Home Articles Posted by Izy Berry (Page 53)
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The top 5 European road trip destinations
America has long been regarded as the number one road trip destination. For many, however, Europe is the destination of choice for experiencing the open road in style. Home to some of the world’s most stunning locations, a driving holiday in Europe is guaranteed to take your breath away. As Europe offers so much choice, it can be tough to decide where to go, so we’ve teamed up with Grange, an award winning Used Aston Martin dealership to give you our guide to the top 5 European road trip destinations:
5. Route Napoleon – France
If you’d like to follow in the footsteps of one of the most iconic historical figures in French history, you can drive along Route Napoleon. In 1815, Napoléon Bonaparte took this route when he marched from Elba to Grenoble to overthrow Louis the 18th. Spanning all the way from Cannes to Grenoble, this picturesque route will take you all the way through the French Alps – so you’re in for a real visual treat.
This rote can also be quite challenging – any thrill seekers out there will be put to the test with a wide variety of cambered corners, hairpin turns and fast straights.
4. Stelvio Pass – Italy
Surrounded by beautiful mountain views as far as the eye can see is Italy’s Stelvio Pass. Located high in the Alps of Eastern Italy, this stunning stretch of road was once voted the best driving road in the world by BBC Top Gear, making it a must for driving enthusiasts.
Even experienced drivers will see their skills tested here, as the roads 48 switchback turns can be hard to handle. It’s recommended that you pull over occasionally to collect your thoughts, take in the sights and enjoy this lovely stretch of road to the fullest.
3. Grossglockner High Alpine Road – Austria
Winding down from the highest mountain in Austria is the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, known locally as the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse. You won’t be short of impressive mountain views here and at 2,504 meters above sea level, you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy them!
A big hit with motorbike fans and sports car enthusiasts all over the world, this mountain route will take you past the Alpine Nature Show Museum, Hohe Tauern National parkand Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe — home to the Pasterze Glacier.
2. Route 500 – Germany
Germany’s route 500 will take you right through the country’s famous Black Forest region. Located between the Swiss border and the town of Baden Baden, this route will take you through a wide range of remarkable scenery, from pine forests to mountains. Drivers taking this route may want to set off early however, as the popularity of this road means that it can be prone to traffic at peak times.
1. Route One – Iceland
Circumnavigating the entire island is Iceland’s impressive Route One – an 800 mile long stretch of road which is guaranteed to impress even the most experienced drivers and travel enthusiasts. Travelling on this route allows you to see everything that makes the country so special and sought after as a holiday destination; including some truly stunning scenery. You’ll encounter everything from geysers, waterfalls and hot springs to ash deserts. You will also encounter some tough gravel terrain on your trip here, so it’s recommended that you choose a sturdy vehicle to travel in, such as a Land Rover or other 4×4.
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Need a holiday? Why you should take a short break in the UK
Need to get away from it all but don’t have the time for a long holiday? It turns out that a short break in the UK could be exactly what you need. Have you ever taken a long holiday, only to return feeling more exhausted than before you left? Yet your weekend trip makes you feel refreshed and ready to hit the ground running at work? This is common, and there are a few good reasons why you should take a short break instead of a long holiday:
Keep the romance alive
One holiday a year is unlikely to help you keep your romance alive, but if you work your short break into your weekend time, you can take plenty of breaks throughout the year. Need some bonding time with your partner? Take them on a romantic break and watch the sparks fly when you’re away from it all.
Be Spontaneous
Planning a long holiday can turn into a chore, especially when you’re working around family and social commitments, annual leave, and work responsibilities. But when you take short breaks, you can easily be a little more spontaneous. Simply choose a UK destination you’ve been wanting to explore, pack your bags, and you’re off.
Refresh your mind
Getting away from your screen gives you more mental space for clearer decision-making and creativity. The more you’re taking mini breaks, especially to new destinations, the more refreshed and challenged your brain will be. This is especially important for creative types who often feel like they’re hitting a wall or dealing with blocks. Take a notebook and make a list of any ideas that may pop into your head, but focus on completely unwinding and enjoying yourself while you’re away.
Cost-effective
Short breaks are often a better option if you’re on a budget, since you’ll be paying for fewer nights of accommodation. When you take a short break in the UK, you’ll often be able to drive, and if you do fly you’ll have much cheaper flights compared to a long vacation on another continent.
