Monday, May 13, 2013

Gelert, The Legend

By John Bailey


Gelert are one of the most recognised camping brands in the UK. According to their website they've sold over a 100 million tents, sleeping bags and rucksacks since 1975. I've been using Gelert products for about 20 years now and I still think they provide the best value for money of any camping manufacture. No one can write an article about Gelert without mentioning why the company is called Gelert, and this is just an excuse to retell the famous 'Legend of Gelert.'

The company started business in a small town in Wales called Beddgelert which is the home of Gelert's Grave. Gelert was Prince Llewelyn's favourite dog. One day Llewelyn went hunting, but for some reason couldn't find his faithful hound, so he went alone. When he got back from his hunt, Gelert ran out from the palace to meet him. He was covered in blood. Llewelyn panicked and went to find his son. The boy's cot was empty and the sheets covered in blood. The prince withdrew his sword and plunged it into Gelert's side, thinking the dog had killed his heir to the throne. The dog's final yelp was answered by the cry of a child. Llewelyn searched the palace and found the boy unarmed next to the body of a savage wolf that Gelert had slain. The prince never smiled again.

That always gets me choked up that story. Anyway it's a great name now that you know the background.

The business was started by Alastair and Jane Langdon, who have remained with the company up until recently.. Their exit corresponded with the closing of their Porthmadog site. One thing I respect about the company is the way (up until 2012) they've kept it local and provided jobs to an area where jobs are scarce. Obviously that long road to Porthmadog has proven too costly and they have now moved to a new centre in Cheshire where they can distribute their goods more easily.

Gelert have a number of iconic products. Their family sized tents are well respected, they are the creators of the Quick Pitch tent - if you've ever been to a festival you'll have seen hundreds of them. They have one of the cheapest trekking tents around, the Solo Tent. Their Tryfan sleeping bags are possibly the biggest value on the market.

The legend of Gelert, the company, is, luckily, not quite as tear jerking as the legend of Gelert, the dog, but what they've achieved from a small town in Wales is impressive.




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Perfecting Your Hotel Information Website's Popularity In 21st Century

By Jacob Thomas


You shouldn't worry if you are not knowledgeable in the running of a successful travel accommodations search website. You can operate a website that is successful. There are tips that go step-by-step to teach you the use of marketing tools including SEO. Run a hotel guide site that is successful today with these tips.

A travel accommodations search website must be memorable if it is going to be successful. If the website doesn't leave an impression on your visitors, what reason do they have to return to your site? They're not going to tell their friends about a site that isn't memorable, so it is very important to make sure your hotel guide site leaves an impression.

When running an e-commerce site, you'll need to be able to accept credit cards as payment for your products. Not only is this the most widely used method of payment on the internet, it's also the safest. Users need to trust that their information will be kept safe when making an online purchase, and a credit card will guarantee them certain measures are taken to keep all their info private.

Don't spend too much time designing your travel accommodations search website. This might make your pages take too long to load. The effort to go visit your website will be wasted time. Only place images in stategic places. Keep things simple and short.

Never create a text-only page on your site. Every single page should have at least one visual component - whether it's a picture, drawing, chart, graph or any other kind of image. Whatever your image is, it should be related to the content, and chosen to maximally engage the visitor's attention.

Those that are uninterested in reading a novel in its entirety are the ones visiting your travel accommodations search website. The scan mentality is put into play before reading a full article. Use words that are easy to understand, lists and headings to make content more comprehensible for your website. There should not be a sales tone used, it should be easy to follow and conversational. This will help avoid users doing the opposite of what you want them to do.

Hotel Information Websites that are effectual use a common branding theme and style on every web page. The brand represented by the travel accommodations search website should be enhanced by its look and feel. Web designers that are triumphant keep off from the mistake of experimenting using different color themes, page styles, buttons, and also fonts on the website.

Design your page with mobile supported system, which activates when webpage signals that the user is using the webpage from a mobile device. In case the user wants to see the full version of webpage, then there should be an additional optional link on a mobile page to automatically redirect the user to the full version of the page.




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Suggestions For Creating And Making A Resort Business Reputable

By Lisa Thomas


If you want to enjoy your work every day while earning a paycheck, consider owning your own vacation and wellness accommodations business. You have to create a solid business model and plan for growth before you begin. Read these helpful guidelines and you will be on your way to becoming the proprietor of a successful resort.

