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Tips for doin’ Disney World

March 20, 2012 By Jillian

As a child I loved any ride that spun, the tilt-a-whirl at the fair or the gravitron, it hardly mattered as long as I was spinning. What took the cake however was ALWAYS the tea cups at Disney World. That’s right, in the heart of Orlando sits the most amazing spinning ride in the world- the Mad Hatter’s tea cups. Twenty years later they have not lost their charm. Standing in line I promised Danny’s cousin I could make her lunch reappear on the tea cups…

I didn’t go that far, but I am serious about maximizing the fun at Disney World. Not that it is very hard mind you, but the thought of waiting in line even 20 minutes when we could be on another ride/at another show/doing something more exciting is excruciating. Some people are very serious about Disney World and plot out a full schedule. We aren’t, we just follow a few simple tips to still have fun and fit everything in. Here are our secrets.

1. Stay to the left. Danny drilled this into my head when we were dating and went to the movies. Naturally it took me a while to admit he was right. I have no idea why, but people tend to go to the right, so when you’re faced with an option, go left. The line is almost always shorter.

2. Start late. Disney World is busiest in the middle of the day. Sure, you could get up early, but why? Get to the park around 2pm and stay until close. It will be cooler and families tend to go back to their hotels for dinner and a nap before the fireworks. Plus, if you drive you’ll get a closer parking spot.

3. Single rider line. Disney has more than one car going on the roller coaster at each time. If the standby line is excruciatingly long, ask a cast member if there’s a single rider line. You won’t ride next to each other, but you might save yourself 45 minutes of waiting in line.

4. Fast Pass. You can actually hold two of these at once. The pass is good for an hour, say 1:15-2:15. At 1:16 you can get another one – giving you a second fast pass for later. There are also options for this if you’re in the market for Universal Studios tickets Florida.

5. Ride during the parades. We waited 10 minutes for one of Magic Kingdom’s most popular rides, Splash Mountain, during the afternoon parade. If you really want to see the parade, catch it at the beginning and then scurry to the ride. Immediately following the parade the line for Pirates of the Caribbean was a 15 minute wait, when we came out 15 minutes later, it was up to 45 minutes.

We may be well beyond the age where we play dress up and make believe, but we still love Disney World. Which is your favorite tip?

Good, Bad, Ugly: Advice

April 15, 2011 By Jillian

If there’s one thing people are full of, it’s advice. Where to go, where to stay, what not to do, what tours to do, what companies to avoid, basically everything about everywhere. The trick is sifting through and deciding what advice to trust and what advice to let fly out that proverbial window.

We ran into a lot of advice traveling around the world. As you can imagine, we were always intrigued to hear tips and advice, but as we found out hearing what wasn’t said or reading between the lines became the most important aspect of sifting through to find the travel gems. So before I write any more idioms, here’s our list of the good, bad and ugly travel advice we were given!

The Good – Late to Petra

The ferry from Egypt was late so we arrived in Wadi Halfa sometime around midnight and began to search for a hotel. We were shocked at the expense of Wadi Halfa, but it was late and we finally chose a nice place based on the review of an Australian girl in the lobby. Three hours later we were still downstairs drinking tea and chatting with the Australian girl and the manager. She gave us the best travel tip we’d ever received, go to Petra late. Miss the crowds and stay for sunset. We were hesitant, but unwilling to get up early, we took her advice. We arrived around noon and the place was packed. By 3pm most of the tours had started to leave and by 5pm we were virtually alone. It was magnificent. Thankfully we had purchased a two day pass and arrived late the next afternoon as well and spent hours wandering around the site in the late afternoon sun with virtually no other tourists in sight. Magical and perfect.

The Bad – China during National Holiday

Arriving to a country during their peak festival time can be a great time to experience the culture. Unfortunately the entire population of China (read: 1 billion people) travels at two points of the year: Chinese New Year and National Holiday. Part of our visit coincided with National Holiday.

A expat told us that it wouldn’t be a problem to travel during this time and that it would only last 10 days. Unfortunately that wasn’t our experience. Sites were dangerously overcrowded and we ended up passing up the opportunity to see the Leshan Buddha after hearing one tale of 4 hours waiting just to buy a ticket! Since the population is so large, some companies have started staggering the vacation days, essentially extending the holiday travel period for more than two weeks. We ended up being virtually trapped in Chengdu, no trains or buses were available to go anywhere East or North (we had come from the West) for more than a week. It wasn’t such a terrible place to be trapped, but it definitely impacted our entire travel schedule and our month traveling in China was over quicker than we thought.