Go Carry-on
Not only do airlines charge ridiculous fees for checking luggage, but you’ll end up wasting precious time while waiting for your luggage. When you take a short break, you can fit everything into a carry-on, making it cheaper, easier, and more relaxed.
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Top ideas for a fun vacation this year
When was the last time you went on a vacation? If you can’t remember, or the idea of planning a vacation just seems stressful, this post is for you.
There are plenty of great ideas that will ensure you remove most of the stress associated with traveling and have a great trip. Here are just a few top ideas for a fun vacation this year:
Book a cruise
There’s a reason why so many first-time cruisers go ahead and book their next cruise almost the moment they return back to port. Cruising is incredibly popular because it’s a low-stress way to travel and you get all of the fun experiences you enjoy while travelling solo and exploring multiple destinations, without hours spent in airports or train stations.
One of the great things about cruising is that it’s almost entirely all-inclusive. When you pay for your fare, you’re paying for your accommodation, food, entertainment, and transportation. You can also choose to pre-book your tours at each destination and prepay your gratuities. If you think you’ll be doing some serious drinking, you can also book drinks packages as well. I don’t know about you, but the idea of travelling without having to constantly open my wallet sounds like pure luxury. You can easily find a good deal on a cruise by keeping an eye out for sales and deals, so consider trying out a cruise for your next trip.
Take a tour
Group tours are no longer the typical guided tour where you follow someone around in a group of twenty or more. There are hundreds of different tour companies available based on your level of adventure, comfort preference, and more. Whether you’re a young twenty-something wanting to backpack your way through Europe, you’d like to travel in a small group, or you’re all about eco-friendly adventure travel, there’s guaranteed to be a tour to suit you.
Go all-inclusive
I always sneered at the idea of an all-inclusive vacation until I took one myself. And let me tell you, I still dream about that hotel in Mexico. One of the great things about all-inclusive vacations is that they offer you the chance to truly relax. You’re not stuck in the hotel either, and you can easily go travel through a local town or do some other day trips while you’re on vacation. Many also have free activities like snorkelling, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and more.
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Travel Ennui Is Real – Here’s How To Overcome It
It’s quite common for people to delay travelling or focusing on their exploration of the world out of a sense of ennui. We have previously written about travel anxiety and even being strong despite hard circumstances, but these issues are different from the sense of discomfort and distaste in traveling that can permeate the feeling of ennui. Travel ennui is real. It’s not hard to understand why. Travel is hard. It takes time, effort, investment, energy and a great deal of uncertainty.
If you’re not anxious or apprehensive when entering a completely new country, trying to adapt to a form of accommodation you’re not used to, or meeting people you can barely speak to, you’re likely stronger than Wonder Woman herself. However, these issues are often quite small in comparison to the raw wonder, beauty to experience and curiosity to satiate when you finally arrive at your destination.
But how should you focus on travel ennui? Are there remedies to rectify this? Could someone who has perhaps neglected to head on vacation for the last ten years finally pick up and head somewhere they will cherish?
Of course they can! If you find that you yourself feel this way, it might be worth considering the following actions:
Travel
The act of traveling itself can often be quite a tiring one. Long flights, trains and taxi’s can often lead you to feel much more drained than you might have originally thought. Some people are fearful of planes, meaning that driving to a location or taking other transport could be a much longer affair. However, travel can be a positive experience if you let it. Instead of feeling the rush to head to your new location in a matter of hours, it could be that you make the journey part of the travel, even affording yourself an extra few days or simply making it part of the vacation.
You might decide to head for the more scenic route. It might be you rent a car and drive down the fame highways of the European country you now inhabit. With the right road partner, this could be excellent. It might simply be taking a new form of transport, such as a boat instead of a plane. It might be summing up the courage to travel via plane for the first time in your life, and allowing yourself to feel victory in overcoming that. People often consider traveling to a destination as one of the more boring and challenging parts of a trip. If you plan accordingly, you can make this part of the entire experience, and something to absolutely cherish. So why not try?
