Image by lucidreama via FlickrAlbania is a mountainous country and the one of the smallest countries of Europe. The residents supposedly descended from ancient Illyrians.

Culture

The culture of Albania is majorly influenced by that of the mainland Greeks especially in the urban locality; nodding one’s head means ‘no’ where as shaking the head means ‘yes’. To greet someone, handshaking is preferred, though Shoku (Comrade) was used before, which has been long forgotten now. People dress informally here. Swim suits are meant for the beaches, otherwise women are expected not to dress in a revealing outfit. When addressing someone prefix Zoti(Mr) or Zonja(Mrs) before the name and always remember to carry some gifts when visiting someone, although flowers aren’t much acceptable. The guests are served with coffee, raki or sweets. Smokers don’t have to worry much, but they should avoid it where they see a sign of Ndalohet Duhani or Ndalohet pirja e duhanit.

Travelling within the country

Buses with relatively cheap fares operate in the main cities of the country or taxis are another choice which provided service for some main hotels.
Visit Dajti Mountain and experience Dajti Ekspres Cable car for an unforgettable 15 minute ride passing through Dajt Oark to reach Tirana. The route is about 4.2 km long and the ride costs €6.5.Alpha Yachting provides crewed yacht which is a luxury in itself. Tirana Bank is the best place for withdrawing money as it allows access to Visa cards.

Eating Out

Restaurants are not always sufficiently heated, so always wear warm clothes if out in the night during winters. Foreigners are charged more than the locals. Both the entry fees as well as any merchandise will be on a higher scale, so it’s better not to reveal the fact that you are a foreigner when out on the streets.

Site Seeing

If you enjoy canoeing, this is the right place to be. There are places right outside Tirana which is an amazing site for not just canoeing, but also rock climbing, hiking, and camping.

Accommodation

If you want a 5-Star ambience, try The Sheraton Tirana Hotel and Towers, which is situated in the middle of a shopping and entertainment center. There are about 151 rooms and 56 suites. So, along with the comfort, one can shop at once convenience here. Another hotel which provides all modern facilities is Hotel Mondial. It is located 1000 m away from the city and is also a good example of traditional architecture.

Getting There

One of the best and the easiest means is to go by air. Albanian Airlines is the national airline which works in collaboration with Tyrolean Airways, and provides service to almost all the big European cities. The airport, Mother Teresa, is 16 miles or 26 km away from the capital. A tourist bus is available every 3 hrs to get to the city center and takes about 30 minutes to get there. Taxis are available round the clock. While waiting for any transport service, tourists can check out the duty free shops, bank, eateries and car hire at the airport. A departure tax of $10 USD is imposed on all foreign nationals. Check out www.flyalbanian .com for flight times and offers.

If trying to get there by sea, try the ferry services which are provided by Adriatic Line and Agoudimos. The main ports are Durres (has ferry connection to Italy, Bari, Brindisi, Trieste, and Ancona), Vlora (has ferry connection to Bari, and Brindisi), Saranda (has connection to Corfu), Shen Gjini (has ferry connection to Bari). Check out www.adriatica.it and www.aqoudimos-lines.com for more information.

Bus is another option. Buses start from Istanbul, Athens and Sofia. Internal passengers have lots of options with bus services provided. If traveling by road in a private car, there is road network to the Kosovo region, but they are too dangerous to use because of the political tensions within the region. Crossings at Hani I Hotit, Bllata, Oafa e Thaes, Tushemisht, Gorica, Kapshtica, and kakavija can be taken. If tired one can take halts at hotels or other designated areas. There is a network of 18,000 km, out of which only 7450 km are main roads, for local travelers. About 2138km stretch of these roads is in poor condition and has pot holes, and utmost safety precautions should be taken when driving on such roads. Speed limit should be strictly followed on highways as well as within towns. Driving at night should be better avoided because of the absence of street lights on the road except for urban areas. Traffic should drive on the right-hand. There is a shortage of gas stations in the countryside, so filling the gas tank completely when passing through urban area is recommended and since there is lack of national recovery system; travelers should be prepared for an emergency or breakdown before hand. One should carry necessary documents like International Driving Permit and national driving license.

