Italy Travel

Italy Travel Information | Lonely Planet Destination Guide worldguide | shop | thorn tree forum | travel services | travel ticker | theme guides | on the road | postcards | travel links : Explore Italy Italy La Dolce Vita has never been sweeter. At a Glance Fast Facts WORLDGUIDE Introduction Background Info See Image Gallery Events Transport Money General RELATED Thorn Tree Forum Postcards Travel Links More Places Check out our other destinations: Within Italy Bologna Cinque Terre Florence Milan Naples Rome Sorrento Turin Venice View Map Click here Feature Attraction Mt Etna Dominating the landscape in eastern Sicily, Mt Etna (3350m/12730ft) is Europe's largest live volcano and one of the world's most active. Eruptions occur ... more Europe's kinky over-the-knee boot has it all: popes, painters, polenta, paramours, poets, political puerility and potentates. Its dreamy light and sumptuous landscapes seem made for romance, and its three millennia of history, culture and cuisine seduces just about everyone. You can visit Roman ruins, gawk at Renaissance art, stay in tiny medieval hill towns, go skiing in the Alps, explore the canals of Venice and gaze at beautiful churches. Naturally you can also indulge in the pleasures of la dolce vita : good food, good wine and improving your wardrobe. When To Go Italy is at its best in spring (April-May) and autumn (October-November). During these seasons, the scenery is beautiful, the temperatures are pleasant and there are relatively few crowds. Try to avoid August, as this is the time that most Italians take their vacations, and many shops and businesses are closed as a result. Factoid Relax! Eat! In a world of fast food you may be pleased to hear that Italy is the international headquarters of the Slow Food Movement, an organisation dedicated to the unhurried eating and drinking of high quality, reasonably priced foods and drinks made using fresh (often organic), locally sourced ingredients. SPONSORED LINKS Enquire Accomodation Reviews Find Lonely Planet author reviewed places to stay * Required Fields Country * Please select Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada China Cuba Czech Republic Denmark Egypt England Estonia Finland France Germany Hungary Iceland India Ireland Israel & the Palestinian Territories Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Poland Portugal Russia Scotland South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey USA United Arab Emirates Vietnam City * Please select Travel Services · Flights · Hostels · Hotels · Travel Insurance More Services › Disclaimer: We've tried to make theinformation on this web site as accurate as possible, but it isprovided 'as is' and we accept no responsibility for any loss, injuryor inconvenience sustained by anyone resulting from this information.You should verify critical information (like visas, health and safety,customs and transportation) with the relevant authorities before youtravel. text & images © lonely planet 2005 about us | privacy | feedback | advertising FAQs worldguide | shop | thorn tree forum | travel services | travel ticker | theme guides | on the road | postcards | travel links

