Travel Ideas

by: Charleston De Sorriso

One of the best holiday spots in the southeast United States is Charleston. It’s an ideal holiday spot with its splendid beaches, a host of art galleries, ritzy restaurants, lovely carriage rides and the rich heritage of the Charleston history.
Trudge down the lanes of history on a trip to Charleston. Charleston is replete with places that are of historical importance. There are historical tours on many aspects of history that it has been through. There are tours focusing on Civil War, patriots, slavery, and even pirates. The “Gone With the Wind” Charleston Tour is one of the most popular tourist attractions. Visit the splendid plantations dating back to several hundred years in time. Take a ghost tour to have fun. You can also take a walking tour to the city where you can discover the spirit of the city while walking. Take a carriage ride and experience the scenic beauty of Charleston.
There is a host of other activities that you can enjoy in Charleston. Witness a fine performance at the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, one of the finest orchestras. Watch the elegant act of the ballerinas at the ballet at the Dock Street Theater, a place famous for its performing arts.
Charleston is a gourmet’s delight with the scrumptious seafood it offers. Don’t miss out on the she-crab soup and crab cakes, a favourite with everyone visiting the city. The entire city is filled with options of fine dining in an equally attractively done ambience. And it’s a bet that the aroma and the taste of the food at Charleston will linger on for years.
In the midst of all the activity that Charleston offers, you’ll find a secluded spot on the beach where you can relax when you feel tired. You can spend the day relaxing on the beach while you sip on fine Charleston lemonade as vendors of various kinds make it easy for you to get what you want. However, if you want a little more beach excitement, you can always try hang gliding over the ocean or go out on a shrimp boat.
Charleston offers a host of activities that the tourists can enjoy. The lush green gardens, the historical sites, the lovely beaches, everything will make you fall in love with the place. Next year again, it will be Charleston calling. For more information about the adventure and activities awaiting you at Charleston, check out charlestontours.net.

About The Author

Charleston De Sorriso is the administrator and delegate of At Charleston, Inc. THE site for everything happening in Charleston. For more information please visit: http://www.atcharleston.com.

by: Ester Napoli

Do you envision your wedding in a tropical paradise? Perhaps you see yourself exchanging vows on the warm sand beside an aquamarine sea or sailing off into the sunset with ten of your dearest friends to enjoy a wedding feast and the spectacular scenery. If such a scenario appeals to you, a Bahamas wedding can make your dream come true.

In order to be eligible for a legal Bahamas wedding, you and your partner must spend one day in the Bahamas before submitting an application for a marriage license ($100). You must provide a photo ID. If you are widowed, you are required to provide the death certificate of your spouse; if you are divorced, you must provide a document proving that you are legally divorced. You will also need to have proof of your arrival date in the Bahamas (your Bahamas Embarkation Card will do). It is recommended that you obtain a copy of your wedding certificate before you leave the Bahamas. It can be mailed to you if time is an issue but delays and complications have been frequently encountered. Once you arrive home, you will need this marriage certificate in order to obtain other legal documents.

Wedding packages are offered at most hotels and resorts in the Bahamas. Prices vary. Here are a few examples:

• The Bluff House Beach Hotel located in Green Turtle Bay, Abaco, Bahamas, offers a wedding package that includes: a wedding coordinator, a wedding cake, a minister or administrator to perform the ceremony, a photographer, the bride?s bouquet and a bottle of champagne. They will also be happy to arrange for a live band and a buffet.
• Small Hope Bay Lodge located in Andros Island, Bahamas, is a smaller resort consisting of 20 cottages, one of which is a honeymoon cottage. It offers a simple wedding package for $500 which includes all the necessary paper work, a cake and champagne, a video and photos. At this resort you can get married on the beach or even underwater!
• Bahamas Wedding Paradise is an organization that offers several wedding packages. You can select one of their packages or design your own. Packages range in price from $360 to over $3000 (please note that Bahamas Wedding Paradise is not a hotel or a resort).

Make the wedding of your dreams a reality and start your married life in the tropical paradise of the Bahamas.

About The Author

Ester Napoli: They say if you want to be happy, you have to do something you are passionate about. One of my passions is traveling and the one place I fell in love with was the Bahamas; the white sand, clear waters, friendly environment. It is paradise on earth. I enjoy all aspects of the Bahamas; the culture, the history, the countless sports and activities to keep you busy, and of course, the fabulous weather. Website: Glorious Bahamas Real Estate (www.gloriousbahamas.com).
info@gloriousbahamas.com

by: Ramnish Gupta

New Zealand is one of the ultimate travel destinations in the Southern Hemisphere, with something for just about anyone. New Zealand has everything, right from ski fields to volcanoes, from big cities to small towns and from beaches to mountains.
New Zealand currently has a population of just over 4 million people. Auckland is the biggest city with over 1.2 million people and the capital city Wellington has a population of around 400,000. Most of the country’s resident population is based in North Island and so, South Island offers the opportunity to get away from the busy cities and get up close and personal with the elements.
New Zealand offers a lot of activities, especially for the adventurous kind. You can bungee jump, ski and snow board, relax on the beach, go for a bike ride, take a 4 wheel drive adventure, ski dive, surf or simply, shop! Most adventurous activities are available in the South Island, whereas North Island offers the charm of the big cities, some great shopping as well as some uniquely New Zealand attractions, like the Maori village in Rotorua.
The best way to travel around New Zealand would be in a rental car. Most New Zealand cities are very well connected with the main motorways and traffic is usually not a problem. There are information centres in most tourist areas, providing useful travel information, maps etc.

About The Author

Ramnish Gupta is based in New Zealand and has a keen interest in travel and photography. His website http://www.newzealandphotography.co.nz has travel information and photographs from all over New Zealand.
ram@newzealandphotography.co.nz

by: jarba

The summer I got my college degree in anthropology, I headed to a small ranch in Montana for a summer job. My employer, Jack, was a stout rancher in his 40s. He raised cattle and sheep, and two young sons, Roy 8 and Nick 6, with his wife Jean, a very friendly woman a few years his senior, on his family ranch. My responsibility was to take care Jean’s Mom Ester who had been partly paralyzed by a stroke and had spent most of her time in a wheelchair for the last five years.
Every morning, after breakfast and a shower, I would wheel Ester out of the wooden ranch house for a morning stroll. The wooden house was in an enclave flanked by tall trees forming a natural fence around the building. Beyond the line of trees, a small gravel path led off into the high prairie, green with grass, where is quickly faded. Ambling along the path and beyond was the favorite part of our morning routine - the splendid view of the undulating landscape, occasionly disrupted by some far-off cliff or hillock, seemed to push the horizon far and away. The stretched immensity of blue sky was pierced by a distant rock formation darkened by caves sheltering small animals. The nearby farms were many miles apart, and occasionally their herds passed by and we waved good morning to our neighbours; Most of the time we chatted among ourselves as the soft morning breez whispered through the leaves of aspens. Sometimes, deer could be spotted springing away and dispersing in the undergrowth.
I normally got us back home before noon and prepared simple lunches for Ester and the boys. Jack and Jean wouldn’t be back until early evening. The boys usually had some work set out for them every day, and they spent their time about the ranch house. After helping Ester to her bed for a nap, I enjoyed watering the flowers in the front yard with a big water jar. Those flowers were bit over-grown, but fit into their surroundings just right. The boys liked to fertilize the flower bed with whatever they could get their hands onto - once they were seen laying dung on it, another time I found them dump fresh corn - always something organic, I couldn’t really see much nutritional benefit they had to the plants - but the flowers did look good. The afternoon sun quickly raised the temperature into the 90s, this was the perfect time for a quiet reading session on my own - the boys frequently joined their friends for swimming somehwere in the nearby town - I would sit myself on a wooden bench in the yard, comfortably placed under the cool shadow of the tree canopy, the sweet aroma of flowers floating in the air.
It was on one of these idyllic afternoons, about a month since I’d first arrived on the ranch, that, after reading by myself for a little while and after checking upon Ester in the cabin, I went to refill my water jar to water the plants again. I loitered inside a little bit before exiting the gate. With the jar in one hand, and my book in the other, I made my way towards the bench about 30 feet away. when suddenly a great roar stopped me short. I looked up in horror at a fully upright brown bear staring down at me just a few yards to my right. I was never warned about any BEAR visitations! The bear raised its snout and turned it in every direction as if sniffing. Its round ears perked up to gather every minute noise. This was a huge fellow who stood a good 7 feet tall, at least 300 pounds in weight. I was frozen with apprehension, my heart pounding wildly.
Instinctively, I could sense something was wrong and this unexpected fellow was in bad humor. I franticly looked around to see if there was any safe path for a retreat, when suddenly a slight movement on the ground caught my eyes, I spotted another bear, this time a young one lying on its side, eyes closed, near one end of the flower bed. Something dawned on me, the cub was injured, or dying, while the grieving mother fixed on me as the perpetrator. Another frightening roar was directed at me, Mamma was in an ugly mood! God knows I didn’t do anything to her baby! I couldn’t tell the exact state of the cub, but I could clearly see the sharp teeth in Mamma’s mouth, and could almost smell her stenchy breath. All my hair stood on end, and my blood gushed onto my face, my head was throbbing. I forced myself to think - wondered if Ester could hear the bear, but she wouldn’t be able to help much. Female bears were most dangerous when with their young since mother bear was notoriously protective and vengeful. I’ve got to convince her I was harmless.
I started to retreat slowly away from where the bear cub lay, and shouted out loudly, “Hey Bear, Calm Down! I’m Leaving!” My voice was a little too faltering and squeaky for my taste, but that was best I could manage. The mamma bear raised her paw, her claw shining under the sun like a hook, and then she came upon me. I couldn’t understand how a 10 yard distance could vanish in a matter of a second. It felt like tons of weight piling down on my shoulder, shaking me up, pushing me down like a little puppet. Her hot heavy breath was right next to my ear. I was fighting all I could, but in the next moment my book and water jar were out of my hands, and I fell to the ground on my back with a loud thump. I was too petrified to feel the pain, only one message crossed my mind, “I’m going to die”, my eyes closed, waiting the ensuing slam to finish me off.
But it never came. It was just a few seconds, but it felt like a century, before I opened my eyes to a retreating bear. She proceeded towards her cub, who, stirred by the water jar accidentally landing on him and the water pouring out of it, was struggling to stand up. He looked, apparently not dead, not wounded, not sleepy, but disoriented! It was the most amazing scene in the world, the cub staggering up to his mamma! It was the corn, I later learned, which fermented in the hot, humid, air, which attracted the cub who subsequently filled her tummy with too much alcohol! He was literally drunk! I watched her limping a little, walking drunkenly away, with her mamma discreetly following, out of our ranch, till they disappeared into the far distance, never looking back once.
As to me, apart from a few clearly visible scars on my shoulders and arms, I fully recovered from the incident, and firmly discontinued from then on any further practice of using non-processed corn as organic fertilizer on the ranch.
The above article and its followup discussion are published on http://www.crossvoice.com (CrossVoice Magazine)

About The Author

Jarba, publisher of CrossVoice - magazine featuring stories, opinions and reviews on politics, pop culture and commercial products.
http://www.crossvoice.com
jarba@crossvoice.com