Amazing Journeys advertises “vacations that can change your life” and on every trip we live up that standard in one way or another. Thousands of individuals have had “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences, met a new friend (or 4!) for life….and some have even met the love of their life.

Fear, Ignorance and Inertia – these “three stooges” keep a lot of people from traveling. North Americans in general, and US citizens in particular, can be very timid travelers. We are all easy victims for a news media that plays to worst case scenarios. It is little wonder that people are often afraid to travel when the news is filled with stories of flu, drug violence, riot and terrorism.

• Get a credit card that helps you earn miles for a free airline ticket
• Plan to eat simple meals while on vacation
• Take advantage of the all-inclusiveness of cruising. Meals, entertainment, accommodations and more, all for one price
• If your days are about getting out and doing, why stay at a 5-star resort for $250/night? If you just need a clean comfortable room, there are options for lodging that range from simple inns to hostels that can help you use your wallet for other indugences
• Travel during off-peak season: A cruise in early December before the holidays is loads cheaper than a cruise over New Year’s. The weather in Fiji is the same year round, but travel in the early fall elicit better rates than during holiday time when the demand is greater.

I’ve often wondered about the the design of a plane. I find it disturbingly interesting and deviously restricting, even for its own purpose. Save for an emergency, there’s usually only one way in and one way out for anywhere from usually 40 to 240 passengers. Building codes on the ground would never take off with this kind of set up…..so why are airplane codes with this kind of set up never grounded? Its a baffling wonderment, this aircraft design thing; let’s row-up hundreds of seats, make them as narrow as your body width (or narrower than your body width for those who are a bit zoftik) and pile everyone in then herd everyone off….single file.

Boy, do we have stories! I don’t think there’s any profession in the world that can come away, at the end of the day with as many crazy, unimaginable, strange-but-true stories as professionals who lead tours for a living.

But, this space isn’t about our stories right now (it will be at a later time because Boy, do we have stories!); its about some of the other crazy happenings in the world today.

• A German tourist was refused permission to carry a litre of vodka aboard a flight in Nuremberg airport. So….he chugged it down, rather than surrender it. He left the airport, but not on his planned flight; he left it in an ambulance.
• Pilgrims returning to Italy had their carry-on bottles of holy water from the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes confiscated at security. “Three-ounce bottles only”, they were told.
• An American Airlines flight from Tokyo to Dallas had an emergency landing in Honolulu when the crew discovered a squirrel that had stowed away on board. The creature was given a new home among the palm trees in Hawaii and the aircraft took off again for its final destination with all its munchable wiring still in tact.
• A British man recently completed a 13-year worldwide journey during which he only traveled under his own steam. Jason Lewis traveled 46,505 miles across the globe using various means of self-propulsion; he roller bladed across North America, kayaked from Australia to Singapore, biked from Singapore to the Himalayas, hiked through the Himalayas and even pedaloed (a form of waterborne transport, primarily for recreational use, powered through the use of pedals) from Mumbai, India crossing the Indian Ocean to Djibouti. Included in with his adventures was being run over by a car in Colorado, breaking both legs, and being arrested in Egypt when his visa ran out on suspicion of spying.

“Somewhere on your journey don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view”

 The weather’s gorgeous and you wish there was someone special in your life to take to those BBQ’s. Well, until that Mr. or Ms. Right comes along, remember why being single can really be fantastic, too — maybe even preferable with so many enviable freedoms!

The New Seven Wonders of the Worldis a project that attempts to revive the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World concept with a list of modern wonders. A popularity poll was organized by the private New7Wonders Foundation, with winners announced just last year in Lisbon, Portugal.

 Reason #6: Travel bolsters mental health
A study published in the Canadian Journal of Mental Health of almost 20,000 Canadians showed that leisure travel has been found to directly contribute to higher levels of physical and mental health, especially during times of stress. Vacations are best bet for throwing off work-related stress by providing you with not only a physical and mental diversion, but a lifestyle diversion. Taking time to “get away from it all” means you can redirect your thought process from corporate decision making to deciding on fun things that you want to do in the time frame that you want to do it. This change of pace can allow you to decompress, reflect, relax and slow down…providing a sense of balance to every day stresses and responsibilities.

Reason #7: Vacations make you more effective at work
According to the U.S. Travel Association’s compilation of research studies, overwork costs employers about $150 billion a year in stress-related absences, and workers get no more done when they work 50-hour work weeks than when they work 40-hour work weeks. The association notes that European workers, who are granted much more vacation time than American workers, had higher productivity growth than the United States in most years between 1981 and 2000.

Some good reading: This “amazing” article was published this week in our hometown Jewish Chronicle. Check it out: http://www.thejewishchronicle.net/pages/full_story/push?article-Jews+in+Antarctica-+Amazing+Journeys+-%20&id=3054814&instance=home_news_right