Resorts of the Mexican Riviera

In my opinion, absolutely nothing on this planet more fully embodies hassle-free travel than a nice long stay in one of the world’s many resort towns. The popularity of these all-inclusive resorts is definitely on the rise, as many find themselves wanting that spectacular beach getaway, without all the trouble of booking accommodations, researching destinations and planning itineraries, and instead just want a great, relaxing vacation without feeling like they have to put in the work equivalent to a second job to plan it.

One of the most popular places for travelers from the U.S. to visit when they get the itch for all-inclusive, no-stress travel is the Mexican Riviera. With such great (not to mention famous) destinations as Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, this locale offers an abundance of simple options for some of the most easygoing travel you’ll ever experience. Plus, if a little more activity is what you’re looking for, you still have to look no further, as a huge variety of daily excursions and adventures are easily planned with the help of resort staff.

RealTravelers FreqTravelers recently visited Cabo San Lucas as quickly fell in love with their hotel during their stay:

“We arrived at the hotel and immediately was greeted by the bell men and was given a complementary margarita (which wasn’t very good). We knew we may be early to check in, but decided to try. They said our room wasn’t ready, so we went to have lunch at the Sunset Pool Bar. The food was pretty good.

We were able to go to our room after lunch. AMAZING suites there! Ours was on the 6th floor and had an awesome view of the pool and ocean. The room decor was very bright and colorful and hacienda-like. The maid service was excellent during our stay, we always came back to “towel creatures” on our bed.” (more…)

Unlimited drinks, unlimited food and no worries about sticking to itineraries or finding where to eat to top it all off? What’s not to love? Hey, even on a cruise you have to go through the effort of getting on the boat. So take it easy, and get to planning. Here are some useful resources to get you started:

Puerto Vallarta Hotels
Cabo San Lucas Hotels
Mazatlan Hotels

Traveling to Austin this summer

Looking for an exciting, music filled getaway, and don’t mind a hot climate? Head to Austin Texas this summer. It’s going to be hot: pack light clothes, some comfortable shoes, a cowboy hat, a toothbrush…but leave the Ipod behind, because Austin is not only the capital of Texas, but renowned as the Live Music Capital of the World, and you’re going to want to soak this up. 

Home to the Texas Longhorns, this University Town in Central Texas receives an average of 300 days of sun, boasts of world famous summer festivals, over 200 live music venues and outdoor parks, and a progressive community that loves their quirky shopping centers as much as their hiking trails. Texas may conjure images of John Wayne and twang music, George W. and tumbleweed, but Austin’s mod and vigilant urban scene is an anomaly eager to defy any traditional expectations.

Start your weekend early and fly in on a Thursday afternoon; check-in, drop your luggage, step into your swim trunks, and purge yourself of salty fingers and airplane-clam with a dip in Barton Springs, a 1,000 foot long spring-fed pool that maintains a comfortable year-round temp of 68 degrees. Toss a Frisbee disc, check out the Botanical Gardens in the 360-acre Zilker Park, or simply soak up some U.V. rays until the sun sinks and a hankering stomach requires satiating. From there, settle into a romantic dinner for two before a five-course menu at the local connoisseur favorite Jeffrey’s Restaurant and Bar, or for something more casual, roll up your sleeves for some savory ribs, classic potato salad, and a margarita filled happy hour at Austin’s lakeside County Line BBQ.

If the night feels young, hit one of the ubiquitous music venues bumping on any night of the week or peruse South District’s eclectic shops for vintage jewelry and outdoor art shows. For something more upscale, head downtown to 2nd street district for the trendy shops or don a tie or a fancy dress and let a ballet performance enchant your evening. But whatever you do, rest easy; the morning, before the heat hits and limbs grow lazy, is the perfect window to adventure into Austin’s outdoor scene. Explore the Barton Creek Greenbelt by foot or bike, kayak around Lady Bird Lake, or practice your golf-swing on some of the nation’s most esteemed courses.

Real Travelers Dungroovin enjoyed their trip to Austin last summer, especially listening in on the music scene:

“At night we soak up the live music that is literally everywhere, in bars, on patios, in restaurants, in gardens, parks, city squares, rock, jazz, blues, folk C&W whatever you desire, it’s a great great place.”

On any given night, Austin’s going to be vibrant and loaded with entertainment, but when a city that’s known for its electric nightlife throws a party, you don’t want to miss it. Thousands flock to Zilker Park for the three-day world famous Austin City Limit Music Festival (Oct 2-4th). Featuring 130 bands across 8 stages, Austin’s music scene culminates into a cultural celebration of world music with local cuisine, arts and crafts, so awesome PBS made a television show to keep the tradition going all year round. The Austin Film Festival (Oct 22-29th) features film premiers, advanced screenings, and independent films; film and screenplay seminars and competitions draw actors and aspirers alike in this annual week long celebration of animation.

Is International Health Insurance Valid in the UK?

Some returning Britons are discovering that their so-called ‘international’ health insurance plans are no longer quite as valid and as valuable when they return to the UK, leading to an increase in complaints against insurers - according to a recent report in the Telegraph. 

The trouble is, the cost of health care at home and abroad differs greatly, therefore insurers look at where an individual is resident when they are initially insured, and tailor their quotation accordingly. As soon as you move the goalposts by moving to another country or by repatriating, you need to be very wary of changing policy wording and/or of changes to the premiums that you pay! 
If you’ve been living abroad for some years and have taken out a health insurance policy, you need to look into the usefulness of it if you’re now thinking of returning to the UK. Do this sooner rather than later or you could find yourself underinsured, or worse still, uninsured.

Some expats are temporarily relocating to the UK, they are being forced to because of the global financial situation which has had a negative effect on everything from exchange rates to jobs markets around the world. For those who are only intending to return for a short while whilst they regroup and seek out alternative employment prospects elsewhere, it makes little sense to give up a decent international health insurance policy – after all, surely it is of use and of value in the UK too. 

Other expats have had to give up their dream of a new life abroad for fiscal reasons, health reasons, family reasons or just a personal preference that rates the UK over and above any other nation. For such Britons a private healthcare policy can have a great deal of benefit, particularly if the individual in question is reaching an age when perhaps greater medical treatment may be necessary in time. 

Chances are people who fall into the above example categories will assume that the international health insurance policy that they took out as expats will still be of value to them now that they are repatriating and returning to the UK. However, they could be very sadly mistaken. When it comes to the UK there are often additional exclusions, exemptions and restrictions placed on policies – even by the same provider who has been giving the returning expat in question their insurance abroad! 

So, once again it may well be the case of having to shop around for a new insurance provider when you return to the UK – a nightmare for anyone who has an established track record with a given insurer, and an even worse nightmare for anyone over the age of 65 when the majority of insurers cut off access to their policies for new customers. 

If you’re thinking about repatriating, relocating or indeed moving abroad for the first time, you need to take a broader and longer-term view of your health insurance. You need to make sure that your insurance will cover you at home and abroad, that any insurance you have in place already will cover you if you do move back to the UK, and that if your insurance is not suitable, that you work with a financial adviser to find the right policy for you and your family. 
Be sure to read the small print and make sure you really do understand it and how it may apply to anything and everything, from pre-existing conditions to critical illnesses, to the duration of cover available or the limit on an amount payable for a given condition and so on. Do not assume that all policies and all policy providers are the same – they are not! And it all differs depending on where in the world you’re living…so be careful.

Robert Reid Talks about the Future of Travel Guidebooks

Robert Reid is a Lonely Planet writer who publishes an amazing internet guide to Vietnam, and doesn't mince words in his recent interview with WorldHum. He laments the demise of experienced travel guidebook writers for novices who will work for peanuts under the illusion it will lead to fame and riches, and thinks internet travel guides will someday replace traditional published guides, when technology advances and handhelds can display the chief advantage printed guides continue to have over internet sources: maps.

