Amb Films|Travel & Photography Blog

Archive for February, 2011

We are now lucky enough to have a huge range of travel insurance types to choose from. Specialist policies are a great way to save on travel costs, especially when you choose to opt for a group or family package.

These group or family packages usually offer far cheaper insurance costs than would be incurred by insuring each member of your family separately. Just ensure that you check the details of your provider, as some will class children as being under the age of 18, while some will allow children up to the age 23.

One of the biggest advantages of this type of insurance is its flexibility. Usually insurance policies will provide cover for any of the named family members even if they are not travelling with the entire named family for their holiday.

Even more money can be saved when you opt for a policy that provides free cover for children. Some companies will offer free insurance for any child travelling with a named adult, while some will only offer complimentary cover to children who are aged two or under.

As insurers know, not all families will want to name two parents on a policy. For this reason providers will most usually offer a single parent family product so that single parent families can also benefit from reduced travel insurance rates.

It is worth noting that any child who wishes to travel must do so in the company of a named adult. This is particularly pertinent for older teenagers who may wish to travel alone or with friends. Should they choose to travel alone then they will be required to purchase their own separate cover.

One further restriction applies to those over the age of 65. Parents and grandparents of this age or above cannot usually be named on a family or group policy as they are deemed higher risk policy holders. It will probably work out to cheaper for this person to apply for their own specialist insurance policy.

Various types of cover are available via family policies. You can choose from single trip family insurance, or annual cover, which means that the whole family is covered for an entire year no matter how many trips abroad they take.

Think about how much fun it would be if you went on a beach tour in India during your next holidays, with your family and friends. And if you live in a country where the climate is very cold, you will certainly enjoy the bright sun, white sand and clear sea of the Indian coastline! .
Whatever your idea of a perfect beach, you will surely find it here in India. So what are you waiting for? Just pack your bag with a beach towel and a bathing suit, and set out on any one of these beaches in India. Some of these beaches have are ranked amongst the top beaches of the world so are included in almost all India Beach tour package. .

1) Chennai Beach Tour – A Chennai Beach tour will take you to the state of Tamil Nadu. This state is located in southern Indian and has a 900 Km long coastline along the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. However, most of its popular beaches lie along the Bay of Bengal. The capital city of the state Chennai has for exotic beaches namely the Marina Beach, the Golden Beach, the Elliot’s Beach and the Thiruvottiyur Beach. In addition to these, Tamil Nadu also has the Mammallapuram Beach and the Covelong Beach in the city of Mammallapuram.

2) Goa Tropical Beach – The tropical beaches of Goa lie along the coastline of the Arabian Sea. There are nearly forty sun-kissed golden beaches in Goa. However, you will find that each of these beaches has its own individuality. Though some of these beaches are full of crowd like the Arjuna Beach, Calangute Beach and the Candolim Beach, you can visit small & remote beaches like Baga, Colva and Vagator if you are looking for a solitary peace. .

3) Kerala Beach Tour – Kerala is famous for its beaches so it is a must to take a Kerala beach tour when you are in India. The western side this state is bounded by the Arabian Sea and has a long coast line of 600 Km. This coastline houses a number of pristine beaches like Kovalam Beach, Kozhikode Beach, Varkala Beach and Marari Beach. Here the sea, the long white sandy strip and the green palm groove creates beautiful scenery. Once you are in Kerala also enjoy the traditional Ayurvedic message and Yoga to refresh your body. .
4) Orrisa Beach Tour – The state of Orissa is located by the Bay of Bengal. It has world famous beaches like Puri Beach, Chandipur Beach, Gopalpur Beach and Gahirmatha Beach. Here during the day you can laze on the sand and tan your skin or you can swim and dive. You can also shop and dine local delicacies to have a great beach holiday experience.

5) Port Blair Beach Tour – Port Blair Beach Tour in the island states of Andaman & Nicobar will take you to famous beaches like Collinpur Beach, Radhanagar Beach, Corbyn’s Cove Beach, North Bay Beach, Jolly Buoy Islands Beach, Red Skin Islands Beach and little Andaman Beach. .

So if you love sun, sand and sea; take a beach travel in India. Book your trip today with a travel operator and ask for the best India Beach tour package. This will make your beach tour in India worthwhile.

If you’re looking for cheap family vacations it’s probably because you don’t want to put your family in a big hole of debt just to go on vacation. But you also realize that a family vacation is just something you cannot do without. Here is where most travelers like yourself run into a brick wall.

The biggest in your face option that is pushed in most travelers faces are timeshares. The unfortunate thing is that people are not told of the largest drawbacks with them…one of them being that timeshares are very costly over the years as maintenance fees can go up and be in the hundreds of dollars every single year whether or not you take a vacation that year or not.

The good news is that there are timeshare alternatives. What you may not know is that there are better options available that can truly make cheap family vacations possible without putting your family in financial risk yet not sacrificing luxury either.

In the past, the choices for budget family vacations were severely limited. It was usually deciding upon staying at a roach infested motel, a low quality hotel, or bugging your relatives for a place to stay while on vacation.

What’s the point of being on vacation if you’re going to be miserable? Why would you want to put your family into a cramped small hotel room or worse yet in a tiny motel room where you have the good chance of having to fight roaches off of you as you sleep?

And staying with relatives all the time when you go on vacation is a good way to wear out the welcome mat real fast and become a nuisance. Who wants that?

You obviously want better for your family and thanks to the “secret” many families have discovered the other way to take cheap family vacations. This other way has you and your family staying at highly rated resorts that were previously only for timeshare buyers.

