Category: Travel and Tours

Seasoned travellers always know how to get to where they need to go in the most efficient, practical and comfortable manner. Borrowing a few tips from a savvy traveller could completely transform your travel experience whether you are travelling in the UK or abroad and this could completely take the stress out of what can be a difficult experience some travel tricks are given below.

Here are a few travel tricks that anyone will benefit from.

Research & Planning

The key tip is to make sure that you thoroughly research your trip and make a robust plan. Travel plans can easily fall apart when you do not plan properly but when you know exactly where you are going and at what time it can help the journey to run smoothly and take the stress out of the trip and make sure that your travel is safe.

Book in Advance

It is also helpful to book whatever you can in advance of the trip – in addition to having less to do on the day, you might also find that this is a good way to save money too. This might include pre-booking your train ticket online, such as a train travelling to Bognor Regis so that on the day you simply have to arrive on time and find the platform.

Invest in Quality Luggage

It might be tempting to buy the cheapest travel bag or suitcase available but this is a big mistake. This is important to have high-quality luggage so that you can comfortably transport this with you and have enough space for you to pack everything that you need. It is also a smart idea to do a practice pack and to pack the night before/with plenty of time to spare.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time

Following on from this, you will notice that experienced travellers never seem stressed or flustered and one of the main reasons for this is that they give themselves plenty of time to get to where they need to go. This ensures that you never miss a train/plane but it also helps you to relax beforehand.

Bring Entertainment

If you give yourself plenty of time then it is important that you have enough to keep you entertained. This will come down to personal preference but it might include books, podcasts, music, the newspaper, games or anything else which will help to pass the time.

Try these tips the next time you are travelling anywhere and you should notice that it makes a big improvement and can help to make any form of travel much less fraught and stressful.

Travelling is to explore yourself and so is meditation, so both should go hand in glove.

A lot of people have a natural tendency to meditate quite often in their routine life and they do it quite comfortably as well. They keep on with this routine whenever they happen to travel far or near and enjoy their travelling experience even better. If you also meditate in routine and while travelling even when you are accompanied by a guide from Bahamas rentals or others, you know it yourself how the two go side by side and enhance each other as well. But, if this is not the case with you, let’s see how mindful meditation improves your travelling adventures and enjoyments.

1. Confers a bundle of physical and mental health benefits

Meditation, both in routine and during travelling, blesses you with the peaceful state of mind for a few minutes. It relaxes both your body and mind, refuels and refreshes your nerves and muscles and keeps you feeling energetic throughout. You feel well-boosted and remain fit and mentally smart.

2. Does not require long to achieve your target

Meditation never requires you to spare a lot of time from your busy routine during travelling. Just 5 to 10 minutes a day and you will be done straight away. No heavy exercises or yoga practices are involved. You just have to sit with the easiest of poses comfortably and focus on taking and controlling deep breaths with your eyes closed optionally. No matter even if your mind keeps wandering all this while, you just have to remain relaxed and focused like the great bodhi dharma with your deep, long and controlled breathing movements. Even this very short-duration meditation practice glorifies your holiday and travelling.

3. Increases your mindfulness

Busy travelling schedule with great tension of managing the various things around keeps your mind busy and roaming everywhere and you become almost unable to focus on your current scenario. Meditation for a few minutes brings your mind back to the current state of affairs which consequently makes your holiday much more enjoyable. With this increased mindfulness, you begin to think more vigilantly and take quick and right decisions about your travelling schedule.

4. Helps you focus on your surroundings

It does happen quite often that you get involved in a number of travel issues like delay in your flight, failure of the internet connection to your room, tasteless food, a sudden accident, etc. Such distractions make you wavered from the surrounding beauty. Meditation done for a few minutes brings you back to your surroundings and you feel afresh and relaxed. This is because meditation is all about being attached with your current surroundings and this factor actually makes or break your holidays in the long run.

5. Helps you ward off your stress

Travelling is not just all about adventure and pleasure all along. It also carries a lot of tensions and stressful situations like the hotel complications, sudden loss of your purse in a mishap, an unforeseen weather turn, etc. Here comes the mindful meditation and rescues you from this entire tensed scenario. Latest studies show that meditation reduces the worst effects of stress and anxiety by improving the mindset to face tense circumstance.

6. Meditation boosts up your energy by improving your mood and sleep

Travelling is sure to bring fatigue to an adventurous traveller. Only a sound full night sleep can get you rid of all the panics of fatigue. Again, it is quite possible that you may not be able to go to sleep due to jetlag. Mindful meditation is the blessing of Nature which can cure you of this jetlag and carry you to the sweet dreams. When you have enjoyed a sound sleep, both your mood and energy improve themselves.

To sum up the things, it is absolutely right to say that meditation confers you with a lot of benefits while you are on your travelling mode.

Travel around London is becoming increasingly expensive; including to the airport. Over the past 12 months alone, ending Dec 2019, rail transport costs rose by an estimated 3.2%. This amount is significant, especially when taking into account that yearly increases at the beginning of the year have been the norm in recent years. It is no surprise either that as trains become increasingly expensive, more people are turning towards alternative modes of transport, with buses being a preferred choice.

Despite the already lower ticket prices compared to train and air transportation, bus ticket prices can be snapped up for even lower prices, if passengers travel during off-peak times and less busier days in the week or weekend. Although taking the train may be faster than the bus, this is not true for all routes. The savings made by taking the bus means extra spending money to use upon arrival.

So—how can you save money while planning to travel by bus to the airport in the UK?

Read our Airport Transfer Money-Saving Tip

Book Your Travel with Omio

The time immediately after your flight arrives at Heathrow, or any other of UK’s Airports, can be the most confusing, and frantic. A lot could go wrong when you don’t have prior plans, one how you will proceed from the Airport and into the city. So, why not avoid all this by booking your bus ride well ahead with Omio? This service will ensure you spend less both in terms of time worrying about how you will get from the airport to your eventual destination, and money spent on finding suitable means to take your journey’s end. With the Omio service, you can also get to quickly compare prices that are updated in real-time, while also choosing from the different routes and public bus services that operate routes to your destination. This service promises to be your ultimate travelling companion when in the UK, as it accomplishes all the research you need on the UK’s public transport service, to find the best, fastest routes, with the best prices to your destination.

Take Advantage of Hopper Fares

Hopper fares promise you two bus journeys for the price of one, but there are a few conditions you will need to meet. Firstly, you must pay and start your second ride within 60 minutes of paying for the first journey. For example, if you board your first bus at say 12:00 noon, then the second ride must be boarded before 13:00 hrs for it to be a free ride. Secondly, a commuter must use the same card for both bus rides whether contactless or Oyster. One must also not use their card on a train service in between the two bus journeys.

Be Informed about the Price Caps

Both contactless cards and their main alternative, the Oyster Card have in place various price caps that commuters can take advantage of to save money on their travels around London. Daily bus caps are set at £4.50. If you are in for a prolonged stay, then acquiring a card is more economical as the daily price cap set is much cheaper than the cost of purchasing a daily bus pass. As well, also take note that there are weekly caps set for both contactless and Oyster Card users to exploit. With this weekly cap is set at £21.20 for both cards, contactless subscribers get to enjoy train services over tram and bus services too. Oyster card users, however, can only enjoy this weekly cap on buses and tram services. All these caps are worth considering, and to exploit them fully, a commuter should ensure they use the same card consistently with all their travels while in London.

Take Advantage of Free Passes

There are freedom passes commuters can take advantage off, provided they live in certain London boroughs, and are within a certain age and disability criteria. These free passes are supported by the UK government. To check whether you qualify for any of the free passes, have a look at the set eligibility criteria. Furthermore, Oyster Card also has a free pass program labelled the 60+ Oyster Photocard. Under this program, all senior citizens above the age of 60, and living in any of London’s boroughs get to travel for free across the city’s public transport systems including bus and rail.

Seek out Discounted Rates

Discounted rates are another way too, to save money with your travels in London. There are various programs through which these discounts can be provided. Two such program is the Apprentice and Jobcenter Schemes, through which holders can save anywhere between 30% to 50% on their travel costs when using public means. Children under the age of 11 get to travel at zero cost with most of these programs too, so carry your child along, let them marvel at the sights of these great city as well.

Join the Commuter Club

From the airport, are you planning a prolonged stay in the city? If yes, joining a commuters’ club has the potential to save you plenty of money with your travels. These societies promise their members discounted rates by travelling under their society for a standard monthly rate payable to the club. These clubs work for their members to get the best travel rates across public means including bus and tram. However, the strength of any commuter’s club only extends as much as the size of its membership. For this reason, find a club with a sizable membership, and one serving the geographical areas you shall be prone to travelling. In this way, you’re likely to get the greatest benefits out of your subscription.

Although bus routes are widely regarded as slower compared to train services, the extra time fractions spent on the bus are more than covered by the money saved in the process. Should you be savvy shopper, that enjoys discounts on your expenses, then bus transportation will be well worth the few minutes added onto your travel times. So, go through the suggestions above again, and start taking advantage of the bargains within your sights immediately.

With the hunting industry increasingly getting strong and ever-growing, it seems as if the product development takes place much faster than we can actually keep up. Still, we must be updated and well-prepared before we leave on a hunting excursion even as a beginner.

This simple rule must be in your mind that you must assume the best to happen but always prepare yourself for the worst scenario to come along. This is because you can never predict what you actually have to come across in the remotest wild where you are with not only your prey but also a number of predators. Quite possibly, you may also have to detain yourself from the world for a few days.

Keeping in mind all the above, we have worked out a hunting gear checklist especially for the beginners to go through their hunting adventure carefree. You will learn a lot for your next hunting trip and enjoy it in a different way. So, let’s dive in.

License and map

Going without these two could be very troublesome at times even though you may not have to use them throughout. Missing the license may cause you legal issues while the absence of a physical map or a GPS may waste you a lot of time and energy, making you feel irritated and frustrated.

A solid camp or shelter

Always remember to pack a proper camping gear to install a proper camp at a suitable height with a dry place. So that you may stay safe and sleep comfortably at night. Sometimes, you may have to build a makeshift shelter yourself with the material you have taken along like a fabric-sheet, chords, pegs, knives, etc. Remember to keep your camp or shelter to a suitable size so that the heat loss may be avoided.

Clothes and apparels

As per weather conditions, you must be well protected regarding your clothes and apparels. You must carry extra jackets, long socks, under-longs, vests, pants and trousers along with apparels like camouflage head net, gloves, scent control jacket, quick-strike coverall, etc. To be more informed, you may click here and be safe and sound throughout your hunting trip. Here, it will be very wise to advise you to carry perfect rain gear as well for your safety if you stuck in wet weather conditions for days.

Sufficient food and water

Three facts must be taken into account when deciding about food: quantity, quality and packing. You must select protein and carb-rich food along with fruits, granola bars, snacks, juices, trail mix, etc. Try your best to avoid meat items, as their scent causes the prey to ward off and the predators to draw in. Besides, your food items must be kept stored and unwrapped in zip-lock bags to avoid any noise production. Moreover, these must also be in sufficient amounts to sustain along with your stay over there. The most vital need, water, must be carried in huge amount to the last longer and keep you alive in an emergency.

Weapons

No hunting can be done without proper weapons of the highest order. These include a gun, plenty of ammo, compound bows, recurved bows, a lot of best crossbow broadhead, etc. All of your weapons and their respective supplies must be in a tip-top position ready to be used instantly.

The latest digital technology

This is an era of digital technology. So you must equip with these latest things of the highest value during your hunting adventure as well. These may include trail camera, binoculars, range finder, rifle scope, night vision scope, etc. A headlamp of the latest model must also be there to guide you in the dark night.

Boots and backpack

Hunting boots of the finest quality and durability are a must-have for your hunting gear checklist so that you may undertake the strenuous exertion of your adventurous hunting trip. A comfortable set of boots keeps you mentally and physically relaxed and literally makes or breaks your hunt. The same goes with the backpack, for this determines whether or not you may hike for miles on end or just a mile and end. A lightweight, comfortably padded backpack with a waist strap will do the trick and serve you miles without the slightest feeling of burden.

Survival kit

This must include the modern-day last resort tools like matches, first aid kit, blister kit, disinfectant, a few pain killers and a compass. This will help you a lot if you have to go for it after all.

Miscellaneous Hunting Gear Checklist of Utmost Importance

These include:

• Knives of different types
• Wirecutter and pruner
• Tissues and toilet papers
• Bug repellent
• Surveyor tape
• Zipper-seal bags
• Field Dressing Gloves
• Wet Wipes
• Insulated seating pad
• Metal screw-in tree steps
• Light compact pistol
• Pen and Paper
• Hand Warmers
• Books or magazines
• Trekking Poles
• Zip-Ties

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Your safety should be the prime most thing on your agenda anywhere at any time throughout your life, but it gets even more important when you are travelling. Though there is no specific place and time for any crime to be committed during travel, you must take into consideration the following precautionary measures to stay safe while travelling. Here, it must be clear that it makes no difference whether or not you are staying in some fine hotel with interior commercial installations, you must follow the safety precautions.

1. Learn the local language if you plan to stay long

It may happen in your life that you have to plan a long stay in some foreign country out of some job or official project from your native office. In such a case, you must try to learn the local language first before leaving for that country or area. It will help enrich your travel experience a lot and keep you safe and sound whenever you come across any social problem.

2. Be well clear and informed about your destinations

Quite naturally, you are never aware of how peaceful or dangerous the particular area is you are travelling to. So, it will be very wise if you make a thorough research online as well as from the local community before you start for that. No need to take any risk in this connection, just follow the guideline about that area and be saved.

3. Get a travel insurance

Any emergency regarding your health and evacuation from someplace may be tackled readily and legally if you have travel insurance. You will become secured officially all the while. So, better be insured while on travel.

4. Be very watchful about your belongings

You will have to undergo the transfer mode from one place to another with your entire luggage at times. Here, you must remain very much vigilant about your belongings all the time. Airports, railway stations, bus stops and other busy spots are the favourite most places for the pickpockets. So, be extra alert while passing through this phase of your travelling.

5. Always keep a well-protected travel card, but prefer to withdraw from inside the bank

Try your level best to get a travel card with best safety mechanisms like automatic blockage option so that it may not be misused even if it happens to get skimmed at some crowded ATM. Moreover, it is much more preferable to withdraw your money from inside the bank during the working hours instead of using the ATM at some shopping mall, etc. you must also keep the emergency phone number to get your card blocked instantly in case of any mishap.

6. No need to carry unnecessary valuables if you are not in a transfer mode

Whenever you plan to visit outside for some part of the day, you must carry along only the things you direly need for that time alone. Try to keep only a little cash just required for the time being and leave your travel cards and other valuable documents locked in the cupboard drawer back in your hotel room.

7. Form a group if you prefer to enjoy a late-night party and never be over-drunk

Sometimes, you may like to visit outside till late at night or want to attend a function that is likely to last till late hours, you must prefer to be in a group in order to remain safe in case any emergency or crisis falls during travel. Besides, you must also refrain from drinking too much to avoid criminals on the watch for over-drunk foreigners.

8. Be cautious while selecting your travelling companions

You may be quite up to the mark as far as the necessary tips and recommendations about the safe travel are concerned, but it is quite possible that one or more of your travelling companions may go wrong with their behaviour and put you into trouble. That’s why you must be very much cautious when it comes to selecting your travel companions. You must ensure that you people share the same travel philosophy in matters of safety. You should even think of leaving your company if they are not serious about changing their attitude.

The above mentioned are some of the useful tips to keep you safe while travelling.

Barcelona remains an all-time favorite city among visitors and tourists from all across the world. And It is a must to explore the city for all those travelers visiting Spain. After all, the stunning city has loads to offer and boasts of the unique architecture in the world. In addition to this, There are also endless numbers of parks museums and churches here. In short, there are many places to visit in Barcelona.

However, It sure can be an overwhelming task to cover the whole city. And there is every possibility that you might miss out on some of those major attractions. Why not arrange for a private tour of Barcelona with the experts like Withlocals? Moreover, With an expert guide by your side, you can also make the most of your time in the fascinating city. And can also be sure that you have covered all the major attractions and sites of this fascinating city.

Here are a couple of the best places to visit in Barcelona

1. La Rambla

First, Explore the most famous street in Barcelona that lies in the most central square of the city. Go through the leafy boulevard and vibrant promenade that connects the harbor with Plaça Catalunya. Most tourists identify with the city with this famous landmark that cuts through the heart of the city.

2. La Sagrada Familia

It is also a must to visit this masterpiece from the famous architect Antonio Gaudi. Sagrada Familia indeed looks stunningly beautiful from every angle. Enjoy the highlights of the church with a local expert like Withlocals. The unfinished cathedral is indeed one of the most exceptional buildings in the world too.

3. Barcelona Cathedral

Barcelona Cathedral is a lot older than the more famous Sagrada Família. Also Titled as The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia”, the Cathedral that dates back to the 13th century is rooted deep in rich history. It is one of the most impressive sites to see in Barcelona too. And this scared and dedicated point makes a place in the list of places to visit in Barcelona.

4. Montserrat

Another landmark that should be also on every traveler’s sightseeing itinerary in Barcelona is the natural attraction of Montserrat. The spectacularly beautiful spot is indeed one that is definitely worth visiting and holds significant religious.

5. La Boqueria Market

La Boqueria Market is one of the most historic markets in Europe. It is a must to explore the markets and especially if you love local markets. If you love local fresh produce and delicacies and are looking for authentic tapas bars, you must visit La Boqueria Market!

6. Park Güell

Park Güell is a famous public park in Barcelona that boasts of vivid colors and amazing views. Explore the park and enjoy amazing views of the city. And also enjoy the luscious landscape. It is a must to visit the beautiful and unique park in Barcelona.

7. La Vila de Gracia

Moreover, Get off the beaten path and explore La Vila de Gracia, that lies on the outskirts of Barcelona. It is also a lesser-known area that still carries a unique charm and small-town vibes. Locals and tourist come here to enjoy the authentic foodie scene along with the best boutique shopping experience.

8. Barceloneta Beach

A popular weekend hotspot is Barceloneta Beach, and here you will find beach lovers, skateboarders, and joggers. However, This is the nearest beach to the city. And this is your chance to explore the unforgettable Barcelona coastline.

9. Casa Milà

Casa Milà is a unique building that was designed by Gaudi. It is an excellent example of modernist architecture as well as Gaudi’s work. Moreover, It is a must for the Gaudi’s fans and architecture lovers to visit Casa Milà, which is also known as La Pedrera.

10. Plaça del Rei

The most important historical square, Plaça del Rei is definitely one of the must-see places to visit in Barcelona! It is here where Christopher Columbus first presented his findings from the new world to the Catholic king and queen.