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Travel
Introducing Amsterdam: Holland’s Capital Treasure
Sep 2nd
Amsterdam is in the nominal capital of the Netherlands (otherwise known as Holland). It was founded in 1200 as a fishing village. The name Amsterdam was derived from the fact that it was built around the Amstel River. It was built around semi-circular rings of canals and it is famous for these canals to this day. It also boasts approximately 400 bridges over the canals. In fact, Amsterdam is fondly referred to as “the Venice of the North.”
Amsterdam is known to be a welcoming city. It has people living there of all colors, races, religions and ages. It is a city that contains contrasts, but that all fit together in a harmonious way.
Amsterdam has an abundance of sights to see and museums to visit. In fact, it is famous for its museums and houses over fifty of them. If you visit Amsterdam in the summer, be sure to visit the Royal Palace as it is open to the public during the summer months. It is a 17th century building that is still used for official functions by the Queen. By the Palace, you will find Dam square. It is the center of Amsterdam and is always busy. The Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein are popular areas. They are crowded by day with street performers, acrobatic arts and music and are crowded by night with people visiting the theatres, cinemas and clubs in the area. The Jordaan was built in 1612 and today is a village within Amsterdam that contains many restaurants and bars. The Red Light District is a cozy area that is always vibrant where you easily can find a nice place to eat and have some fun.
If you are looking for culture, spend some time in Museum Quarter. The main museums can be found in this area, such as Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum. The Concert Building is in this area, as are many of the exclusive shops that can be found in the city. The Botanical Garden is a teat to behold. Built in 1682, it is the oldest Botanical Garden in the world.
There are a number of holiday accommodation options available to visitors to Amsterdam. You can choose to stay in a hotel. These range from luxurious large hotels to small boutique style hotels. It is possible to find a rental apartment in most areas of the city. These self catering accommodation options are ideal for families or for people who are staying more than a few days in the city. Youth hostels are typically located near the center of the city and these are ideal for those traveling on a tight budget. Campgrounds are open during the summer months and these are a popular choice at that time of year.
Traveling Single and Happy in Italy
Aug 20th
Want to travel to Italy but nobody you know wants to go? Have specific dates for your holiday in Tuscany but none of your traveling friends can get away then?
You’re not alone–you’re part of the fast growing single traveler market. As a frequent single traveler in Italy for many years, here are my tips on companionship, safety, money matters, and quality of life for traveling solo in Italy.
Companionship
1. Look for restaurants or hotels with communal tables. Sit down, relax, eat with whoever is there, smile and start a conversation. Sharing food and wine around the table opens people up and conversation flows easily. Also look for restaurants with tables close together so it’s easy to strike up a conversation with fellow diners.
For example, I’ve enjoyed staying a family-run B & B in Sorrento where I’ve happily chatted to people from all over the world around their big dining tables.
2. Offer to help other travelers as a spring board to start a conversation. For example, while traveling on the Amalfi Coast on a bus to my hotel in Praiano, I overheard a man asking about the area. Read the rest of this entry »
What To Do About Lost Luggage At Manchester Airport
Aug 18th
Standing at the carousel at Manchester Airport after a long or short haul flight hoping and praying that your luggage will appear. After what seems to be an eternity of waiting, you finally decide that your luggage has not arrived back with you and wonder what you are supposed to do next. This article describes what you can do to get your luggage back as quickly as possible.
First of all we need to understand why luggage goes missing in the first place. Missing luggage can usually be put down to human error. There are many different people who will interact with your luggage during its long journey and you are dependent such people as baggage handlers, check in personnel and security staff all getting their individual jobs absolutely right. Unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world and things will go wrong and unfortunately it could be your bag that gets lost.
Once you have realised that your bag is missing the first thing you need to do is report it missing at the lost baggage desk. At Manchester Airport these desks can usually be found in the baggage return areas but. Any member of staff will be able to direct you to the nearest desk should you have difficulty in locating them.
When reporting your lost luggage be sure to give as detailed a description as you can as it is much easier to locate a bag if they know what they are looking for. You may also be asked for a description of your luggage contents, again as much detail as possible but not totally necessary as nobody will expect you to know everything you have packed in your luggage.
Unfortunately there is no set time limit for finding lost luggage and airlines will more than likely not declare your luggage as officially lost until approximately 21 days so with any luck it will turn up naturally before then. There are various agencies that can help with lost luggage and are not difficult to find. they are off airport companies and more than likely a member of staff will give out their details. After the twenty one day period if your luggage still has not turned up you are entitled in most cases to claim compensation from your airline for your losses. I realise that this really is not what you would like but at least if you are aware of this fact you may get something back, then its not a total loss. In some cases airlines may be obliged to pay up to eight hundred pounds per person for lost luggage.
