New Dimensions of Mansion Viewing!

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Mansions! Mansions! Mansions!

Readers of this blog just cannot seem to get enough of them. Your Dream Concierge has been doing lots of field research and has come up with many new ideas for ways you can enjoy mansions that will add to your pleasure in this pastime.

Here are some new ideas for you:

1. Take Virtual Tours. I would like to thank my sister, Anna Cox, for coming up with this idea. It's hard for her to travel, but she's has an endless fascination with the world around her. She's learned to turn her computer into a doorway onto the world.

Chances are that you haven't yet been to the Missouri Governor's mansion. If you would like to though, you can join the virtual tour anytime you want at http://missourimansion.org/tour/.

If you would like to try something more unusual in your mansion touring join Spotty, President Bush's English springer spaniel for a tour of the White House. You can find Spotty at http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/tour/.

Your browser will turn up many choices when you search for virtual tours of mansions.

2. Visit Haunted Mansions. Our family loves to take the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom at Disney World. It's great fun with lots of ghostly happenings. Also, my uncle Frank Nuest did a lot of the electrical wiring on the Disneyland version. So it seems like a family activity to us.

But if you want to find other places for ghostly haunts in mansions, you only have to visit http://www.zurichmansion.org/tour.htm/. You can pick the ghost of your choice for background research or for in-person visiting!

3. Visit Private Historic Mansions Outside the United States in Countries You Enjoy. England is a great place to pursue this passion. Many of the old barns there require more heating and upkeep than their owners can afford. As result, some very delicious mansions open up to the public on a limited basis. There are many excellent on-line tours to help you check out which trips and tours will please you the most. Check out Michael Ford's one-week driving tour of Southwest Lincolnshire Country Houses at http://www.britannia.com/tours/lincs/ as an example.

But many countries feature amazing mansions. The largest courtyard home in the world is found in China. You can tour it on-line as a preview for the real thing at http://www.chinavista.com/travel/beijing/gonghouse.html/.

4. Design a Mansion! Normally, this would cost a lot of money in working with the architect. Some on-line sites let you look at e-plans of mansions that you could build. Start with http://www.eplans.com/ to get an idea. Visit lots of mansions locally and on-line to help inform your mansion plans. Then, when you hit the lottery you'll know just what to build!

5. Tie in Your Mansion Looking to Holiday Celebrating. Everyone associates the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island with summer activities. And that's a wonderful time to be there. But have you ever visited those sumptuous homes at Christmas? It can be quite a treat. To get an idea visit http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/newportsights/a/aanportxmaspics.htm
6. Look into Your Heritage and Check Out the Mansions While You're There. For example, if you are Jewish and your family originally came from near Lodz, you might enjoy seeing the mansions that once belonged to the Poznanski family. To find out more about Jewish heritage sites near Lodz see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Lodz.html/.

7. Go Mansion Window Shopping. While a real estate agent will probably want to be sure you have the wherewithal to buy a mansion before taking you to visit one that's for sale, their agencies aren't so picky when it comes to putting up Web sites. You can browse to your heart's content on many sites such as http://www.weichert.com/home.asp/. Put in high prices in their search engines and you'll soon be looking at some amazing properties. There are also many magazines that offer great visuals of mansions for sale. I like to browse them at bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Borders.

8. Check out Mansion-Related Television Shows. Many people know about the 2004 PBS series, The Mansion (see http://www.tv.com/the-mansion/show/31333/summary.html). But did you also catch Maniac Mansion from 1990? If not, see http://www.tv.com/maniac-mansion/show/4271/summary.html/.

9. Go to a Party in a Mansion. It helps to have a friend who owns one. If you are good at talking your way in anywhere, consider going to the nightly party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. For the address, telephone number and a plug for the parties there, go to http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/worldsbest/partyspots/partyspots1.html/. If you'd rather stay home and watch in your pajamas, check out the Girl's Next Door reality TV show that's currently show on E! For more details, see http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/other_shows/2005_Aug_07_girls_next_door/.

10. Drive by Mansions and Gawk! Let's face it. There are some mansions you aren't going to get into unless you pick up a job as a plumber. Pick out the poshest mansions in your area and drive around them. You can see a lot from the street. Who knows? Someone may invite you to stop in for tea and crumpets! My advice: Dress like a movie star. That will at least give you a fantasy experience.

Tomorrow, we'll update the blog on what are the least expensive ways to lose weight right now!

Thursday, you'll get a close look at the upcoming NFL season, and especially the Thursday Night game where the Oakland Raiders come to New England to watch the Patriots put up their third world championship banner.

Friday, I'll describe how you can learn a foreign language in less than 100 days and have more fun than a billionaire when you travel abroad.

Saturday, we'll take a closer look at Trump University's Web course on Wealth Creation, delivered by The Donald and other experts.

Sunday, I'll look at how you can pray better than a billionaire and have a better relationship with God. Don't miss it!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that was posted on August 31. It will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea. My post on saving money on heating costs this winter is a good choice. You can find it at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell