Archive for January, 2009
Buying Breakables
When on holiday or even on a business trip, you’re going to want to purchase some souvenirs or gifts. However, travelling brings up one issue: how to get those purchases home. If you’ve bought several breakable items, you’re going to have to be very careful. Here are some tips for dealing with breakables.
First, if you’re going to purchase something fragile, try to go for something small. It’s going to be challenging enough getting it home without breaking it. Getting a large item home without breaking it is truly a headache, especially if it won’t fit in your luggage and you have to have it specially shipped.
Second, try to pack your fragile items in your carry-on bag so you can have more control over how the item is transported. Checked luggage on airplanes, buses, and trains are often thrown about with little regard to their content. This can cause damage to fragile items packed inside, even if those items are well protected.
Third, wrap your fragile items in something to help protect them. Clothing is a good choice if you don’t have any other packing materials. Do your best to cushion the items, and try to place the breakable item between several solid items like books or boxes to give it stability. If the item didn’t come in a box, try finding a box to put it in to add more protection.
Travelling with Children
Travelling with children can add a whole new dimension to your trip. While it can be a lot of fun to travel with your entire family, it does present some unique challenges. You have to keep in mind that many events simply are not kid-friendly, so you may not be able to do everything you’d like to do.
First, you need to check with your airline and your lodging to see how they charge for children. Some businesses give discounts or will actually allow young children to stay for free. This may also impact what kind of hotel room you reserve—you may need to get one with two beds or request that a roll-in bed be included so your kids have some place to sleep.
You’ll also need to plan some events for your children to do. While you may really enjoy concerts, plays, and visiting museums, your kids will probably want to do something a bit more active and interesting to them. You’ll need to include some kid-friendly activities like going to the zoo, going to a kid’s museum, or going to a theme park. You may also want to look for hands-on activities or activities that are in line with your kid’s interests.
Don’t forget that your children are going to want to buy souvenirs from places you visit. You’ll want to add that into your budget, plus you’ll need to keep some bag space free for their new toys.
Top Locations to Visit in Berlin
Berlin, Germany, has many different places to visit and things to do, but there are some things that simply everyone must check out when visiting the city. Here are a few of these that should be on any travellers list.
The Berlin Zoo features almost 15,000 animals, making it one of the largest zoos in Europe, if not the world. If you’re an animal lover, you simply have to see the huge variety of creatures featured at the zoo. A large aquarium is next door, providing a fascinating look at sea life. For children, a petting zoo is also available.
The Jewish Museum provides a historical look at Jewish culture and their history in Germany, including an unbiased view of the Holocaust. For those of you looking to find a kosher meal, the restaurant in the museum is one option.
Checkpoint Charlie, a border control point, details the history of the city when it was split into East Berlin and West Berlin. It gives visitors an interesting look at the Berlin Wall and Post-World War II Berlin. The Checkpoint Charlie Museum, located near the area, provides further details on wall and the checkpoint itself. The Brandenburg Gate, another area where people passed between the two parts of Berlin, is another historical area that
If you’re looking to do a little shopping while in Berlin, the Kaufhaus Des Westens (just down the road from one of the most famous Berlin hotels is the place to go. There’s only one larger store in Europe (Harrods in London). The Kaufhaus sells just about anything and everything—food, clothing, toys, you name it, it’s there. Even if you aren’t planning on buying anything, visiting the store simply to ride one of the huge glass lifts is a lot of fun.
Road Trip Tips
Road trips can make for very exciting holidays. After all, if you don’t have any set schedule, you can stop along the way to your destination for anything. This makes for a very dynamic trip. However, there are some things you should consider when planning a road trip.
Lodging is very important, especially if you aren’t making set plans. For example, if you don’t know what city you’ll be stopping in for the night, you can’t make any reservations. This can lead to some difficulty finding a hotel room if you’re not in a large city that has multiple hotels. One way some people get around this issue is by staying with friends, but again, you have to actually get to the city your friends live in or find an alternate place to stay.
Petrol is another consideration when taking a road trip. You want to make certain you don’t run out, especially if you’re in an area where towns are few and far between. Cost is another factor here – you want to watch your budget, so sometimes, it’s more cost-effective to top up your tank even if you’re not quite on empty yet.
