Traveling in the off peak season

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Traveling at the right time of year will cost you less.

If you travel in off peak (or low season) periods, or even in the shoulder season, you’ll find traveling costs a lot less. Saving money has to be a priority right now.

The seasons differ depending on whether you are in the north or south hemisphere. For example, the North America summer months are June, July, August but in Australia the summer months are December, January and February. You will need to research your destination to find out the low/shoulder season times to visit.

Positives of traveling in the off peak season are that air fares are much cheaper, accommodation is also cheaper and more readily available and eating in restaurants can be less expensive too as owners will be trying to attract patrons.

So what are the negatives of traveling in the off peak? Off peak usually means traveling in colder weather. Some tourist places close earlier or do not open at all in the off peak, so check up before you go so you are not disappointed. In some areas the public transport system does not run as often as in peak tourist season and some hotels and museums close down for the winter to re-furbish and get ready for the next high season influx of tourists.

If traveling in the off-peak doesn’t sound attractive to you, then you might like to try the shoulder season and still get some travel price reductions. Usually in this time you’ll get decent weather, less crowds and lower travel costs – not the great bargains you’ll get in off peak, but lower costs nonetheless.

This is my preferred time to travel as I get good weather and lower prices. For North America or Europe I prefer to travel in April/May or around September/October. There are less tourists about also so its more enjoyable.

When you are planning for your next vacation think about going in the off peak season and have fun and save money too.

The travel bug has bitten again

The travel bug can bite when you least expect it. You see a great deal and you can't pass it by. You don't think twice you just know you have to go. This happened to me this week. A great deal came up with a cruise to New Zealand from Sydney and I just had to work out a way to go.

I love cruising as it's the most relaxing vacation you can take. Just add an unbelievable price and its just too irresistible and so I'm booked. The cruise is on the Holland America ship the ms Volendam, sailing from Sydney to Auckland leaving 5 December. If you are going on this cruise too let me know.

I have sailed on the Volendam before and she is a beautiful ship. The weather should be good that time of year and I hope the Tasman Sea is kind to us on the way over. I am not a good sailor but I take my seasick tablets and some ginger and Im fine. I get car and bus sick also so I never travel without them.

Im very excited about cruising again and I will keep you posted on my and preparations. You can read more about my previous cruises at Angeltraveler.com

Seven rules to keep you healthy and happy

Hello again and hoping you are having a good weekend.

I have a few rules that I try and stick to that hopefully are keeping me healthy and happy and they are:

Laughter is one of the best things for your mental and physical state.
Recognize that stress is a killer and dont let it beat you.
Dont worry.
Get plenty of exercise or at least some exercise regularly.
Eat healthy foods.
Get proper sleep each day.
Learn to relax and unwind.

When Im troubled by something in particular I try and think of what could be the worst thing that can happen to me at that time and usually its not that bad, or is bearable, and I know that whatever it is it will probably pass. Let worry and stress wash over you.

Never worry about tomorrow until tomorrow comes.

Sleep is the best meditation....Dalai Lama

One should eat to live, not live to eat....Moliere

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone; ........Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Until next time....

Sydney made the top 10 best cities to live in

News out today is that Sydney has again made the top 10 world's best cities to live in, coming in at 10th place. Mercer Worldwide Quality of Living Survey 2008 ranked Sydney down one spot from last year.

Cities are rated across 39 areas considering such 'quality of life' factors as political and economic stability, human rights and personal freedoms, pollution, crime rates, health standards and the cost of consumer staples.

Zurich came in again as first and the highest entry for the United States was Honolulu at 28th place.

Congratulations to the city I grew up in - Sydney, Australia. On a sunny day, looking out over the harbour there is no better place to be.

Weather

Isnt it amazing how weather affects our moods. Lately we have had eratic weather with periods of storms then the sun comes out then it gets cold. All this and its still summer in Australia.

Im rugged up tonight writing this post and hoping that summer will return for at least a few more weeks. I hate the cold and the prospect of winter coming early is not one that makes me feel at all cheerful or optimistic for 2008.

Until another time...

Paulineh
www.angeltraveler.com

My website

I just added some more content to my website and I would like to let you know.
I added a review on Banyan Tree Resort (see the picture from last post) and a travel voucher auction. Please check it out at
http://www.angeltraveler.com
Hoping you all have a great weekend.

Beautiful Bintan Island

This is a picture I took at Banyan Tree Resort, Bintan Island, Indonesia in December last year.

My 'before you leave home' travel tips

I would like to share with you some of my favorite travel tips. Ones that I use when planning my holidays. I have used these all myself over and over again.

