20 Tips to Make Leisure Travel More Relaxing

Travel Tips
The Top 20 Best Traveling Tips
As a frequent traveler, I have learned a few tips that make traveling easier. In this article, you will find a list of uncomplicated, easy-to-understand traveling tips that will make any trip easier on you.
1. Make your luggage stand out. This can be done by tying a strip of fabric around your luggage handle. Be sure to use a brightly colored piece of fabric so that you can spot it easily and quickly.
2. Instead of his and hers suitcases, split each person's clothes in half and pack two suitcases that contain clothes for both of you. This way, if a piece of luggage is lost, no one is left with nothing to wear.
3. Make sure you have cloud-based email. If you don't have an email account, set up a free one.
4. Before you leave for your trip, take pictures of all your important documents and credit cards and then email the pictures to your email account. This ensures that you can still access your important information if anything is lost or stolen. Documents that you should take pictures of include your
-Passport and driver's license
-Trip itinerary, including the name of your hotel
-Luggage claim checks
-Credit cards that you are taking on the trip with you (both front and back).
5. If you are traveling out of the country, make sure to carry extra passport-size photos with you. This will help you get another passport quickly if yours is lost or stolen.
6. In addition to your cell phone, laptop and computer, make sure to pack the proper chargers for those devices. If you are traveling somewhere that only has two-prong electrical outlets, you will also need the right adapter.
7. Buy or borrow a universal adapter that will work for all electronics. To make sure that it will work for your hair dryer or curling iron, make sure it is a power converter as well.
8. Don't overload your wallet with credit cards that you won't use. This means you can leave your store credit cards, discount cards and Social Security card at home.
9. Make sure to call your bank and credit card companies to notify them of your trip. Failure to do this may lead to the card issuers declining your cards as a precaution. A simple call lets them note your trip and expected locations.
10. Don't rely on just one credit card for your whole trip; take at least two. Leave one card in the hotel safe and use the other. This way if you lose one, you will have a backup.
11. You may be tempted to wear all of your best jewelry while on vacation. However, that also makes you very attractive to thieves. If you can't leave home without some bling, consider some well-crafted fake jewelry.
12. To help deter theft, male travelers should carry their wallet in a front pocket with two rubber bands wrapped around it.
13. For the same reasons, women should carry their purses in front of them with the strap of the purse across their chest.
14. Think all little kids are innocent? Think again. Groups of children who swarm travelers are often pickpockets. So beware of groups of children who try to swarm you.
15. Pickpockets often bump into you while stealing from you. If this happens to you, immediately check your pockets. If you find that you have just been robbed, scream as loud as you can to draw immediate attention to the matter.
16. You may not have time to learn a new language before you travel abroad, but you should at least take a list of popular traveler phrases with you. When creating this list, you should think of things that you will need to know rather quickly while traveling. Some of the subjects you will want to cover include the price of items, bathroom locations and your hotel location.
17. Before you leave for your trip, call your cell phone provider. Roaming cell phone charges can be very expensive, so you will want to see if there is a foreign plan that you can switch to during your trip.
18. Make sure to carry all your minimum necessities in your carry-on bag including a change of clothes, extra undergarments and toothpaste, deodorant and possibly a razor. If you are going somewhere colder than where you have been, you will want to make sure your coat or jacket is in your carry-on, not in your checked luggage.
19. In addition to extra clothes and toiletries in your carry-on, you should also pack any electronics, fine jewelry or other valuables in your carry-on. If it is valuable to you, and you can't carry it on the plane, you should probably leave it at home.
20. To make sure each trip is a success, you should ALWAYS BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE. While there are various types of insurance that offer different levels of protection, all travel insurance policies give you the peace of mind that you will be taken care of while traveling.

Michael Schad is the Director of Internet Marketing for Go Travel, an agency with over 32 years of experience in the travel industry. Go Travel will create the perfect vacation, customized to your dreams, tailored to your budget! The next time you are planning a vacation, visit http://www.gotravel.com. We can save you time and money!