If you want to become one of the top companies in your industry, you need to have strong customer support. It is important for a customer to feel heard when they call in with a problem. A good cupport team will make this easy for them.

Conferences are a great place to learn, revive your interest in learning, build more skills and above all the right place to establish contacts and collaborations. It gives you an in-depth idea about what' selling and which are the latest innovations to enter the market. Attend them not merely as an academic exercise but also to increase your exposure in front of a galaxy of other vacation and wellness accommodations business owners.

Don't change your vacation and wellness accommodations business just to make a sale. You have worked to hard and poured too much into what you do to alter it for anyone. Always listen to suggestions on how to improve things, but do not completely change your business just because one person asks you to.

Every vacation and wellness accommodations business has something going for it, which might be its product, a feature, a logo or just about anything that seems to be liked by all. To understand why it's liked is less important than understanding how it could be used to further one's business. Learn from this example and go on and create more such mascots of you travel accommodations business.

Do you have a key employee whose departure would harm your vacation and wellness accommodations business? Ensure you and your business are protected by requiring key employees sign non-compete agreements. If the employee's impact is tremendous, it might be in your best interest to negotiate an employment contract with that employee. Consult an advocate to set up legal protections for your travel accommodations business' reputation.

While finding ways to boost sales, find details of how the product can target wellness, environmental safety or issues that are close to the hearts of people like non-testing on animals or no usage of harsh chemicals. Make sure the facts are correct and you're sure to score a home run. You could also target the financial concerns particularly in times that are so trying.

Do not rely on just one aspect of your resort. Pay attention to everything including achieving the top most customer satisfaction. Also you should keep a close eye on your employee's objectives and performance so you know where everyone and everything stands.

You should always act as if someone were watching and judging your every move. Doing this will insure that you remain honest and always work your hardest. Keeping yourself accountable is not always easy, but if you pretend that there is someone else you are accountable to, it will make it easier.




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Neighbor Help Effects While Moving to a New Home

By Sharonne Penickata


Moving can be a hectic time, filled with deadlines, a lot more work than seems possible, and having to go without. While your folks are busy packing in the old house, tempers will be short, and stress levels at an all time high. Even with moving companies performing most of the heavy-lifting, you've still got a great deal to get ready for.

By the time you get to your new home, you will be exhausted. Everyone is going to be grumpy and tired, and also the most difficult is yet to come. Whenever you arrive at your home and commence directing which boxes go where, you might well discover you have unwelcome company desperate to greet you.

New neighbors, in many communities, are a thrilling concept. For most people, their surroundings don't change that frequently, and the neighbors need to get to understand all about you. But on moving day, their eagerness can in fact be detrimental to getting your home set up.

Extremely helpful neighbors commonly stop by to meet and greet even though the movers continue to be hauling boxes inside your door. While they're there, a few will offer to help you along with your unpacking duties. This could look like a good idea at the time, but you're better off politely turning down their assistance.

The facts of the matter are simple: The neighborly attempts to help you unpack a specific room are likely to lead to those neighbors placing items where they'd normally place them in their very own house. This may be well and good for that neighbor who likes to have her plates in the cabinet to the right of the stove, as well as the bowls on the left, however, if you prefer your plates and bowls to share a single cabinet over the microwave on the far side of the sink, problems will occur.

The majority of the time your new neighbors are honestly intending to be useful. However, their assistance will result in half unpacked boxes being discarded all over certain rooms, while the movers continue to be hauling more in, and items winding up everywhere except in places you desire them to be located at. Any attempts to direct the neighbors by letting them know that the DVDs go in alphabetical order, or that you simply prefer your towels outside the bathroom as opposed to in shelves inside, will only end up insulting them.

After your day, when the movers have completely finished hauling everything inside and receiving full payment for their moving quotes and then any additional money they needed, you'll be still having a greater mess than you intended in the event you allow neighbors help unpack. Your half empty boxes will be scattered everywhere, while your belongings happen to be scattered in three separate locations, none of which are where you ultimately desire them to be. You will spend a lot of time finding where your overly helpful neighbors stashed your pot holders and your child's jeans as opposed to getting your house set up and normal again.




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Ten Spring Treats

By Clive Leaflet


It is undeniable that Spring is the season that breathes life back into our winter-crusted bones. Our minds are alive once more and possibilities seem endless. So leap into action and try out these ten Spring treats.