Duty Free Items

Following are the items that can be carried without customs duty being levied on them:

1. 1 liter of spirits or 2liter of wine
2. 250ml of eau de toilette
3. 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco
4. 50ml of perfume.

Prohibited Items

Things that are prohibited to carry are firearms, narcotics and ammunitions. Special export permission should be taken for precious metals, books, antiques, work of art, or material of national or historic value.

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My wife and I are baby boomers who love to travel. As the time to retire draws ever closer we are looking for places that we can travel to for months instead of days. Not that where we live isn’t beautiful because it is and the beauty is why I moved here. But we want to see other beautiful places and we have a spot in mind.

My wife and I are just itching to see the Na Pali Coast. I visited http://www.napali.com/ and my mouth dropped open. The beauty almost brought me to tears. It’s breath taking and a feast for the eyes not to mention the fact that is’t warm and we are sitting here freezing our buns off in -15 degree weather.

We have done the coastal tours, to see whales, where we live, we saw exactly one, and we really enjoy seeing the flower pots sticking up out of the ocean but it’s time for new scenery and warmth.

We won’t be going for another year at least but that gives up plenty of time to plan our trip. Our goal will be to experience the Kauai boat tours along with Kauai whale watching. I see this as a trip of a lifetime so it will just be my wife and myself, sorry son.
Our tours will be through Capt. Andy’s Boat Tours. He offers sailing adventures, which we have never done and raft expeditions as well, which we have never done. I feel like I am starting to twitch just talking about it.

Learn more through this online comprehensive Na Pali Coast Guide.

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The weather is a harsh mistress in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The natives have fought back by establishing a modern wonder, Montreal’s Underground City. The underground, as the locals call it, is a remarkable pedestrian network of train stations, shops, hotels, restaurants, museums, and more, under downtown Montreal.

The underground city got its start in 1962 with the building of the Place Ville-Marie office tower and underground shopping mall. That first mall connected to Central Station (subway) and the Queen Elizabeth Hotel via tunnels. Since then the underground has grown to more than twenty-two miles of pedestrian walkways.

Residents of Montreal are extremely proud of their “inside city” (not all of it is underground), the largest underground complex in the world. There are more than 150 access points to the subterranean city and more than 60% of the businesses in downtown connect to the underground. Over 500,000 people traverse the belowground pedestrian walkways and subways of Montreal each day. Several residential towers connect to the underground as well, allowing some locals to go from home to work to play without ever going outside.

Some of the most stunning features of the underground complex are the subway stations. Each station is, literally, a work of art. When the subway was built 1% of the budget for each station was devoted to procuring and displaying art in the underground. A different architect designed each station in a different style and no two stations are the same.

A number of well-known tourist spots in Montreal are accessible from the underground city. Things to check out without going out include Olympic Park and the Olympic Centre (built for the 1976 Olympics); the Place des Artes, home to the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal); and Molson Centre, home of Montreal’s hockey team, the Canadiens.

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My wife and myself have learned that international travel required plenty of advance planning for the least amount of stress. We also make sure we have our travel wallet filled with our passport information, any other required papers and money.

If you want to partake in international travel any time soon, you had better make sure you plan ahead. There are many things that come into play when you leave your country to visit another that you don’t have to worry about with a domestic vacation. These are things you have to take care of early, and they are things that may end up being deal breakers. You don’t want to step off a plane in a foreign country only to be told that you don’t have what you need and that you must turn around and go home.

There are the usuals that you need for international travel. The obvious ones are a passport and a visa. You must apply for these early. If you don’t, problems could come up that you don’t have time to address and you won’t be able to take your trip when you want to go. These are common things needed for international travel, so you should be able to find someone within your community to help you get both of these things. If you can’t find anyone, contact a local travel agent for help or information.

