Traveling Tips and Destinations » Germany

Jamaica Celebrity Combo

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:16:44 +0000

Just mention the word Jamaica and the mind is filled with images of beach party, reggae and rum. The most populous English speaking island simply exudes with relaxed and laidback life on the beach. It is home to a lot of celebrities while still more rich and famous flock to the party island day in and day out.

The island nation is called Xaymaca by its native inhabitants, which in Arawakan means either Land of Springs or Land of Wood and Water. A compelling tourist attraction by itself, Jamaica actually owes its enormous and vibrant tourism industry to two persons namely, Bob Marley and Errol Flynn.

Bob Marley

Internationally revered as the King of Reggae music, Bob Marley is a homegrown talent that brought Jamaica to the worlds center stage. His phenomenal influence in the worlds music landscape is best demonstrated by the number of countries that have their own annual Bob Marley Day celebrations, which includes Germany, Belgium, Finland, Italy and Denmark to name a few. But of course, every fervent fan would always argue that the commemoration of the life and achievements of the person that introduced reggae to the world would never be as meaningful and significant as the one being celebrated in Bob Marleys own homeland Jamaica. Each year, the country honors Bob Marley through a weeklong music festival dubbed as the Reggae Sunsplash Festival held every February, his birthday month. A music lovers Jamaican escapade is never complete without a pilgrimage to various pit stops dedicated to the Reggae King, namely, Bob Marley Museum and Bob Marley Mausoleum to name a few.

Errol Flynn

If Bob Marley brought Jamaica to the world, Errol Flynn brought the world to Jamaica. The latter discovered and fell in love with the pristine beauty of the island when his yacht ran aground along the foreshores of San Antonio sometime in the 1940s. From yachting, he started one of the islands greatest attractions today which is river rafting. The Hollywood superstar came to Jamaica and never left. He bought a hotel and later a vast estate in Navy Island where he kept himself busy in his 3,000 acres of ranch and coconut plantation, one of the biggest in the island. Ever since he settled in his Caribbean hideaway, Errol Flynn was never out of guests to entertain, most of whom were Hollywood celebrities that marked the start of tourist exodus to the islands.

Traveling With The Little Ones

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:11:33 +0000

My wife and I take frequent trips with our daughters across the country. The oldest is currently seven and the youngest just turned three. Needless to say it has been an adventure and learning process on every trip that we have ever taken.

The seven year old has been to Vail colorado snow skiing. Germany on a weeklong siteseeing tour, and of course to the children’s mecca Walt-Disney World in Orlando, twice. She is an experienced traveller in every sense of the word. She knows the airport shuffle as well as the in’s and out’s of custom’s and cabs.

Now the three year old is a totally different story. Since her arrival the budget has been more limited. Therefore her experience is listed to the standard beach week, trip to visit relatives in Houston, and of course Disney World. She is less acclimated and has a lesser temperment for spending times in planes, trains, and automobiles. She is a squirmer to say the least.

Now making a roadtrip with both of these diverse individuals takes planning and intent on my wife and I’s part. We have to plan our stops and the total travel time that we are going to experience. We must avoid the naptime for changes of venues. No airlines from 1:00 to 3:00 as the three year old is sleeping during this time.

We must plan to have adequate restroom breaks and stop to take them even when all is proclaimed to be well by the vehicles inhabitants. A three year old can turn in a minute from not needing to use to the bathroom to having a full emergency.

Speaking of an emergency, during our trip to Vail, and snowskiing. My daughter came down with an ear ache. So when you are traveling make sure that you always carry adequate medical information with you. We had to call my daughters doctor at home to fax her records to the doctor in Vail. This delayed a full day of skiing for my daughter as well as us while we waited on the documents.

While taking a long car trip to visit relatives in Mississipi my three year old who was at the time two, decided that a crying fit was in order. She screamed all the way to the Mercede’s museum. We took about a two hour break and walked around siteseeing, the whole time she was just glad to be out of the car seat. While it is not a problem for adults to sit for hours on end, two and three year olds need adequate playtime to exercise their legs.

So in short when planning to travel with little ones always plan time to take stops. Make sure that you have adequate documentation, and have great humor in the situations that arise.

