Baby Bump Travel

There are many things that people do when they are traveling, but one thing that most women never do is travel while they are pregnant! When women are in their third trimester, it is usually not recommended to travel, but there are some women who are risk takers and travel in their last stages of pregnancy. We have a couple of helpful tips for you if you decide to travel while with your baby bump. First of all, we always recommend you see your doctor for the thumbs up to travel. Secondly, you should research the local obstetricians where you are traveling to and find a phone number. Thirdly, you should travel with the overnight hospital baby bag, just in case the little bundle of joy decides to come early! Also, don’t forget your favorite body pillow, so you are not uncomfortable in the middle of the night. And sometimes husbands don’t make the best pillows! Then, make sure that you pack your prenatal vitamins and all other medicine or essential minerals that you are currently taking with you! Lastly, make sure your husband takes his hands of steel and the “I will do anything you need” attitude, so if the bundle of joy does come early, you have your husband’s hand to squeeze and he will be there for anything you need! All these tips are essential if you are taking your baby bump traveling! When you do get pregnant or already are and you are planning a trip, make sure to follow these tips and you will be A okay!

Happy New Years!

Are you ready for a new year and a fresh new start? It’s time to come up with New Year’s resolutions, celebrate the New Year and make the most of your last hours in 2013! Celebrating the New Year is exciting because you can get together with your family and friends and go somewhere, or you can party at your own place. Many people like to go see the Ball drop in New York City. It is a huge event where many people all over the United States go into the city to watch the famous ball drop. They also have concerts, food and many things to do on New Year’s! Many people come up with a New Year’s resolution every year. Sometimes they go through with the resolution, but often times they don’t! Making a New Year’s resolution, may be a good idea because it is a way to commit to something you’ve always wanted to do. A great New Year’s resolution is to reduce stress in your life. Stress is not a good thing, it can deteriorate your health, make you unhappy and it can drain you mentally. A perfect way to relieve stress is by traveling. Even if you choose to stay in your own town (a staycation) or you can stay at a hotel and sightsee where you live. You can also, go to a city that is a couple of hours away from you or explore a new country or place that you have not been to. Traveling or taking trips will help you get away from your “reality”, it will refresh your mind and it will take you out of your everyday routine. Besides being a relaxing and refreshing experience, traveling is also an enriching experience where you gain great knowledge from the new place you are traveling to. In fact, let’s rename traveling “the cure for stress!” Okay, perhaps the FDA won’t allow that, but when is the last time you were sipping a piña colada on a Caribbean Island and felt overwhelmed with stress? If you are like me, NEVER! This New Year make it your resolution, to travel to any place, to get out of your routine and reduce your stress!  

The History of Travel

Humans were born to travel.
We have been doing it for millions of years. I mean, just look at all of those ‘historical shows’. Fred Flintstone was driving around in a car long before the design was a twinkle in the eyes of Mr Ford. Granted, he needed to use his feet, but hey, it still managed to travel faster than a Mondeo right? On this page I want to give you a brief overview of the history of travel. You may be surprised at what you will learn in such few words.

Right, let’s head back to the ‘Flintstone’ era.
Now, obviously they were not driving around at this time, or riding upon dinosaurs for that matter. They did travel though. They had to. There were no supermarkets. If you wanted to get some food then you were going to need to out there and get it yourself. This means hunting. Travel is the reason why humans spread around the world. It is said that the current incarnation of humans began millions of years ago in Africa. In search of food and drink people started to travel. There were no planes back then. Everything had to be done on foot and that meant traversing the globe. Obviously some people did not make it and it took generations to travel. But hey, next time an old person says that they had to walk to school in their bare feet you should try and remind them of the Flintstones who had to walk to a whole other country in their bare feet (and often naked as well).

Shooting ahead a few million years and travel started to change.
Travel was now about ‘invading’ other countries (often on boats). The Vikings were the main culprits here taking many countries that they stumbled across. Of course, there were some people out there just looking to explore. Most were looking to overtake countries though. Think of this as an early form of ‘sightseeing’ where your souvenir was a whole country. The British practiced this form of ‘sightseeing’ a few hundred years later when it came to forming the British Empire. Only now have they started to return the souvenirs (although still keeping a few of the special ones)

Anyway, the world has been overtaken, mostly by boats and the Vikings.
At this point people are starting to travel between countries without blood on their mind. Instead they are doing it for educational and ‘vacationing’ purposes. Again, this travel is mainly by boat. Some people are walking or hopping on horse and carriage. It is mainly by boat though due to all the seas and the like (particularly around Europe). Immigration laws did not exist back then so it was pretty easy to travel. Boats made the world smaller, although it still took many weeks, and sometimes months, to travel from country to country. There was a lot of exploration going on around this time with a few new countries being discovered (perhaps the big one here is America, and of course, Australia which at this point was like one big ‘prison camp’ for the British). The majority of the discoveries around this time were as a result of people being lost to be honest. Think of it is the original incarnation of the way students travel nowadays. They set out with a plan, the world at their feet. The plan goes out of the window and they discover places they never heard about. It is quite awesome.

So, all of this travel and exploration bought the world together.
America is of course a big country and walking and horses was not quite cutting the walking around it. Enter the train. This fantastic beast of a machine could get people from point to point quite fast (well, at this time faster than walking). It was fantastic and people started to lay tracks everywhere. Many of these tracks remain in place (well, not the same tracks, but the layouts are roughly the same). The strange thing is, the American way of transport via Train has never been as sophisticated as European Train Lines. This form of transport really exploded there. In any case, Train travel made the world slightly smaller once more (although of course there would be no real ‘international across water train service’ until the formation of the Channel Tunnel in the 1990’s (connects France and England).

Zooming ahead a little and we have cars.
These were not that popular during the early stages (far too slow), but most people own them nowadays. This gave people the freedom to travel wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. People had never experienced freedom like this. The family ‘road trip’ was born and ‘tourist attractions’ started to pop up almost everywhere. It was quite crazy.

On the Wright path.
The latest advancement in the world of travel came when the aircraft was invented by the Wright Brothers. The first design only flew for a few seconds but it proved that air travel might just be possible. It did not take many decades to perfect the idea. Once it was perfected it meant that you could travel anywhere in the world within a few hours. The technology has been getting more sophisticated and faster ever since. Any one of us can head online, purchase a flight ticket and head to wherever we want in the world. The world is so small nowadays and there are so many travel options available that it is a surprise anybody walks any more. You can get anywhere with transport and it is surprisingly cheap too.

Less Moola, more photo ops.
Travel nowadays is cheaper than ever. People are flying all over the globe. The world is absolutely tiny. I am willing to bet that there are actually very few people in the Western World who have yet to travel abroad. Cultures are starting to come together and we are able to see things that we would have never have seen before. Travel is completely for enjoyment. Gone are the days where humans would have to travel to another country to hunt for food. Nowadays we are travelling just for ‘something to do’. I bet for just a few dollars you could travel great distances right now.

Back to the future.
Of course, you can’t write about ‘The History of Travel’ without thinking about the future. So, where are we going to head? Well, obviously into space. There are quite a few decent planets out there for taking. If we go the route of ‘Futurama’ then you can expect some rather nifty Disneyesque Theme Parks to pop up on the moon (which should be a real treat). You may even find yourself enjoying your spring break with an Alien or too. You will be surprised to know just how close we are to space travel of this nature too. There is talk of establishing a ‘Mars Base’, and of course Virgin have just launched Virgin Galactic which is going to great a new generation of ‘Space Tourists’. 

One thing is for sure though, when we do manage to take to the skies, there will still be people sunning themselves and partying in ‘hot’ destinations such as Spain and Miami.

Underwater Hotels

There are many exotic hotels around the world, built in caves or built out of ice, which are pretty jaw dropping, but there is one type of hotel that there aren’t many of. Quite the ultimate aquatic experience, underwater hotels are extremely unique due to the fact that they are actually underwater! The bedrooms are underwater, your roof is the ocean and the marine life is a spectacular view! The fact that you get to experience and see how the marine life actually lives and you can actually be underwater to see what these sea creatures do, is absolutely amazing! These hotels are usually located near coral reefs with an abundance of marine life. The Poseidon Undersea Resort in Fiji is one of the most popular underwater hotels in the world. The resort is a mile long and has twenty-two rooms that are 550 square feet each, an underwater restaurant, a bar, a spa and library to give you the ultimate underwater experience. The underwater rooms have a beautiful view of the marine life and are luxurious, as well as, spacious. The Water Discus Hotel in Dubai is another water hotel that is very popular and consists of 21 hotel rooms that are underwater with special lighting that allows you to experience the marine life to its fullest. The hotel rooms are next to a bar and the diving centre.  The hotel also has an excellent restaurant with a panoramic view of the outside! Both hotels offer a diving experience, so you can get close and personal with the beautiful sea creatures. When you plan your next vacation think outside the box! When you begin to brainstorm about a vacation on the beach, consider going to an underwater hotel to really experience the ocean!

Famous Movie Hotels – Top 5 Hotels featured in the most famous movies.

There are a lot of movies that take place in hotels all around the world. Hotels are the ideal place for almost every movie setting: travel is exciting - and hotels fit well in the luxury that is often painted in any film. In this article we give you top 5 hotels that were featured in famous movies.

The Bellagio, in Las Vegas

Who doesn’t remember the scenes from ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ in which George Clooney and Brad Pitt indulge in some of Las Vegas’ luxury on the famous Strip? The hotel has over 4,000 guest rooms and suites, as well as a world-renowned casino. Of course the hotel is most famous for its impressive fountain show.

The Plaza, in New York

The Plaza in New York is home to almost all movie scenes that have something from Central Park in it. The Oak Room in the hotel was already featured in a Hitchcock classic, but of course the hotel was also featured in Home Alone 2 and Bride Wars, to name a few.

The Roosevelt Hotel, in New York

This hotel was featured very extensively in ‘Maid in Manhattan’, as well as in ‘Wall Street’, of which the famous ‘Greed is good scene’ was shot in this very hotel. The hotel is located in downtown Manhattan, which makes it the ideal backdrop for a romantic comedy.

Millennium Biltmore Hotel, in Los Angeles

This hotel in downtown Los Angeles has been featured in countless of blockbuster movies such as ‘Mission Impossible 3’, ‘Spiderman’, ‘The Bodyguard’ and ‘Dreamgirls’. The class of the hotel hence sparkles most effectively on the white screen.

Mountain Lake Hotel, in Pembroke

Not many might remember this hotel from being in any movie recently, but the hotel became most famous because of the legendary ‘Dirty Dancing’ being filmed here. The hotel is generally famed for its amazing scenery.

Sports Around The World

All over the world sports are very popular events where people get together with their friends and family to go see a game and root for their team. Different countries are passionate about different sports. For example, here in the United States the most popular sport has to be football followed by basketball and baseball. In many countries in South America, like Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru the most popular sport is soccer. In Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela the most popular sport is baseball and in most European countries, like Spain, Italy, Germany and France soccer is the most popular sport. One sport the world has in common is soccer. Soccer is the most popular, watched and played sport in the world. Every four years people travel from all over the world to see the World Cup of Soccer. This event has the whole world watching. Every country is rooting for their team and watching all the games to see what country is going to be the champion of the world in Soccer. Every four years a country is selected to host this world event and people all over the world try to find hotels, resorts and friends’ houses they can stay at, to go to the World Cup. It is a huge event for the world, but also for the travel industry and the country that is hosting it. Everyone comes into that country to see the soccer games and the cities of the host country gets flooded with tourists everywhere.  Usually, every property in the area or near the area is completely full. It is an exciting time because there are many people on the streets celebrating their team wins, people dress up with their countries colors, families spend time together and share a passion for soccer and people get to experience and new country and culture when they go visit the hosting country. The World Cup is a great event to travel to and experience a new country and culture through a sport that everyone loves!

Beach Beach Beach!

Who doesn’t love to go to the beach? Beaches are usually warm, have soft white sand and beautiful blue waters! Even products use beaches to advertise all the time because every time you think of a beach, you think of vacation! And who doesn’t love a vacation? Most people when they think of warm weather and beaches, they think of the Sunshine State, Florida! 

Florida has some of the best beaches in the U.S. There are five beaches that are must visits in Florida that you should know about. The first beach and probably the most popular beach in Florida is South Beach in Miami. South Beach is full of life! It has a great nightlife, a variety of different restaurants, many shops and a lot of people on the beach. The beach in South Beach is clear, a greenish blue and it is warm. It is a great place to go hang out with friends, party and enjoy the nightlife. There are so many things to do in South Beach that you definitely will not be bored! The second beach is Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Florida. Clearwater beach is great for families and has a lot going on. There are many restaurants and shops in the area, as well as, many things for the families to do. It is a popular destination for weddings, because of its clear green waters and soft white sand. If you want to go to a luxurious beach, you have to visit Palm Beach in Palm Beach, Florida. Palm Beach has a wide array of exclusive and high end shops, luxurious restaurants and fine hotels and resorts. It is where the wealthy go for vacation or have their “winter homes”. We cannot forget the gorgeous beaches in Key West. Key West, Florida is great for families and couples too! It can be a family vacation full of fun in the sun or you can make it a romantic vacation having dinner on the beach! Key West is full of marine life and it is ideal for snorkeling, as well as, all of the other fun water activities like jet skiing, parasailing and riding a banana boat! Lastly, there is Sanibel beach in Sanibel Island, Florida. If you are obsessed with collecting or finding seashells, conchs and scallops of all sizes shapes and colors, this is the beach for you! This beach has the best shells in North America and it has been named the best spot for “shelling” in North America by Travel+Leisure Magazine. It’s a perfect vacation for the family, filled with enjoying the beach and finding exotic shells! 

Next time you want to vacation on beautiful beaches, but want to vacation domestically, check out these Florida beaches because they won’t disappoint you!  

Traveling to the “Mother Land”

Have you ever been curious about your family tree? Have you tried to find out where your ancestors are from? Where you roots began? Imagine if you always thought you were of German decent, but you discovered you were really of Italian descent or Asian descent? Pretty crazy, huh? It is fun to go back into your family’s history and see who the mother of your great great great grandmother was! Maybe you have some things in common with her, even though you’ve never met and are separated by three or four generations! Part of the experience of learning who your ancestors were is going to the country they were from, the “mother country”. Traveling to your “mother country” can provide a wealth of information and you can typically find a deeper knowledge on your ancestors, that you might not be able to find where you live. One amazing part of going to visit your “mother country” is going to see your ancestor’s homestead. It may still be the same and you could see how they lived many years ago. Perhaps there has been construction and development and now it’s a new shopping mall! It’s always an adventure to go see a new country, especially, if it’s one where your family came from! One thing you should definitely take with you when visiting your “mother country” is a camera! You don’t want to miss out on taking pictures of anything! If your ancestors’ business or house is still standing you will definitely want to take a picture of that! Also, bring a notepad to take notes of anything new that you learned from your family history while you are at the “mother country”. Well, nowadays you can jot down notes on your phone or tablet, so you can do that as well or some people just prefer to take mental notes! Regardless of what form of note taking you decide on, make sure you do it! Lastly, you want to take your family members with you! Obviously not the whole herd, but maybe your parents, siblings or grandparents to share that wonderful experience with you! Look into your family tree and explore your “mother country”!

Travelling with your best buddies!

When you are planning your vacation, you always have to think about your best buddy! You start thinking “what am I going to do with my pet? Should I leave my pet with Aunt Lisa, at a pet hotel or at the veterinarian?” Then you start thinking of all the times your little buddy made you smile and you think,” I don’t want to leave my pet! I want to take my pet with me!” Well why not? Your pet is your best friend and sometimes they make your vacation and travel plans more fun!  Your pet hears that you’re taking them with you and they begin to get excited, they start wagging their tails, doing circles on the floor and chirping along! There are a few tips you should know when you travel with your best friend! First of all, make sure you bring enough food, water, treats and toys for your buddy; you don’t want them to get cranky or start eating your shoes! Second, you should bring puppy pads, litter or different paper to clean in case your pet has to go potty! You should also make frequent stops if you are driving, so your pet can go potty. Thirdly, if you’re traveling to a destination that is cold, don’t forget to bring them a jacket! If they have any health issues make sure to bring their medicine, you don’t want them to be sick on the trip! Lastly, don’t forget your pets favorite blanket or thing to sleep on! Pack your pets bag with all these great things and you are ready to take your pet with you on vacation! If you have kids, they will be especially excited to have their buddy come along on the family vacation!

How cool are Ice Hotels!?!

Imagine if you lived in a place where everything was made out of snow? The chairs, tables, beds and walls! You would freeze to death! And I know what you’re thinking….. What kind of vacation is that? Who would want to be cold all the time! Usually, you think of white sand beaches, hot sun and beautiful blue waters when you think vacation! 

Well, for those snow lovers out there, who want to live like a polar bear, we have the perfect place for you. Ice hotels! Ice hotels truly live up to their name. In Ice hotels the bars, the walls, chairs, furniture and sometimes even the bed frame is made out of ice! The dinner tables are made out of ice, the kitchen fixtures and even some of the decorations! The list can go on and on, but do not worry because these hotels actually have natural insulation that will keep you warm, that way you can enjoy the ultimate winter wonderland escape! The beds for example, are a warm mattress on top of the ice frame and they have sleeping bags that keep heat insulated, which in return keeps you very warm. What an oxymoron right? Ice hotels and you being warm! These hotels are like icy paradises, they have ice sculptures, you can go skiing, you can nestle up to your spouse and experience a beautiful scenery! It is an escape that is perfect for couples because it is very romantic! People can get married at these Ice hotels and have a fantasy winter wonderland theme. Every woman’s dream is to get married like Cinderella! 

You can enjoy these hotels in many places around the world! Some of the countries that have Ice hotels are Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Romania just to name a few.  It is truly the ultimate snow experience! People who have previously stayed at Ice hotels, say it is one of the most memorable vacations and experiences they've ever had.  

Do you think you are that adventurous enough to go stay at an Ice hotel? What a chilly experience, right? 

Travel Trends for 2014!

Let’s get trendy! Trendy with travel! Let’s check out what are the new trends in travel for this upcoming 2014 year! Every year new trends come out for everything, mainly for travel, because people are always trying to find the best deals and the best ways to save money, but also get the most out of their vacation or travel plans! We are going to give you some insider information on the new travel trends for next year!

One of the popular trends for next year is doing all-inclusive resorts. All-inclusive resorts are the perfect way to travel, because you pay for everything up front and most of the time you just have to worry about buying souvenirs or additional things that you want! All-inclusive packages usually included breakfast, lunch, dinner, food all the time, sometimes alcoholic beverages (depending on the property or package) tips for the waiters and some activities like snorkeling (depending on the property)!  This is one of the best ways to save money! Buying food as you go can get expensive, especially, for families traveling, but with the all-inclusive packages you don’t have to worry about paying for food! Another popular trend is doing excursions! Doing excursions is popular with couples, singles or people who like adventures. Excursions are fun and they are a great way to enjoy where you are vacationing at. Excursions can be going snorkeling, scuba diving, going on tours of the city, going on hikes, going to see the historic places, etc. The price can definitely range for the excursions, but it is well worth it! Waterpark resorts are another hot trend for next year, especially, for families. Families save money going to waterpark resorts because you get 2 for 1. The waterpark at the resorts are an attraction itself and it is a great vacation for the kids. Parents love waterpark resorts because it’s saves them money from going to the theme parks and you still have a blast, since there is usually many things to do at those resorts! Other popular trends are eating where the locals eat, instead of eating at the tourist restaurants and also renting vacation villas or booking condo-style resorts were you can cook your own food and don’t have to spend money on eating out!

Now, when you begin planning your vacation, you are always looking for the best deals out there! One of the biggest trends for 2014 is making all your travel plans online. Online discounted booking agencies have become the most popular for booking reservations and making your travel plans. Online booking agencies make everything easier, faster and you can pretty much plan everything, like your tours, attractions and excursions. So when you plan your vacation for 2014 remember these trends and they will help you save money and do things quick and easy! 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas!

Christmas is one of the most popular holidays all over the world and almost everyone celebrates it in one way or another. Do you remember what you did growing up for Christmas and the family traditions? Go back to those days when you were only a child and made s’mores next to the fireplace or you would sing Christmas carols with the family. One of the most fun things to do when Christmas comes around is going to a festival! Festivals are colorful, fun, full of joy, great for spending quality time with the family and they are a great spectacle to watch! Festivals get you excited for Christmas and the entire holiday season! They get you in the Christmas spirit! Let’s take a tour through the world and see what everyone’s Christmas festivals are like!

 Let’s start with London! London is a huge city and they have a huge Christmas festival called The Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. This festival runs from the day before Thanksgiving, all the way to January 5^th. The festival includes many stores and shops where you can do your Christmas shopping, buy food, get on rides, watch a circus that simulates (Cirque du Soleil) and you can also take pictures with Santa Claus and tell him what you want for Christmas! Now, let’s take a ride to Portland, Oregon for The Grotto Festival of Lights. This festival has the largest choral festival in the world and has over 150 indoor holiday concerts! You can also check out the animal petting zoo, puppet shows and a wide array of Nativity sets and scenes. Hurry let’s fly to Budapest, Hungary for the Christmas festival. Let your sense of smell come to life with the fragrance of wine, cookies, honey, jams and cinnamon. This Christmas festival keeps the Hungarian Christmas tradition alive every year! And best of all, it keeps your tummy nice and full with left overs to take home! Now, let’s wander over to sunny Miami, Florida for Santa’s Enchanted Forest and visit the world’s largest Christmas theme park! It has over 100 rides, games, attractions and a  huge spectacle of lights! Let’s go to Santa’s home and go to the North Pole, except, it’s not his real home because this North Pole is in Alaska! The Christmas In Ice festival has amazing life size lit up sculptures of ice! Better yet, combine those sculptures with a snowflake drop and fireworks! Let’s check out Strlezelmarkt (Christmas Market) in Dresden, Germany. This is the oldest Christmas festival/market in the world! It has been around since 1434 and is celebrating its 579^th Christmas festival! It also has the world’s largest nutcracker, a carousel featuring life-size nativity figures and angels, as well as, a 45 foot wooden pyramid. Watch the Gingerbread princess get crowned and your Christmas spirit will come alive with the great church service and organ concert! Lastly, let’s head over to Vienna, Austria for the Wiener Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz. This Christmas festival has a wide array of Christmas treats such as; gingerbread, mulled wine and sweet chestnuts. Let the little ones enjoy a pony ride or the merry-go-round, while you go the 140 vendors on site that sell many toys and goodies!

Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year! It is one of the most celebrated holidays around the world and as we have illustrated above, it is celebrated by most and it is an amazing spectacle! Going to all these wonderful Christmas festivals should be part of your bucket list! So get in the Christmas spirit and make it a tradition to go to your nearest Christmas festival!