Something else you might have to consider when taking international travel is that documentation you might need if you are taking a child or a pet with you. There are rules and regulations that you must follow. I am planning international travel next year with my little girl. Because we have no legally adopted her yet, I fear that I may have some troubles. That means I have to start looking into things very early. If you have any concerns, you should call your country’s consulate in the country you are going to visit. They can tell you everything you may need to know.

Even if you aren’t take children or pets with you for international travel, you may want to call to consulate anyway. You want to make sure you have everything that you need, and that there is nothing you are missing. If you know someone in the country you are going to visit, you can ask him or her to call for you to save you some money. When it comes to international travel however, you don’t want to take any chances. Make sure you make at least one call yourself to make sure everything is taking care of before you put down your hard earned money for your plane tickets.

International Air Travel

I doubt that there are very many people who love to travel as much as me, but hate international airline travel as much as I do. Whether I fly first class, second class, or coach, international air travel is the bane of my existence. Sitting still has always been one of the most difficult things for me to do. I work in an office, but I have a specially designed desk that allows me to stand up all day. International air travel, however, requires me to sit still for as long as 12 hours at one time. This is excruciating for me. Even if I drug myself up on international air travel, swallowing a few sleeping pills, it is still difficult. I’m constantly getting up and pacing about the cabin, even when those seatbelt signs are on.

Because of this, I have to find cheap air travel international tickets. You see, it is very difficult for me to travel unless I can sit in first class. Because I travel so much, however, this adds up. The only way to really do it is to be up on all of the last minute travel deals. There are many exotic destinations that are popular during one season, but suddenly unpopular during another. If you are willing to find international airline ticket at the very last minute, You can save a surprising amount of money on these seats.

No matter what class you travel, international air travel is much cheaper if you are willing to look for a deal. If you travel first or second class, however, There is an even greater difference between peak prices and off-season prices. You see, the demand for first-class tickets varies greatly from day to day. Sometimes They cost only a hundred dollars more than coach tickets. To me this is well worth the price.

The best advice that I can give for international airline travel passengers is to be well prepared. Anything that you can do to make the flight easier is worth the extra expense. When I take an international air travel flight, for example, I always make sure to have a few drinks. Don’t get me wrong – they are outrageously expensive on the planes. Nevertheless, buying them is much better than having to sit for 12 hours completely sober. Sometimes, I will even stay up all night the night before just so that I can sleep easier on the flight. 12 hours isn’t so bad when you sleep through it!

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When traveling overseas, it makes a lot of sense to find cheap international flights. These are not always easy to find, but when someone can plan their vacation very early, and can then search for airfare earlier, they stand a better chance of finding what they are looking for in the way of price. There are some sites online that have the best prices, but they will go up as time goes on. It is always great to buy ahead of time, but there are some pitfalls to buying discount airfare on the Internet that vacationers need to know about and be aware of when they buy.

You can find cheap international flights on many websites, but these are often non-refundable. Do not buy them this way unless you are sure you are going to use them. Though no one can be sure about anything, it is not a good idea to buy them on a whim hoping you will be able to go when the time comes. This is something that should be thought out rather well. A person is not going to be saving any money on cheap international flights if they don’t end up using the tickets.

Everyone will say to shop around for cheap international flights, and that is always good advice. The best thing to do is to talk to others who have flown in many places around the globe. When I was searching for tickets to go Australia, one airline that I had never heard of was one with the cheapest flights, and they also had the best type of service on their flights. They did not come up in any search. I heard about them from a friend and checked them out. Turns out, my flight will be very long and I will have a six year old with me when I go. This particular airline had the lowest prices at the time, and they have what are called Sky Nannies that help entertain the children. What a find!

Though they have largely been forgotten with the rush of sites online offering cheap international flights, a smart traveler should never forget to consult with a travel agent. They can sometimes find the best prices, and they have perks too. They can help with visa, and they can help when or if a traveler needs help or changes with just about anything. Though they used to be more expensive, these agents are often more valuable if someone wants to know they have help in finding the best deals and when something goes wrong.

The early bird gets the worms and the early seeker of cheap airplane tickets gets cheap international flights so don’t mess it up by leaving your passport information at home. Not that I have ever done that.

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