I have recently come back from what I can only describe as the most relaxing and interesting vacation I have ever been on. This year myself and my wife were looking at holiday options and based on a recommendation by some friends we thought that a trip to Ireland might give us a dose of culture and scenery. I had only ever heard good things about the country, so we started planing. We were informed that the best way to see the real Irish countryside was by boat, cruising on the river Shannon which runs through the center of the entire country. So we did our research and booked a cruiser from a little town called Banagher. We had never operated a boat before but we were given a brief class beforehand which made everything easy.

We booked the cruiser for three nights, we thought that this would allow us time to see the rest of the country and it did. The rest of the country was fantastic but the truth is I never wanted to leave that boat. The river is full of history covering three thousand years, the ruins of churches, abbeys, castles and towers are everywhere and free to explore. Not far from Banagher is the ruins of an ancient seventh century city which you can cruise right up to and walk around. It was all very extraordinary. You will never be cruising for long without meeting a lovely village and stopping in at a pub. One pub we visited was 350 years old and the old part of the bar was preserved from this time. Another small village had huge deserted stone buildings and military towers. A local told us this was in case Napoleon was to attack England by coming through Ireland. All of these structures still stand like ornaments on the landscape passed down through generations until there meaning has been eroded to just spectacular sites. Cruising by low lying green meadows to the sweet backing notes of wildlife all around really recharge my soul. As the famous Irish Poet Yeats said ‘Come with me oh Human Child, to the waters and the wild’ my natural human instincts for exploring, for the wild were satisfied and the scenic delights that crossed my eyes will never be forgotten. Until next year when I will return to the river Shannon.

There is a company called Discover the Shannon Link: which arrange holidays on the river and were really helpful with us.

Compare for a moment a beach holiday with a ski holiday. The first is all about lying under the sun and doing practically nothing, whereas the latter is taking advantage of as much light as possible by skiing, walking and snowboarding and other activities that require a lot of energy. Besides, a cold environment makes the body burn more calories.

This of course does not mean that we are allowed to forget our good weight loss habits. On the contrary, it is important to be even more careful, because when we get carried away it is easy to forget how to eat properly.

If you are about to leave for your ski resort, for the whole week or just for the weekend, it is important to know how to eat. In this article I will point out a few tips to follow during your winter holiday.

First of all: forget about drinking alcohol to protect yourself from the cold, it is just a myth and a dangerous one indeed. If you feel warmer after your shot of whiskey or grappa, it is probably because of the bar you are sitting in. Since alcohol is a vasoconstrictor, the effect will be exactly the opposite: you will feel cold.

Do not forget the proteins: in a cold environment our body instinctively craves for carbohydrates, forgetting about proteins, which are essential to keep a good muscular integrity.

If you do not want to waste time in the restaurant at lunch, have several small meals during the day, rather than a proper lunch; bring some energy bars with you.

Speaking of bars, be careful with chocolate. It is true that it gives a lot of energy (about 550 Kcal for 100g), but unless you are planning an Arctic crossing, walking 12 hours per day, lower calories bars, with yogurt or muesli are a better choice.

If you have to sit down and have a proper lunch, stay away from fat foods. It is not hard to find them in a mountain resort, but the myth around them is that they will give you more energy, and make you warmer, but in fact they will just slow down your digestion and make your skiing in the afternoon harder. And of course leave alcohol for after dinner.

Even if your lunch was light, always wait one hour before going back to the ski run.

At dinner, if you had carbohydrates for lunch, balance them with proteins.

Now go have fun!

Many people choose to take vacations to play golf. There are many popular places to go. The south of Portugal and Spain appeal to many Europeans because of a warmer climate. Scotland appeals to some, as the “birthplace” of golf, but it is also home to some of the World’s finest links golf courses. But if you look at the professional game, many of the world’s top players live in Florida, or have a home there, so that they can play and hone their game on some of the finest courses in the World.

Consider a list of some of the players who have a home in Florida: Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Ian Poulter. The list goes on. So what draws these people to Florida.

Climate: Florida has very mild winters, which means that this is a year round golf destination. It can get a little hot and humid, but golf can be played during the cooler times of day when this is the case.

