Travel Tours

News Canada
54

Dr. Suni Boraston
Vancouver, BC
Q: I am going on a vacation to Mexico and have been told that you cannot eat or drink anything without being affected by Montezuma’s Revenge. Is this true and is it worth going if I am going to be sick for the entire trip?
Signed: “questioning my vacation choice”
A: There is no reason to question your trip; you simply have to be a smart traveller. Travellers’ Diarrhea, also called Montezuma’s Revenge, is the most common medical problem affecting travellers going from developed to developing countries, including Mexico, the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and most parts of Asia.
Here are a few tips to keep you from getting sick:
?Drink only carbonated bottled water or soft drinks, bottled fruit juices, alcoholic beverages without ice and hot beverages.
?Only eat fruit or vegetables that you have peeled yourself
?Make sure that foods are well cooked
?Talk to your doctor about a new, drinkable vaccine called Dukoral??the first and only oral vaccine that helps to protect against Travellers’ Diarrhea. Dukoral is also effective in children over two and seniors. While this new vaccine helps protect against Travellers’ Diarrhea, you still need to take precautions in order to stay healthy.
Have a great trip!
- News Canada

Heather Potts
946

What Makes Milwaukee A Fun Place To Visit
Are you making vacation plans? If so, you are probably taking a look at common destinations like Las Vegas, Disneryworld, and California. These are typical choices because you have pretty good idea ahead of time of what you are getting yourself into. The only problem with chosing these vacation spots is that everyone else does as well. Therefore you will be spending your time in crowded areas.
You have much better things to do during your vacation then wasting your time and energy fighting the crowds. Why would you want to be around thousands of other tourists? When there is a higher demand from tourists, the costs of the hotel and rental car increase and can become quite expensive.
Why not save you and your family from dealing with the large crowds? Why not spend your vacation days relaxing by on a nice beach overlooking a pristin lake? You can have all the services that a big city has to offer without any set backs. Does this place exist? Yes! Head to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a vacation? Yes, definitely. Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s largest city. It is on the beatiful shoreline of Lake Michigan. There are festivals in the summer that attract tourists, fine food, and a bunch of fun activities.
One highlight of the festival activities is Cathedral Square. This square is close to Lake Michigan. There are several tasty, fun restauarants to dine in around this area. There is active night life and great shopping as well. You can take in the local culture by attending a free concert in the summer and eat out for a reasonable price. There is plenty to do in the winter, such as witness the breathtaking lights in Cathedral Square.
Do you like animals? Check out the Milwaukee County Zoo. Upwards of 3,000 animals call the zoo their home. It is a spectacular adventure for children and the entire family. There is a petting zoo and educational activities. Adults can partake in the cross-country skiing trail.
Are you into art? If so, you will want to check out the Milwaukee Art Museum. It is close to Lake Michigan. It houses an extensive, varied collection of paintings, sculpture, and photography. If you are hungry they have a cafe to fill your stomach with delicious food. Throughout the year the museum has dancers and performers demonstrate their talents for your entertainment.
Milwaukee may not seem like the most exciting destination for your vacation. But isn’t a vacation supposed to be relaxing? Too many times we find ourselves lured in by the glitz and glamour of some of the other more popular destinations simply because they have larger advertising budgets. But when we get there, we are confronted with hassle after hassle to the point that we cannot wait to get home. Milwaukee offers a great alternative to all of the bells and whistles of the other hot vacation spots and may just be the place to go if you actually want to sit back and unwind from a hectic year at work.