Companionship
We all need positive companionship no matter where we go. Without potentially insulting your family or friends, might it be that certain people are less enjoyable to head on vacation with? If you’ve noticed you travel with your extended family and circumstances always seem to devolve into an argument, might you just go with your romantic partner instead?
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll no doubt understand the beauty of traveling alone, and some of the wonder this could help you experience on a one to one basis. Sometimes, it might be that heading on your own personal adventure, exploring at your own pace in directions you deem suitable, could be your best method of finding an experience you’ll remember for years to come.
Celebrations
Celebrating something can be an excellent motivator to get up and finally travel after some time. For example, it might be that you have recently become engaged, or that you have passed your finals to qualify you for a lucrative job. No matter what you have achieved, or how fortunately fate has shined down upon you, you can bet that you’ll be in the mood to celebrate when that positivity comes to pass.
Starting a new chapter of life or celebrating an achievement can be best done when coupled with adventure, with a new, refreshing experience to tell. Heading abroad, even to well known party locations, can help you break the seal of your lack of travel and help you benefit in the future. This might mean heading to locations you might not have considered, to conduct new activities you might have kept at arms length, among many other things. If you can sum up the bravery to ask someone to marry you, scuba diving is likely no problem at all.
Living
Many people find travel ennui because of the fairly accellerated nature in which it is likely conducted. If it takes a few days to travel somewhere, and then you only have around ten days to experience the location, you are always aware of time slipping before you have to return home to your normal life. This can put people off, especially those who might not want to spend on a temporary experience. Of course, purchasing an experience is perhaps the wisest thing you can do with your money, but some people feel otherwise.
However, travel is not simply a one and done scenario. You can absolutely decide to find a more permanent or semi-permanent solution by orchestrating matters to live abroad for a matter of months or even years.
To do this is more than feasible, as there are amazing properties in areas like Indonesia –https://www.rumah.com/rumah-
Peace & Quiet
It might be that you need a mental refresher. This isn’t a bad thing – more people could absolutely do with one. Traveling to a peaceful location can help you get your thoughts in order, to rectify your understanding of something, to reflect, and to find peace. It might be you travel to a beautiful peaceful temple district in Japan, or even find comfort in fishing in the rural villages of England. If you live in a highly populated country or city, you likely know just how frantic life can get. Consider the opportunity for peace to be one of the main drivers here, and you can potentially experience life at its best – slow, relaxed and observant.
Travel ennui is real, and can sometimes be debilitating. With these simple remedies, you are sure to find a natural solution.
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7 Tips To Write An Extraordinary Best Man Speech
Has your best friend bestowed upon you an incomparable honour? Being a best man ain’t easy, mate!
The responsibilities of a best man are endless. He is not just the right hand of the groom but a part-wedding organiser too. He has to find the best venue for the wedding, help the groom with his clothes and wedding vows, invite the guests and make sure the cake & band reach on time.
The two responsibilities that a best man often forgets are as follows:
- Stag do
He is expected to throw an unforgettable single life farewell party to his mate. Finding the best UK stag do locations is not the only complicated task; booking the right attractions and activities is equally confusing and time-consuming. You need to make sure you don’t mess up the most excited pre-wedding moments of your best mate’s life!
- Best man speech
Writing a speech for your lad requires time and efforts. He should feel special and loved when he listens to the wonderful emotions and memories that you are planning to share on his wedding day.
Read on to know how to write a hilarious, yet emotional speech for your best mate:
Plan ahead
As already mentioned above, you need to allocate a considerable amount of time to write the speech. Plan in advance what you would like to share with everyone because it cannot be something offensive or too personal to him. Writing off the bat might make it either too boring for the guests or too offensive for the bride and groom. Discuss with other lads about the structure and memories to make sure you don’t cross any boundaries. Expert advice- Don’t speak much about the bride or her guests.
Add humour to the recipe
The speech does not have to be all emotional or informative; it needs to entertain the guests as well. You have to remember snippets that you can share with everyone to make them laugh out loud; even the bride and groom. It will lighten up their mood; lowering the stress of their big day. Expert advice- Jokes, old memories and made-up moments should be added to the lot.
Showcase love
Some love should accompany the laughter as well. You know he deserves all the happiness in the world; try to say it out loud too. Don’t feel shy about sharing your love for him in front of everyone. It should be intense enough to make the bride jealous!
