SLCLAWYERS.COM

May 5, 2010

Top Notch Cruises

If you enjoy travelling and visiting new places, I recommend a cruise. I have cruised the Mediterranean and the Baltic and my next cruise will be a Caribbean cruise. I am really looking forward to it. If you have never been on a cruise, start saving up now, because it is opulence like you have never imagined before.

Never having been on a Caribbean cruise before, I do not know how much the various Caribbean islands differ from one another, so I do not know how varied that cruise would be. However, I have cruised the Med and the Baltic and woken up to a different country every day and in both of those seas and every country is very different from its neighbours.

On our Baltic cruise we departed from Southampton and cruised to Gothenburg in Sweden. From there we went to Helsinki and Leningrad (in those days). On the way back, we called into Copenhagen and the Tivoli Gardens. None of those countries was in any way similar to another or even Britain.

Similarly, my Mediterranean cruise left from Minorca in north eastern Spain going east to Sardinia and then north along the southern coast of Europe. Italy, France and Spain. The second week of the cruise left Minorca again and went to Sicily and then south along the northern coast of Africa including Malta.

The luxury on a cruise is almost indescribable to someone who has never been on a cruise. There is no standard higher than five stars, but the cruises I have been on offered superior levels of luxury than any five star hotels I have stayed in anywhere in the world.

Food and shore trips play a major part of cruising. The food is top notch with no mistake. Breakfast on a cruise liner is better than most Americans and most Europeans have for dinner. Whatever you want from prawns to steak, from exotic fruit to porridge. Lunch and dinner are even more sumptuous.

Shore excursions are well organized too. They include a ferry from the cruise liner to the shore and then a coach trip by a local firm to the location, which could be an historical site or a shopping mall. Most cruisers go on these trips, but some prefer to stay on board and take advantage of the reduced number of passengers and the free food.

I went on every shore excursion and thoroughly enjoyed each one. The excursions are usually pricey though, but you are part of a trapped audience, so what can you expect?

I thoroughly recommend a cruise holiday to any and every one. You should go at least once in your life, but do not leave it until late in your life because you will want to go again.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

April 19, 2010

Getting Married On St Croix

St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean has been a popular honeymoon destination for newly married couples for decades, because the weather there is sunny all year round and you can get pleasure from any number of wonderful holiday activities together.

Things to do include hiking, exploring, taking tours, horse riding, water sports like diving or sailing or just and lying in the sun. However, in the past few years, it has also become very popular to travel to St Croix for the actual wedding ceremony itself, not just for the honeymoon. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages to getting married abroad.

First, you have to think about who you want to have there at your wedding. St Croix is regulated by American law, so you will be required to have a certain number of witnesses. You can use local volunteers but you may not be able to envisage your wedding without your family or your best friends being there.

It is worth remembering that every guest you want to be at your wedding will have to be flown to the island and in many instances, the guests will not be able to afford this trip themselves, which means that you will have to pay for all or at least some of the cost of the flight and the stay. If you cannot do this, it may not be possible for you to have everyone present at your wedding ceremony that you would want. The cost of a Caribbean wedding on St Croix is a distinct disadvantage.

Remember also that you will almost certainly be spending your honeymoon wherever you hold the wedding and although it may be nice to have friends and family around you for the wedding, you might wish they would disappear for the honeymoon.

However, your guests may want to take a vacation while they are in the Virgin Islands, so if you want some time to yourselves, book them into a package holiday deal which will keep them occupied in order to give you some time to yourselves. Try to make a block booking and ask for a big discount.

However, one of the main advantages is that you are already in the place where you will be honeymooning. Travel is stressful and tiring, although St Croix, USVI is less than 1,300 miles from Florida, so being on the spot for your honeymoon will save you all that.

Not only that though, your wedding will be an even more memorable event because an idyllic beach setting with a sunset backdrop is really very moving. Most couples adore the island scenery, so a Caribbean wedding in St Croix may be just right for you.