Disney Vacation Other Disney

MouseSavers.com - Ways to Save for Your Disney Vacation Great deals on all things Disney! Find out how to save on: Walt Disney World Disneyland Disney Cruise Line Transportation for Your Disney Vacation Other Disney Travel Savings Discount Disney Shopping Mall Live Disney Shows Disney Freebies Disneyland Resort Paris Disney Parks in Asia Disney's Vero Beach/Hilton Head Non-Disney Theme Parks & Attractions More information: About MouseSavers Frequently Asked Questions Trip Reports and Articles Links Testimonials Privacy Policy & Legal Stuff Contact Mary Ways to Save for Your Disney Vacation Jump to: Vacation Savings Account Other Ways to Save in Small Increments More Tips and Tricks Vacation Savings Account One of the best and smartest ways to save for a Disney vacation is to open a separate savings account specifically for your vacation fund. If at all possible, jump-start the account with a lump sum, such as a tax refund. Have a certain amount auto-debited from your paychecks and deposited directly into that savings account. That way you never see the money, so there is less temptation to spend it. And of course you'll be earning interest! If you put $25 a week into your vacation account and earn 2% interest compounded daily, you'll have $1337 in the account a year after you start saving, and $2677 in two years. If you're able to "jump start" the account with $500 and then add that $25 a week at 2% interest, you'll have $1847 in your account a year after you start saving, and $3197 in two years. By the way, it is very worthwhile to shop around for the best banking deal . The best I've found is the Orange Savings Account from ING Direct . I have one of these accounts myself. You can open one in 5 minutes or less and transfer money into it electronically. The ING account pays a variable 3.75% Annual Percentage Yield on savings with no minimum deposit and no hidden fees or service charges. (Compare this with what your bank or credit union pays on savings accounts. I predict you'll be amazed.) It's FDIC insured. You can easily set up an automatic savings plan with this account. Other Ways to Save in Small Increments Here are some additional, relatively painless tricks people use to get themselves to save. It's all about setting priorities -- and in some cases, tricking yourself into saving. What works for one person, won't work for another. Try one, or try 'em all. Remember, every penny helps! Buy US Savings Bonds You can purchase them online and spend as little as $25 each time. US Savings Bonds must be held for at least 1 year before you can cash them in. There is a 3-month interest penalty if you cash an EE or I Bond within the first five years from its issue date. There is no penalty for cashing EE or I Bonds that are at least five years old. Bonds pay very good interest compared with a regular savings account and since they are issued by the government, they are an extremely safe investment. Buy Disney Dollars Personally I would never use this method because it doesn't earn interest, but some people find it very helpful because you can't spend Disney Dollars anywhere but Disney! Disney Dollars are "cash equivalents." One Disney Dollar = one US dollar, and you can buy any even dollar amount, so for example if you have $31 saved you can buy that amount in Disney Dollars. You can also give your children Disney Dollars for birthdays and holidays, and ask relatives to do the same, so the kids will have their own spending money for the next Disney vacation. Disney Dollars can be purchased at any Disney Store or Disney theme park, or through Walt Disney World Mail Order at (407) 363-6200. The Change Jar Make a rule that you never spend coins. Save all your pocket change and throw it in a big jar. Label the jar (i.e. "Our Disney Vacation") to remind your of your goal. Periodically you can roll the coins and see how much you have. (This is a great job for kids.) Once it's rolled, put it in your vacation savings account. If you don't want to roll the change, see if your bank takes unrolled change . Some banks have change-counting machines and they'll count your coins for free or for a very small fee. There are CoinStar machines in many grocery stores that will allow you to dump in a ton of change and get a slip redeemable for bills at the cashier, but you'll pay a hefty premium (somewhere around 9%) for the service; if you do this, at least pluck out the quarters and roll those! Variations on the change jar: Never spend quarters , or never spend dollar bills . Put those in the jar. Checkbook Games When writing a check, round up your checkbook entry to the nearest dollar. For instance, if you write a check for $57.12, record it in your checkbook as $58. Not only does this help you prevent overdrafts, it also means you're accumulating a little extra in your account every time you write a check. Another good thing about this method is that you're earning interest on that extra money, assuming you have an interest-bearing checking account. Round down your deposit entries to the nearest dollar. For instance, if you deposit $300.91, record it as $300. Again, you're accumulating a little extra "ghost" money in your account. A variation on the checkbook rounding method: charge yourself a dollar every time you write a check, plus round up . So if the check was for $47.39, round it up to $48 and add a dollar, making the entry in your checkbook $49. Another variation on the checkbook rounding method: round up to the nearest five dollars . So if the check was for $52.23, round it up to $55. If it was for $9.51, round it up to $10. More Tips and Tricks If a payment ends, keep making it -- to yourself! For instance, if you pay off a car or a credit card, keep making that payment, but instead write the check to yourself and deposit it into your vacation savings account. Make a rule that "found" money goes in the vacation fund. For instance, if you get a rebate, tax refund, gift check or work bonus, deposit