My travel

Whistler is a resort town in British Columbia, Canada, approximately 125km north of Vancouver. Whistler has a population of nearly 10,000 people, and a further 2 million visit every year, primarily to go alpine-skiing and mountain-biking on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains - when the snow melts, the ski trails double up as exciting mountain-bike tracks. This ski resort is rated as one of the top five in North America, and will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympics alpine and sledding events.

Whistler village is pedestrian-only. You can park the car just outside, and once in the village everything is within easy reach, such as telephones, public toilets and visitor centres. The village is a safe and relaxing place for all and a shopper’s paradise, with plenty of shops; boutiques; restaurants and bistros.

It is a combination of special factors that draws visitors to Whistler: the magnificent terrain, excellent snow and exciting nightlife. Whistler also has a lot to offer the keen golfer; it is home to four award-winning golf courses.

The question is - where is the best place to stay in Whistler? The tourist is spoilt for choice as there are many fine condos, chalets and lodges to choose from. Whether you wish to stay in a communal lodge or are looking for something more private, there is something for everyone.

There are many luxury self-catering vacation homes and chalets in and around Whistler village. These range from 2 bedrooms to 6 bedrooms, so they can accommodate any size of party, and all boast hot tubs (either private or communal). There are some self-catering 1-2 bedroom townhouses which come fully equipped with gas fire, Jacuzzi bath tub, and private hot tub. Other accommodation on offer includes cabins, condos and cottages, and many of these offer little touches of luxury such as a patio; sauna; hot tub; heated outdoor pool and free underground parking.

There are also many shared lodges in and around Whistler offering both accommodation and meals and these provide the best of both worlds, combining the privacy of self-catering accommodation with the luxury of having your meals taken care of. For instance, Whistler boasts a stunning 12-bed lakeside lodge with spacious rooms and full restaurant facilities. There is also a lakeside spa and easy access to many tourist attractions, including the famous Nicklaus North golf course.

The resort of Whistler-Blackcomb offers privately owned suites at competitive prices, with many having ski in/ski out facilities. These include 1-4 bed lofts, condominiums and townhouses and these are ideally situated near the lifts and the village. There is a free shuttle bus from some types of accommodation which takes passengers to the base of both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

Wherever you choose to stay and whatever type of accommodation to choose, all lodges offer luxury, comfort and classy surroundings as standard, making your stay in Whistler a truly unforgettable experience.

For more detailed information about lodge whistler you can visit our travel forums and http://www.lodgewhistler.com

Thus, it should not take rocket science to figure out that most of the planet is actually under the water, and so it behooves us to explore the wondrous world that is hidden from sight by these vast amounts of water. Without a doubt, those who have experienced the joys of taking scuba diving vacations have found the unspoiled natural beauty beneath the waves to be nothing short of splendid. So everyone with a love for the underwater world should also consider taking these vacations before any other kind of holiday.

The fact of the matter is that scuba diving holidays provide ample opportunity to enjoy the fascinating and unexplored world contained in the oceans and seas. In fact, it also provides a great means by which to enjoy family activities together. In most cases children too will be fascinated by scuba diving and would jump at the idea of being taken to exciting places for vacations.

So, without hesitating any further, you must get on the phone and speak to some of the many different scuba diving organizations that offer holiday packages to places of great interest including the Red Sea, Costa Rica, the Bahamas and to the Mediterranean as well as Australia, Kenya and even Thailand. In fact, if you chose these destinations you would be like numerous other dedicated scuba divers.

Of course, you will even be able to find some other and more exciting places if you do some amount of research. In any case, you can rest assured that wherever you plan to take your scuba diving holiday there is sure to be luxury accommodations offered when booking your hotel and dining choices. You can choose to buy a complete package or select each travel and hotel stay individually.

Nearly every one of us will have taken at least a single vacation in our lives and so, when planning one, then you should consider a scuba diving holiday if only for the change and excitement that it provides.

Ian Botham runs his own online sports goods mail order business as well as several sports related websites. Check out this great Scuba Diving Vacations site or more general Scuba Diving articles and resources.

http://www.scubadivinguncovered.com/Vacations/

Two of the adjustments that often come with retirement involve changing habits and habitat. Not everyone moves from their home, but many choose to resettle elsewhere. Habitat change is an upheaval that some choose not to go through.

Habits, however, are a universal phenomena in retirement. Our day to day routine is met with “what am I going to do” with my time. There are as many answers as there are retirees. But, it is not always easy to come up with answers that are really satisfying and fulfilling.

Instead of answering the obvious, I suggest a frame of mind for approaching the task of Changing Habits.

Establish a workable routine. Avoid ruts, but have a clear road map for day to day activities.

Agree with your spouse what your role will be now that you are no longer in the employed world.

Of course, you may choose to find employment. If so, do it with a sense of what you can learn and enjoy.

Recognize that answering the “what can I do” question will come frequently.

Explore arenas untested before. Try your hand at new things. Don’t be bashful. You are not being graded for outcome. Fail happily!

Find new acquaintances whose situation and interests parallel your own.

Stay away from the TV as an excuse for something to do.

Read!

Discover new ways to assure your health needs (mental,physical, psychological) are met.

Look at your own spirituality. Choose to embrace one which will enrich you and give others inspiration.

Avoid pessimism and negativism at all costs.

Avoid complaining about your health, the world, and anything else which will drive people away from you.

Commit yourself to having fun, no matter what!

Now, you are ready to look at the specifics for retirement. Deliberate Carefully, Choose Well, Prepare to enjoy yourself and your new life!

Article provided by Dr. Jerry D. Elrod. For information on retirement, Baby Boomers and everything related to Seniors, please visit my web site at http://seniorcitizenjournal.com and my blog at http://seniorcitizenjournal.blogspot.com

One concern people often have before they set off on a luxury holiday in South Africa is that the food won’t be to their tastes. The truth is that South African food is a melting pot of the best bits from its varied history. There are aspects of European, local and Indian dishes throughout the country’s cuisine, but here are some of the best picks, depending on how daring you’re feeling on your South Africa holiday…

For those who want to stick to what they know…

So you want to head out on a luxury holiday to South Africa, but are terrified that you won’t be able to find anything your taste buds will approve of? Not to worry - assuming you’re staying in one of the big cities, you’ll find a huge range of foods representing the best of international cuisine. Johannesburg alone boasts everything from French and Italian to Brazilian and Korean eateries - and a hamburger is never far away if you need. In addition the majority of luxury hotels in South Africa offer a generous international menu to ensure that their clients are satisfied, so playing it safe and sticking to what you know shouldn’t be difficult, whatever you’re craving.

For those who want a taste of South Africa…

Perhaps the most famous South African export is biltong - a cured dry meat, similar to jerky (only thicker). If you haven’t sampled this flavourful snack, then getting it from a South African butcher is a great place to start - and will give you the choice between ‘wet’, ‘medium’ or ‘dry’.

Outside of the biltong, the best way to sample some traditional cookery is on the braai - the South African barbeque. All kinds of meat, fish, potato and onions are cooked over hot coals outdoors, and you’ll find that every suburban house (and many of South Africa’s luxury hotels) has a braai area (some even have indoor ones, too!). The pick of the grill are the sosaties (kebabs), boerewars (coarsely cut spicy sausages), steaks and ribs. You may find these meats are accompanied by pap (a traditional porridge) or vetkoek (deep fried dough balls). It makes for a very satisfying meal!

Away from the braai, Bobotie is a must - a sort of spicy cottage pie. It generally consists of spiced minced meat (and sometimes fruit) baked with an egg based toping.

For the brave…

If you really want to blend in with the locals’ traditional cuisine on your South Africa holiday, there are some (apparently!) very tasty recipes that may seem a little on the “exotic side” for Western palettes. Two dishes spring to mind - firstly Skop. Skop is the whole head of a sheep, cow or goat, skin, nose, ears and other bits removed and then boiled. Certainly not to everyone’s tastes, but maybe slightly more than Mashonzha, which is Mopani caterpillar cooked with chilli, and usually eaten with peanuts. Don’t worry - most luxury hotels in South Africa will have something more conventional if you’re feeling squeamish!

And to wash it down…

The country’s Winelands are a popular attraction to South Africa’s holiday makers, so why not enjoy some of their fine produce with your meal? The grapes from the Cape area make rather nice pinotage and hanepoort which accompany most meats rather pleasantly. If wine isn’t your thing, then there are a number of international beverages available quite widely. Beer is also very popular, and if you want to enter the spirit, then Castle, Amstel and Black Label are all popular local brands.

If this sounds a bit too intimidating for you, don’t forget that a luxury South Africa holiday will usually take in its fair share of familiar looking restaurants, so no matter what you’re craving, you’ll find it in the bigger cities. It’s worth trying some of the local food to get the full experience and who knows, you may be missing the smoke of the braai on your return to England!

Sally Rushbrooke is a South Africa expert for key2holidays, an online tour operator specialising in South Africa holidays, as well as trips to Australia, Cuba, the Caribbean, Europe, the Far East, the Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles, Egypt and the Arabian Gulf. Key2holidays has a dedicated team of experienced travel consultants to share their knowledge and help you to plan and book your ideal holiday.

Right now retirement communities are “hot.”

When there is a lot of interest in a subject, trying to predict the trends becomes important also. No one knows exactly what will happen in the future, however. It is fun to make predictions. Predictions should be more than wild guesses or pure intuition. Real estate trends can be based on demographics and money flow or something as simple as watching the traffic flow on my website about retirement communities for over age 55.

My website has categories for the areas of the United States. How much traffic flows to those states tells me something. The traffic can, in turn, be affected by something like the weather or a news story, so it changes minutely and temporarily. But over time, certain trends are strong. For instance, the state that consistently gets the most traffic is Florida. This tells me that a lot of people are interested in retiring to Florida and that is a consistent trend that has not changed over many years. It appears right now that this will continue to be so, although it could change at any time.

Recently, I have noticed a large increase of traffic to Southern California. Does this mean some people are opting out of Florida and considering California. Possibly, but I need to watch this trend over time because it may just be a temporary thing. The Midwest has been coming on strong more recently. What does this mean. It may mean more people are reaching retirement age in the midwest or it may mean more retirement communities are being built there, increasing the interest. It needs further exploration.

One category that is very strong is manufactured homes. What state are people searching in for these communities. It is interesting to note that people are searching for this type of housing in Florida more than any other state. Remember, all of this is on my website and I do not know if it would be the same on others, although I think it would.

You would be surprised to know that while people search for housing considered affordable, it seems a contradiction that they search for the highest quality ones (I can tell this by what communities they look at). This tells me that most people who consider mobile homes, which are more affordable, generally, than site-built homes, still want the better quality ones, and are looking really for good value. Of course, there are other factors that I won’t go into here, that bring me to some of these conclusions.

My luxury retirement community category is searched more than my affordable retirement communities category which I find interesting. What does that mean. Are people searching for something unique. Despite what you read about the popularity of university towns, not too many people go to the category about communities near universities. This is probably because it is a small niche.

So those are some trends that I see. I see the active adult communities being more popular now and in the next few years, with their attractive offerings that appeal to a baby-boomer such as fitness rooms, golf courses, pools, and clubhouses. I see assisted living or apartments becoming more popular in another ten years as the population ages, and I see Florida as the leading destination. These could change any time and new trends may evolve. Of course, there are many more general observations that I do not have room for here. I will continue to watch the trends, and you can, too, on my website.

Carol Fena, Realtor and Webmaster for http://www.bestguide-retirementcommunities.com.

Doors unopened, windows nailed shut, closets unexplored….until a knock comes from the other side of that door, a baseball comes flying through that window, that closet is finally revealed with all its treasures.

That is what it has been like since undergoing the new discipline of writing.  Just today a new opportunity was introduced, yesterday an invitation came to edit the publication of a new book, windows and doors and closets are flying open all over the place. And, I thought my dotage had already set in. Not on your “sweet bippy.” Here I am on the threshold of 70 and it begins to feel as if I have discovered the secret to the late George Burns in the line from the  song “I wish I were 18 again…..and going where I’ve never been.”

Today’s opportunity has to do with Green Tea, of all things. So start looking for and Googling green tea, because we are going to be in the middle of that phenomenon. Talk about Green! This is green for the body and mind and soul. How about discovering the benefits of ingesting green tea known for centuries in Japan and China? Learn the possibilities for increasing longevity through the drinking of green tea. Become a connoisseur of green teas, discovering the ones that offer the best advantages. 

Today, I am just getting my palate ready. I don’t know a lot about green tea, but I soon will and invite you to join me. Having had cancer, needing every health advantage I can, I am anxious to open those doors, if necessary break those windows, and certainly to clean out those closets.

So join the Mean Green revolution. Begin finding all the ways you can help make your body green. Breathing clean air, drinking pure water, ingesting healthy and quality foods are as important to reducing your carbon footprint as driving pollution free automobiles, cutting down on your in home energy use, avoiding plastics and other offenders of our environment.

I am not a “this will change your life” type on everything new that comes along (of course, green tea is certainly not new)  it may give you the chance to experiment with better habits which may offer some changes to your health. That is the goal of persons who care about what they eat and how they behave, and how sensitive they are to continuing to learn. 

Join the Mean Green revolution. Ignore those who may call you a “tree hugger.” Frankly, trees are still among the earth’s most medicinal properties. And, isn’t it time more of us hugged trees before there are no more to hug.   

Article provided by Dr. Jerry D. Elrod. For information on retirement, Baby Boomers and everything related to Seniors, please visit my web site at http://seniorcitizenjournal.com and my blog at http://seniorcitizenjournal.blogspot.com