First of all, why not freshen up your home with a green-clean; that's right, just how nature intended. Dirt and grime can easily be tackled by using general cupboard ingredients such as lemons, bicarbonate of soda, white wine vinegar and salt. These items are a dab hand when it comes to cleaning and you may find that you already own at least half of them. You could try enhancing your mixtures with a few drops of essentials oils for that extra fresh and homely scent.

Plant, plant, plant: use vibrantly coloured containers to cheer up your patio. Add even more pizazz by planting edible flowers such as marigolds, nasturtiums, English daisies, Impatiens, Gardenias, Fuchsias and even Jasmine. Create a hanging basket which is more than just a pretty face! Try tomatoes, peppers, chard, basiland reap the rewards. Construct a herb garden: buy some breeze blocks, paint them with the names of your herbs and line them up outside the kitchen door or balcony: try chives, lemon grass, parsley, sage and mint.

Why not replicate some of this colour inside by giving some rooms a new lick of paint? It can sometimes be a tad boring to always use sickly magnolia, so why not try some sunshine yellow, pumpkin orange with oceanic turquoise, lemon and raspberry, or the more tried and trusted nautical blues with whites? Little changes like this will not only make a difference to the way your home looks, but they'll also brighten up your spirit too, generally making you feel warmer and happier inside.

Make colourful, no-sew banners in perky shades using felt and ribbon: hang them up around the house, outside the front door or around the garden. Go back to your childhood: make party invitations and invite all of your best friends to your newly spruced home. Make it a Sharing Spring party: each one brings one dish full of lush, fresh ingredients. Decorate your table with daffodils and make cheerfully, iced cupcakes for your guests to take home with them.

Whilst we're on the topic of food (my favourite I must admit), now is definitely time to reach for that treasured picnic gear. Why not make your first picnic of the year extra special by holding it at night in your newly spruced garden? You could use an array of candles, fruity drink concoctions and yummy, chocolatey nibbles. Pleasantries to one side, Spring is the perfect time to tackle that diet so keep your eyes peeled for seasonal vegetables and fruits, rather than big hearty meals and sweet stuff galore.

Now, not all of us feel this much oomph at this time of year so if you need some help to set you on the road to a Springier time then why not head on down to Home House of Portman Square. With so many seasonal events going on such as summer cocktail parties and afternoon teas in the garden, they really know how to treat a guest. You'll be on your way to a new you before you know it!




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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Running A Popular Hotel Information Website Is Simple When You Implement These

By Sue Smith


internet traffic is not akin to rocket science. If you are having a hard time getting information that is vital to getting traffic to your travel accommodations search website, follow these helpful tips and your website will be a success in no time.

Offering refer a friend incentives to your users can not only bring in new visitors, but will cement for your current users how much they are appreciated. Of course, the incentives must be useful enough to motivate them to spend their time and effort recruiting for you.

Never create a text-only page on your site. Every single page should have at least one visual component - whether it's a picture, drawing, chart, graph or any other kind of image. Whatever your image is, it should be related to the content, and chosen to maximally engage the visitor's attention.

Visitors explore your site through the compass of clear navigation. The name of every page should help them know what to expect. Do not stray far from the effective and simple standards that are in use for the services, contact and about pages.

To be the top ranked site for a particular key word, choosing slightly less targeted words will make your goal more realistic because you won't be fighting your way through wealthy travel accommodations search websites that have been around much longer. Top searched words will be impossible to own until you've become more established.

If you think that your design is not best, you should not worry, it should just be of quality type. It should not fall below the standard of the design. If it doesn't, the visitors would not take your travel accommodations search website seriously. You should make sure to check if your website is impressing your visitors by its professionalism.

One way to keep your travel accommodations search website organized, besides putting your site into categories, is to make sure that your navigation menu and header remain in the same place. This helps when you have a lot of items to display on your website. When users come in to browse through your site, you have to make it easy for them to know where to look to navigate through it, but that doesn't limit you to making the format of each page the same.

An effective site is one that is user-friendly, easy to navigate and gives the visitor the quickest access to information that is most searched for. Users don't want to have to search for information on your travel accommodations search website; they want to instantly be brought to what they are looking for in the most efficient manner.




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An Exciting Trip To The Wilderness Starts In Rio Lagartos

By Linda Patterson


There is a lot more in store for any traveler in Yucatan than just immeasurable stretches of white sandy beaches and crystal clear water packed with marine life. The scenic coastal village of Rio Lagartos is a home to a wide variety of animals particularly birds, is known as the 'Land of Flamingoes', and it means 'river of alligators' in Mayan language. Even if this region does not have any rivers yet it is a home to a number of species of alligators and crocodiles.

