Holiday Traveling Tips

By: Sally Rutherford

The holidays certainly can be stressful, and traveling during a holiday is certainly not fun. The roads are packed, traffic is thick, and everyone is anxious to get to their destination. Traveling is also more expensive. Don't you love it when people take advantage of the holidays like that?!?

I thought I could give you some tips for when you travel this holiday. Hopefully these tips can save you some peace of mind as well as money!

• If you are flying and have presents to take ship them in advance. They will be there when you arrive and you do not have to mess with taking them on the plane. If you do take them on the plane do not wrap them. With the heightened security at airports they will probably just be unwrapped and checked anyway.
• Consider renting an apartment or condo for a week. You can find some great deals online and save a considerable amount of money over paying for a hotel. Depending on the size of your family you may want to look into renting a vacation home.
• Don't eat out anymore than you have to. Eating out is expensive. Use your rental to its full advantage and go to the grocery store and buy what you need to cook your own meals. Get the kids involved and let them help pick the meals and even help cook them.
• Recreation during the holidays is one of the great benefits of having a family. You can play board games or card games. Take along a Frisbee or football and get outside and throw them around. When you rent a place for the week it offers you all kinds of ways to save money. You can take along your favorite DVDs and have some family movie time everyday.
• If you rent a vacation home you might want to share it with another family. Being able to split the costs with someone you enjoy being around during the holidays can save you a lot of money as well. This idea may or may not work for you depending on the ages of your kids and the common interests of the family you travel with.

These are just a few holiday travel tips if you are on a budget. Even if you are not on a budget you can save some money during the holidays and have some quality time with your family that you might not get staying with a relative or in a hotel.

I recently did a review of a product you may be interested in. It explains how to save 50 to 75% on hotels and flights using travel agent only special rates! Check it out here.

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Making Friends Online

Ever thought of making friends with people you do not know? It might sound intimidating to think of establishing relationship with strangers, especially with all the cases of road rage, spousal abuse, stalkers and various other social ills taking rounds. The world seems to be moving faster and faster each day without any sign of slowing down in the near future.

In the good old days, your school, your workplace and the church were the common places where you met people. These were far more secure places than bars or clubs. However, since work places have lost their reputation for being safe due to increased problems with sexual harassment, they are no longer considered a practical option for many.

School, in particular college, remains one of the most likely places for two people to become friends or establish a relationship. However, balancing the high demands of coursework along with the stresses that go along with a relationship can be demanding. Due to the high pressure placed upon young adults to succeed in their careers, the importance of friendship and relationships has diminished considerably.

Church has also ceased being a good place to meet people if for no other reason than the fact that so few people are attending on a regular basis. This is especially true for young adults so there remains few options for meeting people in a relatively safe manner and having the possibility of establishing a relationship.

Although many people attach a certain stigma to meeting other people online, the fact remains that it is one of the best ways to talk with other people like yourself in hopes of making a connection. There are literally millions of people out there using cyberspace in hopes of making a connection.

There are a number of services that allow people to set up a profile and meet other people with similar interests and tastes. For people considering this option, be sure to use a service that has been around for awhile and has a large number of members. Because these sites often charge money for their service, you definitely want to find sites with as many people, male. & female, young & old, native & foreigner, Asian & Caucasian, etc. as possible to increase your odds of making a connection.

Of course, chatting remains an option and sites like Yahoo offer this service for free and it has thousands of people chatting on its site at all hours of the day, and night! Plus, Yahoo even offers chatting rooms that are specially created for individual states and regions so there is a good chance of meeting someone within your area. Even if you don't make any long lasting connections, the chances are pretty good that you will at least get to spend the night communicating with new people instead of just lounging around watching television.

Meeting people online is a different ballgame altogether. Unlike a superficial encounter over dinner and a movie it allows you to have an intimate conversation with the other person to get to know each other. The only disadvantage of online chatting is the risk of spending your time chatting with someone who is pretending to be someone else. In all other respects it is one of the safest and most effective ways of meeting friends that might lead to a long lasting relationship.