The Ugly – Overnight Bus in Malawi

After getting to know a hotel manager very well in Malawi, we felt we could trust his recommendation on the overnight buses. He assured us that he took the bus regularly to visit family in the north and that it was very comfortable at night. He helped us buy our tickets, reviewed the ticket and assured us we’d have a pleasant and comfortable journey.

It turned out to be one of the worst bus experiences of our whole trip.

The bus was three seats by two seats, if you’ve ever been on a bus like this you know the seats are about 25% smaller to accommodate another seat. We of course, were in the three seater most of the way until we negotiated a trade with two women and a baby. A heinously overcrowded bus, crying babies, frequent stops, long waits, several police inspections, and having luggage piled on my lap, it was a nightmare. Everything I had ever dreaded about an overnight bus had come together on this single journey. It was an experience my mind couldn’t even process at the time because I was just focused on getting through the night. If only it had been the comfortable bus in this picture from Peru… Needless to say, it got worse when we disembarked at a muddy bus station well before dawn only to be accosted by what felt like hundreds of locusts (taxi drivers).

What has been your experience with tips and advice? Any gems or nightmares you care to share with us?

This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.

Crucial But Quirky Travel Tips

March 7, 2011 By Guest Blogger

With so much travel advice swimming around on the internet, blogs and even from friends and relatives who’ve trekked around the world, it’s easy to get bogged down trying to remember every piece of good advice you’ve heard. Bringing it back to basics, here are some simple yet practical tips every traveller should remember.

Phone numbers – It may seem old fashioned, but you should record any that you think you might need while you’re away, just in case you can’t get access to the internet or a computer in a time of need. Your country’s embassy in the country you’ll be travelling to, local emergency numbers, and contact details of people you’ll be travelling or staying with are a good place to start. Since most people having an iPhone or smart phone, there’s no excuse not to have these lists of important phone numbers already stored.
Keep track of your valuables – It may seem like an obvious one, but there are plenty of unusual but effective ways to keep things like your iPhone and camera safe. Take a photo of you holding up a piece of paper or cardboard with your phone number on it as the first photo on your memory card, and ‘protect’ it. That way, if anyone finds your camera, they’ll know who it belongs to. Just hope that an honest person or airport employee finds it before anyone else does…
iPhone apps– We know, it’s a bit clichéd, but there are some fun iPhone apps out. From planning out travel arrangements, to booking those flights to Sydney you keep talking about, to checking flight times and managing your international credit cards, these apps can be really useful while on the road. Plus its always fun translating tricky road signs into your own language! Check out a list of the most useful iPhone travel apps.
It’s ok to be a tight arse – You’ve scoured the internet to find the best cheap airfares to save you some money, but the budgeting shouldn’t stop there. If you’re travelling on a budget, there are heaps of travel tips to help you save money in unexpected ways. Just be sure you’re willing to wash your underwear in the sink, eat a meal consisting of bread dipped in anything runnier than bread at least a few times a week, and read countless blogs and travel websites on fun and free things to do in any country.

Author: Marina Pliatsikas writes for cheapflights.com, head there for all the best flight deals.

Thanks to Marina Pliatsikas for today’s guest post. If you are interested in guest posting with IShouldLogOff, email us at info [at] ishouldlogoff.com. Thanks!

Tips For Buying Tailored Clothes in SE Asia

March 1, 2011 By Danny

While in Vietnam we purchased a lot of custom clothing in Hoi An. We felt that we were getting great value, and still think that we did get great value, but we wish we’d had a bit of a checklist to review each item and make very specific demands of our vendors. If you ever want to purchase custom clothing anywhere in the world, this is a guide you should probably read.

Dress Shirts – Be sure to tell your seamstress and tailor exactly how tight you want your shirt to be and also decide if you want cuffed or buttoned sleeves. Ensure that all button holes are cut and all seams are tied off. We completely forgot both collar-stays and pockets and although I kind of like the pocket-less style, the lack of collar-stays (or slots to insert my own) will prove to be a problem. Don’t forget to have them sew in a couple of spare buttons and don’t plan to pay any more for these than you would a casual shirt back home. If it ends up being added to your working wardrobe great, if not then you received a fair price for a casual shirt.

Pants – These are straightforward pieces of clothing but styles differ by more than you might expect. The general Asian style is a “tight on everything above the knees” sort of look. Although that may work for some, we found we needed to be very clear with the exact cut. Now that I am wearing some of these pants I find that they often fall down a bit in back when I sit down or go up and down stairs. Don’t forget to decide if you want lining or not.