A very important note that everybody should know and not many people do, is that most airlines will try and persuade their customers to claim for any lost luggage through their own personal travel insurance. You are well within your rights to push the airline for direct compensation as under the Montreal Convention if an airline accepts any item as checked baggage it must accept liability for it. Most travel policies do not cover lost luggage but if they do they will no doubt be claiming the money back directly off the airline anyway.
The long and short of lost luggage is, that there really is no hard or fast or even guaranteed way to get your luggage back. Only ways and means to try. Armed with this information you will stand more than a fighting chance of getting your luggage back or at least some money to help ease the pain.
Planning The Return Journey With Your Luggage
Aug 12th
So, you have successfully travelled abroad, and survived the experience. Now laden with an armful or two of wonderful souvenirs for yourself and your obligatory loved ones back home, you stare in open mouthed awe at the impossibly small case you brought with you. It seems almost impossible that you really managed to cram all of your items into that bag or case, and you shake your head in wonder that you never had the foresight to imagine that you might wish to return home with trophies of your visit. Where, pray, do they go?
We have almost certainly all found ourselves in this kind of situation, and the end result is usually a combination of cramming and shoving our belongings into our bag in any way they will go, regardless of the likely condition of them at the other end. The bag is almost certainly strained as close to breaking point as you dare go, and your carry on luggage now, instead of a single convenient shoulder bag, now has grown to a shoulder bag and three wieldy, delicate and fiddly carrier bags whose handles may, or may not survive the trip. At least one handle will snap, resulting in a constant battle for survival.
So, how does one plan for this eventuality before leaving for your trip in the first place? There are several tried and tested methods, and planning ahead, giving these methods a try will save you a great deal of effort later, and be far more likely to result in fewer breakages.
The first, and perhaps most obvious suggestion is to under pack on the outward journey. By deliberately leaving space in your case, you will find that not only will your packing at the end of your holiday be much quicker and easier, but you will have room for the souvenirs you have purchased. As a side note to this, when buying souvenirs, make sure you are not carried away, and bear in mind the room you have allowed yourself. The six foot suit of armour might look fantastic, and be at a tremendous price, but exactly where will it fit in your suitcase?
The second suggestion is to purchase a suitcase with an expanding side. These are becoming quite popular, and are readily available from most luggage specialists. The case itself has two zips – the main one that opens the whole case, and then a second zip running parallel, which allows an expanding side to increase the volume of your case by as much as 50%. This will allow you to pack your items in easily, and still have room for your new items.
A third suggestion is to plan to discard certain items you took with you. Many people pack cosmetics in specially bought plastic bottles which are smaller than the original jar, and holds just enough for the period you are away. These typically cost just a few pence, and at the end of your holiday, are mostly empty. For the sake of a few pence, why not bin them? This will help to increase the space. Plenty of people do the same thing with clothes, buying a few really cheap tops which they would not wear back home, and simply discard them at the end of their trip, or donate them to a charity shop or recycling centre.
The bottom line is this: plan. If you give the second packing experience which you can look forward to at the end of your trip some thought before you go away, you are more likely to ensure an easy, successful, quick and effective escape. Your souvenirs are far more likely to survive as well.
How To Be The Smug Traveller Everyone Envies
Aug 10th
Don’t you just hate some tourists? They always seem so prepared, so cool, calm and able to float through the whole business of travel without a care in the world, and having anticipated every potential problem. It seems that some people simply have all the luck.
And yet, the truth is that it takes very little to help solve some of the most commonly experienced problems facing tourists and travellers. One of the most infuriating parts of a journey is often the problems facing luggage handling at airports. Having to check your cases in and wave them a cheery goodbye, and then sitting gloomily at the other end of your holiday watching other people’s cases journey round and round the conveyer whilst yours seems to have been deliberately held until last is another aspect of the holiday that no one looks forward to. Naturally those people that swan off the plane, straight through the lounge and off to a waiting taxi are given glances equal in measure of both envy and hate.
Is it really possible to manage to go on holiday without a suitcase? The answer is yes, perfectly, and many people are doing that every day. By having a simple over the shoulder carryon bag and by thinking carefully in advance about what you really need to take with you on your holiday, it is perfectly possible to reduce the overall volume and quantity of items that you take, helping you to keep your luggage with you at all times.
This obviously increases the security of your possessions as they are always with you; it will help speed up the process of checking in and checking out, and will save you a considerable headache. There are plenty of articles both on this website and others to help offer advice as far as achieving this is concerned.
Another aspect of a typical holiday which no one looks forward to is arriving at your destination and discovering, once you unpack your clothes, that none of them are wearable, During your travel it seems that someone had a sense of humour and unpacked your case, squashed all your clothes into a ball, ironed them into a ball ensuring the wrinkles were permanent, and then repacked your case for you.
In truth, it would not seem that there are such humorous baggage handlers, but actually poor baggage packers. Using simple techniques such as choosing suitable materials, polyester rather than cotton for example, and by rolling clothes rather than folding them, it is possible to protect your clothes from damage in transit. There is nothing quite like arriving at your hotel, opening your case and taking out an outfit, being able to put it straight on and enjoying the first few minutes of your holiday as you had always intended.
