travel

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Romantic Travel Resolutions


A new year always means a chance for a new start. You and yours can begin this new year by making some travel resolutions together, regardless of your time and budget restraints. Put aside those old travel habits and make some new ones! Let this be the year that your travel plans focus on fun, fantasy, and festivities!



(1) We're going to plan a real vacation. No, it doesn't have to be an around the world cruise or first class getaway (but if you can afford it, what are you waiting for?) It does have to be an honest-to-goodness vacation, though. No cell phones, no laptops. Mark the dates on the calendar and keep it just like you'd keep any business appointment. The business of romantic travel, though, is a fun one and an activity that the two of you can plan for months.



(2) We're going to involve each other in the trip planning. All too often, one partner gets the job for planning a trip...and that task quickly becomes a bore. Plan your trips together! Anticipation is half the fun. Visit a travel agent. Collect brochures. Buy a guidebook. Rent a video about your destination. Search the internet for information.



(3) We're going to do something we've never done. Here you can be as mild -- or as wild -- as you dare. Go whitewater rafting. Rent a houseboat. Take a hot air balloon ride. Spend the night in a local bed and breakfast. Learn to scuba dive. Dance the whole night away under the stars. The choice is yours.



(4) We're going to take one mini-vacation every month. Whether it's for the night or just for the night out, plan one tiny slice of a vacation every single month. The only rule: you must pretend you're on vacation. Book a night at a local bed and breakfast. Call your local hotel and find out their non-peak nights (in business-oriented cities, it's usually Friday and Saturday) then plan a short romantic getaway.



(5) We're going to go to at least one festival. Special events take place at just about every community around the world. Whatever your interests -- from square dancing to sandcastle building -- you'll find a festival celebrating with a day or two of fun and food. If you don't have the time or budget to go far, contact area chamber of commerce or tourism offices within a day's drive of your home for their calendar of events. If you can, extend your trip into a long weekend. If you've got the time and resources, check out some of the major fun festivals: Carnival, Mardi Gras, Rio's Carnivale. Don't forget your costume!

Husband and wife team Paris Permenter and John Bigley edit the award-winning Lovetripper.com (www.lovetripper.com), a romantic travel magazine and resource featuring honeymoons, destination weddings, and romantic getaways worldwide.



Tips for Packing and Traveling Lite

In this day and age of traveling cephalalgia, there are a few packing tactics to employ. To cut out an extra thirty to forty minutes at the arriving airport, start with packing small luggage. Since carry-ons can not exceed a linear dimension of 45 inches, you can escape the fiasco of the baggage terminal by simply packing and traveling light. To learn how to pack all your needs into one suitcase, read more.

Use the following pithy packing tips to make your travel light:

Make a list. Compose a pack list. Be sure to coordinate shirts and blouses with bottoms. To maximize your traveling wardrobe fashion savoir faire, stick with solids and versatile basics. Rule-out any clothes that do not match other items.

Roll ‘em up please. The best way to fit all your clothes is by rolling pants and shirts. First fold each item in half. Then simply roll. To try to maintain any creases, start on the bulkiest end of the article of clothing.

Gear up. How to make an awe-inspiring impression out of a basic or mundane outfit? For the most glam appeal, accessorize with a vibrant tie (for him) or a florid scarf (for her). Multihued accessories can liven up just about any attire.

Minimize bulk. After you check for space, edit outfits – ruthlessly. Try to pack microfibers with wrinkle and stain free comfort. With most of your attire, stay in the same color scheme – in case you have to layer up for warmth.

Employ shoe smarts. For men, any leather rubber-soled shoes can make the day and night transition, easy. For woman, a pair of flip-flops, strappy sandals and comfy wedges can serve all casual – chic dressing needs.

Put under garments on the top. To reduce the embarrassment of under garments becoming the side show attraction of the open luggage scan, place all panties in a plastic bag free of any clippers, lighters or other questionable paraphernalia. For expedient security review, place the transparent bag on top of your other items so security can access the bag without ruining your efficient packing method.

Lose Extra Baggage. Leave the heavy travel guide at home. Duplicate important resources to keep your luggage free of extra pounds. Since most hotels and resorts provide irons and blow-dryers --leave yours at home for light travel.

Leave restricted items at home. If you want to make it through security extra fast, avoid any firearms, weapons, box-cutters, scissors, razors, lighters and any other item that may be used in a terrorist situation.


