Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is located on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand. The city houses more than 10 million people making it a highly traffic-congested city.

As one of the fastest-growing, most economically dynamic cities in South East Asia, Bangkok is emerging as a rival to Singapore and Hong Kong.

April and May are the hot months, while all other months are mild. Its rainy season from July to October rainy is normally very pleasant.

There is plenty of greenery in the city with several gardens and parks. There are many lakes with opportunities for enjoying paddle boat rides. Thai people are great outdoor people and the visitor can spend a lot of time watching them fly kites or do other outdoor activities.

The city has several places of interest, including Wat Arun, an ancient temple, Children?s Discovery Museum, The Snake Farm, Dream World, Bangkok Doll Factory, and Ancient City. The Joe Louis Puppet Theater, named after its founder, is a delightful place to visit. Though its founder passed away, his legacy lives on; his family has preserved this wonderful art form. In this show, the colorfully decorated puppets act out culturally rich traditional stories, usually from the Ramayana, an epic text with origin in India. The puppet show gives a glimpse of the Hindu influence in the old Siam.

The city is full of shopping malls and flea markets of all types, especially in the Sukhumvit area. If a shopper can bargain, it’s a shopper?s paradise, as the prices are ludicrously cheap by Western standards. There are several mega stores in the city. Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is easily accessible by Skytrain and Metro, is one of the most popular weekend destinations. Suan Lum Night Bazaar is a shopping mall that is open all nights.

Though Bangkok?s nightlife is notorious, as a result of community and government interventions, nearly all restaurants, bars and clubs are now forced to close before 1 AM. Rules and regulations are strict.

The best way to enjoy sightseeing in Bangkok is to take an organized sightseeing tour. The cost price includes transfers, food and entrance fees. Well educated English speaking local guides make the tour highly informative. The tour operators see that everything is hassle free and the visitor enjoys the sightseeing.

Bangkok provides detailed information on Bangkok Hotels, Bangkok, Bangkok Airfare, Bangkok Nightlife and more. Bangkok is affiliated with Bali Culture.

Many foreign tourists may often find traveling in Japan, because only a few people in Japan can speak English. However, Japan is a great country, and the Japanese are wonderful people.

Before you buy your ticket to Japan, you should know that Japan is an expensive place to travel. The cost of living is very high. You should have at least 5,000 yen per day for your pocket money. If you do not have a lot of money, you should use Japan Rail Pass. It is very cheap way to travel.

Food is one of the best things in Japan. Japanese food is incredibly delicious. Since Japan is an island, seafood is the most popular food in this country. When you think about Japanese food, you probably think about sushi. Sushi consists of raw fish and rice.

If you have a chance, you must visit Japanese hot bath. It is not something that you will see in other countries. The Japanese hot bath is called, ? Onsen ?. In some area, people take a bath together in the open area. This is often known as ?open sky bath?.

Housing is very expensive in Japan. There are too many people in Japan, and there are not enough apartments. Most Japanese can not afford to own a home. However, travelers may camp at various places in Japan. The camp site is usually safe and cheap. The Capsule hotel is one of these many cheap camp sites.

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Vacation time is meant to be a relaxing experience, a time to rejuvenate. Taking a few simple steps with careful planning ahead of time can truly make your travel adventure an effortless trip for the whole family. For cheap airline tickets, cheap hotels, and cheap car rental book early. Organizing your flight plans, car rental arrangements and hotel reservations in advance will help to make a smooth vacation.

Flying Tips:

• Ear pressure during take-off and landing can cause a lot of pain. Help your child by providing them with gum or a chewy food.
• Many flights no longer serve food, bring food and snacks. Ask about food serve when ordering the airline tickets.
• Keep the kids occupied by bringing activities such as coloring books and cards.
• Ask the airline attendant at the start of the flight for pillows and blankets. They run out quickly so ask right away even if you think you might not need them.
• Stand up and walk around periodically with the kids, even if they don’t quite need to stretch yet. This is great preventative medicine to avoid a possible melt down. Because if the kids are ready for a stretch and the fasten seat belt sign is on, that could cause frustration for the kids.

