Alternatives for Business Travelers – Vacation-Rentals
Alternatives for Business Travelers
"I'm coming home. I've been away too long. Been away so long. I'm coming home" ? Ian Thomas, in Coming HomeI still recall my road warrior days. It seemed like every other week, I was hopping on a plane for Orlando or Vancouver or Palm Springs or Washington or Chicago or Toronto.It might not be Rome, Paris, and Monte Carlo, but Washington, Toronto and Orlando are pretty classy places. I went to crucial meetings. I was an important person. I was a frequent flyer.However, after a while, all the towns begin to look the same. One airport hotel looks amazingly like another. Surely the taxi driver in Washington and the taxi in Orlando were twins separated at birth. I was yearning to just stay put. I had had enough of hotels and restaurantsTraveling sounds glamorous until you have to do it over and over and over. Especially when you have a family, you want to spend some time at home between the episodes of jet lag. Comfort becomes a much bigger deal, and you want every place to feel like home.You just can't do that in a hotel. Not in a Marriott. Not in a Sheraton. Not in a Hilton.I wish I knew then about two other options.Private Vacation Homes (or rental villas)Private vacation homes, known also as holiday homes or villas are essentially houses that rent on a weekly basis. They are not much help for fly-in meetings. For those, only an airport hotel will do.But if you plan to be in town for the better part of the week, there is nothing like kicking back in your own private home ? a rental home, of course."Hotel rooms are cramped; a villa is spacious with room to walk about. Hotel rooms have a TV and desk in the bedroom; a villa has surround sound TV and stereo with comfortable couches and chairs in various parts of the home. A hotel has a public pool; a villa has a private pool," says Florida villas rental agent Stewart Granville. "It's private. It's comfortable. It's like a home away from home."Mr. Granville notes that a vacation home rental also serves as an office away from home, with one room dedicated to the office. "In a villa, you don't have to sit on your bed when you type those memos. And what a great way to entertain business contacts."Mr. Granville specializes in villas in America's vacation heartland: Orlando, Florida. Business travelers often bring their family along to enjoy Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and other famous theme parks. The family plays while the business traveler works. When the meetings are over, they all head for Disney together, perhaps for another week. With family in tow, a private rental home makes much more sense than a crowded hotel room.Bed and BreakfastsBed and Breakfasts are also an option. Although they do not offer the same privacy and space as villas, they are warmer and more homey than a hotel. And like a hotel, they rent by the night, not by the week.Is a bed and breakfast for you? If a relaxing atmosphere is more important to you than room service, a bed and breakfast is for you, yes. They are comfortable and relaxing, so the business traveler can walk confidently into his meeting free from stress and worries.Bed and Breakfasts are growing more popular for weekend getaways in the country, but most major urban centers have bed and breakfasts right in the heart of the city...and these are ideal for road-weary business travelers.So forget about room service and the mint on the pillow. For a stay of several days, the business traveler can rent a spacious, private vacation villa. And for just a night or two, it's a warm and comfortable bed and breakfast.About The AuthorDavid Leonhardt is a freelance writer, and an online and offline publicity specialist. Contact him at: mailto:info@thehappyguy.comor visit his website at: http://www.thehappyguy.comFor Florida vacation villa rentals: http://www.lastminutevillas.netFor Orlando vacation home rentals: http://www.orlandovillaowners.com
Compulsive Gambler Seeks Alternatives To Stop Gambling-Gambling
Compulsive Gambler Seeks Alternatives To Stop Gambling
Compulsive gambler's life was devastated by gambling and now seeks alternatives to help his addiction before he loses everything. This seems to be a common trend among compulsive gamblers. They realize there's a problem but don't know where to go in order to get help.Many people have tried Gamblers Anonymous but stopped after a short period (usually two weeks) because it was awkward and uncomfortable. These people who gambled had a private addiction and were unwilling to let the world know they had a serious problem. In some situations people would run into friends and, or former co-workers at the Gamblers Anonymous weekly meetings. All of a sudden their world came crumbling down and they did not know where to hide. At first they couldn't understand why people didn't stay there for help. They now understand that their addiction is a private one. You can not tell who's a gambler by just looking at them.These individuals who quit Gamblers Anonymous are now searching for another alternative to stop before their lives became more destructive.Due to modern technology there are now private stop gambling chat rooms and self help manuals available that have helped thousands and thousands of compulsive gamblers beat their addiction. Any search engine on the internet will help compulsive gamblers find a treatment that best fits their situation. The key is to take the time to see what works for you and modify the programs to fit your needs.It's unfortunate that usually a loved one wife, husband or partner of a compulsive gambler is the driving force that pushes the gambler to seek help. In most cases it comes in the form of a threat. They threaten to leave the person if they don't change their behaivior. In order to please their loved ones they agree and make a good attempt at stopping. In a majority of cases these people fail miserably. It's up to the gambler to make the choice to stop. After many broken promises the loved one prepares to divorce and or leave the gambler in a last ditch attempt to save the relationship. At this point I have noticed a large percentage of gamblers realize they want to quit but still do not know how.When you start to look at how a compulsive gambler thinks, you realize that there are similar personality traits. The major one is the ego. When you affect some ones ego you are personally affecting their self esteem. Getting recognized at a Gamblers Anonymous meeting is extremely devastating to the Gambler. An alternative program is needed to keep what's left of Gamblers self esteem in order for them to take the first step on their road to recovery. As they begin to recover life gets better and better and these people are able to live very productive lives once again.It's important to educate yourself, if gambling has negatively affected your life in one way or another. Each of the following websites deals exclusively with Compulsive Gambling Addiction and has help thousands of people and they hope to help many more:I Stopped Gambling So Can You! http://www.istoppedgambling.com/Stop Gambling Books http://www.stop-gambling-books.com/Stop Gambling Information http://www.stopgamblinginformation.com/Stop Gambling Family Resources http://stopgamblingfamilyresources.org/Teenage Gambling Addiction http://www.teenage-gambling-addiction.org/Stop Gambling Links http://www.stopgamblinglinks.comCompulsive Gambling Addiction http://www.compulsive-gambling-addiction.org/Mr. Howard Keith has an extensive background in dealing with compulsive gamblers, relatives and friends of gamblers and teenage gamblers.Mr. Keith believes there are many alternatives to aid in the recovery of a gambling addiction verses a twelve step program. A large percentage of his emails were from compulsive gamblers looking for an alternative to Gamblers Anonymous and twelve step programs. Gamblers Anonymous also helps a significant number of people each year but there is a large percentage that does not stay. These are the people Mr. Keith is hoping to reach.Its Mr. Howard Keith's goal is to educate compulsive gamblers with options to help them beat their addiction.
Alternatives to Pressurized Fuel
Alternatives to Pressurized Fuel
Recently I attended a Boy Scout Leader Roundtable meeting where they held a Pressurized Fuel Training session. The focus of this training was to teach leaders what they should be teaching boy scouts about safety rules for using primarily cooking stoves, but also lanterns and heaters that use propane or liquid fuels under pressure. The point was not at all to teach how to use these devices, but was purely about safety.The point of this article is not to discuss the specifics of the safety rules. I'm sure you can find them elsewhere on-line, and frankly a lot of it was common sense (like reading the manual that came with the device you are using and following their instructions). The point of this article is to offer answers to the following questions that came up in my mind during this training: 1) If there are so many safety issues with pressurized fuel, why use it? and 2) What are the alternatives?The answer to the first question has to do with the BSA and other organizations adopting the Leave No Trace philosophy. I won't go into all the details on this either, but suffice to say that Leave No Trace is an environmentalist movement which among other things discourages the use (or over-use) of wood found in the wild for campfires or for building camp furniture, etc.This is somewhat at odds with the old tradition of scouting which is closely linked with the woodcraft movement of the early 20th century. This oft misunderstood social movement heartily encouraged people to get out of the over-crowded cities and re-discover the joys of primitive outdoor living. The term "woodcraft" not only referred to the fact that camping, hunting, and fishing activities were often conducted in the woods, but it also referred to the skills required for survival in the woods with a bare minimum of modern equipment. Such survival skills included the ability to start a fire without matches and the ability to build shelters in the wild. Naturally, it wasn't enough to just know about these skills; they required some practice, and some people over time came to feel that the practice of these skills was unnecessarily destructive.Leave No Trace presents us with new problems. First, unlike wood found in the wild, pressurized fuel and the devices that use it are not free. Many people are reluctant to buy something like this that they would only use once or twice a year. Then there is the safety issue. Even when handled properly, these devices sometimes malfunction. And last but not least, people simply enjoy gathering around a campfire to tell stories, roast marshmallows, etc.So, what about the alternatives? For lanterns, there are very good battery-powered models. There are even models with remote controls and night lights. These are plenty bright enough (remember that even a dim light seems bright when you are in the woods at night), don't make any noise, and are perfectly safe to leave unattended or to give to a child.For cooking, match-light charcoal works quite well. This does not require any special skills. You can bring along a small portable grill or use whatever fire pit or grill is provided by the park. Charcoal is probably better than wood for dutch oven cooking, and definitely better than pressurized fuel, because some dutch oven recipes require coals to be placed on top.For campfires and cooking over wood, first and foremost you need to know and obey the rules of the park you are staying in. If you decide to use wood, you can use less wood by simply building smaller fires. The old-time woodcrafters were fond of pointing out the wisdom of the Indians who would build a small fire and gather in closer to it while white men would waste materials by building a big fire that was so hot they'd have to back away from it.For staying warm at night, throw on an extra blanket or buy a sleeping bag that is rated for lower temperatures. I recently read about a family that had some kind of heater in their tent and were found dead the next morning due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Is getting a better night's sleep worth that kind of risk?I'm not saying I won't use pressurized fuel, but I don't think people should feel obligated to use it due to environmental concerns if they are uncomfortable with the safety issues or just like cooking on an old-fashioned campfire while observing park rules.The author, Greg Bonney, is the owner of Bonney Information and E-Commerce and founder of Scoutcamping.com (http://www.scoutcamping.com).Copyright