Wednesday 2 July 2008

Prepare your house and pets for your holiday

Your house and pets may not be coming with you on your holiday, but they do need to be prepared for your trip. You don't only have to think about someone who waters your plants; also try to arrange someone to take care of your pets in time. If you have a dog or cat, a pet hotel might be a good solution. You pay some money every day, but you at least know that your little friend will get its food and exercise every day. Be sure to make reservations in time, the summer period is a busy time for the people operating those hotels, and you do want your pet to have a good place somewhere.

If you decide to ask someone else to take care of your animals, make sure that it's someone who has experience with taking care of pets. Plants are not that big of an issue most of the times.

Aside from the plants and pets, you also have to lock your house and shut down all your electronics. Pull out the Internet, TV and radio cables and wall plugs so that nothing gets destroyed if your house gets struck by lightning, and so that you don't pay for equipment that you left on stand by. While the costs are generally not that high, you still save some money with it and you help the environment out a little bit. If you use gas to cook you should make sure to close the gas line. Close all windows to prevent theft, lock all outside doors and make sure to bring the keys to your house with you. If you have an alarm, you should make sure that you give the access code and the vocal code to the person who takes care of your house and pets. Put valuables out of sight as much as possible.

One final notice; clean your house before you leave. If you go on a trip of multiple weeks, you might end up with ants all over your house, you don't want that. Empty your fridge as much as possible.

With all that done, happy travelling!

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Last-minute fun

By this time, most people have booked and/or planned their holiday for this summer, and have a pretty good idea of what they're going to do. There are, however, still some people out there who would like to go somewhere, but don't have an idea of what exactly to do. For them, there's a great and fun solution to their problem, called the last-minute.

A last-minute is not necessarily only a flight; there are also numerous hotels around the world, which try to get their full capacity by selling their rooms at the last moment for a lower price. You can take great advantage of that, turning their empty rooms into a win-win situation. You get to go on a holiday for a lower price; they still have some income from their rooms. Your local travel agency probably offers some packages to combine a last-minute flight with a last-minute hotel reservation.

So you save some money with it, that's nice. The real last-minute fun comes from a different advantage though. Imagine yourself sitting inside on a rainy summer holiday; you and your partner both have off for two weeks, but you were too late booking the hotel you wanted. You decided to stay home, and you regret it now. Then you read an ad by your local travel agent; a trip to Thailand is offered last-minute, but you have to leave in 4 days. You book the flight, and 4 days later you're in paradise for the remaining 1,5 weeks of your holiday. The surprise of the whole thing makes it extra nice, and it is definitely something that you should do at least once in your life!

Read the original news item and more at the Travel Approved website