When planning your marriage in St Croix, remember that the US Virgin Islands are a legal part of the USA, so US laws and marriage laws relate there. You also do not have to have a passport to go to St Croix, although you are allowed $1,600 worth of duty free goods per person per 30 days. This can make up quite a saving.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

Economical Wedding Favours

If you are holding a large wedding, that is one with a lot of guests, the cost of wedding favours can be quite significant, if you do not set a strict budget. One immediate method you could employ to cut the cost of your wedding favours is to give one to each couple or single, rather than one to everybody who attends. The first judgment to take is how much can you afford in total and then divide that by the number of guests in total and then divide it by the number of couples and singles.

This method will make it easier for you to decide what you are going to do: get for everybody; buy for couples and singles and save the rest for something else or give to couples and singles but buy more elaborate presents. If you still find that there is not a lot of money to go around, you will need to look for inexpensive wedding favours. I will offer you a few thoughts below to get you going.

Candles can be very effective, inexpensive wedding favours. If you buy in bulk, you can get some really lovely candles at very reasonable prices. You could get scented candles, maybe with the same smell as the bouquet the bride carried. You could also consider purchasing personalized ribbons to tie pretty bows around the candles and the ribbons could have your names and the wedding date on them.

Candy or chocolate is another kind of low-cost wedding favour. There are many ways to go down this route. You could have the wrappers of popular candy bars custom-made; you could buy quite expensive chocolate in bulk and wrap it up in a special way yourself or you could buy small boxes of gourmet chocolate.

Giving packets of flower or vegetable seeds is also an inexpensive way of giving a useful wedding favour. Again, you could give seed packets of the flowers in the bride’s bouquet. The seed packets could be wrapped or boxed with your own special logo, names and wedding date. You could present them in a pot or tray too in order to make it even easier to sow the seeds.

A pen or pen and pencil set is also a reasonably inexpensive way of giving wedding favours. These pens can also display your wedding details such as names and date.

However, I am Welsh and so my favourite wedding favours are love spoons in miniature, say four inches long. Love spoons were given in Wales by a suitor to his beloved for hundreds of years and many love spoon makers will make mini versions by hand for a small amount of money. These love spoon wedding favours can also be inscribed with the wedding details as they are typically made out of wood.

Another nice touch is to add a stamped, self addressed envelope to your wedding favour present, with a short note asking the recipient to get in touch with you soon, so that you do not let too much water go under the bridge.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Welsh love spoons, and Wales in general, please go to our website at Welsh Products Online, if you are too.

April 2, 2010

Going Sailing In The Caribbean

There are plenty of destinations for people interested in sailing and if you are tired of the Virgin Islands then move on over to the rest of the Caribbean.

The Caribbean islands are part of an island chain stretching 2,500 miles. Given the enormous distance, it is no surprise that tourists spend weeks out there in order to enjoy the splendour that it has to offer.

Just like in the Virgin Islands, there are lots of charter firms you can go to. for a range of hobbies. These companies come in different sizes, but perhaps the best is the yacht charter.

When you charter a yacht, apart from the yacht, the other elements and benefits that come with it are meals, separate guest rooms, a galley, toilet and shower.

Since you are the paying guest aboard the boat, you can customize the menu by telling the cook before the trip what you want to eat. You can help out by buying the provisions yourself, having someone from the crew do it for an additional fee or select a set menu from one of their pre-composed packages.

Since most of the islands in the Caribbean are small and uninhabited, you are certain to explore places that not many have seen. But if you can’t afford to rent a chartered yacht, don’t worry because you can probably get one that will cost as little as $50 if you are able to book a pre-arranged trip with several other guests to split the cost.

One thing you ought to be prepared for during you sailing vacation is the possibility of a storm. These generally occurs during the months of June to November. If you are not sure that this is the best time, book the trip on another date.

But if you are adamant about going on your dates, there are some online tools you can utilize to check if the area you will be sailing in has ever been hit by a storm before.

The other option is to plan your itinerary to the Caribbean islands further south because they are less likely to be affected by a storm. These places include the islands of Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curacao, and Turks and Caicos.

