Getting The Right Equipment For The Outdoors

Camping can be a great way to have fun, but it can also be a terrible experience if you don’t take the right equipment with you! Making sure you are well prepared and have a list of items that you need to take you should be ok. But what if you don’t have those items? Well, you’re going to have to find out in advance so that you can go out and purchase the necessary Camping, Hiking & Mountaineering gear.

The way that I make sure I have everything I need is I play out a day in my head, I note down what items I am using in my “imaginary day” and then I pop onto Mac Eoin and purchase what I need. Making sure you go through a day will at least get you remembering the vitals. It’s very rare not to forget at least one thing so keep your eyes peeled!

Camping can be really fun, but if you do forget something that you depend upon, it can be a real nightmare. If you have a vehicle, you can always go out and grab what you need I suppose, but if it’s left at home, it’s a waste of money!

Going Away On Holiday? Make Sure Your Home Is Protected

If you’re going away soon on a long holiday, it might be worth your while making sure that everything is protected at home. I’m not talking about security protection (although that is important) I’m talking about weather protection! Who knows what the weather might be like at home when you go away, so it might be a good idea to slap some varnish on those bespoke gates and garage doors!

If you haven’t already, it’s fairly important to make sure that all of the woodwork in your garden is completely covered. If you don’t then you’re going to end up with damp rotting wood, and that’s no good if you’ve spent a fortune on having custom work done.

There are many products on the market you can use, and different ways to apply said products. You have the standard wood stain in a tin, this will generally be applied through a standard paintbrush, depending on how much fencing or gating you have, this could be quite tiresome.

Next you have thinner wood stain that can be delivered in a different method. You have a hand pressure sprayer that can spray the wood stain onto the fence in an easier and much quicker fashion.

It’s important to not leave your garden unprotected, especially when you go away. So don’t forget!

Going Away For A Family Event

Although I wouldn’t really call it a holiday, weddings are something that you just have to make time for. Whether you are travelling abroad for your family members wedding, or if it’s somewhere in the same country you’re still going away and you need to make the best of the time that your spending right? Weddings are for relaxing and having fun too, so try to think of it as a holiday aswell, nobody likes to see a grumpy so-and-so at a wedding, so get yourself in the right frame of mind!

Weddings don’t have to be a chore, you can enjoy the environment, the Old manor house, The Church or the Wedding Marquee. You should be able to have a great time, with all of the professionals around, and if the’re a free bar you’re in for even more of a treat.

To be honest, every wedding is different. I can’t say that they are all great, but I can’t say that they are all bad either. It’s just a matter of going where you have to go!

The Advantages Of Taking A Camper Van On Holiday

So your going on holiday soon and your heading over the eurotunnel, or should I say under. When your taking long drives, its always nice to be comfortable on the trip. Have you ever considered using a camper-van for you travels? Not only will it be a lot more comfortable on the ride, you will also have the opportunity to sleep in the van instead of booking a hotel, which should save you money.

There are also opportunities to go camping in this kind of van, not that you would get the proper camping experience, you would need a tent for that. But a campervan is its own experience none the less. There are lots of different types of camper-van available too, you can buy yourself a VW camper, you could even by yourself a VW T5 conversion that has been converted from a commercial van to a camper. There are so many options available to you.

There are many pros to taking a camper van with you on holiday, but there are also a few cons. It’s size being one of them, having to lug around a large vehicle and have trouble finding parking spaces big enough can be a bit of a hassle.

Babies And Holidays

Taking a baby on holiday can be a bit of a stressful time, especially if you have had the unlucky draw in that your baby is a bit of a handful. If your baby is not the quietest baby in the land you may find yourself drawing more attention to yourself more than necessary.

Travelling

This will be the worst part of the holiday that’s for certain. If you have a noisy baby and are travelling by train, plane or bus, you may find yourself disturbing other people and generally being a nuisance. I for one hate it when I have to sit next to a noisy baby, in fact it’s probably the worst thing in the world to me. But is their a solution to the problem? Maybe. You may be able to bring something in your baby arsenal to keep your child from disturbing others. Things like a dummy, baby toys or anything that can distract the baby would most likely be the best things to use. Distraction is the best option to keep your child from causing a ruckus.

Arrival

So what do you do when you’re there? There are many ways to keep yourself entertained, remember also that the baby will be coming with you too! There will be no babysitting on this trip, I doubt you would trust whoever is there anyway. You can still sit by the side of the pool and relax, if your partner is there with you you can just take it in turns to relax whilst one of you looks after him.

Travelling with the baby doesn’t have to be too stressful, just make sure you pack your baby arsenal well!

