Travel-Trails

If one starts thinking about a vacation in the United States, then the best state for it is Florida, the home of Walt Disney World. Florida also has some of the country s best golfing, beaches and man-made attraction making it the ultimate vacation paradise. Perhaps the most popular and famous of all the different ways to enjoy Florida's beauties is by way of Florida beach vacation rentals.

Primarily, Florida is known throughout the world for its beaches. The Florida beaches stretch over eight hundred miles. The Florida Panhandle region stretches from Pensacola to Tallahassee, and the Florida Keys are a beachgoer s paradise. However, the entire state of Florida is surrounded by beaches with sparkling sands and emerald waters. These beaches strongly affect the Florida lifestyle. The activities one might find on a Florida beach are endless. There is fishing, swimming, kite surfing, body surfing, diving, snorkeling and scuba diving, among other amusements. Florida beach resort rentals are the ideal places to enjoy with your family.

Some of the beaches where one can enjoy beach vacation rentals are Clearwater Beach, Cocoa Beach, Crystal Beach, Daytona Beach, Delray Beach, Flagler Beach, Fort Myers Beach, Flagler Beach, Hammock Beach, Highland Beach, Hollywood Beach, West Palm Beach, Vero Beach, St. Augustine. Pete Beach, St. Augustine Beach, South Beach, Seagrove Beach, Sea crest Beach, Satellite Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Rosemary Beach, Pompano Beach, Panama City Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, Pensacola Beach, Palm Beach, Ormond Beach, Navarre Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Miami Beach, Melbourne Beach, Madeira Beach and Jacksonville Beach.

With its majestic Himalayan Mountains and fascinating local culture, Nepal is a favorite destination for adventurous travelers. Each year thousands embark upon the experience of a lifetime to spend days or weeks in the breathtakingly beautiful country of Nepal.

Most adventure travelers in Nepal will be treated to magnificent views from high in the mountains. They will wander through pure forests and past clear mountain lakes, rivers and waterfalls. They'll visit remote Buddhist monasteries and shrines and see tiny mountain villages, full of friendly locals.

Trekking expeditions in Nepal are quite popular. They typically involve a small group of people who have been given a list of equipment, such as hiking boots, to bring with them to Nepal. Once they arrive in the country they set off together to explore. There is usually a trekking staff that comes along on the trip and carries most of the camping equipment and even the travelers' bags. They set up the camp, cook meals and break camp, leaving the traveler to enjoy the trek without the physical hardship of toting heavy packs.

Treks are available for people with various abilities. While a person should be in good shape for these treks, one does not need to be a tri-athlete to take part. There are more strenuous treks for those in great physical condition, as well as easier treks. Many of the easier treks are appropriate for families and allow children to participate. Some companies rate the treks they offer by level of difficulty, to help travelers judge which trek would be best for them.

While trekking is one of the most popular forms of adventure travel in Nepal, it is by no means the only one. There are many ways to enjoy the great outdoors in beautiful and mysterious Nepal.

Nepal's wildlife reserves and conservation areas boast a variety of unique animals, including the Royal Bengal Tiger and the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros.

This has little to do with travel photography, however I couldn't resist featuring it for many reasons. The first is that it's about the type of food I ate almost daily while I was growing up, the second is that it's narrated by Mark Bittman (more on him later), the third is that it\'s about Paris (one of my very favorite cities) and the fourth is that it's about brasseries and bistros (my favorite type of restaurants).

Mark Bittman is an interesting character...he's a celebrity cookbook author, appears on PBS and has a weekly culinary column in the New York Times, but what makes him unusual is that not only does he subscribe to the minimalist cookery school but he's as opinionated as they come....and that makes him interesting and a must-see on television.

His choices of the bistros in this piece are equally interesting...Le Severo, Chez Georges and Au Boeuf Courrone are traditional no-fuss eateries, and are quintessentially Parisian. These are the places I look for when I visit this eternal city.

The photographs are by Ed Alcock, a Paris-based photographer who shoots for the NY Times and The Guardian, who happens to hold a PhD in mathematics. That's interesting too.

An enjoyable multimedia slide show, but I wish the producer (Emily Rueb) could've added a snippet or two of Parisian street singing, especially since the biopic movie of Edith Piaf is currently in theaters...that would've completed the circle nicely.