Hector Fuente
1452

British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing tourism hotspots in North America. The reason, like so many other tourism Meccas, is landscape. In BC you will find high desert, mountains, long sandy beaches, lush rainforest, vast glaciers and everything in-between.
You’ve likely heard of BC, but there’s a good chance that you haven’t heard about the province’s fastest growing tourism destination: Tofino (tofino-longbeach.com). Located on the west coast of “Canada’s Big Island”, Tofino is home to long sandy beaches, world-class hotels, restaurants, and some pretty good surfing too.
Tofino gained fame in the early 90′s when logging in the region’s old-growth forests turned many of the locals into action-taking environmentalists. The logging continued and the locals grew more and more upset, and before anyone knew what happened, the Clayoquot Sound Blockade was the largest non-violent act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
All of this media attention brought visitors to Tofino – lots of visitors. Today more than 1 million tourists pass through Tofino in a year. All of these people are crammed into a town with a year-round population of about 1700.
These people are all coming to Tofino to experience the region’s breathtaking scenery and the long, sandy beaches. Tofino’s visitors are usually the type of traveler that takes advantage of the amazing natural resources that abound in the Clayoquot Sound region. Sea kayaking is very popular, as is surfing, walking the long sandy beaches, and fishing for the huge salmon that abound in the near-shore waters.
Of all the places in BC to become a tourism Mecca, Tofino has to be one of the most unlikely. Situated at the end of a remote peninsula, it’s almost comical that some many folks flock here on a yearly basis. But once you’ve arrived in Tofino and experienced the landscape, oceanscape and the relaxed coastal way of life, you’ll probably be planning your next trip back before you leave.

Peter Shannon
756

Looking for some vacation money saving ideas? There’s nothing wrong with vacationing on a budget. Hey, we all can’t travel like the rich and famous.
You save all year to get the money for a well earned vacation. You want to stretch your vacation budget but still enjoy yourself. Sounds like a good plan. To help you out I’ve together some vacation money saving ideas that I hope you will find useful.
If you have a particular destination in mind it pays to plan ahead. Research the attractions and facilities. Find out what specials or discounts they may have going. Look for other things to do or see nearby so that you can make good use of your time and cut down on the running from place to place.
Plan your vacation for the off season. You can usually get better deals on lots of things like plane tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises and lots of other things.
If you have friends or relatives nearby your destination consider asking them if you can stay with them. Don’t be a freeloader though. Even though you help pay for the groceries and other expenses your host incurs, it’s still a good vacation money saving idea.
If you are flying try to plan your trip for when tickets are traditionally cheapest. That would be Feb thru May and September thru December (except the week before Thanksgiving and the two week period before Christmas). Try to avoid flying on Friday afternoons as this is often the busiest time of the week for airlines.
Meals can be expensive at restaurants so you can save some money by packing food for the road.
When eating out try to avoid the places that obviously cater to tourists. Find out where the locals eat. Ask around. The smaller family owned places usually have better food at better prices. You may have to go a little out of your way but it is usually worth it for some vacation money savings.
Hotels are typically more expensive the closer you get to a major attraction. With a little planning you can find a good balance between price and distance.
When picking hotels don’t just go by the ratings. Compare the amenities they offer. Often you will find that you really don’t need everything offered by that 4 star hotel and you can do very nicely at the 3 star…with a better price!
Consider buying or renting an RV. You travel at your own pace. Cooking and bathrooms are always close by. You can meet a lot of other friendly RVers who will usually be glad to point out the best places to go.
When traveling by car you can save fuel by renting a smaller fuel efficient model. Packing light, reducing your speed and maintaining proper tire air pressure will also cut the gas costs.
Make sure that your car is ready for the trip. Good tires, oil change, tune-up and all that good stuff. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper and more convenient to deal with these things before you go rather than on the road somewhere.
Check out the local transportation system of buses, trains or trolleys. These can be considerably cheaper than using taxis.
Camping is a great vacation money saving idea. There are lots of campgrounds around. They are cheap and you may end up with an experience that outshines anything you can get a fancy hotel.
Plan activities that don’t require a lot of money. Hiking, and swimming are good ones. Local Museums and historical sites are often very reasonably priced as well as being quite educational and fun. The big theme parks have their appeal but you can really go through the cash at those places.
Plan picnics. These can be excellent vacation money saving opportunities as well as a chance to really relax and enjoy the local area.
Avoid buying souvenirs. It’s easy to get caught up and blow a bundle on these overpriced goodies. Set some mental rules ahead of time about how much you will spend on souvenirs and it will be easier to stick to it when the time comes.
I hope that you find some of these vacation money saving ideas helpful. Make a plan and stick to it. There’s no reason why you can’t have a great vacation without emptying the bank account.