Robert Reid: I used to think the most important thing we guidebook authors did for travelers was hotel reviews. People like to have some sense of security that the $5 or $300 place they’re staying in won’t be a brothel or rat-infested dump. But the Internet has already completely changed this. Previously if I had a new budget hotel in a town center, or a mid-ranger with pool, travelers would have to wait nine or 12 months from the time I “discovered” it until it appeared in a guide.

Now Internet booking sites often get them immediately. When I went to China a couple years ago, I stayed at a brand new hostel in Beijing that the Trans-Siberian author had just found, but that hadn’t yet appeared in the guide. It was already full! I was amazed at how nearly all the people there had found it online, and were booking their full China trip’s accommodations online.

At a Lonely Planet workshop a couple years ago, I asked a high-up at LP who they saw as their biggest competitor, and they immediately answered “Google.” I was impressed. So publishers like LP definitely see the Internet as a growing competitor, and have for a while. When the BBC bought LP a couple months ago, one of the key things they cited for future development was online content.

Another thing is that many sites with travel content online don’t have maps. And maps are HUGE. I sometimes think seasoned travelers need only a map, with barebones details of few places to stay, and barebones details of what to see and where to eat. If they trust the author—and that’s a big if, of course—not as much needs to be said as some people think. This, again, is for seasoned travelers only.

The only other thing I fear regarding online guidebooks is if they follow the “I stayed here and it was great” TripAdvisor or Amazon.com model. Those are useful, no doubt, but they’re only based on isolated experiences. If publishers turn things over at some point to reader-generated content, you won’t have the authoritative overviews that guidebook writers can offer, and it’ll end up with deeper beaten tracks, with more travelers doing the same thing.

But I do want to say David Stanley is right, it’s sad and reckless if an old author who did good work on several editions is cut for a new author. In my opinion, in-house editors don’t completely understand what goes into researching these guides—I was an editor for years, and only figured it out once I started writing full time. The best experience for writing a guidebook to X is not living in X but actually having written a guidebook to X. Sometimes publishers forget that a bit.

Sometimes I think we’re living a doomed profession, and that we’ll look back on the wacky wild period from the 1970s to the 2000s when scores of notebook-toting travelers went and sought out the mysteries of places that are no longer mysterious. People will look back on the era like reading Graham Greene books about far-flung places at wilder times.

Will guidebooks in book form die? Probably so. But to be honest, I think there will always be room for the perspective of the “guidebook author,” at least online. Once hand-held devices get even more sophisticated, so that maps and reviews are more easily referred to—or we old folks die out and the younger generations who are not so soft on books take over—things will probably go online completely.

But I sometimes think people like holding those books. So far, though, the TripAdvisor-type sites are excellent resources, but don’t account for perspective. One person goes to Y hotel and says “it’s super!” But they don’t realize A, B, C are similar and $40 less. Who goes to all 15 museums in Bucharest but a guidebook author? So only they can tell you that something like the Romanian National Museum of the Peasant is about the best museum in the world?

The Rivers of the North of Colombia

A little less than a month ago I picked up Aaron Rettig, Tyler Bradt and Lane Jacobs at the airport in Bogotá and we made a round about kayaking tour of the Northern half of Colombia. During the journey we definitely spent more time driving around in our ’94 Chevrolet Trooper than we spent paddling down rivers, however in the last three weeks we managed to paddle the Rio Negro, Rio San Juan, Rio Guatapé, Rio Mogoticos and Rio Palomino which are all classic rivers in their own right. We were also turned away from several sure classic rivers because of the guerrillas, the paramilitaries and probable land mines. Perhaps the Rio Mogoticos could be excluded from the group of classic rivers. We made a low water descent which was probably the rockiest class 4 and 5 river I have ever paddled. I broke the seat of my kayak, bruised the muscles of my buttocks and hips by bouncing off rocks and I cut my right forearm and right leg on barbed wire in two separate incidents. I fell three times and once dropped my paddle in the river. While I was kayaking down the river nothing happened with the exception of breaking my kayak seat during an abrupt encounter with a rock, but when we got out to portage the jungle of Colombia beat me down. 

 
River exploration and the jungles of Colombia are not always rainbows and butterflies. The jungles of Colombia are also full of various parasitic creatures such as regular sized ticks, seed ticks, mosquitos, tiny black flies and the parasites play host to even smaller parasites. The jungles of Colombia are also full of various non-venomous and venomous spiders, some of them the size of tarantulas, and non-venomous and venomous snakes. Most often it is the smallest and least pervasive of the dangers that beat me down in Colombia. Most recently I believe I contracted some sort of tick fever or dengue fever on the Rio Palomino in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, My achilles tendons have shrunk to a couple of inches and walking is painfully, I regularly have a high fever and my entire body aches. Several other veteran Colombian kayakers have contracted similar ailments after exposure to ticks, mosquitos and black flies, and they report similar symptoms that usually last a couple of weeks. I am about five days into whatever I have contracted and I hope it passes soon. If not I may have to consult a physician and acquire some antibiotics.


My tour of the Northern part of Colombia has temporarily come to an end where it began about three weeks ago in San Gil. I left my van here before I went to pick up the rest of the crew, but the market for 1955 Volkswagen hippie vans is minimal, so I think I will take a day or two to move it to Bogotá and leave it with the used car salesman that we bought the Trooper from. He seemed to be one of the most trustworthy Colombians I have done business with, so I think I will pay him a commission to sell my van. The van holds a lot of sentimental value, a baby was born in the van with me at the wheel, but it breaks often and parts are hard to find outside of the major cities. It is time to part with the van. The Trooper breaks less frequently, but still requires periodic repairs. 

 

The rest of the crew continued towards the Eastern slope of the Eastern Cordillera this morning. I will catch up with them after a day or two of rest which will hopefully result with an improvement in my physical state, after I perform my civic duties to the U.S. and prepare my taxes, and after I relocate my van to Bogotá or someplace where the hippie van market is thriving. From wherever I end this little side mission, hopefully in two or three days, I will take a bus to wherever the rest of the crew is and resume the kayaking mission. We still have the East and the South of Colombia to explore before the end of March. The kayaking should continue to improve, although it has not been bad, as we move into a couple of areas with the more large volume rivers and more frequent rain.


Even deep in the throes of whatever I have contracted this time, I can say that the rewards of seeing some of the places we have seen and paddling some of the rivers we have paddled outweigh the discomforts of the jungle and endless hours of the four of us cramped in the Trooper. Life would be better if I were not ill, but life is still good.

Insurance Tactics to "Force" Settlement? Inflict a Little More Pain.

Take this with a grain of salt - salt in the wound, that is. In viewing a video presentation for the Wisconsin State Bar Continuing Legal Education Seminars addressing handling personal injury lawsuits in Wisconsin, I noted this gem by panel expert insurance defense attorney Ron Pezze, Jr.: while discussing insurers' lack of preparation for Court ordered mediations, Pezze stated "they think, well, we'll have enough time to talk about it when they're TWISTING THE ARM OF THE PLAINTIFF ..."

So, that's the way they are thinking about you and your injury claim. Nice thought, inflicting more pain on the victim who is attempting to attain a fair recovery for their injuries.

Of course, this is but a turn of phrase, if you will, but it belies the mentality and intent of the tactics employed by insurers in dealing with injury palintiffs. It's not about you, your injuries and your sufferring - its about oppressing you to save the insurance company's dollars.

The plaintiff's bar has long been stigmatized and denigrated as "ambulance chasers" and "vultures" by those morally superior silk stockings defense firms. I guess I just don't agree that harming the victim is a higher-ground approach.

So, in case you are still wondering if they intend to play fair with you and your injury claim, don't count on it.

Auto Insurance Discount Available With Training Course

I am reasonably sure that there is bigger news in the PA insurance world, but I just wanted to post this photo.

In any event, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has approved a 4-hour Mature Driver Improvement Refresher Course to allow drivers age 55 and older the opportunity to continue to qualify for discounted vehicle insurance. The refresher course will be offered to individuals who have completed the PennDOT-approved, 8-hour Mature Driver Improvement Basic Course within the last three years. Currently, individuals are required to complete this course every three years to continue to qualify for discounted vehicle insurance. You can read all about it.

Air Quality and Your Baby’s Health

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to maintaining health and home is the quality of indoor air. However, this becomes a more pressing issue if you live in a particularly smoggy urban area, or if you have asthmatic children. While all these concerns are valid, the quality of air is even more critical for anyone with a newborn or infant child.

The Mistake Most Parents Make

There are a number of airborne United Hospital Fundlurking in your home, most of which go undetected because the average home owner simply isn’t aware that these dangers exist. These radicals linger in detergents, plastics, and cleaners. Additionally, there are some materials in the home that are natural allergen magnets, such ac upholstered furniture, chairs, sofas, carpeting, and mattresses. These places harbor allergens like pollen, dust mites, and mold. Considering that most new babies are resting most of the day on such materials, it becomes crucial for parents to become as aware as possible on hidden dangers in their home – and more importantly, solid solutions to ensuring the best air quality for their child’s nursery.

Many new parents can be found placing a humidifier in their baby’s nursery. While a humidifier is a good go to gadget, it may not be ideal for certain (humid) regions or homes that already suffer from humidity related problems. The alternative may be an air conditioner, but for a baby’s delicate system, an air conditioner is far too powerful and will likely provide too much cooling.

The key issue here is air quality and to get the best air quality, parents may want to consider an air purifier. An air purifier can have the greatest single impact in your child’s environment. Once it’s agreed upon that getting an air purifier is possibly the best option for your baby, the next step is finding a high quality (but reasonably priced) device. One that parents may wish to consider is the Austin Air Baby’s Breath Air Purifier which provides the highest level of protection from a variety of airborne contaminants.

Steps You Can Take to Ensure Your Child is Safe

There are some things to keep in mind when putting your baby’s nursery together. While it may seem daunting at first, it’s very quite simple when broken down and understood. While in the old days, simply cracking open a window was enough to get fresh pure air, these days with the rise of smog statistics and pollution, traditional routes may not be the best depending on where you live.

Bedding – Whenever possible, use organic covers on mattresses and pillows. When washing these, try to use free and clear detergents that don’t include dyes or perfumes. Make sure you’re also washing linens in extremely hot water. Hot water will ensure that dust mites are killed off. Also, if you’re in the market for a baby mattress, opt for a Austin Air Baby’s Breath Air Purifier rather than a fibrous mattress (which are dust mite magnets).

Keep Shoes Out – You’re trekking through town all day and then end of the day come home and trek through your house, ensuring that everything you picked up throughout the day is now all over your carpets. One quick way to clean up your indoor air quality is to just simply leave your shoes at the door. At the very least, your baby’s nursery should be a shoe-free environment.

Cleaning – If you’ve ever whiffed an open bottle of your household wood polisher or glass cleaner, you’ll have noticed the strong chemical smells. Not only are these cleaners toxic to your healthy, they’re considerably damaging to your baby’s delicate system. Try using natural cleaners that are both eco-friendly and effective.

Walls – When setting up your baby’s nursery, one of the most common decor ideas is to repaint the room. However, before coating your nursery walls make, sure the paint you have is VOC free. VOC’s stand for “Volatile Organic Compounds”, which get released into the air as paint dries. While long term effects are still unclear, the has concluded that some VOC’s are suspected carcinogens.

Furniture – What you put in your nursery is yet another cause of concern. When picking our nursery furniture, make sure you aren’t choosing products with formaldehyde. According to the EPA, formaldehyde is a “colorless, pungent-smelling gas (that) can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes, and throat, nose, nausea, and difficulty in breathing.” The reports go on to show that it has been shown to cause cancer in animals and high concentrations of it may trigger attacks in people with asthma.

The common assumption most people have is that if air quality was poor, then you could visibly see it. But the fact is, what you can’t see is even more dangerous since the problem goes undetected. The dozens of radical elements floating unseen through your air and right into your lungs will lead to significant health concerns down the road. And one of the best things you could do for your baby is to Austin Air Baby’s Breath Air Purifier and chemical free.

Hard Times and Health Insurance: Staying Covered When You Lose Your Job

In response to the growing number of New Yorkers who risk losing health insurance coverage in the current troubled economy, United Hospital Fund has created a guide to help New Yorkers understand how to benefit from the newly enacted COBRA premium assistance. It presents practical advice on state and federal protections, and how to exercise them. To read Hard Times and Health Insurance or look at our documents in the sidebar of the blog.

Thanks for the health insurance - suckers

President Obama said last night "It's not about me, I have the best health care in the world." So do those bought and paid for lawmakers on Capitol Hill. I checked out a government site for federal employees to see what is on offer.


The U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Ensuring the Federal Government has an affective civilian workforce


Health
Federal employees, retirees and survivors can choose coverage from the widest selection of health plans in the country.

Dental
Eligible employees and annuitants can choose among 4 nationwide and 3 regional dental plans. Nationwide plans also offer international coverage.

Vision
Eligible employees and annuitants can choose among 3 nationwide vision plans. Nationwide plans also offer international coverage.

Life
We offer the largest group life insurance program in the world, covering employees, retirees and family members.

Flexible Spending Accounts
Eligible employees can choose to enroll in up to three different flexible spending accounts during Open Season.

Long Term Care
Most Federal and U.S. Postal Service employees and annuitants, active and retired members of the uniformed services, and their qualified relatives are eligible to apply for insurance coverage under the FLTCIP.


This is not free health insurance, our politicians have to buy the plan that suits their needs. But the plans are subsidized by taxpayers, just like their pension plan. The average salary of a rank and file member of the House is about $174,000 per year, paid by taxpayers. They do alright off the public dime.

I do not deny them their benefits or their six figure salaries, but it comes with responsibilities to us and the country, not the lobbyists.

Why should health insurance be a racket?

Why should health insurance be for profit? It hadn't used to be, but as with most things, the money hungry "lets see how much we screw the people for, before they make it illegal" men in suits got their grubby hands on it.

Accident and disability insurance goes back a few hundred years, but the first health insurance plan I could track down, was started by Baylor Hospital, in Dallas Texas, in the 1920s. It began as a nonprofit for poor folks called "The Blues" it eventually morphed into Blue Cross.

During WWII, the government froze all wages for the duration, and to get around this freeze on pay, companies started to offer Health Insurance as a benefit to give people more than they were legally allowed. The concept was still nonprofit. It didn't cost an arm or a leg to fix your arm or a leg.

By the early 1980s, 10% of health insurance companies were for profit, from then onto today it has become a scam of mighty proportions, matched and aided by the bandits from Wall Street.

They pay their CEO millions of dollars, they deny coverage, underpay doctors, get successfully sued, often. The lines are so blurred that one must conclude that health insurance is a racket of highest order, profit or nonprofit. Major surgery is needed.

Health Insurance Alternative for Artists

The AP has a story that I hope gets the attention of health care institutions around the country. A bartering system has been created by Health Care Administration in Brooklyn whereby artists can trade service for health care:

Health Care Administration is just one aspect of the hospital's effort to promote a plan that provides care on a sliding scale to working people who don't have health insurance but make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid or other government programs.

Artists who sign up for the plan can pay out of pocket based on their income or offer their services.

For every hour an artist volunteers, the hospital puts 40 credits — the equivalent of $40 — into a health care account to be used for medical expenses.

About 150 people have signed up for the plan through a special hot line set up for artists and performers, and roughly 40 have expressed interest in the exchange part of the program.

A cursory search did not turn up that special hot line, but the center's general number is (718) 963-8000.

