Counter Assertion

Skiing in Argentina? What type of strange destination is that? Is not South America mostly about jungles than about snowboarding? Surprisingly not. S. America constitutes a continent which stretches from the equator down to S.Chile not far from the north of Antarctica. By the ridge of S.America lay the Andes Mountains. They’re one of the tallest chains of mountains in the globe and even as the range passes across the tropical zone, the summits are always covered in snow.

America’s most famous ski resorts are found in Patagonia with fabulous skiing deals. In the center of both of these countries you can locate numerous ski areas. The most notable snowboarding destination in Argentina is addressed by a few Little Switzerland and whenever one visit you will suppose that you are in Schweiz with the charming Swiss shacks. The skiing town has apartments, a restaurant, clubs, and all that you need to create a outstanding snowboarding trip among friends, family or loved ones. The most famous ski area in South America is in Chile. Placed only 39 minutes from the airport one can arrive there with a short ride having flown in non stop from several major towns as well as LA, Paris, Geneva, Lyon and Stockholm.

Glatimia is a Pension in Rome, located in via Caio Mario 14/a

Glatimia pension is situated in an elegant area of Prati, few minutes walking from the Vatican City (S.Peter); this brand new accommodation in Rome is only 50 meters from the underground station Line A - Ottaviano and 20 meters from the bus stop (providing also service at night) for destinations like: Piazza di Spagna, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Termini Station and other historical-cultural and commercial places.

Even if it is in the nearby of via Cola di Rienzo and via Ottaviano, via Borgognona, Via Frattina , via Condotti ( a particular street for shopping), this pension is in a quiet street.

In a few minutes on foot you can reach S.Pietro , Musei Vaticani, Piazza del Popolo, Via del Corso, Pincio, Ara Pacis.

The accommodation is located on the ground-floor of an elegant building ( only six steps to enter our pension); it has been finely renovated with materials of value, also for the big private baths in the rooms realized in mosaic and with hair-drier and radiator.

The three rooms are furnished with artisan furniture, Large, luminous and not noisy with LCD tv and private bath.

There is the availability of one shared point for internet access 24 hours, laundry service, ironing, touristic guide (minimum 4 people), on request at the moment of reservation.

Other suggestion for Rome? Charming accommodation in the centre of Rome: find an Hotel close to Tiburtina Station, or compare price for Rome hotels Vatican Museums, or make a reservation for a Rome Walking Tour

Our B & B is on the first floor of a Venetian Palace, with windows overlooking a canal and views of gondolas regularly moored nearby.
It is situated in the borough of S. Polo, where Giacomo Casanova once lived, which is an interesting and lively locality with many shops and typical wine bars (osteria).
2 stopos from rialto bridg How to reach Happy Venice…..
From Venice (tsf ) Treviso’s airport bus shuttle to Piazzale Roma in Venice…….
From Marco Polo (Tessera) airport: By no 5 ACTV bus or ATVO shuttle up to Piazzale Roma, by no. 1/N steamboat, stop at San Tomà ……..
by taxi service up to Rio San Polo Venice……
From Santa Lucia railway station: By steamboat lines no 82, no1/N, stop at San Tomà, or by taxi service up to Rio San Polo…………
take arrival appointment ….. ceck out -10:30 ceck in -16:00

If you think that B&B Happy Venice is not exactly what you are looking for, click here to visit our catalogue for Hotels in Italy, and make a search for another hotel in Venice: we are pretty sure that you can easy find the Venice accommodation that can best fit your need for a perfect stay in Italy.

The phenomenal region of Africa called South Luangwa has been named the best place to safari in Africa. The region has been acclaimed in various years by the Uks greatest safari experts. You will be able to find enormous groups of cheetahs as well as fabulous birds.

The wildlife park is well regarded for its eye-opening night safaris and is popular with all UK tourists. The changing seasons makes the park irrestible with a dry season during winter and a green beautiful jungle feel over June and July. During the changes in season the game will probably differ giving people a different aspect. Try a safari in Zambia with Kaingo Safaris.