Have a killer opening and closing verse
The speech should have a killer opening and closing verse to have maximum impact on the guests. You need to target the groom in every line to keep everyone entertained. Don’t hold back!
Size matters!
Yes, the length of the speech matters! You have to make sure that you don’t bore the audience or delay any other planned activity, like band performance or dinner. Keeping it short and crisp or long and informative is not the right answer. Keep it long enough to entertain everyone and short enough to finish on time.
Practice
Practice multiple times before the actual day to make sure you don’t mumble at the right moment. It will also help you keep a tab on the timing and accordingly, you can adjust the length of the speech. Ask your buds to listen and give inputs to improve the humour in the bit.
Have a plan B
Not everything goes as planned. Better learn it here than to experience at the wrong moment. Always have a contingency plan! Make copies of your speech to avoid forgetting it at your place, and also have some spare lines to add if the moment demands it. In any case, better to be prepared than be sorry later on.
Be it the wedding preps or the speech or even the stag do; your mate relies on you for an unforgettable experience.
Plan it well! Give him your best!
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Luxury Travel Tips For The Digital Nomad
The world as we know it is changing, not least with regards to work and travel. The online arena has opened the door to an array of new opportunities. This has seen the travelling digital nomad become a growing phenomenon.
A digital nomad is essentially someone that travels around the world, working for clients via the internet. Their works could involve anything from accounting to web design. In many cases, individuals will work for the same clients again and again. This creates a work situation that’s as stable as standard employment, only with all the freedom of being able to travel.
It’s certainly an attractive way of life for thousands of millennials. Still, it’s imperative that the right steps are taken to promote a luxury lifestyle. Follow these top 10 tips, and you won’t go far wrong.
#1. Always Travel In Style
A digital nomad may travel to new locations every few days. However, even if you wish to stay in a specific location for weeks or months, it’s important to get the travel aspects right. When the journey is uncomfortable or inadequate, your enthusiasm will fade. In addition to feeling drained, you’ll be left dreading the return journey.
If travelling long distances, breaking up the journey can be highly beneficial. In fact, you may even want to turn the stop-off into a short adventure in itself. Alternatively, though, you could like a private chartered plane for the truly luxurious feel. Whichever option you take, the time of day you fly is crucial.
Packing a few travel essentials to make the time fly on those long journeys is pivotal too, especially if you have internal legs to consider.
#2. Hire A Car
The quality of public transport infrastructures can fluctuate from one destination to the next. Still, if you wish to enjoy a slice of the good life, you’ll want to avoid it where possible. After all, the luxurious atmosphere is soon lost when you’re stuck on a hot and sweaty bus that turned up an hour late.
Finding a luxury holiday rental car is easy, and will leave you prepared for short stays in new locations. When planning to spend a little longer in a destination, you may wish to lease a car for a few months. In either scenario, a good quality vehicle is essential.
It’s always worth downloading Uber or similar Apps too for when you’re out without the car. This mode of transport is far quicker and more comfortable.
#3. Opt For Hot Climates
Let’s face it; working from a beachside bar with the backdrop of sea and sand will be very calming indeed. Better still, once work is finished, you’ll be ready to enjoy the sun. Whether you’re travelling solo, with a friend, or as a family doesn’t matter. This will always be far more enjoyable than sitting indoors after work due to the rain.
Days off will be far more enjoyable when you have water parks and similar amusements to enjoy. Besides, this it’s often easier to meet new people when the weather is nice. For starters, there are more people around. Secondly, everyone will be in a far happier mood.
Simply spending your days in shorts and a t-shirt will be put a smile on your face. If this doesn’t help you appreciate the benefits of not being stuck in your old job, what will?
#4. Stay In Luxury
Accommodation choices are crucial for any adventure, even when it’s only a weekend city break. As a digital nomad, it’s even more significant as failure to get this right will inevitably start to take its toll after a few weeks. In truth, the longer you plan to stay in a specific location, the more important this element becomes.
Luxury doesn’t always have to come at a premium cost. While staying in a hotel may seem great at the start, nothing beats the homely vibe. Whether it’s finding a flat for rent in Singapore or a rental villa in Spain, the privacy is vital. In many cases, the location will be far more suitable too, especially if you want to see the authentic culture.
