Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on May 30

Why wait with everyone else at the airport – when you can choose your own plane!

If you fly a lot as part of your job or you just love travelling to new places – then why not consider buying into private jets?

Now this doesn’t mean that you have to buy a ‘share’ of one plane, or fork out for specific plane that you can only use for a few hours a year.

I mean join a Jet Charter scheme where you can pick and choose the private jet that suits your needs at the time.

They Are All Different:
There are many such schemes available for the frequent flyer – so make sure that you look out for the things that are most important to you.

I bet that safety is one of those things – so your first check should be to see that their entire fleet meet the high flight safety specifications of FAA Part 135 for example. Well, you don’t want to have to worry about any of the planes that you fly in – you want guaranteed assurances that they all meet strict safety regulations as part of the service!

Secondly, check things that relate to your own comfort and plans; like how quickly could you book flight at short notice?

Do they have a huge choice of different jets for larger groups or for just you and a colleague? Do they know about your dietery requirements in advance or do you have to keep telling them for every flight!

Do they expect huge deposits to ‘join’ and then fly – and are there certain time and cost limitations.

The Little Things:
And so what if you have a latest jet ready just 10 hours after ordering – what if they don’t have the drink you like?

What if everytime you called to arrange a flight you had to speak to a different person and go through all your details again time after time?

And what if your flight time was shifted at peak times to suit the airport instead of you?

You may as well check all of these things are covered with your jet company – otherwise you could be paying for a less-than-perfect service. Watch these Private Jet videos to get a taster of quality you should expect…..

There are plenty of companies out there that want your custom – so why not be a little bit fussy?

Only choose the company that offers you everything you would expect – plus a little bit more.

If you are going to be on the jet for 5 hours with an important client – that last thing you want is for them to be allergic – and you can’t give them any of the onboard food!

Expect More and make sure you get it – and it could be for a better price too!

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 4

Imagine that ‘dream’ yachting adventure you’ve always wanted – then just book it!

You don’t need to wait and see what each yacht can offer and then have to choose between them – you should be able to decide on the things you want your boat to offer and then find your perfect boat!

Whether it’s got to be large enough for 30 guests or small enough for just the family – no worries; whether you need to stay in touch with your business with a large wi-fi office space or you want to get away from it all with plenty of outside space – no worries; whether you want a large crew to supply your needs or if you want a small launch boat available so that you can entertain yourself on land – no worries!

On your hand-picked luxury yacht charter - you’re the boss!

How Do You Find The Perfect Yacht?
You could use a travel agent, ask a friend or trawl the internet looking for that perfect yacht – but I will guarantee that you will hit many dead ends before you do.

They might have the first few things on your list – like availability and enough berths – but then they might not be able to travel to the places you want to see, or they might not have an onboard gym or jacuzzi – so you have to start looking all over again. Or end up settling for something less than you wanted.

So, why not go straight to a website that can do everything for you; only offers the best, and which has the experience to know what you need – and to find it for you.

We are already busy enough these days – without having to waste time checking that everything we expect is included – so why not leave these things to the experts and you know you won’t be able to find fault.

And Fraser Yachts can offer you just this – an expert to find you the boat that suits your exact needs at a time that you want it!

photo credit: emuphoto

The Ultimate Yacht:
Just one look at their website will tell you how much they care about their customers and you can also see examples of their excellent standards with images of the crew and some of the smaller rooms they offer.

They haven’t just shown you a handful of the ‘best bits’ – they have shown you an image of almost every part of their yachts allowing you to get a true picture of all the boats they have to offer.

And they cater for all sizes too – whether you want a compact 26 meter yacht to cruise the South Pacific with a handful of friends or you want a 70 meter mega yacht charter for 30 friends in the Caribbean – it’s all on their website.

With access to a large number of the best boats on the water – your dream vacation could become a reality for you. So all you need to decide is when you want to go – and they will do the rest!

Looking at some of the boats available – this would be so much better than hiring 5 or 6 rooms in a hotel for your family – or conference facilities for that work meeting!

Imagine a week of totally undisturbed bliss in crystal clear waters on your super yacht charter! No interuptions during business, no other ‘tourists’ getting in your way and only having to unpack once – but getting to see as many different destinations as you want.

It puts ordinary vacations to shame!

posted by Travel Cat on Feb 15

Michel Thomas Language Program – “No Books, No Writing – Just Confidence” (CD).

If you have a job driving around, sitting in the same place for a period of time or if you have a lot of time free wherever you are – then you should really consider this CD course.

There are no text books to buy or read, no notes to take, no grammer to repeat over and over – just easy listening and some humour!

I chose the Spanish course from his selection although that isn’t his only language course available.

The Course:
Based on things he learnt through his time in the 2nd World War, Michel Thomas sets about teaching the language in a way that you won’t find with other such language courses.

I was looking for a course that didn’t repeat all the ‘normal’ stuff over again – and I found it here.

The creator of these courses is multi-lingual although he still holds a noticable accent to his voice – however, that offers a certain quality to the recordings. His voice is very soft, gentle, understanding and very characterful – it holds you through the course, and helps you through.

He tells you at the very beginning that the responsibility of learning the language which you have chosen is totally with him. It is not your job to learn this language through hard work and endless effort; it is his job to teach you the language in such a way that you remember it easily.

However, rather than teaching you the nouns and getting you to add them to a set sentance: for example ‘I would like to buy a…” and then teach you coffee/tea/orange juice/water/train ticket/hat/room for the night, he teaches you the verbs which are more important to speaking the language.

You can use the words ‘here’, there’, ‘it’ and ‘this’ for most things, and by learning ‘I do’ and ‘I do not’ can help you string a whole conversation together.

