Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

Chateau Resort At A Glance

If you’re in search of the perfect location for a Valentine Getaway, then a Poconos getaway may possibly be precisely what you might be seeking. In specific, the Chateau Resort inside the Poconos is among the premiere destinations for a Poconos romantic getaway.

Generally inside the month of February it is possible to discover cost-effective packages for this unique day, the Chateau Resort characteristics “It’s Valentine’s Each day in February!” promotion.

This romantic getaway consists of several amenities and capabilities which are specific to create this Valentine’s Day weekend especially unforgettable.

This getaway functions overnight accommodations, chocolates and sparkling wine upon a couple’s arrival in the resort, candlelight dinner for two, plus a mimosa breakfast for two.

For a getaway filled with romance it’ll expense on typical about $95.00 an individual throughout the midweek and $135.00 an individual throughout the weekend.

On the other hand, these fees consist of all the taxes and gratuities that may be related together with your Valentine Getaway weekend, so all you and your partner want to do is focus on every single yet another. Make sure to make your reservations early possibly in January to make the most of any particular delivers!

As an added benefit, whenever you register for this getaway package, you’ll obtain a complimentary Murano Glass Heart Pendant, which has an approximate retail value of $218.00.

In addition, a couple will obtain a $50.00 discount off of any Ultra Diamond Acquire. If there’s a touch that could make your Poconos getaway additional romantic, it can be the touch of diamonds.

Beyond the generous capabilities and accommodations of this Poconos romantic vacation, the Chateau Resort property has quite a few amenities which will entice a couple. The property hosts indoor and outdoor pools, whirlpool and sauna, a fitness room, as well as a game room. The Mountain View Bar and Grille Restaurant is also situated on the resort’s premises.

The resort is in a prime location, nestled centrally near Bushkill Falls, the Camelback Ski Region, Pleased Trails Riding Stables, along with the Crossings Premium Outlet Mall.

The location of Chateau Resort will enable a couple to appreciate the very best that the Poconos has to give. As soon as you may have visited this resort, you’re guaranteed to need to return time and time once more.

Please visit our articles about 53 Bank and Poconos Resorts

Amazing Holidays To Turkey On Offer

Holidays to Turkey offer a person the opportunity of enjoying sunny beaches and blue seas, walking in the footsteps of legendary figures of bygone eras, exploring beautiful buildings and ancient artifacts and bustling bazaars. This country is a unique blend of the orient and western culture where trade has flourished for millenniums and tourists enjoy the heady mix.

Its diversity and ever changing scenery is awe-inspiring and will bring one back again and again to experience its many wonders. This country offers Cheap Holidays for young and old.

Whether one is a night owl and would prefer the bubbly atmosphere of a nightclub or whether one wants to experience the heart chilling excitement of white water rapids they will find it here. Local food is tasty and can be purchased from any of the numerous vendors, cafes and restaurants at affordable prices.

The country hosts many international events of which the world renowned Antalya Sand Sculpture Festival features high on the list. Up until November of this year people can view the more than one hundred sand sculptures of famous Hollywood film stars and thirty block buster movie scenes created by twenty-five globally acclaimed sand sculptors.

This area is the where three major religions, namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity have their roots and thousands of pilgrims flock to the country annually to visit numerous heritage sites. Magnificent churches, mosques and synagogues dot the landscape. The amazing mosaic work in some of these buildings has withstood onslaughts of both nature and man and can still be viewed nowadays.

Stall owners in the covered bazaars love a good haggle over a purchase price and tourists are advised to bargain for their purchases. Throughout the country there is excellent accommodation catering for all travel budgets and lifestyle requirements. Hotel personnel are helpful, efficient and will endeavor to make any holidays to Turkey special and unforgettable.