When your daily home life is comfortable, you’ll be more productive at work and happier during leisure activities. Frankly, that won’t change regardless of where you live.
#5. Plan Day Trips
As the old cliché states; all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. Wherever you decide to base your new adventures, there will be plenty of things to see and do. Unfortunately, enjoying an extended amount of time in this destination makes it easier to keep putting those visits off.
However, getting out there to enjoy everything this location has to offer is essential. Guidebooks and travel sites can inform you about the local tourist attractions. Online resources like Time Out can teach you about all the various ongoings, and cultural events. Of course, the exact research tools will depend largely on your temporary city. Local people will provide great insight too.
Creating magical memories is the most important part of any trip, luxurious or otherwise. Do not forget it for a second.
#6. Seek Financial Benefits
One of the best things about being a digital nomad is that you can charge clients the same cost irrespective of where you are temporarily based. Therefore, to make the most of this, you should aim to find a location where the cost of living is less than back home.
When you spend less money in day-to-day life, you’ll be able to enjoy greater luxury. Moreover, funds can be saved to help you buy a house whenever you eventually find the place to settle. With bank balances increasing in spite of enjoying the perfect life, you’ll feel a massive sense of grandeur. Besides, removing those financial fears can only have a positive impact on your world.
You might do this for every destination, but keeping it in mind for the majority of your adventures will serve you well.
#7. Eat Well
Even if your bank balance can afford it, you probably won’t want to eat out every night. Besides, those travel adventures are an excellent opportunity to learn new culinary skills. Nonetheless, nothing screams luxury like a Michelin star meal in a venue that takes your breath away.
A meal cooked by online sensation Salt Bae or other famous chefs is a moment you won’t forget. Meanwhile, underwater restaurants in the Maldives and other exotic locations provide stunning experiences. As long as you don’t go OTT on the frequency of eating out at classy places, you’ll be sure to enjoy the luxury vibes again and again.
It may seem like a simple gesture of luxury. But, like many things in life, the small ideas often make the most significant impact.
#8. Find A Sky Bar
On a similar theme, finding a sky bar can be a great way to feel like you’re getting the VIP treatment. Many hotels have sky bars overlooking the surrounding area. Better still, you don’t always need to be a guest to gain access. After all, they’ll be making money off of your bar bill.
Aside from being the perfect way to enjoy the weather and the backdrops, this can be the ideal place for work. Most good hotels are blessed with good Wi-Fi signals, although you can always tether your MacBook to your iPhone. Just make sure you’ve told your service provider about your plans or buy a local SIM. Otherwise, roaming charges could be huge.
It really is difficult to beat the luxury of being up on the roof while sipping a cold drink and casually completing your work. Nevertheless, we may have found one solution.
#9. Enjoy Luxury Excursions & Tours
When you picture the A-list celebs or the millionaire entrepreneurs living in luxury, what do you see? If your answer included them sitting on a yacht, you’re not alone. This is the ultimate vision of luxury, and you enjoy it for yourself. Even if it’s only for a few hours, this will provide the luxury experiences you crave. And the photographs to back it up.
It’s unlikely that you are going to rent a luxury boat all to yourself, but you can still enjoy various cruises at sea. If this isn’t your cup of tea, then why not consider helicopter rides to overlook the city. Depending on the location luxury 4×4 cruises to the desert can be another popular option. The possibilities are almost endless.
This slice of luxury needn’t cost as much as you might fear, especially if you’re a master of haggling. Aim to do it at least once in each location.
#10. Do Things Your Way
Above all else, you should do things your way. It doesn’t matter how stylish a particular idea may seem. If it fails to put a smile on your face, it is a waste of time and money. You could be spending this time doing something productive (work) or enjoyable.
The whole point of being a digital nomad is that you can have life on your terms. Cherish it at every moment.
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How to Stay Happy and Balanced while Studying for a College Degree
Millions of people go to college to study for a degree or higher degree. A college education is seen as the best way to boost your earning potential and unlock doors into a career where you can potentially enjoy a job for life. Colleges tell prospective students how much fun they are going to have and the whole college experience is a non-stop party. They also tell them that although the work may be tough, the college years are the best years of your life!