it in the vacation account. Give yourself an allowance for cash expenditures (i.e. groceries, gas, meals out, entertainment, etc.) and make a game of seeing how much of your allowance you can NOT spend. Anything left over at the end of the week (or month) goes into the vacation fund. Charge everything to Disney's Visa or a cash-back credit card and pay the card off each month. (Only do this if you can handle the temptation to overspend on plastic, and if you really will pay the balance off every single month. If you won't pay it off monthly, this is a bad idea.) Use the Disney Dream Reward Dollars or cash-back bonus toward your vacation. Cut out one small daily expense and put the money you're saving into your vacation fund. The savings can really add up. If you save $1 a day on something you buy at work, and you work 5 days a week x 50 weeks, that's $250 a year! For example: If you drink a cafe latte every morning, buy a travel mug and fill it with strong coffee and hot milk at home instead. If you usually eat lunch out or buy lunch at a deli, try bringing lunch from home at least 2 or 3 days a week. If you just can't get it together to make a lunch, at least try bringing a can of soda from home instead of buying one at the deli or out of a machine. Bring a snack from home instead of hitting the vending machines. Giving up smoking may save you enough money in a year to fund a family vacation. I'm not kidding! If you're smoking a pack a day, you're spending at least $800 a year on cigarettes. In places with high tobacco taxes, you're spending $1600 or more. Ask your family to help you save. Often children aren't very aware of how much small expenses can add up over time. If you point out that every nickel they can save the household will get them closer to seeing Mickey, they may surprise you! Solicit their ideas and suggestions, and then agree to put aside what you've saved for your vacation fund. Be sure you have a plan for keeping the saved money separate, so that it doesn't get spent elsewhere. That might mean writing a check for the amount of money saved and depositing it into your vacation account, or putting that amount of cash into the change jar. Whatever it is, do it consistently. Here are a few ideas your family might consider: Spend less on entertainment. Borrow videos from your public library instead of the video store: most public libraries offer this service for little or no cost. Instead of going to the movies, check the newspaper for free local family entertainment and events, or have a family game night. Eat out less. Face it, cooking every night can be tiring and a drag, and that leads to eating out, which is much more expensive. So find a way to avoid this. Think up something you can make in the crockpot one night a week instead of getting takeout. Or turn cooking into a fun project once a week -- for instance, make a pizza with the kids instead of ordering one. Use grocery store coupons. Particularly if you live in an area like Southern California, where the major supermarkets will double the value of manufacturer's coupons, you can't afford NOT to clip coupons out of the Sunday paper! I do this, combined with buying sale items and seasonal produce, and frequently save 40% or more on my grocery bill. Seriously, 15 minutes of effort and a $5 coupon organizer can save you an amazing amount of money. Kids who are old enough to use scissors can certainly cut out coupons. Older kids can also sort and file coupons in your coupon organizer. Sell your junk. Have a big garage sale. Take still-in-fashion clothes to a consignment shop. Sell unwanted books, CDs, movies and collectibles you no longer want on eBay . You'd be amazed at what your old stuff may bring. Don't assume no one wants it. (I once sold a ratty bathmat the dog had chewed up, which I was using as a rag, for a quarter. It wasn't even part of my garage sale -- someone just noticed it lying on the ground and offered me money for it!) If you are a family of recreational shoppers, start going to garage sales, consignment shops and thrift stores instead of the mall. One person's trash is another's treasure, remember? There is often good stuff to be had at these places! Take a certain amount of cash and don't spend more. You'll get the thrill of the hunt and the thrill of the bargain, but for much less than a trip to the mall. Shop around on your insurance at least once a year. It's remarkable how much you can save. Rates for an identical auto insurance policy can vary from one company to another by as much as 100%! An easy way to shop around is to use an online site such as InsureMe.com , which will get you quotes from several insurance companies. I used this site to shop for life insurance and ended up with a great deal from a top-rated company. Evaluate your spending on cable television and telephone services. Maybe you don't really need extended cable or call waiting. Check rates to be sure you're not paying more than you have to for long distance calls. I've used OPEX as my long distance carrier for several years. I have tried AT&T, Sprint, MCI and others in the past, and this company is just as good... for only 3.9 cents per minute! To compare long distance rates, you can use a site like longdistanceworld.com . Get everyone to turn out the lights when no one is in the room, and turn off TVs, radios and computer equipment when they're not in use. Fix dripping faucets and leaking toilets. These measures may only save you a buck or two a month on your utility bills, but it all adds up. Encourage "gifts of love" instead of store-bought gifts. For instance, give each other certificates for back rubs, car washes, and other kind gestures that cost you nothing but your time and effort. Or set a low limit (like $5) on gifts and see how creative you can get. Back to the home page Back to top Content of MouseSavers.com is © Mary Waring & MouseSavers 2001-2005. No part of this website may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