About the Author

Freelance writer, Holly Bentz is the owner of a media boutique, www.fruitionMedia.net. From subliminal e-sales letters, informative articles to powerfully persuasive web content, Bentz takes pride in providing awe-inspiring copy.


Airport Travel Tips: Reducing Waiting Times

Key Travel Tips Following these tips will help you reduce your wait time at the security checkpoint. Before you go to the Airport •Do not pack or bring Prohibited Items to the airport. •Place valuables such as jewelry, cash and laptop computers in carry-on baggage only. •Tape your business card to the bottom of your laptop. •Avoid wearing clothing, jewelry and accessories that contain metal. Metal items may set off the alarm on the metal detector. •Avoid wearing shoes that contain metal or have thick soles or heels. Many types of footwear will require additional screening even if the metal detector does not alarm. •Put all undeveloped film and cameras with film in your carry-on baggage. Checked baggage screening equipment will damage undeveloped film. •Declare firearms & ammunition to your airline and place them in your checked baggage. •If you wish to lock your baggage, use a TSA-recognized lock. •Do not bring lighters or prohibited matches to the airport. •Do not pack wrapped gifts and do not bring wrapped gifts to the checkpoint. Wrap on arrival or ship your gifts prior to your departure. TSA may have to unwrap packages for security reasons. While at the Airport Each adult traveler needs to keep available his/her airline boarding pass and government-issued photo ID until exiting the security checkpoint. Due to different airport configurations, at many airports you will be required to display these documents more than once. •Place the following items IN your carry-on baggage or in a plastic bag prior to entering the screening checkpoint: oMobile phones oKeys oLoose change oMoney clips oPDA's (personal data assistants) oLarge amounts of jewelry oMetal hair decorations oLarge belt buckles •Take your laptop and video cameras with cassettes OUT of their cases and place them in a bin provided at the checkpoint. •Take OFF all outer coats, suit coats, jackets and blazers.
About the Author
Marisol Boatwright is an Independent Travel Agent with Global Travel International. She has years of experience in the travel agency business and wants to help people with their travel needs. Whether it be for hotel or air reservations, auto rentals, cruises, or vacation packages, Marisol will be able to help. http://boatrighttravels.globaltravel.com mailto:boatwrim@bellsouth.net





Air Travel around the world and let your cares fall by the w


Air Travel and vacations, to get on a plane and go somewhere, can be one of life's most rewarding experiences. It's so exciting to contemplate an exotic or relaxing destination, for no other reason than to just get away. Half the fun of air travel and vacations, or any trip for that matter, is the anticipation of waiting for the day of departure to arrive.


You know how it is; you're busy with your work and career, deadlines, meetings etc. One afternoon you look over at the calendar and realize that in only 6 weeks, a mere 42 days, you'll be taking off for 10 days of fun, sun and excitement. You get a good, warm feeling knowing that your air travel vacation is just around the corner. Sometimes just knowing that your going on a vacation is all it takes to brighten your day.


Find the best air travel deals on the internet for your next vacation.


Because of the power of the internet, it is now possible to find wonderful air travel bargains and vacations right from your own home. It doesn't matter if you're looking for cruises, cheap airline tickets or Las Vegas vacations, you'll find them all on the internet


All inclusive travel planning

Ever tried to cram all your travel plans into one small budget and short schedule? If you have, you will know the true meaning of a frugal and haphazard vacation. Some people think that all-inclusive vacation packages leave very little space for them to have fun and there's no flexibility. But they are wrong.
You can save money with an all-inclusive vacation package

If you're really tight on the budget, booking an all-inclusive vacation package can save you quite a big chunk of cash. Because these all-inclusive package vacation companies have close ties with hotels and popular tourist spots in the country, they can get a better rate than you can! Hence, normally, the discounts and savings will be passed on to you - the all-inclusive vacation customers, tourists and visitors!

All-inclusive vacations are hassle-free

Planning a vacation can give you headaches! When you book an all-inclusive vacation package, you're actually giving yourself the chance to COMPLETELY enjoy the vacation without having to worry about the nitty-gritty details. Your accommodation, food, entertainment and traveling are all taken care of. The only thing that you and your family members have to worry about is how much fun you're going to have during the vacation. Some tourists and vacationers like to get an all-inclusive vacation package because there's lack of time. Some people have to contend with last minute plans. The all-inclusive vacation packages can be real life savers in this instance. Even honeymooners love all-inclusive packages because they don't want to have to worry about meals, entertainment, activities, transportation and accommodation when they should be focused on each other!

