TravelDuties

If you’re considering Italy as your next holiday destination, you may not make it to every historical city or hamlet, but the one place that’ll certainly feature in your visit list is Milan. One hears stories about Rome when growing up because of its ancient status, but Milan on the other hand is the face of modernity in Italy. Incidentally it’s also the 2nd largest city in Italy. As such, you can only begin to imagine how busy the place can be and how much there’ll be to soak in.

Milan is packed with activity that caters to the better senses of most locals and visitors. First thing what do you love ding when holidaying? It’s got to be shopping and Milan is certainly a shopper’s paradise and you’ll find outlets of all major brands. It’s true that nightlife is thriving here and culture will find a new meaning once you visit a few operas that can range from classic to melodrama but at the end of the evening will certainly keep you spirited.

When in Milan, just because you’re staring modernity I the face it doesn’t mean you won’t have the pleasure of checking its history because everything is held together and blended in its modern culture beautifully.

While roaming the streets of Milan, you never know who you’ll bump into because it’s true that the paparazzi thrive here. If it’s got anything to do with fashion, or supermodels, this is the place where you’ll see it all in its grandeur. If you’re concerned about getting around Milan you can trust their railway, buses, cars, trams, metro, taxis, and even choose to walk around to discover more. The Radiobus is a very decent travel option as it works out to be very economic. Malpensa is home to the largest international airport in Milan, and then there’s the Linate airport that’s equally efficient despite its tiny size.

There are plenty of spectacular fireworks and other light display shows at Walt Disney World, but the Fantasmic show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is likely the best. Its boats some special effects like giant animatronics which talk and move, water that catches on fire, screens made out of water, fantastic Disney classical music, characters, fireworks and explosions, all on a ton of huge floats that are definitely worth the price of admission into the water park. If you are traveling with young children, you might want to introduce the music and images to them before the show beings to prep them for the exciting show they are about to experience.

Seating is around 8,000 but don’t let that huge number fool you, the show fills immediately and there are no ways of skipping the lines. You should plan to eat dinner at either your hotel or park at around 6:00-6:30 and arrive at the Fantasmic attraction around 7:30. You must pay general park admission to enter the show and the other rides and attractions at the Disney Hollywood Studios.

Huatulco, Mexico, is a very popular Mexican vacation destination located on the Pacific side of Oaxaca. The area of Huatulco is actually comprised of nine separate bays that run along approximately 25 kilometers of coastline. The largest of these bas, Bahia de Santa Cruz, is considered the epicenter of tourist activities in the region.

Finding a place to stay in Huatulco can be difficult because of the rush of tourist activity. A common alternative to staying in a high priced hotel or resort is to find a one of the many local Huatulco villas to rent. These villas are privately owned and rented out to tourists visiting the area on business or vacation.

Huatulco villa rentals can be found easily online. Sites generally contain searchable listings of all the available villas with their seasonal pricing. Aside from cost, a typical listing online will also include multiple photos of the villa rental as well as information on the size and amenities provided on the property.

Vacationers looking for a particularly special place to stay should consider the Camino Real Zaashila region of Huatulco. The villas here are part of a much larger hotel/resort arrangement. While it is part of a large resort, the villas are built in such a way as to provide a sense of relaxation and privacy.

Spiritual retreats to Sedona, Arizona, are a great way to get closer to nature and understand more about yourself and to seek physical, mental and spiritual healing. The most popular type of spiritual retreat in Sedona is known as a Sedona Vortex Experience. During a Vortex Experience, your guide will take you to a Sacred place in the region, secluded from the general public, to help you connect with the environment and meet your spiritual needs. The real beauty of a Sedona Vortex Experience is that it is different for everyone. No two people will have the same experience at the same time, or on multiple visits.

Shamanism, a partnership with nature to heal people, is a major focus during a spiritual retreat in Sedona. The emphasis is on being one with the pieces of nature around you including the rocks and plants. During a typical vortex experience, your guide will frequently be communicating with his surroundings.

You can learn more about shamanism and our connection to nature by reading the books in the Ringing Cedars series. There are a total of eight books in all that discuss the importance of honoring and connecting to nature today.

Yes, they do call it the “Sunshine” state for a reason. From Panama City down to South Beach in Miami, Florida boasts some of the world’s best beaches and for very good reasons. Florida’s beaches have two different types of sand. The rough sand includes broken up shells and other sand that is as comfortable and soft as baking flour. Surprisingly, both of these types of beaches are seen as equals as they have some of the most spectacular views of the sunset and have some amazing wildlife and flora.

Depending on the location and the city the beach is associated with, you can either choose a private beach like St. Georges Island in northern Florida or South Beach in Miami which hosts millions of tourists each and every year. Only a few of the very populated beaches have lifeguards so swimming is considered at your own risk in mostly all of the Florida beaches. Some of the most popular tourist pastimes besides beachside fishing is the collection of shells and sea stars. People use the native Florida shells to use as decorations or simply have as a souvenir and take back to the school and show their friends.

Are you a thrill seeker or looking for a winter vacation filled with ski slopes and warm hot chocolate? Visit Keystone. Located in the Rockies of Colorado, Keystone is world renowned for its warm welcoming atmosphere, helpful locals, and awesomely smooth slopes. Keystone is situated around other skiing villages with the likes of Breckenridge and Copper Mountain. The village of Keystone has all types of activities such as skiing, snowboarding, bar hopping, fine dining, snowmobiling, and lots more.

A typical vacationer will either stay in one of the various villas or lodges that border the mountain. There aren’t very main brand name hotel chains such as Marriott, yet the villages can be anything from a warm lodge atmosphere to a 4 bedroom vacation villa that has its own fireplace and full luxury of amenities. Most of the restaurants, bars, and local hangout spots are in the center of Keystone as they are all at the base of Keystone’s main mountain slope. You can have a guide give lessons on either skiing or snowboarding for various amounts of time.

Shimmering brightly from the vast desert of central Nevada, Las Vegas is the most dynamic, spectacular, and easily the most entertaining city on planet Earth. Since the start of the 20th century, it didn’t even exist; at the start of the twenty-first, it then became home to home to a population of over one million people, with enough new residents arriving to need a new school every single month. Las Vegas is not like other cities. No other city in history has so explicitly valued the needs and requests of visitors above those of its own population, the city of Las Vegas. All of Vegas’ growth has been credited by the immense growth of the tourism industry, but the tourists haven’t spoiled the actual city since there is no real city, only the outlying city of Henderson that does boast some popular attractions itself.

The entertainment capital, Las Vegas doesn’t have fascinating small town like neighborhoods, and it’s not a place where visitors can go off the beaten track to have more authentic experiences. There are places where you can venture outside of the city such as the beautiful Mount Charleston and the Valley of Fire Canyon. Also, the whole tourism industry is completely self-referential; the reason Las Vegas hosts most of the vast majority of the world’s largest hotels and resorts and that is estimated to be around thirty-seven million tourists each year come to see the hotels themselves.

Photo by: Steve Woods

Lisbon, the biggest city in Portugal and also the nation’s capital, is a hot tourist destination offering a multitude of attractions and high-class resort accommodations for travelers. With a population of over 500,000 people, Lisbon is a melting pot of different cultures that brings together a variety of interesting points of view. This cultural mix means that there’s something for everyone looking to spend a vacation in Lisbon.

I’m going to focus this post on three of the more popular “districts” in Lisbon: the Baix, Bairro Alto and Chiado. These areas of the city are easily reachable from any of the fine hotels in Lisbon. On that note, if you’re looking for a nice place to stay there are plenty of agencies offering worldwide hotel bookings that can help you find the right hotel for your stay.

The first district, the Baixa, is better known as Lisbon’s downtown area. If you’re a history buff, this is the place to go and see some of Lisbon’s finest historical monuments such as Commerce Square and Rossio Square. There are also several lovely churches in the Baixa such as the Church of São Domingos of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha.

Bairro Alto, located in central Lisbon, is the center for shopping and entertainment in the city. If you’re interested in the youth culture of the city or its nightlife than this is the area of Lisbon you’ll want to find yourself in. The bar and club scene here in Bairro Alto offers a nice mixture of cultures as well as a collection of tourists and locals alike.

Chiado is where you’ll find Lisbon’s best cafes and art galleries. For anyone interested in ancient architecture, Chiado has fine examples of Portuguese buildings. The local art galleries in Chiado also contain some fine examples of Portuguese art. The best place to find that would be at the Museu do Chiado.

As you can tell, Lisbon offers lots of opportunities for vacationers and travelers interested in visiting Portugal. With it’s close proximity to Spain, anyone thinking of visiting the Iberian peninsula might want to consider a two-country travel itinerary. You can easily start your vacation in Spain by staying in one of the fine hotels Madrid Norte has to offer.

Extended bachelor parties, better known as stag weekends, are the new trend these days. Grooms-to-be looking for one last getaway before they settle into married life are no longer satisfied with just one night out on the town with their friends. The feeling now is that a weekend away before the big wedding day is a much better plan for guys about to end their single life. This is becoming increasingly common in the United Kingdom, even more so than in America, in recent years. No where is it more popular than in the city of Manchester.

Manchester stag weekends are usually put on by local companies to help relieve any of the stress involved with planning and staging upwards of two to even three days worth of events. There are a wide variety of activities you can participate in during your Manchester stag weekend. Some of the more popular packages include tickets and accommodations for a soccer fans, tours of the cities best nightclubs, a trip around town on a party bus, a weekend of paintball with and against your friends or an entire weekend at the race track. That’s only a short list of all of the things you can see and do during your stag weekend in Manchester.

Stag parties in the UK, and long bachelor parties in the US, will only continue to grow in popularity as more and more events and options are made available. For those of you in the United Kingdom, this phenomenon isn’t only restricted to Manchester. The same kind of stag weekends, and stag service providers, can be found in places like Brighton, Liverpool, Blackpool and Edinburgh. If your group isn’t against a bit of air travel, you can also have a great stag weekend in places like Dublin or outside of the UK in Prague or Amsterdam.

Mauritius is a little known, but growing in tourist popularity, island in the Indian Ocean that’s just off the southwestern coast of Africa. The island of Mauritius, since it’s 1968 independence, has grown from a primarily poor and farming based nation into a middle-class country with an economy spread amongst many sectors including tourism.

Thanks to it’s mix of various cultures including Chinese, Creole and Indian there’s been a sudden surge in interest from tourists. A vacation to Mauritius will most likely see you visiting white sandy beaches and coral reefs, or traveling into the interior of the island to visit mountains and rainforests. All of these vacation options are made possible thanks to the fantastic weather in Mauritius that one finds while visiting.

The island nation’s biggest draw seems to be for people celebrating their nuptials. Mauritius honeymoons are very popular with newlyweds from all over the world. Many of the resorts on the island offer beachfront honeymoon suites with private balconies and fantastic ocean views. It’s also quite common for entire groups of family and friends to travel to Mauritius to attend the actual wedding ceremony itself. The island is constantly playing host to weddings year round.