If you like the idea of going sailing around the Caribbean there are ample opportunities. You could do far worse than start in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands and travel south or west. If you start in St Croix, which the pirates of old used to call Santa Cruz, you will not need a passpert and can take your pets with you, but you will need more ID if you call into foreign islands.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

March 11, 2010

Honeymoon On St Croix

After your wedding day, your honeymoon is one of the most memorable times of your life and so must surely count as one of best holidays you will ever have. It is the beginning of a new life with the person you love. As such it is a good reason to visit somewhere you have always wanted to go, somewhere very special.

One of the most popular places for people to go to on a honeymoon is St Croix, The US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is the first choice for many newly weds for various reasons: the romance, the people are happy and welcoming, the sand, sea and sunshine, the food and the music. St Croix in the US Virgin Islands is one of the favourite destinations in the Caribbean islands.

St Croix has beautiful beaches and that perfect tropical climate that is so appropriate for a wonderful honeymoon. The hotels and the island’s inhabitants love to take care of newly weds and go out of their way to make sure that the honeymooners have the time of their lives – a holiday that they will remember affectionately for ever.

Cost is always a factor when one is planning a honeymoon in the Caribbean, but you do not have not be too worried on that front. A honeymoon on St Croix need not be costly and as it is only 1,300 miles from the USA, so travel costs and travel time are low.

You will not have trouble finding somewhere on the island to suit your desires. However, St Croix is a popular honeymoon destination, especially for Americans, so it is worth booking your honeymoon holiday as early as possible in order to obtain the reservation that you want.

There are three main types of places to stay: a hotel, a vacation rental or a holiday home. The difference between a vacation rental and a holiday home is that the former is a condo or villa purpose built for holiday makers, whereas the holiday home is actually somebody’s house who has let it out for a short period.

When planning your honeymoon, you should think about when you will go away. It was traditional to leave for the honeymoon after a short reception on the day of the wedding, but many couples postpone their departure date nowadays. Over the last few decades, it has become the standard to hold an extensive reception hours after the wedding, often at night. This will usually go on until midnight or later, which makes leaving for foreign climes quite difficult. A hangover is not a good travelling companion either.

Therefore, you may want to put your going away date off until two days after the wedding, although I think that flying out on the wedding day is still the best idea. If you choose a holiday home or a vacation rental on St Croix, you will need to make all your own arrangements for getting to the airport, flying to St Croix and getting a taxi from the airport to your place of stay, so I recommend that for this, your first visit to this beautiful island, you take a package holiday, which will take care of you from your local airport to your hotel on St Croix and back again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

The United States Virgin Islands

The US Virgin Islands came into America’s possession in 1917 after Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to it for $25m in gold. At the time, the USA was worried that the Germans would gain control of the islands and use them as a base from which to launch attacks on America.

The status of the US Virgin Islands is one of an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. This means the residents of the US Virgin Islands are US citizens, but cannot vote in US presidential elections. Therefore, US citizens do not need a passport to visit the US Virgin Islands.

The US Virgin Islands are part virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward islands of the Lesser Antilles along with the British Virgin Islands. The three main islands of this American territory are called Saint Croix, Saint John and Saint Thomas. There is also a much smaller island called Water Island. All together, there are about 60 islands with a total surface area of 133.73 square miles, although most of the islands are uninhabited.

The four main islands of the US Virgin Islands are known to their residents by nicknames. These are ‘Twin City’ (St. Croix); ‘Rock City’ (St. Thomas); ‘Love City’ (St. John) and ‘Small City’ (Water Island) and their total population was 108,612 in the 2000 census.

Since the 1960’s, the islands turned their focus from agriculture to heavy industry and tourism and the US Virgin Islands are a very popular destination for American tourists and honeymooners. It is very easy for Americans to get there because a passport is not required, the islands are only 1,730 miles east south-east of Miami, the currency is the US dollar and everybody speaks English.

The islands enjoy an arid, pleasant climate. The average temperature in the capital, Charlotte Amelie, is 33c in the summer and 30c in the winter. September to November are the wettest months and February and March are the driest. The USVI are subject to hurricanes. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 was particularly devastating, but the islands were also hit in 1998, 1999 and 2008.

