are even removable prints that can be framed. Unlike when touring an art gallery, this personal tour is complete with educational descriptions. A perfect family gift, learning about the 50 Wonders will educate children, but most importantly, will stimulate them to explore and experience these and other travel marvels. 

JUST Learning about Wine Pack

Traveling to California’s wine country is a romantic retreat, but are you overwhelmed about the different wine varieties and distinguishing between a merlot and a pinot noir? Help is here from Justin Vineyards & Winery, located in a hot California wine region, Paso Robles. This holiday season, give the gift of wine with a private wine education. Coupled with a bottle of the winery’s 2008 Chardonnay and a bottle of the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, recipients will also receive Red and White, a book covering wine basics starting at the vineyard and traveling through the winery process to the eventual bottle. After enjoying the gift pack, plan a trip to sample your way through wine country!

Animal Holiday DVD

Animal Holiday DVD is the next “March of the Penguins” as kids travel from Santa’s home to the South Pole with the jolly soul himself and his animal friends. These winter adventures are educational as well as viewers learn about reindeer, otters, polar bears and other winter creatures.

National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010

On a junior level, National Geographic has compiled the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010 featuring over 500 images, interesting facts and tidbits, activities and more. Kids will get lost exploring the United States, go to Egypt, go Down Under, dive into the Arctic, travel to Europe and more. The layout of this book is quick and easy to navigate and is chalk full of interesting insights that will stimulate kids of all ages to want to travel outside of the book and into life.

Mama Mirabelle Plush Toys

What is a Christmas without a stuffed animal under the tree? Mama Mirabelle Plush Toys bring the PBS show “Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies” to life. Reminiscent of Madagascar, there are baby animals (an elephant, zebra, and a cheetah cub) to help guide kids through African adventures. Many stories await and do not be surprised if your children begin planning a real safari.

Gifts to Inspire Travel was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Black Friday is traditionally known as the biggest shopping day of the year. With the state of the current economy still at a low point, how did Black Friday 2009 shape up? Did consumers bring the ka-ching to the nation’s retailers or has Black Friday turned red?

Overall, retailers made some major changes in their Black Friday preparations this year. After slow sales last year forced many retailers to slash prices just before the Christmas holiday to clear inventory, retailers were more cautious this year on how much inventory they had in stock. Last year, the registers showed a 3.4% drop in sales over previous Black Friday receipts, but the expectation this year was raised to only a 1% drop in sales, according to The National Retailer’s Association. Overall projections for Black Friday sales were $437.6 billion. On a bright note, consumer spending was up .7% in October, according to the Commerce Department. This percentage was better than expected.

Shoppers were out in full force this year, but many seemed to be keeping a close watch on how they spent their shopping dollars. Most shoppers were definitely looking for items that were a good deal. Typical shoppers were expecting plenty of sales still to come before the Christmas holiday.

Online shopping is seeing a surge as well, although here too, consumers were looking for the best deals. Last year, Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday, was the day online sales came out in full force. This year, Cyber Black Friday was part of the overall shopping mania. Many Cyber Black Friday deals will run through the weekend, but by Cyber Monday, shoppers may be looking at empty wallets, due to all the early sales.

Retailers were harnessing the power of social media outlets like Facebook to broadcast sales with special promotional codes and text messages being sent out to those who signed up on the social media giant. This year’s early promotions of Black Friday, including early sales, prompted many new Black Friday shoppers this year, who were lured out to the malls for the first time to join the crush.

While the shopping was heavy, many Black Friday veterans were foregoing the video games, toys and electronics of years gone by and sticking more to the basics, like clothing, sports gear and watches. The tighter economy has caused many shoppers to spend their holiday dollars on practical gifts rather than just fun and games.

Did the Economy Sound the Death Toll for Black Friday? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Last year, Wal-Mart help bring in early holiday shoppers by lowering the prices on 10 of the most popular toys to just $10. It worked. This year, Wal-Mart not only plans to continue with the already-popular program but make it even bigger. The retail giant will still offer the popular toys at $10 but will also expand to 100 toys to choose from this holiday season. During last season’s program, Wal-Mart literally sold out of the $10 toys, mostly due to their own underestimation.