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Running Your Own Hotel or Motel

Compared to the traditional residential investments, running your own hotel or motel provides much more upside potential of the investment returns. In general, hotel or motel properties have two categories: flagged and unflagged properties.
Flagged properties
Flagged properties are properties that associated with a national chain or franchise. For the lenders' point of view, flagged properties are premium real estate. Franchised hotels or motels generally have higher occupancy rates due to the better national marketing campaigns and national exposure. The hotel franchisers will also offer greater support in the form of national reservation system and other daily management support. The disadvantage of the flagged property is that the franchisee has to meet the strict set of criteria set by the franchiser. Therefore, you may lose part of the control of the property. Moreover, in return of the services the franchiser has provided, you are expected to pay an annual basic franchising fees plus a fraction of profit from the sales growth of your business.
Unflagged properties
Unflagged properties are in dependently operated hotels or motels not connect with a national chain or franchise. Due to the lack of national exposure and support, if you are a new hotel or motel property investor has little or no successful investment experience, unflagged properties are much more difficult to operate. The only advantage of owing an unflagged property is that you don't need to pay national franchising fees and have full control of the property in all aspects from design to daily operation.
Additional fees and expenses
On top of the more complicated management and operation, investing in hotels and motels is also expected to pay additional fees and expenses. Transportation such as airport shuttles, taxis, or bus services may affect the operating costs of the property. Resorts that use other public or private amenities such as lake, health clubs, casinos, park or nature preserve may also be subject to use fees or membership requirements. For example, a lakeside hotel which has its own yacht club may expect to pay the user fees of the lake in addition to the cost of the yacht purchases. For bed-and breakfast properties, investors have to be careful of zoning restrictions, business licenses, and health department requirements. Because most of these businesses are residential-turned commercial properties, they incur costs of meeting government requirements.
No matter which type of hotels or motels you are investing in. Location, amenities, ages, management, and the property's physical condition all play a part how the property performs financially. Understand the strength and weakness of the property and address the problem in the early stage is crucial for the success of the investment.
Fewer lenders are eager to finance the purchase of hotels and motels, and those who are willing to consider it want to see stronger numbers than they'd require for multifamily, office, or retail properties. If you need to finance for the property purchase, make sure you work with a commercial loan broker who has access to specific hotel/motel lenders.

Learn more about real estate investments, visit http://todaysrealestateworld.com/

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Benefits of Transportable Homes

Transportable homes are surely one of the best investments one could ever make; as, the list of advantages and benefits of using them instead of the popular fixed site constructed homes are immense. Let's take a look at some of the benefits of a transportable home:
Environmentally Friendly
No matter whether you've bought a transportable park cabin or any other type of transportable home, the impact of your home on the environment is negligible when compared to that of fixed homes. First and foremost, the impact on the micro flora as well as micro fauna living on the soil is reduced as you're not excavating land nor damaging the top layer of the soil.
Your new home can be made energy efficient as the options are open when it comes to choosing the materials for your home. An energy efficient transportable home indirectly saves the environment too. Also, some manufactures would be willing to use high quality, recycled materials to ensure your home is the strongest and at the same time saving the environment by reducing the amount of waste on the planet.
Your home your choice!
Transportable park cabins are gaining popularity all across the country as well as the world. One of the most prominent features of these transportable homes is the high level of personalization that you can achieve. You're free to choose the roofing, materials put into the wall as well as flooring and paint! So, you're totally free to choose anything that you wish, hence, your home will surely be a dream come true.
They are stronger
Transportable homes are meant to be transported. But, for them to be transported safely without them undergoing any form of unwanted stress, they need to be reinforced. Since these homes are reinforced, it makes them stronger and more durable to storms and any other form of destruction that nature may fling at it such as: tornadoes, floods and even earthquakes.
Good insulation
Transportable homes especially the ones that you move around often, including park cabins have very good insulation. These homes are naturally smaller as they have to move on roads. In order to further reduce energy bills, they are insulated well - it's up to you to customize further if needed. No matter what form of heating you use, they retain the heat and hence, they're going to save you plenty of money!
Therefore, if you're looking for a cheap, cool and eco-friendly home, transportable homes are going to be a perfect choice. Park Cabins seem to be the best option if you're a caravan friendly person.

transportable homes and park cabins are what makes us famous. Take a look at the wide range of opportunities that we offer you. Customization is our key and you're free to choose any design you wish.

