Spend your holiday with us

A fine video where Lady Day and Satchmo show the world why they came for. . .

For the modern traveller, the world is your oyster. Okay, maybe you’re not prioritising a summer visit to currently war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq or Sudan. Likewise, tales of drug-trafficking, kidnapping and armed muggings might put you off a two-week sojourn in Venezuela or Colombia. But perhaps you are considering something a little more off the beaten track – a holiday that will test your nerves a little, or that will embed you in a completely different culture or environment?

Many a modern traveller now explores further afield, with Australasia, South America, Asia and Africa proving very popular for those with an adventurous spirit (who don’t mind long plane journeys). But for any such trips, there are known – and unknown – dangers that you may want to research before you leave. Visit Australia and you’ll probably be bombarded by people listing its dangerous creatures – box jellyfish, crocodiles, redback spiders, taipan snakes, sharks, and so on – together with a litany of tales surrounding those backpackers who never came back. . . But go to ’safe as houses, no dangerous animals/plants here’ New Zealand and you may not realise that its capital city, Wellington, sits on a major earthquake fault line that is well overdue a ‘big one’!

Indeed, in a Norwich Union survey of last year, several places were highlighted as potential danger areas, including Thailand, Mexico and South Africa, where illness, accidents and crime are common. Again, not terribly surprising, perhaps, but did you know that travellers to Mexico made the most number of claims to the insurance company for overexposure to the sun? Probably not.

The findings also mentioned the Caribbean as the worst area for travellers to suffer insect bites and stings, and even Spain and the Canaries hit the list, for possible robberies and pick pocketing.

Even if you deal with all the insects, robbers, earthquakes, illnesses, hungry sharks and venomous snakes, you may still get in your car and crash. In fact, the most likely way for holidaymakers to meet misfortune is on the road, with 15 million people a year injured worldwide in traffic-related accidents. Remember that terrifying taxi journey on the way to your hotel last year? Yes, most of us can recall at least one terrifying car journey in our search for that holiday magic.

But don’t worry, BeatThatQuote. com is here to help address all your holiday concerns (both those that you knew about as well as the ones we’ve just got you worried about). With these travel tips, you can be sure you’re making the right preparations for a safe and happy trip, no matter how adventurous you are feeling:

1. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office website is a great source of information on safe/dangerous destinations, as well as general travel advice. Well worth a look if you’re planning to backpack round the world.

2. Do not forget or skimp on your travel insurance. Get travel insurance and check that the cover is appropriate for your destination and planned activities abroad. Also ensure it covers any health issues you might have. According to recent research, 15% of British people risk going abroad without any kind of travel insurance – considering an air ambulance from the east coast of the US might set you back £30,000, it is really a risk you don’t want to take.

3. If you are planning to hire a car or you are taking your car with you, check you are covered for accidents and/or breakdowns. Don’t assume your UK car insurance will cover you for driving overseas – it might not protect you for anything more than road traffic accidents.

4. Check what vaccinations you need at least six weeks before you go and consider whether you need to take extra health precautions. Ensure you have sufficient medical insurance cover for your chosen destination, especially if you have any pre-existing health conditions.

5. You will probably be leaving your home empty while you are away – ensure you have got/renewed your home insurance in the event of anything happening while you holiday. Also consider asking a neighbour to pop in/water the plants every now and again to ensure your house looks occupied.

6. Get a good guidebook and get to know your destination. Find out about local laws and customs.

7. Make sure you take all documentation with you, including your passport, necessary visas, and insurance documents. Make copies and store separately just in case you lose anything.

8. Check your bank cards. Do you know how much you will be charged for using your cards abroad? It might also be worth telling your bank or credit card provider about your trip. With fraud on the rise, some card providers/banks will stop your card if they see unusual/unexpected spending. A phonecall will remedy this situation but it’s just another holiday ‘downer’ you can avoid.

9. Take enough money for your trip and some back-up funds, for example, travellers cheques, sterling or US dollars.

10. And if you’re going for a long trip of several months or more, just don’t forget your responsibilities at home, including your mortgage. Budget carefully and ensure you can cover all your payments both at home and abroad.

Once you have done all of this, all you need do is pack your bags and go. It might be a scary world out there, but with a bit of forethought, there’s a whole lot of opportunity for adventure too. Have fun!

The Holiday Scene. Jack Black and Kate Winslet

Hotels in Perth provide ultra-modern facilities such as internet Access through Wi fi with round the clock Tea/Coffee, Snacks Bar and power supply. Perth hotels are popular for the reason that they are affordable as well as located at strategic places and near to travel attractions in Perth. Many of hotels in Perth have currency exchange facilities and multilingual staff so that travelers from non-English speaking countries do not face problems traveling to Australia.

Facilities such as Car parking, ISD calls, Wi-Fi internet connection, airport pick and drop, round the clock room service, gym, spa and many others. Additionally, hotels in Perth offer meeting and conferencing facilities which are of international standard. All major credit cards are accepted in Perth hotels. Hotels in Perth provide affordable accommodation facilities to travelers who come to Perth for sightseeing.

Various Perth luxury hotels offer services such as Lift, EPABX, Cloak Room, and Multichannel TV with Remote, Laundry & Dry Cleaning, and Doctor on call, Safe Deposit Lockers, Refrigerator in Super Deluxe & Suits, Tea/Coffee Making facility in Super Deluxe & Suits, Power Supply, etc. to travelers.

Hotels in Perth

Online hotel booking gives heavy discount on tariff which can be availed during the transaction. A number of hotels in Perth offer advanced reservation for room bookings and at Quickbooker. com, a renowned portal for booking hotel rooms in Australia. In addition to advanced accommodation facilities, a wide range of Perth hotels provide heavy discounts on advance booking of hotel rooms. Hotels in Perth are basically divided into sub-divisions such as Royal Southern, Executive Suite, Super Deluxe Room, Deluxe Room, Standard Room, etc.

Hotels in Perth are a little bit expensive; a stay in leaves a traveler enchanted for forever. Hotels in Perth are quite professional, that goes for the staff they hire. In addition to professional management, luxury hotels in Perth offer seamless services which are worth the tariff they charge. Hotels in Perth provide multiple options to travelers in terms of accommodation facilities. Perth hotels in Australia are comfortable and affordable.

Hotels in Perth are located in strategic place of the city and range from budget hotel to cheap to luxury. Considered a popular tourist destination of Australia, Perth is flocked by tourists almost all the year round from entire world. Whereas Perth City Centre is located alongside the peaceful waters of the Swan River, the place is an ideal tourist destination in Australia for its beautiful beaches and natural life surrounding the whole of Perth – an amazingly attractive tourist destination.

Staying in hotels in Perth can mean enjoying nightlife of the city. Perth has a number of nightclubs, pubs, cafes and eateries, etc. which offer eclectic mix of cultures and cuisines and vibrant culture of nightlife. Travelers who wish to enjoy nature and its beauty can travel to Perth Hills. Hotels in Perth provide delicious cuisines which range from European to continental to Asian. People of Perth are from varied background and make the city a diverse metropolitan.

NO COPY INFRAGMENTS ARE MEANT i dont own the music pls rate and comment

1 The Uffizi Gallery Tip

The Uffizi Gallery contains some of the most important and greatest art collections in the world. It is also the world’s oldest museum. Most tour guide books and online travel sites will urge you to ensure that a visit to the Uffiizi is included as part of any Florence vacation, no matter how short. What most of them fail to tell you, or at least stress with sufficient emphasis, is that without a pre-booked ticket, you may not be able to visit the Uffizi at all!

My wife and I had a three day holiday in Florence at the beginning of April 2005. We had planned on visiting the Uffizi Gallery and as soon as we checked in at our hotel we telephoned the gallery to purchase tickets. After several attempts without our calls being answered, we asked the hotel reception to do the booking for us. They explained that it was nearly always difficult to get through on the booking line and that our three day stay might not provide sufficient notice to make a booking possible. Despite this, the hotel staff were most happy to keep trying whilst we enjoyed the other wonders of Florence. We decided to check out the situation for ourselves the next day but discovered queues that hardly seemed to move, stretching for an enormous distance around the area of the Uffizi. Queuing all day was certainly not the way we wanted to spend our time in Florence, so we decided to leave things in the capable hands of the reception staff whilst we enjoyed the other attractions that we had come to see. The following evening, we were informed that after many fruitless attempts at getting through on the booking line, success had finally been achieved but only to receive information that all tickets were sold for the following day. We consequently missed out on seeing many of Florence’s greatest art treasures and our top travel tip for anyone visiting Florence on a short stay vacation is to book tickets for the Uffizi Gallery online some time before their holiday.
2 The Inside Tip for the Duomo

Another of the wonders of Florence not to be missed is the Duomo. Actually, it is impossible to miss this magnificent building because it dominates the city and can be seen from virtually everywhere. Savour the views of it whilst enjoying a coffee at one of the cafes in the surrounding piazza. Walk around it, pausing every now and then to appreciate it from every aspect. View it from more distant, elevated, positions around the city. This was once the largest cathedral in the world and even now, nearly six hundred years after it was built, it is the fourth largest. Florence always insisted on everything being the biggest and the best but what really makes the Duomo unique is its dome or “Cupola”. When Fillipo Brunelleschi undertook this masterpiece of renaissance architecture, no one believed that such a dome was possible. The secret had been lost for over a thousand years but Brunelleschi travelled to Rome to unravel it by examining the dome of the ancient Pantheon.

My tip for the Duomo is to ascend this incredible feat of engineering. You can do so by entering a stairway that leads up inside the dome, between its inner and outer shells. When you reach the top, you can step outside onto an external gallery that provides magnificent views of the city and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. This gallery was never finished however, so your views are restricted to northerly and westerly directions.
3 Palazzo Vecchio – David’s Copy Tip

Perhaps the next most famous landmark of Florence is the Palazzo Vecchio. Once again, it is a building worth enjoying from every aspect on the outside before entering to explore its fascinating, art filled, interior.

My tip for the Palazzo Vecchio is to spare a few minutes looking at the pollution-streaked COPY of the world’s most famous statue, realizing that although the original Michelangelo’s David is safely inside the Accademia, the copy is standing just where the original once stood.
4 River Arno Cross Over Tip

This tip is to retreat from the busiest tourist attractions of the city centre and to cross the Arno river via the Ponte Vecchio. The crowds on this wonderful, historic bridge will probably be even more tightly packed than in the central Piazzas you have just left but within a hundred metres of the other side, they will have thinned out and you can explore the delights of the Boboli gardens and the Palazzo Pitti before walking up the meandering paths to the Piazzo Michelangelo which stands on a beautiful hill overlooking Florence and its surrounds.
5 A final Florence travel tip – Avoiding “Stendhal Sydrome”

Florence has so much beauty that every year, there are a few tourists who have to be treated at local hospitals for a condition known as “Stendhal Syndrome”. Symptoms range from feeling faint to complete exhaustion. Stendhal was a French tourist whose nineteenth century tour of Florence overloaded his senses so much that he collapsed with these symptoms.

My final travel tip for a short vacation in Florence is not to try to pack too much in. Even if Florence’s wealth of art treasures, beauty, and architectural achievements don’t actually send you running for medical help, they can easily overwhelm a tourist who fails to heed this advice.

Clara’s Holiday Special! Cucidati Fig Cookies Part I Recipe: Cucidati Cookies (Sicilian Cookies by Clara) FILLING Boil 2 cups of water and add 1/2 cups sugar. Let cook. 3/4 cups shelled hazel nuts 1/2 cups shelled almonds 1/2 cups shelled walnuts 1/2 cups shelled pecans Toast all nuts on cookie sheet separately (different nuts take different times to toast). Grind together with nuts: 1/2 lb. diced candied fruit 1/4 lb. dark raisins 1/4 lb. light raisins 1/4 lb. dates (pitted) 1 orange with rind 1 dried tangerine with rind 2 lbs. figs or (2 packages or atleast 14 oz. apiece) Mix well all the ground ingredients. Add 1/2 or 3/4 of the cooled sugar water to make a nice soft mixture (be careful not to make it too soft). Save the rest of the sugar water mixture. Add 1/2 cup whiskey to ground ingredients. Mix well and let stand overnight. Keep in a fridge or cool place. You may need to add the sugar-water the next day. DOUGH 10 cups flour 1 lb lard 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup cold milk 2 heaping table spoons baking powder 1 table spoon vanilla 12 eggs Work flour and lard like you would pie crust. Melt sugar in milk. Beat egg and add vanilla. When flour and lard are mixed well, add baking powder, then add the other ingredients and mix until you have a nice liable dough. Let stand at least one hour, or this can be made the day before. Cover with a clean dish towel and put in the fridge or a cool place. Roll dough. Fill with filling (you can use a pastry bag). Cut and bake on ungreased . . .

The person who first coined the phrase “flying the friendly skies” was obviously not traveling with young children. If at some point in the future you will be finding yourself on a cramped airplane with a rambunctious toddler (or two), first of all let me offer my condolences. As the mother of two boys and a veteran of the so-called friendly skies, I have been in your shoes more than once.

Yes, I know – you don’t need my sympathy, or my empathy, or my condolences. You need help! So, for what it is worth, here are my words of experience (errr, I mean wisdom) on how to survive your next trip:

Toddler Air Travel Tips #1: Do not use the white paper bag in the seat pocket in front of you as a paper airplane!

It does not matter that you spent a small fortune loading your carry-on luggage with goodies aimed at keeping your two-year old entertained for hours. There is an unwritten rule that dictates that your toddler will get bored within the first fifteen minutes of departure.

That white paper bag in the seat pocket in front of you will begin to beckon to you, with the promise that if you transform it into a paper airplane or an origami sculpture, that the tiny passenger sitting beside you will be well-behaved for the next two hours of your trip.

Stop – don’t do it! Trust me, as soon as you dismantle the bag, your toddler will upchuck everything he ate for breakfast. And guess where that spew of regurgitated food bits will be directed. Yes, that’s right – you will be the unwilling recipient! Your pants, your shoes, yes, even your brand new luggage, will be covered in the once-digested remains of his breakfast.

My advice – as soon as you board the plane, locate the paper bag and place it where you can grab it within a moment’s notice. And do not touch it again, unless you need it for its intended use.

Toodler Air Travel Tips #2: Do not let your toddler out of his seat when the fasten seat belt lights turns off.

I don’t have to tell you that toddlers have a difficult time sitting still for two minutes, let alone two hours. Their little legs were built for running, kicking and jumping.

With that in mind, prepare yourself for the fact that your toddler is going to whine, and squirm, and complain, and squirm some more. However, no matter how much he squirms and complains, do not unfasten his seat belt. If you do, be prepared to regret your decision. Why? Well, freed from the constraints of the seat belt, he will wrestle past you into the aisle, and then his inner instinct to run will take over. You can only imagine the rest of the fiasco that will take place.

My advice – do not unbuckle your child’s seat belt for any reason. Better yet, bring his car seat with you on the plane, and strap him in good!

Toddler Air Travel Tips #3: Never make eye contact with the other adult passengers.

Unfortunately, the majority of your co-passengers will not be sympathetic to your situation. There is something about flying, perhaps it’s the cramped conditions, the high altitude, or the recycled air, that makes them forget that they were once children, or had children, or that the world would end if it were not for children. To them, you are the enemy.

My advice – you should avoid making eye contact with the other adult passengers on the plane. Spare yourself the stares and glares, because what you do not know will not hurt you. You have enough on your plate, without adding a big side helping of guilt.

Finally, keep your expectations realistic. You will survive this journey. Perhaps, you will even have your own travel tips and words of wisdom to impart when it’s over!

FROM THE ALBUM “ROBBERS AND COWARDS” – V2 RECORDS-2007

Images & video of a hot August day in South Beach to Billie Holiday track of Summertime.