TouristClick

There are a lot of travel site out there but I find very fiew of them special. I recently came across a site, a travel directory, that I really like - http://www.touristclick.com/

The owners not only provide general information (hotels, insurance, air travel, etc.) you can find on other site but also try to attract contributors from all over the world to add to the site. They have a blog directory with blogs from all over the globe, forums for each specific country. The site is also developing a travel photo gallery too.

I also like their section on Special Travel (http://www.touristclick.com/SpecialtaTravel.html) which includes very unique categories such as:
Mystery
Archaeology
Native American
Pilgrimage
Battlefields
Rail
Science
Ecotourism
Supernatural
Working Holidays

and many others.

Everything about global air travel

Now that the holiday season is upon us many will be travelling to visit family and friends around the world and comprehensive information about air travel will be very handy.

There are plenty of sites on the Web with flights information, but Airtimetable ( http://www.airtimetable.com/ ) is a portal with a wide variety of airline and travel information, where you can find everything in one place. You can check routes, compare fares, book a flight, scan airplane seat maps, locate an airport, find a discount airline, read reviews of airline food, track a flight in real time, get a weather report, look at a map, read a guide to your destination, and much more.

Happy and safe travelling!

MegaConverter 2

If you are involved in ANY sort of international activity: business or just travelling you cannot do without this very handy MegaConverter 2 http://www.megaconverter.com/Mega2/

It has hundreds of conversions in areas like chemistry, cooking, currency, dress sizes, engineering, finance, fuel efficiency, lighting, oceans, shoe sizes, and more.

The site also has a scientific calculator that performs operations far beyond adding, multiplying, subtracting or dividing. It calculates logarithms, tangents, random numbers and may other things (if you know what they mean and where to use them :-)

Best world airlines awards 2007

Though summer is over it might still be a good time to go on vacation since airlines will soon start to lower their ticket prices with the beginning of the "off-pick" season.

Here is a good website to check out before flying wherever you go and wherever you live - GLOBALLY: http://www.worldairlineawards.com/ Here you can find information on the best airlines in the world, i.e. you can see who won 2007 World Airline Awards in various categories, such as:
- Airline of the year
- best cabin staff
- best catering
- best lounges
- best business class
- best economy class, etc.

It's interesting to note that most of the best airlines in the world are Asian or Middle Eastern, the majority of the European and U.S. airlines didn't even come close to the top...

And the absolute winner is... Singapore Airlines:

World Maps and more

Whether you are interested in international issues due to the nature of your business, love of travelling, your studies, etc. various maps of the World will come handy.

National Geographic site http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/ has a very good maps resource. There are satellite maps, road maps, and maps with special themes (Weather, Natural Disasters, Population Density, Farming & Natural Resources). The maps are easy to read and show details like vegetation, average temperature, and local habitat in bright colors.

In addition to maps general National Geographic site http://www.nationalgeographic.com/index.html has loads of information about various destinations/countries, nature, global issues, etc.

AllergyFree Passport

Travelling internationally can be very exciting if you are a healthy person and quite miserable if you have any types of food allergies. You might not be able to find the food you used to at home or the labelling on products might be very different which can present a big problem. Even if you think you don't have any food allergies chances are you might try some exotic food in a fancy restaurant on the other side of the world and to find out that, yes, you do have an allergy, hopefully not a severe one.

AllergyFree Passport®, http://www.allergyfreepassport.com/and its affiliate GlutenFree Passport®, http://www.glutenfreepassport.com/ are global consulting firms focused on health education and creators of the award-winning, internationally acclaimed book series, Let's Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free book series. These organizations provide you with wealth of information on allergies and international cuisine both in their books and on their website.

Now they also launched a unique global research study: Understanding Gluten and Allergen-Free Experiences of Guests & Hospitality Worldwide which bridges the gap between allergen-free guests and the restaurants who serve them. Focused on eating out and travel experiences, the ground-breaking study surveys guests living with food allergies, intolerances and celiac/coeliac; as well as the food service and hospitality professionals who cater to them.

Guests and hospitality professionals can participate in this global study by completing one of the 3 surveys that best describes their respective point-of-view.
To be a part of the Understanding Gluten and Allergen-Free Experiences of Guests & Hospitality Worldwide study, individuals and businesses can share their insights by visiting:
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=9fpygdcab.0.cjm8pccab.s79moccab.4789&ts=S0265&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allergenfreeexperiences.com%2F for those managing food allergies
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=9fpygdcab.0.bjm8pccab.s79moccab.4789&ts=S0265&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.glutenfreeexperiences.com%2F for celiacs/coeliacs and the gluten/wheat intolerant
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=9fpygdcab.0.hjm8pccab.s79moccab.4789&ts=S0265&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allergenfreeguests.com%2F or http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=9fpygdcab.0.gjm8pccab.s79moccab.4789&ts=S0265&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.glutenfreeguests.com%2F for hospitality & food service professionals.