Suit Jackets – If you have any type of pinstripes make sure these match and are on the same place at each and every seam. Make a serious inspection. Usually suits include a lapel pocket and the Asian style for this pocket is significantly slanted rather than straight so make your specifications early. Also be sure to select not only the material for the outside of the suit, but also the lining as a bright red lining might not go over so well with your black suit at your next meeting at work. Also, check to make sure the shoulder pads are the same and in their proper places.

Women’s Clothes – Simple rule here; don’t buy from a place that doesn’t have a sample of women’s clothes. Every place we walked in to sat us down with a fashion catalogue and told us they could make anything inside…don’t believe that for a second. Instead, only buy items they have a sample for (and there were surprisingly few in Hoi An), or that you have an example of, and be sure to focus on how you’re going to wear it. If buying a coat make sure it is properly lined and has enough space (even in the sleeves) for a sweater.

Shoes – The shoes we had purchased are all quite nice and made of leather but many of the critical components are made of cheaper materials. Be on the look out for this, but the prices being what they are, you’re probably better off accepting this and having these minor parts replaced by a cobbler shop back home. If you’re going to be wearing inserts in your shoes, be sure to give these to the shoemaker.

The best piece of advice we can give is make sure you have enough time in your schedule for several fittings so that your garments are not rushed to meet your travel scheduled. Plan to try each garment on at least twice and inspect each and every seam and button hole to make sure threads are tied off right and the button holes are opened. Don’t expect to have a wardrobe ready in two days, it’s not fair and the quality will suffer. Be reasonable in what you ask, no matter what they say. In the end we were happy with what we bought, but also happy that we hadn’t paid full U.S. prices.

Tips for Traveling through Europe

June 30, 2010 By Danny

Compared to many of the places we’ve been, travel in Europe is easy, relaxing and comfortable. There are literally tons of things to see and do here, about a million guides to help you decide what to do, and buses do not break down nearly as often as they do in Africa…what’s not to love?

Most people come to Europe for culture, history and good food; the real challenge with all of that is knowing where start. There are a plethora of free walking tours, usually starting off from the main train station or tourist information booth. Generally a short tour of the main city attractions, these tour companies might either try to sell you on another more traditional tour or just ask you to tip your guide. If you’re having trouble finding a free tour just drop into a nearby youth hostel and browse through their rack of information…they won’t mind, when you show up for the tour with the map from their establishment in hand they might get a small kickback.

Local transportation can also be a pleasure with bicycles in abundance here and often very easy to find and rent. Some cities (e.g. Vienna) have bike-sharing systems in place while others (e.g. Berlin) have shops around every corner offering rentals for as little as 10 € per day. These are cheap and enjoyable and often beat the cost of a day-long transit pass. Speaking of transit, be sure to check out all the options if you do choose to buy a transit pass as our 3-day rail pass in Vienna ended up only being about a half dollar cheaper than the week-long pass which would have been much better to have when we extended our 3-day stay to four.

As American’s we’re told that the best way to travel Europe is via a rail pass. We met one pair of travelers who had a month in Western Europe, purchased a month long pass, and were making the most of it traveling to nearly ten countries, mostly in Western Europe. Unless this is your story, you are probably better off staying away from a pass as these often come with a variety of restrictions, hidden fees, and a high base price. For our travel we’ve found that the unlimited bus pass would be cheaper and easier but still not worth its weight in Euros. As it is, we didn’t buy a pass and have saved tons of money by purchasing the cheapest option of transportation when we find it; making use of trains, buses, airplanes, and even ride share programs.

And of course, the last and most important part to the success of any trip is to have a good night of sleep each night. The nice thing about Europe is that there is a full range of options from youth hostels all the way up to 5-star resort hotels with all the accoutrement you would expect from a big budget location. As always, be sure to shop around as we’ve even found 3 star hotels in downtown areas that cost less than a double room in a youth hostel. Sometimes searching through the options can be a hair-raising challenge in itself and it can’t hurt to hire a travel agency to give you a hand so that your trip is a little less backpack and a little more vacation. We’ve used Liberty Travel for family trips to the Caribbean and they also organize trips to Europe.

This is a sponsored post.

Tips for doin’ Disney World

Good, Bad, Ugly: Advice

Crucial But Quirky Travel Tips

Tips For Buying Tailored Clothes in SE Asia

Tips for Traveling through Europe

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