Tourism is the industry that most of the islanders are engaged in and about 2,000,000 people visit every year, many of them on cruise liners. St Thomas and St Croix are the best equipped to deal with tourists offering hotels and resorts along with lovely beaches and fine restaurants. Water sports are the main activity, although tourists can also hire horses or jeeps to discover the interior of the US Virgin Islands.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

categories: honeymoon,wedding,marriage,vacation,holiday,recreation,caribbean,USA,travel,happiness,luxury,sea,outdoor,other

March 7, 2010

The Growth of California and the Forty-Niners

In January 1848, James Marshall was overseeing the building of a saw mill for his employer, when he noticed an odd rock glinting in the upturned soil.

He was not sure whether it was gold or not and did not want to get people’s hopes up. So Marshall tried to break the yellow rock with a hammer. It did not crack, but it did dent. just like gold would. The woman who was cooking meals for the saw mill construction crew, tried another test by boiling the rock in lye.

They boiled it all day, but it did not change colour. So, they passed the rock over to the mill’s owner, Mr. John Sutter, who also conducted a few tests. In the end, everyone agreed that this rock was indeed gold.

It seems that the Sierra Nevada Mountains held huge hordes of gold, but that over tens of thousands of years, erosion had loosened up gold nuggets and the mountain streams flushed them down to the bottom of the mountains. Sutter’s property was situated between two rivers and so was likely to generate great wealth.

Sutter had ideas to build an agricultural empire on his 39,000 acres of land, so he asked his employees to keep stum about the find. However, as is to be anticipated, word leaked out. In due course news of the gold strike reached the small town of San Francisco.

There, a newspaper publisher shouted down the streets: “Gold from the American River!” and within three days of the news arriving, 400 of the 600 inhabitants had set out for Sutter’s land. It was a groundswell and by the end of the year, gold prospectors had traveled to California from as far away as Mexico and Chile.

When word of the gold strike got to the east coast, President Polk confirmed the discovery. It was December 1848 and ‘The Gold Rush’ became a national and even a global event. The gold miners of 1849 and later years became known as forty-niners.

What has to be borne in mind is though, that most people, who came from Canada, Mexico and the eastern United States came by wagon train, as there were not locomotive! This meant a arduous trek of between six and nine months

Nevertheless, at least 32,000 people actually walked to California in 1849, and about 44,000 more got there in 1850. Others, such as South Americans, faced an arduous journey by sea. They suffered storms, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, disease, and overcrowding and after all that, some still had to face mule rides through jungles and deserts! Still, in under a year, about 40,000 people arrived in San Francisco from abroad.

The new arrivals constituted a dramatic change in California’s population, because in 1848, California had had about 100,000 residents, most of whom were Native Americans, but within two years, the state populace more than doubled but the variety of ethnicity increased tens of times.

Some prospectors found gold and made a fortune in the Californian riverbeds, but most people did not become wealthy in the Gold Rush. When gold was found, the hoard was usually cleared quickly. James Marshall had little success as a miner, and he died on the breadline. John Sutter, who had once owned 39,000 acres, left California in heavy debt after miners trampled his land.

In fact, it was simpler to make money selling shovels and other provisions to the miners. Most people lost everything they had, so they stayed to work the vast expanse called California or to set up businesses. By 1856, San Francisco had a very multi-ethnic population of over 50,000 people and California had become the most exhilarating state in the country.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Celtic knot rings. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

February 26, 2010

Choose Your Wedding Ring Wisely

There is a very large number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to choose from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good selection, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is very important that you take your time when choosing one. Maybe the enormous choice of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to suffice, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even deciding not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so simple bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its characteristic two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, standing for eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

So, choosing a wedding ring is not just a question of picking a beautiful wedding ring, you should be choosing one that says what you want it to say. You could look up on the Internet what the different metals and various stones symbolize traditionally. If you cannot find a ring that says what you want, consider having one made. It is not as expensive as you might think.