For example, rather than teaching you just to say ‘ I would like a coffee with milk and no sugar’, he can teach you to say ‘I would like to buy one of those please, with that, but I would not like that – and I would like one of those as well’. Something which could be used in almost any situation – not just coffee shop ordering!

He has opened up the whole world of the language by teaching you how the verbs conjugate and where to put the pronoun. Now I know that sounds a bit grammatical, but it just means that he teaches you the rules for the word endings and in which order they need to be.

For example: you learn a verb – say: to buy (comprar), and he teaches you (through examples) to say ‘I am buying’ (compro), ‘he is buying’ (compra) and ‘we are buying’ (compramos). Then with the same rule you can substitute any other similar verb with the same ending, so ‘cortar’ becomes corto, corta and cortamos and ‘ganar’ becomes gano, gana and ganamos. Easy!

And the way that in English we say ‘I am not buying it’ he teaches you to put the words in a different order to be understood abroad, which in this instance will be the confusing translation of ‘No it I am buying’! But through encouragement and repetition with his 2 students – it all fits together perfectly.

And I often found myself laughing at the students attempt to get it right when I had already shouted out the right answer! However, there were occassions when I shouted out the answer with pride, only to have got it completely wrong! Good job it is only me in the car!

The Results:
I have really enjoyed this course and found myself replaying the CD’s for the fun of it rather than because I hadn’t understood it.

Michel Thomas has a very interesting voice and accent, and his mannerisms really help you to pace yourself over the course and to remember key points – like using the correct stresses and pronouncing each letter clearly.

It was lovely to hear his students learning with him in the recordings and they seemed to learn from the course as easily as I did. I have already got my hands on a set of his Advanced CD Course to continue off from where the first course finished!

posted by Travel Cat on Jan 11

When you next travel to the States – you can stay wherever you want!

Finding a place to stay for the night is no longer a problem – with the internet you can find somewhere to spend the night at the very last minute. Basically you can book a room, check in and be in bed – all within 10 minutes!

No longer do you have to book through an agent 6 months in advance, or call dozens of hotels from overseas to try to find an available room – just search online when ever you want to! You want Gainesville hotels Click Here! It is all so simple now that the worries people have around finding holiday accommodation is virtually eliminated!

This is made even easier in an English speaking country like the States, as you can read any hotel webpages for the area you are hoping to stay in – and make a choice at the touch of a button.

Want It Even Easier?
Now, if looking at individual hotel websites even seems like too much effort – then why not use one of the many websites that does all the searching for you.

You type in the area you like and the price range – and they find all the hotels with available rooms at a price you like! You don’t need to scan around looking for anything – it will all be right there in front of you!

You choose what you want included and they find it – and if you can’t see what you like and you want to view more Long Beach Hotels – then click a button, and more appear before your very eyes!

More Specific:
Sometimes however, you do want to plan things in advance as you have very specific requirements for your trip – say for example you have a large group travelling together, several young children, pets, or special dietary requirements. Sometimes you can’t be too fussy – so need to check out all the options.

You can still choose the area you want to visit obviously – but the lovely period hotel you like by the canal might not be suitable or have enough rooms; the hotel closest to your relatives or a themepark might not have your dietary requirements or allow pets etc.

And this is where searching online is a real bonus – it can allow you to do a massive all-inclusive search – so you can for example; see all Huntsville hotels, or all Orlando motels – so that you can pick out the features you prefer way in advance, and get the place you like!

If only everything you had to do was a simple as this – but then a vacation is all about relaxing isn’t it, so why not start as you mean to go on!

posted by Travel Cat on Oct 20

Pimsleur Language Programs – “Speak Spanish with easy-to-use audio lessons (CD).

If you ever wanted to take a language course where you could complete it without too much stress and loads of different exercises – then this is the one for you!  There is no text book to refer to or different accents to contend with – just simple words and phrases repeated over and over.

I chose the Latin American Spanish series for the whole of Central and South America rather than just ‘true’ Spanish from Europe

The Course: 
Based on the idea that the use of memory is the best way to learn a language,  the creator of these courses sets about repetition of common words and phrases at a very basic level – bit not so repetitive that you get bored stiff!

It builds up on each lesson to the next and introduces every single new word slowly and patiently, rather than sticking a whole sentence on you.  And it doesn’t go over the same old points that every other basic language course goes over every time you take up a new language again.  You will not need to repeat your name to random other people – or tell them where you live!

The number of times on different courses where I have learnt to tell people where I am from, what type of house I live in and how to find the Town Hall drives me mad!  It’s so frustrating to go over the same things over and over – but this course took away that ‘here we go again’ thought – possibly as there is no accompanying book to thumb through first and see those conversations in advance!

There is a conversation in Spanish at the start of each CD between a male and female Spanish speaker which you may just be able to follow – however bit by bit you repeat and learn the words and phrases that they had used but in different forms rather than just working towards repeating their conversation.

It breaks up longer words into sounds rather then expecting you to learn to whole word from the off.  And although you do pick up all the words relatively easy, there are a lot of similar conversations on each CD: but saying that, it gives you great practice in speaking out loud!

The Results: 
If you haven’t tried a language before then this would be a perfect start – you would comfortably be able to complete the course and come away with a basic grasp of pronunciation and a few basic conversation points – like ‘I don’t speak Spanish’ and ‘I am from America, not England’ as well as a few getting around things like ‘Where is the bathroom’ or ‘Where is the Hotel So-And-So?’

And if you have a basic grasp of the above type of points – then it is still worth a go as you will get to use them in conversations with real language speakers, and like me, found an easier way to remember the difference between ‘I know’ and ‘I understand’ which I always said the wrong way around before.