For great deals on all Holidays To Turkey First Visit The Holidaymate website

North Eastern Thailand

I met my wife while on vacation in Pattaya, which is about 45 minutes south of the new international airport by taxi and the airport is around halfway to Bangkok. I met her on the first day I arrived on a double date with a friend who was already there. Within a fortnight she took me back to meet her family in what I later discovered to be north-eastern Thailand.

Isaan is called north-eastern Thailand as well, which is actually confusing because where we are is further north but not so far east. Anyway, most individuals who call Isaan the north east live in Bangkok and Pattaya, the two big hang-outs for foreigners (called farang or falang in Thai), and we are all north-east from there.

One look at the map and you will see what I mean. If you travel north out of Bangkok, eventually you will come to Phitchit, which is officially the beginning of the north and the northern race as they call themselves.

Then comes Phitsanulok, once a capital of Thailand. A further 40 kilometres north is Sukhotai and Sri Satchenali, Thailand’s first capital and the spiritual home of Thailand. The original city is still there, deserted and largely restored.

I live in the next province to the east called Uttaradit, which borders on Laos to the east and the old mountain kingdom of Nan to the north. About 10% of the population of Nan are of the various Hill Tribes. One of these, the Mlabri, are nomadic hunter gatherers who live in temporary shelters fashioned from branches and leaves. Until very recently, they were living a stone-age life and their language had never been heard by Westerners before 1978 as far as we know.

This is 250 km north-east from where I live. Sukhotai is about 30 km east. Such a lot of difference within 300 km. This region was part of the old kingdom of Lanna, which means ‘ a million rice fields’ or even ‘millions of rice fields’. Phichai or Fort Phichai, 12 km away, used to be the capital of Uttaradit province. Phraya Phichai Dap Hak (Phichai of the two-handed swords) fought here in the late 18th Century. He is Thailand’s most respected and well-known warrior.

In any case, I live in amongst all this lot. Regrettably, I do not speak Thai well enough for anyone to give details of it to me and nobody that I know speaks English well enough to do it either. Even my wife. I wish I knew more of this fascinating place where very very few foreigners ever come.

There are five of us here at the moment in a 20 km radius. An English teacher, a Canadian teacher, a retired Dutchman and a retired Englishman and me. Usually there is an Irishman and another Canadian, but they have gone home for a while. I usually do not see a foreigner or hold a full conversation for weeks on end. And I love it here.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

Thailand Or The Land Of Smiles

Thailand is the most well-liked tourist destination in South-East Asia and has been for decades. This is because the climate alters throughout the year from hot to cool and even cold, if you would like to look for it; Thai food is world-renowned; the range of wildlife is broad as is the flora; the diving is fantastic and the people are friendly and welcoming. Thailand is not known as the Land of Smiles for no reason.

There are also a lot of festivals, some of which are religious, which equals Buddhist, and others are not. Thailand has been Buddhist ever since the country came into being in the Thirteen Century, but the people were Buddhist long before that. Or at least most of them were. There were also throw-backs to older religions the same as in the West.

In the West Christmas and Easter were moved to cover up pagan festivals, but in Thailand they simply have the old festivals as well. One of the biggest festivals is Loy Krathong in November (the first full moon in the twelfth lunar month). Loy Krathong is a charming festival to appease the goddess or water, Ganga, for using and abusing (polluting) her.

Nowadays, people still remember the old significance of Loy Krathong (‘Floating Boats’), but it has been taken adopted by lovers too. People float symbolic boats out onto the water and ask the goddess to pardon them and to grant a wish. Lovers push their boats out together and many believe that if the boats, krathong, float out side-by-side then they will have a trouble-free year together.

Numerous women don traditional Thai costumes for the evening, particularly if they are going out for a meal or to a party. Some men do as well, but not so many.

Also in November is the world-famous Elephant roundup in Surin. The elephant roundup is also well-liked with foreigners and Thais alike. The city of Surin is full on this weekend so if you want to go it is worth booking your hotel with your travel ticket otherwise you might be stranded. Not that it is cold or likely to rain.