Identify the attraction of South Africa with a safari vacation and be at one with the amazing nature and wildlife. The incredible rivers and birds and wildlife can make you feel alive with energy. You will be able to take lots of photographs and take back the very best memories.

South Africa comes with countless animals in its parks and holiday makers can often easily find the perfect photo of a wild cat. If you are not used to a walking safari you might well go on a driving safari and admire large amounts of the country within a short amount of time. Once you have finished your driving safari by day you will often then go back to your hotel to eat. Tons of hotel resorts are three star and brilliant.

The 5 star Halkin hotel is located in the heart of Belgravia, approximately 100 metres from Hyde Park Corner tube station. Boasting a total of 41 rooms, the Halkin is the epitome of comfort and luxurious living. En suite facilities are magnificent, huge baths soothe and relax, perfect for contemplating the events of the day and recharging those batteries.

The hotel is within easy reach of Knightsbridge and an abundance of designer shops, restaurants, in fact just about anything that takes your fancy, offering the opportunity to spoil yourself rotten. However, there is no need to dine out; the Halkin hotel boasts an excellent restaurant, almost guaranteed to leave you coming back for more.

Tariffs at the Halkin hotel range from £135 per person per night (based on two sharing) during the months of spring, rising £5 during summer and winter. This includes a full breakfast. The single supplement (if you are staying on your own) means the price doubles. The mid-week (Monday to Thursday) supplement is £37.50 during spring, rising to £58.75 across summer and winter. A deluxe room upgrade is available from £75 per room per night.

West India Quay Marriott Hotel & Executive Apartments 5* (Canary Wharf)

The West India Quay Marriott Hotel exudes grace and charm. With its grand entrance hall and spacious rooms, a stay here will remain long in your memory. Located next to the West India Quay tube station, a trip to the West End is just a short 15 minute hop.

The West India Quay Marriott Hotel is an ingredient of the new development at the celebrated Canary Wharf; its supreme position allows convenient access to museums and leading London attractions.

Tariffs at the West India Quay Marriott Hotel vary from £96.50 per person per night (based on two sharing) during spring, £55 in summer, and £60 during the winter, including a full breakfast. If you are travelling alone, the single person supplement effectively doubles the price. The mid-week (Monday to Thursday) supplement is £32.75 during spring, £91.50 throughout summer, and £86.50 for the duration of winter. Room only rates are available upon request.

Please note all prices are correct at time of writing (December 2005). For reservations call Superbreak on 0870 701 2200. Lines are open 8am - 11pm 7 days a week (excluding Christmas Day).

Steven Cronin owns the Sargas Travel online magazine featuring travel reviews, news, inspiration, advice and special offers. For further reading please visit www.sargas.co.uk

As you climb Kilimanjaro spare a thought for the humble porter.
His life is one of extreme hardship of trekking up and down the
mountain carrying your supplies. No one notices him, no one
cares for him, he goes unseen and unappreciated.

I see many items on the internet about the ‘Kilimanjaro song’ -
many climbers wanting the words for the song as it brings back
memories for them. Good memories of the hard slog to the summit
of Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa. There is another
side to this song; the porters who sing this song have their own
storey. What follows is the porter’s song, in this case Marco’s
song. These are his own words…

Sometimes; to get the job as a porter with a group I would have
to pay for the privilege. Porters are poor and life is hard.
This payment to get a job I always would hope to pay out of my
tip - that is if I got a tip this time - I would always pray I
would get a tip. The guide would share the tip the tourists gave
at the end of the climb; but we the porters rarely received a
share. Don’t be fooled by the fair trade tourism; fair trade
tourism may have good intentions but usually they are far away
in comfortable offices and are sadly unaware of what is really
happening.

We the porters are kept at a distance from the tourist. We are
not encouraged to talk or interact in anyway with the guests. I
was once beaten for talking to a guest. Imagine that, beaten for
talking to a tourist whose bag I was carrying up Kilimanjaro; it
was just not allowed; they [the guides] feared we would take
their tip. After I was beaten I didn’t get another job for a
long time; the guide told all the other guides I was a trouble
maker. So no one would give me a job, and I was unable to pay
for my school for almost one year. I climbed the mountain to pay
for my education.