Wal-Mart states they understand that “price matters more than ever”. They keep in mind single and working families that simply do not have the money this year to make ends meet, much less splurge during Christmas shopping. The retailer will continue selling family-friendly board games, such as Monopoly and Connect 4, at $10 prices. Barbies, which were included in last year’s program, will once again be a part of the deal. Other items such as Play-Doh sets and popular action figures will be marked down as much as 20-50%.

At the end of this year’s holiday shopping season, US retailers will expect to account for 25-40% of their total annual revenue. Fear is big because 2008 was the worst in almost 40 years and early predictions are not certain if this year’s end will be any better or if they will be worse.

Wal-Mart executives pinpoint about 70% of holiday shopping occurs before Halloween. Last year, the retailer worked with a  number of toy manufacturers to come up with the list of 10. This year, they hope the additional 90 toy items will help families to survive the holidays on a budget with a much bigger selection. Wal-Mart has also stated that the $10 toy program is just the first of several programs that will be launched in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Newer programs will be announced and are expected to provide shoppers with even more savings.

Wal-Mart Set To Expand $10 Holiday Toy Deal in 2009 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Last year’s sales were $442 billion with an expectancy of $438 billion this year. The report further emphasized that high end specialty retailers would be hardest hit again this year.

With such a gloomy projection as has been reported due to the economic slowdown, other factors could play into the expected results. Beyond the fact that many consumers don’t have the discretionary dollars available is the “hunker down and wait” psychology that typically occurs in stressed economic periods.

The very tangible reward for that psychology was demonstrated earlier this year in the “Cash for Clunkers” Government Program.

Retailing industry comments and assumptions have included the reality that less store staff will be available to serve customers with the sacrifice coming through less part time associates. Since there are only so many dollars of profit to be allocated for employment and with a poorer projection the assumption is that corners must be cut.

With less staff and less service, an alternative motivation must be emphasized in order for stores to capture as many dollars as possible. That means for the consumer an opportunity exists. Stores only have a limited number of options. The retailer only has unique offerings, outstanding service or price. Advertising budgets must follow the same trend as the expectancy.

All that being said, from the time the retailer makes acquisition and presentation, they only have 90 – 120 days to successfully sell through and attain back the cost dollars needed to meet their bills for the expanded inventory.

A logical assumption can be justified, in that due to hesitation and even though the consumers will wait by virtue of psychology or simple need, that the only real option for the retailer is price. A price war could break out beyond the pre-planned and set psychological advertising campaign that always accompanies the competition.

We could be looking at and enjoying a retail downward spiral ultimately causing many businesses to earnestly liquidate and go out of business. Admittedly the overall effect is negative for the country with a small positive of the potential of temporary relief for the consumer.

What happens if a significant number of brick and mortar retailers find themselves in the quandary of fighting to win back the cost dollars they need? Their prices could go below where even the “Internet Giants” can go.

We could find ourselves returning to a style of Christmas that has been declining for several years – in the stores, elbow to elbow with throngs of customers attempting to capitalize upon price offerings.

One aspect that always surprises, is the creativity that retailers possess in making their best efforts to capture sales. Plus and value added offerings beyond “two for one” could be in our immediate future. Free additional goods or services will be the most likely next motivation offered. Legitimate – real, “free” offerings done out of the motivation of simple survival on the part of store owners.

Christmas Sales Predicted to Decline Another 1% This Year was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Families are planning to spend less on trick-or-treat items such as candy and costumes. Last year, consumers spent on average $66.54 for Halloween but plan to spend only $56.31. That may mean less houses on the block being lit up to welcome trick-or-treaters, less parties, and less family entertainment. In order to save cash, parents plan to re-use last year’s costumes or create homemade costumes from household materials. There will likely be less new yard decorations in favor of previous decorations. Parents and kids will be less likely to visit haunted houses, haunted hayrides, and other fall festivities due to the continued tightening of family budgets. Even pumpkin carvings will be down due to the increase cost of pumpkins and decorating kits. Parties are also predicted to be on the decline. The amount of people attending or throwing a party compared to years past will be significantly lowered.

Consumer groups say that more creativity will go into this year’s celebrations, with less extravagance. Budgeting will change how people come up with new ideas to celebrate Halloween with their kids. Even teen consumers, who were last year’s biggest spenders, are predicted to cut costs because part-time jobs are getting harder to come by and many parents can not afford to help them with extra spending money. In the early days of Halloween celebrations, costumes and treats were all homemade and it seems that Americans by necessity are headed back to the basics. Creativity and frugality are winning out in many areas of the nation during the holidays and in daily life.

