Best places to celebrate New Years Eve

New Years Eve is coming and here are the top places to be:


LAS VEGAS




BANGKOK




LOS ANGELES




PARIS




SYDNEY




CHICAGO




LONDON




NEW YORK CITY




JOST VAN DYKE




RIO DE JANEIRO





Happy New Year!!

Paris attacks

On the past 13 of November 2015, there were terrorist attacks in the french capital, Paris. It happened during the night, there were gunmen and suicide bombers, they hit a concert hall, a stadium, restaurants and bars almost simultaneously. There were 129 deaths and hundreds more were wounded. President Hollande described this as an "act of war" organised by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

It was to expect that these attacks would drag down tourism. Luxury hotels are down by 50%, and overall hotel bookings are down 30%, there have been all kinds of cancellations since the attacks. Paris almost lives on the tourism, it is a very big part of the income of most Parisians. Although the hotels are working with a lot of security and the claims are that Paris is now very safe, people are not that confident about it.

In time.com they describe how Paris felt like after the attacks: «As of Friday morning, almost a week after the attacks, the newly built Christmas markets on the Champs-Élysées stood empty, with only a few stalls open. No children rode the giant slide; the carousel lay shuttered and locked. A few brave families braved a fine rain to sample French sausages and cheeses at one of the few open booths. Brasseries and cafes began to fill up by week’s end on the Left Bank, which has been less effected by the attacks, but most restaurants stood virtually empty throughout the Right Bank. Online, hotel prices tumbled from more than $700 for a hotel room at the W L’Opera or the Westin Place Vendôme to less than $450. Impromptu sales also began popping up at the shopping mecca in Châtelet Les Halles.»

Do these attacks mean it is less safe to travel? A lot of people thought it wasn't a good idea to go to Paris after the attacks, but maybe now everything has passed, the world is going back to normal.

Where and how to book your holidays

So you have decided where you want to travel to, now it's time to book the place you want to sleep at. Fist you have to know the difference between, for example, a Hotel, Hostel, Motel, Boutique Hotel, Bed and Breakfast, Pousada, Guesthouse and Aparthotel. I chose these because they are the most common, although there are a lot more types of accommodations out there.

Hotel: provides you with paid accommodation and other guest services. They are usually rated with stars from one to five, being five the most luxurious but also most expensive.

Hostel: inexpensive type of accommodation. Ideal for travelers on a budget, or for people going from one place to another every day. They usually have shared bedrooms and communal facilities.

Motel: was first designed for motorcyclists. They are roadside accommodations with minimal amenities and have large parking areas.

Boutique Hotel: often has a themed and individual style, and are smaller in size. They provide guests with personalized and high-quality experiences.

Bed and Breakfast: has breakfast included in the room rate. It is an intimate, independently run lodging establishment.

Pousada: usually has a traditional restaurant and offer a authentic local experience. It is the portuguese term for guesthouse, inn, or historic independently owned hotel.

Guesthouse: offers inexpensive accommodation to tourists in a private house.

Aparthotel: is a smart choice if you plan to stay for a long time. They combine the comfort and independence of an apartment with the services of a hotel.


After choosing which accommodation is best for you, there are a few good websites where you can book your stay. My personal favorite is booking.com, but there are others like Trivago. Also, a very good website for a variety of tips is TripAdvisor.

If you want to know more, here are 52 types of accommodations explained: http://www.luxuryaccommodationsblog.com/post/114961446726/different-types-accommodation-tourism

The five most beautiful places in the world

According to Caitlin Morton, Condé Nast Traveler, there are five places in the world worth going to, the five most beautiful places in the world. Although you might say it is difficult to decide which places are most beautiful, seen there are a lot very beautiful ones and it is a big world, these five are certainly worth seeing.

Number one: Cappadocia, Turkey. Here there are entire cities carved into rock. Make sure you visit it when they are flying the hot air balloons though.




Number two: Salar de Uyuni, Daniel Campos, Bolivia. Here you can find the world's largest salt mine, but that is not even the most impressive thing. The water reflects everything beautifully which makes it look like a painting.





Number three: Mù Cang Châi, Vietnam. What makes it so special? The rice fields and mountains. The strong green and the yellow from the sun coming in to the valleys between the mountains makes it breathtaking.




Number four: Benagil Sea Cave, Algarve, Portugal. The most important of this list, a beautiful place in my country, in the beautiful Algarve. There are a lot of Sea Caves here, all of them impressive, and this one made the list of five most beautiful places in the world. This makes me very proud!




Number five: Snæfellsjökull, Iceland. This icy place, a glacier with ice caves, craters and little mountains has appeared in two movies, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Batman Begins. Another place that looks like a painting.

Afraid of flying? Here is and idea on how to overcome it

If you really want to travel but you are afraid of flying, there are some things you can think about to help you overcome your fear.
First and fore all, you should know the reality about planes: they are really safe. The chances of dying in a plane crash are 1 in 11 million. That is a 0.00001% chance that something will go wrong with your flight.
Also, there are a lot of things in your daily life that are more dangerous. For example, the chances of being killed in an automobile accident are 1 in 5000. That means the most dangerous part of your traveling experience will be the drive to the airport. Dying of food poisoning also comes at a bigger risk than flying, at 1 in 3 million. Even getting hit by lighting is more common than dying from a plane crash.
If your fear comes from things you feel or hear during flights, know that is normal. The instinct you have when you hear, feel or see something strange is to expect the worst. You can minimize that fear by knowing as much as you can about planes. For example, it is absolutely normal for the wings to move during the flight, certain parts are supposed to move.
About the turbulence, what is it really? Turbulence occurs when a plane flies through a low or high pressure area. It is like driving on a road with a lot of bumps. There can be injuries from this, that is true, but it only happens because people didn't fasten their seat belt or didn't secure their bags. This means, again, it has nothing to do with the safety of the plane itself.
If you think one of the doors is going to open, don't worry, the air pressure up in the sky is so high that the door is really shut tight.
Planes are very well maintained, for every half an hour the plain flies, there are 11 hours of maintenance. So rest assured there will be nothing wrong with the plane, and if there is, it will not be put in the air.
If knowing about what really happens behind the scenes of flying doesn't help, there are other things you can do to feel better like managing your anxiety or trying to focus on other things to help you relax while flying.
Enjoy your flight!

Tips for travelers

Seen this is a traveling blog, it might be important to point out some important tips about traveling.
Here are a few I think are interesting and smart to keep in mind.

- Wake up early. First of all, you don't want to lose your plane. Second, when you are already at your holiday destination, you don't want to wake up and lose half your day because you were sleeping. There is just to much to see to waste it on sleeping (you can do that at home!). You also avoid the big crowds in the morning, which is a plus point.

- Keep extra money with you at all times. You never know when you are going to have an emergency. Also, you should keep it in different places, you might lose your wallet so don't keep all your money in there.

- Ask the locals. Local people always know the best places to go. They are also the ones who can tell you where to find the best food and can give you the best information. You can learn a lot this way.

- Photograph, a lot. This might be the first and last time you visit this place. You might as well have something to help you remember it forever.

- Stay open minded. Don't judge people because their way of living is different than yours. Embrace the differences and learn from them.

- Don't be afraid to travel. The media lies, the world is not as dangerous as they make it seem.

- Relax. If things aren't going the way you planned them, if you lost the bus or took a wrong turn, don't worry! Everything works out at the end and you should enjoy every bit of your traveling, even when it goes a little bit off road. Traveling is supposed to be a relaxing and not a stressful thing to do.

Albufeira, the latest weather disaster

Around a month ago, at the 1st of november 2015, the Algarve experienced a day of immense rain. Rain we had not seen for a very long time. It was, to say the least, very impressive and incredible, in a bad way. In Albufeira, especially, we saw a lot of people were trapped inside their homes, the rain was inside the homes of others, and all efforts of keeping the water out were pointless. The rain came as a tsunami from the skies, with such force it took everything it came in contact with along with it. When it finally cleared, after a lot of hours, all we could see was destruction and mud. The streets were brown, you could even see a brown line on the walls of the houses of where the water of the rain reached. At the end, all losses and damage counted, the Portuguese Association of Insurances (APS), estimated the damage would be of more than 14 million euro, in Albufeira only.
Everyone is now trying their best and working hard so they can be ready to celebrate Christmas and New Years Eve in a happy spirit.
And, for the travelers out there, remember to always check the weather forecast before you travel, even though most of the times the weather is unpredictable.