Similarly, breakages are an excellent way of ruining the start of your holiday. Arriving to find that your expensive perfume bottle broke will certainly ensure that you smell fantastic for your holiday, so fantastic in fact that the people back home will be able to detect you, but it is unlikely to put a smile on your face. Therefore, to ensure that you are one of the smug tourists, make sure that you pack your liquids and cosmetics in separate sealable bags or containers, so that in the event of a breakage, the liquid will not leak out onto other clothes.
All of these techniques, and others, are extremely simple, and very easy to put into practice. The hardest thing about them is trying to keep a straight face when you find yourself one of the envied travellers who seem to fly through the awkward parts of tour travel and get on and enjoy your holiday, whilst other people are recovering from the experience caused by poor planning.
A Rough Guide To Azerbaijan
Aug 6th
Azerbaijan received de facto recognition by the Allies as an independent nation in January 1920, an independence terminated by the arrival of the Red Army in April. Azerbaijan’s first parliament was elected in 1995. Azerbaijan is represented in the Parliamentary Assembly by a delegation of 6 representatives and 6 substitutes.
Azerbaijan, located on the western edge of the Caspian Sea, sits at the crossroad between East and West. Azerbaijan has the highest infant and under-five mortality rates of any country in the Europe and Eurasia region. Azerbaijan’s relatively small government size is its one standout strength, helped by trade freedom and moderate taxes. The Azerbaijanis, commonly referred to as Azeris, live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau.
After the decline of the Arab Empire, Azerbaijan was ravaged during the Mongol invasions but regained prosperity in the 13th-15th centuries under the Mongol II-Khans, the native Shirvan Shahs, and under Persia’s Safavid Dynasty. Growing discontent culminated in June 1993 in an armed insurrection in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city. The current conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 when ethnic Armenian demonstrations against Azerbaijani rule broke out in both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Supreme Soviet voted to secede from Azerbaijan.
The United States also has a bilateral investment treaty with Azerbaijan. A letter of invitation from a contact in Azerbaijan is required, and travelers who expect to travel in the region should request a one-year, multiple-entry visa. Air travel to Azerbaijan on international carriers via Europe is typically more reliable. Through their local agent in Azerbaijan, prospective parents submit their application (dossier) to the General Section of the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan, if the child is less than 3 years old or to the Ministry of Education if the child is older.
However, Azerbaijan has antithesis at its core: wealth mingles with poverty; Soviet blocks jostle with 10th-century mosques. Trade and Development Agency to assist Azerbaijan in reforming its pension system. The currency is the Azerbaijani manat (AZM). The number of languages listed for Azerbaijan is 14. The new Azerbaijan constitution grants religious freedom and asserts that there is no state religion. The Jewish community has enjoyed warm relations with the Azerbaijani government.
The appearance of the Zoroastrianreligion in Azerbaijan almost 2,000 years ago is closely connectedwith these geological phenomena, and, according to one theory, the name”Azerbaijan” itself was derived from the word for “fire” in Persian.
Albania – The New Destination
Aug 2nd
Albania is a parliamentary democracy that is transforming its economy into a market-oriented system. Albania is bordered by Greece to the southeast, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. Albania’s coastline is becoming increasingly popular with tourists due to its relatively unspoiled nature and its beaches. Albania has made progress in its democratic development since first holding multiparty elections in 1991, but deficiencies remain
Albania is one of Europes poorest countries and continues to face severe difficulties adjusting to the new Europe after decades of Stalinist isolation. Albania fears the fighting in Kosovo, whose population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, will spill over its borders. Surrounded by powerful, warring empires, Albania has experienced considerable violence and competition for control throughout its history. In Albania, the earliest settlements have been discovered in the Gajtan cavern (Shkodra), in Konispol, at Mount Dajti, and at Saranda. Despite some strong resistance, especially at Durrs, Italy invaded Albania on April 7, 1939 and took control of the country.
The workforce of Albania has continued to migrate to Greece, Italy, Germany, other parts of Europe, and North America. The three largest and deepest tectonic lakes of the Balkan Peninsula are located in Albania. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, Albania fell under the umbrella of the Eastern Roman Empire, but remained ecclesiastically dependent on Rome. Likewise, Albanian has taken the old relative jos and innovatively used it exclusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto-Slavic has used this word to provide the definite ending of adjectives.
The main meal of the Albanians is lunch, and it is usually accompanied by a salad of fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and olives with olive oil, vinegar and salt. The Albania national football team is the national football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. Most of the matches of Albanian national team have been played in Qemal Stafa. After falling under Roman authority in 165 BC, Albania was controlled nearly continuously by a succession of foreign powers until the mid-20th century, with only brief periods of self-rule. During the initial transition period, the Albanian Government sought closer ties with the West in order to improve economic conditions and introduced basic democratic reforms, including a multi-party system.