One of the most frequent reasons I hear from artists who wish they could, but don't, quit their day jobs is they need the health insurance. Until we get a President or Congress that cares about the career-crippling costs of insurance for artists, it's good to know bartering alternatives like this exist. If you know of any other such set-ups, please share. Woodhull medical Director Dr. Edward Fiskin explained that they were motivated to create this program for artists "because they're our neighbors." Here's to good neighbors!

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance provides the happysolution to the delicate matter of un unhappy death. In sickness and in health, we care and provide for our families. And at the end of that time, a whole life insurance policy can help you to continue to provide for them after you’re gone.

But whole life provides for your family in a very unique way…because with whole life, your premium payments become more than just a payment. They accrue and become a cash value account. And with this you can provide for yourself and your family.

How Do Whole Life Insurance Policies Work

Whole life insurance is a permanent life insurance…meaning it lasts your entire life. In most cases, the premium amount does not change, and the death benefits stay the same. Even if you have serious health problems. While it costs more than term life insurance, it’s still the most popular kind of individual life insurance in America today.

When you sign for a whole life insurance policy, you agree upon the premium payment, and how much of that payment will contribute to the cash value of the policy. As you get older, the premiums stay the same or increase according to what you agreed regardless of your age or health conditions. The cash value of a whole life insurance policy continues to grow. And all this time, your death benefit (the amount they’ll pay your beneficiary at the time of your demise) stays the same.

What Can I do with the Cash Values of a Whole Life Insurance Policy

The cash value of a whole life insurance policy is there for as long as the policy is in effect. You can withdraw the money and use it for anything. But withdrawing the cash decreases the death benefit.

The best way to use the cash value is to borrow against it. You can use this money for anything from paying off other loans to education funds. Borrowing the money also allows you to continue deferring taxes on the cash value (it’s taxable when you withdraw it.)

How Long Do I Pay the Premiums on a Whole Life Insurance Policy

On most policies, you continue to pay the premiums on a whole life insurance policy for as long as you live. Companies also offer the option to pay a lump sum in the beginning (creating an immediate cash value to the policy) and then make smaller premium payments throughout your life. You can also choose to pay a larger lump sum, without paying any premiums at all. Whole life insurance with modified premiums is a policy where the premiums incrementally increase as you grow older.

With any whole life insurance policy, everything is clearly defined when you purchase the policy. This includes the premium amounts, death benefits, and the amount of premium that contributes to the cash value.

Whole life insurance is about setting and meeting financial goals. When people depend on your financial decisions, whole life makes sense.

Talk to your Insurance Agent to ensure Whole Life Insurance is right for you!

More Whole Life Insurance Articles:

Whole Life Insurance is still a Preferred Choice

For a long time in America, whole life insurance was what most people bought. Lately, insurance companies have been offering other insurance at lower rates, but in most cases, whole life insurance is still the most beneficial of all plans.

Whole Life Insurance Explanation

A whole life insurance explanation should be required reading for anyone about to purchase life insurance. Whole life, in my humble opinion, has in recent years got a bad rap. People tend to buy term life insurance because it is cheaper...

Geocaching in the Yorkshire Dales

"Vg fbhaqf nf vs guvf pnpur vf orarngu lbh!" the clue reads. But, while it may look like an attempt to represent the sound of a stifled sneeze in the written word, for geocachers - proponents of a new high-tech treasure hunt sport - it could mean the difference between discovering the prize or walking away empty-handed.

Unfortunately, for my inaugural geocaching hunt, I forgot to print out the code used to crack the clue. Bletchley Park it wasn't, but, stood in a damp churchyard in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors, I realised the scale of my school boy error.

Origins of geocaching

Geocaching was devised by gadget geeks in 2000 when the global satellite positioning system was opened up to mere mortals (as opposed to the military). A guy in Oregon hid a ‘cache' - a small box - in the middle of the woods and gave his friend the coordinates. Using a GPS receiver, he followed the directions, just like on a sat nav, and found the prize. Thus was born geocaching - after thinking twice about calling it ‘stashing'.

As of 16 July 2009, there are 849, 790 caches hidden in more than 100 countries, and on all seven continents. There are thousands of urban caches in London, New York, Paris, Toronto, and many more camouflaged in countryside across the world; I would be fairly certain there is at least one within half an hour from where you're sitting. You can find one in your lunch break.

What's the prize?

Geocaches can contain all manner of whimsical items, pieces of information, coins that have moved around the world and you plant somewhere else, or, at its simplest, a log book and pencil. The idea is that you can take any prize and replace it with a like-valued item. But for geocachers, the prize is the least important element. It is an excuse to go places you may never have seen.

In urban areas, you can find a new coffee house, boutique shops, or in the country, a new walking or mountain biking route. But at its core is forcing the geocacher into the unknown. You become a 21st-century flâneur, guided on the whim of 27 GPS satellites. Well that, or maybe it's just a good fun treasure hunt.

Getting started

1. All the caches are logged on www.geocaching.com. Register for free and type in your postcode, or the town where you want to start your quest from. This will draw up a list of caches.

2. Click on the name for more information about the cache. It will also give coordinates of either the cache's location or a starting point. Read the clue carefully, sometimes a maths quiz is thrown in to work out the coordinates, sometimes the information given in the first cache will lead you to the second and so on. And then maybe another coded hint. Print out the page - all of it.

3. Find a starting point, tap in the coordinates to your GPS. A specific outdoor handheld receiver is best, but a sat nav and GPS enabled phone (there is an excellent Geocaching application for the iPhone) will do the job just fine. A good OS map can be useful for footpaths, or finding the cache old school style.

4. When you find the exact location for the cache, this is where the hint comes in handy. The caches are usually in plastic weatherproof boxes, or in cities, they could be a film case. And eureka! Inside each cache must be a log book. Jot down your details and ponder the prizes. Geocaching etiquette says you must replace the prize with some of like value.

5. Sit in a nearby pub and relish in the joy of finding the treasure.

6. Log your find on www.geocaching.com.

7. Go plant your own.

Cathedral of the Dales

After following these steps, I arrive in Maham - a small village under the brooding Yorkshire Moor skies. Hikers and mountain bikers scurry around as I head into one of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centres. The park authority has been instrumental in promoting geocaching in the UK and was an early adopter. So much so, that today, there is a computer dedicated to geocaching with guidelines. You can even hire an outdoor handheld GPS receiver for £5 a day and £50 deposit.

I choose a cache called Cathedral of the Dales in nearby Kirkby Malham. Up hill and down dale, I plod through the sun-dappled countryside passing abandoned farmhouses, ruined abbeys and stop at country pubs to read the history of the St Michael the Archangel, the Cathedral of the Dales. Briefly: built 1490, Oliver Cromwell was the witness at a wedding here, original stocks still in churchyard. The coordinates gradually count down.

Once I find the exact coordinates, I start to hunt. Behind gravestones, in some poor folk's garden (cue odd looks from passers by) cursing the fact I didn't print the second page off with the code. What the devil does "Vg fbhaqf nf vs guvf pnpur vf orarngu lbh!" mean? Arrgghh. Twenty minutes later, and getting considerably frustrated, my wife notices an oddly placed rock underneath a tree (was she once in the SAS?), lifts it and there it is. A little Tupperware box, filled with a doll, a purse, a key ring and a notebook.

I write ‘Daniel Neilson, 11 July 2009, www.worldtravelguide.net'. At least 50 people have found it earlier, including one the day before. Happy we head into the pub next door. When I return I work out the clue: "It sounds as if this cache is beneath yew!". See what they did.

Train companies are ripping off customers

An MPs' report today warned that train companies are exploiting and confusing passengers.

The House of Commons Transport Committee's report accuses train companies of taking advantage of the Government's franchise system to raise fares at the worst times.

With fares up 11% above inflation on some routes, passengers have to go to "extraordinary lengths" to find the best-value fares, which are often only available online, condemns the report.

"People are getting ripped off," said the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) General Secretary Bob Crow.

However, rail travellers can beat 'trainflation' by smarter online buying, according to online rail ticket retailer thetrainline.com.

Ben Pearson, commercial director of thetrainline.com, said: "By booking in advance online, our customers regularly save on average 43% compared to those who buy 'turn up and go' tickets from the station on the day of travel."

Airlines cashing in on booking mistakes

Airlines are making a profit from passengers' online booking mistakes, according to a new report from air passenger watchdog the Air Transport Users Council (AUC).

Where customers make mistakes, many airlines charge for errors to be corrected and, in some cases, even force passengers to buy a new ticket, without refunding the cost of the original booking.

The AUC is accusing airlines of often causing these booking mistakes by "continually tinkering" with their booking systems.

"We had a problem with somebody whose ticket was bought in a group booking as Harry - the name he was known by," said an AUC spokesman. "He told the airline the name on the passport was Henry and he had to buy another ticket. The carrier made £800 out of that passenger."

The AUC say that complaints about online reservations have doubled over the past three years, and there has been an 11% overall rise in complaints and enquiries, with 415 because of booking problems.

"This included passengers being charged twice for a booking, incorrect names or dates being entered into the booking and general confusion for consumers about the fees airlines charge to change reservations," says the report.

"We felt that the risk of something going wrong was being loaded too much onto passengers. Too many times they were being left out of pocket following problems with bookings."

The top three sources of passenger discontent were cancellations, delays and mishandled baggage.

Explore Scotland's historic castles

There are more castles in Scotland than you can shake a haggis at. From haunted chambers and crumbly walls, to stately turrets and ornate carvings, here is our selection of the country's most famous, impressive and historically charged structures that open their doors (and drawbridges) to the public.

Edinburgh Castle

The majestic look-at-me castle perched on an extinct volcano dominates the skyline. This powerful national symbol has seen many changes throughout the centuries, and today it is a mix of palace, fortress, war memorial and military barracks. It is home to the Stone of Destiny on which Scottish monarchs were crowned until Edward 1 of England invaded Scotland and took the stone to London. In 1996, Her Majesty The Queen allowed the stone to be returned to Scotland after 700 years. The Scottish Crown Jewels, known as the ‘Honours of Scotland', are here too, plus mighty Mons Meg, a 15th-century siege cannon. The One O'clock Gun, established as a time signal for ships, fires from the ramparts each weekday, regularly alarming pedestrians on Princes Street below.

Location: Castlehill, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131 225 9846
Owned by: Historic Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle

In an impossibly romantic setting at the point where three sea lochs meet, romantic Eilean Donan is one of the nation's most photographed. In 1331 the Earl of Moray hung 16 Mackenzie heads on the walls after he executed them for law breaking. Ruined during one of the Jacobite risings in the early 18th century, it was restored to all its glory two centuries later, and is now the headquarters of the Clan McRae. Although the island of Eilean Donan has been a fortified site for at least 800 years, the present building dates largely from the early 20th century. The Banqueting Hall has a selection of fine furniture, a fragment of tartan which belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie and other historical curios.

Location: Dornie, by Kyle of Lochalsh, Ross-shire
Tel: 01599 555202
Owned by: Conchra Charitable Trust

Crathes Castle

Crathes Castle was certainly not designed to accommodate the unwelcome visitor: the building tapers toward the top to make it impossible for unwelcome guests to shelter beneath the battlements while assaulting the castle; on the off-chance a determined intruder made it inside, they were most likely met with a pot of boiling oil. If a highly lucky soul made it past that, then negotiating the staircase would be his downfall, the eleventh step cunningly booby trapped. Bountiful King Robert the Bruce granted the lands of Leys to the Burnett family in 1323 and the ancient Horn of Leys, now in the Great Hall, marks his gift. Original Jacobean painted ceilings survive in the Chamber of the Muses, the Chamber of Nine Worthies and the Green Lady's Room where visitors have reported seeing a spectral green mist.

Location: Crathes, Banchory, Aberdeen & Grampian
Tel: 0844 4932166
Owned by: the National Trust for Scotland

Glamis Castle

As if straight from the pages of a fairytale, the impressive Glamis (pronounced ‘Glamz') Caslte, was the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, youngest daughter of the 14th Earl, who later became Queen Elizabeth, mother of the present Queen. A royal residence since 1372, this is said to be one of Scotland's most haunted castles. The phantom of Earl Beardie is said to play cards non-stop with the Devil in a secret room, while the ghost of Lady Janet Douglas, widow of the Earl of Glamis who burned at the stake as a witch in 1537, has been seen in the family chapel. Another phantom - a woman with no tongue - is said to haunt the grounds. The Castle, which is full of splendid tapestries and weaponry, also finds itself mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Location: Glamis, Forfar, Angus
Tel: 01307 840393
Owned by: the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Stirling

Similar to Edinburgh Castle in design and location, Stirling Castle has been at the centre of the country's history since it was built. It stands on Castlehill, a volcanic rocky outcrop surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides. Several Scottish Kings and Queens were crowned in Stirling Castle, including Mary, Queen of Scots, who spent her childhood here. Architecturally, it offers an array of riches including James 1V's vast Great Hall, the largest medieval banqueting hall ever built in Scotland, and the Chapel Royal built for the baptism of Prince Henry in 1594. It towers over some of the most important battlefields in Scotland's history: Stirling Bridge, the site of William Wallace's victory in 1297; and Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in 1314.

Location: Castlehill, Stirling
Tel: 01786 450000
Owned by: Historic Scotland

Balmoral Castle

Nestled amongst the magnificent scenery of Royal Deeside, in the shadows of the dramatic Lochnagar mountain, is Balmoral Castle. Bought by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1852, it has served as the official Scottish residence of the British Royal family ever since. The Balmoral Estate extends to more than 20,243 hectares (50,000 acres) of heather clad hills, ancient Calendonian woodland and the River Dee. Queen Victoria established an unconventional, homely Court here, and described Balmoral, built in the Scottish baronial style, as ‘my dear paradise in the Highlands'. However, not everyone thought as highly of it: Disraeli disliked it, Lady Dalhousie said ‘I never saw anything that I coveted less', while Prince Leopold, Victoria's son, had such an aversion to it he refused to go there at all - much to his mother's annoyance.

Location: Ballater, Aberdeenshire
Tel: 013397 42534
Privately owned

Author: Gilly Pickup

UK summer walks

While July's weather somewhat failed to fulfil the Met Office's prophecy of a "barbecue summer", the recent rainfalls mean Britain's green countryside is even more fresh and gleaming. So pack a cagoule and some Kendal mint cake, and enjoy our favourite summer walks around the British Isles.

England: The South Downs

Where?
A sweeping 113km (70-mile) stretch of chalk downland, running from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex.

Why?
This soft expanse of English countryside boasts rolling hills and striking cliff-top views, punctuated with pretty villages and traditional pubs - all wrapped up in fresh coastal air.

Ireland: Glenariff

Where?
The largest glen in Northern Ireland's charming country Antrim.

Why?
The emerald Glenariff is country Antrim's most popular glen, peppered with sparkling waterfalls and burgeoning plant life. Numerous snaking woodland trails are the perfect way to explore.

Scotland: the Glenkens

Where?
Found in the heart of Galloway, the Glenkens is a beautiful slice of Scottish landscape, found along the western section of the Southern Upland way.

Why?
This rugged area, situated by the Galloway Forest Park, offers over 100 walks and hikes for all abilities - stroll by glistening lakes or power your way over undulating terrain.

Wales: The Pembrokeshire Coast Path

Where?
A 300km (186-mile) trail running along the southwest Welsh coast, along the edge of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Why?
Traversing cliffs, offering striking views and giving access to a string of sandy beaches and quaint coastal villages, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is a walker's dream.

PortAventura Holidays, Spain

In association with

Take a trip with PortAventura Holidays to the sunny Costa Daurada in Spain - the perfect place for a family holiday.

Escape to PortAventura theme park with its five fascinating lands where you can brave the thrilling rides, take in stunning shows and enjoy relaxing dinners in delicious restaurants.

Cool off in the Caribbean waters of Caribe Aquatic Park; a waterpark that offers fun in the sun and a chilled-out reggae vibe.

Stay in one of the fabulous four-star resort hotels. You can choose from the Mediterranean themed Hotel PortAventura, the Mexican themed Hotel El Paso and the Caribbean themed Hotel Caribe or the new Hotel Gold River opening in summer 2009. All hotel guests have exclusive benefits which include unlimited park entrance amongst other great advantages.

Discover PortAventura and explore the resort’s sunny, beachside location combined with the non-stop fun of the parks that make PortAventura an exciting destination for a fabulous family holiday.

Port Aventura holidays have something for everyone. Take a fascinating journey around the world to the exotic lands of China, Polynesia, the Far West, Mexico and of course the Mediterranean. Each land has rides, shows, shops and restaurants that are themed with native products, plants and artists.

PortAventura Park offers more than 30 rides to suit both adrenaline junkies and small children. Test your nerves on the eight-loop Dragon Khan ride which reaches speeds of over 112 km/h (70mph), whilst the Hurakan Condor stands at over 91m (300ft) and lifts its riders slowly to the top before plunging them to the ground in freefall. Or try out the new roller coaster Furius Baco in the Mediterranean area of the park. This ride speeds from 0 to 135 km/h (83mph) in less than 3.5 seconds. To make it even more exciting it drops to ground level, runs through trenches, tunnels and even skims across the Mediterranean lake.

And for the little ones, PortAventura Theme Park has a wealth of roller coasters, teacups, swings and more.

But it's not just about rides. PortAventura Park has over 100 performances each day of dazzling shows; from Can Can dances, to Chinese Acrobats, Polynesian tribal dances and FiestAventura - a stunning midnight firework spectacular which takes place on the Mediterranean lake.

The park has a wide variety of restaurants in each land. You will find restaurants serving a la carte menus with full table service as well as fast food outlets for those who would rather not stop, and the little ones will just love the children's specialties.

Caribe Aquatic Park

The water park guarantees non-stop fun for hours on end. Enjoy whizzing down breath-taking slides and rapids, surfing the waves in the wave pool, or winding your way down the lazy river. Lush Caribbean surroundings are filled with palm trees, beach huts and cool reggae music. While the bars, restaurants and gardens will whisk you away to the heart of the tropics.

Beach Club

The exclusive Beach Club is an idyllic spot which will make your stay at PortAventura an unforgettable experience. Close your eyes and imagine an exclusive destination right by the sea in a unique Mediterranean setting. Take a relaxing dip in the pool, enjoy a refreshing fruit shake, or take a quiet stroll along Salou's Playa Larga.

Hotel PortAventura

Discover Hotel PortAventura - the perfect holiday village with all the charm of the Mediterranean. Sit back and relax in comfortable rooms, magnificent gardens and large swimming pools. The hotel's wide range of restaurants will delight you with their tasty Mediterranean dishes. And with direct access to the PortAventura theme park, this is the ideal combination for theme park lovers of all ages.

Hotel El Paso

Ideal for families, the Hotel El Paso is a traditional Mexican hacienda where the authentic looking décor and charming gardens will take you back to the days of colonial Mexico. Lie back and relax next to the hotel's enormous pool which features a sunken pirate ship where children can splash around for hours. Relax in comfortable lounges as you take in all of the excitement of this hotel which lies just minutes from the gates of Port Aventura Theme Park and Caribe Aquatic Park.

Hotel Caribe

Portaventura Hotel Caribe is a unique tropical paradise comprising huge open spaces and low-rise buildings set around a picturesque central lake. The hotel has four pools, a children's club, wellness area and an entertainment venue. Relax with a cocktail on the wicker loungers surrounding the lake whilst the children enjoy one of the many facilities on offer. The hotel with its landscaped surroundings is a charming Caribbean paradise just a stone's throw from PortAventura Park.

Geocaching in the Yorkshire Dales

"Vg fbhaqf nf vs guvf pnpur vf orarngu lbh!" the clue reads. But, while it may look like an attempt to represent the sound of a stifled sneeze in the written word, for geocachers - proponents of a new high-tech treasure hunt sport - it could mean the difference between discovering the prize or walking away empty-handed.

Unfortunately, for my inaugural geocaching hunt, I forgot to print out the code used to crack the clue. Bletchley Park it wasn't, but, stood in a damp churchyard in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors, I realised the scale of my school boy error.

Origins of geocaching

Geocaching was devised by gadget geeks in 2000 when the global satellite positioning system was opened up to mere mortals (as opposed to the military). A guy in Oregon hid a ‘cache' - a small box - in the middle of the woods and gave his friend the coordinates. Using a GPS receiver, he followed the directions, just like on a sat nav, and found the prize. Thus was born geocaching - after thinking twice about calling it ‘stashing'.

As of 16 July 2009, there are 849, 790 caches hidden in more than 100 countries, and on all seven continents. There are thousands of urban caches in London, New York, Paris, Toronto, and many more camouflaged in countryside across the world; I would be fairly certain there is at least one within half an hour from where you're sitting. You can find one in your lunch break.

What's the prize?

Geocaches can contain all manner of whimsical items, pieces of information, coins that have moved around the world and you plant somewhere else, or, at its simplest, a log book and pencil. The idea is that you can take any prize and replace it with a like-valued item. But for geocachers, the prize is the least important element. It is an excuse to go places you may never have seen.

In urban areas, you can find a new coffee house, boutique shops, or in the country, a new walking or mountain biking route. But at its core is forcing the geocacher into the unknown. You become a 21st-century flâneur, guided on the whim of 27 GPS satellites. Well that, or maybe it's just a good fun treasure hunt.

Getting started

1. All the caches are logged on www.geocaching.com. Register for free and type in your postcode, or the town where you want to start your quest from. This will draw up a list of caches.

2. Click on the name for more information about the cache. It will also give coordinates of either the cache's location or a starting point. Read the clue carefully, sometimes a maths quiz is thrown in to work out the coordinates, sometimes the information given in the first cache will lead you to the second and so on. And then maybe another coded hint. Print out the page - all of it.

3. Find a starting point, tap in the coordinates to your GPS. A specific outdoor handheld receiver is best, but a sat nav and GPS enabled phone (there is an excellent Geocaching application for the iPhone) will do the job just fine. A good OS map can be useful for footpaths, or finding the cache old school style.

4. When you find the exact location for the cache, this is where the hint comes in handy. The caches are usually in plastic weatherproof boxes, or in cities, they could be a film case. And eureka! Inside each cache must be a log book. Jot down your details and ponder the prizes. Geocaching etiquette says you must replace the prize with some of like value.

5. Sit in a nearby pub and relish in the joy of finding the treasure.

6. Log your find on www.geocaching.com.

7. Go plant your own.

Cathedral of the Dales

After following these steps, I arrive in Maham - a small village under the brooding Yorkshire Moor skies. Hikers and mountain bikers scurry around as I head into one of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centres. The park authority has been instrumental in promoting geocaching in the UK and was an early adopter. So much so, that today, there is a computer dedicated to geocaching with guidelines. You can even hire an outdoor handheld GPS receiver for £5 a day and £50 deposit.

I choose a cache called Cathedral of the Dales in nearby Kirkby Malham. Up hill and down dale, I plod through the sun-dappled countryside passing abandoned farmhouses, ruined abbeys and stop at country pubs to read the history of the St Michael the Archangel, the Cathedral of the Dales. Briefly: built 1490, Oliver Cromwell was the witness at a wedding here, original stocks still in churchyard. The coordinates gradually count down.

