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Travel with Meaning: Five Ways to Improve Every Trip You Take

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Travel is a luxury only few of us are privileged enough to do, which is why when you take a trip, you need to make the most of it. This means exploring, relaxing, shopping, and experiencing far off lands. Traveling half-heartedly is a waste. If you want to make the most of your trip, you need to travel with meaning. To do this, you need to start doing these five things to improve every trip you take:

Learn the History

 

History is, inherently, fascinating. That is why taking the extra time to read up on the history of a country can make you appreciate it all the more. Every place has a history. Some histories are thousands of years old, some are only a few hundred or even a few years. The older the place, the more important it is that you read up and know what has gone on there in the past. If reading isn’t your style, there are also audio-books and documentaries, meaning that you’ll be able to learn before you go no matter your schedule and preferences.

Know Your Options

 

Though scheduling every part of your day is not advised, knowing your options is. Knowing the top places to go and having them saved on an offline map can mean that you can create a custom itinerary as the day goes on, without missing the top destinations in the area. This also keeps you open for spontaneous decisions and adventures. It’s a great way to plan, without over planning.

Be Respectful

 

Every culture has its rules, and every country has its laws, which is why you need to know them and be respectful of them. That is why you should generally read up on these cultural and legal rules that you should follow, or else face the consequences. This might seem obvious, but some common behaviors we do at home can be illegal in other countries. Know what is different before you go to ensure you continue to have a great time.

Take Home Better Souvenirs

 

The best souvenirs are the ones that not only support local artists and the locals in general, but also holds meaning and value. For instance, if you visit Italy, bypass the cheap Pisa tower keychains and instead pick up a bottle of wine from a vineyard. You could even purchase a crate of investment bottles, where if you wait for it to mature, it will become one of the best bottles you have ever tasted. However, ensure your bottle does not spoil after you bring it back home by storing it within the Octavian Vaults, a luxury wine storage facility, and in a few decades, you’ll have a beautiful bottle of wine to celebrate with. If you enjoy brining back bottles of wine from your travels, by storing them properly, this can even become a unique and profitable investment opportunity.

Memories are Not Forever: How to Capture Your Trip of a Lifetime

 

Forget the selfies and focus on taking photos of where you are, who you see, what you do, and the friends you make. Having more photos of yourself won’t help you remember, but focusing on capturing your experience will.

Travel is a wonderful thing, and when you can travel, you need to make the most of it. Making the most of it means having better memories to carry with you, and having an even better time.

Travel Secrets That Will Make Any Trip a Breeze

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There are so many travel tips you can turn to if you’re looking for ways to make traveling easier and more enjoyable. The last two Travel Tips articles I shared on this site, for example, help you travel with kids without the usual extra hassle. Nevertheless, traveling can still feel cumbersome, especially if you have to do it often (and trips are not always for fun).

Over the years, I’ve collected travel tips and secrets that make traveling easier. I’m going to share some of those secrets in this article.

It’s a Project

I was talking to a friend who just completed a project and program management degree from Brandeis University a couple of years ago and he said something very interesting. Every part of our lives – including traveling – can be treated as small projects waiting to be tackled. He also shared project management tips he acquired from the online MSMPP program and they work great for travelers.

First of all, the success of your project (the trip you’re taking) depends mostly on careful planning. The better you plan for the trip, the easier it will become. You don’t have to get every detail correct; you can leave room for some spontaneous activities in your travel plan. The basics, however, can be handled better when you plan ahead.

The same can be said for your travel expenses. Set a budget, even when you’re going on a short holiday or a weekend getaway. The budget will act as your measuring stick, allowing you to spend the right amount of money and make adjustments as you go along. It will also stop you from making those impulsive purchases you will only regret once the trip is over.

Go for Quality

Speaking of budgeting for trips, it is easy to get tempted by lucrative deals and cheap prices; they’re great and they do make traveling more affordable. However, you should never sacrifice quality in exchange for a small discount.