Car Rental Tips:

• Check ahead of time the rules/laws for car seats. Make sure the car rental company has the proper weight car seat.
• Ask the car rental company if the vehicle has child proof locks.
• Make sure your stroller will fit in the truck.
• Check the inside of the car for cup holders before leaving the rental agency.
• Bring water bottles in the car freezing them the night before.

Hotel Tips:

• Arrange for a rollaway bed or crib ahead of time when making the hotel reservations. Hotels do run out.
• Ask about a welcome package for the kids, many higher end hotels do provide welcome gifts for the kids.
• Kids clubs are available at many hotels, check for hours and ages groups.
• Resorts tend to schedule special activities for the kids especially during the summer months, ask the concierge about this.
• Some hotels limit the pool hours and fitness center for kids, inquire about this prior your vacation.

Arrival Tips:

• Have engraved gifts for friends, relatives or business associates.
• If you are having a party on your trip, arrange for the party supplies to be delivered to your destination.
• Schedule flower delivery before departing, check for local florists.
• Never come empty handed, bring personalized gifts!

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino is the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. Bringing a nice Gift Basket is a lovely way to greet your friends.

If you’re like me, choosing a hotel in a strange town makes you nervous. The Internet might be great for rates and accommodations, but the listings can’t give you a feel for where those hotels and motels are located and what their neighborhoods are like.

Last year, I made reservations with fingers crossed for hotels in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson, Mississippi; and Dallas, TX. I don’t know those cities and so the hotels’ sddresses might just as well have been written in Sanskrit.

Fortunately, the hotels I picked (with one exception) were all in nice areas and were to close to either shopping or areas of historical interest.

Here are a few guidelines for choosing a hotel in Denver.

First, hotels with a Quebec Street address were all built near our old Stapleton Airport. Today, what was Stapleton is now homes and chain stores such as Office Depot, Best Buy, and so forth. This means hotels with a Quebec Street address should be okay. However, Quebec Street is east of downtown Denver, putting it 45 minutes to an hour from the mountains.

If you want to stay out west, the Holiday Inn, Lakewood, is at 7390 W Hampden Ave., which puts you much closer to the mountains than the hotels on Quebec. And Days Inn West is in Golden, a fun, little city west of Denver and is practically in the mountains ? if mountains are important to you.

Loews Denver Hotel at 4150 E Mississippi Ave. is about 20 minutes southeast of downtown Denver and very close to I-25, our main thoroughfare north to south. The neighborhood is good and there is shopping nearby.

A couple of my favorites are Four Points by Sheraton on Colorado Blvd. It’s just five minutes away from Cherry Creek Mall and 15 from downtown Denver. I like both its price and location. Another I would recommend is the Hampden Inn and Suites at 4150 E. Kentucky.

Any hotel is Centennial, CO is probably okay. Centennial is a newly incorporated city on the south side of Denver. Hotels in Centennial you might want to check out include the Candlewood Suites, and Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites South.

Hotels in Englewood are also okay, assuming you stay southeast and near the Valley Highway (I-25). This would include Courtyard by Marriott, Destination Hotels and Resort, the Fairfield Inn by Marriott, and Homestead Studio Suites. Most of the hotels in Centennial and Englewood are easily accessible via I-25 and are situated in landscaped business parks. Great shopping can be found about 20 minutes away at the Cherry Creek Mall, or Park Meadows Mall.

Hotels that have a Peoria St. or East 32nd St. address are probably out by Denver International Airport. There’s nothing wrong with them but they are a considerable distance from both shopping and downtown Denver. They’re fine if you’re just spending a night in Denver before flying on to another location.

Finally, if you feel like splurging, downtown Denver has some great hotels. I like the Westin Tabor Center, the Oxford, the Grand Hyatt Denver, and Denver’s great, historic Brown Palace Hotel.

Hotel addresses to stay away from? To me, this would include any hotel or motel with an East or West Colfax address (below 15000 West).

The Denver metro area has more than 470 hotels/motels. If you stick to the national chains, you probably won’t go wrong. But here are at least some pointers that might help you make a good decision.

