Luxury Vacation

Before you can experience authentic Spanish tapas, piazzas in Rome or rooftop terraces in Prague, an important to-do list stands between you and your European vacation. The logistics involved in planning a trip to Europe may seem tedious or overwhelming, but the more prepared you are, the greater your chances of a successful trip that lives up to your expectations. That's why it's important to do a bang-up job creating an itinerary, arranging transportation and tackling the brass tacks before you're off to the Continent. The following simple steps will help you engineer a well-planned escape to Europe -- so you can spend less time worrying about your travel arrangements and more time staring at pictures of castles and men in kilts. 1. Get your documents in order. If you don't have a passport, it will take at least four to six weeks from the time of application for you to receive one. Expedited services can trim the process down to two or three weeks, but it will cost yo...

Whether you are the type who loves pre-trip research, or the type who prefers to just wing it upon arrival, the issue of how long to stay in each place is a major one. We all want to maximize our time in the better places when on multi-stop trips, but figuring out which those are isn’t quite so obvious on your first visit to any part of the world. Some of the best and most famous tourist cities on the planet are actually best visited in one well-planned day, while many others require 3 or 4 days to even feel like you are scratching the surface. Having been around the world a couple of times while studying these places as I go, I’ve sorted out some “best practices” on itinerary planning.  And lately I’ve been answering dozens of questions for readers in both the Europe itinerary planning and Eurorail Pass articles, so hopefully this will be of use for those going through the process soon. How to figure out how long to stay in each city If you are forming an itinerary for a multi-sto...

Some people swear that travelling with no plan other than buying a one way plane ticket is the only way to travel. But if you’ve landed on this website it’s likely your interested in being a little more organised than that. Like us you like to have a plan, you like to know where you will be resting your head each night, what time the train leaves for your next destination and what are the main  things to see and do  in that destination. To do this you need to build yourself an itinerary. A rough blow by blow that will help ensure your trip goes smoothly and that you make the most of your precious time away. There are many online tools and apps around these days that allow you to put together an itinerary that I’m sure all work great. But today I’m suggesting you use our  Travel Planning Template  which you can get free by subscribing to our newsletter. Our  Travel Planning Template  is an Excel spreadsheet that we’ve been using to effectively plan our ...

Travel is full of major decisions -- like which country to visit, how much to spend, and when to stop waiting and finally make that all-important airfare purchase. But beyond the big picture, it's the little things that can make a trip easier and less stressful. Following are 10 simple but clever tips to smooth the way on your next vacation. 1. Park with your car nose out.  In the rush to catch the parking lot bus, it's easy to leave an interior light on; I'd guess that more travelers I know have had dead batteries at an airport than in any other situation. If you return to your car to find a dead battery, broken windows due to thievery or any other potential problem, you'll want your car to be parked nose out for easier access to the battery, or for an easier hook-up to a tow truck. 2. Leave time to get to economy lots. As airports expand, they need more parking spaces; those spaces are ever more frequently found in parking lots that are off-airport in every respect bu...

Chennai or Madras is home to many historic landmarks and buildings, ranks second to Kolkata of Indian heritage buildings. The city has many tourist places to visit and attractions such as Breezy Beach,National Art  Gallery ,Chennai Central Station, Chettinad Mansion,Valluvar Kottam,Besant Nagar Beach,MGR Memorial and Marundeeswarar Temple. Day 1 – Marina Beach On your first day, visit the world famous Marina Beach along the Bay of Bengal is the longest natural urban beach in India and world’s longest beach. Visit the near by historical White Town Fort St. George and famous Kapaleeshwarar Temple of Lord Shiva,located in Mylapore. Marina Beach Fort St. George Kapaleeshwarar Temple Day 2 – Parthasarathy Temple The Parthasarathy Temple is one of the oldest structures in Chennai city and the temple is dedicated to the god Krishna. Day 2 also include  city tour  of Chennai with San Thome  Basilica ,Vadapalani Andavar Temple and Valluvar Kottam. Parthasarathy Temple San Tho...

There's a smartphone app that generates a map of the nearest public bathrooms when you're desperate for a place to squat. There are countless travel review sites offering first-hand critiques of anything with a front desk and a bed. There's even a website dedicated to globetrotting canines,  BringFido.com , that features dog-focused travel guides and a compendium of dog-friendly beaches. In today's world of information overload and species-specific travel tips, it's easy to forget about the most fundamental (and free) means of improving our travel experiences. You don't need a smartphone or a computer to positively change the way you travel. Below are five refreshingly simple ways to make the most of your trip and pull off a more enjoyable, less stressful vacation.  1. Slow down. A surefire way to turn any vacation into an epic wreck is by crafting an itinerary with too many activities -- or by not making an itinerary at all and simply expecting to see and do wa...

Haridwar and Rishikesh are two most popular holy cities in Uttarakhand with number of temples, Ashram  and also gateway to the four pilgrimages of Uttarakhand. Our five days tour itinerary covers the Haridwar, Rishikesh with Mussoorie. Day 1 – Haridwar Start your day by taking a holy dip in river Gange and  proceed  for full day sightseeing. Haridwar is one of the seven holiest places in India and one of the oldest living cities in the world. There are several temples and ashrams in the city to visit such as Chandi Devi Temple,Mansa Devi Temple,Maya Devi Temple and Daksheswara Mahadev Temple. Ganga Aarti Har ki Pauri Kankhal Shiva Statue Patanjali Yog Peeth Day 2 – Rishikesh Rishikesh is the Yoga Capital of the World and regarded as one of the holiest places to Hindus, also known as the Gateway to the Garhwal Himalayas. Must see places in Rishikesh include Ram Jhula,river Beaches and Lord Shiva statue in sitting posture near Parmarth Niketan. Ram Jhula Lakshman Jhula Shiv...