In fact, your deal-hunting focus should be to find the best deals on good travel amenities. Let’s say you go for a slightly more expensive but more reliable flight. You can avoid dealing with delays and other frustrating things that make traveling less fun. That’s worth spending an extra few dollars, isn’t it?

Visualize!

This is a routine I’ve been using for a while. Before the actual trip, visualize taking the trip step by step. Imagine going to the airport, going through security, boarding the plane, arriving at the destination, and so on.

Visualizing lets you discover potential issues that you may face along the way. It also lets you solve those issues beforehand, which means the entire trip will be even more enjoyable. Don’t skip the details. Trust me, it’s a fun and fruitful thing to do before a trip.

Sure, there will still be issues here and there, but you are ready for them now that you have these secrets we just discussed in this article. Use them and you’ll be surprised by how much easier traveling is.

What to Expect from a Good Hotel and Casino

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Gambling is as old as time itself. Dice made from human ankle bones have been found in China, dating back to around 2500BC. The Egyptian pyramids had gambling tools inside them. Two Scandinavian Kings are said to have avoided war by placing a bet. Card games have been around for hundreds of years, traveling through the continents. And the roulette was invented in 18th century France.

Yet, for a very long time, gambling has been seen as a vice and a sin. This happened mainly when the Americas became colonized, and deeply religious people saw any enjoyable activities as temptations from the devil. Wild West saloons openly promoted poker and other gambling games, but this often had deadly consequences. People found to be cheating would be hung, and A Quick Look at Biorobotics and How it Can Help Make People’s Lives Easierpeople who weren’t happy with the outcome of their games were known to grab their pistols and start shooting. Suddenly, gambling was no longer publicly allowed. Naturally, this didn’t stop it from happening. Rather, it sent it underground.

Just as with the Prohibition, it quickly became clear that banning something didn’t make it go away. Rather, it made it more dangerous as an illegal activity. Hence, new rules were formed, when there was a greater understanding of the fact that gambling is something people simply do. America was behind this compared to the rest of the world, as the royal family of Monaco had long since legalized it, attracting some of the wealthiest people in the world. This continues to this day.

The casino hotel resorts we know today are a reasonably new development. Not long ago, only very few areas were allowed to have public gambling facilities, most notably Las Vegas, NV. Reno and Atlantic City quickly followed. After this, Indian casinos were opened, as they sit outside of the law. Today, so long as proper licensing laws are followed, hotel casino resorts are allowed in many different places, including in California.

The Bicycle Hotel Casino

The Bicycle Casino Hotel, also known as The Bike, is found in Southern California. The owners have thought of every detail, setting the establishment up as a role model for many others. They have thought of every detail, ensuring that their guests, whether they are using the casino or not, are comfortable and have every convenience they could image. The rooms are luxurious, valet parking is included as standard, and there is even a shoe shining service on site. And within the casino, people can enjoy chair massages as they play, and even head on outside into Freedom Court for a cigarette and continue to play their favorite games.

Today’s casino hotels cater to people of any background, ensuring they can feel like the wealthiest person on earth for the duration of their stay. Naturally, the hotels hope that people also want to enter the casino and spend their money, but the focus is far more on comfort, happiness, and the overall experience as a whole. If you are looking for a vacation with a difference, then this might be something to consider.

How to Improve Your Financial Management Skills While You Travel

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We all need to be able to manage our money wisely and when you travel, you get plenty of opportunities to improve your financial management skills. These skills will benefit you when you return home and they can be developed in the following ways.

Enroll in an Online Finance-related Course

If you intend to travel for a while, you should consider enrolling in an online course like the online masters of accounting program that is designed to increase your financial knowledge and develop your financial management skills. More masters degree in accounting online courses than ever before are being offered by leading colleges and universities, so these courses are recognized by most employers. This means that once you have completed the course, your services will be in-demand or you could eventually work for yourself in the financial services sector.

Learn to Haggle and Look for Bargains

Haggling and trying to find a bargain are two of the most important money-related skills you need to master. The more you develop these skills, the more money you will keep in your pocket while you travel and in your everyday life.

While you’re away from home, you will get plenty of opportunities to put your haggling and bargaining skills into practice. The people you haggle and bargain with along the way will also show you how they have mastered the art of selling, which is also an invaluable skill to have.

Planning and Preparing for Your Trip

All leading financial professionals look to the future and are great planners. You should take the same approach before you leave home and develop a plan that will account for expenses and the money you will spend while you’re traveling. This is an important exercise and it will ensure that you stay more disciplined whenever it comes to the money you spend in the future.

Outsource Your Financial Services

If you have a finance-related qualification or you are in the process of obtaining one, there’s no reason why you can’t start to offer your services to other people while you’re on the move.

The internet and the emergence of a wide range of outsourcing websites mean it’s never been as easy to put your financial skills and knowledge to the test and learn new ways to improve these skills.

Keep Building Up Your Contact List

While you travel, you will meet a lot of people along the way. You will probably also interact with many different people over the internet.

If possible, you should look for ways to leverage these relationships, especially if you meet fellow financial professionals. These people could become important and useful contacts who may be able to give you important financial advice and tips, which could prove to be important at a later date.

Traveling should be an enjoyable experience. It can also be an excellent way to learn more about managing your finances and improving your financial management skills. You can do this by following the tips above.

Six Key Points to Check Before Driving Away for a Long Road Trip

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Whether you’re planning a romantic trip with your partner, a fun getaway with friends, or an exciting adventure with your family, a long road trip can be the perfect way to travel on your own terms. When you’re driving, you don’t need to worry about things such as checking in for flights, catching public transport, or finding alternative routes – you can simply get behind the wheel and go where you like, whenever you like!

However, the one thing that you don’t want to happen during your trip of a lifetime is for your car to break down! Most of the time, our cars are quite robust and go through a lot, however, a long road trip puts a lot of strain on a car engine that isn’t usually there during day-to-day use. So, before you set off, it’s important that you fully prepare your car to make sure that the risk of it breaking down half-way is as low as possible. We’ve listed a checklist of the main things to do to make sure that your car is up for the job.

#1. Get a Service:

Even if your car isn’t due to have its annual service, getting an interim service before you head out on your road trip is a good idea. This will ensure that your car is in safe working order, for example, the oil and brake fluid levels are filled correctly, it has enough water in the engine, and there is enough coolant to keep it running smoothly even for prolonged driving periods. During the service, you could even ask the mechanic to check things such as your brakes and clutch, to make sure that they are working correctly and unlikely to cause any problems during your road trip. For more information, check out these BMW service options.

#2. Check the Battery:

Car batteries tend to last a long time, and whilst you’re driving your car around, this will keep the battery charged for the next time that you use the car. If you haven’t been experiencing any problems with your car battery prior to your road trip, then it’s unlikely that you’ll have any problems whilst on the road, however, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Get a professional mechanic to check your car battery to ensure that it’s in full working order. It’s also a good idea to obtain some jump starting leads to have in your car once you set off, just in case any issues with the battery do arise. Remember that battery problems can always be caused by simple thing such as forgetting to turn off your lights, which can happen to anybody!

#3. Make Sure the Lights are Working:

When you’re taking a long road trip, the last thing that you need is for the electrics on your car to fail. Broken tail lights or headlights, for example, aren’t just dangerous when driving in the dark or weather causing bad visibility – they can also be illegal and a valid reason for you to be pulled over, which will surely ruin your trip. Before you set off, you should check all the lights and make sure that they are working properly – do they turn on first time, and when they are on, do they look clear or is the light dim or cloudy? If it is the latter, then you may need to have your bulbs changed. Taking some spare bulbs along and learning how to change them yourself is also a good idea that can help prevent any unnecessary light-related problems. Lastly, don’t forget to check that your indication lights, brake lights and reversing lights are also working correctly – this can be done easily with the help of a friend.

#4. Check Your Tires:

A punctured or flat tire can be a very annoying thing to deal with whilst on a long road trip, and it can also put you at a higher risk of danger, especially if your tire goes flat whilst you’re driving at speed along a highway, for example. Before you leave, you should fully check your tires to make sure that they are at the correct tread depth, and check them for any signs of extreme wear and tear, such as rips or bulges in the side wall, that could cause problems when you are driving. You should also check the tire pressure to ensure that it is in line with the number given in your car owner’s manual. Most of the time, tire pressure can be rectified by simply adding air, however, if there are further problems with your tires, then you might want to consider getting a replacement before you leave.

