[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Call To Action” _builder_version=”4.9.7″ _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”https:\/\/icommunicationsandmarketing.com\/contact-us\/” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZobirSkz9p4″ _builder_version=”4.9.7″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n During the height of the pandemic, airfares to Florida were consistently around $50 round-trip (or less)\u2013even from the West Coast. Low-cost carriers as well as major airlines were slashing prices across the nation in the hopes of generating whatever revenue they could when travel came to a standstill. While we are no longer seeing regular pricing quite that low for summer 2021 travel, Florida is still one of the cheapest places to fly this summer.<\/p>\n Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n The Great Lakes region is a perfect place to explore in the summer and Michigan is smack in the middle, with shorelines along four of the five Great Lakes. Couple that with lower-than-normal airfares and you may want to consider a lakeside beach trip to the Midwest this summer. Detroit was the 4th most affordable U.S. destination in Hopper\u2019s recent analysis and data from Kayak shows that flight searches are down about 20 percent compared to 2019, which means you may get to enjoy the lake with fewer crowds.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still possible to snag airfare on low-cost carriers from a few cities for under $100 round-trip, but most summer fares to Michigan cities such as Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City are in the $100s to $300s range. Of course, August travel will be cheaper than July so if you\u2019re looking for the best deal, book now for a late summer getaway up north.<\/p>\n Puerto Rico<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to visit the Caribbean without the hassle of international travel requirements, look no further than Puerto Rico. Vaccinated travelers no longer need to test before flights to or from Puerto Rico. Best of all, you\u2019ll get the same turquoise waters and tropical environment as other Caribbean islands, but for half the cost in airfare.<\/p>\n In its quarterly consumer airfare index report, Hopper lists San Juan as one of the most popular destinations searched for summer 2021 travel and a good deal for round-trip airfare around $267. This coincides with what you\u2019ll find when searching for July and August flights where prices from across the nation are in the $200s to $400s range.<\/p>\n Iceland<\/strong><\/p>\n Iceland was one of the first European nations to announce plans to open for vaccinated Americans this summer and, surprisingly, we\u2019re still seeing some incredible deals for peak summer travel to this Nordic Island full of waterfalls, hot springs, and endless summer daylight. In fact, at the time of writing, I was able to pull up July travel dates from New York to Reykjavik for around $350 round-trip flying Delta in Basic Economy.<\/p>\n Portugal<\/strong><\/p>\n From the wine region of Douro Valley to the stunning coastline of Algarve, Portugal is a summertime haven for travelers looking to enjoy the outdoors in Europe. And its national flag carrier, TAP Air Portugal, often has some of the best airfares to Europe of any airline flying across the Atlantic. Although nonstop flights to Portugal tend to be more expensive, you can take advantage of TAP\u2019s generous free stopover program to visit both Portugal and another European city for the cost of a single round-trip ticket \u2014 and it\u2019s usually much cheaper than simply booking a flight to Portugal alone.<\/p>\n Amazingly, at the time of writing, several July\/August travel dates in the mid-$300s to $400s round-trip from cities like Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. These prices are pretty much unheard of for peak summer travel to Europe. If you\u2019re traveling from other U.S. cities, you\u2019ll be looking at prices closer to the $700s and $800s range, which is still a solid deal for close-in bookings in July and August.<\/p>\n Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n Several city-dwellers from both coasts made the move to Texas in 2020 and airlines responded to the population shift by adding new routes to\/from the Lone Star State \u2014 particularly in its capital city of Austin. Both American Airlines and Delta expanded heavily in Austin making it a mini-hub for each carrier. Low-cost airlines Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier also continue to serve several routes out of Austin and other Texas airports such as Dallas and Houston.<\/p>\n Alaska<\/strong><\/p>\n Another state that got a slew of new routes in 2021 is Alaska. Both Anchorage and Fairbanks had multiple cities added to their route maps by all major airlines. Alaska Airlines and Delta seem to be competing the most with each adding new flights from hub cities around the country. Summer airfares are averaging in the $300s range from most of the U.S. and you\u2019ll even see some prices to Anchorage dip into the $200s for travel dates towards the end of August.