furniture oil stain

How To Look After Your Furniture

Read on to learn how to clean dirt from wood furniture and tips on how to keep old wood furniture looking like new. Your furniture may look brand new right now, but to keep it that way, you need to accustom yourself to proper care. 

It is far more difficult to fix an infestation than to prevent it, so follow EPA guidelines and keep tree bugs and termites at bay before they destroy your real wood furniture. This creates another reason to make sure you know how to properly clean your wood furniture. The practice of caring for wooden furniture begins with the correct definition of the finish.

Use only warm water and mild dish soap to clean wooden furniture. Cleaning your furniture with water will not damage it, but be careful not to get it wet.

After cleaning the surface with a damp cloth, be sure to wipe it with a soft dry cloth. Remember to change your dust rags as often as possible, as a dirty cloth can scratch the surface of your furniture. Remove dust from furniture if necessary, but only when you can visually see dust – too much dust can abrade the surface.

Use a clean, soft, dry cloth but be careful not to catch the fibres of the plaster, veneer, inserts, or wood cracks. To clean plastic tables and other furniture, use a clean, soft, slightly damp cloth, and then wipe with a dry cloth. Cleaning, wiping, polishing and using furniture oil for the wood surface with mild soap on a damp cloth will help maintain its appearance.

When cleaning wood furniture, never use all-purpose cleaners such as those used on kitchen tables unless your furniture has a plastic coating. Never saturate wood furniture when cleaning or pour solutions directly onto the wood; use a wrung out damp cloth and spray the solution onto the cloth or press down on it with water to form a soapy liquid. Use suitable furniture cleaners to prevent abrasions, tears, stains, and fading, among other things.

Polishing furniture and using a furniture oil stain gives it an elegant look and keeps it clean. This helps to avoid excessive accumulation of dust and debris, which can significantly degrade the appearance of the product.

Regular dust removal-every few days or so is the best way to keep furniture shiny and prevent dust from depositing on the wood. Soft fabrics and duvets work best, but they can remove dust from furniture rather than air. Lamb wool rags or slightly damp terry cloths with lanolin will absorb dust and leave it on the furniture for several days.

To protect the finish, apply furniture wax paste following the directions above. Apply wax polish once or twice a year to maintain waterproofness and shine. White rings form when moisture from a wet glass or hot plate enters the wood finish.

Do not use metal polish creams – they can stain the wood around the hardware and leave white deposits that are very difficult or impossible to remove. Also, do not use metal polishing wipes as they can lead to over-cleaning.

Never dry dust as this can cause microscopic scratches on the surface of the case. Clean wood furniture thoroughly regularly — as often as you clean your home — accumulated dust can scratch the surface. While dust can help remove debris, you need to deep clean your furniture regularly. The main advice for caring for wood furniture is to simply dust it regularly.

A special feature of wood furniture is that regular cleaning and basic care will keep it looking new. Over the years, if you take the time to clean and maintain it properly, your wood furniture can last for generations. Such furniture is easy to care for, but if done correctly, wooden furniture will last a long time.

Dust removal, scrubbing, waxing, and sometimes deep cleaning is all necessary steps to protect wood furniture that you need to be aware of. Care and maintenance of wood furniture usually involve dusting, cleaning, polishing, or waxing to keep your furniture looking its best.

Taking care of your wood furniture is easy and not time-consuming, and the reward for your efforts will be a home full of beautiful wood furniture that looks and feels as beautiful as the day you received it – now and for years to come.

Crane Hotels the New Trend

There’s an improbable new hotel trend taking hold in Europe in transformed cranes.

The Crane Hotel Faralda in Amsterdam took nearly half a decade to construct inside an outdated industrial crane and is presently a state-of-the-art hotel with a very personal and unique character style.

Still a structurally mobile crane, a wind vane enables the crane to really gently turn with the breeze, so guests receive a different perspective and city view each evening.

There are three suites which come equipped with outdoor furniture like rain showers and a scenic lounge and a spa pool situated on the top deck may also be hired out for events.

With rooms beginning at almost £500 per night guests may even request a personal bodyguard and butler.

The 50-metre-high “building” is possessed by Edwin Kornmann Rudi and is now the most special and talked-about hotel idea coming out of the Netherlands.

Construction expenses for the renovation eventually amounted to greater than 2.8 million, so the construction costs of the suites are among the most expensive hotel rooms in Europe.

Services and facilities

With just the single-entry point and no way to get in without your specific room key card and authorised permission, Crane Hotel Faralda presents optimum privacy and security.

This is something which is quite sought after by international celebrities, VIP’s or even royals.

Crane Hotel Faralda guests can arrive at Amsterdam by Private jet and therefore are brought right into the entry of the hotel, without being viewed by the public.

The lifts take them directly to their suites, in which they could look out over Amsterdam and watch all that is happening under, without anyone seeing them.

This is not the sole crane dwelling in Amsterdam as you will find luxury apartments built within a crane nearby as well.

People tend not to associate the industrial and the largest cranes with a ‘luxury resort’, but that is going to change thanks to an exciting new hotel construction in Copenhagen not keen to be bested by Amsterdam.

A former coal slab crane was changed into a peaceful destination just a short walk from the town centre, on the docks of Nordhavn.

Aptly named The Krane, this brand-new hotel features all you’d expect in a glamorous hotel visit from a luxury spa to a concierge, and of course the waterfront accommodation’s beachfront location means guests receive breathtaking panoramic views of the town, airport and sea to go with beach style furniture.

The resort only sleeps two individuals in its newly designed comfortable suite located on the upper floor 50ft above sea-level.

And despite what you could think, the rooms are not confined – in actuality, there is another living area, bath and a patio as well for making the most of the unique view.

Then there is the spa and sauna you will discover on the second floor which make the ideal setting for pampering ideal for unwinding while taking in the stunning surroundings. The glass wall provides views of the city, in addition to another outside patio where you could locate more lavish views of Copenhagen.

Plus, with extras for example underfloor heating and custom-designed furniture, it seems more like a modern hotel as opposed to a former piece of machinery.

Guests may also enjoy additional perks like a vehicle and liaison to meet you in the airport along with also a ground floor lobby with employees available to provide handy tips for making the most of your stay, and of course, they will bring you breakfast each morning.

Travelling for work rather than to holiday? The hotel is also home to the ‘Glass Box’, a meeting area that – unsurprisingly – has glass walls so all guests can take in the sights wherever they are sitting.

The Krane will soon be open to the public in the second half of the year, however, thrill-seekers will be thrilled to know it is one of only a couple crane-turned-hotels in the world.

Earlier this calendar year, that the Crane Hotel Faralda opened its doors in Amsterdam – but that one isn’t for its faint-hearted.

The way the suites have been created

All the three suites have its own unique aesthetic; however, they are all bound together with the identical commendable antipathy for tradition. They obey similar designs; a little couch and bathroom (with WC) on the ground floor plus a mezzanine-style bedroom having king-size mattress and standalone tub. Large windows provide nice views of the town, but the drapes do little to keep out the light. The staircase into the bedroom are also dangerously steep.

The interior decoration is the job of somebody walking a tightrope between genius and insanity. Mystique, the priciest package, comes with a part of S&M dungeon relating to this using its glowing red ceiling, black leather seats and gold foliage bed sheets. Free spirit is the most reserved of those three, though guests still wake up next to a stuffed peacock.

All suites are outfitted with the typical hotel extras – java machines, kettles, minifridges, heated towel rack and audio streaming devices – although bathrooms boast rainforest showers and porthole windows, which permit you to view Amsterdam while cleansing your hair.

Each room has magnificent views and since the crane moves at the end guests frequently wake up with various views to those they fell asleep to.

There were lots of hurdles that almost prevented this insane idea from getting off the floor, but against the chances it triumphed. This is a project of uncompromising personality; a resort design that pushed the bounds of technology to its limits.

The Crane’s gaudy exterior — painted red, blue and yellow — is anything but subtle but indoors it is fascinatingly functional. There is no reception area or lounge and the shortage of suburban area means that there aren’t many opportunities for decorative assertions; the rickety lifts aren’t canvases for creative touches, but the suites that they provide you too are a different story becoming a storytelling hotel.