This area is already a biosphere reserve which was once inhabited by the Mayans, who named it 'Holkoben'. For the Mayans, it served as a passage where they could refresh themselves from their journey to and from the salt pans and lagoons. Many of the remains of this incredible ancient civilization still mark the landscape just like cenotes and also Mayan huts which offer medicinal mud baths to tourists who are interested. The remainder of the biosphere reserve is composed of mangrove forests, scrub lands, fresh water springs and lagoons are fantastic elements for an exciting adventure travel holiday.

One can choose to embark on excursions to this region by day or by night. It is during the night that the chances of spotting wildlife in natural setting are higher because of high daytime temperatures. Any true nature lover would not want to miss going on a guided tour to reach the farthest corners of this habitat. A local guide will guide you all the way and throughout the hike as you see a lot of remarkable sights. The guide will also explain the contribution of these animals and plants to the environment.

Tourists can opt to embark on adventure tours to this region through kayaks, bikes or foot. Regardless of the mode of transport chosen, taking into consideration the dos' plus don'ts would make sure that the trip into the wilderness will not be only an enriching experience but a wonderful one, as well.

In this tour, it is important to wear full length pants as well as full sleeved shirt. One must wear a well fitting shoes and hat for complete protection. Apply sun block on your skin to protect your skin from sunburn and apply a mosquito repellent in order to keep bugs away. A raincoat, sufficient drinking water and enough cash are the other important things to bring on this trip. Aside from that, do not forget to bring a camera and a pair of binoculars during this adventure trip.

Considering that the major reason for touring this biosphere reserve is to see crocodiles in their place, finding out about these creatures ahead of the trip will provide you with far better understanding. A lot of the adventure holiday tours in this location focus on the Mexican variety, also called Morelet crocodile. This crocodile specie is considered to be the offspring of a long and also ancient family tree stretching over 125 years. Though, they are a bit smaller in size as compared to their American counterparts, they are known by some unique features just like webbed hind feet and dark bands on their body and tail.

Morelet crocodiles have the ability to survive in diverse surroundings and can be spotted near freshwater bodies. One example is around some cenotes and a spring along the lesser known hiking path of Sendero Peten Tucha. Seclusion being their primary priority, among the reasons they've survived in this area for such a long time is its thick forest cover which acts to protect the young till they're at the right age to go out.

These creatures can be learned in your biology class however if you have the chance then why not embark on an actual tour. Real life experience will always be the best teacher.




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Expand Your Resort Business Game With These Marketing Tips

By Adam Stossel


Even the most successful vacation and wellness accommodations business people need help to improve and grow their companies. Here are some of the tips they follow.

There are any number of ways to expand your vacation and wellness accommodations business. One method of personal advertising is to get out in public and make contact with folks at everyday locations like supermarkets, restaurants, and the like. Strike up conversations with those you meet, and use the opportunity to promote your business.

Resist the urge to take on too many things at once: limit and prioritize any initiatives. To assist you optimize your options in initiatives, start with determining the ease of implementing and the value of the change. High-value, easy-execution are obvious starting points.

Youtube is a great place to put up ads for the whole world to see. You can make a promotional video of your own for your vacation and wellness accommodations business or pay someone a premium to make you great copy. Then, post it up on Youtube and put links everywhere so people can learn about your business.

Paying yourself a decent wage is an imperative and as much important as paying your employees. However, some vacation and wellness accommodations business owners seem to forgo this considering it is their own concern. Moreover when there is a persistent shortfall in funds, you need to be taking a closer look at the manner in which pays and perks have been structured.

Resort Business cards are one of the most admired vacation and wellness accommodations business tools out there, and are fun to make! You can create a very colorful and bright business card, or make it plain and sophisticated. These can be handed out to anybody, and are effortless to store in your traveling briefcase or purse. Everybody in travel accommodations business should always carry around personalized business cards.

Duties need to be allocated in very clear terms and each member of the team should know his role and the area of responsibility. This clarity allows a sense of accountability thus ensuring that no one can ride rough shod when it comes to work. Tasks are completed on time and done the way they are meant to be. Your vacation and wellness accommodations business can only benefit from such a planned manner of working.