Russia Travel Resources >

St Petersburg, Russia City Profile  You are here: About > Travel > Eastern Europe for Visitors > Russia-Belarus-Ukraine > Russia Travel Resources > Cities & Destinations > St Petersburg, Russia City Profile Travel Go Eastern Europe Essentials Best of Eastern Europe Map of Central/Eastern Europe Photo Gallery Country Profiles Discount Travel Websites Articles & Resources Planning Your Trip Ways to Travel What to Do in East Europe Maps for Eastern Europe Czech-SlovakTravel Hungary Travel Poland Travel Russia-Belarus-Ukraine Romania-Moldova Travel Baltic Travel Balkan Travel Culture and Holidays Photo Galleries East Europe Travel and Language Books Forums Help FREE Newsletter Sign Up Now for the Eastern Europe for Visitors newsletter! See Online Courses   Search Eastern Europe for Visitors Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, Russia M. Schumacher Stay up to date! Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, Russia M. Schumacher Email to a friend Print this page Elsewhere on the Web Russian Tourist Office St Petersburg Guide Aeroflot Suggested Reading St Petersburg's 300 Candles General Travel Info for Russia Healthy Travel in Eastern Europe Most Popular First Christmas Tree Europe map Best of Eastern Europe Croatia Naturism and Nudism Discount Travel Websites What's Hot Krakow Photo Gallery Profiles of Eastern Europe Moscow City Profile Czech Republic Photo Gallery - Charles Bridge and castle Sofia's Religous Buildings Related Topics Hotels / Resorts / Inns European History Architecture Air Travel Europe for Visitors City Profile for Travelers to Eastern Europe From Apply Now , Your Guide to Eastern Europe for Visitors . FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now! St Petersburg, Russia St. Petersburg of the Russian Federation is a city of turbulent history and the keeper of much Russian culture, art and architecture. Founded 300 years ago by Peter the Great as a port city on the Baltic Sea, the city was the seat of the tsars until Nicolas II was dethroned in 1917. Located in the northwest corner of Russia (get a map of Russia) (bordering on Finland, several hundred miles northwest of Moscow, St. Petersburg is a traveler’s delight, famous for its summertime White Nights, its famous old city section, beautiful buildings on the banks of the Neva River, and its many churches, museums, gardens, theaters and activities. St. Petersburg is home to the State Hermitage Museum, the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theater, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and the palace of Peter the Great. The city hosts annual art exhibits and music and film festivals, including the Viva Russian Cinema festival. Nevsky Prospekt is the main thoroughfare that runs through the heart of the city and is also the area of most interest to tourists, with palaces, gardens, churches and museums in the vicinity. Getting There and Getting Around Aeroflot Russian Airlines Consolidated airline tickets Public transportation Things to Do and See Museums State Hermitage Museum Nightclubs Shopping Sightseeing Walking tour Maps of Main Tourist Areas Nevsky Prospekt (half) Nevsky Prospekt (second half) Map of embankment area Practical Information Profile of Russia (general travel information) Visas (you need one for travel to Russia) Visa process Hotels sorted by price range Bed and Breakfasts Restaurants great list, sorted by location and type Russia Travel Guide Index Profile of Russia City Profile: Moscow City Profile: St. Petersburg Before You Go Need to Know Money Matters Intercity Travel City Transit Driving Health and Safety Lodging Dining and Drinking Communications Shopping        Topic Index | Email to a Friend Our Story | Be a Guide | Advertising Info | Work at About | Site Map | Icons | Help User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy | Kids' Privacy Policy ©2005 About, Inc., A part of the New York Times Company . All rights reserved. Around About New Video iPod - Review POLL: Must-Have Gadgets VIDEO: Portable Gaming VIDEO: Choosing a TV Hugh Hefner's Life What's Hot Krakow Photo Gallery Profiles of Eastern Europe Moscow City Profile Czech Republic Photo Gallery - Charles Bridge and castle Sofia's Religous Buildings

Travel Advice UK Embassies

Foreign & Commonwealth Office Home Most popular sections... Careers with the FCO Country Profiles FCO Strategy Foreign Embassies in the UK Latest News Links Travel Advice UK Embassies Overseas UKVisas i-uk.com The purpose of the FCO is to work for UK interests in a safe, just and prosperous world. We do this with some 16,000 staff, based in the UK and our overseas network of over 200 diplomatic offices. ANNIVERSARY OF INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI – MESSAGE FROM JACK STRAW(26/12/05) 'I would like to express the government's, and my own, sympathy to those who have suffered bereavement, injury or trauma due to the terrible events of Boxing Day 2004', said Jack Straw, in a statement issued on the anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. More... 'THE CENTRAL ROLE THAT MUSLIMS PLAY IN THIS COUNTRY' - STRAW, LAUNCH OF HAJJ 2006(20/12/05) 'I believe that there is a shared sense of community in Britain', said Jack Straw, at the launch of the seventh Hajj Delegation. Mr Straw said that the Hajj 'highlights the extent to which we in Britain live in a truly multi-cultural multi-religious society' and is 'a symbol of the central role which Muslims play in the life of this country.' More... Travel Advice: Read the latest updates by country. Photos: See the updated photo library of FCO Ministers. Video: Watch the latest 'Know Before You Go' TV advertisement. BOXING DAY 2004 TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY Our tsunami section has a large amount of information regarding the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, including help for bereaved families and assistance for people thinking of visiting the area. The Foreign Secretary made a statement on 26 December, marking the anniversary of the Tsunami . EU BUDGET PLANS IN DETAIL The UK Presidency has published revised proposals on the Financial Perspectives 2007 - 2013, which have been agreed following the European Council meeting on 15-16 December. For more information visit the UK Presidency of the EU 2005 website. UK Trade & Investment - The Government organisation helping international businesses realise their potential. UKvisas - Delivering a modern visa service. Number Ten website. - The website of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. -- Main switchboard/ General enquiries: 020 7008 1500 Services for Britons Overseas: 020 7008 0210 (office hours only) Travel advice: 0845 850 2829 (BT-4p per min, other networks vary) Visa enquiries: 020 7008 8438

Central America Travel

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