Amish Country, OH – Recipes of Christmas past spiced up the 4th Annual Christmas Cookie Tour of
Inns during A Very Vintage Christmas event on December 4 and 5, 2011. Visitors from across Ohio
and adjoining states toured the Amish Country Lodging Council’s 4th Annual Tour, a two-day charity
event, which sold 1,200 tickets, and raised more than $13,000 net profits for recipients, Hospice
of Holmes County and the Love Center Food Pantry. In addition to benefiting charities, the event
awarded hospitality providers a stage to showcase their award-winning and unique properties.

Amish Country’s finest inns and bed and breakfasts prepared classic delights from the recipe book
Festive Favorites and served them up with 1940’s flare. Festive Favorites, a compilation of over 350
delectable cookie recipes, features classic treats bound by country proverbs. Festive Favorites editors
Char Kellogg and Fran Mast offered baking tips and a book signing at the Berlin Hotel and Suites.

The twelve inns showcased on this year’s tour were: the Barn Inn, Berlin Grande Hotel, Berlin
Hotel and Suites, Carlisle Inn Sugarcreek, Carlisle Inn Walnut Creek, Comfort Inn Millersburg,
Donna’s Premier Lodging, Guggisberg Swiss Inn, Hannah’s House Retreat, Hilltop Manor B&B, Hotel
Millersburg, and Zinck’s Inn.

Visitors on the tour enjoyed seeing how each inn incorporated the 1940’s theme. Vintage holiday
décor, Christmas trees [Read more…]

Roaming charges – which you pay to wireless providers when you use your phone out of your service
area – are a quick way to put a damper on any traveling you do, whether it’s for business or for
pleasure, home or overseas. As you grow to rely more and more on the variety of handheld devices
you own, it may come as some surprise – or a horrific shock – when you receive your phone bill and find
that roaming charges have been adding up. Many people don’t consider them at all while using their
phones, for instance, to check their social media sites or even perform a simple online search. When
traveling abroad, you are more likely to rack up these charges. Follow these tips to avoid them:

Wi Fi. You won’t pay any roaming fees for using wi fi, and since most smartphones are set to check
email at regular intervals, you can turn off the data roaming option on your phone until you’re in an
area with this free service or set it to airplane mode. Even if the wi fi isn’t free, it is usually cheaper that
roaming charges. You can also consider renting a wi fi bubble, a tiny device that costs less the longer
you use it and can connect you in several European countries at once. Some countries offer limitless
data usage with this service. If you have access to wi fi, you can also Skype for free rather than speaking
on the telephone (though you both must call another Skype account with your own).

Prepaid package. [Read more…]