I've just arrived two days from my vacation from Philippines when my boss asked me to go to Cairo the following weekend to conduct training on financial management to Program managers coming from different country offices. Still suffering from jet lag but this does not stop me from saying yes as going to Egypthas always been my dream. Though I admit conducting a workshop to Senior Program managers is a bit nerve wracking let alone the preparations that I have to do in so little time but the idea of seeing the pyramids in person motivated me to accept this last minute assignment. Aboard AirFrance from Atlanta-Paris-Cairo, I finally arrived Cairoat past 2 am as I have missed my flight from Parisdue to delayed flight from Atlanta. Anyway, as I got out of the airport, I was a bit scared as nobody from our office came to picked me up. I bravely hailed a taxi and asked him to bring me to Hotel Pyramisa. Luckily, the driver is so nice and was playing the role of a tour guide at the same time pointing all the places of interest as we drive to the city, he was driving so fast and madly (I thought Manila drivers are the worst) and he blatantly asked for a tip which I readily gave as anyway I arrived the hotel safely at the wee hours of the morning. First two days I did not go anywhere as I am so tense with my coming session so I decided that I will enjoy only after I have run my workshop successfully. So as soon as I was done with my session on the 2nd day I finally went out with my two female colleagues working from Ivory coastand Congo, an American and French. We decided to eat at a seafood restaurant by the Nile River. The food is good and the price is reasonable, but one thing that really strikes me most is the customer service. The Egyptians are really nice and always make sure that their guest or customers especially foreigners are well accommodated and satisfied. This is the same case in the hotel where I was staying. However, I also noticed that the food servers and even hotel staff are mostly men and I seldom noticed any female. I just wonder if this has something to do with their culture. On the 3rd night, we had a Nile dinner cruise where aside from sumptuous buffet dinner, there were belly dancing and singing to entertain us while the boat was cruising the Nileriver. Anyway the workshop lasted only three days and on our 4th day we had a tour of Cairoand Giza. Our first itinerary was to visit the pyramids of Gizaas well as the Sphinx and seeing it in person is really a dream come true for me. It amazes me how they were able to transport and assembles each block which weighs approximately 80 tons and build it like a Lego into a pyramid. Let alone its architecture, the different secret chambers where the body of the Pharaoh and its treasure is stored. We even went inside one of the pyramids where actually inside is empty since of course any item discovered are already in the museums. After the trip to the pyramids and sphinx we browsed some local stores and its so funny because the vendors just to catch my attention are shouting "aloha" to me.. maybe they thought I am from Hawaii. Then there is this guy who approached me and keep on telling me I am pretty and that my eyes are beautiful .. I told him thanks but I am not buying anything.. but he said that he is not a vendor and he just want to say that I am beautiful and even asked the confirmation of my colleague .. I said thank you again but at that point I was really embarrassed.

Anyway, our next stop is to go to the perfumery store.. there we had given some refreshments while we tried different scent of essence which according to them is the base ingredient in making all these designer perfume like channel, lancome, estee etc. Of course being a shopaholic no persuasion is needed and I just found myself spending almost $200! ask me if I use these essential oils.. no I dont and its just sitting somewhere in my house. After that we headed back to Cairo and visited the old Cairo, the hanging church, Ben Ezra synagogue, Coptic museum then we proceed to Citadel and visited Mohammed Ali mosque where they asked me to wear this raincoat like cape to cover my body as according to their standard is inappropriate to be worn inside their place of worship. At that time we were tired and hungry so we went to a ship by the Nile River and had our lunch on a cruise ship.. well I am beginning to like this lifestyle. After lunch though we are really exhausted, we visited the Egyptian Museum of Cairo where there we saw hundreds of artifacts, treasures of the pharaohs and mummies. There I saw Tutankhamun's gold coffin, his masks, gold plated furniture, his gold mask inlayed with turquoise and lapis lazuli, his funeral items jewelries and so much more and can only conclude that pharaohs during those time really live extravagantly and wonder what if I was one of the Egyptian queen would I have so much treasures and jewelries like they do? Well I bet I will have more ;-). After the museum trip we headed back to the hotel and had some drink with my colleagues. While responding to my emails a guy who is in his mid 20s approached me and asked me if I am a Thai actress that he used to see on TV. I said to myself hmm nice pick up line but it is not working. I told him no coz I am a Filipina, of course to catch my attention he said all those things that I am attractive etc etc .. even though he does not speak English fluently you can tell that he is trying his best. Then eventually asked me if I can have a drink with him at the bar, I graciously declined it and told him that I got some work to do.. I was actually screaming inside my head to back off and leave me in peace!!! Eventually he got the signal that I am not interested and he said goodbye. I went back to my hotel room at almost 11pm and packed my clothes as in about 5 hours I will be catching my plane to Paris for an overnight which another adventure awaits me. My trip to Egypt is very short... only 5 days but truly I have seen and experienced so many things that I will never forget.

When you arrive for a Maldives holiday in the Indian Ocean, the rest of the world seems very far away. Tiny islands and atolls are home to stunning hideaway hotels, often with accommodation built out over the water on stilts. This is the perfect destination for a romantic honeymoon, a luxury scuba diving experience, or simply as an escape from the stresses of everyday life.

On Thursday, July 12 we took a long weekend away from Mumbai and headed north to the capital city of New Delhi with a day trip scheduled to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. Our day trip to the Taj was scheduled for Friday, July 13. Upon checking into the hotel we saw a sign reminding visitors that the Taj, because it is essentially a mosque, is closed on Fridays. So we immediately called our travel agent to ask them how we could have a trip to the Taj scheduled for a day it was closed. Realizing the mistake, they gave us a full day tour of Delhi for Friday on the house and rescheduled our trip to the Taj for Saturday! The sights of Delhi were very majestic, the most amazing being Humayun's tomb. The temperatures were scorching, reaching over 110 degrees F over the course of the day.

We were soaking wet and exhausted by the late afternoon when our tour wrapped up. We were up by 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning for the four hour drive to Agra. We payed a visit to Akbar's Mausoleum before seeing the Taj and having our very WOW moment at the very deserving wonder of the world. It was breathtaking. Hot, sweaty, tired, exhausted we were on our way back to Delhi in the mid-afternoon sun and arrived back for our last night in Delhi before heading back for Mumbai on Sunday afternoon.

You must have heard the phrase "being ahead of time". I just experienced it, when I flew from Bangalore to Seattle via London. I left Bangalore at about 0245 IST in my cab as I had my flight at about 0630 IST. It was pretty cool in the night and I was feeling damn excited about the trip.


The British Airways flight left on time. As always, I was unlucky enough to have an old fellow besides me. There was an empty seat between the two of us and I kept hoping someone 'interesting' would show up. But alas, it never happened. Anyways, I was more interested in sleeping at that time (Just to clarify, when I said 'sleeping' I meant 'dozing' and had no other malicious intentions).



The flight seemed pretty long, probably because I could hardly sleep. However I could see some really beautiful views from top. We flew over Dubai (check the snap above) and Mainland Europe before landing at Heathrow, London (LHR). The flight was delayed for about half an hour or so. That forced me to hurry to catch the connecting flight. I managed to finish the formalities just in time! I wanted to call up a few friends in UK but unfortunately I just couldn't.


After spending a few minutes in the Terminal 4 of LHR, I boarded the BA flight to Seattle. This time as well I didnt get to sleep much. Not because of any disturbance of any sort but because the view from the top was simply breath-taking.


We flew over Iceland, Greenland (see the snap above), Canada and finally landed in Seattle. Yippeeee!!! I have reached the country of dreams!!!

Gotta go now. Its Memorial Day here (an off day) so gotcha see some cool places around. Till then you can enjoy the pics I clicked on the Longest Day of my Life...

My safari at Ranthambhore National Park and day trip to Jaipur was good, but very exhausting. It is nice to be back in my 5 star hotel with soft bedding, marble bathroom, turn down service, etc. I am still very sleep deprived, but it was worth it.

I was really looking forward to Jaipur since so many people had told me how nice it was and how it was the best shopping in India. Although it had some really nice things to see, it is not a nice city. It looked just like the India I had been exposed to so far. Since it was Sunday the tour guide told me the markets I wanted to go to were closed. On the way back to the train station however, I saw that the markets were open. The guide pretended to be surprised, but he had lived in Jaipur for 40 years and these markets are very popular so I knew he had lied.
Fortunately the shops my guide took me to (that secretly give him commission for everything I buy there) were good. Jaipur is amazing for shopping. If you want to decorate your home with goods from India or if you like jewelry, go to Jaipur for a week. The prices are good and you can get some really neat things. I had a traditional Indian shirt made for me for about $10. I picked the fabric, they took my measurements, and made me the shirt right there.

The jewelry there is beautiful. They specialize in diamonds, emeralds, and rubies and the prices are great. I didn't have the budget to buy any of those items of course, but they were beautiful. There are also a lot of artists in Jaipur who do really detailed paintings on silk and rice paper that you need to use a magnifying glass to see all the detail.

I rode an elephant, which was neat but very rough. Each step the elephant takes moves your body a lot and after a ten minute ride I was very nauseous. There is a palace inside a fort near Jaipur that is called Amber Fort. It was very beautiful and you could tell that in its prime was an amazing palace. There was a lot of marble, as marble is mined in Jaipur, and the paintings on the walls were made of real gold, emeralds, and rubies. The palace was occupied by the king that invented Kama sutra, and the Kama sutra pictures are drawings of him and his wives. He was said to have over 300 mistresses in addition to his 6 wives. The palace had a natural air conditioning and heat system built into it.

My coworker from LA and I went to the train station directly from work on Friday. One of my trainees from work went to the train station with us to help us because I had heard that the station is very busy and that finding the train may be hard.

The station was so busy and all the writing and announcements were in Hindi. We would have been lost without his help, thanks to God for having him there to help us. Train stations in India are really dirty.

On the first and second train we were in a 4 person cabin, each person had their own bed bunk style twin bed. On the first train I had an upper bunk and on the second train we had the cabin to ourselves. It was first class Indian train travel, but not luxurious by American standards. The bed was hard, I doubt the sheets were clean, the train seemed very old, etc. But it was more than adequate, and it is nice to get to lie down and get some sleep.

Eventually we learned the system of how a foreigner survives a train station. There are men in red shirts called porters, you tell them your train and seat number and they carry your bags for you, take you to the right area on the platform (the trains are VERY long), stay with you till the train arrives and then show you to your seat. 50 rupees is a tip they are happy with, a little over $1. It is definitely worth it.

I do not recommend coming to India on vacation, but I guess it is for some people. If you do ever come here are some tips.