Ultimate Travel Experience

Whenever a traveler travels abroad, one of their biggest challenges is to make reservation for their accommodation.

This is especially true for first time traveler to any particular destination. No traveler would want to face the prospect of spending their night in the airport because they do not have a hotel to check in for a good night sleep.

Whether the traveler is traveling to Barcelona, London or New York, this fear remains true. The bigger the city, the more fearful a traveler can be. No one wants to be left stranded in a foereign land. Hotels that provide simple and easy to book process will be the most preferred hotel.

With the availability of computers and internet, many hotels and service providers have made available hotel reservation via the internet. Not only it makes hotel reservation easy to book, it also brings competition right at the door step of the travelers. This helps bring down prices which is good for travelers.

Tags: Accomodations · Travel Tips

London, the capital of England, is a one of the very nice cities to mix business with pleasure. London, as the financial capital of the world, has many attractions for tourists. There are just so many things to do for everyone.

During the day, tourists can visit the British museums, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge. Perhaps, they can take a walk along the riverbank of Thames River to visit British Airways London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament House. Maybe even go shopping at Harrods in Knightsbridge.

In the evening, one can visit the Piccadilly Circus to see a show at the West End or take a stroll along to Soho, Chinatown and Leicester Square where there are plenty of restaurants and pubs.

Musicals like Phantom of The Opera and Les Misérables have been running for more than 10 years at the same theather in the West End.

Staying over in London for vacation is an affordable option as the hotels in London has varying degree of prices. Some of the luxury hotels in London’s West End such as Hyde Park and Mayfair are expensive. However, there are affordable options are found in areas like Bayswater, Victoria and Paddington. The prices of these hotels are comparable to hotels in Manchester and hotels in Birmingham.

If you are traveling whether on business or vacation, in other cities outside of London like Birmingham or Manchester, a stopover in London is a must. Traveling within the city is easy with London Pass with many free passes for entrance to places of interest and discounts for restaurants.

Tags: Accomodations · Europe · Travel Tips

Australia, the smallest continent, which lies down south in the Pacific, has many attractions for visitors. Australia consists of nine states and there are three states on the east coast namely, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

There are three major cities in Australia, namely Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are straddle along the east coast. Sydney is in New South Wales, Melbourne is in Victoria and Brisbane is in Queensland. These three cities are the major commercial hubs for the three states. Tourism is one of the major industries. Each one of them has different offerings that draw thousands of tourists each year.

Melbourne has its Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island Nature Park and vineyards in the Yarra Valley. Melbourne is also the gateway to Tasmania by ferry. Hotel in Melbourne is always difficult to book during the peak season.

Sydney has a collection of many nice things to do. One can climb up the Habour Bridge, take a cruise around the Sydney Habour or see a concert in the world famous Sydney Opera House. Many of the hotels in Sydney are located near the Circular Quay. If you are staying in a hotel in Sydney, make sure you have the view of either the Habour Bridge or Sydney Opera House. It’s worth the effort to make your reservation early to get a very good view.

Brisbane has its Gold Coast and many theme parks like Movie World, Dream World and Wet World. Demand for hotels in Brisbane is seasonal. Its low during summer but it’s very high in demand during the other season when the weather is nice. Early reservation is required to book a hotel in Brisbane to stay closer to the place of attractions you want to visit.

Tags: Accomodations · Australasia · Travel Tips

New York is a city that never fails to fascinate me. This is the city where leaders of the world will congregate to discuss about the world issues at the United Nations. This is the same city where many Americans can trace their roots to when immigrants came to America from Europe and Africa.

For me, New York is the city which offers everything. I would normally get on the New York City Sightseeing Tours to help me move around the city to catch all the places of interest New York has to offer. I can buy a hop-on-hop-off ticket or sign up for their numerous tours of New York.

New York is a great place for shopping. It has lots of designer outlets for shopping especially the Woodsbury Common Outlets.

For sightseeing, there are the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Time Square, Madison Square, Rockefeller Center and Wall Street financial district. New York has many world class museums like Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History and Museum of Modern Art.

A visit to the neighborhood in New York is most enlightening. A tour of Brooklyn, Bronx, Chinatown and Little Italy provide a glimpse of the life of early settlers in the city and see how they have changed over time.

I would also recommend a New York harbor tour as mandatory for first time visitor to this great city. This tour provides a great view of New York skyline as well as a close-up view of Statue of Liberty.

In the evening, New York’s nightlife is most interesting. There are numerous shows going on at the same time in Broadway like Phantom of The Opera, Jersey Boys and Chicago. Bars, pubs, night clubs, jazz clubs are just too many to describe and they can be found everywhere.

