Tips for travelling
Published December 24, 2009 | 
Congratulations! After months of wondering whether you should go for it or not, and hours spent calculating how you would have to cut down on expenses to pay for it, you have booked two tickets on that Caribbean cruise. And now it’s just a week away. You are confused. You have never done this before, and you don’t know what to pack. But don’t you worry, help is at hand. We are going to tell you the essentials and frills you absolutely need to carry on your cheap cruise deals.
You can’t get anywhere without your documents, so get them in place first. Your cruise tickets should be stored away in a strong folder or in your purse or handbag. Besides, you will need your passport, and a wallet containing your driver’s license, a photo ID card, and credit cards or traveler’s checks. Of course we don’t have to tell you that should carry an optimal sum of money in cash that should cover any emergency.
Now let’s get to the clothing part. Contrary to what you may imagine, you need a select assortment of clothing to see you through every day and night on board the ship. You can make a list of evening dos and daytime parties the cruise company must have notified you about. Think of the situations you will be in, and add an appropriate dress to the list. For instance, you should have basic long sleeved tees and jeans to lounge about on the deck, a dressy blouse and a ruffled skirt for an afternoon gathering, a little black dress for a formal dinner and your swimsuit for the poolside. If you are a man, you would need shorts and tees, polo neck shirts and a dress shirt or two for more formal events. Never forget enough pairs of socks, underwear, handkerchiefs, towels, flip flops, and a coat or heavy jacket in case the weather gets cold. Do not carry too many accessories, but it is nice to take a pair of sunglasses, a versatile belt or a stole that goes with anything. Women should take some light jewelry.
If you think you are done, you are wrong. You will need things you use everyday from morning through the day. These include moisturizer or body lotion, deodorant, hair spray, shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, cleansing facial wipes, toothbrush and toothpaste, a comb or hairbrush and a blow-dryer.
You need to pass time on the ship all by yourself too, and for days when you feel like being alone, take a favorite book, your I-pod, a pack of cards and your journal and pens. You can write down little anecdotes that you will have fun reading years later.
Also, you will need some gadgets. Your cell phone and cell phone charger are must haves, as are your camera, batteries, a flashlight, and watch.
It is a good idea to make a checklist of things you will need on the ship and mark off each item as you throw it into your bag. The cruise is going to turn out less frenzied and less hectic if you have everything you might need or want together.
On a vacation!
Published December 13, 2009 | A great way of getting away from the stress and turmoil of everyday life in the modern world is to go away on a vacation. A week away from it all will do you god, if you can’t go away for months or half a year or longer. Traveling together is a wonderful way of catching up with each other, and bonding all over again as a family. But there might be nagging worries that always get to you whenever you try to plan a vacation with all of you. You might have small children who you are afraid to travel with. You might think you don’t have enough to spend while you are away. But this time, set aside your woes, and read on to find out how you can effectively plan a vacation with your family.
Step one, be realistic.
What you need to know first is how much you are going to spend on the trip, this figure should be backed by evidence that you can afford it comfortably and won’t have to take out payday loans to pay your bills when you get back.
Once you have a budget, you are going to have to break it down to smaller parts for different aspects of the holiday, such as hotels, car rentals, sightseeing tickets, shopping and food. You should also carry extra cash and credit cards in case there is an emergency.
Vacation destinations are usually packed through the year, unless of course you want to go to Russia and it’s mid-January. You would do well to make reservations early for the most part. At least, you should book places to stay in ahead of time. If you are sure of what you want to do through the trip and have planned it out in detail, get activity reservations done too. You don’t want to reach your holiday destination and spend the time locked up in your hotel room.
The important thing about a family vacation is to ensure that everyone has their share of fun. If you are traveling with little kids, you could include a trip to an amusement park. If you have a teenage daughter, set aside a day for shopping. If your son is into sports, you can make arrangements for him to explore a section of your route hitch hiking. Take everyone’s opinions and ideas and try to create a blend everyone will love. But everyone has to be honest and open minded during this discussion.
You don’t have to be rigid in planning the trip. Get guidebooks beforehand so you know the basic facts about tourist attractions in the area. This will also allow you to be flexible and do just what you want on any given day on the trip.
Don’t forget to bring your journal with you so you can write about everything that you loved and were special about the trip. You can sit down with your kids and make a scrapbook on the same lines. If you can, spend one day exclusively with your partner so you can bring back romantic memories too.
Travelling to london
Published December 4, 2009 | So you have finally bought the plane ticket to London. You’re excited, happy, impatient and raring to go, but there is a nagging worry at the back of your mind. Will you be able to manage comfortably with your financial resources? Your stash of travel budget suddenly seems very small, and you have heard stories of how expensive London is. Racking your brains for ways to entertain yourself inexpensively in London? Not to worry. We’ll tell you just how.
London is too big and too full of things to see to wrap it all up in less than a week. If your trip is going to be shorter than that, you have to pick and choose from all there is to see and select the few that appeal to you the most. Among others, some almost free ways of having a busy and fun filled stop at London involves walks, food, not just seeing but listening, and just wandering through the streets at any time of night and day.
To get started, you can take a walk down the South Bank. This was where the legendary Globe Theater was, which staged the first shows of plays as timeless as As You Like It and Macbeth (William Shakespeare was once part owner of this theater). This part of London also housed pubs, music halls and vaudevilles. Even today, it is a widely recognized symbol of bohemian culture, and landmarks in its heritage, like the National Film Theater and the County Hall are located here. You should definitely step into the Borough Market. It will be crowded for the most part, but a walk through it is worth the while. You can write a book on what you are sure to experience. The same is true of Oxford Street.
London may well be described as the city of parks. If you start off from Westminster and travel towards Knightsbridge, you will walk almost entirely on neatly manicured grass. You simply must go to Hyde Park and visit the Speaker’s Corner for a taste of how loquacious Londoners can get. Regent’s park is located in the north of the city proper, and is small, but it still retains a feel of the old world English charm. If you are traveling in a group, you can picnic at any of the zany London parks.
A trip to London isn’t complete without at least a day spent museum hopping. The top three are the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National History and the Science Museum. Also try and visit art galleries, most of which offer free entry but sometimes request donations.
Parts of London are full of street performers. The Covent Garden area boasts of an eclectic ambience, with fiddlers, acrobats and musicians. There are tons of fests in the summer. A lot of churches have chamber music. There are free events of music and theater almost every day, so some research will let you choose one you like and keep you entertained for one evening.