Tips for a Great Holiday

We all love holidays but sometimes holidays can go terribly wrong or you may end up wasting lots of time without proper planning. So what can you do to ensure your holiday works out just the way you want it to be?

• Always plan for your holiday early.
• Book your flight tickets and accommodation early so you can take advantage of any special discounts.
• Do lots of research on great sites such as Virtual Tourist or Tripadvisor to get honest reviews from travellers from all over the world on your destination.
• Always check with your travel agent if you will require entry documents such as visas.
• Pack early so you don't forget important stuff such as passports and foreign currency.
• Plan a rough itinierary so you have an idea of what you wish to see or visit while there.

Most of all, enjoy yourself and have lots of fun! :)

Get Your Tickets with Viagogo

I’ll be heading off to the UK and hopefully, Europe, early next year. So far the itinerary’s looking quite open and we’re still wondering what activities to indulge ourselves in while we’re there. One thing I really hope to catch is a performance by one of my favourite singers, Michael Buble. I was surfing around, looking for tickets and found a great site called Viagogo which is one of the leading ticket hubs in Europe which had Michael Buble Concert Tickets all over England! I could have the option of watching him in Nottingham, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Cardiff, Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester or London. I’ll probably opt for the London one which will be held in Wembley Stadium as it will be closest to where I’ll be. My brother was also pleased to see that they had a huge range of Sports Tickets for the famous 2008 UEFA Football Match.

Viagogo is a novel site that brings together buyers and sellers of tickets from all over Europe. This gives hope to some of us who may be trying to get tickets for a popular concert, football match or theatre show that has been sold out. You have the option of looking for tickets at different prices, if you’re a buyer or selling your tickets for a decent price, if you’re a seller. I think it’s a great site for last minute travelers such as me who may decide to catch a concert or show on a whim. So if you’re headed over to Europe, don’t forget to check Viagogo before you go!

*This is a sponsored review*

Berjaya Nights Left

I just checked and found that I still have 3 nights left with my travel vacation club - Berjaya Holidays. These will expire by early November and I found that I have to complete my travel by then! Ironically, I joined this thinking that the 7 days they assign every year wouldn't be enough. Instead, now I find that I can barely finish using them up!

How ironical for someone like me who loves holidays!

Pain Relief When Travelling

Whenever we travel, we always make sure we pack a small kit of emergency medication for unwanted mishaps that might happen during our trip. Small things like Panadol or aspirin can be incredibly difficult to find in some smaller Third World countries and sometimes language barriers make buying medication from the pharmacies very difficult. We always ensure that we also pack a tube of Voltaren Emulgel as well whenever we travel. It’s a rub-in pain formula that provides fast relief from muscle and joint aches. It also works very well for sprains which came in very useful once when I was white-water rafting in Australia.

It contains an active ingredient called diclofenac which provides fast pain relief. Apparently the chemical can be harmful if ingested so do ensure that you keep it in a safe place away from children or pets. So, always ensure that you pack a little first aid kit before you travel filled with essentials like aspirin and pain relief medication or creams. Take a lesson from the Boy Scouts, always be prepared!

Quiet Downtime

I haven't been asked to travel yet in these past few weeks and I do welcome the mad change. I know there's another trip looming on the horizon but am hoping a little that I wouldn't be put on it. It's my birthday month and the worst thing that could happen will be for me to be away on my birthday with no one to celebrate it with ;(

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and lying low. Hopefully my quiet downtime continues!

Singapore Stint

I was in Singapore for a day trip last week. I don't really like day trips as they often work out pretty tiring with most of the time wasted on flying. However, for nearby places such as Singapore it works out okay as opposed to staying overnight there.

I like taking Singapore Airlines for these shuttle flights because they're the only airline I know that serves pink guava juice! One of my favourites! The flight was quite cold and they were quite nice about handing out blankets and pillows to those who needed them despite it just being a short hour-long flight.

In marked contrast, the Malaysia Airlines flight I took for the return was terribly hot and chaotic. It was a very full flight and for some reason, no one checked in their luggage so the whole plane was full of people trying to stuff their luggages into already crowded overhead compartments and holding up the queue of people trying to board. When asked, I was told that the airconditioning couldn't be turned on unless the engines were turned on! What a ridiculous excuse!

What a marked difference in flights. It makes me ashamed at times.

Little Casino Town

I was in Kazakhstan last month for work. I used to read about how the city we were going to, Almaty, used to have casinos at almost every corner. However, when we were there, I found that there wasn’t any poker tables in sight at all! We were later told that the Government had decided to move all casinos to a little mountain town away from the main cities. That way they could contain the casinos within one area for better control, just like what we did here. I think it’s a good idea and may actually help curtail gambling habits.