Mealtime fun with all-inclusive vacation packages

One of the most worrisome things for tourists is WHERE to eat. Because we are not familiar with the country and the booklets that we can get from airports are hardly accurate (most of the time), meal times are worrying. When we're visiting another country, we want to try another delicacy, something new….and cheap. Who better to tell you where to find it than an all-inclusive vacation planner? They have all the ropes, hang on to them and enjoy the meal!

All-inclusive packages - tells you the cultural differences between races and religions

You can read all you want from the Internet or from books on the different cultures and religions in the country that you're visiting…and yet, whenever you're on an all-inclusive vacation package, the tourist guide will STILL tell you things that surprises you! and this is an important point because you don't really want to step on someone's toes when you're in THEIR country.

Besides all of that, with all-inclusive vacation packages, you don't have to worry about where to have fun because they plan everything for you. All-inclusive vacation packages are definitely worth it!

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.vacation-source.com on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.
About the Author

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.vacation-source.com on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.


All You Need to Know About Travel Humidors

When humidors where first created by Zino Davidoff in the early 20th century, they were large cellar humidors which certainly made for restricted travel. One now had the ability to strive for the perfect cigar, but only from home. Most people would agree that the feasibility of traveling with a large room did not exist, and still does not, even today. A dilemma arose as to how to preserve a moist cigar while traveling.

Early models of travel humidors were patterned after air-tight cases in which the cigar aficionado placed cigars already maintained in a cellar humidor. This worked well except that when one opened the travel humidor, since the maintained humidity existed as a result of already moist cigars, each time the humidor was opened, humidity would escape and the ambient humidity of the room replaced the humidity that had been inside the travel humidor.

Today humidors can be found that are battery-powered or can be plugged into any available AC outlet or a combination of both. While these types of humidors are more functional than ostentatious, they can be made of any materials in varying shapes and designs, suited to please the taste of even the most discriminating smoker.

Most travel humidors are made of extremely durable plastic, designed to withstand the rigors of being moved about and for its lightweight portability.

Travel humidors now meant that a society that is becoming increasingly more mobile as a result of the prevalence of automobiles and air is no longer demanded to choose between having a perfect cigar and being tied to home or having to leave behind one’s favorite pastime to travel.

Travel humidors are also an inexpensive addition with many functional travel humidors costing less than $30. The internet is an excellent way to research the different styles and brands while also finding the least expensive style that will meet ones requirements. Humidors provides detailed information on cigar humidors, travel humidors, and humidor plans. Humidors is the sister site of Cigars Web.




Are you a Traveler

I’m making an assumption that at want point in your life you’ve been a tourist. You’ve carried a map, a camera, maybe even had a tour guide. You’ve traveled to different destinations, relaxed on remote beaches, climbed stairs in buildings you see on television. You’ve done all of these things but some how when you get arrive home, all your left with is a short memory, and a few photographs.

Vacations are nice every once in a while, but it doesn’t make sense to me why we will travel thousands of miles to sit in hotel rooms and watch movies, or lie on a pool deck and catch some rays. These are all things that we can do where we are from, I want you to think about being a traveler not a tourist. You want to soak in as much of the new country and culture that you can rather than bring as much of your culture to them. It’s really quite simple. In one step you need to forget about your way of live, and adopt theirs.

It’s simple things like the mindset that we have when we go abroad, and what we bring. Don’t bring all of the things that we depend on in America. Bring what it is that you are going to need to survive and stay healthy during your visit. The more comforts you have, the more you will depend on them, and the less you will step out to become the traveler you ought to be!

Put yourself out there. Locals are always interested to interact with foreigners, and it’s best to take advantage of this. Meet people that you can share life with while you are in their country. Immerse into their culture and be open to new idea’s. A lot of times we are closed to new idea’s and we miss out on opportunities for better things to come along. Be open, willing and accepting.

If you want to be changed, and to experience you need to leave the tourist at home. Bring out the inner traveler in you and see the world in the way that it was meant to be seen.

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Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

About the Author

Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Travel Area. Which is a great web directory and information center for Traveling, Trips and lots of other related topics.