All of these things are true for some students, but as many students subsequently find out, going to college is not always as easy as colleges make out. The combination of being away from home, trying to make new friends, and learning tough new material proves to be toxic for some students. Most settle within a month or two, but some can’t cope and end up dropping out.
Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take to prevent this from happening to you or your child. Here are a few things we recommend that you do to make the transition from school to college a bit easier.
Choose the Right Degree Course
College is hard enough, so you really need to love your major if the experience is to be a positive one. Do not rush into choosing a major without giving the matter some serious thought. Just because someone else thinks the course is perfect for you, it doesn’t mean they are right. Study a subject you are happy with and if it turns out to be a bad choice, look at switching to a different major.
Study Online
There is no law that says you have to enroll on a traditional campus-based university. Online courses are just as good these days, so if you want to be a counselor, look into studying for an online masters in counseling. A masters of counseling online is flexible, and you can continue living at home and enjoying extra support with your studies. Online degrees are also cheaper, which in this day and age makes a big difference.
Try Extra Curricular Activities
It can be hard to make friends if you are shy and introverted, but unless you make an effort to put yourself out there, you will struggle to make connections. Colleges have plenty of clubs and groups for people with similar interests. You could even try finding some school trips to London, and make suggestions for your societies and classes to travel. This will help to bring you all as you can share some wonderful experiences abroad as a class. Try and join at least two when you start college, even if you are shy. And remember, everyone else is in the same boat as you, so just because they look super confident, it doesn’t mean they aren’t faking it!
Eat a Healthy Diet
You won’t have much money, but nevertheless, try to eat healthy food while you are at college. The better your diet is, the easier it will be to keep your weight under control and your immune system in good working order.
Lastly, make sure you get enough sleep, as a lack of sleep could adversely affect your mental health.
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How to bring fun back to travel
As a travel blogger, I’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the most beautiful places in the world. But, like most travel bloggers, I’ve struggled with travel burnout. When you’re constantly dealing with jetlag, airport security, and packing and unpacking your clothes, it can be easy to feel like travel is a chore.
This doesn’t mean I’m complaining- I still have one of the best jobs in the world. But if you can relate to this, I’ve got some tips to help you bring the fun back to travel:
Plan ahead
If you’re someone who likes to fly by the seat of your pants while travelling, this may sound rather boring. And I used to be like this too. But then I discovered that the best way to take a large portion of the stress out of travel was to do the hard yards. That meant figuring out how I would get from the airport to my hotel at my new destination, arranging accommodation in advance if I knew I would be in an area for a while, and looking up some of the top attractions in the area so I already knew what kinds of things I’d like to do once I arrived. All of a sudden, travel was less stressful and more fun. Who knew?
Take travel insurance
You know what’s not fun? Worrying about your electronics when you’re in a public place as you can’t afford to have them stolen and you don’t have any insurance. You know what’s even less fun? Getting sick and wondering if you can afford to see a local doctor, or whether you should just tough it out.
Once I made travel insurance a non-negotiable, I enjoyed way more peace of mind. All of a sudden I had a back-up plan, and I knew I would always be ok if I was seriously sick or injured overseas. Do yourself a favour and compare travel insurance with Webjet before your next flight.
Choose your trip
While I’m a big fan of getting off the beaten path, sometimes you just want to lie in the sun with a good book. These days, if you’re not hiking the Inca Trail or getting food poisoning in Cambodia, you’re not truly “travelling.” Once I stopped caring what others thought about my travel plans, I began to book trips that I was truly looking forward to. One of these was a 10-day trip in Mexico where I consumed far too many margaritas and put my back out while reaching for my drink. Another is a cruise I’ll be going on later this year. If this sounds like you, check out Webjet cruise deals.
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Three Top Tips to Keep Your Home Safe and Secure whilst You’re Travelling
The start of the year is when a lot of us like to book our holidays. With the grey days of winter hanging over us like a dark cloud, the soft drizzle of rain wetting our cheeks whenever we step outside the house, and the anti-climax that always follows Christmas and New Year, it’s nice to give yourself something to look forward to, and some time away is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Once you have your holiday booked, it’s never too early to start planning your time away, from your wardrobe choices through to who you’ll entrust with the care of your pets. One of your most important considerations will be how to keep your house safe and secure, and you can organise this in advance too.