Those who know this secret quietly “slip in the back” paying only a tiny fraction of what timeshare buyers are paying for the same luxurious resorts. This is also the same secret timeshare companies don’t want you to know about.

So, what is this big secret? You just may have already guessed it…a vacation travel club. Travel clubs have for decades been the thorn in the side of timeshare companies because they offer savvy travel lovers like yourself an opportunity to vacation at luxurious resorts without the big financial commitment of a timeshare property.

Imagine spending time walking along a warm sandy beach sipping your favorite cold beverage and thinking to yourself that you finally found the “secret” of how to take cheap family vacations without sacrificing comfort and luxury. Your family will then thank you for creating memories that last a lifetime.
 

Certain ski resorts in Canada plan to make their slopes more family friendly by removing all of their man-made snow jumps. This is good news to some, especially if your father is bunny hill material, yet he still pretends to be a stuntman from a James Bond film.

The Canadian resorts stretch from Quebec to British Columbia. They include Lake Louise, Fernie, Kimberley, Nakiska, Mont-Sainte-Anne, and Stoneham. The resorts want to put safety first and they believe that other major resorts will soon follow suit. Matt Mosteller, Senior Director of Business Development for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies states, ‘We are undertaking an industry-leading initiative. We have found that one of the main issues that increase the likelihood of serious injury on our mountains is big air. When we are making decisions about safety at our resorts, the big jumps in the terrain parks always come into the equation. We decided to make a change.’

Amateurs might be saved some serious injuries, but what about thrill seekers that actually know what they are getting into when they try to get big air?

Mosteller addresses this concern, stating, ‘We are committed to providing our guests with a safe experience at our mountains. We realize that this change may disappoint some guests who regularly use these man-made jump features. However, we believe we have a strong moral obligation not to compromise the safety of our guests.’ There will, of course, still be other resorts that cater to the more talented and adventurous.

But for people that think the idea of leaving the ground while on skis sounds like a worst-case scenario, this change of policy means the resorts will have more money to invest on other perks the average skier is more likely to appreciate. For instance, the same announcement mentioned that new rails and features for existing terrain parks are planned in Lake Louise, Fernie and Nakiska. The parks are also implementing new “family-friendly” terrain parks. These new parks feature small rails, boxes and rollers that help children get started on the slopes.

According to the RCR website, the company is aiming at ‘encouraging learning, safety and fun in a non-intimidating environment.’ This seems to be in line with the corporate vision of RCR, which states that the resorts should be “the ideal place to visit when you want to re-connect with your family, friends and nature.” The company, which has owned and operated the parks for the past five years, wants the parks to be family-oriented destinations.

Skiing in general is one of the more dangerous sports. Clearly, bowling might be a bit safer than flying down a hill on two sticks at very fast speeds. But the resorts no longer want the added liability of “kickers,” as skiers often call such jumps.

The Resorts of the Canadian Rockies also announced its plan to host a Rail Jam series that will take place at Lake Louise Mountain Resort, Fernie Alpine Resort and Nakiska in the same press release,. “Features used in the Rail Jam series will be suitable for a high level of competition, while also adhering to safe practices,” according to the RCR. So, expert skiers that are not particularly concerned with family fun will have some new features to look forward to at the RCR parks.

The removal of RCR’s “kickers” is the subject of quite a bit of online controversy, but it appears that the RCR is unlikely to reverse its decision in the near future. Perhaps this isn’t a bad thing for families, since daredevils will now feel a little less compelled to imitate the pros. This initiative will certainly save at least a few broken bones across Canada this winter.

Just aim and shoot, right? Anyone that’s interested in photography knows better than to think that taking pictures is just that simple. Sure, pointing your camera at something and taking a picture will certainly record an event, but if you really want photographs that are worth looking at year after year, you may be interested in some more advanced photography techniques. Well, whether you’re just taking pictures on vacation and of your friends when they come over, or if you are looking to actually start making money from your photos, we have some great but simple photography techniques you can try.

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is one of those basic photography techniques that is typically applied to shots like landscapes or nature scenes, where it’s easy to have a picture of just one element. If you’ve ever looked at that photo of a beautiful lake or sunset and thought that is just didn’t quite capture the beauty of the scene the way you remember it, you may want to consider the Rule of Thirds. This is where there are three distinct layers or parts of your photo. For example, suppose you want to take a shot of that beautiful lake where you’re staying on vacation. The blue water against the blue sky is going to make everything blend in. Applying professional photography techniques to this type of shot means waiting until sunset when the setting sun breaks up the lake against the sky. This is the Rule of Thirds – you have the sky, the sun, and the lake; three distinct parts.

This is also good for photographing something like autumn foliage. A jumble of color is not going to have much interest. Try to apply these photography techniques by adjusting your shot so that you have the sky above those trees and perhaps a field or hill below them. The Rule of Thirds gives you those three distinct parts, and makes those beautiful autumn leaves that much more outstanding.

Angles

Trying different angles is one of the most used photography techniques by professionals. Again, if you just point and shoot at your subject, then you have a photo of them that has not much interest or depth. You may document what you’re shooting, but that’s about it.

Applying photography techniques for angles means moving yourself and your camera around for unique and interesting shots. If you want to shoot a beautiful flower garden, try getting right down on the ground so they’re in front of you, rather than just standing above them. To take a picture of your new motorcycle, try getting down on the ground and aiming above you so that it really captures the majesty of the bike. Play around a bit with angles when it comes to pictures of people as well; by being experimental and creative, you can come up with your own special photography techniques that are perfect for you, your subjects, and your photos.