Kerri Glenton is the owner and operator of F friends, the best place on the internet for information about friends. For more articles on friends why not visit: www.friendsunltd.com/articles

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8 Tips for a Stress-Free Vacation

Preparing for a vacation should be exciting and fun. Unfortunately, it seems as though whenever we go on vacation, there are always last-minute household concerns to attend to, such as: Who will take care of our pets? Who will water our plants? How will we keep our home secure?

Without a plan, we may be left wondering whether we left the oven on, locked the doors, or packed everything we needed for our trip. These concerns can make our journey less enjoyable and our vacation worrisome. The following helpful vacation preparation tips will ensure that you always leave for vacation feeling fully prepared, relaxed, and secure so you can get the most out of your trip.

Vacation Tip #1: Use a packing checklist when you pack.

Whether you’re packing for a long weekend or a 3-week excursion, a packing checklist simplifies the process. When you use a packing checklist, you can be certain that you have everything that you need to fully enjoy your vacation. You can get a comprehensive travel packing checklist free from GoSightsee.com. Sign up for the free travel newsletter and you’ll also get insider travel tips, helpful articles, and travel discounts.

Vacation Tip #2: Arrange for your mail and newspapers to be held until you return.

Mail piled up in your mailbox and unclaimed newspapers stacked on your doorstep can indicate that you’re not home. This can signal to would-be thieves that your home is unguarded and a good target. Prevent this by calling the Post Office a few days before your trip and asking them to hold your mail. Once you return, you simply go to the Post Office to retrieve your mail and they’ll start delivering it to your mailbox again.

You can do the same thing with your newspaper by calling their subscription line and asking them to pause delivery for the days you’ll be out of town. They’ll either extend your subscription or give you a reduced bill for the non-delivered papers.

Vacation Tip #3: Ask a friend to check your home while you’re away.

It’s a good idea to ask someone you know and trust to stop by your home a few times while you’re on vacation. Give them a key, directions, your contact information, and the dates that you’ll be away. Your friend can park their car in your driveway, check your home for any signs of entry and/or theft, can water your lawn and/or plants, and can take care of anything else you need.

This achieves several goals:

• Your friend’s car will be parked in your driveway sporadically, giving would-be thieves the message that your home isn’t a good target.
  
• If they encounter a problem or suspect entry or theft, they can contact you right away instead of you having to wait to discover and deal with the issue once you return.
  
• Your friend will be taking care of your plants and lawn so they’ll be alive and well when you get back into town.

Vacation Tip #4: Hire a petsitter to care for your pets.

A petsitter will feed, groom, play with, and watch your pets while you’re on vacation. If you have pets and you’re going for longer than two days, it’s definitely a good idea to hire a professional petsitter.

You’ll want to familiarize them with your home and the location of your pets’ supplies. Provide them with a key, written instructions on how to care for your pet, your contact information, and the name, address, and phone number of your veterinarian.

Vacation Tip #5: Set automatic light timers throughout your home.

An easy way to make your home look inhabited while you’re out of town is to program a few light timers to automatically turn lights on and off throughout your home. These devices are inexpensive and can be found in any discount retail store (such as Target). They are simple to program and work best if you use them on lamps in different areas of your home and stagger their on and off times. For instance, if a lamp in your living room is programmed to stay on from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., then a lamp in your upstairs bedroom could be programmed to stay on from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m.

These are also helpful if you have pets so they aren’t spending an unusual amount of time in darkness. Using automatic light timers can help your pets relax more while you’re on vacation by keeping up their regular light exposure.

It’s also a good idea to have some of your outdoor lights automatically turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn. This will not only make your home look inhabited, but may also thwart would-be thieves who will be deterred from breaking into a well-lit home.

Vacation Tip #6: Turn off and unplug electrical equipment and appliances.

The day you leave for your trip, you’ll want to check all of your major appliances and electrical equipment to make sure everything is turned off. This includes:

• Oven and stove
  
• Lights that don’t have an automatic timer
  
• Computer, printer, and other home office equipment
  
• Televisions
  
• Fans and plug-in heaters

You also want to unplug electrical devices and some major appliances to help prevent potential fires. This includes:

• Plug-in heaters (baseboard, dish, etc.)
  
