Belize is making a big big mistake...

The trusty Flyertalk website produced the cheap cheap fares of $229 for New York - Belize on American Airlines one recent night, so Crescent in his excitement put a reservation on hold himself and Crossing for MLK Day 2009.

Then in looking for visa requirements, we come on to an addt'l requirement that the Director of Immigration approve any citizens of five countries, of which China is one, along with Bangladesh, Colombia, and Bolivia. Why is this?

That little China - Taiwan problem of course. You see, among the small dinky list of 23 countries that recognize Taiwan and thus not China is Belize. To get into Belize, my Crossing requires that Director approval, $2,100 visa fee, and a $4,000 refundable repatriation fee (to fund them getting rid of her if they discover she is a spy).

So much for saving $100 on the airfare....

Our first exposure!

What are three 1968 pennies worth? Probably three cents, or even less once maintenance costs are taken care of.

What maintenance costs? Keeping them and occasionally looking at them under some unrealistic thesis they could be worth something in 30 years. Well, a 1940 penny I found on a tennis court this weekend is worth 25-50 cents, and the 1968 pennies don't even have the old wheat design.

So in looking for their value, I stumbled on the site 1968pennies.com and agree with them they aren't worth much, with almost 5 million of them minted. But 11,917 of them, their current collection is worth MUCH, though not too much- about $160 at the current copper price of $2.15 per pound, not even the domain name costs over the nine years this site has been up, so it isn't some get rich very slowly scheme.

As a tribute to the site, these three 1968 pennies donated to them with a stamp are all it costs to get the first link to Crossing World established in cyber space. Cheaper than going to Google, I imagine....