Community groups that sponsor local parades and family-friendly festivities for the Halloween holiday are likely to see an increase in participation, since many families prefer to not travel outside of their local area for activities, such as trick-or-treating and fall festivals. Novelties such as a costume for a pet and Halloween cards may be forgone altogether in favor of saving.

Research Shows Consumers Scared Off By Recession This Halloween was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

It can always be a little frustrating figuring out when and how much to tip your waiter, doormen, taxi drivers, the mail lady, and others who are working hard to make your life easier. Here is a brief overview of how you can show your gratitude without breaking the bank.

Give To The Loyal

If you have people you encounter on a daily basis, consider your tip or gift budget to those people first. It can be a nice gesture to leave a holiday card with a small token gift or a monetary donation you can afford for the mail person, newspaper carrier, or whom ever provides you frequent services.

Give Small But Thoughtful Gifts

Gift cards or certificates for the local gas station or grocery store are a simple way to say thanks, support your local businesses, and end the search time for too many “perfect” gifts.

Go Homemade

You can also bake a bulk batch of a holiday treat and get crafty with some ribbon to thank your kid’s teachers. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to say happy holidays to those who make a difference in your life.

Handmade Holiday Cards

Those people that you see only on occasion can be wished a happy holidays for free or next to free. Buy some stock paper and handwrite a personal thank you card to let the person who helps you that you are thinking of them. A card does not always have to contain money.  Most people understand the economic situation and hopefully wouldn’t be put out by just your good wishes.

Give What You Can Afford

For those situations where a monetary tip is the norm, such as your hairdresser or babysitter, consider them into your holiday spending limit total and give no more than what you can. Do not feel guilty if you think it’s not enough. While standard tipping rates is considered to be 15-20% of your total bill, if you can’t afford it, don’t give it. The fact that you even included these service providers into your holiday budget should be considered a gesture of good will and going broke over guilt is no way to remain financially savvy.

Tips for Tipping Over the Holidays was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

It is almost hard to believe Thanksgiving is almost upon us and Christmas is right around the corner. While both holidays bring immediate images of families and friends gathering together to celebrate, they can also bring serious concerns about finances, especially when it comes to holiday shopping bills.

Black Friday occurs the day after Thanksgiving where department stores and malls open at ungodly early hours of the morning, promising bargains galore and chaos in the aisles. Some people thrive on the annual tradition and can not wait to hit the stores before the sun comes up.  Because the stores are so busy on Black Friday and shoppers are frantic to find and take home all of the deals they can, there can be a strong tendency to overspend and not pay any attention to the amount of money being put out. The best way to deal with the craziness of a Black Friday shopping spree is to be prepared.

Here are some tips for preparing for the Black Friday rush:

Create a Shopping List

While there may be some instances where a deal comes along that is too good to pass up, it is important you start with a good idea of what you need to buy and how much you need to spend for the holidays on each person. You shouldn’t hit the mall without first understanding your spending limits. With all of the craziness of the Black Friday shopping festivities, it can be entirely too easy to pick up impulse buys at every turn.

Seek Out the Bargains Ahead of Time

Most of the ads will be available on Thanksgiving Day. However, many stores will start advertising the upcoming Black Friday specials prior to the holiday. You can also browse online at sites like Black Friday that gives a sneak peek at the special sales. Take notes as to what places you need to shop and what items you are looking for in each store.

Price Check

Just because there is a good price in one store, doesn’t mean there isn’t a better price in another. Check around for the best prices and don’t forget to find out which stores are offering the best deals and during what time period.

Bring Your Sales Fliers

Some stores will accept competitor’s pricing for the same merchandise. It may be worth it to toss your sales circulars into your purse in case you find something you need at one store and find that another store has better pricing. It can save you a ton of travel and shopping time.

Shop Online

Beat the crowds completely and don’t leave your home. Online shopping websites will also offer Black Friday deals, much like their chain store counterparts. The good news is there are no battles in the aisles over merchandise, no long lines to stand in. and you are more likely to buy only what it is you are looking to buy for the holidays.

Tips for Holiday Shopping on Black Friday was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The average family in the United States will spend around $850.00 on Christmas presents this year for friends, family and coworkers. That’s a huge number considering the fact that most people have very little money put away in savings, practically nothing for retirement, and lots of debts to be spoken of. The cash just isn’t there to pay for Christmas presents, so they charge them to their credit card and figure that they can take care of them at a later date, but how much are these presents really costing them?