You will incur costs for running your production unit. Apart from absorbing this and ensuring that the production matches up to the expenditure for running such a unit, one can work on cutting costs where it's possible. Keep an eye on appliances and electricity usage and ensure you're checking their usage and consumption of power. Little steps sometimes can make a big impact.

To get the most out of your advertising budget, you need to be willing to place ads in some unusual locations. Placing ads on streetlights or telephone poles will help you get information out about your vacation and wellness accommodations business without spending too much money. This will help you stretch your advertising budget.




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Resort Business Marketing Techniques To Dominate Your Market

By Peggy Mason


You work countless hours for a boss you dislike at a job you hate. Why not stop the grind and instead invest you time into creating a successful vacation and wellness accommodations business? It will take a lot of hard work, but being able to make money from doing something you love is worth the effort. Before you start, create a business plan and growth strategy, keeping in mind some of the helpful tips we've compiled below.

Consumers don't purchase the things that they need all the time. It is usually things bought that are what they WANT. This is why you should never base your vacation and wellness accommodations business on things people only need. Wants are much stronger for most shoppers and you want to be able to cater to that.

Understanding the psyche of the customer is a significant part of the resort's research. To understand what a customer buys and what he wants and not what he needs will make you decide on what to put out there on the shelves. Go for exactly what makes the customer drool and see how you can make it affordable. Study age group or the gender based preference and see how your sales will soar.

A big part of vacation and wellness accommodations business success is understanding the sacrifices you'll have to make. In the first few years, you'll probably have to skip going on vacations, and money may be tight. But keep in mind, it will all be worth it in the end, when your business finally becomes successful.

Talk to your vendors on a regular basis. Consider taking your vendors to lunch, or at the very least make regular phone calls. You will find that the personal attention will be appreciated and will make for a better relationship. Happy vendors are more likely to offer discounts and other aid after.

A classy and viable means of getting your vacation and wellness accommodations business information out is using business cards. This helps to remind or introduce people to your resort and gives people the ability to see your information at a quick and easy glance.

You can post ads on Facebook somewhat cheaply. Your advertisement will show up on the edge of their website. You can even target specific audiences, so these ads can be very profitable.

A balance of power is essential for your vacation and wellness accommodations business. You don't want your managers to get power-hungry and make too many decisions without appropriate forethought. You may want to hire outside consultants to question some of these decisions.

Keeping your expenditure reigned in is critical to maintain a healthy balance in your finances, but to be overly careful may lead to stalling of many innovations or improvements. You may also have to spend a little to take a few risks. This is meant to keep your vacation and wellness accommodations business from getting static and devoid of new ideas.




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Willy Rock in China

By Jonny Blair


China is a marvellous country to travel in and it's great to get off the beaten track so it was time to head to the north of the Guangdong Province on a special trip. There's a location known as Penis Rock - it's basically a rock in the shape of a man's willy that you can hike up past and admire! Yes it really looks like a big dick! []

What is Penis Rock? (in Chinese "Yang Yuan Stone")

Basically it's a rock in the shape of a man's sausage! Whatever name you want to call your penis. It is a naturally formed rock in that shape and even has the same curves at the top!

Finding and accessing the rock is easy enough if you are Chinese, or at least speak it. If you are not Chinese it could take you a while to find it but will be some adventure!

Head firstly to the city called Shaoguan which is in the northern part of China's Guangdong Province. High speed train connects Shaoguan with the rest of China - an option is coming in through Shenzhen. You'll then need a bus from the city of Shaoguan out to the Danxia mountains.

In Danxiashan we stayed in the village of Yao Tang - a river separates Yao Tang from the small market village of Jin Jiang. From Jin Jiang, a 30 minute walk witll take you to the first viewing platform for Penis Rock. We stayed in a hotel in the centre of Yao Tang.

You need an entrance ticket. They are valid for 48 hours and cost 120 Yuan (RMB). We were there at the weekend, apparently tickets are cheaper at 100 Yuan (RMB) during the week. You have to buy them at the ticket office just before you cross into the National Park.

You'll need to get a map of Danxiashan and it will be entirely in Chinese so do your best to work it all out and ask at the hotel if you need to. Most of the signposts inside the national park are in English though which is a real bonus.

The best thing to do is the hike to the Pavilion and fortress which are even higher than penis rock. You will walk up past the big willy on your way up so can grab your comedy photos there and then.

What Is It? A rock shaped like a penis

Why Go? It's an unusual rock, a marvellous sunset, exceptional hike, cheap beers, great views.

Rough daily cost - Under $10 US




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