Outstanding golf courses: This is of course the real reason you are reading this article and it is definitely true. Florida was formally a very large swamp. Over centuries the water has receded, but it has left behind lots of lakes and ponds, which means that many natural features are left behind with which to create golf courses. Also, as Florida is largely a flat state, golf architects have sought to make courses interesting by creating some fascinating undulations. The greens are also usually maintained to an exceptional standard and play very fast due to the hot weather.

All of this leads to some stunningly memorable holes. Think of the iconic 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass with its beautiful island green. Or think of Bay Hill, or in fact any one of the 50 or so championship golf courses situated close to the Walt Disney World Resort in central Florida. OK, I know that TPC Sawgrass is a bit further north and lots of people would not be able to afford to play there. Nevertheless, it conjures up in the mind the types of holes and golf architecture available. Disney itself has a number of championship golf courses. Many places have tee times which are cheaper if you are willing to play in the heat of the day. But this can easily be borne if you are driving a cart around as you will be offered some shade from the roof whilst in the cart and the breeze while the cart is in motion can also be cooling. It is now easier than ever to pack your clubs and take them with you on planes. So what is to stop you heading to Florida and seeing one of the world’s premier golf destinations.

Curacao is a closely guarded secret of the Caribbean with many villas to stay in CURACAO VACATIONS. There are a substantial variety of things worth doing and see while staying on the island of Curacao, including Hato Caves, Christoffel Park, and the Curacao Sea Aquarium. The Hato Caves have a world-leading lesson to lean, they were employed in the times of slavery in Curacao by the slaves as hiding places they would escape to the caves and live in them for months at a time, this would have been a terrible way to live for them so the desperateness is clear as the slave trade was horrid for them also. There are guides to take visitors through the blinding caves and they’re going to clarify all the history of the caves and what they were employed for which would be a mesmerizing trip. You can view the stunning stalactites and stalagmites through the strange lighting which makes the experience more enticing. The caves are north of Willemstad the consequential heritage city.

The Curacao Christoffel Park is another must see while on holiday on the Island, it is made of 3 prior plantations and is home to a few tropical plants and trees, including flora and fauna, sensitive pear cactus and divi divi trees, in the park some cacti reach up to a large ten feet tall. There are guarded wild life in the park which can often be seen while on the driving trails like Iguanas, rabbits, mules and birds.

Deer watching occurs each afternoon all of the year round, the deer are white tail Curacao deer which are claimed to be of South American origin brought over centuries gone. To explore the park there are several options by foot or bike and there’s also a choice to explore the park in jeeps and 4 wheel drives.

There’s also a theater in which you can go and watch some underwater films and a cafe that’s got a terrace for you to enjoy an al fresco lunch at the aquarium there’s also a novel substation which is a deep sea submarine in which visitors can get into and view all the tropical sea life and even some shipwrecks. The Aquarium really is a place not to miss while on your CURACAO VACATIONS.

Vacation home rentals are great deals no matter what. But, the process of finding a good one to stay at can be quite a complex mixed bag. There are plenty of websites that can be tapped into and there are even more companies out there offering these options. Yet, they lack the same fundamental thing. That is, of course, that you can not work directly with the owner. Now, why would you want to do that? Because it would save everyone in the process time and headaches; it may even save a few dollars as well.

Vacation home rentals are often designed to provide a great deal of benefits to the person looking for an area to stay away from home. They allow you to spread out and have room. Some allow you to have meals at home instead of eating expensive meals each meal away. In addition, they provide many amenities at much lower costs then you would find at the standard hotel. If there are many people in your party, forget about all the rooms you would have to book. Here, more people can stay comfortably without much trouble what so ever.

Yet, finding a vacation home rental is not the problem. If you are looking for them, simply tap into the wide range of opportunities out there. On the other hand, if you are interested in making the process simpler, you would just have to work with an owner of the vacation home. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just call someone up and ask to rent their home? It would, but many companies that connect home to customer do not allow this. Nevertheless, it is a benefit you want to look for.

Vacation home rentals can be rented in this way if you know where to look for them. Be leery of any company that wants your money that you haven’t checked out as well. What’s more is that just finding the right website can lead you to the benefits of a vacation home rental without any of the worries that come with booking a hotel room. It makes sense then to stay here.