Let’s say that you ended up spending $1,000 on Christmas presents this year and put it on a credit card with a 15.00% APR. The minimum payments you would probably expect to pay would be around $20.00 a month. Assuming you charged absolutely nothing on the card ever again, it would still take you 6 and ½ years to pay the debt off! You would also be paying an extra $579.00 in interest! Getting 10% or 15% off on a Black Friday deal doesn’t sound nearly as good when you’re paying a 58% fee to pay for your Christmas presents at a later date.

But what if you’re a “savvy” consumer and pay extra on your minimum balance? Is it okay to pay for your Christmas presents on your credit card then? Let’s take a look at the same example, but this time you are going to pay twice the minimum payment each month. It’s still going to take you two and a half years to pay for Christmas, and you’re going to pay $206.00 extra just to pay for your Christmas presents after the fact. Do you really want to be sitting 2.5 years down the road paying for your Christmas presents? How would you still like to be paying for your 2005 Christmas presents?

Fortunately there’s a better way to pay for your Christmas presents. Christmas comes in December each year, so it’s very easy to plan for. Decide how much money you want to spend on Christmas each year and divide that number by 12. Open up a separate savings account at your bank and have 1/12th of how much money you would like to spend on Christmas transferred each month to that. When Black Friday comes around each year, you can take that money out and spend it on Christmas presents. This way there’s no credit card debt to take care of after the Christmas season.

Why the Black Friday Deals You Scored Might Not Be Deals At All was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Have you ever considered that perhaps the single craziest day of the year, Black Friday, immediately follows one of the most relaxing days of the year, Thanksgiving Day? I guess we need time to relax and prepare before fighting through masses of people at 5:00 AM! On Black Friday, shoppers all across America will flock into their favorite retail stores in hopes of getting amazing deals on Christmas gifts for friends and family. If you don’t plan on sleeping in and enjoying a day off from work and are considering venturing out into the jungle of the retail world this Friday, you have to be prepared. You can get all the deals you want, save a substantial amount of money and not spend more than you were hoping for, but you have to go in with a plan.

The first thing you need to do is establish a budget for your holiday shopping. Take a hard look at your current financial situation and sincerely ask yourself what you can reasonably afford to spend on Black Friday and what you can afford to spend on Christmas presents this year. Don’t be fooled into the myth that you can’t have a good Christmas unless you spend a lot of money on gifts. People remember Christmas because they had some amazing quality time with their family, not because they got some new stuff. Come up with a reasonable amount of money that you can spend on Black Friday and who you all want to buy gifts for.

You will now want to take your Black Friday budget and head online. Google for all of the circulars for each of the major retail stores in your area. These could be big box stores, department stores, electronics stores, or just about any retailer you frequent. A good search might be something like “Best Buy Black Friday Ad” or “Target Circular Black Friday.” Chances are you’ll be able to find a copy of their advertisements if it’s not in your newspaper.

Take the circulars that you have collected and pick out which deals you want to get. Make sure the deals that you want do not exceed your budget. Write your deals down on a piece of paper to bring with yourself the next morning to serve as a checklist. Now take your checklist and prioritize it. Ask yourself if you could only get one of these deals, which would it be? Mark that as number one, and then go down through the list and prioritize them from most important to get to least important to get.

A great idea is to go get cash from the bank or an ATM machine the day before. Take out enough to buy everything that you are planning on getting and nothing more. The day of Black Friday, leave all of your credit and debit cards at home. This will prevent you from getting caught up in the excitement and rush of Black Friday and buying things that you had no intention of buying before walking into the store.

When you get up and out of bed before the crack of dawn on Friday morning, take your list and go to the store that has the deal that you want to get the most, go and get it and move on down your list. If the store is out of the particular deal you want, that’s okay. There are other shopping days in the year besides Black Friday. You can worry about getting a present for that person some other time. Just go down the list and try to get the next deal as quickly an efficiently as possible. Keep shopping until your list runs out or the Black Friday sales are over.