<\/p>\n What\u2019s truly amazing is that we\u2019re seeing round-trip prices to Fairbanks in the $100s range from select cities such as Seattle, LA, and San Francisco, and in the $200s range from several other cities, including Atlanta, Miami, and Minneapolis. The pleasant summer weather and lower than usual airfares for this time of year make it a great time to explore The Last Frontier.<\/p>\n Poland<\/strong><\/p>\n Poland recently announced it will allow passengers from the U.S. to enter alongside several other European nations. It\u2019s also one of the cheapest places to fly this summer with both Krakow and Warsaw coming in on Hopper\u2019s top 10 great deals list for summer travel to Europe from the U.S. It lists a good deal to Krakow at $807 or 29 percent below data collected in May 2019 and, according to Hopper, $803 round-trip is listed as a good deal to Warsaw, which is 27 percent below May 2019 numbers.<\/p>\n Of course, airfares are in a constant flux and depend heavily on departure cities. Several July\/August travel dates from New York and Chicago to Poland in the high $400s to mid-$500s range. Flights from most other cities will be priced higher in the $600s to $800s range, but the lower costs of day-to-day activities in Poland will surely off-set any higher airfare compared to Western European nations.<\/p>\n Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n Say \u201cBuongiorno\u201d to summer with a cheap flight to Italy. Typically, flying to Italy in the peak of summer would cost well over $1,000 if you waited this long to book, but we\u2019re still seeing summer 2021 prices averaging in the $700s and $800s range for round-trip flights from across the U.S. From select departure cities, such as New York, Chicago, and Miami, you may find fares in the $500s and $600s range, with a few late August travel dates even coming in under $500.<\/p>\n Spain<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the pandemic, Spain was one of the cheapest places to fly in Europe. Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air would compete heavily with Iberia\u2019s subsidiary, Level, along with the three largest U.S. airlines, American, Delta, and United, to keep costs extremely low. Although Norwegian is no longer around to bring prices down to pre-pandemic levels, the competition and proximity to cities along the East Coast mean we\u2019re still able to fly to Spain for less than most other European nations.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”About Nelsonecom” _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”]<\/p>\n About Nelsonecom<\/strong><\/a> Since domestic travel is mostly unrestricted, plenty of airlines have added routes to leisure destinations across the U.S. and we even have a few new airlines in the mix. The new options, along with some airlines flying larger aircraft normally used for long-haul flights, have increased capacity to meet the peak summer travel demand. Need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" We examined all, along with the granddaddy, Skype, which started the video chat explosion back in 2003 and WebEx, which used to only be available for a fee, but now has a free tier.<\/p> No other app has been pushed as aggressively this year. There's an extensive TV campaign touting how Meet, which formerly charged a subscription, is now 100% free through Sept. 30. (Google has decided to keep it free forever, with paid upgrades for subscribers of the G Suite.)<\/p> And beyond the airwaves, Google has looked to make Meet a daily staple for Google users, by inserting tabs within Gmail, the most popular e-mail program, to start or join a Google Meet.<\/p> Compared to Zoom, Meet is very much of a bare-bones app. You can connect to people for a video meet, and have up to 100 in the room. The silly bonus features seen on Zoom of adding a blurry background to your image are not there. You can share your screen, as with Zoom, and access different cameras or microphones. However, you can't record the call, something Zoom and other programs allow, unless you're a paid subscribers to G Suite.<\/p> Tools like background blur, whiteboarding and hand raising are features Google says are \"coming soon.\"<\/p> Meet's best feature, however, is maddening. Google will display a transcript of your call, in real time, and it gets the words pretty much right on. Fantastic! But does it offer translation for those speaking in different languages? Nope.<\/p> Can you download the transcript afterwards to have notes of the meeting? Nope to that, too.<\/p> With Zoom, there are hundreds of third-party apps that enhance the experience, including building transcriptions and translations, from the apps Otter.ai and Lingmo.)<\/p> Google limits the amount of time you can chat for free to one hour. Zoom allows 40 minutes.<\/p> An app aimed at enterprise has stepped up to the plate during the pandemic by offering its services for free. WebEx doesn't charge you for meetings of up to 50 minutes, with as many as 100 people in the room. For features like higher-resolution video recordings saved to the cloud and longer meetings, rates start at $13.50 monthly.