When I was 16 my family said my education was over. I didn’t
want to die here climbing Kilimanjaro so I begged my family to
allow me to carry on with my schooling. They agreed but said
that I must pay for it myself; I did this by carrying supplies
up the mountain for the tourists. In the early days we had to
carry 40kg’s - imagine that 40kg’s it made me very tired and
sometimes very sick.

The food we eat is very basic and usually not cooked properly.
Kerosene [paraffin] used for the cooking is for the guests it is
not for us. The maze flour is cooked into a stiff porridge
[called ugali] it might be hot but it is not cooked through;
sometimes the flour is not even mixed well with the water. Most
times a hot slice of ugali is put directly into our hands; there
are no bowels or plates for the porters. Sometimes we would get
mchicha [local spinach] with the ugali but mostly it was just
ugali.

Most porters are poorly clothed and we are inadequately fed so
we get ill, if we get ill on the climb we will not get another
job again and we won’t get paid for this job. So if we fall ill
we must carry on. I remember a long long time ago my friend,
Lumuli, he died, he was sick before we started to climb but he
needed the money for is family. It was at a hill we call
breakfast; it was here at this place where he died. The tourists
were not told, I don’t think anyone even noticed he was missing.
I returned with his body, I didn’t get paid for this climb nor
did Lumuli’s widow receive any payment toward the funeral.

Many times when I got home after a climb I might be sick for one
week. Sometimes coughing up blood. My brother would beg me to
stop climbing Kilimanjaro when I got sick but I knew it was my
only hope, my only escape. If you are unlucky enough to be born
into Marangu village you climb Kilimanjaro or you can starve to
death slowly whilst growing coffee.

Once I remember a porter lost his shoe. There was ice on the
ground and the porter’s foot was numb. He did not notice he had
lost his shoe until a tourist noticed the blood and stopped the
trek and put a bandage on the foot and gave him a pair of boots!
This tourist was very angry with the guide, we were pleased the
guide was in trouble; but of course we were punished for
upsetting the tourists - we were all punished. This was in the
days when a porter carried up to 40 kg. Now the weight carried
is a lot less but too little clothing and low wages are still a
problem for the porters.

When the climb is finished we are very tired, exhausted even,
but we are forced to stand in a line singing the ‘Kilimanjaro
song’. We clap and look happy for the tourists… well for the
guides to get their tips. When we sing they [the guides] say
’sing louder, sing louder’ and they say ‘look happy’. All the
guide books are told what tips to pay and to pay it all to the
guide. Why? Why do they say that? Do tourists not care for the
porters? I am sure there is a very good reason for paying all
the tips to the guides but I am still waiting for someone to
tell me what that reason is. We never got much from the tips
usually in most cases we received next to nothing at all -
except of course for our wages less the tip we must pay to the
mountain-guide.

The porters have no voice, they have no rights. They die for a
few dollars. I ask your tourists from Europe from America, from
China and Australia to spare a thought for the porter. When you
book through a fair trade operator, make certain they really are
doing what they say they are doing. And I would ask if you tip
the porter please give it to the porter. I am now living in
Aruhsa and life is not so bad as it was in Marangu. I help my
family and don’t allow any of my relatives to be a porter.

Kilimanjaro is beautiful I am told, but for me, when I look at
that mountain… well all I see is poverty, death, hardship; for
me Kilimanjaro holds no beauty at all. Of course we pretend, yes
indeed we pretend to the tourist that we appreciate the majesty
of this mountain; but to be truthful it is very hard for me to
see anything but cruelty and poverty.

A popular vacation choice for most tourists is the beach inclusive Mexico resort deal. Lots of tourist hotspots in Mexico offer this deal. The great thing about beach inclusive Mexico resort deals is that you only pay a single price for everything. With a beach inclusive Mexico resort package, you can just relax and have everything at your disposal.

Here are two of the hotels and resorts in Mexico that offer beach inclusive Mexico resort vacation packages and deals.

