Ooty-The Hill Station In South India

OOTY_THE NEELGIRI HILL STATION HOLIDAY

OOTY_THE NEELGIRI HILL STATION of Tamilnadu state, India

 

Top 10 Best Vaction Spots

Tags:OOTY - the hill station of the Neelgiri mountains, is amongst the best holiday destinations in India. Blue misty hills, Eucliptus trees, tea plantations.... beautiful sights all around.

Top 10 Best Vacation Spots

Top 10 Best Vacation Spots

Top 10 Best Vacation Places

Ooty-The Hill Station In South India

Cheap Travel Tips

There are two ways to save money traveling. The first way is to get the best deals on the specific things you want. There is a limitation to this type of approach though. If , for example, you find the lowest price on the best hotel in Honolulu at the height of the season, you will save money, but still have a very expensive vacation. Trying to get exactly what you want, or what you think you want, will generally be an expensive proposition, in travel and in life.

Be A Travel Opportunist

The other approach is to be a true opportunist. This will be difficult for some of you, and entirely unacceptable to others. Nonetheless, the travelers who get to travel the most, go to the widest variety of places, learn the most and do the most, are the opportunists. This will be true until you are so wealthy that you have no monetary limits.
The first time I went to Ecuador, I went there because it was cheap. If it wasn't, I would have had a great time - somewhere else. The trip lasted a month, and cost $1045, which included airfare and even the $130 fee for a guide to take me to the top of glacier-covered Mount Chimborazo.

I cut the cost by taking a bus from my home in Michigan to Miami, and back again when I returned from Ecuador. The round-trip ticket cost $158. The round-trip flight to Quito from Miami was only $256, because it was a courier flight, which meant I signed for some luggage (car parts), and could only take carry-on luggage.

Never did I feel deprived, or bored. I had a great time, eating wherever it was cheap and clean, doing all sorts of inexpensive, but interesting things, and traveling across the country to climb Chimborazo. I also met and fell in love with my wife Ana.

How To Become An Opportunist Traveler

Can you drink rum at a dollar per bottle, instead of your favorite beer? Can you eat chicken instead of steak? How about visiting the free sights first, and dancing in the street festival instead of the disco?

Being an opportunist means you'll have just as much variety, and probably almost everything you want - eventually. You just have to stop trying to get exactly what you want exactly when you want it. If the guide that took me up Chimborazo hadn't dropped his price from $200 to $130, I would have spent $2 for a bus and gone hiking on El Altar, another great Andean mountain. That would have left me with enough money for several other minor adventures.

More Secrets Of Cheap Travel

Plane Tickets: My wife and I were planning a trip to visit family in Ecuador. The cheapest airfare from Traverse City, Michigan to Quito, was $1720. Out of curiosity, I checked Miami to Quito, and it was only $404. Airfare from Traverse City to Miami was $300. Book two separate flights and save more than $2000! The discount sites aren't set up to search in this way (yet), so you have to do this on your own. By the way, the whole six-week trip, which we took in 2004, cost $2400, including losing $100, and being robbed of $174.

Food: Whether traveling here or in other countries, it is usually cheaper to buy some healthy snacks in a grocery store, rather than eat every meal in a restaurant. When you do eat in restaurants, it can be cheaper to to order individual items on the menu from the list of appetizers or side dishes. You also may get more variety in that way.

Accomodations: For a long trip, you may want to rent an apartment in an interesting city. We did this for two months in Tucson, for about $600 less per month, compared to even the cheaper motels. Watch for hotel coupon-books in gas stations. The coupons will often save you $10 on a room you would have stayed in anyhow. If you have a conversion van or RV, you can camp a couple nights a week, like we do, to save on motels. We love the hotsprings we've stayed at, for a $3 fee to the BLM, instead of $40 for the cheapest motel in the area.