If you need to keep your home protected whilst you’re away, whether you’re travelling in the dreary days of March or the blazing sunshine of June, here are three top tips to help you…
#1: Organise Someone to Visit Your Property
There will always be opportunists who strike when the time is right, but most career thieves are a little more cautious. Crime prevention surveys have shown that the majority of offenders perform some surveillance before committing a burglary, so one of the best ways to deter them is to leave behind subtle signs that your home is occupied. The simplest way to do this is to have someone visiting daily. Ask them to open or close a different set of curtains each time they stop by, or else to move your bins from one location to another. Provided that it looks like there is someone in residence, your home should be no more at risk than it is when you’re around. If you are going away for an extended period of time, you could try and find some vacant property security. This will put your mind at ease and allow you to enjoy your holiday a lot more.
#2: Create Deterrents
As we explained above, most burglaries are not opportunistic, so if you can make your home seem like it’s more effort than it’s worth to break into, then this should act as a fantastic deterrent. The longer it would take a thief to gain access, the better, so take the time to ensure that all of your doors and windows are fitted with strong locks, along with your garage doors and garden gates. Floodlights and visible alarm systems will also make your home much harder to sneak into, so it may be a good idea to invest in these before you go. You might want to take a look at this article from HomeLet for some more in-depth ideas.
#3: Ensure that Your Insurance Will Cover You
As a closing precaution, you ought to ensure that you have adequate insurance cover in place should the worst happen. It’s a good idea to look for a comprehensive policy, preferably one that will cover you for contents too. Be sure to read the small print before you make any final decisions, so that you can fly away knowing that you have a backup plan in place in the event of your home being burgled.
Make sure that you can enjoy your holiday to the fullest by following these three top tips today, and ensuring that your home will be safe and secure whilst you’re living it up abroad.
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Becoming a landlord? Here are some tips
If you’ll soon become a landlord, congratulations! Even if you have bad credit it may help getting a mortgage with bad credit, as this will help you get on the property ladder. Property is an excellent investment, and while there are a lot of things to think about, having tenants paying off our mortgage is a great feeling.
HomeLet has created an ebook which deals with many of the recent changes to the rental market, including tips for both landlords and tenants.
Here are a few things to think about:
Think about your ideal tenant
While it’s easy to look at your property and imagine whether you would like to live there, you’ll need to decide who your ideal tenants are, and put yourselves in their shoes.
if you’re aiming to let to students, the property will need to be comfortable and easy to clean. They also often expect the property to at least have basic furniture as they may not have bought this themselves yet.
If you’re aiming for young professionals, they’re likely to like it to be stylish and modern, but they also won’t want it to quickly date.
Families will have their own furniture and belongings and are more likely to want a blank canvas.
Screen your tenants
This can seem unnecessary, particularly if you’ve met your potential tenants and they seem great. Unfortunately, though, failing to screen tenants is something that costs landlords the most money. You should definitely be asking for references so you can see that they’ve paid their rent and haven’t caused problems in the past.
Get landlords insurance
Landlords insurance will cover you for a number of things, including if the tenants stop paying rent, they damage the property, or you have a fire or flood in the house. It’s easy to compare landlord insurance to see how much you would need to pay and what would be covered, and the peace of mind you’ll have will be well worth it.
Be responsive
If you’re not using a company to manage your tenants, it’s your job to be responsive. If you lose tenants because you haven’t looked after them, you may find yourself floundering as you try to fill the gap. This can also mean that your yearly returns disappear. Your tenants need to know that if they have a problem it will quickly be resolved and they can pick up a phone and speak with someone who will help them get sorted.
Have a tenancy agreement
Your tenancy agreement will need to comply with all recent legislation, and should set out all of the obligations for your tenants, along with your rights and responsibilities. Your tenants need to sign this before moving in, and should also be provided with a copy.
Know your tenants
It’s a good idea to ask your tenants their goals before you sign with them. We learned this the hard way when our tenants moved out to buy their own property- something we weren’t expecting. By getting a feel for how long your tenants will be staying you can then plan accordingly.
Renting can be a difficult challenge, but check out Flybyblog for more tips on how to make the most of your investment property.
