by laverrue

Travel Tips Before you Travel To a Foreign Country

There are many things that you can do to pre-prepare yourself and your family for travel. By being as prepared as you can be, you are setting yourself up for a great getaway that will minimize any unpleasant circumstances that sometimes arise with travel.

In order to have the best vacation possible, I’m going to share with you the must know tricks and travel tips before you travel.

The very first thing you must do is RESEARCH. You want to learn as much as you possibly can about your destination prior to arrival. Yes, this is going to require some time and effort on your part but it is going to be more than worth it. This is the only way to truly understand what it is you want from your vacation and what you want to do on your vacation.

Here are some things that you should always know about your destination.

Weather – You need to know what you should be packing and planning for.
Paperwork and Documentation – Know what is needed to travel to your particular destination.
Know if there are any diseases common to the area you will be traveling to – this way you are able to take preventative measures.
Costs of local items – You want to be able to properly plan your budget; remember to include taxes and tipping.
Holidays and festivals – check to see when these occur for your destination as you may find limited services on those days.

The best holidays are the ones we are most prepared for. Do yourself a favour; make it a habit to always know as much as you can about your destination before you travel. It’ll make all the difference in the world!

What are some other things that you can do to prepare yourself? Use these travel tips before you travel.

Make 2 photocopies of your passport. Take one and put it in a safe place or leave it with a friend. Take the other one with you and keep it in a separate place from your passport, this way should your passport become lost or stolen, you can use the copy to exit the country and it will also facilitate the replacement process.

Email yourself important information such as: airline numbers and flight information, credit card numbers, passport and driver’s licence numbers and anything else that may be of importance to you. This way if anything is lost or stolen, you are just and internet connection away.

Know your banking information. For your credit card, make sure that the valid dates will remain valid while you’re traveling, know your available spending amount and don’t forget to leave some room on it for emergencies. Check your ATM and debit cards’ daily and total limits.

Learn some local phrases. If you are traveling to a country with a foreign language, it’s always nice to know some of the local phrases. Knowing the “polite words” and just a few local phrases will be a huge help. You will find that natives really appreciate this and will tend to be more receptive to your questions. Maybe you’ll even make a new friend while you’re at it!

Be aware of the voltage that’s used for the country you’re traveling to. If you are taking anything that requires an outlet; cell phone, computer, video camera, etc. make sure to purchase plug adapters. For things such as hairdryers, curling irons, electric razors, etc to purchase an actual voltage converter unless your appliance has multiple voltage currencies.

When traveling to a foreign country it’s always best to be as prepared as you can be. Do as much research as you possibly can, remember these travel tips before you travel and your trip abroad is sure to be a success.

Here’s your final checklist: Passport, tickets, car rental and hotel reservation receipts/agreements, credit cards, medications or prescriptions, if required, addresses, password and any other important information that you may need. Don’t forget the most important thing: your adventurous travel mind, see and learn as much as you can and have the time of your life!

photo credit: belindah

Maui Travel Tips: Advice to Make Your Trip as Memorable as Possible

Are you dreaming of the perfect tropical Maui vacation but need some travel tips to make your trip as magical as it can be?

It is difficult to find another tropical location that provides the blend of fantastic scenery and activity options that Maui can claim. A visit to this island will change your life (if you allow it to).

This Maui travel tips article will provide some foundational tips for people planning travel to Maui. The information can be especially handy for first time vacationers to the island.

Useful Maui Travel Tips:

Plan Your Budget and Create your Trip Using that Budget as a Guideline – Maui offers a large amount of activities that can be either extremely pricey or rather inexpensive. There are lodging options that range from luxury to modest. Depending when you travel, there are great airfares available. Car rentals on the island run on the inexpensive end compared to other resort locations. It is better to understand your ideal budget and stick to it when planning travel so you don’t experience stress the entire trip. For example, staying at a cheap Maui hotel because you plan to snorkel and hike is a great strategy if you don’t plan to be in your room a lot.

If your goal is to save on your trip, the best option is to investigate Maui vacation packages, which will combine flights, lodging (hotels and condos), and your rental car. Maui vacation package options include five star hotels to cheap hotels (and condos), first class or coach air, and a range of rental cars to economy size to luxury SUVs (like Lincoln Navigators).

Plan for a Good Time of the Year – If you going to Maui as a family, most likely you will travel when school is out. This is usually during summers, holidays, or spring breaks. The link below contains a page on planning for Maui family vacations.

If Maui is a romantic getaway for you, honeymoons included, one tip is to avoid dates when family volume is increased on the island. I have determined that February through May is a good time and September through November is great as well. Travel is less expensive and you will miss many of the high tourism months.

