Friday, February 17, 2012

Summer Holidays and the Student Budget

Being a student has never been associated with having a large budget, so it is no wonder that students are looking for cheap holiday deals. There are some destinations that are suitable for a small budget and they still offer the experience of a lifetime.
Scotland is one of the popular student destinations and this is partly because there are so many things to do there. A lot of people visit the country for having an experience with kayaks. To make the trip even cheaper, you could go camping, so you won’t have to spend much money (or almost any money) on accommodation.

You have the possibility to see the ocean and to have some fun, not to mention the social side of the trip: you can meet people your age from all over the world. Why not have some fun and work at the same time. This is what Workaway offers you. You may think of it as a paid-for-holiday. It is true that you will have some work to do during the day, but then you could enjoy all the things that the location has to offer, such as beaches, meals, beers, outings and so on, the majority of them for free.

The main point of this program is to match those people who need some help with those people who are willing to work to get a holiday. You could be working for private individuals, tourism business owners or farmers. There is a small fee that you have to pay at registration and you could end up in Norway, Italy, Columbia, Spain or any other part of the world.

Although a lot of people don’t really take it into consideration, Romania is also a nice tourist destination, offering you everything that you want from a summer vacation. You will have a lot of sunshine and nice settlements at the foothills of the Carpathians. You don’t have to worry about having to pay a lot for transportation because the railway in Transylvania is quite cheap.

You could travel to Cluj Napoca that is a well-known university center and visit all the pubs that make the city unique. The accommodation is quite cheap at hostels. You should also catch a train to Sighisoara that is said to be the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler and don’t forget to visit Sibiu either that has been the European capital of culture a little while ago.

If you are looking for a more exotic vacation, consider having a trip to Cuba. It is the architecture and the people that make this location so special. In case you would like to make the best of your stay in Cuba, you should try to get closer to the locals for it is a really good experience to stay at a local family. If you are lucky you will have breakfast and dinner provided and your host could give you a lot of recommendations regarding what is worth to be visited.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Best 9 Locations in the World for the next New Year’s Eve.

It doesn’t matter whereabouts in the world you live, you can always celebrate New Year’s Eve. Depending on your location, you might get the chance to celebrate before everybody else. These are some of the top spots for New Year’s Eve celebrations.
1. New York City, New York, USA
Times Square is definitely the place to be in New York City on New Year’s Eve and has been ever since 1907 when the celebrations originated here at One Times Square. Celebrants flock into the region from 42nd and 47th streets Seventh Avenue and Broadway. They start arriving in the early afternoon and don’t leave until the New Year’s Eve ball has dropped after the countdown. The ball itself is filled with close to 1000 crystal triangles that are lit up and it drops down onto the anxious crowd from a height of 70 feet.
2. London, England
The New Year is traditionally rung in by Big Ben as its bells ring at the stroke of midnight. Once the bells start ringing the city of London is lit up with a traditional colorful fireworks display that shoots up into the sky behind the famous London Eye. You’ll get the best view of the show from the Victoria Embankment as well as on the Westminster and Waterloo bridges, which will be pedestrian-only areas after 6 p.m.
3. Sydney, Australia
Because Sydney is located west of the world’s International Date Line it’s one of the first nations to celebrate the New Year. In fact, when it’s midnight in Sydney it’s still 8 a.m. in New York. The huge celebrations in Sydney usually attract a million or more people to them. You’ll be able to witness a sensational fireworks display at the harbor, with fireworks being set off from some of the city’s skyscrapers as well as the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
4. Ecuador
In Ecuador, residents celebrate the New Year by creating effigies that are known as anos viejos, which means old years. The stuffed, straw dummies have masks made out of papier mache and are usually stuffed with firecrackers. They actually represent events and people from the past year. Often times they’re made to resemble some of the nation’s more unpopular political leaders. The effigies are burned at midnight while the New Year is welcomed.
5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Millions of people get together every New Year’s Eve at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach to witness one of the world’s best pyrotechnic displays. The fireworks are launched from a series of barges, with each one of them having over 1,000 fireworks onboard. The celebration is named Reveillon and the colorful fireworks explode in the dark sky high above the famous beach. There are also stages set up in the stand where live entertainers perform throughout the night.
6. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The Strip is closed down to traffic on New Year’s Eve as the city celebrates with a huge street party. When midnight falls there’s a fascinating fireworks display. Over on Fremont Street you’ll be able to watch live entertainment while the fireworks ring in the New Year.
7. Paris, France
In Paris, most people head over to the Eiffel Tower on New Year’s Eve. Fireworks explode in the sky at midnight and the city is more vibrant than usual, especially on the Champs-Élyseés. If you’d like to try something a little different you can try the Sacre Coeur Cathedral in the Montmartre district. You’ll get an unbelievable view of the city from here.
8. Edinburgh, Scotland
In Scotland, there’s a four-day celebration known as Hogmanay. One of the best places to celebrate is in Edinburgh where there’s a torchlight procession and huge street party with dancing and music. Of course, there’s also a fireworks display at midnight above Edinburgh Castle.
9. Seattle, Washington, USA
Seattle’s Space Needle attracts thousands of revelers every New Year’s Eve as the elevators on the tower rise from the base to the top while the midnight countdown takes place. Once the elevators hit the peak the fireworks explode all over the place making the tower look like a huge sparkler.