Ideally when we arrive at the hunting site we would have a place where we could take a couple of shots to check that our rifle scope has not vibrated out of adjustment during the trip, but this is not always the case. One of the best ways to insure that your rifle scope stays put is by using a hard case and placing it in a spot that will not allow it to slide around while driving. Should you not have a hard case though, all is not lost. Any gun case will offer some protection for the gun as well as the scope as long as you pack it tightly so that it is not banging around the back of your truck. Should you not have a place to shoot once you arrive, a magnetic bore sight will help to give a little piece of mind that your rifle scope is still spot on for your hunting adventure.

One other item in your hunting optics arsenal may be a rangefinder. It is important to keep in mind that a rangefinder works with battery power. Usually a 9 volt battery or a couple of AA batteries. The reason I point this out is because I live in Montana and it can get pretty cold up here. Last year I packed for a 4 day elk hunting trip about 300 miles from home without thinking about the temperature. After putting my water and other gear (including my rangefinder) in the back of my pickup and driving in 10 degree weather for about 4 hours, I arrived with plenty of ice and real dead batteries in my rangefinder. Naturally I did not notice the latter until I was ready to use it the next day. So make a note, keep your rangefinder warm and carry an extra battery just in case.

There are many variables that come into play when you are out big game hunting. Do not let packing sloppiness ruin your hunt or your hunting optics. Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you when the moment of truth happens for years to come.

With the advent of the Internet, most travel bookings and travel research have moved into the online space. Guidebooks are excellent resources on the road, but they quickly become outdated when the Internet is constantly updated with newer and more accurate information. User-generated sites such as wikitravel.org are updated by locals and travelers as soon as new restaurants, hotels, and bars open, and these people also are able to “vote” with the information they put online. Other booking sites now rely on the reviews of other travelers, and services like Twitter allow instant broadcasts of what travelers’ are experiencing. With all of these resources available, online travel planning is the best method. Here are some of the best sites to use:

o Wikitravel.org is one of the best travel sites on the web. Modeled after Wikipedia.org and easily searchable by location, and offers the most up to date information available.
o The Thorn Tree travel forums moderated by Lonely Planet are legendary. Tens of thousands of travelers that have almost certainly seen and done whatever trip you are planning are more than happy to lend a helping hand.
o Kayak.com is an airfare search aggregator, covering most of the world’s major airlines. It will find the best prices based on your travel preferences, then take you to the site of the carrier to easily book your flight.
o Hostelworld.com is the king of cheap accommodations. With over 10,000 network hostels, the website has budget locations all over the planet, all searchable and ready to book online.
o Couchsurfing.org is a fantastic website both for connecting with locals while traveling and securing free accommodation. The website allows people to host travelers all over the world for free, and they often serve as tour guides and the perfect local guidebook for a place.

A lot of the above websites have the common factor of user-generated content. This is increasingly becoming the determining factor for travelers. The reasoning is that most magazine and guidebook reviews are paid, so reviews posted by other travelers are inherently more trustworthy. Taking a look at a guidebook published 6 months ago on a city like Buenos Aires and comparing it to the Wikitravel.org page is like night and day. The old methods of travel planning have been replaced by the immediacy of the Internet and the amassed knowledge of other travelers. As more and more people gain Internet access, even remote places will have locals that can dispel myths and misconceptions about travel in their hometowns and areas.

This spread of information will make travel planning easier and easier, and also more accurate. I have planned all of my trips abroad using solely the Internet, and it is by far the most efficient method.

The following tips can help prepare you for your next RV adventure with your little ones. Let the children help you plan the trip. Let them select a few sites that they want to see, within your preset budget. This will keep them excited about the trip and hopefully make them happier travelers.

Practice sleeping in the RV ahead of time. This may be helpful for children who get homesick easily or for kids that have never spent a night away from home. A few nights before the big trip, have the family do a trial run in the driveway. That way, the children will know what to expect and you will have fewer complications on the real trip.

Remember to pack the first aid kit. This may be needed for anyone in the family, but when there are kids around, someone always seems to get hurt. So be prepared. You can stock your own or purchase a premade kit from the store.

Stock up on DVD’s and CD’s that your kids enjoy. This will keep their minds of the length of the trip and possibly keep them from repeatedly asking “are we there yet”? For a change of pace, try books on CD. This way the whole family can listen to the book at once and no one will get car sick from trying to read. Also, remind your children to load up their MP3 players before the trip.

Play road games to entertain the kids. This includes alphabet letter hunts, out-of-state license plate searches, I spy and more. If you really want to be prepared, make up sheets on the computer with signs or objects for them to look for or maps that they can follow along with.

Make sure that kids are buckled in safely. It is not wise to move around in a moving vehicle. Encourage them to play card games at the table or other less active activities. Don’t over schedule your trip and don’t rush yourselves. Expect to make frequent stops, the children need to get outside often as even the most spacious motor home can be confining to a child.

Give each child a space inside the motor home to store their belongings, no matter how small it may be. This will make them feel more at home and will keep your RV less cluttered. Get to the RV park before dark so the kids can run around and so you can take a tour of the park with your entire family. This will help the children become familiar with the park and able to find their way back to your motor home.

With these tips in mind, a good amount of preparation, and a patient attitude, you will find it much easier to travel with children. You will also be able to create positive memorable experience for your whole family.

Wedding gowns are large! Fitting them into tight spaces is often a challenge. Salons carefully pack bridal gowns into extra long garment bags with the train folded up (usually there is a bust form to hold the bodice of the gown in place). Although some brides like the idea of shipping their gown ahead to their destination, I wouldn’t recommend it. No amount of insurance will take the place of your gown if it does not arrive safely. Hand carry your bridal gown – it is too important to entrust to anyone else.

If you are traveling by car, you at least have a little flexibility on how you arrange your luggage. Plan to pack everything into the car first, and then gently lay your gown across the top of the bags in the backseat (I have yet to hear of a bride being able to fit everything for her wedding into the trunk!). Hang the top of the gown from that little hook for your drycleaning in the back of the car. One word of advice – if you are traveling in the winter, you should know that the stiff plastic garment bags used by bridal salons can actually crack in extreme cold. If your gown is likely to be sitting in a parked car for any length of time, be sure to pack it in a fabric garment bag (with a plastic cover pulled over the gown inside to protect it from moisture).

Traveling by plane is a hassle, as everyone knows. There are endless restrictions on luggage, and they change all the time. The best thing to do is to check with your airline shortly before your trip for their specific requirements. The most important thing to know is that you should NEVER put your wedding gown in checked baggage! The risk is too high that it could arrive damaged, or heaven forbid, not at all. Then what would you do?

You will not be able to use the standard length bridal gown bag as carry on luggage. It is too long, and too easily torn. For instance, US Airways states that wedding gowns must be in garment bags no longer than 54″ long. You are then expected to fold that bag in half to fit it into the overhead compartment. If you are lucky, the flight attendant might allow you to hang the garment bag in the first class closet (everyone has a soft spot for brides). Or you could do what Tricia Nixon did for her White House wedding – buy your bridal gown its’ own seat in first class!

It is not only your wedding gown that you should make plans for – your accessories are also very important. Pack your shoes, tiara, and other accoutrements into a carry on bag. With all the limitations these days, you may have to ask your fiancee to take your bag as his one carry on item (remember, you also have the garment bag). Another option is to stuff your gown and accessories together into one carry on bag. I know it is terrible to think of cramming your beloved dress into a tiny bag, but you will need to have it professionally pressed when you arrive at your destination anyway. Be sure to keep your wedding jewelry in your purse. You should never let any jewelry out of your sight, but especially not your fabulous wedding jewelry!

Believe it or not, I once knew a bride who flew halfway across the country before realizing that her gown was still sitting in the bridal shop (the shop owner was in a total panic trying to reach the wayward bride!). She had to fly back, retrieve her gown, and then once more head for her wedding destination. So, the most important thing of all to remember is: don’t forget to pick up your gown from the bridal salon before you hit the road!

The latest Flexible Solar Panels have wide range of features associated with it. There is lot of research going on into the field of materials, used for building solar panels and its packaging. Manufactures are trying to make it more light weight and flexible, and in the current market these Panels weighs from few ounces to pounds depending upon the wattage and material used, but in the most cases these are extremely light. Few of them can also work in very harsh and rugged conditions, even in cloudy and rainy conditions; those can work even after getting drenched in rainy water.

Based on the technology used to build Folding solar panels and its size and wattage, it can energize different variety of electronic devices. These folding solar panels can generate enough power to charge Cell Phones, Hand held Radios, Trickle Charging, GPS devices, iPod, Power rechargeable Flashlights, MP3, Running Bilge Pumps, Fish Finders, Lanterns, CB radios, Satellite phones, Small Color Television, Portable XM satellite Radio and Portable games. There is wide range of Folding Solar Panels and Flexible Solar panels are available in the current market viz. 5watt, 6.5 watt, 12 watt, 25 watt and 30 watt. As few electronics devices take less energy then others, 30 watt Flexible Solar Panels can pretty much charge most of the electronic devices effectively with faster pace. With 30 watt, one can charge devices like laptops, car battery and almost all types of cell phones and PDA devices, though it weighs around 2 pound but it can fold down to about eight by ten inch area.

We have looked at effectiveness of Folding Solar Panels in power emergencies scenarios along with its compactness. As Solar Technology is becoming cheaper and effective, we now can effectively utilize in our life.

Cruise Planners charges a franchise fee of $9,995 and an ongoing royalty fee of 3% of the gross sales. They do require that new franchisees have a minimum net worth of $15,000-25,000 and a cash liquidity requirement of at least $9,000. A new owner may finance the franchise fee, but in-house financing is not offered. A Cruise Planners/American Express franchise can be run from home and can be operated on a full or part-time bases.

The parent company offers a variety of tools to help the new franchisee to market their business. These tools include professional postcards, flyers, brochures, banners, and print ads which can be personalized for each franchisee. The also offer a web-based marketing program that offers services from web site design to email marketing and weekly e-newsletters. Cruise Planners/American Express offers a 6-day orientation training as well as continual training and education through a program they call “Cruise Planners University” which is offered at the corporate headquarters in Florida.

Although the marketing tools and training programs look to be excellent, a new franchisee should keep in mind that they will need to take full responsibility for their marketing efforts and all expenses incurred by it. Success with a Cruise Planners franchise depends on your ability to market yourself and close sales. Before entering into this type of endeavor, the new franchisee may want to invest some time and effort into learning effective sales and marketing techniques, if they are not already proficient in this.

1. It hasn’t been long before tourism developed in Ladakh. And the north western region is still sensitive. So the tourists who arrive from outside the country need special permits to visit the Inner Line area. These permits can be availed from local Ladakhi authorities.

2. Majority of the tourists in Ladakh are trekkers. So if you are here for the same reason then you should pay attention to your physical fitness. Ladakh weather is chilling and for first timers here acclimatization can be a problem. So when you land in here give yourself a day to get used to the weather and high altitudes.

3. Lot of back packers who come here should make sure that they should fill their sacks with water bottle. Hydration at high altitude can keep you going strong for long. Though the weather generally get you to go thirsty it is highly advisable that you should. Apart from that carry a first aid kit, prescribed medicines and enough warm clothing.

4. Next you need to have in your must-haves are sunglasses, moisturizers and sunscreen lotions.

5. Whether on a trekking expedition, jeep safari or hiking tour you should keep in mind that you have a responsibility towards the conservation of the place. You should contribute to the protection of environment by not littering, using paper instead of plastic and by creating less noise pollution in deserted areas.

6. Leh the capital city is well developed to provide you with basic amenities. The calling facility is good here though the STD’s booths close by 10 pm.

7. When you are sightseeing you’d be tempted to click pictures. But before taking your camera out read the sign boards well. Photography is not permitted everywhere.

8. Talking of photography, Ladakh is such a beautiful place you will not get tired of clicking pictures. So while you visit the places that allow photography or pass through the general landscape of the place, you have ample opportunities to click click & click. So buy extra batteries and lots of film rolls or extra memory cards.

9. While eating out in Ladakh, carry the Indian currency because majority of the hotels and restaurants do not accept credit cards.

10. Leh the big town has facilities for e-mailing and general surfing. In fact Leh is the only place where you can have access to the internet. So all your online work should be done in Leh before you proceed further.

11. Very remote regions of Ladakh do not have banks. Leh and Kargil have banks with ATM facilities.

12. Leh has hospitals but Kargil has a district hospital which has good team of doctors and modern equipments. Besides Kargil there are medical dispensaries at Trespone, Sankoo, Mulbek, Padum and Panikher. They all have basic health facilities.

13. The national park in Leh is a good place to sight wildlife, especially if you are on trek. But do not disturb the animals there and neither pollutes the surroundings.

14. Water pollution is too much in Ladakh. It is advisable to carry purification pills. A better option is to carry your own water or drink packaged water.

15. Lastly respect the culture, the quiet locals, be friendly to them and make time to enjoy the place. Talk to the locals as they are the biggest source of information.

1. Tell us how you got into the adventure travel business.

I grew up around travel. My father, Allan Ronneseth founded the company in 1972 and with a passion to see the world in a different way than the norm, we had the opportunity to travel to countries that were considered exotic at that time and to some extent still are today. Venturing out on my own traveling while attending University I became more and more passionate about the world beyond North America. With a degree in marketing, I ventured off first to New York and later to Toronto working in sales and marketing for technology companies during the tech boom. Having learned the skill of sales in an industry outside of travel but backed with an upbringing rooted in adventure travel, I made the progression to heading up sales in Eastern Canada for the family business where I now provide support to our network of travel agents across Eastern Canada as well as compiling our monthly newsletter on adventure travel trends.

2. What countries have you traveled to?

Africa: Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Egypt, Morocco

Europe: UK, Greenland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria

Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong

South Pacific: Australia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji

Americas: Canadian High Arctic, USA, Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands,

Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

3. Please share with us your top three travel memories of all times.

A. Peru -The last descent into Machu Picchu on the famed Inca Trail from the Sun Gate after seeing sunrise over the site, being the first to enter the site at daybreak and having a feeling of peace, harmony and strong magic in the air.

B. Vietnam – Travelling the countryside of Vietnam by motorbike and stumbling upon a hidden and seldom visited Buddhist Monastery resulting in a three-hour visit with a young Buddhist monk learning and understanding each other’s ways.

C. Namibia – Skydiving at sunset at Swakopmund on the coast where the Atlantic Ocean meets the blood-red sand dunes for as far as the eye can see. One of the most tranquil moments of my life.

4. What is adventure travel and how has it evolved over the last few decades?

Adventure travel used to mean high adventure back when the company was founded in the seventies, it was time when the ‘hippie-trail’ was hot and buses used to travel across Asia from London to Kathmandu with itineraries that were largely invented along the way. Today it is about the small group experience and about experiencing a destination rather than simply seeing it. It is about participation and understanding of cultures, history and customs and being able to take that experience away as enrichment to your daily life.

5. Who goes on your adventure travel tours and why? What is the age, gender, nationality and income level of the people that go on your tours?

Adventure travel is largely about the passion to do it. For this reason it crosses boundaries of age, gender and income since the common goal of the travelers is the experience regardless of their life at home. However the largest demographic for us and the most important growth demographic is the baby-boomers who have experienced the traditional beach vacation several times over and now have the time and disposable income to travel to more exotic destinations. Nationality is generally made up of largely English-speaking nations with the makeup in order of numbers being Brits, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, Americans, some mainland Europe, some Latin American countries and the odd Asian traveler.

We offer more than 120 countries worldwide generally just about everywhere. However countries currently deemed to be unsafe for travel (eg. Iraq, Afghanistan) are not included but we expect they will be in the years to come as the situation stabilizes.

7. What type of accommodation is offered?

We offer generally speaking anything from 2 star budget accommodation to 6 star lodge experiences in Africa and everything in between. However what is common to all places we stay is that they must be clean, comfortable, centrally-located and most important have character that is reflective of the destination.

8. How do these tours work for single travellers? Do you provide a travel-mate matching service? What happens if I prefer single accommodation?

Our tours are designed with single travellers in mind. In fact 50% of all our travellers come by themselves. We match people up of the same gender and like age to share and avoid charging them a supplement. If clients prefer their own room, we can do this on approximately 60% of the tours, usually the more upmarket ones, but at a rate that is fair and affordable.

9. What about meals?

Depending on the trip we generally include breakfasts and some dinners but almost never lunch as many people like to be out at midday making their own discoveries. However when trekking or in the countryside or where alternatives do not exist we will always include meals.

10. What are the unique benefits of adventure tours as compared to other types of travel?

A sense of achievement, quality of experience, traveling with a small group of just ten people on average, generally better value than comparable bus tours, camaraderie with individuals that share a passion for this type of travel.

11. What type of activities are offered in your tours?

Sightseeing is a major part of every tour but beyond that we want to include as many cultural experiences as possible such as homestays with local families, village visits, etc. We also have many optional activities available such rafting, sailing, jeep safaris, day treks, etc.

12. Is there such a thing as adventure tours for families?

We now have tours built especially for families to travel with other families where children are age six and up. There is a large demographic of ‘late-starter’ families who never had children until in their 30s. Many of these people traveled with us in their 20s or backpacked independently and now want to give that experience to their children. They are not interested in introducing them to the ‘coca-cola’ culture pervasive in today’s society. These have been met with great success.

13. Please share with us practical advice for someone who’s never tried adventure travel.

Safety is a state of mind. Most people who elect not to travel to exotic destinations do so because of a fear for their safety while in the destination. If you heed the advice of your tour leader and be practical almost any destination in the world can provide a safe, secure and memorable experience. Where we have had problems with safety it has almost always been a disregard for common sense and advice. Don’t be afraid of experiencing other cultures, you will almost always find that your curiosity will be the best guide though it all and that same curiosity will be reciprocated by the people we meet along the way. It is about learning and understanding other people as much as they need to understand us. It really does shrink the world. Our second biggest problem would be dehydration, when traveling to hot, dry countries or where activity is involved such as trekking ensure you drink lots of water!

14. How much time do you travel yourself these days?

Generally 5 or 6 weeks a year. It is imperative to my sales knowledge and experience and I owe it to my customers to be the expert in what we do! All of our employees are given wonderful travel opportunities which goes straight to our company motto: Expert advice from those who have been there!

15. Where are you going next?

I plan this year on escorting a trip back to Egypt in April, to South Africa in May to experience some of our new properties we work with and to hopefully take a side trip to Mozambique. Later in the year I plan to make my way to Turkey and the Patagonian outdoors In Chile & Argentina.

Thanks, Chris, for all your information, and have fun on your trips!

The greatest benefits for teaching overseas are that your employer will pay for the airplane ticket and also it is standard to receive an end of the contract bonus equal to one month salary (salaries range from $2,000 to $3,000 per month).

Teaching overseas requires a Bachelor degree from College (it can be in any field). Also, some countries require an additional certification in ESL that are interchangeably called TESOL, TEFL, and TESL.

There are many other employment opportunities available in Asia, besides teaching. Soem examples include; translator, journalist (every major newspaper has a section in English), travel guide, management professional, and in the fields of advertising and marketing. You can go to the major newspapers in each country and find an employment section geared towards English speaking people.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean tacky t-shirt or less-than-flattering shorty shorts ugly (although many are guilty of a fashion faux pas or two while traveling). And I don’t mean face-like-a-goat ugly. I mean ugly as in disrespectful to the people, customs, language and food of the country they are visiting. Americans are great at a lot of things, unfortunately a handful are gold medal champions when it comes giving the rest of us a bad name by being particularly “ugly” when overseas. They seem to be completely out of sync with the purpose of traveling to a different country in the first place, i.e. to experience something that is different from their own little stretch of suburbia here at home.

I remember once in Madrid I was waiting in line to pick up my mail at the American Express office just down from the Gran Via (a handy service if you are an American Express card holder). Towards the end of the line was a middle aged American man who complained, loudly and constantly, that this was a “stupid way to pick up the mail” and that it was “slow and backwards like the rest of Spain”. He had quite a laundry list of complaints and was quick to share them to everyone within earshot. Now he was just an average looking gentleman of about 50, but in terms of being an appreciative traveler from the U.S. he was butt ugly.

The main things that the typical ugly American will complain about are;

The Language: The ugly American cannot comprehend why everyone (or almost everyone) does not speak English. What the heck kind of a county is this? What do they teach these darn kids in school? Rather than try and learn a few phrases of another language or just have fun with the tried but true method of pointing and mimicking, they expect everyone to speak English because that’s what Americans do. Half the fun of going somewhere new is to pick up words and expressions in that language along the way and then try them out on some unsuspecting waiter or the person sitting next to you on the metro. The locals really appreciate the attempt, however poor, and it’s a great way to meet people from the country you are visiting.

The Food: Even the worldliest traveler sometimes longs for a Big Mac. Fortunately (or unfortunately for many) it’s easy to find refuge in a familiar fast food restaurant almost anywhere in the world. The ugly American not only spends a lot of time looking for and eating familiar food, but they also (without having tried it) knock the local fare just because it is different. The truth of the matter is that trying new and often delightful local foods and drinks are a huge part of traveling to another county. It can be the primary purpose of some trips. The trick is to be open to trying new things and asking about the local specialties. While it’s true I have eaten some foods that I did not care for, I have also come to love many foods that I had never even heard of before taking a leap of faith in some out of the way café or open market food stall.

Anything else that is different (i.e. just about everything): Some friends came back from Rome and complained incessantly about “how old” everything was. Another person who had traveled with a group around Europe griped that she constantly had to figure out how to flush the toilet. Lots of people won’t rent a car in Great Britain because they “drive on the wrong side of the road”. And the list goes on and on.

Each year thousands of Americans travel overseas. If you’re one of them, please don’t be ugly.