Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on Apr 27

There is nothing more worrying than finding an injured person – and you can’t help!

Would you know what to do if you came across an unconscious person? Or if one of your party suffered a serious injury? What if a colleague started having an asthma attack – what would you do?

If you see someone close by on the ground unconscious, is it best to go and call the emergency services straight away? Don’t know the answer or said ‘yes’ – then you could have just made the situation worse!

Being the outdoor type – and the adventurous person who likes meeting others and taking part in organised activities – why haven’t you taken a first aid course yet? Wouldn’t you like to know what to do?

photo credit: North West Air Ambulance

First Aid At Work:
Most people wait to be told to take one for work or as part of a new job or volunteering opportunity – but why wait until then?

Do you not want to be able to help your friends and family in an emergency? Do you only want to know how to save the lives of other members of staff or complete strangers who pop into your shop for 5 seconds?

Why don’t we take a first aid course because we know it will save lives rather than because someone else has offered to arrange it all or it is free!

Your Choice:
You can take a first aid course when you are still at school these days – so why are you now in your 20′s, 30′s, 40′s or 50′s and have no idea what to do?

And even if you did learn something at school – it might not apply anymore. Medical advances and the success of current techniques can change how we should react to emergency situations – so it is a great idea to take a refresher at least every 6 months to make sure your knowledge is best applied.

Anyone can join a first aid course – but make sure that it is run by an accreddited body like the Red Cross or St Johns Ambulance. They may cost more – but you know that you will be learning the correct techniques rather than someone just running their own course from personal experience.

I mean, tipping the head back for nosebleeds, laying on your back with feet raised for fainting and putting creams on burns are all out of date techniques and are not recommended anymore.

Things are always changing for the better – so make sure that you are up-to-date with your skills – as 1 thing will never change:

Emergency First Aid Saves Lives!

posted by Travel Cat on Feb 28

If you love going to Festivals – then get to London for 2 weeks this summer!

There are 3 of these beauties still with tickets for sale and a chance for a great summer vacation – in the company of a multitude of music geniuses!

So, have a look at these festivals below and see if you can spare the fortnight needed to soak it all up – or whether you want to add a week either side and make a month of it to see a few more of the great sights in London and the UK!

Arcade Fire: Hyde Park – June 30th.
This 1 day event is something to get you started. There is no need for days of the unwashed in this place just to get close to the music – you can go straight home after and wash off your sweat (and any acquired food and drink stains) with the music still ringing in your ears!

Rather than being multi-tented and filled with event sites galore – it’s just the main band and a few friends singing their hearts out for you (and the other few thousand listeners).

Great for those of you who want to get into the spirit of things without taking a week off work and dragging round a holdall full of your underwear!

photo credit: Johnny Worthington

Bluesfest: London Venues – June 27th – July 3rd.
Rather than find yourself in a muddy field with 60,000 other people – why not try something more intimate.

Bluesfest is just the ticket, with smaller more personal venues on the menu. Great names in Blues and Jazz settle down for a great evening ‘in’ at some well-known and less hectic venues and play almost just for you.

The 100 Club and the Jazz Cafe are just 2 of the venues that will be welcoming some of the best inside during this week of live music – so make sure you find yourself on a comfy chair in at least 1 for a night to remember!

Wireless: Hyde Park – July 1st – 3rd.
After all the people from Arcade Fire have worn out the grass – now it’s time for the hardened festival crew. This 3-day event will mean some real mud, real music and real numbers!

With PULP, the Black-Eyed Peas and the Chemical Brothers taking to the stage – you can’t imagine this event not being great – and you could be there to experience it all first hand.

Fresh from the other events – and having made a few friends along the way – you will want to hang around and see some more of this country – even if it’s just to have a nice bath!

There’s More:
It doesn’t stop there for festivals – but you might need to travel a bit – or stick around a long while……..

T In The Park: Kinross – July 8th -10th – head to Scotland for this tasty looking event as most of the other T events are sold out! This might be your last chance to get in on the action with Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys on stages elsewhere……

Rewind: Henley-on-Thames – July 29th – 31st - for your retro ’80′s night-out with Bananarama, Rick Astley and Buck’s Fizz heading up the oldies listings!