Have you heard about HD radio technology? It makes AM sound as good as FM and FM sound almost like you were listening to a CD … and its free! To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

Punta Cana is made up of over a dozen beautifully situated resorts spread over 20 miles of white sand beaches. Many of the resorts are all-inclusive ?- offering travelers everything from food, drinks accommodations and activities in one set price.

Club Med established the first resort in Punta Cana in 1981. It was once known for being a popular haunt of singles but in recent times it has become a sought after resort for families. This beachfront resort is situated just ten minutes from the airport and offers all kinds of activities like windsurfing, sailing, swimming, snorkeling, water polo, beach volleyball, tennis, flying trapeze, archery, kayaking, basketball, rollerblading and soccer. Visitors can enjoy the daily regatta, get down to some deep-sea fishing, play a game of golf and go horse riding. The resort has wonderful rooms with breathtaking views of the ocean or the lovely tropical gardens. Typically priced at an average of $295 per night, each room has air conditioning, cable or satellite TV and a mini-refrigerator.

The Punta Cana Resort and Club is situated on the largely undeveloped eastern tip of the island. This 432-room resort is set a away from the beach. The resort uses a variety of environmentally sensitive features like water- and energy-efficient buildings, gray water recycling, organic gardens and the use of native plants. The resort maintains at least 30 percent of the original vegetation on every plot. The open-air common spaces are made of local coral stone, wood and the cana leaves that gave the area its name. The resort offers ample opportunities to ride horses on the beach, play tennis, windsurf, kayak, dance at the nightclub and enjoy fresh local fish.

Accommodations range from $80 per person per night to $1,950 per villa per night. The RIU hotel chain has an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana situated on prime property that runs from the beach back to the lush tropical interior, where the accommodations are located. Visitors can use the shuttle facilities to commute between the restaurants, room and beach. The chain has five hotels in Punta Cana, each having both family-sized and other suites. The suites have air conditioning and satellite TV and are situated so that each has a stunning view of the lush tropical gardens.

The Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort is located 13 kilometers away from the Punta Cana International Airport. Situated on Bavaro beach in the midst of a coconut grove, it is part of a complex of five different hotels, with a full range of features including a casino, activities and various forms of entertainment. The all-inclusive plan includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, at different restaurants. There are facilities such as free non-motorized water sports, tennis, and two discotheques.

The guest rooms at the Barcelo Bavaro are spacious and equipped with a balcony or terrace, each offering a brilliant view of the ocean. There is also an oceanfront swimming pool surrounded by palm trees. The accommodation prices vary from $260 to $346 per night.

Punta Cana Info provides detailed information about Punta Cana resorts, hotels, real estate, beaches, weather, and the Punta Cana airport. Punta Cana Info is the sister site of Cozumel Web.

Several years ago, I had to stop working due to a stress-related muscle disease. I didn?t miss my job. What I did miss was traveling. Conferences in San Francisco, contracts in the Northern Mariana Islands, seminars in Bogota? – all of these seemed part of the past. After two years of staying at home, an unexpected opportunity came up to teach a course in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I jumped on it. I was desperate to go somewhere, anywhere.

When I agreed to go, I wasn?t sure I could do it. I knew I would have to plan carefully if my body was going to hold up. I sat down and made a list of the things I needed to remain well and active. The trip was much more successful than I expected.

In later talking about the experience, I learned something I should have already known, that there were a lot of people who could travel only if they planned very carefully taking their physical limitations into consideration. People with disabilities had to put their bodies and their stress levels first.

That?s when I started writing about travel. I wrote for people who didn?t have the kind of stamina that most travel packages required. Careful travelers, I called us, had to think about things other people took for granted like the shock absorbers on a tour bus. An hour in a shoddy bus could send the careful traveler to bed for days. The careful traveler had to try to protect themselves from incidents like this, and think about what they would do if they did land in bed.

Like all Careful Travelers, my first concern in going to Ft. Lauderdale was the hotel. I knew I had to find a place that was comfortable, a place where there was exercise equipment so I could keep my muscles loose. I had to find a place where there was decent, healthy food in case I was too tired or sick to go outside the hotel. In addition, I needed a place where I would feel happy and content even if I did wind up in bed.