The Allegro Payacar is a beach inclusive Mexico resort and part of the giant Occidental chain. This beach inclusive Mexico resort stands on a beach that is just a twenty minute walk or five minute taxi ride from the busy tourist town Playa del Carmen. Some features of this beach inclusive Mexico resort include welcome cocktail, all meals and snacks, unlimited local alcoholic beverages, room service for continental breakfast, and much, much more.

Located just an hour south of exotic Cancun, the beach inclusive Mexico resort that is Bahia Principe Akumal offers an area with a great lagoon for snorkeling. The hotel itself has over 1,000 rooms, occupying only half of the total property area, while the rest is filled up with the beautiful sandy white beaches and a shopping or entertainment area.

Whether you are traveling with your family or traveling as a single, beach resort all inclusive Mexico resorts have it all for you. There are beach resort all inclusive resort Mexico vacation packages to meet every need, including family, adult only, adult oriented, couples, honeymoons, golf, scuba diving, and more. Most of the resort hotels in the Caribbean and Mexico offer beach resort all inclusive resort packages just for you.

Family Oriented All Inclusive Beach Mexico Resort Packages

If you’re traveling as a family or with your kids in tow, beach resort all inclusive Mexico resorts provide vacations with activities tailored for the whole family. A family oriented beach resort all inclusive Mexico resort features entertainment, activities, dining, and excursions for every family member.

Adult Only All Inclusive Beach Mexico Resort Packages

Beach resort all inclusive Mexico resorts may also be for adults only. This is when the all inclusive features of the hotel resort have age restrictions. Adults only beach resort all inclusive Mexico resorts provide you with activities tailored just for adults, including entertainment, dining, and excursions. Some beach resort all inclusive Mexico and Caribbean resorts that are restricted to adults only include Couples, Sandals, El Dorado, Sans Souci, Super Clubs Grand Lido, Secrets, Villa Premiere, Golden Crown Paradise, and some Breezes.

There is also a sub-category to adults only beach resort all inclusive Mexico resort. Adult oriented is different from an adult only resort because there are no age restrictions, even though the activities and hotel features mainly attract adults.

Couples Only All Inclusive Beach Mexico Resort Packages

An intimate setting for a relaxing adult vacation is what couples only beach resort all inclusive Mexico resorts offer. The beach resorts that are all inclusive are often restricted to traditional male/female couples, providing a typical array of services and facilities, such as dancing and evening entertainment, excursions, high quality dining, spas, piano bars, and more. There is also a variety of water and land sports available just as they are available in any other beach resort all inclusive Mexico resort.

When booking your all inclusive beach Mexico resort vacation package be sure to have your travel agent give you the details of any resort you are considering. You don’t want surprises while on vacation.

Great Britain’s absorbing and time & again gloomy past is perhaps best rendered in its historic house & nowhere is this more perceptible than in those buildings recognised by the Royal Family and their formal ceremonies. England tourism has many great places to visit. Buckingham Palace is no exception.

For a long-lasting period now the British Monarchy has been judged to be highly important to the prosperity of the UK. They have entertained foreign tourists for years & maintain to rouse the interest of foreign holiday-makers of all ages. Buckingham Place has been certified the Capital’s home of the British monarchy from the time when Queen Victoria became instated as queen in 1837. it’s one of a tiny number of working royal palaces enduring in in Great Britain today.

Buckingham Palace is used predominately as a place of work, but can additionally be converted into a ceremonial venue for the fifty thousand royal visitors invited to the Palace annually. There are well over six hundred digs, including nineteen state rooms, fifty-two royal and guest bedrooms, seventy eight bathrooms, 92 offices, but more remarkably an in-house theatre & swimming pool.

All the way through the spring & summer, overseas visitors can travel around the marvellous state bedrooms, that help form the heart of the Palace. These impressive rooms are highlighted with a mixture of the most excellent assets from the Royal compilation of works, including sculptures by Canova as well as paintings by the many well-known artists for example Rembrandt, Rubens and Canaletto.