Steve Gillman
1495

Why bring travel credit cards instead of traveler’s checks? Convenience, safety and savings. The first time I had to exchange $200 of travelers checks overseas, the bank charged me $8. Later, during the same trip, I used my debit card at an ATM to get $200 from my checking account. The charge was one dollar, and that was the last time I used traveler’s checks.
Travel Credit Cards And Debit Cards
It is best to carry a credit card AND a debit card, and keep them well-hidden in two separate places. Bring cards that have either zero liability, or a fifty dollar liability limit for any unauthorized charges. Ask your bank or credit card company about this. Make sure you bring a Visa card, as this seems to be the most widely accepted right now.
Sometimes an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) won’t take a card for some reason. Normally, you can use the other card, which will usually work fine. That’s the advantage of having two cards. By the way, criminals watch those ATMs, so be especially careful not to flash your money around when you leave an ATM.
For most travel, credit cards may be less trouble than debit cards. They can be replaced quickly if stolen. On your stolen debit card, your liability might be zero, but you probably won’t have access to your account until the matter is sorted out.
On the other hand, on longer trips it’s a hassle to pay the credit card bill on time, which isn’t a problem with debit cards. That’s another reason to carry both. On longer trips you can wait until you’re a few weeks from home to use the credit card, and you’ll get there before the bill does.
Another advantage travel credit and debit cards have over traveler’s checks, is that when you need the local currency, you’ll almost always get a better exchange rate with your cards. Plus, the cash you get from the local ATM will truly be accepted everywhere, something no traveler’s checks can promise.
Be sure to call your credit card company or bank before you travel overseas. They may decline your card when you try to use it otherwise. Just let them know where you’ll be and for aproximately how long. E-mail yourself the phone numbers to call in case of loss or theft, so you can get them from anywhere in the world.
To sum up : Use cards with low liability, high enough limits for your trip, and hide them well on your body. These are the requirements for good travel credit cards.

Lynda Burke
1991

I have lived in Paphos for a few years now and after the euphoria of living in the sun, going to the beach, seeing the sea every day and watching fabulous coastal sunsets every night, had settled to an acceptable level, I then discovered that Paphos has so much more to offer.
Don’t get me wrong, all of the above still excite me beyond belief and the ‘Med?lifestyle is all it is cracked up to be, but behind the mask of simply being a tourist attraction, offering all that the discerning holiday maker could be looking for, there is another face to Paphos. Not many visitors will see or experience this face because they are taking a break from their daily lives and looking for fabulous beaches, water sports, great restaurants and total relaxation. But, I have found out what is going on in the background.
Cyprus is an extremely interesting place for nature lovers. Paphos is home to a very rare and very shy wild sheep called the Moufflon that has magnificent curving horns. These heraldic animals, although roaming wild, can be seen at the forestry station in Paphos forest (Stavros tis Psokas). Another delight is that the island has visiting Loggerhead and Green turtles that come ashore to nest every year on the sandy beaches around Paphos. These marine turtles are strictly protected and if you do decide to venture further afield than the local sunbathing beaches and seek out the areas of unspoilt wilderness, you may come across frames on the beach which warn you of a turtle nest and kindly ask you not to disturb. I have also found that many University students studying marine biology spend their holiday time here helping out with the research into these fabulous marine creatures. What a holiday!
Cyprus is also heaven for bird watchers. The island has become a stop over for many migratory birds on their travels from Europe to Africa during the autumn and back again in spring. More than 300 different bird species have been seen and recorded and the island has two endemic species which are often seen in the coastal regions, which are the Cyprus Pied Wheatear and the Cyprus Warbler. One of the islands larger varieties of bird is now very much under threat and conservationists battle hard to save it from extinction. The Griffin Vulture was once a common sight on the island but now their numbers have dwindled to less than 50.
So to those of you that have visited before and enjoyed your summer holidays in Cyprus, why not try an autumn or sprint visit. Most of the tourists have returned home and the beaches once again become the domain of our wildlife. You will of course have to make an effort as not all these areas are easily accessed and the areas around Paphos, namely the Akamas Peninsula, can only be accessed by four wheel drive. This will be a unique experience that you will take home and treasure. Imagine walking a beach with no sun beds, no shops, no noise apart from the surf and often nobody else but you! Enjoy the fresh air, the scenery and the forests and keep an eye out for the elusive Moufflon. Then, before leaving our wonderful wilderness find yourselves a comfortable place on the rocks or lay that blanket on the beach and experience some of the best sunsets in the Mediterranean. Paphos behind the mask is a memorable place!

1110

So it’s vacation time again. Woo Hoo !!!
The family has spent months debating where to go, what type of vacation they are looking for and whether or not to include Auntie Ethel in their plans again (following that particularly unfortunate incident with the well built waiter and what she thought was a pepper mill !)
With Auntie Ethel quickly out of the picture, and the whole clan having opted for a fun filled vacation, packed to the gunnels with action, adventure and magic, there can only be one destination ?Florida.
No matter how you cut it, Florida has something for everyone, and nowhere more so than the Disney areas located around Orlando and Kissimmee. These central Florida locations are legendary, and despite being among the most popular in the world, retain a seemingly intimate charm which creates life long memories for those that venture there.
And so, with the destination finalised, your thoughts turn to hotels. But wait a minute?didn’t someone at work go to Florida last year and stay in a luxurious rental villa ? Yes of course ! You remember looking at the gorgeous interior shots of the house, and then the not so gorgeous shots of your work colleague’s husband in his Speedos ! Mind you, the private pool and the swaying palm trees looked wonderful !
And didn’t your colleague rave about the high standard of the accommodation and how much better and cheaper it was than staying in a cramped and musty hotel room ? Yes, again? So what are you waiting for ?
Because the fact is that year on year, millions of vacationers from all around the globe are breaking with tradition, and ditching the bland and often over priced hotel chains in favour of privately owned luxury villas in the central Florida region.
To accommodate this appetite for a real home from home, numerous web sites have sprung up on the internet offering privately owned Florida villas for rent. Whilst some are “here today gone tomorrow?one hit wonders, without doubt, one of the very best, longest established and most highly ranked by both it’s clients and the search engines is Orlando Villas
This well managed and easy to navigate site will offer you a choice of stunning vacation homes, ranging in size from 3 to 7 bedrooms, all with private pools, and all within 10~20 minutes of the major theme parks and attractions. It’s literally an Aladdin’s cave of luxurious, yet affordable accommodation which can quite simply help to turn your regular holiday into a dream vacation.
We all work hard in order to afford to go on vacation, so why not make your money go further and your vacation experience the best it can possibly be, for both you and your family ? Why not break with tradition ? It’s time to ditch the hotel and live like a real Floridian on your next Disney vacation. I guarantee that once you’ve tried it, you’ll be hooked.

Arjun Roy
956

Delhi hotels are brimming with tourist and there are still a large number of people pouring in the city to enjoy a Diwali vacation. The city of Delhi looks gorgeous during this festival of light. Hotels in Delhi have also joined the bandwagon by offering lucrative discounts to tourists. Tourism in Delhi peaks in this time of the year and this means brisk business for Delhi hotels. If availability of hotel room is a concern, the problem is solved by www.travelgodelhi.com.
Delhi hotels are also providing tourists with value added facilities like online hotel room reservation. This can be done through TravelGoDelhi.com. The travelsite has one of the finest hotel booking engines. It enables real time hotel booking with instant confirmation. All the hassle of following up with travel agents and the uncertainty of accommodation in a busy city as Delhi is now nonexistent.
TravelGoDelhi.com provides tourists with the option to book some of the finest hotels in Delhi. These hotels cater to discerning travelers and are renowned for the international standard of hospitality that they provide. Delhi hotels enlisted in TravelGoDelhi.com are meant to cater to all types of tourists. Through TravelGoIndia.com’s online hotel booking, it is possible to reserve hotel rooms in luxury hotels, business hotels and budget hotels.
Tourists looking out for accommodation in Delhi hotel will surely find one through TravelGoDelhi.com. This travelsite is more than just a hotel booking engine. It has exclusive information on Delhi and can be a very good tour planner. Tourists will get to know about the places where they can visit while they are at Delhi. This is one complete website for tourism in Delhi.

Dana Goldberg
1634

Sometime things happen and you need to leave right away. If you have pets, this can cause a major problem. What if no one is available to watch your pet? If you don’t want to leave you pet at a shady kennel where most dogs are kept in cages, you can simply take them with you; it’s easier than you would ever imagine.
Most airlines allow pets. Some airlines even allow your pet to be carried onto the plain if it is small enough to put into a kennel that will easily slide under the seat in front of you. If the dog is too large, it will be kept in cargo which is temperature and pressure regulated just like the passenger area. It is imperative to make sure that your airline will make accommodations for your pet as there are a few discount airlines that will not. Especially if you buy your airline tickets online, call ahead to verify their policies.
Each airline that accepts pets will ask you to make reservations for you pet ahead of time because they can only carry so many pets each trip. It is important to make these reservations as soon as possible to ensure your pet’s seat on the flight. Pets also require health certificates to fly. You can purchase one from your vet, but they only last for 10 days. If your voyage is longer, you will need to purchase another for the trip home.
As mentioned before, your pet will need a kennel/carrier. These can be purchased usually for very cheap at your local pet store. They come with padded inside walls and in various sizes from extra small to extra large depending on your needs. You will have to be careful with your kennel purchase as there are some carriers that aren’t approved for airline travel and some that are. Be sure to ask the pet store workers for help if you need it.
There is no need to tranquilize your pet, either. Air travel will put your pet to sleep just like it does you. The only thing that may aid your pet in travel is to crate train it. Otherwise, everything will be fine! Have fun traveling with your pet!

John Rivers
1726

China is one of the most glorious countries to visit and this year you can see it all. China is a magical country full of old and historical sights and many wonders. There is no other country that has sights as fantastic as the Great Wall of China and all of the old places where the monks used to live thousands of years ago. Add to all of this beauty the supreme glory that is the scenery and you have a place that dreams are made of.
China is the type of place that you think only exists in real until you see it for yourself. When you step out onto one of the many mountain peaks and look down on the mist and the world below you will find that your breath is completely taken away. It is stunning and if you do not take cameras and camcorders and tons of extra batteries you are going to be sorry for it. You need to capture these sights on camera so that you can always remember and share those memories with those who were not lucky enough to come with you on this magnificent trip.
Here are some of the top places for you to visit when you go to China:
Hong Kong
This is of course a must see place. Everyone has herd of this great place but so many do not get the wonderful opportunity to see it for themselves. When you go to China you need to see Hong Kong for yourself. There you will get to spend some quality time soaking up the atmosphere. You can see the day life and the nightlife there, it is so different than it is in western countries. You will also find that Hong Kong has the best shopping world wide. No other city on earth can offer this kind of shopping and everyone will be able to find something that they can love and enjoy for years to come.
Guangzhou
This is a place that so many people have not thought to even travel to and oh how these people have missed out. This is one of the top destinations, or at least it should be. When you visit Guangzhou you need to start in one area and move from there. Checking out Guangzhou place by place is the most efficient way to do it. Make sure to not leave until you see Colonial Canton for yourself.
Dongguan
Dongguan is full of all the top museums that China has to offer. If you love to see museums and all that the history of this great country then this is the place to go to do it. In just a couple of days you can learn so much and experience even more.
China is a fabulous place to visit no matter how young or how old you happen to be. Both adults and children will be able to enjoy all of the wonders of China.