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

This city is also equally well known for its gothic architecture and markets; including famous sights like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe to name just two internationally famous landmarks. Fortunately for tourists, Paris has a first rate transportation system; the underground train system or Metro can take you to anywhere within the city and is simple to use.

You can’t miss the Eiffel Tower, mainly because it’s over three hundred meters high; it can be seen from any point within the city and the superb views just can’t be matched by those looking at it from the ground. At night, it comes alive with lights that have to be seen to be believed; if you are really enthusiastic you can take a tour where the guide will tell you how this beautiful tower was built.

A trip down the Champs Elysees is encouraged when you visit Paris as this is the city’s most famous street; if you want to see famous, designer label shops and the restaurants, this is the place. This avenue may be select but it attracts large numbers of visitors daily; top class hotels are found here, although if you want to stay at a more reasonably priced hotel, they are available outside of the city center.

If you are an art lover you will enjoy the Louvre, a truly amazing museum; it contains almost a third of a million exhibits and is in fact one of the biggest art museums in the world. There are enough art exhibits to keep you occupied for more time than your short stay in Paris would allow; the Mona Lisa is one such world famous work of art which should not be missed. Over the years, Paris has been home to many of the world’s famous artists; the likes of Monet, Picasso and many others lived in the city for years and some of their work can still be seen today.

Of course, Napoleon commissioned the construction of the Arc de Triomphe, another Paris landmark; engraved with the names of generals that commanded his troops, it has become a popular photo spot for tourists visiting Paris. It also features an observatory to take in surrounding views; in particular those obtained along the lanes that lead from it.

This city has a huge variety of places to visit, many of these have not even mentioned here; these are however, the most popular with regular tours arranged, many of which are either free or at a subsidized cost. Unfortunately, short stays in Paris can be demanding on visitors; what you aren’t able to this time will have to wait for another occasion.

Author:
The author of this article is Tushar Mathur who writes his own Travel Blog at http://travel-eat-sleep.com

While I was in Malaysia for a conference, I met lots of people. After a few jugs of beer, I got to know this New York couple pretty well. When they knew my favourite past-time was traveling, they started talking non-stop of their Royal Carribean cruise to the Caribbean islands. The more I hear the more puzzled I became. Their voyage seemed too luxurious for a pair of junior executives. Not only did they relax in the sun and have fun in the casino like other cruises, they said they rode high on the waves on wave runners, flew like birds through the sky on parasails and gone chasing after the dolphins. So, they also got me pretty excited when they said the cruise company they bought from had tickets starting from USD649. I had never actually been on a cruise holiday. Sure, I took a boat out previously but it was just a one-day trip. Going for a full-fledge cruise holiday will be a totally new adventure for me.

Naturally, I dug for more information when I returned. Comparing all the information I’ve collected and the one the couple recommended, I had to say they made a good choice. There is this 7-Night European Cruise that’s really tempting, with prices around USD800-USD1000+ between August to November this year. The ship will travel through a few historic cities starting from Venice. The other interesting one is the7-Night Mediterranean Cruises round-trip from Celebrity cruises are excellent for lazy people like me. It says “If your idea of a true vacation is not to lift a finger, then Celebrity Cruises is just for you!.” That’s cool. I can just imagine staying in a first class floating hotel with fine dining, shows, performances, games with an Vegas-styled casino to try my luck on. However, I couldn’t quite imagine having one staff member attending the two of us for the entire duration. Still, the idea of having the service of a personal butler at my beck and call thrilled me immensely. That’s the kind of lifestyle that Brad and Angelina or Tom and Katie is having.

Then again, the Norwegian Cruise Line‘s freestyle cruising concept is rather appealing too. While I probably need to bring my Sunday best for the celebrity cruise, I can probably get away with my sloppiest shorts and flip flops here. I was told I can choose any time to eat and forget about being punctual and ,wear whatever I like and leave my evening stuff at home. Such free spirit style suits me but oh well, I guess I’ll have to talk to my charming companion first. In a confined space like a ship, there’s no escape from a quarrel or a flight literally if we ever got into one. And I’ll hate it if the disagreement is about the cruise.

Looks like I got to toss a coin between Oktober Fest or a Cruise if I still can’t decide in a couple of weeks time. Got to get the significant other to apply leave too. Still, before I open my mouth, there’s one hurdle I must cross. My boss. The last quarter is usually the busiest. He hates seeing any one of us taking off when others are working their butts off. So, I got to cook up a really hot story to get him to sign on the leave form. And I got to give him 2 months’ notice because he said he “appreciates advance notice very much” Drop me a note if you got any tip to charm the boss. I live for vacations.

Knowing to read the map is important but other than that, it is important to know the uniqueness of road usage, rules (written and unwritten) and basic courtesy observed by the German.

1. “Autobahn” means motorway in Germany.

2. “Ausfhart” means “exit”.

3. “Bundesstraße” means national roads. Yellow signages with black digit prefixed by an upper case “B” can be seen on Bundesstraße. “B” refers to “Bundesstraße” while the number is the identification of that stretch of the road. More important routes have lower numbers. Odd numbers are usually applied to east-west oriented roads, and even numbers for north-south routes. Bypass routes are referred to with an appended “a” (alternative) or “n” (new alignment), as in “B 56n”.

4. Other main public roads are maintained by the Bundesländer (states), called Landesstraße (country road) or Staatsstraße (state road). The numbers of these roads are prefixed with “L”, “S” or “St”, but are usually not seen on direction signs or written in maps. They appear on the kilometre posts on the roadside. Numbers are unique only within one state.

5. No Speed Limit – Although the autobahns in Germany are not subject to an overall speed limit (the blue speed limit signs, usually showing 130, are suggested maximum speeds), many stretches of autobahn are covered by signed speed limits, which are mostly closely observed by the Germans.

6. Driving license – Your local driver’s license may not be accepted in Germany. You will need to contact your local license branch and find out the steps you need to take to receive an international driver’s license.

7. Traffic lights – When pulling up to a traffic light you will notice that unlike the U.S. traffic lights which go from green to yellow to red and then directly back to green, German traffic lights will go from red to yellow and then green. More importantly, the ‘right on red’ rule does not exist in Germany . If you try to make a right turn when the traffic light is red you may find yourself in a major lawsuit.

8. Children in cars – children under 12 or 1.5 metres tall are not allowed to travel unless using an appropriate restraint.

9. Drinking and driving – Over 0.05 per cent and you could face fines, endorsement or even imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense.

10. Fines - On the spot fines are issued. Just about every possible driving offence can be subject to a fine, even running out of fuel on the Autobahn! Ensure an official receipt is issued by the officer collecting the fine.

11. Accidents – If you are the first on the scene of an accident in which someone has been injured you are required by law to provide assistance. Whether you simply stop and call an ambulance (112) not (911), or you provide medical aid, you must do something to help the casualty.

I also did a quick check of the hotels in the 4 cities I wanted to visit. I would probably marked down some hotels that’s along the highways and those within the tourist hotspots. Many first time travelers will not know the importance of hotels near highways because they have not experienced the sudden fatigue that strike. Good luck if you were tired and were driving in the middle of a cold stormy night. All I could tell you is it will be a memorable experience that you won’t want history to repeat itself. I learned my lesson the hard way during my varsity day. So, I have bookmark-ed these sites for future research:

Berlin Hotels

Köln Hotels

Frankfurt Hotels

Munich Hotels