Be Sure to Complete Your Research – It is a great idea to visit sites like this one in order to create a desired list of activities that have appeal to you while visiting the island. There are a range of activities that include going to a luau, trying a snorkeling or dive excursion, or hiking or viewing lava fields and a volcano. Make a “must do” determination before you book travel and then make a commitment to do each. There is something to do in every price range to do on the island.

Do Advanced Preparations if Doing Family Travel – When traveling with family, be it your kids or your extended family, be aware of the considerations you must take into account when traveling this way. Again, the link below will offer a link on the left called “Travel Tips” and will provide a link to a Maui family vacations information.

Also visit the same link for additional Maui travel tips that should be planned for when traveling to the island like weather, safety concerns, clothing to wear, and other information that can be extremely useful while there.

If you would like free advice on planning and booking your perfect Maui vacation, visit www.ideal-maui-vacation.com

Related Travel Tips Articles

It’s a quarter to five in the morning, and I have a plane to catch in two hours. But why rush out the door if my flight is already delayed?

To check its status, I turn to my iPhone, tap on an application called FlightTrack and pull up my flight. It’s on time. Better get out of bed. At the airport, I check for Wi-Fi and update all my newspaper apps (NYTimes, WSJ, USA Today and so on) so I have something to read onboard. And when I arrive at my destination, I use the iPhone to pull up the Yelp app, and its built-in mapping feature, to find the most highly user-rated bars and restaurants.

Sure, I could have easily stumbled across that pizza place on my own and gotten by without the Cantonese catchphrases I downloaded in an app-buying frenzy. But as Apple’s iTunes Store has continued to grow with thousands of apps, I’ve come regularly to rely on the gadget as an integral part of my travel routine. (In fact, apps were part of a recent discussion about travel gadgets I had with the New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, which can be viewed on The Times’s Web site at video.nytimes.com.)

Yes, the iPhone has its glitches, which have all been called out in various tech reviews. And some of those can be particularly frustrating for on-the-go travelers, as when you want to tell your spouse that the plane is delayed another two hours and you can’t get service, or when your favorite app directs you to a restaurant that no longer exists.

With those caveats in mind, here is a list of apps that could come in handy on your next trip.

External Source – For the complete article click here

Source – New York Times

One of the main purposes of travel is to gain experiences that allow us to grow and develop as individuals and it is important that people travel the way that bests suits them at a particular time. For example, I like to go on adventure holidays and this invariably includes a small group and expert guide, and I frequently participate in writing retreats around the world with like-minded people. However for me, the real joy of travelling has always been to take off on my own and just ’see’ what comes along the way. Of course this can sometimes be fraught with frustrations, difficulties and even dangers.

Freedom Most people who travel alone generally cite freedom as the great motivating factor: freedom to please themselves, go where and when they want, change their plans on a whim when they hear about something that is a ‘must’ to see, and to accept spontaneous invitations by locals.

No compromises This is associated with the previous point. Even if traveling with one other person, be it friend, colleague, lover or spouse, there will always be some compromises required. Not everyone has the same interests or the same energy levels, some people need to be emotionally supported all the time, others are apathetic, some have different attitudes to time. With solo travel, there is no peer pressure over finances, the unspoken need to divide up restaurant bills equally, or guilt trips when you want to go off on your own for a while.

Meeting people Travelling solo does not mean that you will always be alone. In fact, it allows you to meet more people because other tourists and locals find an individual traveller more approachable than those in a tightly-knit group. Also, people in groups have very little need to reach out to others for communication. I have met more people, had more interesting conversations and invitations and made more long-term friends while eating alone in foreign restaurants or sitting alone at bars. But then I am gregarious. Travelling alone allows you to choose the people you wish to spend time with rather than having to face the day-after-day annoyances of the inevitable clowns and whingers found in any large group.

Discoveries There is a real sense of discovery involved in travelling on your own, and that includes self-discovery. You don’t have to rely on an often ill-informed guide to lead you around on a leash, and there’s the surprise and thrill when you find something you weren’t expecting, like the time I became lost and ended up in a small Bavarian village with a monastery that contained a library with tens of thousands of Medieval manuscripts. Travelling alone allows you to discover more about yourself as you overcome simple challenges such as missing a bus or boat and realizing there is no other for a day or a week. Then there is the sense of achievement when solving much more challenging problems like finding yourself lost in a strange town at midnight or running out of money on a holiday weekend with no ATM in sight and the banks closed.

