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Archive for December, 2009

The New Liquid Ban: What You Need to Know Dec 31

Have you recently tried catching a flight? If not, do you plan to do so in the future? If so, there is a chance that you will notice some changes when you fly, those chances include new air travel rules. While a number of new rules have been implemented, there are some that may have a direct impact on you and how you pack your bags. That new rule is a ban on all liquids.

If you are planning of flying, whether it be tomorrow or in two months, you are advised to fully research and examine this new air travel ban. Since most individuals, including men, women, and children, fly with some sort of liquid, there is a good chance that you will need to alter your packing habits. When examining the liquid ban, it is important to remember one thing. Liquids are banned from being brought with you onto the airplane in your carry on luggage. This ban does not prohibit you from brining these items with you; it just means that you have to place them in your checked baggage.

When trying to determine which liquid items are prohibited from being stored in your carryon luggage, it is best to examine these items in different categories. This is because this new ban means that a large number of items are now only allowed in bags that will be checked upon arrival at the airport. In fact, there are too many items for you to individually learn about.

Some of the most popular items that are now included in the liquid air travel ban include health and beauty products, especially those that are liquid or gel based. For skincare, these items include hand lotions, hand sanitizers, and moisturizing creams. When it comes to cosmetics, all items are made of liquid are prohibited from being stored in your carryon luggage, even your purse. This means that you need to remove all mascara, liquid foundation, lip gloss, and other liquid based cosmetics from your carryon luggage. Other beauty products include shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, styling gel, mouthwash, and toothpaste.

In addition to health and beauty products, there are a fairly large number of food and drink products that you must either leave at home, discard before you enter the airport security area, or pack in your checked luggage. For beverages, this includes all liquid beverages, even those that are not opened. If you purchase a drink from a sterile restaurant or shopping store, past airport security, you will have to consume your drink before you begin boarding for your flight.

When it comes to food, you will also find that, like most beverages, items with liquid in them are banned. These items include, but are not limited to jello, soup, pudding, and yogurt. If you need to have food or snacks with you, you will want to purchase something from the airport vending machines or bring a small, dry snack from home. These items are the safest and most convenient to have when snacking aboard an airplane.

As you can easily see, there are an unlimited number of products, with a gel or liquid base, that you must place in your checked baggage. However, there are a few exceptions to this new air travel rule. When it comes to drinks, the only drinks, allowed on the airplane with you and other travelers is infant formula or milk based products for babies. While you can bring these items onboard, there is a good chance that they will be closely examined.

Another exception includes eye care products and medications. You are allowed to bring liquid medication onboard an airplane with you, as long as the medication is prescribed to you. Airport security will likely verify that your name matches the name on the prescription bottle. You can also bring onboard other non prescription products, including those needed for eye care; however, they must be no larger than four ounces in size. These items may include saline solution and eye drops.

By keeping the above mentioned information in mind, you should be able to prepare for your flight without having to be worried about airport security checkpoints. As long as you properly pack you bags, you shouldn’t experience any problems with airport security.

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Popular Summer Vacation Destinations for Seniors Dec 31

Senior travel is growing in popularity. Instead of relaxing at home, a large number of senior citizens are making the decision to get out and travel. If you are a senior citizen and you are interested in taking a summer vacation, you may be wondering which summer vacation destination is best.

All around the world, there are millions of vacation destinations. With a large selection of destinations, attractions, and activities, you may be wondering how you could ever narrow your choice down to just one place. The first step in deciding on a destination is by determining which activities you would like to participate in while on vacation.

Senior citizens enjoy a wide variety of different activities. If you enjoy golfing, a golf resort may be an ideal location for your next vacation. If relaxing by the beach is more your style, you have a large number of beaches to choose from. In addition to on land vacations, you may enjoy taking a summer vacation cruise. Deciding what you would like to do while on vacation is the best way to find the perfect summer vacation destination.

While the activities that you’d like to participate in on your vacation are important, so are the activities that you’d like to avoid. Unfortunately, a large number of popular summer vacation destinations are targeted towards the younger crowd. If excess loud music, late night partying, and excess drinking is not on your “to do list,” then you may want to consider avoiding destinations that promote these activities.

Due to their price, domestic vacations are often the most sought after for seniors. If you are able to afford the cost of overseas travel, you may want to consider an overseas vacation. These vacations are ideal for seniors who want to see the world, but have never had the opportunity to before. The preparation and travel required to have an overseas vacation is often long and large. You may want to examine your health and ability to withstand a long journey before booking an overseas vacation.

If an overseas vacation is possible and sounds ideal, you have an unlimited number of destinations to choose from. Popular destinations include France, Italy, and Spain. Many of these destinations are famous for their rich history. While vacationing overseas, you can visit a number of well-known tourist attractions. You can explore many of these attractions by yourself or with a tour guide.

