According to The New York Times travel section, Spring Break is not just for college students anymore. Student travel agencies, such as STA Travel, StudentUniverse and StudentCity, may not openly target older travelers, but they do not discriminate when it comes to age. This has been a long-kept secret for years, but now certain agencies, such as STA Travel, have started actively promoting their “flights for everyone” campaign, featuring round-trip flights from New York to Sydney for as low as $798. In addition to low airfare, some of the best deals can be found in the form of package or group tours.

This is something only the budget traveler should keep in mind, as booking a package trip might place you right in the heart of the college Spring Break action. For cheaper airfare, however, it might be worth checking out.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

Last night I encountered one of the many reasons why I love living in New York. Around 9 p.m., I made my way to the nearby 24-hour grocery store (yet another reason why I love living here). As I was rounding the corner, I passed a giant black bear standing just under the stop sign. Not a single passerby took a second look.

No, this wasn’t a real black bear that had escaped from the Prospect Park Zoo. It was a seven-foot-tall man dressed in black and wearing a giant plastic black bear head. Popularly known in Brooklyn as “Death Bear,” this performance artist will help you part ways with any painful reminders of an ex-lover or friend.

Too heartbroken to give your ex-boyfriend his favorite t-shirt back? Can’t bear (pun intended) the sight of your deceased cat’s toys lying around the apartment? Call Death Bear and he’ll come to your door to take it off your hands. The whole concept might sound a bit creepy or morbid at first, but if you think about our need for closure in such instances, it makes sense. I am interested to know what sorts of goodies Death Bear has collected. I do, however, hope that I won’t need to call him any time soon.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

As March approaches, people are stuck in an end-of-winter-beginning-of-spring rut. It is the transitional time of year when Mother Nature teases us with a warm weekend and then hits us with yet another snowstorm!

It is hard not to get discouraged by the unreliable weather this time of year, which is why I appreciate reliable services such as Netflix. Pretty snowstorms mean ankle deep slush in NYC, which means many nights spent indoors. This year, I am on season three of Friday Night Lights, a show about a small town in Texas which loves its football. The drama revolves around a high school football coach, his family and his team. The town is small, but the problems are real. The season one pilot kicked off with the senior quarterback becoming paralyzed in the middle of the game. The problems snowballed from there.

The show touches on family issues, racism, high school hierarchy and the conflicts that come with growing up in a small town that revolves around football. I highly recommend this show for anyone looking for some consistency this time of year.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

I believe working from home is the way of the day, age and future. With the world so well connected through wireless, laptops, phones, iPhones, BlackBerrys, BlackBerry Messenger, Instant Messaging, GChat, video chat, Skype and Internet cafes, connecting with a colleague or client has never been more convenient.

Additionally, with the closing of larger corporations, we are now entering an era of the niche service. People are slowly starting to realize how to customize their services to a specific niche. It is less costly, the relationships are stronger and there is less red tape and digging through large company directories to try to find the right human to speak with.

Of course, there are some downsides to not working in an office. Passing Joe by the coffee machines might remind you to follow up with that client you both met with last week. Seeing Amy at reception might remind you to put up an auto-reply on your email while you are in meetings all afternoon.

Here are some useful home office tips I have found very helpful in keeping myself organized in Brooklyn:

• Have a landline in addition to your cell phone. BlackBerrys and iPhones make life pretty easy, but a call through a landline will never drop on you or create static. I am used to using a BlackBerry for work and personal, but I also like having a landline, with a light that blinks for voicemails and a speakerphone. A landline can even change your presence over the phone.
• Have a large calendar over your desk. In addition to keeping track of things on your computer’s calendar and your phone’s calendar and, maybe even, a small planner you carry with you, have something large and visible over your desk as well. It’s an extra thing to write on, but writing something down three times will also keep you from forgetting.
• Keep a dry erase board for weekly and monthly goals. Dry erase boards save paper and they are a great way to keep your goals organized and color-coordinated.
• Purchase cabinets and shelves with closing doors. In a home office, it’s easy to get trapped between being home and being in the office. Having closing cabinets will help you close down on nights and weekends.
• Pick a spot in your home with good natural light. Plants and sunlight will also keep your mood chipper and your oxygen flow higher.

These tips can also apply to your workspace in your away-from-home office as well. I wonder how many global travelers work from home offices?

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

After warding off several colds this season, I thought that, perhaps, I would finish the winter with a record-breaking immune system. Unfortunately, I have succumbed to the sniffles and congestion. Being snowed in and bedridden last night, I thought it would be an opportune moment to practice my home cooking.

Whenever someone was sick in our house, my Filipino grandmother always made a popular native dish known as arroz caldo. Packed with ginger, chicken, rice and garlic, arroz caldo is the best remedy for a cold and the only Filipino dish my mom agrees to cook in the house because it doesn’t make the kitchen “stink like fish.”

This was my first time attempting to cook Filipino cuisine in my Brooklyn apartment. The aroma immediately took me back to the days when my Grandma would prepare wonderful Filipino dishes for us. The arroz caldo was a hit, and it almost tasted just like my grandmother’s. I highly recommend this recipe for anyone with the sniffles.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive