Tag: radio

Travel Dream”

“allowing the Travel Dream”

The travel business is incredible. It is filled with multiple opportunities for investigation online. Look at the sites dedicated to travel on the web; in magazines; ads on television and radio. Advertisers bombard us with their “Best Price, Exotic Locations and the Hottest Deals”.

When you travel, what are your main concerns? Is it costs; or types of accommodations; or what can we do with the kids? Just to be in a financial position to actually get away for short trips just may be a perk. The internet allows us to DREAM of TRIPS to take!

Todays economy dictates so much of the details a person must consider when planning to travel. Businesses are re-thinking the associated costs of sending associates or sales teams out of the office vs. using new technology to conduct office web-conferences. I want to discuss personal vacations for this article. So my question then is, “Does the internet provide all of the necessary options that will allow us to dream of traveling?”

Searching the web, destinations are bountiful. Where in the United States can we go? Just a click of the mouse can send us skiing in Colorado or Utah; or golfing in Arizona or Florida; or the many parks or natural treasures throughout the states, granting our minds invigorating stimulation. Maybe you want site-see in South America or Australia; run on the Great Wall; tour the vinery’s of Portugal. Now that would be one fabulous trip to take. With technology today, one can ‘see’ any one of these areas in the internet. The mind is unlimited for these trips, your mind.

The volatility of oil prices this year and today due to the supply being greater than demand, provides cost effective options to allow some sort of trip. If you reside in the western portion of the United States, traveling to the Rocky Mountains for skiing is viable. The amount of snow at many resorts has been ahead of years past that powdered eyebrows and ice cycles dangling from one’s nose are truly in reach. Availability at most lodges can still be found even though it may take some researching. But that what makes the internet so impressive. Look on the web for your skiing trip?

Or maybe your idea of getting away would be a warmer climate. I know the older I get, the more warmth I can be surrounded by, the less snappy them ol’ bones become. Weather in the Phoenix/Scottsdale (not to mention the current excitement for their beloved football team) area is perfect for swinging those metal implements of frustration. Or Florida would be more practical due to your proximity. Can you imagine lounging on the beaches along the coast of Florida? With winter weather, imagining can be such a powerful mental exercise. Feeling the comfortable breezes crossing the tops of the ears, the grainy sands captivating your toes and umbrella drinks that color the tongue. Can you just feel it?

Decisions, decisions.

Take a moment to dream of YOUR travel destination. Every site I clicked had many interesting destinations to wander about. One of the places I would love to get to is Portugal. Watching the European Golf Tour, which has a few events there, has tingled my desire to visit. This area of the world just intrigues me. I ‘went’ to Portugal online. What a trip! The scenes of traditional villages; narrow streets winding through vibrant cities; the expanse of vineyards scattered in the country; the views along the Atlantic with dramatic windswept cliffs and sun-drenched backdrops; it is one dream that I am aspiring for.

See how simple the mental imagery and the power of the internet can supplement your actually making a TRIP? No, it’s not like the real thing however; it does provide me the visionary motivation needed to plan my visit, say within two years.

Could a vision of a sunrise conjure serenity within by watching the unwrapping of those brilliant red rock vortexes that reach up from around Sedona, Arizona? The reflection of the reddish cliffs from the waters of Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing can mysteriously energize the soul. And stimulate the brain. This area truly has mystical sources of energy that could only be found on the prairies after enjoying peyote around the campfire.

Just a few mental exercises like these can plant the seed to plan your vacation whether it is simple or outlandishly exotic. We are not getting any younger. Many places we want to visit and experience before you begin to fill out a ‘Bucket List’ can be within reach. The internet can provide a plan and the mental exercise can be formulated. Now could be a great time to begin that process by getting on-line to start researching ideas. This is the early stages of the planning process and provides us the best time to fantasize about the exotic locations before wandering back to the practical.

Look at a trip you possibly thought of. The web can provide this type of entertainment as we deluge the fantasy of being at that far away place. Maybe our own little “Lost” adventure, only with umbrella drinks, doting pool boys or bikini-clad maidens, clean beaches and those gentle ocean breezes with waves seducing us to sleep. Oh the dreamy thoughts one can conjure up now. Allow your mind to wander. Go to places, mentally, that you have always dreamed about visiting. By taking this first step, the mental vacation, the coming weeks may create a happier time. Because this is all about relaxing.

Now let us look at the coming year. Could there be a short trip in say, your near future. Or maybe a four day outing early in the summer. The ideas may be abundant. Treating ourselves from time to time is necessary when most of what we hear or read is negative. Now with the ‘hope’ that has been touted for nearly two years and put in place this past January 20th, why not hope a vacation is in your future. Some would say that if we all spend a little more money by pumping it in to our economy, things just could get going again. “Hope springs eternal”.

Most people believe they may not be able to participate. Possibly they are choosing to hold out for a period of time till things improve. I say that time may be on your side to plan a vacation. Time may be on your side to save and/or make the money needed to do so. If a second income could encourage a trip; a travel goal within reach; investigate this opportunity and achieve that goal. If your dream trip would be an ultimate goal, it could behoove you to research this opportunity, and you may reach that dream much sooner.

Travel Article – January 2009

Sydney Travel guide, tips and tourist attractions

Sydney Travel guide, tips and tourist attractions

The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet. The city is built on hills surrounding Sydney Harbour where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge feature prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and, most famously, beaches. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and Royal Botanical Gardens.

Sydney is known as an international centre for commerce, arts, fashion, culture, entertainment, education and tourism. Sydney has hosted major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics, the final match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 2008 World Youth Day. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport.

History of Sydney

Radio carbon dating suggests that the Sydney region has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years. The traditional Indigenous inhabitants of Sydney Cove are the Cadigal people, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham. While estimates of the population numbers prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 remains contentious, approximately 4,000–8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Sydney region prior to contact with British settlers. The British called the Indigenous people the “EORA because being asked where they came from, these people would answer: “Eora“, meaning “here”, or “from this place” in their language. There were three language groups in the Sydney region, which were divided into dialects spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug (the Cadigal, original inhabitants of the City of Sydney, spoke a coastal dialect of Darug), Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory, the location of said territory determined the resources available. Although urbanisation has destroyed much evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), a number of Sydney rock engravings, carvings and rock art remain visible in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the Sydney basin.

In 1770, British sea Captain Lieutenant James Cook landed in Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. It is here that Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal community known as the Gweagal .  Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip, who arrived at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on 18 January 1788. This site was soon determined to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip subsequently founded the colony one inlet further up the coast, at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney’s role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. The original name was intended to be Albion until Phillip decided upon Sydney.

In April 1789 a disease, thought to be smallpox, killed an estimated 500 to 1000 Aboriginal people between Broken Bay and Botany Bay. There was violent resistance to British settlement, notably by the warrior Pemulwuy in the area around Botany Bay, and conflicts were common in the area surrounding the Hawkesbury River. By 1820 there were only a few hundred Aborigines and Governor Macquarie had begun initiatives to ‘civilise, Christianise and educate’ the Aborigines by removing them from their clans.  Macquarie’s tenure as Governor of New South Wales was a period when Sydney was improved from its basic beginnings. Roads, bridges, wharves and public buildings were constructed by British and Irish convicts, and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary. The 1830s and 1840s were periods of urban development, including the development of the first suburbs, as the town grew rapidly when ships began arriving from Britain and Ireland with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. On 20 July 1842 the municipal council of Sydney was incorporated and the town was declared the first city in Australia, with John Hosking the first elected mayor.The first of several Australian gold rushes started in 1851, and the port of Sydney has since seen many waves of people arriving from around the world.