Top Places to See in Australia

Australia is an amazing country, there’s truly something for everybody. If you’re a party animal you are able to head up the East Coast, should you rather scenery instead the West Coast is the way to go. Australia also has a few amazing cities along with my favourites which include Melbourne, Perth and Sydney (and although Canberra is often avoided, there are still sites and attractions to see). When exploring, if possible attempt to buy or hire a vehicle, it may be costly but this will permit you to see more and it will provide you the flexibility a nation like Australia wants. As an interior stylist the inspiration you can gain is never ending. Here are my favourite top places to see in Australia.

  1. The Red Centre

The Red Centre is composed of a trilogy of sites; Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon. When seeing the unbelievable Uluru you’ve got two choices; you can walk round it or up it. Many vacationers have a tendency to try and climb it however, Aboriginals favour people avoiding the climb since Uluru is among one of the religious monuments. Throughout the walk around you’ll have the chance to see aboriginal drawings dating back 10,000 decades, it’s a great but tiring walk. Take notes for your latest house design revamp as it provides unique interior décor opportunities.

Whilst Uluru is amazing, I believed its neighbour Kata Tjuta is impressive. Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) is 25km from Uluru, it’s 36 sandstone domes and covers nearly 22km². Here you are able to go on an 8km walk round the boulders; there is a superb sense of calmness as you walk round and there’s frequently a gentle breeze which makes it possible to take your own time.

The last part of the trilogy is Kings Canyon – 300 metres high and overlooks Kings Creek. Like the other it is another unbelievable site and here you will find two walks to pick from. The first is a 2km that takes you across the base of the gorge but in case you’ve travelled all of the way to Kings Canyon you may as well do the complete walk so that you are able to enjoy the whole experience.

  1. Great Barrier Reef

No visit to Australia would be complete without seeing the Great Barrier Reef. The famed reef is located off the coast of Queensland and it is the world’s biggest coral reef dispersing over 2,600 kilometers with roughly 900 islands. The most well-known place is the Whitsundays. If you know a person who has seen The East Coast it is highly probable you have gotten a postcard with an image of this Whitsundays. I would advise seeing these islands on a ship excursion, ideally for a couple of days so you may take in the sights. You may also scuba dive or snorkel in addition to enjoying amazing cuisine that’s frequently served on the ships. There are various kinds of bargains on offer, simply go for the coastal city Airlie Beach and search around for the best price.  Some of the fish you will find include manta rays, tiger sharks, clownfish and not forgetting the lovely coloured coral. Just beware of this flame coral, it will hurt! An interior designer on the gold coast would take major inspiration from the reef as not only the colour palette it provides is fresh and coastal but the styling options it provides are endless.

  1. Fraser Island

Fraser Island is a wonderful site. It is really thought to be the biggest sand island on earth and spreads throughout 1840 km². Sadly some people today wind up having to pick between Fraser Island and a trip outside to Whitsundays but if possible attempt to do both – you won`t be disappointed. Most tours begin at Hervey Bay in the mainland you are able to reserve a tour and gather your four wheel drive car, just be sure that you do your alcohol and food purchasing before getting the ferry to Fraser Island. Once on the Island you may have a few days driving around on the sand, trying to prevent crashing while checking out various interesting areas. Do not overlook the renowned obvious Champagne Pool (it is good to lie) or the Wreck of the Maheno that’s the ideal photo opportunity. A fantastic suggestion is to beware of this Dingos! They occasionally wander in the camp grounds at night searching for food but they do not often approach people. Pick up some beach style homewares such as a jar of coastal sand or shells to decorate your coastal house design back home. Fraser Island really is an enjoyable experience, you’ll also get the opportunity to choose where to camp every evening.

  1. Purnululu National Park

Purnululu National Park is situated in Western Australia. Regrettably, as a result of its location this component of the nation is frequently bypassed, but this does imply it stays quite untouched. Western Australia has been my favourite area of the nation, it is very beautiful and you will seldom see other travellers. When you see Purnululu National Park, the Bungle Bungles is where to visit. The Bungle Bungles are all tiger-striped sandstone rocks that are an unbelievable sight. In the Bungle Bungles you are able to go for walks or rather view them. I opted to go up in a helicopter, so it was not cheap but the views made it rewarding.

  1. Barossa Valley

In Barossa Valley I fell in love with wine, red wine in particular. Barossa Valley is Australia’s most renowned wine region producing famous brands like Penfolds, Orlando Wines, Wolf Blass and Yalumba. I suggest going on a trip round the Valley that will permit you to see unique wineries. If it’s possible, stay away from driving so that you can enjoy the wineries without worrying about driving home. You can enjoy luxury accommodation in the home of wine, making for the perfect weekend getaway.

  1. Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third most significant Island, it is just more compact than Tasmania and Melville Island. To get onto the Island you will have to take a ferry from Adelaide. A good deal of individuals hold off seeing Kangaroo Island and choose to see Philip Island. Each to their own but I believe Kangaroo Island has something to offer. It is home to a superb wildlife such as albino wallabies (that I had been fortunate enough to see), sea lions and plenty of small blue penguins that come on the island at sunset for feeding. Another bonus is that you can enjoy waterfront accommodation at affordable prices due to Kangaroo Island’s less touristy nature.

How To Fight Fatigue During Business Travel

Business travel can be a particularly draining and tiring venture and mental and physical fatigue are normal things that occur when you are constantly on the move or in business meetings. Whether I am on the street or handling a significant job, everything on my plate is complicated and requires tremendous imagination yet intense attention to detail. From the close of each day, I feel as if my mind is totally empty and I do not have anything left for my loved ones, let alone for myself. When you get hit by those double travelling days you’re not sure if you will make it to the other side and you know your performance will be less than perfect.

The matter is, these jobs are extremely interesting you are learning a great deal getting to enjoy many different destinations. But I can feel I am really on a path to squint when I do not work out how to recharge. After doing some research and trial and error on myself and consulting friends in the same situation I have come up with a few tips.

Get as much rest as you can. Yes, it is tempting and easy to stay up late watching TV. However, the reward is simply not there! I feel much better the next day should I sleep that extra hour instead of watching the latest drama. Sleep is very important and business coaching specialists say that sleep is the most important priority if you want to be the best you can be, so shut off the TV and get some of that precious sleep time. This is especially important when you are suffering from the dreaded jet lag. Try to adjust your sleep to the local time as best as you can before you end up crashing during the day.

Explore outside. Being in the office all day like being locked in an airtight cabinet and not getting to explore the beautiful city will turn you into a grump so take a few minutes during lunch or before a meeting to take walk and refresh. Even better, take your work or meetings outdoors if possible. Parks, terraces, and outdoor cafes are a welcome change of scenery to a bland office.

Do not forget to consume nutritious food. I have caught up in work which I will miss lunch without discovering. But when will I get to eat to fuel my body? Overdosing of coffee will not fuel your body properly, you need real food. When I am not in a meeting I will put an alarm so I do not skip important meals. Finest case scenario I eat mainly veggies and protein, but in a pinch, I will catch a cheese stick, granola bar, or sandwich. I maintain bars or peanut butter crackers in my travel bag if I am unable to escape the office to get a meal. Without enough food, you will become even more lethargic, do some productivity monitoring and you will see the difference in energy levels that good food makes.

Stay active. I feel more refreshed and energised when I work out a couple of times weekly. When it is a fast walk round the construction or a yoga course in a local studio, getting my blood going helps my mind in addition to mental performance. There is nothing like getting a good sweat on to clear your mind and satisfy your muscles.

Spend some time with friends. During busy travelling times it is so difficult to find time for social actions. However, social interactions are important to make plans with friends or go out for dinner after a meeting and put work aside. Do some sightseeing or go down to the local gallery to see the museum display and famous artworks. Seeing friends and taking your mind off work will improve your mental health and push the fatigue away.