<\/p> Rate: 3.5 stars. WebEx is just as easy to connect to as Zoom is, and it gets a brownie point for a cleaner, less cluttered menu with an easier to read \"Mute\" button front and center. That should help some audio-challenged attendees and make it easier for the rest ofus to hear what's being said on the meetings. This is the app that popularized video chat, especially for free communication (Skype to Skype calls) with loved ones overseas, and it still offers all that. But the neglect from corporate owner Microsoft, and emphasis on Teams (see below), perhaps explains why Skype isn't even in the top 50 rankings on the iOS and Google Play charts.<\/p> Skype's problem has always been that it was buggy. You could only initiate a chat with someone if they connected with you first and became a member of your contacts. And both parties had to download the hefty Skype app.<\/p> This remains true today, but Skype now has a Zoom-like \"instant meeting\" feature that lets people connect to you without downloads or registration. This usually works, until it doesn't. Just ask my brother, who couldn't see me on his screen when we tested it this week.<\/p> Teams is not just a video conference program but an element of a huge Microsoft business messaging app aimed at enterprise. Anyone with a Microsoft account can use Teams and have as many as 50 people on a video meeting. What you can't do for free: use Teams to make audio calls to others in your organization or have much storage space for sharing photos and videos. Pro memberships start at $5 monthly.<\/p> Setting up video meets with people within your organization is relatively simple. Just find the person (or persons by adding them to the conversation) and click the video call button.<\/p> But going outside your corporate \"team\" \u2013 if you're using the program at work to connect with people who don't work for your organization \u2013 can sound awfully convoluted with Microsoft-required administrator permissions.<\/p> A better idea. Just go to the Calendar or Meeting section of the app and invite someone. It works rather easily, but with caveats. There will be no meeting held if you use Apple's Safari browser, and if you opt for Firefox instead, you'll get a meeting that can only be held via chat, sans video and audio. Microsoft would prefer you to download their app to make it work instead.<\/p> Facebook would like this private meeting room to be considered a \"Zoom Killer,\" but the reality is, it's still Facebook, where the first choice, after you've selected your meeting room, is to put the video on your timeline for everyone to see and join.<\/p> So that pretty much knocks out educators and enterprise.<\/p>What are you searching for?<\/em><\/h4>\n
\n
\nBy helping clients understand digital communications and media we work together to effectively use and leverage the power of the Internet for their business objectives. This could be for sales, transactions, lead prospecting, building awareness, and more. We do both search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). Visual design, strategic digital communications and marketing, usability engineering, podcasting, and video are some of the services we offer. Others include eBusiness solutions, transactional processes, and digital media. We also monitor our clients’ sites analytics and make content, navigation, and other visual design recommendations. Our clients include small and medium successful offline businesses for whom we develop and use the online world as a part of their future success. Their industries include health, medical, politics, manufacturing, retail, financial, legal, restaurants, gaming, sports, water filtration, real estate, non-profit, and newly financed start-up ventures. In addition, we form partnerships with particular businesses to sell their products and or services online and via digital media.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Tags & hashtags” _builder_version=”4.9.7″ _module_preset=”default”]@nelsonecom #nelsonecom @tennisonline #tennisonline #projectmanagement #consulting #business #project #projectmanagers #management #marketing #leadership #projectmanager #technology #projectplanning #development #solutions #projectmanagementprofessional #digitaltransformation #digitalmarketing #entrepreneur #digitalization #planning #strategy #graphicdesign #webdesign #smallbusiness #contentmarketing #social #website #onlinemarketing #marketingtips #facebook #success #marketingstrategy #advertising #media[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With stay-at-home remote work and learning the new norm during this pandemic, what were people supposed to do?<\/h2>
We took a good hard at four competitors this week, which all offer tiers of free service. Zoom is still far and away the most popular of all of them, top-ranked on Apple and Google's app store download chart, along with Messenger (No. 10), Microsoft Teams (No. 14) and Google Meet (No. 15).<\/h3>
Google Meet<\/strong><\/h4>
Webex Meetings<\/h4>
Amazon Prime, Walmart+, Instacart and Shipt: The perks, costs and how membership programs<\/p>Skype<\/h4>
Microsoft Teams<\/h4>
Messenger Meeting Rooms<\/h4>
What are you searching for?<\/h4>
Need Page One Listings? Let Nelsonecom Help You With Search Engine Optimization And Marketing.<\/a><\/h3>