I found the perfect hotel, not in Ft. Lauderdale, but in Hollywood Beach a town between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Hollywood has the turquoise water and sugar white sand beaches of south Florida without the massive high-rise development characterizing the other two cities.

The Hollywood Beach Marriott couldn?t be any closer to the beach, and my room looked exactly like the room in the inviting photograph on their website. Marriott has only recently taken over this hotel and some of the reviews on the internet were written before Marriott owned it. I emailed the manager, Fernando Harb, just to make sure. He assured me the hotel was in fine shape and even offered me a long-term stay rate that was a third off the regular price.

When I got to the hotel, I found that Marriott had lovingly refurbished this small hotel in a warm, lush style complete with dark mahogany wood everywhere. In fact, the hotel has the comfortable feeling of a fine home. Almost all of the rooms have a view of the ocean and all have small balconies. The furnishings are made of the same dark mahogany wood that?s in the lobby and have the look of fine antiques in an historic home. The enormous king-sized bed was made up with luxurious Egyptian cotton sheets, fluffy duvets and oversized pillows. Just getting in the bed every night made me feel pampered and content.

I could even see the beach from my bed. On days when I didn?t feel well, I would open the balcony door, prop myself up in bed amidst the pillows, read and look at the waves and the birds. Other times, I would watch the 75-channel cable TV that even included CSPAN.

Unlike most hotels, Marriott has one button you push on the phone to get whatever service you want. There is no fumbling around trying to find out what number to call for room service or wake up calls. One button connects you with a very nice person who already knows your name before you tell them arranges anything you want without transferring you around the hotel.

I used room service a lot. The food was exquisite. I loved the key lime pie and the seafood pasta with lobster and scallops. The servers were immaculate and seemed to genuinely like their jobs. The presentation of the food was elegant.

One of the things I learned on this trip was that for people with prescription drugs, a room safe is a must. Losing prescription medication, even a few pills, would be worse than losing money. It made me feel that much less stressed to know that the prescription medication was safely locked in my room rather than rattling around in my handbag. The safe was easy to set and unobtrusive, hidden inside a credenza with the mini-bar.

I can?t say enough about the staff of the Hollywood Beach Marriott. They were uniformly helpful, efficient and friendly. I leave quite a mess when I get dressed in the morning, but my room was always immaculate when I returned to it. The maid, Charlene, was friendly and interesting. She and I talked about the political situation in Haiti on numerous occasions.

The staff makes it a point to cater to your needs. I went to Key Largo to swim with dolphins one weekend and then returned to Hollywood. On the way, I phoned to let the hotel know I was coming. They not only had my room ready, they had put my little refrigerator back in the room and plugged it in so it was already cool. They also remembered that I needed an extension cord so I could plug up my laptop computer.

The hotel not only has the beach, great rooms and good service to offer. It has a pool, a fitness room, a hot tub, and a spa where you can get an emergency massage or an emergency facial. The hotel restaurant is right beside the pool. There is a section inside and another section outside next to the beach.

The Hollywood Beach Hotel is a delightful little gem nestled beside the beach away from the monstrous high-rise hotels of Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I would highly recommend it to anybody. There are lots of things to do in and around Hollywood. Both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are short drives and Hollywood is restoring its city center. You can do as much or as little as you want, as much or as little as you can. If you are a Careful Traveler, you will feel as if you had a fine vacation even if you never leave the hotel.

A short drive from Hollywood is Dolphins Plus where you can swim with dolphins. The hearty can drive there and back in a day, but you would probably like to stay the night. Try the Kona Kai Hotel for the cozy, at home feel. Turn off the main road into beautifully landscaped grounds. It?s like entering a little cocoon. They even have their own art gallery.

Swim with Dolphins in Key Largo http://www.dolphinsplus.com/

Hollywood Beach Marriott http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/FLLOF

Sara?s Restaurant, Hollywood http://www.southflorida.com/dining/17777,0,5844547.venue

Dr. Johns is a criminologist, writer, travel planner, and freelance journalist. She has a Ph.D. in Criminology from the Faculty of Law of the University of Edinburgh and has written and published three books.

You can read some of her stories at http://www.cjjohns.com and email her at cjjohns@charter.net.