• Hair dryers
  
• Curling irons
  
• Shredder
  
• Blender, food processor, toaster oven, and other kitchen electrics

While you’re checking and unplugging these devices, also check your faucets to make sure that no one has inadvertently left water running. Taking these steps will help put your mind at ease and ensure that your electric and water bills don’t balloon out of control while you’re away.

Vacation Tip #7: Adjust your thermostat.

To keep your gas and electric bill in check while you’re on vacation, set your thermostat to a lower temperature (in the winter) or a higher temperature (in the summer) than you would normally use in your home. Since you won’t be there, you can save money on your heating and cooling bills by keeping the thermostat slightly higher or lower.

If your pets will still be at home while you’re away, make sure to keep the temperature comfortable for them and show your petsitter how to operate your thermostat in case any extremes in temperature are experienced.

Vacation Tip #8: Lock all doors and windows.

One of the last things to do before gathering your packed luggage and loading up the car is to check that all of your doors and windows are securely locked. Be sure to check your garage doors and windows as well.

Using this checklist to prepare for your vacations will give you less to worry about while you’re away. Less stress translates into a better vacation. Knowing that you have everything you need and that your home and pets are secure and being cared for will give you peace of mind. You’ll be able to truly relax and enjoy your vacation. Happy travels!

Sheri Keyser is the Founder and CEO of GoSightsee.com, a travel website that will save you time and money on your next vacation. Get insider travel tips and recommendations on sightseeing destinations, vacation planning resources, and travel deals at GoSightsee.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sheri_Keyser

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Do You Want To Live In The Country?

How many times have you heard people say, "I want to live in the country", "I want a smallholding!", "A holiday business!","I want to work from home", "A simple and green environment!".

The idea of making money in the city, paying off the mortgage and going to live in the country is enticing. You can get a beautiful old farm house, work from home, enjoy the nature and breathe in fresh air. And most of this is true but there are risks and downsides to consider too.

So what's your dream? Make a list of what you are looking for.

Do you really want to live in the country? "In the country" could have a whole range of meanings. Do you want to live in a market town, a little village or really out in the sticks? Or would holidays do? I ask this because living in the country is so different to visiting it.

What do you enjoy about living in the city? The buzz, the access to theatre, music, education, exhibitions, people, shops, etc? When you have a dream it's easy to miss the truth of your current situation.

Living in a village can be fun and sociable, providing you get on with the general population (it could be small) and are happy to deal with village politics. However, they can also be intrusive - people are naturally curious and some people will want to know your business.

Are you happy to use the car a lot. Many country roads are winding, narrow and fast. Walking along country roads is not a good idea! If it's walking you're after check that you CAN walk in the place you're interested in. Sometimes there are surprisingly few walkways as it's private access.

Would you be happy living somewhere with few shops - of course you could shop online and have your groceries delivered by the local box scheme, or dare I say, a supermarket chain (maybe that wouldn't sit comfortably with the "living in the country" theme!).

Employment. If you want to stay with your current company, can you work from home? Is this acceptable? With the current credit crunch and subsequent redundancies, this is less available. Especially if you need to prove your worth - bosses may want to see you in the office. Setting up your own business is an option but research it thoroughly - it's a big risk, takes up a huge amount of your time, though the rewards can be worth it. Setting up a B&B is another popular option - and again, it's hard slog for not much money.

The assumption of simply getting another job in your new location if your current job doesn't work out is again risky - jobs are now not easy to come by, and the pay is generally much lower outside the big smoke. Most people need an income and getting this right, with your feet firmly on the ground, is crucial!

You may want to sell up and move to the country and own two houses. One as a holiday let and one to live in. However, research the costs and risks - holiday letting can be a drain if you can't let the property or if it needs a lot of maintenance and care.

This may sound all rather negative but the bottom line is that the dream and the reality need to be checked very rigorously before you take action. Otherwise you could end up wanting to move back...

Article by Debbie Morgan. Debbie Morgan writes for the UK Property Search Engine, Wheres My Property and Renovate Alerts, the site that finds property to renovate. Debbie also contributes to Property Money Maker.

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