Keep track of your family vacation!

I always kept a diary or journal as a child. In the journal would be information like the date, what I did, who I met and if I had a good day or a bad day.

Well, guess what, as an adult, when I travel I also keep a journal. The journal contains information like the date we left for our vacation, the date we arrived at our destination, the people we met, whether or not we had a good time, what activities we did and what we saw while we were there. I also keep contact information on the people we meet, if they give it to me, so that I can keep in contact with them. Great way to make new friends. If we had a bad experience, it is noted and we know not to return there and why. It is so much fun and I can look back in the journal from year to year just to see what my experiences were while I was traveling on the road or at my destination visiting tourist sites. I have put menus in my journal from favorite restaurants, brochures from my favorite tourist sites etc.

The best thing about keeping a journal is that the whole family can contribute. Not everyone is going to enjoy the same things. You would have the information about what you enjoyed doing or experiencing as a family and know to do the same type of activity or vacation again knowing that your family enjoyed it, maybe going camping, going hiking, going on a cruise, or just relaxing in a hotel that had a pool or was located by a beach. If you stayed at the same location for a length of time you can enter into your journal whether or not there was enough activities for the whole family to enjoy. Maybe you had to travel around quite a bit to find activities for members of your family to enjoy. Sometimes, this can be costly and really not a lot of fun if you have to do a lot of driving. Not very relaxing, which is what a vacation is all about.

You can put anything you want into your travel journal. It is your reference, from personal experience, about everything that you did on a vacation, people you meet, restaurants, activities you enjoy, things you see. It is your own personal travel guide from first hand experience. It is also easy to take with you. (more…)

If you’re a business traveler and you do business all over the world, and if you do business in the Middle East, eventually you’ll find yourself traveling to Saudi Arabia. The United States is a big trader with Saudi Arabia, and luckily they reciprocate and buy a lot of goods from the United States, as obviously we buy a lot of oil from that country, and they are the head of OPEC.

Still, before you travel to one of the world hotspots I would recommend that you read up a little history on this nation so you understand what’s going on, how you should act, and a little bit about the culture as well. In fact I feel so strongly about this I’d like to recommend a very good book to you, and it is a book that I own personally, and the name of the book is;

“Saudi Arabia” (The World’s Hot Spots Series) by Adrian Sinkler (book editor), Greenhaven Press (a Thompson Gale Company), New York, NY, (2003), 159 pages, ISBN: 0-7377-1812-9.

In this book you will learn about the history, and some of the current tensions between the Royal family and the citizens. Also you can learn how oil has changed the country, and how Saudi Arabia played a part in Gulf War one, and two. You will also understand some of the aggression against the United States from some of the Muslims there. And you will learn about the prospects of future reform, and the chance that the house of Saud could fall at the hands of the people.

Indeed, as we watch the governments of Tunisia and Egypt fall, and we will likely see the government of Iran make major changes, such overthrow’s could also happen in Saudi Arabia, and this could have serious effects for the region, oil supply, and America’s involvement in the Middle East. As a business traveler it could also affect your business dealings, and your personal safety if you happen to be traveling there as major problems occur. (more…)

There are a number of different methods used to travel around the world. Some choose to quickly move from place to place with a strict itinerary, following their schedule in order to go to as many significant points in their short allotted time frame. Other people travel as a vacation, doing as much as much as they can, or nothing at all, within their holiday from work. Still others aim to travel the world slowly, searching for experience and learning from other cultures and countries. Though travel in all forms is a great part of life to experience, the benefits of long term travel have the most impact when there is enough time to slow things down and observe life.

In order to fully experience a culture, it’s necessary to plan for long term travel. Quick visits to a country leave quick mental pictures or lasting initial impressions, but the traveler is unable to fully grasp a countries cultures. When a traveler is able to remain in a culture for a long period of time, it’s possible to interact with others, eat local cuisine, and observe traditions. Enjoying meals with local inhabitants of the country is a great way to submerge into the people group and begin to gain practical knowledge. An entire new cultural dimension is revealed from taking the time for long term travel.

Traveling on a long term basis is a great way to save money while traveling. Short term travel is usually a vacation away from home, an excuse to spoil yourself staying at fancy hotels, eating classy cuisine, and partying the nights away. Long term travel, on the other hand, is not so much a vacation as it is just living permanently as a nomad but in a different country. There are opportunities to visit tourist sites and do a bit of occasional pampering, but continuous travel is more about fitting in and living normal life. Instead of staying in an expensive hotel for a week, long term travelers are able to find an apartment for a few months and eat native cuisine. Expensive tourist attractions can be spread out over time so they aren’t jumbled together in a pricey week of sightseeing.

Long term travel presents the opportunity to really get involved and pursue any sort of passion you might have. No matter if you are interested in volunteering at an orphanage, learning a new language, studying the history of a country, digging deep into a local cuisine, or pursuing a position as a school teacher, there are all kinds of individual chances abroad. Quick travel itineraries leave little option to get fully involved with anything, yet slow paced travel is a great way to make a lasting difference. (more…)