Tradition is a good thing when it comes to wedding rings. After all, you want your ring to express your eternal love and devotion for the person you are giving it to and your marriage could last fifty or sixty years, especially with people living longer these days. Hopefully, you will wear this ring for the rest of your life, so pick a style that seems timeless to you.

Selecting a wedding ring is not as easy as it looks, because you are going to be wearing your ring every day for the rest of your life, so it should be something that you will not get tired of in a couple years. You should look at and try on many rings in order to get one that feels good. You will want a ring that does not look out of date in ten years time. The simplest way of doing that is to go for a traditional style, because those styles have already stood the test of time.

One last piece of advice is to ask the jeweller to verify the total carat weight of the stones in the ring and the weight of each individual stone and the quality and weight of the metal (although it should be hallmarked) on paper, then if it gets lost or stolen you have something to show the insurance company.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the Celtic knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

January 7, 2010

Ladies Wide Dress Shoes – One Definite Way To Fit Those Wide Feet Into Attractive Shoes

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Jessica Shooburt @ 7:17 am

Ladies wide dress shoes are becoming more and more common. The one sure way to fit those wide feet into sexy shoes is ladies wide dress shoes. We are going to talk a little bit more about these shoes and why they are important in this article.

Ladies Wide Dress Shoes

If you are like me and have ever been to a store and seen a cool pair of shoes in the exhibition, ran over and then had tribulation cramming your foot inside then you can understand this is not just a simple bother but it can come down to an all out calamity.

Perhaps those shoes would have been just right for your wedding ceremony or some extraordinary date. The just right twosome of shoes to go with an outfit is an utter must – the total outfit may be out of business. It may feel like going out half dressed. Who wishes to go on a date in their birthday suit?

Ladies Wide Dress Shoes

Since companies have seen this difficulty as well as the ladies that have been experiencing it it has been quite some time that they have been making wide shoes. What is the dilemma then? The dilemma being – there were countless of those shoes that were less than appealing.

Now designers even make these shoes and you can attain some awesome looks at a fantastic price and they will fit your feet. Nope, you are not in dream like. Fit, style and comfort are all in ladies wide dress shoes.

If you want a sense of style you no longer have to torment your feet for it. Isn’t that a great reprieve?

You have learned the excellent reality that even the ladies that have wide feet can attain the look that they are wanting with ladies wide dress shoes, in this article. Enjoy the new found information and check out the cool styles.

Sick of looking for Ladies Wide Dress Shoes ? For free coupons and info go to http://www.Ladies-Wide-Shoes.com

January 4, 2010

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes – The Workplace Or at Home – Ladies Wide Shoes Are a Necessity

Ladies wide fitting shoes are all of the rage since they have stopped just being for comfort but are now also including an element of fashion and style.Now these shoes will be certain to turn heads. In this article we are going to take a glance at ladies wide fitting shoes.

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes

Whether you are a occupation lady and you want to have comfortable shoes or if you are a stay at home Mom that needs to be able to manage with the babies without having to deal with foot soreness – it doesn’t make a difference because ladies wide fitting shoes are a must.

If it be the circumstances that you are a line of business women then you are probably on your feet running around a lot. You may be running from convention to engagement, juggling association calls and jet setting.

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes

If your feet are not well taken care of by sporting shoes that are the right fit then you can truly permit your work to go down hill rather quickly. Perhaps instead of running to your next assembly you would be limping to your next gathering.

If you are a stay at home Mom do not sense that you will be left out. I know how critical it is to be able to run your errands and take care of the family without having to worry about aching and painful feet.

You can have rather a serious state of affairs when your feet begin to hurt. Think about carrying around the little one limping, you may trip and fall and drop the baby.

A “tight situation” is never a good one and that is true for your feet also. By wearing shoes that are way too narrow you can cause a lot of harm if you continue to crush them. You have learned that all women with wide feet can benefit from the purchase of ladies wide fitting shoes in this article.

Sick of searching through the whole internet to find a great price on Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes ? For FREE information and FREE coupons visit http://www.Ladies-Wide-Shoes.com

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress