General Travel Safety advice

1) Low Profile: Wear minimum jewelery, casual clothes, and keep cameras inside a discrete bag. Try to relax and look like you belong there.

2) Danger Zones: Be particularly aware of your safety in crowded areas such as local festivals, markets, crowded tourist sites, railway and bus stations, and of course, on trains and buses. Sometimes it pays to go first class or hire a guide.

3) Stash your Cash: Avoid wallets or purses. Keep enough money for your immediate needs in your (button down/zippered?) pocket, and the rest hidden on your body or, better, inside a *locked bag in a safety deposit box. Have different forms of funds in different places. Remember your air ticket and films are valuable too.

Get Inspired to travel around the world !

Read, research your ideas, think about where you want to go. You can take inspiration from :

Travel Magazines - usually, glossy high impact brochures on destinations world wide, ranging from The National Geographic to the pullouts from the weekend papers; there is a lot of material around. The problem is that it's unlikely that your experiences will match those shown in the magazines. Why? In the case of the National Geographic their reporters are often researching one particular aspect of a subject, or a society, spend months getting to know the subject, take thousands of photos, and produce an article just a few thousand of words in length. They know the topic inside out, but have they experienced all the region has to offer ? On the other hand, glossy magazines often provide content supporting the lifestyles and types of holiday for which the magazine can push advertising. Hence the glossy magazines' emphasis on luxury. An article on backpacking is not going to support the cruise liner advertising on its opposite page.

TV Travel Shows - in my time I have seen some amazing TV shows - BBC TV's the Rough Guide Series (not to be confused with the travel guides of the same name) - was inspirational; a mix of footage, sensationalism, culture, music and facts blasted at high speed in the now defunct def2 format (I'm showing my age now). Michael Palin has inspired a generation of Round the World Travelers, though most don't try to do it in 80 days. The holiday shows, "wish you were here" and "holiday 2000's" are aimed at the short breaks mass market - and the mass market buyers only give themselves two weeks a year to enjoy themselves.

Books - such as traveling around Ireland with a fridge (who would have thought that this book would be a best seller. People do equally crazy things all the time, they just don't have the flare for humor that Tony Hawks is blessed with, nor do they skateboard as well), or Bill Bryson and his observations on tiny cultural habits and behavior, set in the grand scheme of road trips.

Photos - Looking through photos of some of the most beautiful and exciting places in the world, can really increase the excitement levels. However, remember that the shots you see will be the best of many thousands - not every moment will have the fantastic sunset or mist rolling in over the hills. But it really is a good way to whet the appetite.

Travel Guides - any of the big name travel guides provide a wealth of information on a region. Browsing in a bookshop will often lead to an overwhelming choice. Try to look at a general book for a region, then decide if the region is for you. The advantages of this type of research are that you'll have a better idea of costs, places to stay and what the highlights are. See LonelyPlanet, Rough Guide, Fodors for further details. What about out-of-date travel guides ? Even older travel guides are useful, as the sites, the history, maps, the food, the culture of a place don't change so much over time. Even the older guide book's prices can be useful, since when you get a feel for how much costs have changed, you can work out up-to-date costs from the listed price in the old guide.

Websites - The top travel sites give you the inspiration to travel. travellinks.tk provides the list of travel sites in all categories.

DUBAI- Tips for better trip..

The best times to visit UAE are in December, March, April sees the Sharjah Ramadan Festival, Abu Dhabi Festival of Sales, Dubai Summer Surprises and the Dubai Shopping Festival on - this may be of interest to shoppers looking for good bargains. These are also the cooler months, a good time to explore the UAE. For the culturally oriented, December 2nd , the National Day of the UAE is one of the best times to visit. Abu Dhabi ruler and President of the UAE, H H Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has taken an active interest in promoting culture and this month is full of cultural activities. Various international sporting events, exhibitions and trade shows create a festive atmosphere and is a good time to visit.

Being a country of booming metropolises and a melting pot of different cultures, various events are held all the year around, so keep an eye on the Events calendar to decide on the time you want to visit.

How to get there

From outside the Gulf :
You can reach Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Sharjah and other emirates by air from almost all the international destinations. Most of the emirates have world-class International airports and many flights stop here en route from Asia to Europe or vice versa.
From outside the UAE :
If you are in a neighboring country like Oman or Muscat, it is very easy to drive down into the UAE provided you have the visa.

Shopping - Business Hours
Shops are generally open from 9:30 - 1:00 and from 4:30 -9:30 on Saturday through Thursday. Many shops in the malls are remaining open all day which can offer a time for shopping without crowds. On Friday, the Islamic holiday, shops do not generally open until 2:00 or later.


Bargaining
Part of the tradition of shopping in the UAE is bargaining over the price. In the souk, a rule of thumb is to offer half of the first price and work your way up. In other shops except for truly fixed price stores, a bit of negotiating will bring a reduction in price. If you have to ask the price of something, the price is not fixed

Health Matters

Immunizations
No health certificate or special immunizations are required when traveling to the UAE unless you have been in a cholera or Yellow Fever affected area 14 days prior to visiting. it is wise to check with your travel agent before traveling, however, should the situation change.

Coping with the Heat
For eight months of the year the Emirates are hot and along the coast, very humid. It is important that the visitor take precautions not to overexert. All hotels and restaurants are air conditioned as are most shops but outside is still hot. Try to limit going in and out of the air conditioning and be sure to drink plenty of fluids when outside for a long time.

Medical Care
Even the smallest emirate is now equipped with a modern hospital so there is no need to worry about the availability of health care. Most major cities have several hospitals and an abundance of private clinics should you be in need.
Travel Links >>>

Traveling With Your Laptop

Computers don't always make the best traveling companions. They can get cranky when mishandled, their batteries seem to die at the worst possible times, and sometimes they refuse to perform basic tasks like connecting to a wireless network or sending e-mail.

Traveling computers are also prone to becoming victims of the digital version of Montezuma's Revenge, picking up strange viruses and other virtual bugs. And if digital diseases don't get them, there are plenty of hackers and thieves who are eager to steal your computer or poke around in your personal data. The sad truth is that computers immediately become more vulnerable to theft, hack attacks, and viruses when you're working with them in public spaces or are connected to public networks in hotels, coffee shops, and airports.

Happily all of these problems have a solution. Here's how to keep your computer and other digital gear happy and healthy whether you're traveling for work or pleasure.

Please Do Not Disturb (The Computer): Pack your computer in a padded case to shield it from the physical traumas of travel. If you're traveling by air, avoid placing your laptop in the overhead bin where someone will undoubtedly dump a heavy object on top of it. And when the flight attendants push the drinks cart near your seat, close your laptop. A bit of turbulence or just plain klutziness can result in a spill, and a doused laptop is almost always a dead laptop.

What to Pack: Bring along the system restore disk that came with your computer (or the operating system disk) in case some tech trauma occurs while you're away; a backup disk containing any essential files; a power adaptor if you're traveling out of the country (check with your laptop manufacturer for these, and remember to get adaptors for all the electronic gear you're bringing); and perhaps a short extension cord so you can work anywhere in your room instead of right up next to the room's only power outlet.

Power Up: To get the longest life possible from your laptop's battery, go to Start>Control Panel>Power Options, and on the "Power Schemes" pull-down menu choose "Max Battery." Windows will now conserve your battery power by shutting off your screen and spinning down the hard drive when you aren't actively using the computer. (Mac users: go to System Preferences>Energy Saver>Settings for Battery and Optimization>Better Battery Life.) Also, to save the life of your battery, decrease the screen's brightness -- look for the key on your keyboard with the little sun icon on it and press it and the function key simultaneously. (No such key? Check your computer's manual.)

Thwart Thieves: Put your laptop in your room safe or the hotel safe when not in your room (not under the bed or in the drawers underneath your undies -- too many people hide things there, so it's the first place a thief will look). If the hotel safe seems dicey, or you need to bring your laptop to a conference room or onto a convention floor, most laptops have a security slot (Kensington lock). Get a locking device with an attached cable (available at any well-stocked computer supply store), wrap the cable around a heavy, stationery object, and insert the lock into the security slot.

Travel Tummy, The Tech Version: Computer viruses and worms can run rampant on the wide-open public wireless services offered by hotels, coffee shops, bookstores, and libraries. Protect your computer from other people's computer germs by making sure your operating system's firewall is active. (Instructions on how to activate the Windows firewall are here, Mac users click here. Firewalls block most incoming threats. Also make sure that you're running an up-to-date copy of an antivirus program.)

Stop Snoops: Public wireless service is open to any and all, which means that any data you have stored on your computer is accessible to all other users on the network. So in other words, any data you transmit over the Internet is about as private as a message written on the back of a postcard. The best way to ward off snoops is to disable your wireless card's Ad-Hoc (peer-to-peer) mode. This helps to prevent anyone else from connecting to your computer. The software for your wireless modem will allow you to disable Ad-Hoc with a single click. And again, make sure you're running a firewall on your computer.

Get Connected: No wireless service in your hotel? Check here and here for exhaustive listings of public wireless networks around the world.

E-mail Mystery: Once you're connected to a public wireless service you'll be able to receive mail through an e-mail program like Outlook, but you probably won't be able to send out e-mail. That's because most Internet Service Providers block e-mail sent through their network via any other ISP, including wireless ones (as a spam fighting measure). To send e-mail, use your ISP's web mail service or set up a web mail account with a free service like Google's Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail.

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