The Success Chain » Travel

USA Travel Insurance is Essential

George — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Foreigners planning a trip to the USA may be lulled into complacency by the knowledge that the country has the best of everything. They need to remember that the best likely costs more, and if they want to make sure they are prepared for every eventuality, including the worst case scenarios, they need to purchase adequate insurance for their trip.

Travel insurance is more than just clicking a box when purchasing an online plane ticket . That type of insurance only covers the actual plane trip, not all the time spent exploring and working in the country. It doesn’t even cover other travel arrangements associated with a visit to the USA.

Visitors should make sure they purchase travel insurance to USA before they leave their home country. This type of policy will include a comprehensive medical component as well as insurance for travel delays, terrorism, lost passports and other documents, and even liability insurance. Long-term visitors, such as students and foreign workers, should make sure that the health portion includes preventative care and prescription replacement for not just medicine, but also things like eyeglasses.

Medical care in the US is some of the most expensive in the world. Visitors need to realize that the premiums for travel insurance will reflect this. They need to be prepared to pay top dollar in order to secure access to some of the best medical facilities and treatment in the world.

USA Travel Insurance is Essential is a post from: The Success Chain

Historic Sydney

George — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Sydney draws visitors for a variety of reasons. People come to this beautiful port city for business, entertainment, sports, opera, theater, or any of the many festivals held throughout the year. In fact, Sydney was recently named the World’s Top Event City because of its wealth of festivals, fairs, and conferences. The city is also home to a number of significant sites and museums that attract history buffs. Anyone checking into a luxury hotel in Sydney will have many historic attractions to choose from.

Many historic tours of Sydney start with the Rocks. Billed as the place where Sydney began, the site preserves a number of historic buildings from the city’s initial settlement and visitors can choose from several historic walks through the area. Head to Parramatta to see colonial era buildings, come of the oldest in Sydney or to Macquarie Street to visit the colony’s first hospital, the Hyde Park Barracks, the Mint, or the Conservatorium, which started out as the original government house stables.

Those interested in military history would do well to spend some time at La Perouse . Located near Botany Bay, La Perouse houses a fort, museum, and the grave of an early French explorer who arrived in the city in 1788. Or take the historic walk from Manly to Middle Head to see coastal artillery fortifications built into the Harbour’s cliffs during the end of the 1800s.

Historic Sydney is a post from: The Success Chain

New Orleans Celebrates Faulkner

George — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Fans of William Faulkner will want to make their way to a New Orleans boutique hotel for November 17 – 21 to attend Words & Music, 2010, a Literary Feast in New Orleans. This multi-arts festival has been held since 1990 on Faulkner’s birthday and celebrates good books and their authors, including Faulkner, who penned Soldiers’ Pay, his first novel, in New Orleans.

Sponsored by the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society , this year’s theme is The Literature of War & Collateral Damage. Featured literature and workshops will approach the theme through fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry as well as delving into the classics, religion, psychology, philosophy, live drama, music, journalism, television, film, visual arts, and the environment. There will be a full program of hands on workshops and consultations for unpublished writers to prepare their work for submission and the publishing process. It includes top literary agents, published writers, poets, and editors.

The words & music festival brings together new and established writers. Headliners for 2010 include Tim O’Brien, National Book Award winner, Stewart O’Nan, a critically acclaimed novelist, as well as bestselling British author Simon Mawer and Heidi Durrow, winner of the Barbara Kingsolver’s Belwether Prize. Actors Billy Lyon and Heidi Jackson of American Place Theatre will perform a piece based on O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. This year the organizers have called for papers on topics related to the theme. They hope to have scholars, psychologists, academics, physicians and art and music critics present the chosen works as part of the festivities.

New Orleans Celebrates Faulkner is a post from: The Success Chain

The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park in Las Vegas

George — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Anyone arriving at a Vegas resort is probably ready to be pampered for a few days. In addition to luxuriating in spa treatments, rooms, casinos and entertainment, you’ll also want to get outside and explore a part of Nevada.

Just fifteen minutes outside the Las Vegas Strip, you’ll find the Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park. This three acre park exhibits over 150 species of plants and animals and is both the only zoo in Las Vegas, and the only year-round zoo in Nevada. The zoo serves as a kind of living campus where people of all ages may learn about Nevada’s plants and animals. Primarily, the zoo’s mission is to help educate people about rare and endangered plant and animal species, providing patrons with information about how important it is to protect natural habitats.

The Las Vegas Zoo includes a number of endangered cats and, in the United States, the last family of Barbary Apes . There are also eagles, ostriches, emus, talking parrots, flamingos and large exotic reptiles. Exhibits, sponsored by the Las Vegas Gem Club, also features botanical displays of endangered cycads and rare bamboos.

Hours are nine to five each day. Ticket prices are nine dollars for adults, seven for children 2-12 and seniors 62 and older, and free for those under two years of age.

The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park in Las Vegas is a post from: The Success Chain

Boston in Fall Means Rowing

George — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Over 8,000 rowers from all over the world will converge in Boston October 23-24, 2010 for the Head of the Charles Regatta . This 46th running of the event is expected to attract up to 300,000 spectators to the banks of the Charles River for the largest two-day rowing events in the world. HOTC is expected to draw around 1750 individual boats to compete in 56 events over the weekend.

The 3.2 mile course starts at Boston University’s DeWolfe Boathouse and finishes just past the Eliot Bridge. The course is extremely challenging and includes six bridges and several sharp turns. Spectators can expect to see collisions at the Weeks and Eliot Bridges, which are particularly difficult parts of the course.

The competitive events include Championship 4s, Championship 8s, and Championship sculling, both 1x/single and 2x/double. Attendees should see current US National Team competitors as well as rowers from countries as far away as South Africa, Croatia, and China. Competitors range in age from 14 to 85.

Area colleges such as Harvard, Northeastern, and MIT as well as universities from all over the Northeast will line the Charles for a weekend of cheering, rivalries, and parties. Reunion Village is the only place on the course where alcohol is legally served. It is a group of tents set aside for clubs and alumni associations to gather and hold social events. Boston Hotels are booked solid for the weekend, so many students end up staying with friends or even sleeping on dorm room floors.

HOTC is hosted by the Cambridge Boat Club which was founded in 1909 and is located on the Cambridge side of the river, near the Eliot bridge.

Boston in Fall Means Rowing is a post from: The Success Chain

Shopping in Mazatlan

George — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Like all tourist towns and larger cities around the world Mazatlan has really matured over the past decades when it comes to shopping. There are many more options than the street flea market and craft booths along the beaches. You may still have the jewelry hustlers selling their goods along the beaches of the luxury mazatlan hotels but when it comes to some real shopping, visitors have choices these days.

For the big time mall experience, head over to the La Gran Plaza . This is a large mall experience with brand name stores from all over the world. They have a broad range of items from worldy companies like Nike and Versalles. There are also many boutique stores that would be fun to browes through because they are more fitting to the local area. That way you can still find some fun items that you may not be able to get at home.

Part of the fun of shopping in Mexico is that some things are tax free. If you are looking for some Diamonds than you may find some really great deals. Diamonds are tax free in Mexico. There are some fine jewelry stores with good reputations in Mazatlan such as Pardo Jewellers or Rubio Jewellers. Even your own hotel may have a nice sellection.

Shopping in Mazatlan is a post from: The Success Chain

Doing Waikiki

George — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Waikiki has accommodation to suit any tastes and budget, but when the sun goes down and a nice hot shower has been taken after a long day of surfing, it’s time to exit the hotels Waikiki beach offers and check out the large quantity of entertainment that will keep you out until sunrise.

Hula beach parties, Hawaiian music shows and Friday night fireworks will light up the night sky as well as the beach. Downtown Waikiki has a wide array of restaurants to choose from, or the more preferable Hawaiian Luau where the unearthing of a roasted pig is followed by traditional dancing and fire poi .

During the winter months, between November and February, the undeveloped North Shore of Waikiki Beach is teeming with masters of the surf. The waves at this time of year are massive and stretch along the coastline for 7 miles.

For those visitors who need to come back down to earth, take a trip to Pearl Harbor, where on December 7, 1941 the United States was attacked by Japan. Take a tour on the Arizona Memorial and Museum. Pay your respects for those who lost their lives in defending the US, then head on back to the beautiful beaches of Waikiki where you’ll truly begin to appreciate just how fortunate you are to be able to visit paradise.

Doing Waikiki is a post from: The Success Chain

Karaoke in Scottsdale

George — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Perhaps a city shouldn’t necessarily be judged by the quality of its karaoke, at least in terms of the singers. This is one of the exciting variables about the pseudo-art form, where one really never knows what might happen. Some stunning young hopeful might belt out a tune that makes the room grow silent with awe. Or sometimes a sad soul might sing the one song that reminds them of the one they love, and end up crying into their microphone while everyone pretends it never happened. Whatever happens, it’s usually great fun, and there’s plenty of this in Scottsdale.

The lucky visitors staying in Scottsdale arizona hotels always have plenty to choose from, and the range is eclectic. The New Times readers’ poll recently ranked the Painted Mountain Golf Resort as the best of 2010, and the scene is an expected one. The two draws here are live singers and inexpensive drinks, so it’s possible to while away the hours without spending too much. For the more serious fans, Geisha-a-Go-Go is the place to go for traditional karaoke. This is where groups pay a fee to rent a room, where they’re free to show their talents and embarrass themselves without fear. There’s sushi, too.

Karaoke in Scottsdale is a post from: The Success Chain

Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard

George — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Every Monday till September, Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard is the place to be from 8pm to 11pm. Take a Ferry ride to the Dockyard where you’ll find local artisans, entertainment and food under a picturesque gazebo and along the Dockyard Terrace as well as in front of the Clocktower Shopping mall.

The Clocktower Shopping mall is home to a wide array of retail stores that stay open late for the Monday affair. Outside the mall, you can stroll through the Craft Market and check out all the locally made Bermuda items such as craft dolls, ceramics, paintings, embroidery and jewelry; see craftsmen blowing glass ornaments, vases and bowls. Head for the street festival for some freshly prepare local food featuring Bermuda’s famous Rum cakes and drinks. Food vendors compliment the restaurants in the Dockyard ensuring no one goes hungry.

The Royal Naval Dockyard has something for everyone. The festive atmosphere is enchanting, the music in enthralling and the local Gombey dancers and drummers will captivate you. The Gombey’s are of a Bermuda’s African, British Colonial and Native American heritage and with lively rhythms and vibrant costumes adorned with sequins, ribbons and trailing yarn fringe they have delighted the locals and tourists for decades. By the time you catch the last Ferry back to one of the better five star Bermuda hotels , you’ll be in a great mood; full of food and very entertained.

Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard is a post from: The Success Chain

Parks in Denver

George — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Denver, also frequently and fondly referred to as the mile high city is the largest metropolitan area in Colorado and is also the state’s main sports and cultural attraction center and of course it is the state capital. This does not deter from or ignore the great cultural elements that exist in other cities across Colorado, it just emphasizes the greatness of Denver and its overall importance to the state. After all, almost every person who lives in this Rocky Mountain State is a huge fan of the Broncos.

And speaking of the Rocky Mountains Denver is located just east of the Front Range. The mountains form a beautiful backdrop to the city and are part of what it is known for. Tourists who stay in the best Denver hotels are frequently amazed by the beauty of the mountains and many of the resorts have incredible views of them. In addition there are numerous parks throughout the city that add to the incredible natural feel of this major urban center. Red Rocks Parks has some incredible scenery and is known for being the home of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Cheesman Park, Washington Park and the Civic Center Park are some of the other great recreational areas in Denver.

Parks in Denver is a post from: The Success Chain