10 Tips for Women Traveling Alone

Tips for women travelers for a carefree overseas travel experience

By taking some basic security precautions both prior to departure and while away, women travelers can greatly reduce the travel risks they might otherwise face. Travel Messenger™ service developed by Melbourne based Loop9 scans 24/7 a wide range of global network security risk centers to bring in up-to-the-minute travel warnings for the country you are in directly to your mobile phone by SMS.

“It is important to plan you trip ahead of time in order to make it safer and more enjoyable” says Mark McCormack, Managing Director of Melbourne based Loop9. He recommends the following helpful tips for women travellers should they encounter a situation in an area of political instability or civil unrest as well as on how to stay safe at major events.

Pre trip:

1. Take photo copies of all your travel documents, keep them separate from the originals and e-mail all your details such as passport numbers, your itinerary etc to your own email address in case your lose anything.

2. Pack as light as possible and always pack your own bags and do not offer to carry any parcels whose contents you may be unsure of. The penalties for possession of or trafficking in drugs in some countries can include long prison sentences or even death.

3. Before traveling, find out the general dress code for the country. Once you arrive, take note of what local women wear to get an idea of appropriate attire.

4. Use a handbag with an inner zippered pocket and a strong strap. Preferably, wear the strap across the body, to make it more difficult for thieves to steal. Consider wearing a money belt under your clothes.

On board:

5. Do not announce your final destination or length of stay to fellow passengers, as the information may be overheard.

On arrival:

6. Where possible arrange to be met at the airport by someone you know. If you are being collected by a driver always establish their identity by asking their name, inquire who they are waiting for and where they intend taking you.

7. Stay in a hotel or guesthouse on a residential street that has a number of restaurants and late-night stores located on it. This is far safer than staying in a corporate area that will be quiet at night and so less secure.?

8. Never let on that you are traveling alone; inform inquisitive strangers that you are expecting your friend or meeting your partner.

9. Avoid wearing provocative, figure-hugging clothing. Unwanted attention can be also avoided by wearing a wedding ring and avoiding eye contact

10. Act confidently. Know where you are going and what you are doing, and walk with assurance. Confidence can be a major deterrent of criminal activities, such as petty theft and harassment.

For more information and to book Travel Messenger™ service for your next trip please contact your local travel agent.

I know there will be times in the future when I will travel as part of a group out of choice because I want to visit areas where it is just not possible or sensible for a woman alone, or because I wish to be with family or like-minded people. However, due to my particular personality traits, my preference is to travel alone. I guess it really doesn’t matter how people travel, but that they travel.

Pamela Bradley, also known as Zelda, is a noted author of nine books on ancient cultures and mysteries, historian, public speaker and passionate traveler. Follow her travels on http://www.zeldastravels.com and check out her profile, books, recent memoir, Nefertiti Street, as well as her observations on writing and women on http://www.pamelabradley.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pamela_Bradley

In 2010 we are looking forward to providing you with more great travel tips and travel discounts from the best that the web has to offer. You can look forward to more articles and videos for a lifetime of worldwide travel.

Grabbed from linkHello city-lovers! Ashley Biggers writes to us from the Southwest, where she’s an associate editor at New Mexico Magazine, to tell us why she loves her hometown of Albuquerque.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you’re still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We’re going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!).

Albuquerque, New Mexico is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is Sandía Peak Tramway, the world’s longest aerial tramway. From Sandía Peak, you can take in views of the entire valley–and adjust to the high desert altitude.

When I crave flamenco music and dance I go the National Hispanic Cultural Center. When I crave Native American drumming, I go to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

To escape the city I head to the Jémez Mountains where red rock cliffs, natural mineral hot springs, and a quaint village await.

If I want to discover a new local author I go to Bookworks.

For complete quiet, I can hide away in the tasting room at Casa Rondeña Winery in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with the “Chevy on a Stick,” also known by its formal title “Cruising San Mateo.” It’s a ’54 Chevy perched on an archway and tiled over in the name of public art.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Casa de Benavidez it has to be the sopaipillas (friend dough puffs drizzled in honey).

Mariposa Gallery is my one-stop shop for one-of-a-kind finds created by emerging artists.

Locals know to skip El Pinto and check out Sadie’s Restaurant for authentic New Mexican food instead.

When I’m feeling cash-strapped I go hiking at Elena Gallegos Open Space.

For a huge splurge I go for a full day of treatments at Betty’s Bath and Day Spa.

Photo ops in my city include the Sandía Mountains at sunset. The mountains draw their Spanish name from the watermelon shade they turn at sunset. One of the best vantage points is from the Petroglyph National Monument on the West Mesa.