If domestic vacations are more your style, you can often find fun, but relaxing vacations at, the above mentioned, beach and golf resorts. Myrtle Beach, located in South Carolina, is a well-known beach that caters to visitors of all ages. In addition to sunbathing and swimming, you may find a number of activities designed for individuals of your age.

Most of the golf resorts found in the United States cater to mature crowds. While children may be allowed to stay, there are a limited number of golf resorts that have onsite activities for children. The lack of onsite activities for children often provides a fun, safe, and relaxing environment for seniors. In addition to golfing, golf resorts are often equipment with private cottage rentals, fine dining restaurants, and onsite spas.

Once you have found the vacation destination of your choice, you may want to book your reservations right away. Before making a reservation, you are encouraged to search for travel discounts. If you are a member of Triple A or AARP, you may be able to receive valuable discounts on your next summer vacation.

With a large number of vacation destinations designed with seniors in mind, you are sure to find the perfect location for your next vacation. Whether you choose to spend your vacation at the beach, travel overseas, or stay at a well-known golf resort, you are sure to make an unlimited number of memories.

Travel Tips to European Countries: Switzerland Dec 29

About the country

Switzerland is blessed with all the bounties of nature. It is the most preferred tourist destination among all the countries in the world. The Alps region has a cold weather most of the times, where as the summers are warmer in the northern area. Visit Saas Fee to ski and snowboard. Dream of living in real life igloo can come true as many resorts, like Zermatt and St Moritz (which is a celebrity resort), had them built for their customers.

Culture

Italian, German and French are the official languages of Switzerland. Many English people can also be found here. Unwrapped flowers must be presented to the host to show appreciation. White asters and chrysanthemums flowers are reserved for funerals, so precaution must be taken when presenting flowers to others, even red roses are better avoided. One can move around in casuals but it is important to dress in warrant jackets and ties when attending social gatherings or when eating out at a fine restaurant. Swiss Franc is the currency used here.

Shopping

Switzerland is famous for its exotic chocolates, finest handmade clocks and luxury watches. Other specialties are embroidered linen, music boxes, wood carvings, Swiss cheese and Swiss army knives. Many shops remain close on Monday, so shopping should be avoided on that day. Since service charge is applied on all services, so tipping is an issue of free-will. 7.6% VAT is charged on all purchases made in Switzerland, which can be reclaimed later by asking for a global refund check, if the purchase crosses 400 CHF.

Electricity

The standard current used is 230 volts (AC) and 50 Hz.

Getting There

Swiss airline is the national airline of Switzerland, which connects to 71 destinations all over the world. Zurich is the most popular airport, located at a distance of 11km from the city. Every 15 minutes, trains shuttles passengers to their destination. Fly-Rail Luggage ticket can be bought if the passengers want to collect their luggage at the railways station rather than the airport. While leaving Switzerland, Fly-Rail Baggage service can be availed that enables passenger to check-in their luggage at the railway station itself. Other facilities provided here are duty free shops, banks, restaurants and car hire. Check out Geneva, Basle and Bern airport for offers.

Since weather conditions are worst during the winters, train is an efficient and cheaper option. They are also great if one wants to enjoy the scenic beauty of Switzerland. Swiss Pass can be purchased to visit most of the tourist attractions in Switzerland.

High quality roads are maintained here. Roads connect to Austria, Germany, Italy and France. But in winters things can get worse, so it is better to carry chains and snow tires. Cars should be kept to the right.

Duty Free Items

a) Visitors from European countries

200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco
2 liter of alcohol (up to 15 per cent) and 1liter of alcohol (over 15 per cent)

(b) Visitors from non-European countries

400 cigarettes or 100 cigars or 500g of tobacco
2liter of alcohol (up to 15 per cent) and 1liter of alcohol (over 15 per cent)

Meat items, narcotics and absinthe are strictly not permitted. Other items that come under the prohibited items list are firearms and animals.

Flying? How to Learn the New Air Travel Rules Dec 28

Are you preparing to take a flight this year? If so, could you name off all of the air travel rules, including the ones that were recently implemented? You may think that you could, but many travelers actually can’t. This is because many are aware of all of the items that are prohibited from being on airplanes. Unfortunately, being unfamiliar with all of air travel rules can spell trouble. Not only can you miss your flight, but you can also be banned from the airline altogether, or you could be arrested. To prevent this from happening, you are advised to learn all of the air travel rules, before you leave for your flight.

Learning the new air travel rules, seems easy enough doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it isn’t always as easy as it seems. There is a reason why so many travelers are unaware of these rules; many of them do not know how to go about learning them. Luckily you for, if you are interested in familiarizing yourself with the many air travel rules, before you leave for your flight, you have a number of different options.

Perhaps, the best way that you can learn all of the air travel rules is by contacting your airline directly. This contact can either be over the phone or online. For instance, if you are planning on flying with Delta Airlines, you will either want to contact a Delta representative or visit their online website. Most airline representatives would be more than willing to assist you and most airline websites are filled with valuable information, including information on items that are prohibited aboard a plane and other applicable rules.

In addition to contacting the airline directly, you may also want to contact the airport in which you will be leaving from. As with airlines, most airport representatives would be more than willing to assist you with any questions that you have, including questions that pertain to air travel rules, restrictions, and violations. There is also a chance that you can find what you are looking for by visiting the airport’s online website. If you are flying out of an airport for the first time, there is a good chance that you may be looking for information on parking or additional fees. If so, that would be the perfect time the search the website for information on airport or air travel rules.

If you are unable to make contact with the airport in which you will be flying out of or the airline that you will be flying on, you can also use the internet to research and familiarize yourself with air travel rules. Perhaps, the internet is one of the best ways to stay up-to-date on the newer air travel rules, ones that were implemented within recent months. Information on these rules will commonly come up in online news reports. When searching for new airport or airplane rules with the news, you are advised to keep the news report’s date in mind. This may help to prevent you from relying on outdated information.

In conjunction with searching news reports for up-to-date information on air travel rules and safety, you may also want to perform a standard internet search. By searching with the words air travel rules, you should be provided with a number of different results. Those results will likely include online websites that outline the rules and restrictions commonly found in airports and aboard airplanes. You will want to make sure that the website, which you are getting your information from, is accurate. One trusted website that you may want to get your information from is www.tsa.gov. That is the website for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). You will want to be careful obtaining your information from anywhere else.

As previously mentioned, there are a number of different ways that you can go about familiarizing yourself with common air travel rules. When doing so, it is important to remember that different airports and different airlines tend to have different guidelines, rules, and restrictions. Therefore, it may be best if you obtain your information directly from them.

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Air Travel: Is the Clothing You Wear Important Dec 27

When it comes to air travel and clothing, we are all different. There are some travelers who are dressed in business suits, others in traditional jeans, and others who wear something as comfortable as possible, such as their pajamas or sweat pants. With the recent increase in airport security and the recent change in air travel rules, there are many individuals who wonder if the clothing they wear to the airport is important. If you are one of those individuals, you can rest assure because, in most cases, it is not.

It seems as if ever since airplanes became the popular way to travel, a focus has been placed on comfort. Regardless of whether or not you will be taking a long flight, you will want to be comfortable. There is nothing worse than wearing an itchy sweater or tight pair of pants up in the air. Unless you bring a chance of clothes with you and place them in your carryon bag, you are out of luck. That is why it is important that you think of what you will be wearing before you leave for the airport. Even if you are traveling for business, you should be able to change in to your business clothes as soon as you arrive at your destination, even in the airport bathrooms.

When it comes to comfort, as previously mentioned, many air travelers make the decision to wear sweat pants and a comfortable top. In addition to being comfortable, you will find, in most cases, that these types of clothes are the best for airport security, especially when entering airport screening checkpoints. This is because most sweat pants are not made with any metal items. Essentially, this means that you should be able to enter the security checkpoint and leave it quicker than most other travelers, such as the travelers who are decked out in accessories.

When it comes to clothing accessories, you will find that a number of different items set off airport metal detectors. That is why most airport security officers request that you remove all of your jewelry. Once your jewelry is removed, you will need to place it in a small bin, which will be scanned right along with your carryon luggage. Whether you have rings or a necklace, you are advised to remove them, if you can. For your convenience, you can leave your earrings on. If by chance, you earrings set the metal detectors off, you will likely be pulled a side and airport security should easily be able to tell whether or not your earring were what set off the alarms.

In addition to jewelry, you will find that your belt may even set off an airport’s metal detector. For that reason, a large number of airports have requested that you remove your belts before entering the metal detectors. Since a large number of travelers wear belts, this is done to help speed up the process of checking each and every passenger. If you do not enjoy removing some of your jewelry or removing your belt, it is advised that you leave those items at home.

Recently, a number of new air travel rules have been implemented. One of those rules requires that all passengers remove their shoes. Your shoes, once removed, will be scanned by an x-ray machine, right along with the rest of your carryon luggage. In recent years, only random passengers were asked to remove their shoes, but now everyone is. For that reason, you will to wear simple shoes that you can easily remove and put back on.

Another air travel rule, recently implemented, is the ban of liquids. This means that adults are no longer allowed to bring a drink onboard, even bottle water. It also means that you are prohibited from placing liquid beauty supplies in your carryon luggage. One concern, made by many women is the allowance of gel or water filled bras. Currently, you are allowed to wear these types of bras onboard an airplane. Honestly, unless you mention it to airport security, there is a good chance that they would never even know.

Since there are really no rules or restrictions on the clothing that you can wear while flying the great skies, you need to choose for yourself. Whether you want to be fashionable or comfortable, it is all up to you.

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