• Make 3 copies of your travel documents (take one in your carryon, one in checked luggage and one to leave with a family member or friend).
• Check out destinations online before you leave to work out a plan for the time you have there.
• Take some money in the local currency (for taxis, tipping etc) for when you arrive. Often flights arrive at night.
• Check out the voltage at your destination and take an adapter or voltage regulator if necessary.
• Carry emergency contact numbers for your credit cards and email addresses for family and friends at home.
• Take out travel insurance to cover medical emergencies, missed flights and other canceled travel arrangements especially when traveling overseas.
• Do you need passports or visas? Work this out well ahead of your travel dates. Make sure your passport doesnt expire within 6 months of traveling.
• Check with your doctor about 3 months before you leave (if possible) about any vaccinations you may need, if any, and for scripts for the medications you currently take (take your scripts with you).
• Try and get flights that arrives in the morning and leave at night so you get two extra days for your holiday.
• Take a photo of your luggage. Its easier than trying to describe it.

Follow the tips above and you will have avoided some pitfalls even before you left.

PaulineH

http://paulineh-angeltraveler.blogspot.com

http://www.angeltraveler.com

Working on networking

I have been working on getting my website and blog listed with social networks. I didnt realise there was so many out there. I did find though that socialmarker.com was a good start so thats where Ive been.

This is a short post today as I have been unwell but Ill be back to normal in a few days and will post some more content next time.

Bye for now

Acting on New Years Resolutions

Today I thought about what my New Years resolutions were and how was I going - towards them or standing still. The first was the website (Ive done that), the second was this blogspot (did that too obviously), third one was travel to a warm relaxing place with a white sandy beach to lie on, and the fourth was to do some home improvements.

Well its February and I have done two of the four which is pretty good really for me. I usually dont get anything done until around September then Im rushing to finish one or two if Im lucky.

Today I thought I would start on researching my third resolution, the travel one. I have a few places in mind to start and they are Tahiti and Cook Islands as land based destinations and Hawaii cruising. Ive always wanted to go to Tahiti and I was toying with a cruise but think that Ive only just come back from a cruise in November last year so a land based holiday may be better this time.

So if I want to do the Hawaiian and the Tahitian cruises at some time, maybe the Cook Islands is the best choice this year (I must check that there is no uprising going on there though).

OK so I have narrowed my choices to one and I will start from today. Anybody got some good experiences they want to share about this destination? Where did they stay, what did they do etc.

Home improvements can wait for later in the year (the house isnt quite falling down yet).

Until next time....

Pauline
www.angeltraveler.com

Tuesday, another working weekday

My website is driving me crazy as I constantly see something wrong with it and I have to change it and it causes more problems and today I added some more contents as well. There is a lot of work in setting up a website but I am enjoying the final product now I think (well kinda).

But I came across though something while browsing today that was very interesting and such a great concept that I had to let you know about it. See this is going to be one of my Raves. You have to stop Ranting sometime dont you? Well the product is a a program that improves your memory by playing games.

I saw this and think this is such a great idea for people like me and my partner who are in our middle years to keep our brain up to speed and running on high. I dont want mine to slow down and they say that happens from the age of 30 so maybe Im only working on reduced speed already.

Thats not the best bit though, its that they have made it fun by playing brain games. They work out your level then increase the difficulty as you improve and the final best bit is that you can have a free trial. Check it out and let me know what you think. I know my partner and I are going to try this program. Check it out - Reclaim Your Brain: Fight Cognitive Decline with Brain Games. Free Trial.

I think this all got me thinking because all this week, so far anyway, I have had a headache (probably from late night computing) and I was noticing that when Im tired my memory doesnt function as well as usual, which I suppose for awhile now hasnt been that good. Maybe this program is going to help me.

Thats all from me today...

Today I start my blog and website

Today I start my first blog but its also the first day that my own website was posted to the world wide web. Creating this blog was a piece of cake compared to the weeks of writing and searching for a good template (as Im lousy at html) and then filling it up with content, so I finally got both of these thing finished today and I for one want to pat myself on the back.

They told me these templates are easy and you can get one done in 5 minutes.......well I can tell you it didnt work like that for me. I must admit though I didnt know what I was doing in the beginning and that made it a big learning curve for me and took me longer than probably most.

Anyway Im here and my site is finished. If you would like to see it go to http://www.angeltraveler.com/ and leave a message for me on what you think of it. I still have content to add but at least it is posted and I have also started my first blog. That is two of my new year's resolutions done.

Creating this blog though was a 'piece of cake' and I did do it all in a few minutes. My blogs will be concerned with travel, health and making money. These three things are what Im passionate about.

More on this in my next post. Bye for now