Take small breaks. A break does not need to be 30 total minutes. It’s the little breaks that make a difference whether you are having a power nap at the airport or in the back of a taxi. A ten-minute rest can revitalise you and get you going for the rest of the day in no time. Going all day without breaks will surely wear you down very quickly unless you cannot avoid it, stay away from back to back meetings and travel.

Wind down every night. At the end of a busy day, make sure you take some time for yourself instead of scheduling at the last minute meeting. You could relax by the hotel pool with a magazine or get a massage to relax. Don’t push your body past its limits this will cause extra fatigue. Business travel is very demanding so book an extra day or night in on the trip to take time for yourself.

Choosing a Business Mobility Tool for Travel

When undertaking business travel, you want to know that all your data and files are safely stored but accessible no matter where you are. That’s where mobile management and workforce mobility solutions come in to increase the efficiency of your business and facilitate hassle-free travel.

What is Trending in Mobile Management:

Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) safety and content management characteristics are well known but also provide advanced capabilities like next-generation policy direction and the capability to derive significant context about their customers. At precisely the exact same time, there is increasing demand among associations for capacities which could help them handle the rising amount of mobile dangers. That is producing a greater emphasis on the demand for cellular identity. EMM sellers have started supplying more contextually relevant individuality tools in their goods, allowing or limiting access to corporate information dependent on the network an employee is using.

Another important trend is the more complex use of analytics embedded into EMM systems, spurred by improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Data accumulated by EMM systems may enable enterprises to acquire new efficiencies in workflows and create better business decisions. Together with these new capacities come raising expenses, and costs are really rising for EMM solutions. They state prices will continue to go up as the assortment of apparatus increases and the cellular environment gets much more complicated.

This implies that picking the ideal EMM seller and platform may be among the very important technology choices that a business makes. When buying property you would get property investment advice this is similar, you need to browse before you buy. Below are a few factors to think about prior to making this choice and choosing the best product suited for your business travel.

Set Your Present Needs Front and Centre

A key to deciding on the ideal EMM alternative is aligning the qualities and capabilities of this platform for your company’s requirements. Including such variables as what kinds of business programs users typically utilize, what regulatory and security compliance requirements the organisation has, what type of service and network management features it requires, which cellular operating systems have been in use, what degree of coverage capabilities are required, and so forth.

Picking out the proper platform is not only an issue of getting the best features but obtaining the attributes which best meet the company’s needs when travelling. If your business travel demands full access to all employee data and timesheet software then you will need a comprehensive package.

As soon as you’ve figured out which company tasks you are seeking to support via cellular devices and programs, determine which attribute sets are required according to that. What to consider are whether the business needs content or application management in addition to fundamental device management and if it ought to encourage bring your device in addition to company-owned apparatus. If workers are travelling a good deal, and especially if they travel abroad, a characteristic like geo-fencing may be important in order that consumers may be compliant with specific nations’ data privacy regulations.

Focus on the User Experience

It is important to test out just how an EMM platform really works with many different mobile devices before rolling out a platform inside the enterprise. In case the EMM system makes it harder for workers to use their cellular devices or somehow interferes with their accustomed methods of doing things on cellular, they aren’t likely to be pleased with the change.

Concentrate on the employee encounter. In case the worker experience together with the EMM is poor, they’ll evade it rather than using it. Do a test run using an EMM platform, and make sure you question workers about their experiences with it and if it is making using mobile programs and apparatus easier or harder. Freedom is supposed to enable employees and help them to be effective. In case EMM ends up diminishing these gains, then its worth to the organisation gets a whole lot more restricted.

Don’t Forget About Mobile Apps

The cellular ecosystem isn’t only about one apparatus. Business programs are what provide the actual significance to mobile users and the business as a whole. Therefore, the mobile program management features and capacities of this EMM platform are very important.

Mobile programs are forcing the EMM marketplace to new heights into a more persuasive IT investment proposal. Undoubtedly, mobile programs have a massive part to play in assisting workers to realise new production efficiencies, but the thought has to be made about how these programs can be chosen, designed, managed and procured.

Suites vs. Individual Products

Whether to buy a complete EMM package or individual components is dependent upon the organisation’s mobility requirements, dimensions, present cellular management infrastructure, along with other aspects.

EMM suites which package in MDM, MAM and much more can be well suited for a large, international enterprise that wants many different capacities and attributes and is seeking to prevent having multiple resources to handle.

For more localized associations or people with simpler requirements, a total EMM suite might simply not be mandatory. We see organisations going towards broader suites, but occasionally this can be too much. If all of your employees will need to do is accept a cost report with a mobile device when travelling, then they most likely don’t require an all inclusive expensive package according to small business advisors. Simpler products which offer mobile versions of software are preferable in that circumstance.

So it might not be sensible to locate an all-in-one package as solutions for your business rather analysing your needs and determining what is appropriate. Know, however, that EMM is the base around which you will construct a complete mobile capacity.

Future Proofing

Technology is always changing, as are the requirements of customers and clients, regulatory considerations, market tendencies and so forth. An EMM platform ought to be designed to satisfy the present needs of their organisation, but also needs to have the capacity to support potential future improvements.

So while your organisation’s present requirements are paramount, take care to consider your future needs and possible wealth creation strategies, and research vendors’ offerings in these regions. A number of the more recent features of the products, for example, cellular identity management and information analytics, may be significant to your organisation a brief way in the future.

It’s performance like this that’s evolving the business mobility value proposal into one which can be genuinely beneficial for associations, helping them optimise important small business services and procedures when travelling around the world.

Ways to Manage your Business on the Cloud while on Holiday

It cloud computing is a model that enables unlimited access to system resources and data that can be easily configured with minimal management effort over the Internet. It allows you to handle your business computing resources online – using a third party for your storage and computing needs.

Cloud computing provides entrepreneurs with a way to use their information virtually, creating a flexible and ubiquitous access any time. With various web-enabled devices, access to your resources is even easier. This technology is a huge business development, particularly for companies with multiple offices or remote employees who aren’t linked by a single physical network.

With a good internet connection, the cloud allows you the convenience of managing your business.

In what specific ways, here they are.

To collaborate with co-workers from different locations through file sharing

Collaboration in a cloud environment allows the team members to communicate and share information easily outside of the traditional office methods. Take, for instance, if you are working on a project such as technology conferences in Australia, across different sites, cloud computing is useful in giving employees, contractors and third parties access to the same files. You could also choose a secured cloud computing model that makes it easy for you to share your records with your advisers or financial advisers Emails, faxes, attachments or physical delivery of printed documents are now a thing in the past.

To work off-site

Cloud computing allows employees to be more versatile in their work practices. You have the ability to access data from home, while on a holiday, at a Brisbane festival or even during the commute to and from work on your mobile devices. If you need access to your data while you are off-site, you can connect to your virtual office, quickly and easily. And when you work offsite, you usually save money – on transportation and fuel, electricity, and purchase of hardware and software.

To expand storage potential

Data is directly proportional to your business, so the more business, and the more data, which needs a secure storage. To resolve this predicament, companies now turn to cloud services instead of purchasing new hard drives. Storage capacity offered by cloud services also vary. You can acquire larger amounts of space at a premium price. Your computers can remotely back up data to the cloud at certain intervals but you won’t have to worry about data loss or hardware malfunction since your data are stored remotely. You’ll be able to access everything from any computer.

To increase security and reliability

When you utilize a cloud-computing service, your business records exist in a protected, offsite location and will be backed up frequently or routinely and sometimes even geo-redundantly. These data-backup features provide greater peace of mind as well as business continuity should a disaster or unexpected interruption happens to your business. Furthermore, you’ll likely experience greater dependability when using a cloud service, especially if your business has limited IT resources since cloud service providers have qualified IT staff and better access to the latest technologies.

To run your business with significantly reduced IT costs and overhead

Engaging cloud computing services can reduce the cost of managing and maintaining your Information Technology systems. Rather than purchasing costly systems and equipment for your business, you can lessen your expenses by using the resources of your cloud computing service provider. Operating costs are also reduced because:

  • the cost of system upgrades, new hardware and software may be included in your contract
  • specialized staff are no longer needed
  • reduction of energy consumption costs due to lesser equipment
  • fewer time delays.

The mobile Workplace

Obviously, cellular technology has made conducting a business from home a far more viable alternative recently, even if you are in the commercial properties industry. Provided that your notebook computer, smartphone or tablet computer includes a Wi-Fi or cellular sign, you may still check email, process orders and upgrade the site between flipping burgers in the playground.

Most company software now has a handy cellular program too. All it requires is the correct package of programs and you may access and handle lots of the very same tasks as you can in the workplace. Some programs, such as Xero accounting applications, are designed to operate seamlessly across apparatus. As all the data is saved in the cloud, it’s available from anywhere using exactly the very same levels of encryption utilized by net banking. You may process invoices and assess your expenses before anybody finds out the sausages are all burning off. It support solutions are always available if you struggle to embrace using the cloud and online systems when working on holidays or from home.

The Telephone

At times it’s just when an emergency occurs while on vacation which you realise you do not have the contact information for those that you want to solve it. It is no good having everybody’s office telephone number saved in your phone whenever they are on vacation just like you such as the Gazal Family. Ensure everyone is clear about who’s on call and how to get connected in case problems arise.

In addition, it can be valuable to transfer specific office telephone lines into the corresponding cellular, so significant enquiries get to the ideal men and women. Obviously, only do so if it’s essential. Not every telephone call for your office is barbarous. Many can probably wait till January.

Remember you are on vacation

Modern technology enables us to be attached to our company 24/7. That does not mean that you should conduct your company from home each minute of the vacations when there are additional precious things to do – enjoy spending time with your household.

Let a few of those calls go to voicemail and react to them when the time suits you. Limit how many times you check email every day. Avoid the temptation to perform work that could wait till you return from leave. Decide what activities are crucial to keep the company running and adhere to people.

It is known as the vacation for a reason.

Skin Care Whilst Travelling

Skin care whilst travelling must be among my most asked questions. Fortunately, with only a bit of preparation, we could change those long hours on the plane to act in favour of our skin. As soon as you arrive at your destination book in a laser treatment and collagen stimulation appointment to revitalise your skin, but in the meantime here are some tips get by whilst travelling.

1. Eliminate all your makeup.

First, remove all your makeup when you board the airplane, ideally using an oil cleaner to nourish at precisely the exact same time as heavy cleansing. If you would rather get this done on your chair you may use a micellar water on a cotton mat instead. I do not care for makeup remover wipes, so they are simply not that good for the skin and the perfectionist in me does not actually believe they eliminate all traces of makeup, dirt, and debris.

2. Mist for moisture.

Spritz your face using a sterile mist spray and prepare skin to use your serums and masks, also to keep hydration and wake your skin. I do this consistently through the flight to maintain my skin super moist and dewy. Additionally, they smell heavenly.

3. Apply serum.

I use an antioxidant serum to protect skin from dreadful free radical damage. Indoor cabin atmosphere has very little oxygen and dehydrates, depletes and damages your own epidermis.

4. Nourish with petroleum.

Then, use a sterile face oil on the face, neck, décolletage, lips, eyes, and cuticles to keep skin moist and supple.

5. Employ a mask.

My favourite thing to do on a long-haul flight would be to employ a Face mask and watch movies on my tablet. If you would like to be more discreet try a sleeping mask which rubs just like a moisturiser and does not need any rinsing.

6. Employ a rich lotion or ointment prior to sleeping.

For those flights that are longer, before sleeping employ a rich night cream or ointment to lock in moisture and protect your skin from the dry, air-conditioned environment. I apply rescue balm directly over the top of my sleeping mask.

7. Drink herbal tea and water.

Swap coffee and alcohol to herbal tea and water, and steer clear of the salty airplane foods as this merely promotes water retention and swelling. If you are more prone to swelling and fluid retention employ a body oil which stimulates circulation.

8. Decant your products.

Divide your product into small travel jars and bottles accordingly you do not have to carry up to possess goods confiscated by airport security. Do not neglect to take disposable wet wipes to wash your hands. There’s nothing worse than touching your face with filthy hands.

9. Adapt your skin care consequently.

Fix your skincare depending on your destination climate. I state that Australia has among the harshest climates on the planet. But each time I travel to London or Paris throughout our Summer I am reminded that the extreme, bitter cold of a European winter could be just as harsh on skin because of sunlight.

If you are travelling to a chilly climate change your gel face wash to get an oil cleaner and apply a sterile antioxidant serum. Employ an eye serum into the eye area in addition to your lips and nose, then add a wide spectrum SPF moisturiser daily sunscreen remains crucial in winter!

For warmer, more humid climates utilise an AHA or gel Cleanser using a milder antioxidant gel or ointment below your SPF moisturiser. I adore a water-based spray-on sunscreen in warm weather using a hydrating spritzer to maintain skin fresh and dewy.

10. Change to hydrating formulas.

For the day swap your serum to a hydrating or curative formula as busy products may lead to dryness and irritation to the dehydrated or sensitised skin. Layer your serum under a rich night lotion or balm. Do not forget to also utilise a sterile eye Lotion to protect the delicate eye area and maintain your lips and nose super moist using a balm.

Travelling with Technology

Wondering what to take on the road when it has to do with electronics? You are not the only one. Long gone are the days where a cassette player and movie camera were the height of traveling gadgetry. Walking to a hostel common room today, you would be forgiven for thinking you’d inadvertently stumbled into the local electronics shop. You are likely to be surrounded by notebooks and tablet computers, smartphones and DSLRs, and much more softly glowing Apple logos than you can shake a stick at.

Laptop
With the slow disappearance of Internet cafes in favor of Wi-Fi hotspots, a notebook is definitely worth considering. It’s the simplest way of staying in touch, backing up photos, and wasting time. Don’t buy anything bigger than a 13″ screen or that weighs considerably over 1kg, and much less is definitely better. Think about the size and weight of the power adapter also. Those things can be enormous!

Power
Buy something that will not fall to bits the first time it has knocked on your bag. Get a protective sleeve to prevent scratches and cushion minor bumps, and read the testimonials of its durability.

Battery life
5 or six hours is the minimum, 8+ is significantly better if you intend to take long overnight trains or buses.

Storage space
Do not skimp on the amount of storage you have. 128Gb is in fact the minimum, and much more is far better. All those photos and downloaded pictures take up more space than you think! Buy an online cloud management system to save all your precious memories on.

SD card slot
It is not an absolute must, but using an SD card slot built into your notebook is extremely handy. Assuming your camera uses SD cards (most do), an integrated card reader makes copying your images super simple. All you do is insert the card and move!

Price
The less you spend, the more cash you need to spend overseas, right? And of course that the computer will be cheaper to insure and replace and less of a target for theft. Do not spend much over $1000. If your budget does not stretch that far or your needs are more basic, you might go to get a tablet instead. Older technology such as netbooks could also do the job, though they’re becoming increasingly tough to discover.

Tablet
There is a lot to be said for picking a tablet if your primary use is consumption (i.e., reading webpages, books, and mails, or watching movies) instead of production (writing, editing video, etc.). Again, select one with tons of storage (either built-in or through microSD card).

To back up your photos, both Apple and Android devices allow you to plug in an external SD card reader, so select one of these up as well. In case you have absolutely no other option, you may even use the camera onto your tablet to have that must-have shot. Just be aware you will look rather silly doing this.

National Air and Space Museum Gets a Facelift

The Wright Flyer, John Glenn’s Mercury spacecraft and the Apollo 11 spacesuit which Neil Armstrong wore on the moon, are just some of the countless space and air artefacts curated from Smithsonian, which will soon be exhibited in a renewed area in Washington, DC.

The Smithsonian revealed plans to revitalize the National Air and Space Museum within the next seven decades. The $900 million project will be accomplished on a phased schedule so that lots of the artefacts remain on view in display showcases as the building continues.

It’s ambitious, but it is a needed renovation of the building and a chance to make a new experience and new displays, and to place other artefacts on display that could have otherwise occurred in a more incremental way, said Peter Jakab, chief curator at the museum, in an interview with collectSPACE. We are being pushed to do bigger and bolder things than we may have done, but this is good, a more timely change the museum wish to make is on their website with a new website design.

Initially, the museum anticipated needing only to replace the heating, ventilation and electrical systems, which after almost 40 years had outlived their lifespan. But in planning to perform that work, it was found that the building’s outer rock was in a considerable state of disrepair, requiring that it too had to be replaced, Jakab explained.

So, that changed the game concerning the extent of the renovation and revitalization, he said. After that step was accomplished, it created the chance that each of the exhibitions would need to be touched in some way, even if it was just to replace the glass showcase systems in the exhibition.

The building will experience a complete refacing of its exterior cladding and its mechanical systems will be substituted. The visitor experience within the museum will also change with all 23 galleries and demonstration spaces being upgraded or completely redone.

The work will be split into separate stages, starting in summer 2018, with a part of the building open to people at all times. Construction is set to begin on the west side of the museum, which houses nine galleries, such as “Exploring the Planets.”

Some of the exhibitions haven’t significantly changed from the 41 years since the museum opened. The Milestones of Flight Hall, which visitors first encounter when entering the building, was renovated in 2016 and will be one of the last regions of the museum to be touched.

To safeguard the artefacts, most will be temporarily transferred to a state-of-the-art storage facility now being built close to the Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. A few of the items in the National Mall building however, are too big to transport and will have to be worked around.

By way of instance, the Skylab [backup orbital workshop] will be protected in place as that is quite a big and difficult matter to move, said Jakab.

Following the artefacts return to the museum when building is finished, the new collections centre will be used to hold other museum items not currently on display.

Lots of the galleries are being re-imagined and remodelled to participate visitors while they’re in the memorial and after they leave.

We really want to redefine the museum in terms of it being an adventure than being a place, Jakab said. We want to create a seamless experience that’s both digital online through custom craft websites, in addition to walking the galleries at the building.

When the new exhibitions start to start in 2021, visitors to the museum will see a few of the artefacts in fresh settings. By way of instance, the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia, will be exhibited at a custom-designed, climate-controlled case in “Destination Moon,” a new gallery taking the place of their present “Apollo to the Moon.” Recently captured 3D photography of Columbia’s interior will be displayed together with the spacecraft, showing components that would otherwise stay concealed from public view.

All the exhibitions will also incorporate new demonstration spaces, allowing the people to interact with content specialists through demos and talks, all shared through internet webcasts. Rather than simply relaying information, the new galleries will provide hands-on experiences. From the remodelled “Exploring the Planets,” for instance, visitors will tour the solar system and have a walk on another world via an immersive experience.

The exhibitions through the museum will be grouped by theme to allow for a simpler way finding and a much better guest experience.

We’ll be collocating galleries of similar subject matter,” said Jakab. “We are going to have space exploration package, where we will have three galleries beside each other: a gallery that’s centred on Earth, “One World Connected,” a gallery that focuses on the solar system and the planets, and then the re-do of our Apollo exhibition, “Destination Moon,” that is one of our core subject areas.

So we will have an Earth-moon-planets set of galleries which are adjacent to one another, ” he explained.

The Smithsonian has asked funds in its own 2018 federal funding to start the Infrastructure and outdoor work. In the years to come, additional funds will be requested. The Smithsonian estimates the total cost of the revitalization to be about $650 million.

Every indication we have so far is that the members of Congress feel this Isn’t only a fantastic project, but essential. So we have a Great deal of confidence that the complete funding required to make the repairs will come, said Jakab.

Moreover, the National Air and Space Museum intends to privately raise the $250 million it needs for new exhibitions.

The transformation of exhibitions starts a new era for the museum. We’re Developing innovative approaches to experience America’s favorite museum, said Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, the museum’s outgoing director.

Shoe Destinations of the World

Travel guides have lots of unique pointers on categorizing the highlights of various destinations, like beaches, restaurants, and nightlife. However, for unknown reasons they constantly don’t highlight precisely what, to us at least, is of chief concern: the shoe-shopping circumstance. With summer vacation season is upon us here is our definitive roundup of the top cities for apparel pursuits, in no particular order.

 

Milan

Using its heritage cobblers like ballerina-maker E. Porselli in addition To both the local and worldwide luxury brands that line the Golden Triangle area of Via Monte Napoleone, Via della Spiga and adjacent streets (Via San’t Andrea, Via Gesù, Via Borgospesso), Italy’s fashion capital remains the world’s greatest place to go trying to find extravagant shoes. It helps that the support of employees is very good in shops like Gucci, Gianvito Rossi, Casadei, Rene Caovilla and Santoni.

 

London

While Harrods made some noise in 2015 with the introduction of its Shoe Heaven, widely regarded as the biggest shoe flooring of just about any department store, including a range of women’s pumps, lots of smaller theatres make shopping in the British capital for an endless delight. Matches, the favourite e-destination, has quite a few brick-and-mortar locations known due to their distinctive edit, while Browns London often pegs the forthcoming major name before anyone else. Also, take a look at English labels and Duchess of Cambridge Catherine Middleton favourites like Penelope Chilvers (who makes her cherished country riding boots) and L.K. Bennett (her go-to pumps). For the gents, it is a dapper shoe-fest with tags like Gieves & Hawkes, John Lobb, Grenson and Olivier Sweeney, turning out smart and classic brogues, wingtips and Chelsea boots.

 

Barcelona

No trip to Spain is complete without stocking up on espadrilles, and this is their birthplace. Many regional purveyors dot the city’s marketplaces, but the main attraction from them all is Castañer. While they manufacture the jute-soled summer shoes for Hèrmes, Paul Andrew, Valentino and many others, they also have their own large lineup of interrelated styles.

 

Lisbon

The city and state are significant footwear hubs occupied by tons of smaller neighbourhood brands. Check out Eureka because of its in-house label of Portuguese-made shoes that are street savvy and exceptionally money friendly. Think suede platform shoes for under $120 bucks. For a more Old-school Strategy, there is Sapataria do Carmo, a charming handmade

 

Sao Paulo

While the country’s biggest shoe maker might nevertheless be Havaianas, which Brazilians buy in bulk at the supermarket, lace connoisseurs flock to purchasing Iguatemi, a lavish mall selling Arezzo’s classic pumps, Rio surfer bran Osklen’s raffia sling back and a lot more. And don’t leave town without a set of Alexandre Birman’s signature Clarita stilettos.

 

Dubai

Yes, to many it is the shopping capital of the world, but Most of All, It’s home to Level Shoes, 1 helluva footwear fantasyland and reason enough to visit the city. The department-store concept is totally devoted to shoes at each price point, such as flip-flops, women’s sandals, custom made croc loafers and everything in between. The most recent assortment raises the wonderland result, from fundamental brands such as Chanel and Celine into a bold mixture of new artists and limited-edition creations.

 

Capri

A pair of handmade vases created before your very eyes. The Capri Touch resort in Ana Capri has one of the more glamorous setups for supple women’s sandals that might be bedazzled a little or a lot.

 

Tokyo

The scene here is much like an amusement park on your own credit card. For The most satisfaction, take a look at the topsy-turvy Comme des Garcon-run Dover Street Market, opening ceremony, and Japanese department store Isetan. The display and merchandising alone is eye-popping.

 

Hong Kong

Lane Crawford and its sister shop Joyce have built a sterling reputation as the place to look for exquisite luxury shoes in town. Added incentive: contrary to numerous key department stores, there is an emphasis here on both the Asian and international brands, so you really get a sense of regional tastes.

 

Dallas/Fort Worth

It’s tough not to be smitten by all the Western regalia in Texas and to leave town without your own honky-tonk cowboy boots is upsetting. For the most immersive experience, swing by Cavender’s, which has many stores in the area (and they’re still alive). In Fort Worth, Fincher’s is just another amazing store for snip-toes and saddle-ready styles.

 

New York City

To be a shoe manufacturer, making it in New York remains an important feat. Madison Avenue is a major designer mecca, with Aquazzura recently opening up shop a stone’s throw from Louis Leeman, Jimmy Choo and Roger Vivier. Together with the three B’s (Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York and Bloomingdale’s) continue to disperse an infinite supply of fantasy shoes such as women’s and men’s sandals.

 

Paris

While the grand old usual suspects, Galeries Lafayette, Printemps and Bon Marche, have plenty to rave about, authentic shoe aficionados have a stroll Down Rue de Grenelle because of its choice of multi-brand boutiques like Iris and for a trip to Christian Louboutin’s special shop.

AccorHotels Support Travelling Sustainably

AccorHotels’ manager of sustainability, Arnaud Herrmann, said the resort was dedicated to implementing more sustainable practices on a massive scale through its Planet 21 program. He said that you do not wake up and say, ‘I need sustainability,’. He claims it involves a lengthy process of creating the company culture and incorporating the principles within the business.

It doesn’t hurt that the movement toward sustainability has buoyed AccorHotels’ bottom line. The business has saved millions of euros by inviting guests to reuse towels and invest in integrating water-restricting hot water service repairs and save cash – and a part of that money has become its Plant for the Planet program, which has planted five million new trees within the last nine decades. (A bulk of U.S. resorts also have programs that reuse towels and linens.) The purpose is to make environmentally sound decisions easy for the consumer and without imposing undue financial burden and environmental degradation in the hospitality and tourism-focused house extension designs for accommodation developments. Ecology should be not more expensive, and should have no negative effect on relaxation, according to Mr. Herrmann.

The significance of big chains moving towards sustainability does not mean you need to cancel your visit to the tiny lodge in Central America; chances to travel sustainably are everywhere. Travelers think sustainable travel is either too costly or out of what they would like to do when they travel. More often than not, this isn’t true. Kelley Louise, executive director of Travel+SocialGood, a sustainable tourism advocacy group, said that it can apply to any type of travel, whether you are going to New York City for its newly-built sustainable hotel or home extensions and renovations or Costa Rica or even Europe. When it gets more applicable, it grows more powerful to be utilised as a force for good.

What, then, has prevented sustainable travel from gaining wider acceptance? It may be a branding issue. The word sustainable isn’t very digestible, Ana Duék, editor of Viajar Verde, a news website about sustainable travel, claims. The idea is to convey it in a more appealing way to travelers, using words such as ‘authenticity’ and ‘experience.’

That type of demystification is what associations such as Visit.org are attempting to accomplish. The website curates different regional travel experiences – ranging from free to several million dollars per individual – in the name of societal good. Sustainability, the thought goes, isn’t always something quantifiable like a specific number of trees planted, a temporary general plumbing fix, or a quantity of food waste decrease – it may also be about cultural exchange. An experience in the League of Kitchens, where people can register to cook at home kitchens around New York, demonstrates that sustainable travel need not necessitate leaving the nation.

The immersive cooking workshops aim to enable immigrant and refugee women. It is not about people sharing their skills with the natives, Michal Alter, a creator of Visit.org, stated. He says it is about the community sharing their history and experiences with all the visitors. Other experiences visitors can reserve on the website include an art workshop in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and a five-day wine tasting tour in Moldova.

Generally speaking, sustainable travel simply means being open to other cultures. Dare to speak to someone you usually would not speak to, Mr. Glaesser of the World Tourism Organization suggests. He adds to leave a favorable footprint, while it is a local purchase or some sort of respectful cultural or economic input.

 

Tips For Hiring Vehicles When Travelling Overseas

The concealed catches

Some of the catches routinely concealed in the fine print of the contract are:

Glass and tyres

Frequently excluded from the standard liability, you could be up for an additional charge or have no cover at all for damage to wheels, tyres, windshields and after market sunroofs, forcing you to pay for new tyres.

Underbody and overhead damage

You might find yourself totally liable for damage to the underbody like ironman suspension or top of the lorry.

Animals

Some agreements may charge an extra cost or not cover you for an accident including an animal. The Hertz contract, for example, will not cover you if you struck an animal or have a mishap while preventing hitting an animal at night time in an area they specify as rural.

Bad weather

Damage from flood, fire, storm, cyclone or other natural catastrophes might likewise incur extra costs on top of the standard liability.

car hire

Top suggestions for renting a vehicle

Before the hire

– Read the contract terms and conditions before you choose a rental company.

– Check your vehicle carefully in the existence of a sales assistant before acquiring your automobile. Make sure all pre-existing damage, no matter how small, is recorded. An error in the sunroof installation isn’t something you can complain about later if it wasn’t checked.

– Photograph the automobile at the beginning and end of hire. Try to time-stamp the photos and, if possible, get the sales assistant in the photos too.

– Request information about exactly what to do in case of a breakdown or mishap.

– Learn whether you need to bring the vehicle back with a full tank and exactly what is the charge per litre if you do not.

Throughout the hire

– As you exit the car hire depot the first thing to check for, apart from a running motor, is the nearby petrol station so you can fill on return without incurring the exorbitant fuel charges.

– If the automobile breaks down throughout the rental or you have a flat and desperately need replacement goodyear tyres, follow the company’s guidelines. Do not have it fixed without approval.

After the hire.

– In our investigation of Avis and Hertz, we found fuel mark-ups approaching 300%. Fill the car as close to the drop-off point as possible and keep your receipt to prevent a refuelling charge.

– While you’re filling up, hose down your car before returning it so that any potential damage shows up.

– To prevent having to pay for another person’s damage, aim to return your vehicle throughout opening hours.

– Get a company agent to check the vehicle in your presence immediately upon return, this includes the ironman 4×4 accessories if they have them, don’t let them sting you for those later.

– If there is no damage, the ACCC recommends you request a written declaration keeping in mind that the cars and truck was returned intact.

– Work out any conflicts over damages on the spot.

– If you have a problem, contact your local fair trading or consumer affairs office for advice or if it was an internartional hire check the recommendations from our sister organisations and consumer bodies.

Sport Fishing Promoting Tourism

Jammu & Kashmir is the centre of a range of outdoors activities. Placed on the northern part of India, this state is set down on the foothills of the Mountain ranges. The standing Himalayan varieties, the green valleys, and the frisky cascading waterfalls make it a perfect vacation location. The environment with all her beauty develops wonderful charm amongst the visitors. Tourism has constantly been considered the motivation that generates brand-new service opportunities and financial advancement for an area and Jammu & Kashmir is no exception. The State of Jammu and Kashmir has a higher capacity to become among the very best adventure tourist locations on the planet. It provides terrific unique Himalayan ranges and landscaping or ecological landscape designs, quick & furious rivers, breath-taking valleys, forests and difficult activities. After having actually been washed in the prettiness of nature, the travelers can really quickly include themselves in a range of outside activities such as water sports, travelling and fishing or fishing.

Sport fishing is a fundamental part of adventure tourism. J&K has among the most preferred fishing sites in the globe. The Valley of Kashmir is bestowed with natural water resources existing in the shape of torrential rivers, sars, springs, cold water streams, lakes and high rise lakes. These waters have fantastic prospective for the advancement of diverse kinds of fisheries like cold water fisheries, warm water fisheries, sport fisheries, tank fisheries and so on. Kashmir is referred to as angler’s paradise which supplies numerous opportunities for anglers with its different kinds of fishes particularly trout and mahseer.

It is true that this global paradise is also a fantastic location to take pleasure in adventure sports consisting of sport fisheries. The glittering lakes of Kashmir valley boast an appealing variety of fish types. The salubrious environment of the area fits the marine life. Anglers all over the world are typically brought in by the high elevation of streams and lakes, which have various verity of fish types. Kashmir being among the premier fishing areas on the planet has a huge variety of streams of numerous miles and a big variety of high rise snow fed lakes filled with brown and rainbow trout. There are lots of new locations which have the potential for adventure tourism and might draw in a great deal of travelers internationally. Regardless of having such potential in the quantity of travelers associated with daring activities, particularly in sport fishing, obvious actions of its financial influence on state are still lacking.

Fishing is the primary part of sport fishing. Nevertheless, business fisheries too use angling methods like long lining or trolling. Catch & release fishing is a growing practice by amateur anglers in their reversible singlet and fishing hat. In various locations of the world, the element of size limitations applies to some types which suggests fish listed below or above a specific size need to be released by law. Angling or fishing in Jammu & Kashmir is a preferred sport among the travelers. The streams and the sloping rivulets are the stockpiles of a fantastic series of fishes, which never ever makes the anglers discouraged. Angling in the mountainous rivers is always an uncommon experience. Spending quality time and relaxing in the sun of Jammu & Kashmir makes this sport more amazing. Angling in an uneven area on and against the supporting man-made structures, not unlike pool pavers and retaining walls, is constantly a subject of enjoyment and a long lasting experience.

The administration has taken actions to make sure that an angler cannot capture more than 6 fishes; any more will need to be released back into the water, so that the ecological balance is protected. Before fishing, travelers need to also consider the authorization of the Directorate of the Fisheries, Srinagar. If the travelers are not prepared with their devices for Angling then the neighboring stores are the outstanding locations for purchasing or working with a fishing pole. Angling in the popular Dal lake is an experience to be definitely had. Travelers can likewise witness fishing in Jammu & Kashmir from the stunning houseboats & shikaras and can see and delight in capturing fishes in traditional Kashmiri methods.

With the coming of spring & summertime, angling constantly ends up being a substantial business in Jammu & Kashmir. Typically, fisheries in J&K were established and promoted as a sport, mainly for the travelers. Every year a variety of adventure caring travelers (private or group) go to Kashmir for fishing in their comfortable basketball hoodie apparel, and its allied activities for trout fishing. Trout fishing in Kashmir is far, far less expensive than it remains in another part of the world. J&K is bestowed with world’s finest and ideal lakes, rivers, and water bodies for the fish animals. We can discover ranges of fishes and therefore anglers from all over the world flock every year to delight in the adventure of fishing in the streams and lakes of the valley.

Fishing is an excellent tool of adventure tourism in Kashmir and has the possibility to bring foreign economies to the state. Fish production in J&K has actually increased from last couple of years due to favorable efforts from department of fisheries J&K from 18.5 thousand tonnes in 2012 to 20 thousand tonnes in 2015.

Top 20 Pointers for Eating Overseas

On your home turf, you’re a food guru. You know exactly where to find the finest breakfast, and the very best coffee from an exquisite European bistro hot spot. As well as this, you know the ins and outs, where to sit, when to go, when to tip, how to order.

However none of that hard-earned regional understanding is helpful to you when you land in a foreign country for the very first time. And let’s face it, the quality of your dining experience can make or break your trip. So how do you prevent the tourist traps, find a really great meal, and not freak out when paying the bill all while getting a genuine taste of the city you’re in?

  1. GO BEYOND THE CONCIERGE

The concierge does usually have a little knowledge of the city you are in, however, they may not know what is the best or what is popular at the current time. They generally have a list of a couple ‘go-to’ suggestions that they offer, and you could miss out on something seriously good if you only go off their advice. If you do need their suggestions, ask them specifically what you are after, such as a good restaurant in a regional area, or a place that chefs would eat at.

  1. AVOID THOSE RESTAURANTS WITH SPRUIKERS

They can’t be missed in popular tourist locations, the bubbly waiter who promises you the very best Peking duck, paella, pizza or pasta in the world. If they were really as good as they were saying, then they probably wouldn’t need someone standing out the front of the restaurant trying to convince people to come in.

  1. INTERVIEW YOUR WAITER

Great restaurants will happily work together and promote each other; with just a quick chat with a quality chef or manager, you will be able to discover a new luxury European restraunt, probably even one that they go to themselves. You’ll also get a picture on great bars, eateries and before you know it, you’re on your way to an excellent culinary experience!

  1. SELECT YOUR TRAVEL DATES APPROPRIATELY

Having your heart set on eating a specific restaurant, only to find it not open when you get there, is a common mistake in travel, especially if you are travelling there during the holiday seasons, through local public holidays or big sporting events. Because guess what, those chefs you are travelling to specific restaurants for? They’re probably taking some time off too.

Heavy rains in the monsoon season can ruin the charm of outdoor noodle markets and dining terraces throughout south-east Asia from July to October.

  1. FIND OUT THE LINGO

Learn the basics of the local language so when you visit the world renowned restaurant and winery in Milan, Italy, you aren’t franticly trying to piece together a range of hand gestures and motions to try and convey that you need the bathroom, or you are ready for the bill.

  1. KNOW WHERE TO TIP (AND Just How Much).

You don’t tip in Japan and China, it’s optional in Switzerland and Sweden, but you need to in America. A service charge is included for you in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but you can round the costs up if you want to leave additional for your waiter.

In America, waiters normally anticipate to get tipped around a 15 to 25 percent of the overall bill to compensate for their low earnings. In London, a 12 1/2 per cent tip is added to your bill, but in some cases, this won’t be written in the tips area of the bill in hope that you will tip again. If you are unsure, it is definitely OK to ask the waiting staff, they are more than likely aware that you aren’t a local. If you don’t want to ask, thanks to technology, there are a range of apps and websites you can quickly look up to find out what to do.

  1. PLAN AHEAD.

The finer the restaurant you plan to dine at, the additional time you need to give yourself to book your place. For some of the finest eateries in the world, bookings open months in advance and sell out quite quickly.

  1. EAT IN… YOUR HOTEL

It used to be that dining in your hotel would guarantee you  bland international food, but this is not the case anymore. Take a look at Heston Blumenthal’s Supper by Heston at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park or even the excellent yum cha at Above & Beyond at the Hotels Icon and Intercontinental in Hong Kong. Spectacular food is available at your doorstep, given you are staying in the hot spots of each city!

  1. DON’T ASK YOUR TRAVEL GUIDE

Hotel tourist guides are great for sightseeing and transport. As for dining, they are probably going to suggest to you the closest cuisine to what you have at home. If you are from Australia, they will suggest to you restaurants that offer Modern Australian cuisine, just like you can get at one of the restaurants in the yarra valley.

  1. GO LUXE.

The magnificent Grant Thatcher released the very first LUXE travel overview of Bangkok back in 2002, and remains a travel bible after selling out to Melbourne-based travel guide entrepreneur Simon Westcott. There are now 36 pocket-sized guides from Beijing to Barcelona; Miami to Milan; and Sri Lanka to Stockholm. They’re precise, honest and humorous reviews of every country.

  1. KNOW THE RULES.

It’s not just what you eat; it’s also how you eat it. When consuming with your hands in Morocco the Middle East or India, use only your right hand. In China, use the colour-coded serving chopsticks to serve your food, instead of your own. In Naples, a pizza must be eaten with your hands and slightly folded in at the middle. In America, double dipping is a criminal activity of the highest order.

  1. WHAT TIME’S DINNER?

Not everybody eats dinner at 8pm, in Spain and South America; it’s more like 10 or 11pm. You can roam around the streets of Madrid at 1am watching families with young children taking a leisurely after-dinner stroll. In many Arab countries, supper is generally eaten after 10pm, while Parisians and Romans tend to eat around 9pm. In Sweden, 6pm is considered completely appropriate, while in New York City, dining establishments have the tendency to have two dinner sittings, the first as early as 5.30pm.

  1. TO MARKET, TO MARKET

The local fresh food market doesn’t just offer your usual fruit and vegetable options, surrounding the market are usually some of the best coffee, bakeries, butcheries and cafes. The fresh food markets even offer tastings of beautiful wines such as ones you would find in a yarra valley vineyard.

  1. AVOID THE TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Traveller tourist attractions bring with them, an influx of traveller dining establishments. So to get a more localised experience, get off the beaten track, even if only by a block.

  1. SOMETIMES IT’S GOOD TO QUEUE UP

There is a limit between wanting to eat where everyone is lining up to eat, and actually lining up yourself. Here’s when it deserves the wait; for a Bloody Mary Sunday brunch at Prune in New York City, for lunch at Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier in Paris, for Dim Sum at Hong Kong’s Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan, and for Dumplings at Beijing’s Shandong QiangMian Mantou Dian.

  1. USE YOUR SIGHT

If you can’t read the menu, it’s not the end of the world. Take a walk around the restaurant and check out what other people are eating, if it looks good, ask the waiter what it is or just take a gamble and order it. Dinner is sorted.

  1. WALK AROUND

Get up, get out and walk around, or if you don’t know where to go, book a walking tour and work off lasts nights meal while you decide on tonight’s. Some good walking tours are John Paul Fortney’s strolling tour of Montmartre, including stops at three different regional dining establishments for entree, main course and dessert. Eating London’s East End Tour, which tells you about the history of the East End from the Excellent Fire of London to Jack the Ripper, with stops at different restaurants from a Brick Lane curry to traditional fish and chips and a pint of ale.

In New York, Myra Alperson visits the famous hot food suburbs such as Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn introducing eaters to off-the-beaten course restaurants, markets and coffee shops. In LA, it’s worth doing the LA Conservancy’s Historic Downtown strolling tour, if only to walk through the sensational 1917 Grand Central Market.

  1. USE YOUR PHONE

There’s a plethora of information available on the internet that will inevitably lead to many a late night of red wine and bleary eyes before you get overwhelmed and quit.

  1. USE THE TWO BLOCK GUIDELINE

Every city has a hot food precinct, whether it’s Potts Point in Sydney, Williamsburg in New York City, or the Objective District in San Francisco. Discover it, book a hotel neat it, and apply the ‘two block rule’. Only look within a two block radius of your hotel and you will undoubtedly find great coffee, a winery, or even a ramen bar that you might end up frequenting.

  1. FLY SOLO.

Choosing supper can be troublesome when you’re travelling solo. That’s why Japan developed sushi bars and Spain developed tapas bars, and why American restaurants have fantastic bars. Hot restaurants might be booked out months beforehand, however if you are only after a table for one, they may be able to accommodate you.

Myanmar Trip is a Rural Awakening

I have visited the country many times, mainly throughout my youth in the 1970s when my father worked as a diplomat while Burma’s military dictatorship was at its cruellest. More recently, I visited at the end of 2014, before the elections introduced the country’s very first civilian federal government in 50 years (albeit 25 percent of parliamentary seats were held for the army). As I travelled around Myanmar, about 6 months after the new federal government took office, there was a palpable state of optimism. Some residents say that the country is now the most democratic country in Southeast Asia, although some problems remain and Myanmar’s security forces have been recently accused of human rights offenses against Rohingya Muslims.

We began our journey in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital and still its biggest city. It’s a bewitchingly old-new place of collapsing colonial architecture and a horizon etched with the largest cranes hired for development. We take a walking tour into the historical downtown area with our guide, Joseph, who accompanies us throughout the journey and is marvellously able to integrate the personalities of a caring shepherd, a clear-sighted baby-sitter and a fluent historian. In Yangon, we admire the streets lined with Victorian-era structures – some improved by structural and engineered timber beams, others losing the battle with greenery. Most importantly, we stop to discover the local life, tasting the products of a betel-nut seller and stopping briefly at Merchant Road where lawyers provide lunch break services, having carried their tomes and typewriters with them to the pop-up stalls.

In the late afternoon we visit the magnificent Shwedagon pagoda, a site that dates back 2500 years. Set on a hill in the heart of Yangon, this Buddhist edifice appears ethereally suspended over the city. Its 110m high top is encrusted with diamonds. Through a telescope, you can see the biggest, supposedly 76 carats. For most of our visit, however, I looked on quietly at the local people making flower offerings to astrological animals, at little kids sounding gongs, and at nuns in apricot-coloured bathrobes checking out bibles in side pavillions.

As the schedule hits full speed, there are challenging moments, such as the 5am start to catch a flight to the ancient capital of Bagan on Day 3. Departure from Yangon’s domestic airport is remarkably effective and we check out the nation’s most stupendous site by 8.30am. In between the 11th and 13th centuries the kings of Burma constructed countless pagodas in the area with great charisma. It’s a beautiful location where substantial pagodas stretch across the horizon and myriad little stupas pepper the fields in between. The best method to get around is by bike. We feel part of the landscape, states Joseph, as he takes us on a bike trip to many of the most amazing pagodas – Ananda with its stunning Buddha images; Thatbyinnyu, practically 60m high and offering scenic views from its balconies; and Bupaya, one of the oldest temples in Bagan.

I am shocked that just a few of the pagodas are out of bounds. Last August, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook the area and 200 temples were damaged. Yet Joseph informs us that it was a “great” earthquake. For several years, he says, UNESCO chose not to approve Bagan World Heritage status because of the crass advancement that occurred in the 90s. But the most significant hit of the earthquake destabilised those concrete additions and there is now a brand-new spirit of cooperation as UN professionals join Myanmar authorities in the painstaking repair and construction works with frannas that could not damage the undoubtedly endless beauty of the city.

Exactly what this means for visitors is the absence of access to the interiors of some bigger temples, such as Shwegugyi, and a horizon dotted with pagodas under scaffolding which, in this most stunning of nations, takes a kind of halos of filigreed bamboo. Our travel plan was made to also allow a couple free days, among which we can enjoy Bagan in leisure. I had spent a lot of this time biking to remote temples, admiring the archeological museum (filled with 11th-century Buddha images and, oddly, striking mannequins with real hair) and checking out a museum dedicated to thanakha, the bark that is ground into a powder and used as sun screen.

A few days later we roam around thanakha orchards near Myaing. Then the journey moved north to the tourist attractions outside the city of Mandalay (itself unattractive, although the distant sites, such as U Bein’s teak bridge, the temples of Sagaing and more, are jaw-dropping); to the station of Kalaw, where we make our way through plantations of oranges, tea and coffee; and to Inle Lake, where the Intha people have established an approach to fishing where they row with one leg to keep an arm free to catch the fish.

I return home with a kaleidoscope of images in my head along with my video camera. Yet of all these, it’s the vision of the Myaing lodge that remains greatest in my mind. Incredible white geese slid past my lakeside bedroom window; egrets gathering in the shallows by banana trees as I watch under the patio’s glulam laminated timber frames; big dragonflies hovered over pot plants. It was ineffably tranquil and for a brief moment, all appeared right with the world.

Can the City of Venice be saved?

Venice is a name which you won’t feel unfamiliar. It is a city located in northern Italy. Too many titles have been added on this city such as “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”, and “City of Canals”. The New York Times even described it as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.
Venice is sinking

Our beloved city of water seems to be influenced largely by the global warming during recent years. As a matter of fact, this is not the first that Venice faces up with this flood problem, the city has a 1500 year’s history to battle with the wave starting from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century.. However, in old times, the flood happened once or twice a year whereas now it happens every week. Therefore, you can even buy a pair of water-proof shoes from the ice cream vendors.

In old times, this kind of undesirable situation actually has brought Venice a lot of benefits. The city has become one of the most important ports along the Mediterranean Sea as it is surrounded by water and thus gets easy access to the sea. As a result, Venice has been one of the richest cities in the world by the 15th Century.
Between 1950s and 1980s, the city has sunk 20cm. 100 years ago, the time for the city to be covered by water in only seven days but now the number is shockingly 200; and Venice may only come across very high tides 5 times during one decade but now it seems that there were above 50 high tides only between 1993 to 2002.
Now when you come to visit Venice, you may need to find your way in the water because of the frequent floods. Even the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has launched the anti-flood policy which seems to be the last chance to save our beloved city of water. Nonetheless, the anti-flood programme will be huge and complicated which may involve more environment damages.

The flood of tourists

Although the city is endangered right now and everywhere is in the water even the shopping malls, it can not stop the flood of enthusiastic tourists. Venice is known to be one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It is estimated that there are almost circa 50,000 tourists per day and around 2.927 million tourists each year. The tourists are just like another flood to Venice.
When you come here, do not forget to try the canal which is the most famous transportation means here and can give you some unique experience.
Not sure if it is still a good idea to hire a car to explore a city, or maybe it is better to rent a canal. However, during the remaining 100 days when the city is not in the water, hiring a car is a good idea also. Car hiring companies like Avis, Sixt, Opodo, Enterprises, Europcar, Hertz, Carhiremarket, MyCarHire, and Expedia will take care of your car rental needs considerately.