Once I find the exact coordinates, I start to hunt. Behind gravestones, in some poor folk's garden (cue odd looks from passers by) cursing the fact I didn't print the second page off with the code. What the devil does "Vg fbhaqf nf vs guvf pnpur vf orarngu lbh!" mean? Arrgghh. Twenty minutes later, and getting considerably frustrated, my wife notices an oddly placed rock underneath a tree (was she once in the SAS?), lifts it and there it is. A little Tupperware box, filled with a doll, a purse, a key ring and a notebook.

I write ‘Daniel Neilson, 11 July 2009, www.worldtravelguide.net'. At least 50 people have found it earlier, including one the day before. Happy we head into the pub next door. When I return I work out the clue: "It sounds as if this cache is beneath yew!". See what they did.

Family holiday heaven: Guernsey

Second largest of the Channel Islands, Guernsey is an incredibly welcoming place for families with plenty of clean and safe beaches. A Crown Dependency with French street names, it drips with history - 7,000 years worth - and oozes Old World English charm with an added smattering of French flair.

Guernsey is a member of the British Isles, though not the United Kingdom or the European Union, and a mere hop from the UK mainland, which means you have arrived before the kids have the chance to get bored!

Getting around

Low duty on petrol means car rental is popular with visitors who come here. Being small, the island is easy to drive round, though bear in mind most roads are narrow and also used by cyclists, tractors and horses. While you are pootling along, don't forget the speed limit in most areas is 56 kph (35mph), while in and around St Peter Port it is 40kph (25mph). Parking is free. If you prefer to hop on one of the new fleet of green and yellow buses, all journeys cost only 60p. A wide range of accommodation choices means there is something to suit every budget, from sophisticated hotels and spas to friendly guest houses, self catering cottages and campsites.

Elegant St Peter Port

Stacked with old-fashioned charm, St Peter Port, the capital, rises majestically from its picturesque harbour to keep a protective eye on Guernsey's sister islands of Sark, Herm and Jethou. With the most sheltered anchorage in the Channel Islands, it has been a haven and harbour for over 2,000 years, and despite the high proportion of international banks based here, it retains its 17th-century elegance. Stroll through its streets to find a wealth of independent retailers offering everything from antiques to clothes and jewellery. Many goods are competitively priced because excise duty rates are lower than in the UK.

Fun for all ages

As 1950s in places as ‘Muffin the Mule', this unspoilt floral paradise, a completely theme park-free zone, has a host of sights and delights to entertain visitors, with excellent indoor and outdoor play areas, family parks and year-round activities.

For starters, there is Saumarez Park, the largest public park on the island, with a well-equipped children's adventure playground and bouncy castle, as well as a duck pond, rose garden and tea rooms. Wildlife enthusiasts meanwhile shouldn't miss the adjacent Saumarez Nature Trail with its richly carpeted wildflower woods, banana trees, birdsong and butterflies.

Step back in time with a visit to the nearby Guernsey Folk Museum situated in the outbuildings of a stately home. Your children will see just how lucky they are nowadays when they visit the Victorian schoolrooms, playroom, wash house, dairy and plough room which all depict life as it used to be on the island around 100 years ago.

Another attraction which always proves popular with youngsters is the shipwreck museum at Fort Grey, known locally as the ‘Cup and Saucer' because of its shape. It tells the story of the island's numerous shipwrecks, with salvaged artefacts including cutlery, candlesticks and crockery from the SS Yorouba which foundered on the rocks in 1888. The nearby sands provide the opportunity to go rock-pooling, paddling or beachcombing.

Myths and legends

The island is chock-a-bloc with myths and legends. Everywhere you go there are dolmens; stone burial chambers built above ground, as well as an abundance of witches' resting stones, creepy ruins, fairy rings and roads named after werewolves. Who knows, you may even discover the mystery of the ruined Pagan priory on the unspoilt, uninhabited bird sanctuary, tiny Lihou island! Reached by an ancient causeway at low tide, it is sensible to visit with a local guide.

Tiny Chapel

A must-see is the Little Chapel of St Andrews, charming creation of Benedictine monk, Brother Deodat. He re-created a scale model of the Basilica at Lourdes and painstakingly encrusted it in thousands of pebbles, seashells and colourful pieces of broken china. Inside, there is only space for the priest and perhaps three people, quite possibly making this the world's smallest church!

And so to eat

Don't expect to find chain outlets like McDonalds, Pizza Huts or Starbucks in Guernsey. Instead there are owner-run eateries to suit every pocket from beach cafes and country pubs to gourmet restaurants.

‘Bean jar' is a deliciously more-ish rich stew that you shouldn't even think about leaving Guernsey without sampling. ‘Gache', pronounced ‘gosh' - the island's famous fruit loaf traditionally eaten smothered with rich golden Guernsey butter and local finger-licking Gâche Melée, an alluring local apple cake - will also make your heart sing. And you just have to savour a bumper bowl of seriously fabulous ‘moules', among the freshest you're likely to find.

Tennerfest is an island-wide, six-week-long food extravaganza which starts every October, when more than 50 of the island's restaurants compete to come up with menus from £10. Great value for money!

A taste of the Central Highlands

Visitors and locals in Ho Chi Minh City can now get a flavor for the Central Highlands without ever leaving the city.

The Siu Black Café, located near the city’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, is owned and operated by the vivacious female singer of the same name.

Black, a renowned staple of the local entertainment scene for the past 20 years, is known for her powerful voice and distinctive performing style. The 41-year-old singer has also acted in several films and served as a judge on Vietnam Idol for the past two seasons.

From the décor to the staff, the Siu Black Café, located at 23 Cuu Long Street, Tan Binh District, features a Central Highlands style. The employees are mainly Bana ethnic people and wear traditional costumes. Most are from Pleitonghia Village in Daklak Province where Black grew up.

The café is spacious and features an outdoor seating area. A patio is adorned with a system of water wheels and wooden statues of people. The indoor area displays several masks, gongs, shields and costumes of different ethnic groups.

Customers can sip coffee and may even be treated to a story from Black herself about a collection of items in the café from the K’ho, Ede and Bana ethnic communities.

Aside from the Highlands ambience, a range of delicious beverages are also available at Siu Black Café. Strong black coffee is one fixture on the menu, made from locally roasted beans and perfect for caffeine addicts who enjoy a strong brew.

Another drink is Konreng, a traditional drink of the ethnic Highlanders. The main ingredient is the juice of rung sau (a type of fruit). Black says rung sau trees grow naturally in her village and people throughout the Central Highlands now grow it around their houses. The fruit itself has an acrid taste, but once mixed with the juice of other fruit, the beverage takes on a unique, delicious flavor.

Black says that in the near future she also will begin holding ‘music nights’ featuring live performances at the café.

Geomedicine Centre & Spa, Hotel Porto Santo, Madeira

USP Porto Santo is a small island just 25 miles from Madeira. Unlike its larger more famous neighbour, which has no natural beaches, Porto Santo boasts 9km of golden sand beaches. The fine-grained sand on these beautiful beaches are said to contain an extraordinary high level of strontium which is believed to have health benefits particularly for rheumatism and dermatological conditions.

Locals have for many years sworn by the medicinal properties of the island’s sand and sea water. This spa, at the island’s oldest hotel (built in 1962), opened last summer and while it offers many more conventional spa treatments it is the hot sand therapy that is its speciality.

AMBIENCE This enormous 1,500 square metre spa, designed by renowned Portuguese architect Joao Favila, feels a little like an Egyptian temple. You enter the huge rectangular concrete and limestone structure via a tall narrow entrance. Inside the cool cavernous atrium is still, quiet, and bathed in daylight. There are no external windows but light streams in from a glass ceiling and courtyard garden into the interior of pink marble, exposed brick work and wood. The staff wear white coats, and speak in hushed conspiratorial tones – this is Porto Santo’s first medi-spa and it feels like a cross between a rehab clinic and a holy place.

