Really Nice Vacations

Have yourself a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Don’t forget to take lots of photos for your year end vacation!

When you go on a really nice vacation, there is something that almost everyone would do – send some postcards home! For some, this has become almost a tradition or a ritual.

Their friends and families have a virtual travelogue of their vacations simply from the collection of postcards. People are happy to receive cards, even in this day and age of the electronic media. It has a tangible feeling of genuine and personal warmth to it. This is why, business holiday cards continue to be a popular item among the large brands. How many of you have received a card from American Express or from the Prada boutique or from your Ford dealer; does it not at least make you smile that you are important enough for them to bother sending you a card?

Just like receiving a card from a friend or a loved one who has gone on a vacation tells you that you are in their hearts and their minds while holidaying, receiving a business Christmas card tells you that some one actually cares about their customer – you!

For many small business owners, this can be challenging. It is time consuming and sometimes expensive to engage designers, copywriters and printers to make business holiday cards. Fortunately, this can be easily done online. If you know that Halloween is coming, and in your rush to take care of your own business, all you have to do is go online and find a site that has a ready selection of  Halloween cards that you can choose, customize and order. Saves you a lot of time and usually, can be done very quickly.

To get your business holiday cards done, you first have to think about what message you want to send. It could be as simple as a “Happy Easter” or as specific as messages for Mother’s Day cards targeted at specific clients. In fact, there is a huge range of different occasions that you can find business holiday cards for. Even something as unique as Hanukkah cards can be found online.

Once you know your message, and you have found a design that you like, simply get it printed immediately.

So, the next time you go on a vacation, or you have a big holiday coming up, don’t forget that it just might be an excellent opportunity for you to send out some business holiday cards.

We always think about where we want to go for our annual vacations, especially now that the holiday season is once again round the corner! Sometimes, we make a mistake and end up wasting our precious holiday time.

Just came across this really interesting article over at Bing where a photo journalist shares his view of the places you should NOT go for your vacation. Quite an interesting read. Check it out for yourself:

Don’t Go There For Vacation

For example, he shares about Lagos, Nigeria and how the place is so terribly overcrowded. Then there are the nuclear sites, which would really make it a hot vacation for you.

While we only want to think happy thoughts when going for a holiday, the reality is that sometimes, we need to be aware of the duds too!

Happy holidays!

Did you know that the Australian government’s Smartraveller site,  is amongst the world’s top references for travel advisories, classifies travel risk in several categories?

There is a ‘Do Not Travel’ category. This classification can affect your travel insurance because insurers will examine the coverage issues in travel to these countries.

The current list includes several countries in the midst of wars, and others with major internal issues and conflicts. They are considered dangerous because some of these countries comprises world insurgents, militants and terrorists that target foreigners, especially those from the western countries like USA and Europe.

• Afghanistan
• Burundi
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Guinea
• Iraq
• Niger
• Somalia
• Sudan

This  ‘Do Not Travel’ list is compiled based on the government’s assessment of risk, known dangers, and professional threat assessments by security and intelligence agencies. Naturally the countries being listed aren’t too happy and have lodged complains against it.   In many cases the ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory has been proven to be accurate. You don’t have to be a military expert or a politician to know, the media will tell you with spreads of news articles and photographs.

Additional Reading: Travel Tips Australia

After my work stint in Phuket, I took an extended leave of 6 weeks to visit the country. It was great fun visiting different parts of the country via trains and motorbike. Serene scenery, wonderfully warm people and the really hot hot hot Thai chilli. I know I’ll be back for more of Thai hospitality.

Until then, I’m back home busying working to earn my keep and holiday money.

However, come summer, I’m going down to Singapore for a 3-day business trip and then I’m taking the weekend to check out Eran Katz’s The Super Memory Power Seminar and The Nobel Prize Brain Workshop If you don’t know this dude, well, he is the Guinness Book of Record for Best Memory Stunt. He recited 500 numbers front to back and back to front and that earned him the a placing in the Israeli Guinness Book of Record.

I travel a lot for work. Before I make a trip, I have tons of homework to do and digest. I got to remember procedures, processes, formula and names and faces. Gee, I hate that last bit. Either I remember faces and forgotten names or the other way. So when I heard that he is visiting Singapore at the same time, I’m signing up. I rather pay Singapore dollar, it’s so much cheaper than doing here or Japan or Europe. I heard that the Japaneses really like this dude. Well, let’s see if he really can teach moi something!

I like Patong Beach Hotel. Just a few minutes walk to the beach.

Phuket is a beautiful place to have a laid back vacation, except that it could be overwhelmingly crowded during the peak month of Decembers. I was there in late November and already the hotels, traveler lodges, pubs and massage parlous were gearing for the in flood of December tourists. If I could, I always like to visit Phuket a week or 2 before their golden months set in. It was great that the company sent me for a 4-day training stint there.

I like nothing better to do than waking up late, walk down to the beach and have a few laps before I head for breakfast. After that, is a stroll down to the town area for a massage. Well, the girls there were great, and their fingers can certainly do wonders. Especially if you can speak a little Thai language so that they can better understand your needs. Well, make sure you negotiate price before you settle for a massage, facial or foot reflexology. Sometimes, the listed price doesn’t count!

Currently, I can greet in Thailand and can bargain using Thai numbers. You bet that helps, because when you can bring on a wide smile from the vendors, there’s hope. “Sawatdee Khrab!” That is how you say hello in Thai. If you are a girl you will say “Sawatdee Kaa”. When you are on holiday in Thailand, most places you go to you won’t have a problem. Still, learn some basic conversational will help. Most web sites and phrase books just write down the Thai words using Roman letters for you to try and read. That is a waste of time because Thai is a tonal language. You need to listen to native speakers and try to talk as often as possible. You don’t talk, you don’t learn.

Additional Reading
60 Minutes to learn the Thai Alphabets

If you like traveling and has no money. Work in an environment where traveling is a must.

1) Work as a servicing staff on the plane or work a cruise ship job. Especially the latter, you get to live aboard a luxury cruiseliner and get paid to live the lifestyle passengers without paying several thousands of dollars.

2) Be a travel guide. Visit a city or region. Get to know the best places, then get paid to show other people what you’ve found!

3) Become a paid travel writer. Especially great when you like writing and write well. Get hired – permanently or by projects by travel magazines and guidebooks and get paid. Of course, blog about your travels and collect money from advertisements.

There are many ways to travel for “free”, you just have to be creative.

Additional Reading
How To Get A Cruise Ship Job!!!