What To Do With Your Garden When You’re On Holiday

Are you somebody who is proud of your garden? Do you spend a lot of time pruning and shearing, planting and cutting? If you are you might find that taking a holiday longer than a couple of weeks might know your garden out of shape, but do you have to worry?

Well, in the short term, no. But in the long term you might look at putting things in place that might be able to automate your garden. I’ve seen a product recently that I thought was absolute genius, its called the MIIMO and it is a sort of Roomba for your garden. It is a robot that will automatically drive around your garden and cut the grass for you, how handy would this be when you are on holiday?

Having a MIIMO and a sprinkler system could completely automate the whole lawn maintenance process, through the summer and the winter! I suppose you could just have different settings for each season. If you’re going on holiday and are really worried about your garden, you might as well hire a company who are experienced in looking after gardens. They will keep your garden looking great and look after those bespoke gates whilst you are away.

Watersports Business

The UK is a place of many things, but good weather is definitely not one of them. This is why watersports is not exactly the most popular thing in the world. Watersports can be seen taking place all over the world but usually you will find them to be hot locations. The reason for hot places being the main locations for activities such as surfing or jetskiing is because it’s nice to have a cool down in the water on a hot day, the reason in the UK? Fun. Well I can’t see any other reason, if you get into the water in the UK it is definitely not for cooling down, well, it might turn you into an ice block!

So why would it be a good idea to start a surfing or watersports business in the UK? The reason for doing something like this would be because it is a niche at the moment, surfing is increasing in popularity all the time, and if you can get in there first with the up and comers then you will most likely do well as a business. With global warming incoming, we might even see the weather get alot hotter too, increasing even more people heading down to the beach.

Or course we do have those busy places too, Cornwall for instance is the most active surfing location in the country, even on a rainy day you can see people hitting the beach and getting onto their board. I just don’t know why they do it, they’ll catch a cold! I’d stock up your business with ultra thick wetsuits if I were you.

Holiday With A Campervan!

Have you ever thought about hiring a vehicle on one of your holidays? How about hiring a van? How about hiring a camper-van? It may sound a bit odd but if you like travelling and seeing different sights on a holiday, how about taking a big trip in a camper-van with the family?

The one thing about holidays is that the accommodation costs more than the actual journey, now if you think about it, that is quite silly, I find hotel’s to be overly expensive for what they offer.

But you would be renting your own portable hotel! To travel wherever you like, to be able to get around the countryside without having to search for somewhere to stay, is that not luxury?I’ve had several fantastic holidays with rented campers, my family absolutely love them, it gives us the freedom to go wherever we want without being held down by our accommodation.

I mean you don’t even have to rent or use vehicle hire if you want to save money in the long run, you could buy yourself a camper-van or a camper-van conversion if your planning on multiple holidays like this, you would definitely save money, that’s for sure.

Some of the campervan conversions I have seen are actually very nice, these are vans that have been converted to campers with a kitchen and great upholsery, I was actually looking to purchase one for myself from this website. I can see myself and my family taking a lovely trip away in something like this!

Somali Pirates on the Gulf of Aden

Bit of a different one today folks! I came across some interesting information about the Gulf of Aden, hardly a travel destination by any means but you better watch out if you’re taking a cruise or your boat past there!

You’re probably unaware that pirates still ride the seven seas today! Well, not your run of the mill, peg legged, rum swigging, one eyed, hat wearing scallywag, I’m talking about Somali pirates. These are the chaps that go around trying to board cargo ships forcefully with guns and usually end up in hour long firefights trying to gain access and steal a vessel.

The last decade had seen a rising trend in the number of ships stolen and attacks taking place but over the last 2 years it has been on the decline. The reason for the decline is that security measures have been stepped up onboard vessels and maritime security officers onboard the majority of these ships can send Samali pirates fleeing with their tails between their legs.

This could be a visious circle though as with the stepped up security the pirate attacks are lessening.

2012 only 5 ships were captured compared to 2011 when 25 were taken and 27 in 2010. With less pirates attacking security may be stepped down, which could lead to more successful vessel thefts.

If your interested in joining the fight against Somali pirates, why not head to http://www.crossdeck.co.uk where you will be able to find training courses and access to jobs within maritime security.

Buying Clothes For Holiday

Are you one of those people that needs to be wearing something new when you go on holiday? I know I am. I never really used to care about it, but with my girlfriend it has become a holiday ritual.

There’s just something about wearing a fresh set of threads that can really enhance the holiday mood and experience.

We’re planning on going away in a couple of weeks actually. She has already got her eyes on the Sandwich Clothes Sale at the Pink Rooster, and I don’t blame her!

So drop me some comments if you’re the same!