Bridge Over the River Kwae week is in November. The bridge is a moving reminder of the horror that prisoners of war from all over the world experienced at the hands of the Japanese overlords at the time. More Thais died than foreigners although Thailand was thought of as ‘friendly’ by the occupying Japanese.

In December it is the King’s birthday and Fathers’ Day on the 5th. The king is very highly thought of in Thailand and many people will light candles in their garden on the roadside to the king in the early evening. This is a very pretty sight, especially in the villages where street lighting is normally negligible. Constitution Day is on the 10th and is a bank holiday, which usually means a celebration.

Christmas is feted in the cities by tourists, ex-pats and young Thais although it has no real religious significance outside the Christian churches in the larger cities.

New Year’s Day is huge. There are parties that will last all night, dancing, feasting and fireworks.

Thailand is a great place to come to in November and December and although it is considered high season, I am sure that you will find it cheaper to come on vacation to Thailand – The Land of Smiles – than it is to stay at home in the cold.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on numerous subjects, but is now concerned with Loy Krathong. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.

Thailand: Why I Live There

After my first night out in Pattaya, Thailand, when I met a woman on a blind date prearranged by one of my best friends, I sat up in bed and I recalled the events of the evening before. We had started in The Pig and Whistle, where I was staying on Soi 7. The Pig is a lovely, quiet, sedate, air-conditioned oasis of tranquility in a street, which is one of the liveliest, noisiest and busiest streets in Pattaya.

We went outside into the soi and into a torrent of people not unlike that of a queue heading for a football game, except that all the women were dressed in bikinis. We had called into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise waiting for me. His girlfriend of a time, whom I knew nothing about and a friend of hers who wanted to meet me. The four of us had dallied there an hour before walking the thirty metres to Beach Road. The traffic is one-way on Beach Road, so we took a Baht Taxi North going with the flow and got off two or three kilometres further on just before Walking Street, which is the most well-known street in Pattaya.

We had gone into a complex of bars and sat at one at random. It was only then that I noticed that the bars were all set out surrounding a Muay Thai boxing ring, where the fighting was uninterrupted and free, although foreigners are expected to contribute a prize to the winner of each bout; 20-100 Baht is enough.

We stayed there an hour and moved on to Walking Street to have a meal. We dined at a seafood specialist restaurant which has a pier or jetty as its dining area. The food was fantastic and the ambiance was romantic with the moon reflecting on the sea and the atmospheric lighting.

I don’t believe I had had a chance really, I fell for my gorgeous date that night and I saw her every day for the rest of my 30 days holiday. We had a wonderful time and when I had to go, I resolved to find out if I could live in Thailand. I went home and worked out, that if I was careful and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to live there for ten years.

Six weeks later, I went back to Thailand and Joy was waiting for me at the airport. Nothing had altered between us and we took a bus to go to see her family in northern Thailand. We slept in a room that her brother had given up for us and everyone made me feel very welcome. Joy’s family live in a traditional teak house built on stilts and everybody lived and slept in one room in the traditional way, with the exception of Joy’s brother, who had built an extension, because he was eager to get married soon.

I love that village and still live there now, five years later. Joy and I are married and have our own home – a traditional, European, concrete-block bungalow not five metres from Joy’s mum, who is a wonderful mother-in-law. Her family appear to realize what a big step it was for me to come here alone and are determined to be there for me, should I need assistance, like my own family in Britain would be. The task at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, besides my wife, speaks English.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

100 Years Of Swimwear

Whilst you are putting your bathing suit on and heading for the water, the grass or the sand, have you ever given a thought to those people who came before you? When you are sitting there in your swimming trunks or bikini, spare a thought for those who have worn a swimsuit before you through the ages. The history of the swimsuit and the history of women’s swimwear in particular is fascinating

We are so privileged nowadays in the Developed world to be free of the fetters of the disapproval of society concerning beachwear and swimming costumes, because it still goes on in the Muslim and Asian world. They see our simple approach to near nudity as disgraceful, but so did our fore-fathers and especially our fore-mothers.

But there was a bizarre duality in their opinion. I have seen photos of female bathers in the latest fashion designs taken around about 1900 where nipples are plainly visible, but the legs were covered in stockings. These are obviously family photos and not pornography, which was rife then as well.

The history of bathing suits through the ages (in the West) for both men and women has seen a reduction in the amount of clothing society needed to see for a person to stay good. This varied from country to country and from religion to religion, but with the exception of the Islamic faith, the trend has been the same – towards skimpiness.

The less the better.

For instance, in 1905 a lady’s bathing costume was really a short dress made up of ten yards of material, but by 1945 that yardage had shrunk to one yard. These days some women’s swimwear is manufactured from a couple of square feet.

The same is true of men’s swimwear fashion. A hundred years ago, the normal swimwear fashion for men dictated that they wore leotards in the water, whereas stylish swimwear in the late 1930’s was trunks.

In the Seventies, they wore scanty speedos and now we are back to trunks, although some beaches allow men to wear thongs like ladies may. Such are the vagaries of contemporary beachwear and swimwear style as dictated by politics and style.

In 1917, women wore a knitted sweater, a skirt, bloomers, black stockings and even shoes on the water’s edge. Men did not have to wear stockings or shoes, but their leotard normally came down to their knees.

In the following years, fashion saw hemlines on women and men rising, but bathing costumes were still down-beat, unsexy dark colours. The emphasis was not to look sexy, although numerous photos taken at that time reveal that both sexes were going through a sexual revolution. They had never seen so much of each other outside the bedroom.

This was the time when lots of our grandparents were born so it is the history of their parents’ sexual liberation. In the Developed world, we can scarcely begin to imagine what it must have been like in those days ‘when a glimpse of stocking was something shocking’ and men ‘would rather hang around Piccadilly Underground, looking at the ankles of the fine-born ladies’.

Nowadays, you can find beaches all around Europe where (semi) nudity is allowed, and increasingly so in America and Asia. The only bastions of modesty are the Muslim countries of northern Africa and Eastern Asia, but after recent events such as the Arab Awakening, how long is that likely to last?

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a lot of topics, but is now concerned with strapless swimming costumes. If you want to know more, just visit our website at Swimwear For Big Busts.

Cruising The Mediterranean

Are you thinking of going on a cruise this year? If you have never been on a cruise before you really should try one and if you have been on a cruise before you could try cruising the Mediterranean this time

Cruising at sea, calling into a different port each day or two soon becomes a way of life, so short cruises can be a little exasperating. A fortnight is all right but a month is much better.

Imagine it, a different language and a different culture each day for weeks! The Mediterranean Sea is not considered to be a large sea, but it has to be the most diverse region in the world, because there are countries like Portugal, Spain and France to the northwest; the Middle East is represented by Turkey and The Lebanon in the northeast; Arabic countries like Egypt and Lybia line the northeastern coast of the African Mediterranean and Arabic/Berber countries like Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco bring us back to within miles of Spain on the northwestern African Mediterranean litoral.

In fact, the Mediterranean Sea covers about 2.5 million square kilometres and has more than 120 substantial seaports around it. The variety of food, culture and language is quite extraordinary. If you are looking for variety, you will certainly find it while cruising the Mediterranean Sea.

If you get a kick out of history, then you will not be disappointed by the ruins from the immense Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires that spread around the region prolifically. I should not think that there is a single area without something to remind the population about the power of the Roman army 2,000 years ago.

There are dozens of different Mediterranean cruises available lots of them specializing in one particular aspect or area of the Mediterranean. Some go for romantic destinations others specialize in Greek, Roman or Egyptian history.

The last Mediterranean cruise I went on was essentially two cruises back-to-back. I flew into Barcelona from my home town. I did not have to take care of my baggage from my hometown until I saw it on my bunk on the cruise liner. That was a great touch. On the first leg of the cruise we steamed east to Sicily and then north along the Italian coast to the French Riviera and returned to Spain.

The second leg went east to Sardinia and then south to Africa and returned along the coast calling into Tunisia and Malta on the way back to Spain. They were two totally different cruises on the same ship and separated just by a week from one another.

The luxury and the dining experience was wonderful and I discovered the saying to be a fact that you can expect to gain about a pound in weight every two days unless you take lots of exercise, so make sure you pack your swimming costume, even if you do choose to leave your exercise gear at home.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with the Bikini Cup D. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Swimwear for Big Busts.

Celebration Cruises

Are you planning a really special holiday? Say to celebrate a extraordinary event like retirement or an anniversary? If you are, then you really must add a cruise to your shortlist of vacations to research more.

A cruise is a very extraordinary type of holiday, because you get to visit a number of locations and even a number of different countries during the length of your vacation.

It is a very relaxing type of holiday because you have nothing to do but enjoy yourself between ports. You do not even have to pack and unpack between destinations because your hotel takes you to your port of call not a bus or a car. Usually, the cruise liner has already docked when you wake up for breakfast.

After breakfast, you can opt to go ashore or not, as you like. Usually, the ship will have a couple of tours you can choose from or you can go it alone. You are told what time to get back on board, say 19:00 hours and whilst you go down to dinner, the liner will weigh anchor and head for the next port of call.

This routine will be repeated each day, but at another port, although you do get a ‘day at sea’ on some cruises. This is not a bad thing as it allows you to spend all day relaxing and enjoying the motion of the ocean. Most cruise liners have lots to do during these days at sea.

Nearly all liners will have a cinema and special interest lectures or groups, some of which are led by guest celebrities. For instance, you may be interested in learning about wine. Well, there is normally a wine appreciation group on board or you might like to learn some of the history of the next port of call, especially if it has connections to an ancient civilization.

Food figures large on cruises. On my last cruise, we had: breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, high tea, dinner and a midnight feast. Breakfast, luncheon and dinner were equivalent to five course meals, but actually you could just consume as much as you wanted. In between the meals, there was room (or cabin) service.

Food was included in the price of our cruise, but you had to pay for alcoholic drinks, although they are free too on all inclusive cruises. Luckily, cruise liners also have gyms, swimming pools and deck sports to help you endeavor to keep the pounds off. I was disastrous at that and I gained two pounds for every week of the voyage, which I am told is about average.

After dinner, there is usually a cabaret, a piano bar and a night club going on somewhere and if you can remain awake, you can normally visit all three dos to find out which one suits you the best that evening. For me it was cabaret, night club and last drink in the piano bar before going to my cabin.

The bunk was always turned down with a sheaf of papers on my pillow explaining about the next port and the excursions available, which could be booked any time of the day or night by using the cabin phone. I would go again tomorrow.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with cruises to St Croix. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

Airbrush Tanning – The New Craze

Since some individuals started believing that a tanned body makes them look slimmer, in all probability on the same principle that black clothing makes you look trimmer than white clothing, there has been a dash for instant tans and there is no more instantaneous a tan than to have one painted on. This is called airbrush tanning.

Airbrush tanning can appeal on various levels. It is quick, you can become any shade you like and there is no danger from UV rays natural or artificial. lots of people are frightened by the stories of melanoma that they can get by sunbathing or using a tanning bed, so an instant golden bronze colour appears quite an appealing alternative.

The fad for airbrush tanning has spurred the tanning industry to produce a vast assortment of airbrush-look-alike products. There are creams and lotions and even pills that the manufacturers claim will turn your skin an alluring golden bronze. Unfortunately, most of them colour your skin a rather ridiculous shade of orange.

Then there are the DIY airbrush tanning kits. Real airbrush tanning is comparable to having your car resprayed. You can either have it done by a specialist who has professional spraying apparatus or you could go out and purchase twelve cans of your favourite colour car spray paint and do it yourself.

A car sprayed in the former way normally looks fantastic, but a car sprayed in the latter fashion normally looks dreadful. Well, the same is true for professional salon airbrush tanning and home airbrush tanning. Even amongst professional spray painters some are better than others, so it is best to ask around before you let anyone airbrush you.

So, these are the greatest concerns with airbrush tanning. You cannot do it yourself; you cannot trust a friend to do it for you; it is doubtful whether you can even purchase the correct apparatus to do it yourself and where do you find a professional whom enough people have allowed to practice on them so that he or she is any good?

Because a decent airbrush tanner will need the right equipment and lots of experience. It is not a trade that can be learned from a book. Airbrush tanning is still a fairly new phenomenon, so a good tanner might be hard to find outside a large city, but you could try asking the owner of your local tanning salon to get one in once a fortnight for those who have booked in advance. A type of guest appearance.

As with any paint work, the secret to a good finish is preparation. If you have never been spray-painted before make certain that you prepare yourself properly. Ask your salon to supply you with a list of things that you can do in order to prepare your body in the correct manner.

Preparatory procedures may include shaving and exfoliating but will involve removing all make-up and body oils by washing well. This will give the paint a decent substrate to cling to. The better the preparation you do the better and longer-lasting the airbrush tan – ask any painter and decorator or car sprayer.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with bronzing tanning beds. If you would like to know more or check out some immense offers, just go to our web site at Tanning Bed Bulbs.

Decent Reasons For Having A Holiday In Hawaii

If you are planning your summer vacation and you are looking for somewhere where you can strip down to your bathing costume and swim all day and only worry about it getting too hot, not overly cold, then you ought to add a vacation in Hawaii to your short list.

A vacation in Hawaii is thought to be very costly because of the high profile it has in films and TV series like ‘Hawaii 5-0′, but it is possible to find fairly reasonable holidays in Hawaii, if you do a little research. Search the Internet for last minute package deals and if that fails, try putting together your own holiday from various cut-price components.

You may be pleasantly surprised how much it costs to have a holiday in Hawaii compared to a equivalent one in say, St. Croix, Barbados or even Florida. Look for actual hotels or guest houses in regions that are just outside the tourist traps and you will almost certainly get a better price. Lots of these hotels have their own web site and so offer seasonal or last minute discounts directly to private patrons.

Hawaii is one of the most beautiful regions in the area and indeed in the world. The coast is famous for its natural beauty – the swimming and diving are renowned, but the land off the coast is beautiful too, if you like hiking, riding or driving by jeep. There are spectacular volcanoes, waterfalls and forests.

Hawaii has been turned into a paradise for sports people of all kinds. There is very little that you could choose to do and cannot on Hawaii. There is ample chance for most land, sea and air sports ranging from mountaineering, to diving to hang-gliding. You can rent Jeeps, mountain bikes, yachts and even a helicopter.

Most visitors take a holiday in Hawaii for water sports such as swimming, diving, snorkeling, fishing and water skiing, but power boating and yachting or just sailing a dinghy is common enough as well.

There are also lots of natural and manufactured historical sights to see on all the islands, but the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Big Island is just about the most well-known although most of the smaller island such as Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu all have their attractions too. It is only a case of reading up on Hawaii before you go and attempting to choose a hotel in a spot that makes your interests easily available.

There are lots of web sites and books on Hawaii to help you with your investigation, but you can also travel around easily once you get there, so that you could have a week on one island and a week on another offering different hobbies as a specialty.

This can all be organized fairly easily if you put your tour together yourself, but it may be more awkward if you endeavor to patch two package holidays together. You will not regret your vacation in Hawaii whether you go alone, with the family or as part of a group.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on various topics, but is now concerned with the Bikini Cup D. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Swimwear for Big Busts.