Travel Expenses: Do more and travel less. It is often the traveling part that costs the most, due to the cost of gas, convenient fast food, and expensive hotels you are forced to pay for when you just can't drive any further. So if you find a place with a reasonable motel, and a lot to do in the area - stay for a while.

 About the Author
Steve Gillman traveled alone across the U. S. and Mexico at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuado

18 Tips for the Christmas Traveler to Sleep Like a Baby

Christmas is almost here, with all the wonder and flurry that it represents. Traveling to other destinations to celebrate can be both exciting and tiring, too, if not adequately prepared. These 18 sound suggestions will encourage you to have restful travel and rejuvenating sleep.

You may already have had experience with how challenging sleep can be for travellers, many averaging only six hours of sleep a night. Changing time zones disrupts our internal body clock, interrupts our familiar food and exercise patterns, resulting in disturbed sleep and deprivation.

When travelling to a different time zone, our internal (circadian) clock needs time to adjust. Jet lag is created because our internal systems need time to adjust, the sleep and wake cycle adjusts at one rate, while temperature rhythm changes at a different pace. Due to time zone changes, you may be wide awake on "home time" while the place you visit is sound asleep, and visa versa. I will always remember looking over at my husband sound asleep beside me as we toured Paris... daytime there, but nighttime back at home!

18 Tips to relax and sleep like a baby when you're away from home include;

1. Take familiar, feel good home items that encourage you to feel "home away from home" such as your pillow, family photos, candles, aroma therapy bath products, etc.

2. Supplement your reduced sleep with short naps (even on Christmas Day) because a little sleep is better than none.

3. Ask for a room away from noisier areas (elevators, ventilation systems, stairwells and lounges).

4. If travelling for only a few days, it may be more beneficial to keep your internal body clock on your own 'home time' than to try and adjust. This includes sleep times as well as meal times, because even your stomach has to adjust during travel.

5. Be smart around the use of stimulants, such as coffee to keep awake. Time your consumption to when you need a lift, but not close to needing to unwind. Though many people like to have a few drinks to "unwind," alcohol consumed within 3-4 hours of bedtime can actually disrupt sleep quality. Instead, drink camomile tea or steamed milk for their relaxing, sleepy effects.

6. Avoid eating a big meal before you want to sleep or your body will get busy digesting, rather than slow down to replenish! If you really must, eat smartly and sparingly, choosing foods that will not produce stimulating effects.

7. Plan gentle evening activities that will induce sleep (so avoid TV news, etc).

8. Though exercise close to bedtime is thought to tire you out it can stimulate you awake instead. A restful session of progressive relaxation stretches or yoga poses, however, will do the job of mellowing your mind and body for sleep.

9. If you're tempted to take a pharmaceutical to induce sleep, talk to your family doctor first and know possible side effects. As an alternate, Valerian is a natural remedy to promote drowsiness.

10. Spray your pillow with aroma therapy lavender mist infused for its relaxing effect.

11. Languish in a soothing bath infused with lavender... sigh.

12. Set your environment to maximize sleep... close the draperies, set the temperature to cool rather than warm, place the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob and hold all phone calls.

13. Wear snuggly, loose-fitting cotton socks to bed... this definitely helps me sleep better!

14. Wear an eye mask for extra darkness.

15. Travel with a portable CD or digital player and listen to nature music or a relaxation meditation to unwind!

16. Earplugs are a blessing to mask unfamiliar sounds... and snoring, too!

17. This might sound funny but, if a busy mind keeps you awake interrupt it as though you are boss and say, "No, this is not the time to sort things out, this is my time to sleep and replenish! I'll sort those details out tomorrow when I am rested and able to think clearly." Stand your ground... it might take a little practice!

18. If you toss and turn for more than 20-30 minutes get up, read or listen to your relaxation CD until you feel drowsy, then try again.

There you have it, a long list of ideas to implement while you travel to induce quality relaxation and deep sleep. I put my own tips to good use recently... you can too.

Happy travels! May you have a lovely Christmas... and sleep like a baby, too!