New York! New York!

Tags: Travel Tips

One of the many island states that I have wanted to visit is Maldives. Maldives is so near to where I am and yet I have traveled to other further islands like Mauritius and Hawaii.

Maldives is famed for its underwater beauty with its sun, sand and sea. And nothing else. Underwater life around the islands of Maldives is abundant and beautiful. Water is crystal clear and visibility can reach up to 50m at certain location. Maldives is also a perfect get away place for couples to have a romantic vacation.

Maldives covers an area of 90,000 km but 99% of it is covered by sea. Maldives has 1190 islands which are spread among its 26 atolls. There are no more than 200 islands which are inhibited. Tourist resorts took up another 87 islands. These islands are exclusively for the resorts only.

Scuba diving, being one of my hobbies, is one of the main activities in Maldives that attract my attention. I want to spend many fun-filled hours in the sea during the day and evening watching sunset in the horizon. It’s going to be a place where I can spend time reading my favorite novels.

I plan to stay at the Fihalhohi Tourist resort, which is about 90 minutes away from Male by speed boat. Fihalhohi is one of the larger islands in Maldives. By size, it may look very small. It’s only 450 meters by 270 meters.

I just can’t wait to go diving in Maldives.

Tags: Asia · Diving · Honeymoon · Travel Tips

Tour de France, the world premier road cycling race, has started 2 weeks ago. For the 2007 edition, the race will start in London and end, as usual, with the final laps at Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe. Tour de France does not only attract top professional cyclists to compete in the race but it has attracted millions of fans across the world. Thousands will travel with Tour de France race as it progresses through the stages.

There are many travel companies who provide special arrangements to bring the fans to travel with Tour de France race route to witness the race. Some of the fans are happy to be stationed at the starting or ending points. Some will want to be placed along the race route. Some will want to experience the thrill of riding along the route – before or after the actual race. 

To get the most of the race, here are some tips for fans to travel with Tour de France.
1. Do not attempt to see every stage as it will be too time consuming and most of your time spend in traffic jams especially in the mountains. Plan to see interesting and critical stages only.

2. Plan to reach the place early and leave later after the race. You can spend the time to visit the place to enjoy France countryside.

3. To see the best of Tour de France is to see the mountain stage. This is where you can see the cyclists being pushed to the limit. It’s a good time for photography as you will have plenty of time to catch the moment with them.

4. Try to avoid flat stage as all the cyclists will pass you before you knew it. Go for the mountain stage as the cyclists will be spread out.

5. See a time trial as this is the time where you can see cyclists passing you at regular intervals. You have plenty of time to enjoy the race. If you are at the right time trial stage, you might even see the start and finish at the same place.

6. See race finish and start in the same city. Sometimes, a city may host the stage finish there and start the next morning. In this city, you get the best of both. You can see the prize ceremony in the evening and also, the pre-start preparation the next morning.

7. Never miss the final stage in Paris. The final stage may not be determining the overall winner but the multiple laps on Champs Elysées provides you the last opportunity to see your favorite cyclists in action. After the race, riders or, you may call them; the survivors of the 2000+ mile races do their lap of honor.

Please see the official website for Tour de France for more information.

Tags: Europe · Travel Tips

Most of European cities do offer city pass which offers you certain privileges for a certain number of days at a certain fee. The city pass is really of great value for budget travelers who want to see as much of the city at the least possible cost.

I have experienced using the London Pass and using it for the first time was really an experience as far as trip planning and cost saving are concern.

London Pass can be purchased online, airport, train station or from some of the major tourist attractions. The London Pass comes with a booklet and a credit card size Pass. The booklet contains all the vouchers place of interests including discounts for restaurants. You can purchase London Pass for 1, 2, 3 or 6-day pass starting from £34.00.

The pass is activated once you started using it. For London Pass, it goes by calendar day. So, if you start using it at 5PM, you have only 7 hours to go before the first day ends. So, it will be great if you plan your trip carefully and only start using the Pass past midnight to kick-off your first day.

Here are a few tips to help you to maximize the usage of London Pass.

1. Go through the places listed in London Pass and determine which provides free entrance and which does not. Leave out the ‘free’ ones and only use your London Pass to visit those places which require entrance fee. This will bring you lots of savings.

2. Please plan for you trip and list out the “must see” attractions and note which are free with London Pass and which only give discounts for London Pass holders.

3. Start the day as early as possible.

4. Knowing the entrance fee of each of places of attraction will help you compute the savings. This will help you make the decision on what to visit and what to skip while you are on the Pass.