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Make Money Investing in Texas Real Estate

Foreign and domestic investors alike are throwing their hat into the Texas property arena. In the current state of the economy, it may very well be the safest and most profitable investment in the United States.
Lets take a quick look at the market in Houston right now...
Last May marked the 12th consecutive month of positive sales and growth in the Houston real estate market. The sales of single-family homes rose 29% since May of last year with and 8.5% increase in average sales price. Strong sales on homes from $250,000 and up pushed the average housing price up to historic levels.
For potential investors, probably the most important statistic is month end pending sales, which totaled 4,476, up 10.5% since last May. This suggests a further increase in sales for the upcoming months. Foreclosed sales totaled 7,327 in May, an increase of over 24% from that of last year. The large volume of sales has caused the price of these foreclosed homes to rise 4.1% to over $80,000 per home.
All this positive news may come as a surprise to many people. It is true, buyers and sellers alike are experiencing a national market filled with over-appreciated homes and a shortage of home-buyers. Texas seems to be the anomaly. Why?
"Texas Real Estate defies US property market" says Texas Real Estate Magazine.
Texas has an impressive 11.5% estimated profit increase according to the ROI. Of course, profit increase doesn't mean much to investors who have trouble finding tenants, such as in areas with high unemployment like California and Detroit. It's a good thing that Houston is a job creating machine that expects to have created more than 810,000 new jobs by the end of 2012.
Is Houston good for foreign investors?
In the past year, Texas has accounted for 10% of all international sales by foreign investors, coming in 3rd behind Florida (26%) and California (16%). There are a couple of reasons why foreign investors have suddenly turned their eyes toward the Lone Star. First, Texas has the single most self-sustaining economy in the country, experiencing stable growth on all levels. Second, Texas is one of the easiest states for foreign investors to set up an LLC.
Homes are going fast with an 18.1% decline in available listings over the past year. Also, the number of available single family homes has reached its lowest point in the past 5 years. The market is in a position where the sooner you act, the more returns you're likely to earn.

Investment Adviser for U.S Invest, a company that specializes in us property investment for Australians. We help you purchase exclusive properties with the best possible returns and the lowest amount of risk.

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What Are Conveyancing Fees? A Guide for First Home Buyers

Conveyancing quotes can be quite confusing especially to homeowners who are not well conversant on what they are all about. However, they are usually not complicated, and once homeowners have the full understanding of what conveyance fee is all about they will be in much better position to select the best conveyance quote. When giving out instructions to the conveyance solicitor, they should ask that they are provided with a quotation, which has two crucial parts; the basic fee, and the second a register of disbursements.
Basic conveyancing fee
A basic conveyancing fee includes; solicitor's initial fee, which are the payments for the time and knowledge spent, and they vary depending on the kind of the company individuals are dealing with, and the mode of payments calculation. There are three methods that are commonly used. For instance, some solicitors companies charge individuals fixed fees; however, this is gradually becoming unpopular. Secondly, other solicitors offer hour charges, and homeowners are advised to avoid this method, because if any delay occurs during conveyance process, individuals could end up paying a huge amount of money bill. Thirdly, the most common and widely used method is the sliding scale that is based on the property's value in question.
For instance, when individuals are selling leasehold properties the basic fee will likely be higher. Conveyance solicitors should always consult whether properties being sold are based on freeholds or leaseholds. On the other hand, disbursements involve charges that are added to basic fee and any other costs sustained by the solicitor, and are directly charged to individuals. Conveying process also incorporates various numbers of checks and procedures which earn small or standard sized charges which are paid to individuals. Solicitors are entitled to add up all these disbursements, and include them on the basic fee and later provide an invoice of the total costs.
Quantity of disbursements depends on the house being sold or bought; however, some are included in all conveyancing fees.
When comparing quotes, be sure to check if there are any hidden costs, and also search for reviews in Google that have been posted by others that have used that particular service to see how they rate regarding customer service.
Buying your first home can be an extremely stressful venture, so taking a few minutes to compare services available and competing fees helps you choose the right conveyancing solicitor to save you money, time and effort.

For more information on conveyancing fees visit http://www.conveyancingfees.co.uk

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How to Protect Yourself in Real Estate Litigation

If you are interested in purchasing or selling property, it is always a good idea to have some sort of legal counsel on hand to educate you on the finer points of real estate litigation. No one ever really talks about how they were almost done completing the purchase or a sale of a property only to end up in court because the other party decided they wanted to alter the terms of agreement and will not compromise or work thing out cordially.
Disputes happen every day, especially if the contract was misrepresented, misread or ignored. When this happens, the type of dispute that arises is so hard to resolve between the parties that are involved, that real estate litigation is often needed to resolve the issue and complete the purchase.
Since the laws surrounding property transactions can be very confusing, even to a professional agent, some kind of counsel is needed, especially if the matter is going to wind up in real estate litigation. Even disagreements between the builder and the person or company that commissioned the builder can arise and since it is very hard to resolve such matters without one or both parties breeching the contract and causing even further complications to develop. The real estate litigation process is a great resource to have.
It is a good idea to have legal counsel, if you are in facing foreclosure as well. Most people, who find themselves dealing with this type of situation, often are in disagreements ad disputes with their lenders. Many people are not aware they have this resource. Sometimes things can happen where a lender has resorted to some unscrupulous tactics to take back a home and foreclose on a client. Often it is hard for a person to prove that they are the victim. By hiring an attorney and filing for real estate litigation, the lawyer can get the proof that is needed to prove the victim's case. Once the facts are out in the light, it is possible to reverse the foreclosure process and keep their home.
No matter what role you play in any property transactions and no matter what type of process you are involved in, it is always a good idea to have a lawyer just in case a problem arises where further intervention is needed.
Remember, any real estate venture you are undertaking is an investment and you need to protect your interest at any cost. You don't want to inadvertently end up out of thousands of dollars and nothing to show for it. To keep yourself from getting the bad end of the deal, you should have someone who is educated and trained on matters dealing with real estate litigation. That way any modifications that are needed can be done and presented to the other parties that are involved. This can go on until all parties are completely satisfied with any arrangements that are made and stipulated in the contracts.

Getting advice from a professional with Chicago IL real estate litigation  experience can help you avoid costly errors. To make your next property transaction a smooth one, go to  http://www.voelkerlitigationgroup.com.

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How To Find A House For Sale

When you have recently bought a house and you think you got what you're looking for and then one day you saw this beautiful house for sale in your neighborhood, how would you feel? More likely, you'll feel disappointed and all. But always remember, there will always be houses for sale with different designs and price ranges in different locations. In other words, be glad you 're finally done with all the process. The ones who could use a few helpful tips on how to find a house for sale with the best deal are the first-time home buyers.
The most important thing that a home buyer should do is prepare himself for all the work associated with buying a house. Even if you hire a real estate to guide and assist you, you should always get yourself involved. An agent will present you with different opportunities and get you the best deal, but the final decision will be yours.
If you are still in the stage of searching for a property and you know the location, you can easily start looking up online. However, you may not get a complete listing online as compared to having a real estate agent lay all the opportunities on the table. While there are success stories of home buyers getting their dream house without the help of an agents, a lot of people found the benefits of having an agent doing the job for them.
However, if you are not in such a hurry of buying a property, that lets you buy a lot of time making inquiries, looking at newspapers, asking friends, browsing online, or collecting brochures. But if you don't have much time, then a broker can help you every step of the way.
The best thing about having a agent working for you is that you don't get to spend a lot of time visiting all potential properties. You only need to provide detailed information on what you are looking for in a house and the agent will do the initial evaluation for you. Once the agent found a few properties that match to what you are looking for, that's the time to visit each of the house for you to choose from.
In addition to that, real estate agents will negotiate on your behalf so you get the best deal. The fact that they know everything about the real estate industry, they should be able to negotiate the property so you get the right price. If you are to sum it all up, hiring a real estate agent to find you a house for sale that meets your requirements and get you the best deal is more convenient than doing the house-hunting yourself. Would you agree?

Click here for more information on how you can find a house for sale with the help of a real estate agent. You may also want to check out a listing of available properties.

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