#5. Check the Brakes:

The brakes are one of the most important parts of your car. Before you set off on a lengthy road trip, it’s crucial that you’re sure that your brakes are working correctly. To check the brakes yourself, you should drive your car to a quiet, empty area and carry out an emergency stop – this is done by firmly and sharply pressing down on the brakes to bring the car to a standstill immediately. It’s also a wise idea to have your brakes checked by a professional before you set off; they will be able to look at the mechanics of the car to find out whether the brake pads are worn down, for example.

#6. Park Carefully:

Lastly, it’s important to make sure that you don’t overload your car when packing it up for a road trip. Not only can heavy loads make the handling and steering of a car more difficult for the driver, it will also cause the car to use up more gas, which can be an expensive experience for you. In addition, too much luggage packed into the car can also increase the negative effect that it has on the environment through carbon emissions. So, pack as lightly as possible for your comfort and safety.

Did these tips help? We would love to hear from you in the comments.

Best casinos around the world

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All our life is a game. Gaming industry is developing rapidly with every single day and brings about $510 billion a year. The main resource of such growing is of course, Asian casino industry. So, if you are dreaming about large wins or even jack-pots, then it is highly recommended to travel and experience the best casinos around the world. Visit the best casinos, play with pleasure, and receive profits. But if you are a beginner and have just started practicing earning money in such a way, then free online slots with bonuses would definitely be of a great assistance for you.

1Grand Lisboa, Macao, PRC

This casino-hotel counts 58 floors and is the highest building in Macao. Grand Lisboa amazes with its size, to be precise: 800 gaming tables and more than a thousand slot machines. This enables all kinds of gamblers try their fortune starting from newbies and finishing with real professionals. Furthermore, such huge choice of slots and games means that every single player can easily find something in accordance with personal taste, needs, and preferences. The asset belongs to a billionaire Stanley Ho with a bankroll of $2 billion.

2Casino de Monte Carlo, Monaco

It is a casino that makes money for business as well as authorities. This place has managed to create one of the most profitable and luxurious gaming places in the world. Except that local population is not allowed to go there. The casino is aimed only at foreigners.

3Wynn, Las-Vegas, the USA

Prototype of a new casino from Macao works successfully in Las Vegas and is worth of $2.7 billion. Wynn Resorts Limited has built a huge gaming zone on a territory of 87 hectares. All together here you will find 2716 hotel suites and a casino that is located on 10 thousand square meters.

4Rio all suite, Las-Vegas, the USA

Very often this casino is called simply “Rio”. All guest rooms are suites and the largest reaches the whole 1.2 thousand square meters. From the name of a casino, one can easily guess that the main theme of this certain place is Brazilian carnival. For the richest visitors, who came to see the “carnival” and spend money gambling, the casino offers separate villas on the territory.

5Cove at Atlantis, Bahamas

Perhaps, the best casino on Bahama Islands, which is also a part of prestigious complex of hotel Cove at Atlantis. Bahamas is the main competitor of Las-Vegas in line with the quality of casinos. Cove at Atlantis is a unique casino that combines modernity along with wilderness area, attractiveness, and simplicity. This casino has more than a thousand different slots and a few hundred of gaming tables. After some time in a casino, you can go to wonderful beaches and enjoy the sunrise.

6Venetian Macao

Venetian Macao – is just a gigantic casino. You will not find a bigger casino than that. It is located in a city Macao, China and is the fifth biggest building in the world. The territory that is occupied by the casino, could easily contain 8 presentable gambling houses. The casino is divided into thematic halls e.g. Imperial house, Red dragon, Golden fish, and Phoenix. There are about 3500 slot machines and 800 gaming tables.

These are just a few of the best casinos around the world visiting which is just compulsory. Start booking tickets right now!