5. Do not waste time taking pictures outside the place of interest. Just spend your time visiting places. Picture taking and strolling around can be done on other days or in the evening when the places of interest are closed.

6. Exclude places which does not require entrance fee like Buckingham Palace Change of Guard ceremony, London Museum or Trafalgar Square.

7. Visit places which are very far to maximize the use of free transport like Windsor Palace.

8. Try not to use buses to move from place to place as it may get caught in traffic jams. Use the Underground train to get around quickly. You can use the buses in the evening after places of interest are closed.

Below are some of the most expensive places which you can visit for free using London Pass.

  - Tower of London and the Crown Jewels  £16.00 
  - London Aquarium £12.75 
  - London Zoo £14.00 
  - Windsor Castle £14.20 
  - Chelsea FC Stadium Tour £14.00 
  - Hampton Court Palace £13.00 
  - Kensington Palace £12.00  
  - Bicycle Tour Company £16.95  
  - Vinopolis £16.00 
  - Kew Gardens £12.25  
  - Wimbledon Tour Experience £14.50

Choose wisely and you can have your ultimate London vacation with London Pass.

For more information about London Pass, please visit their official website.

Tags: Europe · Travel Tips

Calgary, the largest city in the province of Alberta in Canada, is situated 80 kilometers east of the famous Canadian Rockies and Canadian Prairies on the west. This city is well known for it petroleum industry, agricultural, winter sports and eco-tourism activities around the Canadian Rockies.  These four major activities draw millions of visitors to Calgary yearly and it created a huge demand for Calgary hotels all year long.

One of the major events held in Calgary yearly is the Calgary Stampede. Calgary Stampede is the top tourist attraction in Calgary. This event is also known as The Greatest Outdoor Show on earth which showcases rodeo competition, stage show, agricultural competitions and chuckwagon races to give tourists their ultimate travel experience. This 10-day event brings in millions of visitors to Calgary annually. During the whole Stampede Week, tourists and locals are dressed in western attire to live up to the spirit of the event. The Calgary Stampede will kick-off with the Calgary Stampeded Showband which will parade through the city.

Other major events are the Lilac Festival is a street festival which showcases lilac flowers every May. Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival which host an array of international and local writers where they share their ideas in panel discussions, public forum, meet the author sessions and readings in October. Global Festival is an annual event held every August which comprises of GlobalFest cultural pavilion and International Fireworks Competition.

For more tourist information on Calgary, please visit the official tourism website.

Tags: Accomodations · America

French gites (zhēt) are fully furnished vacation homes in France that are available for rental. These homes are usually simple and inexpensive in rural settings. French gites are spread all over the country and they provide nice and cozy homely surrounding for travelers who are keen to experience staying in French gites.

The price is usually inexpensive ranging from 200 – 500 euro per week depending on location and size of these gites. Eventhough these homes are owned by individuals, there are websites which allows these gites to be registered to make promotion and reservation easier.

With these French gites providing accommodation all over the country, it will make traveling in France easier. Car hire in France can be done easily online. With a car, a map and gites all over France, sightseeing in France can never be easier.

Since most of these gites are located in the rural settings, travellers are able to experience French outdoor landscape to the fullest. Travellers can hike on the French Alps, taste wine at the many wineries at the countryside or just take a stroll in the villages.

Bienvenue vers la France !!!

Tags: Accomodations · Europe · Travel Tips

Accommodation is one of the biggest challenges when one goes for holidays. Finding the best place at the right location with the best facilities can be a daunting task. A wrong choice of accommodation can easily spoil the best planned holidays.

Timesharing is trend for travelers to enjoy their holidays. Timesharing is a type of vacation ownership that assures travelers of future vacations at luxurious resorts. Timesharing companies like Leisuretime holidays provides travelers the easy of planning their holidays with their attractive offerings.

Timesharing package which consists of condominiums or hotel rooms are sold based on intervals i.e. days or weeks, or point systems. The hotels or condominiums are priced according to a variety of factors like season, room size, location and resorts type.

Purchasers pay a onetime purchase price plus annual maintenance fee to upkeep the facilities which they co-own. Some of the properties are sold to the purchasers for perpetuity and some for a predetermined number of years.

Some of these timesharing programs have partnership with other vacation clubs which allows their members to exchange room nights with each others. This automatically increases the options for accommodations for their members to more locations around the world.

Purchasers only need to plan for their vacation and book in advance to enjoy their ultimate vacation at the resort of their choice around the world.

Tags: Accomodations · Travel Tips