Charles Cater

European Vacation-Tips to Have the Most Fun

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:48:01 +0000

I lived in Germany for five years, many moons ago, and as a result had the opportunity to travel around Europe quite a bit, visit lots of places, learn a little of three languages and have lots of fond memories. But since those golden days of yore I have been back twice with my fiance for a three week trip and one 18 dayer.

The first was completely planned with reservations for each night and was high intensity, high stress covering six countries and nearly 1800 miles. How else can you cover all the bases? Actually you cant and do it any justice at all.

And my friends that is lesson number one. For any trip to Europe lasting less than 3-4 months decide ahead of time and agree that you cannot see it all. There is so much not just the big cities but the countryside and small towns. That is where the heart of the country lies. You have to set priorities on what you want to see and stick to it. This requires quite a bit of advance planning on your part-or if you trust someone else a Travel Agent.

And that is lesson number two.Find a travel agent who you can trust-one whos been there many times. Unless you have been to the country before you cannot possibly know all the nuances of foreign travel. Depending on your personality consider doing a tour first. Self guided trips to a foreign country can be very stressful and will perhaps ruin the trip

Lesson number three-Make an attempt to speak the local language. Even in France (with one exception) the locals appreciate you trying to speak the language. Depending on where you go for example most Beneulux countries, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and even northern Italy you can get by with German-and truth be told English if all else fails. But the locals really appreciate the effort and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

Lesson number four-Contrary to an international myth there are speed limits in Europe so watch the signs.

Lesson number five-Room sizes like bathrooms and bedrooms are without exception considerably smaller than what you are used to. So if you tend to be claustrophobic-beware. Also mealtimes are generally different from ours especially in Italy and France. The normal safety precautions should be taken for your room with a alarm door stop or a keep i for added security. Thieves live in Europe too.

Lesson number six-For the really adventurous forget all of the above and just wing it. There is no better thrill in traveling, to my way of thinking, than being able to turn left off the autostrada to go to Venice just because you feel like it.

Traveling to Europe requires much planning and careful preparation. Having a good travel agent that has been to Europe many times is almost an absolute necessity for a self guided tour. If you are with a group you neednt worry so much. But the most fun of all is doing it on your own without an itinerary.

Wine travel

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:27:11 +0000

Wine has been an integral part of many civilizations since a long time. Wine formed an important part of the culture in many countries ever since the origin of mankind. Many of our wine making skills dates back to our ancestors who originally invented the process of producing the finest wines in the world. Although the methods for fermenting grapes to produce wine may have grown more refined today but their basics originate from the procedures laid down by our ancestors. Many of the craziest people in world hang about at different places to experience the finest wine quality produced throughout the globe. These trips for tasting wines are growing more and more popular each day. Exclusive visits to specific wine producing areas are planned for an exotic experience of tasting wine at a place where it originates.

Many of the countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Germany, California and those in the Mediterranean region are all known for producing wine. Yet the finest wines in the present day scenario are believed to come from France. France has lately emerged as most popular wine producing country offering too many varieties of wines available throughout the world.

Recreational trips are developing many new themes for travel each day and the tour operators are coming up with new ideas to attract prospective customers. Due to the ever-growing popularity of wine in our community many wine tasting trips are organized either individually or by groups. Also many tour operators organize trips to wine producing regions where wine lovers can have great pleasurable moments. Trips can be to any local wine rearing area or somewhere far off where one can reach comfortably only through air. Some places are very famous for making finest wines and people are usually attracted to the popular spots that produce wines so that they can taste the best wines at their original place. Also many high profile companies that produce wine send invitations to their valued customers as a business promotion plan, so that the customers can have a taste of the recently launched flavors of wine. Whatever be the reason a wine tasting trip is always an exhilarating experience for a wine explorer.

Wine tasting trips can last for a day, a week or more than that depending on the available time and the choice of destination. Many tour organizers also combine wine trips with an exotic location for lodging and a lavish food style coupled along the trip so that the travelers have an experience of lifetime. Among all possible destinations France has emerged as the mast preferred spot for wine enthusiasts. It gives a feeling like experiencing heaven on earth when one is on any personalized wine exploration tour.

Wine exploration can be great for wine novices and wine experts as it makes them familiar with the most popular wines and also the best selected ones. Anyone serving wine for tasting needs to take care of every small details of the surrounding to create a perfect ambience for the occasion . The glasses used should be tapering towards the sides and the color of class should always be transparent. One must remember that visitors are here to taste wine and not to drink it hence the quantity poured must be very small around one-third the size of glass. Enthusiasts of wine always immensely cherish wine exploration trips.

Germany Travel Tips

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:19:34 +0000

Restaurants and Bars – You do not get water for free, you have to pay for it. If you order water you will get carbonated water. In most restaurants you can request tap water and they may or may not charge you but it is most likely straight from the sink. In some American fast food restaurants, (i.e. McDonalds) you must pay for ketchup as well. Be aware that the menus at most fast food restaurants in Germany are not exactly the same. You may also notice that a sandwich that you recognize from back home may taste a little different or it could be smaller. When you enter a restaurant you will not be seated, just walk right in and pick the table of your choice!- the tip should be much smaller than you would give in the States (this is because the waiters/waitresses get paid more than in the states) A tip of two or three EUR would be considered a good tip for very good service.

Supermarkets – If you shop for groceries in Germany you will notice the supermarkets have all of their large rolling carts outside in a designated area and they are locked to one another. In order to utilize a cart you must place one EUR in the cart itself, you will see the slot on the handle. Upon leaving the supermarket you latch the cart back to the other carts and pull the device out where you placed the coin, now you can retrieve your coin. When you have all of the groceries you want, proceed to the check-out counter. You will have to purchase plastic bags to put the groceries in or you can take one in yourself. If you decide to purchase one they are usually visible at the counter and normally only cost a few cents. If there is a long line do not put all of your groceries in the bag, put them back into the cart and bag them away from the line.

Closing hours – On Sunday everything is closed except for some restaurants, bars, gas stations and shops at the main train station and bigger airports. Some bigger stores are realizing that they can make much more money if they open on Sunday so they are doing just that, but I would not rely on it. During the week shops in bigger cities close at 8 PM at the latest. You may see shops in smaller cities closing even earlier.

Public Phones – Public phones are very rare in Germany. If you find one you will notice that they only take telephone cards. You can buy a telephone card in different shops like “T-Punkt”, “Telekom”, “Post”, and “Vodafone” or you can go to an Internet cafe.

Miscellaneous – “Bad” in front of a towns name does not mean that the people or the city is bad for example, “Bad Homburg”. Bad in front of a towns name normally means that the town is designated as a healthy location normally with very clean air and water.

American appliances in Germany

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:19:34 +0000

If you plan to visit Germany and you take your American appliances there are a few things you must look into.

First you must know that most American appliances are designed to run off of 110 volts and Most German appliances are designed to run off of 220 volts. This means that if you plug an American stereo, razor, computer, etc into a German outlet it will destroy it!! The prongs are different so it is hard to make this mistake but outlet adapters are sold and this does happen often. The reason the adapters are sold is because some American appliances are Dual-Voltage and can run off of 110 or 220.

To find out if your appliance is Dual-Voltage you must look at the power information on the appliance, either on the appliance itself or on the power box on the cord. If you still havent found the information refer to your users manual. If your appliance is not dual voltage the only option you have in order to use it in Germany is to purchase a power converter.

Power converters can be purchased on the world-wide web (of course), or select appliance and hardware stores. If you are somehow allowed access to a U.S. Army base in Germany, you can purchase one at the Post Exchange.

When selecting your power converter be sure that it is converting 220 volts to 110 volts and not the other way around. Next, you need to select the size of the power converter in which you will need for your device(s) this should be relatively self explanatory. Check the power output of the device and be sure it is equal to or below, below is recommended, the voltage of the converter.

Using certain clocks/alarm clocks can run slower or faster than usual even if the clock is dual-voltage. The only way to avoid this is to be sure the clock is of good quality and relatively new. If the clock is plugged into a power converter this should not be an issue.