End Of The Road: Dorset – September 2nd – 4th – with a ‘clean’ almost family-friendly festival with a limited 5,000 capacity – and showers! All very cosy – and that sounds great…….

Welcome to England!

posted by Travel Cat on Jul 10

Welcome back for the summer holidays – and if you are running out of ways to entertain the kids – then we have some help for you here!

There are always plenty of ideas of kids entertainment.  Some parents prefer to pay for a theme park or other activities like rides and zoos, whereas other tend to take them in a more creative direction with making things, playing close to home, wildlife skills and family time.  So we really get a wide range or articles here – and hopefully you will enjoy those given below in this summer carnival.

Lets start with the best thing a mother or father could have when it comes to traveling with kids: A planner. Here, Bill Tyler helps you decide which type would be best for you with: How to Pick the Right Mom Organizer – obviously they work just as well for dads!

And filling the Summer Holidays with just such a plan is Alejandra Halvorssen with Summer Plans, Again for this school break!

Next a lovely little photojournal of the next step in a regular: where Theodora and her 9 year old bring us: Round Halong Bay by Junk with yet more great photos.

And why not take a leaf out of Phillip Lopez book, and plan to take your kids on one of these 10 Amazing Religious Pilgrimages. Not only will they be away from all the regular holiday-makers, rides and cotton candy – they will be experiencing a different culture and learning the respect of the old ways – they don’t need to be religious to follow a pilgrimage, but it is certainly a great experience for anyone.

Now, we come to the creative things for the kids to pass the time. Lets start with these 2 quickies from Joleen Parker; first up is Festive Flip-Flops « Jobie’s Crafts, then have some fun decorating your Summer Fun Tote « Jobie’s Crafts – just try not to get confused by all the ad’s in the posts……

Then finally – feast your eyes upon Olivia Davis seemingly endless list of things for the kids to do: Kids Summer Activity List: 100 Creative and Cheap Summer Activities For Your Kids. Maybe even getting the kids to spend time talking abut the list in the first place could kill another 3 hours!

Enjoy yourselves as much as the kids!

posted by Travel Cat on Jun 25

Forget the back yard fireworks and head to somewhere that really sums up America!

Why not make this Forth of July one with a difference – and go see something amazing that makes you proud to be American and to celebrate Independence Day and the creation of the nation we know and love today!

Although it would be great to support your local town, county or state in their arrangements – by attending a carnival, music festivals and firework displays – you could also take a while away from it all and go back to the roots of the nation this year – and avoid some of the mess and noise that we now create!

1) Visit The Declaration Of Independence Itself!
What is it all about anyway?  Do your kids (or you yourself) even know the full story of how the country evolved, and how some of the great names like Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson were associated with this historic day were actually involved?

Taking a full day to explore the National Archives in Washington DC, and read through all the build up and the after effects of it’s historic signing in 1776.  The Archives also holds the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – so you will certainly be an American history buff by the time you leave!

Admission is always free and there are no separate lines to view the documents – you can wander around as you please – although there is no photography of filming allowed for obvious security reasons.  But do watch National Treasure before you go to give you a little taster of what it’s all about!

2) Go See Mount Vernon, Virginia - The Home Of George Washington.
Known affectionately as ‘the father of our country’ it would be wrong not to take time to learn about his life and achievements and appreciate his life and his actions.  He was of course the first president of the United States and sat for 2 terms before retiring to Mount Vernon.

He achieved many things during his busy life including winning many battles during the Battle for Independence during the American Revolution, implementing laws that still stand today and working on his farm!

There are many myth and ‘true’ stories about him and his life, including skipping a coin across the Potomac, having wooden false teeth and wearing a wig!  Other actual facts include being infertile, having ginger hair, serving no political party, making a law to make sure that future presidents can only serve 2 terms in office after he got ‘forced into his second term and actually being born British!

