I recently made a trip to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Tampa and I must say I was impresses. The Hard Rock is located right off interstate 4 which makes it easy to get to from all areas around Tampa Bay. They have 2 huge parking garages and 1 parking lot to accomodate their visitors. They also offer valet service for a fee which is not a bad idea on busy night.
Upon arrival, I entered the South parking garage which is the newest garage and I quickly found parking. When I entered the casino I was amazed at how massive and modern the place was. I definately felt like I was in Las Vegas with what seemed like thousands of slot machines with their fancy lights and sounds.
The Hard Rock Casino has a really awesome center bar with a tower of flat screen tv's that can be viewed from any spot in the bar. The center bar is staffed by a haanfull of beautiful bartenders wearing really short leather shorts. The center bar is a real classy place to take a break from the slots or card games. Another unique bar is located off to the side of the casino floor near the gift shop. This is a trendy and laid back bar with comfy sofa chairs and live music.
When it comes to dining, the Hard Rock gives you more choices than you would expect. You can grab a quick bite at the Food Marketplace which is similar to a shopping mall food court. I had some pizza and pasta and it was delicous! If you are looking for a fancier dining experience you can dine at Floyd's which offers Mediterranean influenced dishes. Council Oak is the place for you if you desire steak and seafood. There is also the Pool Bar & Grill, the Green Room, Fresh Harvest, & Rock n Raw.
On most Wednesday nights the Hard Rock has a prize giveaway where you can win a car, jet ski, cash, etc. All you have to do is enter the contest by swiping your players card and go to the center bar if they call your name.
The State of Florida and the Seminole Indian tribe struck a deal to allow the Hard Rock to have vegas style slots and card games. The vegas style slots are already in place which has delighted the slot lovers but the card games are currently on hold due to a lawsuit. The casino has no limit poker which is a big draw. I tried my hand on the poker tables and the poker room was absolutely jam packed with players. It was my first time playing poker and the dealer was very understanding.
The Hard Rock also boasts a world class hotel with some pretty fancy looking rooms. I did not stay in a hotel room but I plan on doing so as soon as possible. My trip to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino was much better than I had anticipated and I will most certainly be back. Here is the link to the Seminole Hard Rock site.

Author writes for the Florida travel and vacation blog [http://www.BestofFloridaOnline.com] Best of Florida reviews attractions and events all over Florida so that prospective Florida visitors will have a better idea of where to go and what to see while visiting Florida.

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The Crystal River manatee is a large, gentle sea-mammal that spends the majority of its day eating. In fact, manatee can eat an average of 100-150 pounds of vegetation a day and they spend much of their time in waters that are only 3-7 feet deep; which makes locating and swimming with manatees in Crystal River a fairly easy and enjoyable adventure. The Crystal River manatee are also friendly, slow-moving creatures that are curious by nature, which will provide many opportunities to observe these animals and take pictures while swimming with them.
When you visit Crystal River, swim with the manatees and enjoy yourself, but please...look, but do not touch. there is much debate regarding the effects of human-manatee interactions; largely, this debate has been the result of careless tour guides allowing folks to physically handle the manatee. The manatee are very gentle and they will allow you to get right next to them, but you must resist the temptation to reach out and touch, or feed them. The end result is this, the animals spend more time frequenting areas where humans concentrate, which puts them at risk for propeller injuries, or death and if legislation is passed to prevent interactions, swimming with manatees in Crystal River will no longer be possible for future generations to enjoy. So, please enjoy, take photos and swim along with the manatee, but do not touch them, or prevent them from swimming and surfacing freely. Let's protect them and our ability to interact with them.
If you plan on taking a trip to Crystal River, swimming with the manatees can be done on your own, or you can use one of our professional, affordable tour services that will guide you to the best locations, help you with your experience and some of them also offer pictures and videos of your trip. You may also wish to go diving, kayaking, fishing, or partake in any number of other activities while you are with us. You will also find that we have some great restaurants and a number of hotels to accommodate you, your preferences and budget. So, plan your vacation and make a swim with the Crystal River manatee a top priority, we'll see you soon.

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The first beachfront hotel that I booked on-line without previously scoping out ended up being e a very relaxing, quiet and romantic stay for a 4-day get-a-way on beautiful Saint Petersburg Beach. A definite consideration for a small family vacation or a weekend romantic retreat on one of the gulf coasts best beaches. Oh yeah, and quite affordable!

The Beach Haven in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida (FL.) in the Tampa Bay area turned out to be a pleasant surprise. My love and I needed a nice quiet place to go to just get away from the rigors of regular life and to bask in each others embrace. There is no place else like a Florida beach and yet it turned out even better with the small cottage I booked for us at Beach Haven. To think I was going to book a boring, plain and standard looking hotel room for 4 days.

Beach Haven fit the occasion and the bill for what the two of us needed. The room was small but cute. I know, I know, I just said cute! Aside from telling my daughter and my love they are cute, I don't use that word for too many things but sorry, yes, it was cute.

I booked the Deluxe Suite and it was $155 per night (for 2, they charge $10 per person per night extra). That was peak season though. You can book the same room for $115 and $95 a night during off-peak seasons. The deposit was also reasonable at $200. Florida vacationers will enjoy colorful art deco style motels which are romantically pink, a gulf front heated pool and palm trees lining the cottages (throw in some white small bulb Christmas type strung lights down the walkways and in the palms). With all that you still can't resist the spectacular sunsets that are a few footsteps away without having to walk through some 20 story buildings bottom floor parking garage to get there.

Beach Haven is conveniently located on Gulf Boulevard of Saint Petersburg Beach and is close to great shopping, dining and entertainment. You can head over to John's Pass for tons of great shops and restaurants as well as wave runner rentals, dolphin tours, fishing charters, sight seeing tours, a casino cruise and a top St. Pete Beach and Tampa Bay area hot spot, Gators! If you want to experience some of the Saint Petersburg Beach night life, head to Gators which is not your typical club. The club plays, well, at least I feel, great live rock and sometimes heavy music and throws in some booty dancing beats late night and is right on the water which you just can't beat.

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A vacation is a great get away for one and all and when the vacation is in Orlando, one's heart beats that much faster in anticipation. Orlando is universally acclaimed as the hottest destination for a vacation. No American Dream is complete without a visit to Disney Land and a brush with the celluloid world at Universal Studios. Well, one cannot visit either without going to Orlando. Orlando is fondly and aptly nicknamed 'The city beautiful', thanks to its numerous theme parks, resorts and entertainment attractions which play no mean role in helping to rank it as one of the world's most popular holiday destinations. This being the case, tourism has become the driving force for the area's flourishing economy.
Although Orlando is a hub of tourist activity and abuzz with happenings for a dozen reasons , the single most factor that makes young and old alike gravitate towards it for vacations is the universal favorite Disney Land. Having opened way back in 1971 it created grounds for unprecedented economic growth which catapulted Orlando to its present day popularity as the ultimate fun spot for a vacation.
Generally, vacationers love to visit Orlando during Spring Break, Easter, Thanksgiving and the December holidays. It is definitely an added edge to a vacation spot when one can reach it not only by land or take the air route but also throw in a cruise for better effect because although Orlando is not a sea port it has a cruise terminal not more than a couple of hour's drive away from it.
The city's well equipped hotels and spas are well tuned to the needs of vacationers and cram their days in Orlando with as much fun as possible by designing special packages to include the maximum sight seeing tours, excursions and all that Orlando has to offer to accommodate every budget and to suit the needs of every age group right from the all out for fun youngsters to the discerning and artistically inclined. Also on the must -see list are the Patrick Air Force Base, The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and The Kennedy Space Center which is approximately an hour's drive East of Orlando.
Vacations to this part of the world are replete with visits to malls, concerts, restaurants, spas, music shows, swimming, art and culture exhibitions and golf for golfers apart from the usual round of trips to the innumerable theme and amusement parks. All in all, a vacation in Orlando is a complete holiday experience which fulfills the senses, enriches the soul whether one is a single or married with kids.

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The Colosseum area virtually defines central Rome, but it is a south central district. This area overflows with history; it was once the center of the Western world. You'll find the Roman Forum and Caesar's Forum when Julie wanted to make a statement. Of course there's the Colosseum itself, home to countless slaughters of people and animals. Once it held lions, now it holds errant pussy cats. At least there are no more slaughters. But you will want to see it, and so you might consider lodging in the neighborhood. The Domus Aurea, the Gold House, was Nero's monument to conspicuous consumption carried to the nth degree. His palace actually covered one third of the city. It was lost for centuries but can and should be seen now. Don't miss the Arch of Constantine, and to see how nature compares with us mere mortals, enjoy the Palatine Hill, preferred by Romulus. As you may well suspect, there is a museum, the Museo Palatino. For your convenience we have listed neighborhood hotels in approximate order of cost, starting with the least expensive. We have personally verified all website addresses making sure that they include English-language pages.
The Bed and Breakfast Santi Quattro al Colosseo is located in an elegant, recently restored 1930s building. Try not to think about who was ruling the roost in 1930s Italy, he did get his due. If you stay here you are close to just about everything that matters in the area, including a restaurant belonging to the same owners. You do get breakfast without having to go for a walk. Every room has a view of the Colosseum. On the other hand, the reception desk is by no means 24/7. There are 4 rooms and 3 apartments. The bed and breakfast address is Via dei Santi Quattro, 64 - 00184 Roma.
The Palazzetto degli Artisti offers double, triple, and quad rooms. The building was constructed around the turn of the century (when the Eighteenth became the Nineteenth century in what was the heart of Ancient Rome near the Colosseum. There are five floors, the top is a terrace from which you can see all that matters and much more. There's an in-suite breakfast. The bed and breakfast address is Via della Madonna dei Monti, 108 - 00184 - Rome.
The four-star Grand Hotel Palatino offers over 200 rooms including several suites and two restaurants, a bar and lounge, and several meeting rooms. There is access for the disabled. The top floor has executive rooms with private balconies. The hotel address is Via Cavour, 213/M - 00184 - Rome.
The five-star Hotel Gladiatori Palazzo Manfredi offers only 17 rooms and some suites so you may have to reserve well in advance. The terrace has been used as a TV and movie set. The hotel is built on a site where gladiators were housed in the days when the Colosseum housed lions. Stay in a suite and you get tickets for the Colosseum as well as breakfast. The property is non-smoking. The hotel address is Via Labicana, 125 - 00184 - Rome.

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