One of the great things about road trips is that you can often pack a lot of stuff in your car, including food. You can save money on eating by taking along snack food and other non-perishables. If you have a small ice chest, you can even take cold items along with you.
When on a road trip, however, there is one thing you always want to do: keep your car clean. Since you’ll be spending a lot of time in it, you don’t want it to get full of rubbish. You’re also likely to be buying a lot of souvenirs along the way, so keeping things organised is a good idea. Otherwise, you may find yourself looking at a mountain of bags and such in your back seat.
Getting from the Airport to Your Hotel
One of the most difficult processes in any trip is transportation in your destination city, especially if you aren’t renting a car. Getting from the airport (or the bus or train stop if you’re travelling by land) can be very stressful. You have to get all of your luggage, make it out of the terminal, and then figure out how exactly to get from there to where you’ll be staying. You have a few options, though.
First, you may want to reconsider not renting a car. If you have some free time and want to really explore the city you’re in, you will probably need a car to see it all. However, this can be expensive, so it may not be something that works for you.
Some airports do provide free shuttles from the terminal to specific hotels. If your hotel is one of these, all you have to do is ask any of the airline representatives where to find the shuttle pick up point. Once there, you just wait for the shuttle to come along, pick you up, and drop you off. You can also use this service to return to the terminal to catch your flight home.
If there is no shuttle service, the light rail or subway service may be an option. While not all cities have these forms of public transportation, some do. Those that do feature light rail systems or subways generally have at least one line that runs to the terminal. The only downside here is that you may have to haul your luggage a long way from the nearest station to your hotel.
The city bus often makes stops at the airport, too. Again, you’ll have to haul your bags onto the bus and then off the bus and to your hotel, but it’s fairly inexpensive. To find out about bus options, talk to an airline representative or look for an information kiosk. Most terminals have an area that features information about forms of transportation to and from the terminal.
Finally, the most expensive option is to hire a taxi. This will get you directly from the terminal to your hotel with little or not wait time, but it will cost you, especially if you have to go a good distance. However, in some locations, a taxi may be your only option.
For most airlines, you can search their website for information about shuttles and such. You can also call the airline and ask them about what transportation options are available so you know what to expect when you arrive.
The Louvre Museum – a Must See in Paris
Many people love to visit Paris. In fact, it’s easily one of the most romantic destinations in the world. With the Eiffel Tower, some incredible little restaurants, many vineyards, and more, it’s easy to see why Paris is such an ideal holiday spot. Some people would say there’s almost too much to do in the City of Lights, and they would be right. If you only have a week or so to explore Paris, you really don’t have time to do everything. However, there is one place everyone truly needs to visit while in the city: The Louvre Museum. Even if you’re not a big museum fan, the Louvre features some works that you have to see. The museum has been open since 1793, so you can just imagine how many impressive pieces of artwork have been added to the collection in over 200 years. Now, you may say that you don’t know about artwork and don’t care to learn, but there is one piece of work in the Louvre that everyone knows. In fact, it’s worth going to the Louvre simply to see it. This piece is, of course, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. If the small painting of da Vinci’s mysterious woman isn’t enough, you’ll find works by many other famous artists and sculptures in the Louvre. Works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and more can be found within the huge museum. The Louvre is divided up into eight different sections, and you can spend a day or more in each. They include sculpture, decorative arts, painting, prints/drawings, Islamic art, Egyptian antiquities, Near Eastern antiquities, and the department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman arts. In addition to this, visitors will also be amazed at the central courtyard and its dual pyramids—the giant glass pyramid and its mirror image, the La Pyramide Inverse, or the inverted pyramid, a giant skylight that hangs down into the Louvre’s underground shopping mall. There are also some great hotels in Paris around the Louvre. One notable one is the Louvre Hotel that looks out on the Louvre from one side and looks out on the Opera Garnier, the Comédie Française and the Place du Palais Royal from the other three facades. Are those enough reasons to visit the Louvre? If you’re having a hard time convincing someone to go to the museum with you, perhaps you can appeal to their love of movies. The Louvre has been featured in a number of different fictional adventures. The most popular is probably The Da Vinci Code. Movie fans will love seeing the Mona Lisa, the Louvre pyramids, and the other works that featured in the popular novel and movie.