3) Be Amazed At Mount Rushmore – and hang around in the Black Hills after……
You wouldn’t be American if you hadn’t seen Mount Rushmore in South Dakota!  So make sure you go visit here if you haven’t already – and why not make a long weekend out of it with a visit to the Rockies!

The giant faces of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (writer of the Declaration of Independence and the 3rd US President) stare off into the distance on this massive edifice to American History.

Alongside these 2 hugely influential characters are Abraham Lincoln – 16th US President; and Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt – 26th US President.  All 4 men have greatly influenced the United States today!

Taking 14 years to complete (well, it ran out of funds at the shoulders) these 18 meter tall heads cover an area of over 1000 square meters!  They are now in the hands of the US National Park Service, and around 2 million people a year visit the site.  And it has a chamber behind the faces containing plaques with the Declaration of Independence text inscribed!

Happy Holidays!

posted by Travel Cat on Jun 5

Easter Island is a must see for anyone with a taste for something unique!

Stranded out in the Pacific Ocean just south of the Tropic of Capricorn – and around 3700km’s west of it’s mainland ‘owners’ Chile – Easter Island: Rapa Nui – sits proudly atop 3 joined volcano cones (all extinct).

This delightful island was home to an amazing but mysterious Polynesian culture who carved and mounted huge statues between 1300 to 1890 years ago according to current research, but have since died out.  Polynesian people have since repopulated the island and still live there today.

Easter Island Facts:
Technically the most remote inhabited island in the world, this tiny land mass is no longer than 25km long and around 12km wide at it’s extremities – perfect for exploring on foot, bike or horse.  The whole island is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The island has moderate weather all year although July and August are the coldest months and January to March the warmest – and hence their busiest season.  Throughout the rest of the year, you could virtually have the place to yourself!

There is only really 1 town on the whole island – and this is where everything is – so if you are planning treks, hikes and overnight camping – you had better take all your supplies with you!  And as there is only 1 town – you can be sure that that is where everyone will be for the islands’ main Tapita Rapa Nui festival through February – so book ahead to be involved in this amazing festival – or make sure you visit at another time if you want a room!

As there is virtually no large scale development here, you will experience a real feeling of community, with everyone knowing everyone else and family run businesses on every corner.  Great for getting things done out there – just ask your landlady and she will know someone who can help!

The Easter Island Statues:
These huge rock structures are the main draw of Easter Island – and when you come face to face with them you will see why.  Hand-carved and dragged across the island these massive monuments are made of solid lumps of volcanic ash and can weigh as much as 82 tonnes!

Often referred to as the ‘Easter Island Heads’, these hand-carved monuments are mostly whole bodies and torsos – very few are ‘just heads’ and some of the ‘just heads you might see are actually buried whole statues – just swallowed up by the soil moving down hill over the centuries!

The statues are called Moai, and they can be found all over the island in groups or alone, facing the sea or facing inland, with or without brightly painted eyes and clothes.  But never-the-less majestic!

Some are not even complete – they are still laying on the ground half-carved beside the very rock face they were chipped from all those years ago.  It does however give us a valuable insight into their construction.

There are 887 Moai on the island or in museums – all completely unique faces and body size – so a few days on the island will allow you to find and admire several hundred of them – and many of them are found in groups on top of platforms called Ahu and are very symbolic to the local people (so please don’t walk on them!).

What Else Is On The Island?
Well, as with any ancient culture, there are traces of the past and here that involves much stone work including caves and a variety of petrographs – images etched into the surface of important stones.

There are many other stone structures and with possible astronomical significance (although not widely accepted as such) as well as wall, graves and other archaeology.

There is hardly any wildlife mind you – with no large or even small native mammals.  Infact nearly all the animals on the island have been brought in by local people either for farming or a stowaways on boats! 

And due to the nature of the islands history (very turbulent and very tree chopping) there are no remaining endemic trees or other large vegetation – most of the trees currently on the island were only recently planted.  It is a very barren place – with no permanent streams or rivers either!

There is plenty of open space though – and some amazing and isolated sandy beaches to enjoy – with some great surf too!  But is island life for you? 

Well – you should go there for a week or 2 and find out!