How to Shop on Black Friday, Get the Deals You Want, and Not Go Overboard was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Thanksgiving is easily in the top two or three holidays for most Americans. Who doesn’t love spending time with family and gorging themselves all sorts of delicious tryptophan laced foods? Thanksgiving day is usually extremely relaxing and fun, unless you have to cook. It takes a lot of work to make a dinner like that happen, but by following these tips you can cook your thanksgiving in a fraction of what it would take otherwise.The first thing you need to do is get organized ahead of time. Have recipes for everything you want to cook and make a shopping lit for the items that you need. Go into your favorite grocery store several days ahead of time to make sure that you have all the ingredients needed. Also make sure that you have all the dishes that you will need to present the meal, such as glassware, silverware and serving containers.

Most people end up buying a large turkey and having turkey left-overs for the following two weeks. A good rule of thumb is to get a pound of turkey for each person sitting at the table, so if you only have 5 or 6 people, a smaller 8 pound turkey will do you fine. If you have a small family, you might even consider not getting a fully turkey. You could just get a turkey breast instead if your family doesn’t like dark meat.

A lot of people get themselves into trouble when cooking Thanksgiving dinner because they simply have too many sides. Some people put out multiple types of potatoes and multiple dressings. Keep your side-dishes manageable, no more than four. After that things just become to complicated unless you have multiple cooks and are feeding a large group.

Ask for help. If you have guests coming over, ask them if they would be willing to bring the dessert or a side-dish to help cut back on the work that you have to do. If there’s another cook among you feel free to ask for some help in the kitchen. Chances are there’s something someone else could do to make your day a little bit easier.

Another good suggestion is to prepare any food you can the day before. You could easily make a pie on the day before and be just fine. The same could be true for a number of the other sides.

Keep your decorations simple. Remember, people are there for the food, not the fancy center piece. There’s no reason to put a lot of time and effort into a gorgeous centerpiece when a simple flower arrangement will suffice!

Thanksgiving dinner can take a substantial amount of effort to make happen, but by following these tips you can have a much more successful thanksgiving dinner.

How to Make an Amazing Thanksgiving Dinner in Half the Time was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Perhaps one of the most interesting examples of capitalism in the last few decades is the practice of consumers flocking to retailers before the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday.” Consumers fight huge crowds and go store to store looking for great deals on Christmas gifts, and retailers make a substantial amount of money during the two or three day period after Thanksgiving. If you’re one of the brave souls planning to venture out into the cold next Friday morning, be sure to come with a plan so you can get all the deals you want from the stores you plan on visiting.

A number of technologically savvy consumers have gotten hold of the circulars for the sales on Black Friday and have posted them online, so you can browse over to a number of different websites and find a listing of each of the deals that the major retailers are offering.

There’s going to be a huge offering on digital cameras this year, all of the major big box retailers are each selling at least a dozen different models at heavily discounted prices. Your best bet is to head on over to Cnet.com, read digital camera reviews and find a model that will suit your needs. After you’ve found two or three cameras that you can buy, look through the circulars and see where you can get that model for the cheapest. Make sure that you compare these prices to online digital camera retailers, because sometimes a Black Friday deal might not be the lowest price. A number of retailers will be offering the first SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras for under $500.00. They’re a bit larger than the typical point and shoot cameras, but definitely offer much better picture quality.

For GPS tracking devices, you’ll be able to find a whole bunch retailers pitching them for around $100 to $150.00. You can get the popular TomTom model for $119 at Best Buy. Circuit City will be offering one GPS tracking, the Mio Walker, for just $99.00!

Portable DVD players and DVD players have essentially bottomed out in pricing, they’re just not going to get much cheaper than they are now. You’ll still be able to get a basic DVD player for around $30.00 and a portable DVD player for $80 to $100.00. If you’re going to buy a standard DVD player or a portable DVD player, it’s probably just best to wait until after the mad rush on Black Friday.

You won’t find too many deals on computers this year—many of the major electronics retailers have skimped out on the deals that they are offering this year. You will however be able to find laptops price between $299 and $349 at both Circuit City and Staples though, so they’re worth checking out if you need a basic machine.

When it comes to HDTV’s, a number of retailers will be offering 32” LCD HDTV’s for just $399. Traditionally prices for these have bottomed out at around $500, so if you manage to snatch a TV through the mad rush of customers, you’ll be getting quite a bargain.

There will be tons of gps tracking bargains to be had this year, but be sure to go in with a plan as to what you’re going to buy before you get there. You can find a full listing of Black Friday circulars at BlackFriday.info.

2007 Black Friday Buying Guide for Electronics and Gadgets was created by and is property of American Consumer News.