The main hall of the spa contains a large seating area, café area, courtyard garden, and indoor pool. Off this main hall is an impressive huge round doomed pink marble hamman, four white-tiled medicinal-looking treatment rooms, a small gym and tiny functional white-tiled changing rooms. The main event, the hot sand therapy, takes place behind the reception desk. Behind a low pink marble wall there is a waiting area with a line of chairs facing a glass wall behind which stand a row of 12 copper coffin-like baths.

EXPERIENCE As four of us sit, clad in white robes, on the chairs facing the copper baths we are advised to drink plenty of water and told that to get the maximum effect from our treatments we should not have had any alcohol, caffeine, meat or fish for 24-hours – at which point I’m seriously regretting staying up late drinking vodka and tonics the night before.

We are also told by a very serious woman, dressed in the obligatory white coat, that scientific studies have proven that hot sand therapy – in which patients are buried up to their necks in sand heated to about 40 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes twice a day for a minimum of seven days – aids general well being and is an effective treatment for several medical conditions.

After this short introductory speech we each silently fill in extensive medical questionnaires and a doctor takes our blood pressure – those with particularly high or low blood pressure are advised not to have the treatment – one patient is told she shouldn’t have therapy because she has heat sensitive eczema.

We are then each handed cotton wool to put in our ears – to prevent sand getting in. It all seems very serious and a sense of panic is beginning to well up inside me. As I am led away to my sand bath the two remaining patients look on from the waiting room with deadly serious expressions.

When I arrive my bath is part-filled with soft warm dry sand. The doctor and her assistant help me in. Then an elderly man holding what looks like an over-sized vacuum cleaner pipe guides the fine warm sand from the pipe – which is plugged into the wall behind - into the bath and the two women scoop it over my body until I am buried.

It feels strangely like a warm cuddle. I feel snug - and somewhat smug - as I try to signal to the others that I’m ok but with only my head poking out of the sand it is a little difficult. The doctor and her assistant slide a heat-holding cover over my sand bath leaving just my head exposed, they place a cool flannel on my forehead, smile and leave. I suddenly feel very, very alone.

We were told that patients feel so relaxed enveloped in the soft warm sand that they often sleep during treatments. But within a short space of time I find the soft warm sand is beginning to feel seriously hot and heavy. I have a strong compulsion to move my arms but they are pinned down beneath the weight of the sand. I take a few deep breaths to reassure myself that my chest can still move under the weight. The sand feels as if it is getting hotter and hotter and heavier and heavier.

I imagine screaming and not being heard by anyone (my neighbour - in a copper bath behind a curtain partition - has cotton wool in her ears), I imagine dramatically breaking free, showering sand everywhere, like the Incredible Hulk breaking free from his skin-tight tee-shirt. I breathe slowly and deeply, close my eyes and try unsuccessfully to wriggle my toes.

Sa Pa, a natural mosaic

Boasting sublime unspoiled beauty, from rolling verdant hills to spectacular terraced fields, Sa Pa is a mix of natural wonder.

Pa Cheo farmers cultivate rice

Near the Chinese border in the northwest province of Lao Cai and around 376 kilometers from Hanoi, Sa Pa, founded as a scenic resort by the French in 1903, is best known for its wild, unspoiled landscapes.

Sa Pa’s scenic highlights include Hoang Lien Son National Park and the awe-inspiring 3,143-meter-high Mount Fan Si Pan – the highest mountain peak in Indochina. Every year, the area attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world who come to marvel at Sa Pa’s lush vegetation and spectacular scenery.

Nestled around 1,600 meters above sea level, Sa Pa is cloud-covered and cool year-round, with occasional snowfalls in the winter.

It is said that visitors who come to Sa Pa in the summer can experience up to three seasons in a single day. In the morning and afternoon, the weather is cool like that in the spring and autumn, while at noon, it is as sunny and cloudless as a warm summer’s day.

Visitors often travel to the city of Lao Cai by train before heading by coach to Sa Pa. Upon arrival, tourists can learn about the area’s sprawling rice paddies and observe the ethnic H’Mong and Dao peoples who wear a brilliant array of colorful, traditional clothing.

Stunning terraced fields

According to a survey carried out by US-based Travel and Leisure magazine, Sa Pa’s verdant terraced fields were ranked among the seven most beautiful in the world.

The most beautiful terraced field area is Suoi Thau, which is cultivated by the Dao people.

The other fields voted most beautiful by the magazine’s readers include those in Banaye (the Philippines), Yuangyang (Yunnan, China), Ubud (Bali, Indonesia), Annapurna (Nepal), Mae Rim (Chiang Mai, Thailand), and Longji (Guilin, China).

Sa Pa’s terraced fields belong to the ethnic H’Mong, Dao and Giay people, and are located in the Muong Hoa Valley of Lao Chai District. The area totals around 10 square kilometers and tourists can visit to learn about the process of rice planting and cultivation.

The fields were described by Travel and Leisure as "Ladders to the sky" because of their astounding natural beauty.

“It’s the best place in Vietnam with a rich cultural heritage and splendid landscape,” said a Singaporean tourist.

“The scenery and people were amazing,” echoed a tourist from the UK.

Lao Cai’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also proposed that provincial authorities and the culture ministry should carry out research and compile information on Sa Pa’s terraced fields, Hoang Lien Son National Park, and an ancient rock bank to submit to UNESCO for recognition as world cultural heritage sites.

“This is a difficult task but we are trying to turn Sa Pa’s terraced fields into a world heritage site for the many foreign travelers who love Sapa and Vietnam,” said Tran Huu Son, the department’s chief.

Cultural diversity

Home to several ethnic groups like the H'Mong, Red Dao, Kinh, Tay, Giay, Hoa, and Xa Pho, Sa Pa is a mosaic of cultures and traditions. Many visitors enjoy learning about the ethnic people’s daily activities, traditions and beliefs.

H’Mong ethnic girl brings the young rice plants to the fields

Tourists are often astonished by the many billowing red headdresses worn by women of the Red Dao minority, visible all over town.

The H’Mong and Dao people make up the largest ethnic groups in the region. Their villages may appear simple and old-fashioned from afar, but many people now own mobile phones and regularly access their email from communal computers.

While some of the older generations of the ethnic minorities have had little formal education and are illiterate, most of the younger generations receive schooling and have a good command of English, French and a handful of other languages.

Tourists can also choose to go on two treks while staying in Sa Pa. The first is a 7 km journey, which takes about four hours and includes a stop for lunch. The other is a full-day adventure, covering around 17 km and following the perimeter of the rice paddies, through forested areas, past the doorsteps of tribal people's homes, and across rivers and waterfalls.

Watching the locals go about their daily business is also an interesting experience. The children in Sa Pa work extremely hard-tending buffaloes, working in the fields, and caring for their younger siblings. Many of the young girls learn the timeless art of embroidery from their mothers.

The ethnic girls often marry young, at around age 14, and depend on the skills learned from their mothers to start new families of their own.

Sa Pa is also famous for its “love market,” which takes place on Saturday evenings. This cultural tradition once served as a way for ethnic locals to meet, socialize, and find a partner to marry.

In the past, young girls from the Red Dao hill tribes used to come to Sa Pa and sing songs to find partners. The girls would sing while hidden in the dark and when a boy found them – if they liked each other – they would disappear into the forest for three days and would then marry at a later date.

But with the development of tourism, the original love market, with its purpose of uniting young couples, has faded away. Visitors can still visit the area on Saturday nights, however, and be treated to a lively market atmosphere.

With its astonishing beauty and diverse peoples, Sa Pa is a remarkable travel destination and well worth a visit.