Ultimate Vacation Spots

Regardless of whether you have breakdown recovery - you need to check your own car!

Yes, they will come and help you out of a sticky spot if you break down or get a flat tire, but they can’t help you see that car behind you, or make your seat-belt save your life in an accident!

This means that there are certain things that you should check yourself before heading off on your vacation in your car, van, or RV.

Obviously, making sure that you have enough ’spares’ can go a long way to keeping you on the road as well - so a set of spare bulbs, a roadworthy spare tire and the jack to help change it, a warning triangle, spare gas, spare oil and water all in suitable containers and blankets and waterproof clothes just in case!

But the list below is for those little things that only take a second to check for yourself, giving you time to put them right before heading off:

Tires:
Make sure that they all have a decent depth of tread on all used and spare tires and that they are fully inflated to the recommended pressure.

Lights:
Check that they are all working as they should when it’s not sunny - whether this means getting a friend to stand outside and watch them all be checked, or reversing up to a window in the evening and checking them yourself: front and back!

Windscreen:
Any cracks or chips in the front windscreen should be treated by an expert to make srue that they stay the same size!  Untreated cracks and chips can easily spread at any time into something that makes seeing out of the front window impossible and/or dangerous.

Getting a chip fixed is usually free with your insurance - but a new windscreen isn’t!

Your window-washing liquid and wipers should be checked too as they can make driving impossible under some conditions.  My windscreen got totally covered in road grit during a cold spell, and it didn’t seen a problem until I turned a corner into bright sunshine - I couldn’t see a thing - not a thing: then I found out that my windscreen water was empty and I literally had to put on my hazard lights and stop there and then, right in the middle of the road!

Seat Belts:
Make sure that all your seat-belts work properly even if you are not intending to use them, as you never know when you will need them - and you could be very far from a garage!  And of course, seat-belts are a way of saving lives - so your friends and family will be a lot safer with them working correctly.

Doors & Windows:
For your own safety and comfort, you should make sure that all doors and windows work correctly as you never know when you need to get out of the car quickly and when you might need to open your windows.

Both have happened to me, as my drivers door was being fixed over a period of a few days as the electric windows had stopped working.  Then I pulled up at a busy motorway toll booth!  I had to get out of the car using the passenger door (!) and walk all the way around front of the car to pay the cashier, then walk all the way back around with more than 5 cars I could see watching me!

I will certainly make sure that never happens again!

Yep.  Right in the heart of the Bronx is an exciting and beautiful park, woodland and deep gorge to explore.

We all know the Bronx Zoo, but how many of us have spent time wandering along the many paths and trails of the the Bronx Park?

The sheer size of the Bronx park and the variety of flora and fauna found here make this natural area one of the real hidden gems of New York - well worth a visit.

A Natural Secret?
The Botanical Gardens here also holds a historic secret - a 50 acre woodland.  Not so exciting? 

Well, what if I told you it was the exact woodland that was here when the land was first brought in 1891?  So it has been undisturbed for over 130 years!

It was part of the continuous woodlands that covered the whole of the the area when the European migrants first came over in the 17th century. And when you stand among these giants in the peace and quiet - can you imagine the whole of New York city covered in it? 

Water World And More:
There is the Bronx River running through the centre of the park and it is the perfect place for water sports.  There are several launch points for kayaking and canoes.

The river runs through a deep gorge with waterside walks and some amazing plants and trees lining the way.

There are also basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, cycle routes and skate parks to name a few of the extensive facilities supplies to the parks users.

There are also dog runs for those with pets, and playgrounds for those with kids!

And, of course, a zoo full of tigers!

Every Year there is a massive influx of millions of Monarch butterflies to certain towns in Mexico - and you could see it for yourself.

By visiting the Mexican state of Michoacan to the west of Mexico City towards the end of February, you could witness around 120 million Monarch butterflies take to the skies as they start to become active after the colder winter months.

The sky around you literally turns orange with millions of tiny wings fluttering past you in search of a tasty breakfast!

Why Here?
Every year in North America, the Monarchs react to the wetter colder climates by moving south with the sun from about August onwards, they stop over in California and Florida around October before flying to Mexico for the winter.  After a few months of inactivity in the cooler weather, they start to head back north around February/March, through the southern states for late spring, then reaching their destination in summer.

However, this migration is amazing as no one butterfly will ever make the whole round trip - only it’s offspring or even the generation after that which returns to the northern states and Canada the following summer!

Butterflies need warmth to grow and fly as they are not warm-blooded like ourselves, so if these Monarchs are going to be adults throughout the year they need to follow the sunshine to stay active - hence the migration south towards the tropics.  After all - we travel there for warmth too!

Why Visit?
Apart from the amazing sight of all these animals in the same place - their awakening coincides with the calving of Grey whales in Baja California just a bit further west again.

There are many stories of the mothers bringing their calves over to small boat so they can be petted and scratched by humans!  Strange really considering that we humans virtually wiped them out over 100 years ago!

There are hundreds of Grey whales around at this time including wandering males too!  San Ignacio Lagoon is fast becoming the best site to find ‘friendly’ whales, and offers many boat trips throughout the season specifically for this phenomenon!

Further events in Mexico include:

1st - Constitution Day - A celebration of past events - Nationwide
2nd - Candlemas - To celebrate the end of Christmas - Nationwide
10th to the 16th - Carnival - Not quite as grand as Brazil - but a great event none-the-less - Nationwide

Have you made any travel plans for this year?

Well, maybe it’s time you did to make sure that you have the best time this year doing what you love- and getting extra holiday days from your boss without having to take unpaid leave - can a 18 day vacation only cost you 10 days holiday?  You bet.  But you need to plan ahead.

By taking advantage of what already there can make all the difference between wasting a few days off by staying home, and travelling across the world to some far flung destination!  I know which I would prefer!

Plan Your Days Off
We all know that not everyone takes all their holiday entitlement from work - so make sure that you do.  Plan your days off around any normal days off you get - for example if you only work 5 days a week, then make sure that you stretch out your vacation time to add these in rather than ‘lose’ them. 

By this I mean that you must plan your time off to coincide with existing ‘free’ days off.  So say you wanted to plan a 10 day holiday - you could get 18 days straight off work if you plan it right!  So you would need to have the Saturday and Sunday off of week one as your normal days, and the Monday and Tuesday off as normal days off in week 2, then add 5 days holiday to get you to the end of week 2.  Take your other 5 days holiday for the start of week 3 followed by your 2 normal days off, then add your 2 normal days off for week 4.

• Week 1: 2 days off (2 normal days off)
• Week 2: 7 days off (2 normal days off + 5 days paid holiday)
• Week 3: 7 days off (2 normal days off + 5 days paid holiday)
• Week 4: 2 days off (2 normal days off)

This gives you a grand total of 18 days straight off work - time enough to get to Asia, Australia or South America and tour a few sights with time to spare!

Start At The Weekend:
You also need to work out the best 2 normal days off to use as if you use them mid-week, you get less days off in a row for you holiday.  Starting your 10 day holiday on a week day (rather than the Saturday used for the above example) will only give you 16 days straight for your 10 days paid!

That’s 2 days earlier you will have to fly home and be back at work!

Happy Holidays!

Welcome indeed to 2010 - and I hope you have made lots of travel plans already for the year ahead.

I have a friend setting off for a 6 month trip around South America with a group of his friends, another who is planning to cycle from London to Paris for charity and yet another hoping to drive across Mongolia towards the end of fall.

I have many ideas too, but first lets see what our contributors this month have to offer.

Lets start up with a short one about taking your kids skiing - and lets be honest, there isn’t really a shortage of snow at the moment!  So, Skier lets us in on 5 Tips to Take Your Child Skiing.

The next 2 are really arty and rather personal articles about how you can give your child (and yourself) something that you can treasure forever.  First off Dan gives s some great advice and tips on creating your very own home movie compilation of your baby’s first holiday with his article: A Truly Priceless Gift for Your Child – DIY 1st Year Baby Video.  Obviously you can use any footage you want - and it doesn’t have to be the 1st year only.  You could set about making one every year for your kids as they are so simple to make.

Then we hop over to Gloria Daniels, who gives some great ideas for putting together a more decorative scrapbook of your kids vacations.  This way you can include entry tickets, snap shots and postcards of the trip in a way you can’t do on video.  So take a look at her article: Creating a Kid’s Travel Journal and see which you prefer.

Or instead of taking the kids yourself - let them head of alone! Marjorie Morgan tells an amazing tale of a young girl Jessica Watson - solo sailor on her lone sailing voyage.  Take a look at what she has achieved at such a young age.

See you next month!