Each survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. All feedback is confidential and will not be shared with any third party. Only one submission per e-mail address will be accepted and the survey closes as of 31 August, 2007.

Upon successful submission and if requested, respondents will receive complimentary eating out educational materials and be entered into various prize drawings. In addition, in the fall of 2007, key findings will be sent electronically to participants if requested.

This innovative study should empower individuals with the knowledge to safely and confidently live a better quality of life anywhere in the world. At the same time, businesses can leverage the empirical data to justify new programs and services addressing needs of people with allergies.

Useful sites for Tourism

Though I do talk about International Business a lot (since this is my profession - International Business Consultant :-) I cannot ignore the fact that it is summer now and many people are finally fulfilling their dream of a long vacation. So to help those planning a trip (nationally or internationally) here is a good resource: http://www.everything-about-tourism.com/

It is a centralised directory including information on 70 most popular countries on all 5 continents in various categories: airlines, accommodation, golf, festivals, limousines, discos - anything. When you perform a search the results will bring you Internet links to relevant sites. Very handy "one stop shop" for travellers.

Mauritius

In this abstract I want to continue the tradition of writing stories about countries I visited and this one is about MAURITIUS.

I just wonder how many of my readers even know where this country is... Well, to solve the mystery, it is a small island in the Indian ocean to the east of Madagascar. My personal facination with this country is due to the fact that it is tiny, with not so many natural resources and yet it is one of the best developed countries in Africa.

Here is a short abstract about Mauritius economy from CIA World Factbook: "Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a middle-income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been in the order of 5% to 6%. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25% of export earnings. The government's development strategy centers on expanding local financial institutions and building a domestic information telecommunications industry. Mauritius has attracted more than 9,000 offshore entities, many aimed at commerce in India and South Africa, and investment in the banking sector alone has reached over $1 billion. Mauritius, with its strong textile sector , has been well poised to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act". Just look at the labels on the bunch of your cotton stuff (from underwear to T-shirts to jeans) and you will be surprised how many of them are produced in Mauritius.

But not only that: Mauritus worked hard on developing the tourist sector and having tried the benefits of it myself I can definitely say they did a fantastic job. Finally, Mauritius has established itslef as one of just a handful of diamond cutting places in the world. Graff's diamonds and jewlry manufacturing base is situated in Mauritius. Unfortunately I couldn't afford any of their masterpieces (which they absolutely are!) but I can assure you that I will never forget in my life what I saw in their factory's exhibition hall.

So what I was driving at is my amazement at how this tiny African country somewhere at the End of the World reinvented itself, which is still not possible for a lot of countries on the Black Continent...

In addition to the "economic wonder" Mauritius is a good example of how cultures blend with each other and live happily together. Here you can find strong French, Indian and creole influences and each of them just adds to the beauty and uniqueness of the island.

Finally, there is fascinating nature here: lush tropical vegetation in the wild and in botanic gardens, waterfalls, coloured sands, volcano and of course turquoise lagoons and millions of tropical fish.

To me there is only one definition for Mauritius - it is one of the most Precious Jems in the African crown and I strongly recommend everyone to see it for themselves.

Brunei blog and VISA to Russia

It's fantastic that this blog is starting to get feeds from all of the world! The recent comment from Seemon from Brunei is very valuable. (BTW if you didn't find the address of his blog about Brunei, here it is : http://bruneid.blogspot.com/ )
I knew where Brunei was (geography is one of the important subjects that are taught in Russian schools) but for many it is a mysterios place somewhere on the other side of the world, so there you go - take a glance.

As for the the VISA to Russia question, it was always quite simple for African and Asian nations to get visa to Russia - these were our friends in the time of USSR. Loads of students from these countries studied in the best Universities of Moscow and other major cities. When I travelled to Mauritius (and I will be publishing a story about this facinating land soon) I had to go to a doctor. He spoke perfect Russian because used to study in Moscow Medical University for several years!
There might be less foreign student in Moscow now (a lot of them are going to USA these days) but I guess we are still good friends with Africa and Asia for the most part. So it's worth checking with the Embassy: the visa process might be easier and shorter for countries of these regions.

Wellcome to my Blog!
I would like to start with introducing the country where I come from - RUSSIA.
Good place to learn news about Russia is from "Russia Today": http://www.einnews.com/russia/
Travel information can be found at Lonely Planet:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/russia
Please, visit later for pictures! I plan to show not the standard Moscow - St. Petersburg photos but something you cannot find in regular travel guides: smaller towns, local beauty