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If you have packed your suitcases and are ready to take off for your summer vacation, consider vacationing on a sunny beach. Although it is a great idea, many are absolutely clueless about how to plan for all the necessities that are to be carried along to enjoy a beach holiday. Given below are a few tips that will make the job easier.

Summer is the all-time favorite tourist season and hence, you should make sure that you have made hotel reservations in advance. In fact some of the destinations are so popular for summer holidays that they are overbooked months before summer arrives. Also, advance reservations will get you better rates.

The second and one of the most important points to keep in mind is, always make it a point to set a budget. It is always better to carry travelers checks rather than cash, as they can be replaced. Or, if you are not used to handling and traveling with travelers checks, you could consider using credit cards. Most reputed resorts accept cards and you will also have the records of every transaction.

You should also make sure that the kids are being properly taken care of. People who have kids often spend the most part of their vacation time chasing their kids around. Therefore, make sure that if the children are traveling with you, the resort has adequate play area and a day care center. Many resorts also have separate activities planned for kids.

You should check out the nightlife possible too, if you are an extrovert. Some of the best nightclubs are in Key West (favorite of Ernest Hemingway), Miami (home of Gloria Estefan), Honolulu and San Diego.

You could consider vacation destinations with comedy clubs close at hand. There is nothing better than winding up a leisure day with a hearty laugh, if you enjoy slap-stick comedy and magic shows.

You should also consider destinations where you could pursue water sports in summer. You could go snorkeling, scuba diving or just plain swimming if you love the water. You could indulge in hand gliding or parasailing if you are adventurous. Many locations also offer deep-sea fishing. In Florida you can attempt fishing in inland lakes for the Trophy Bass.

Another important point to consider is to attempt learning the local language of the place you intend to visit or, visit a place where English is widely spoken. Jamaica, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Tahiti and the Dominican Republic are just some of the attractive vacation options.

You should make sure that the transportation facilities in and out of the chosen holiday destination are efficient and flexible.

Shopping is one activity without which, no vacation can be complete. Hence, you should make sure that the vacation spot has adequate shopping facilities.

And finally, indulge in a holiday to a destination of your dreams. Trying out new locations and venturing further, adds to the thrill and adventure that can make the holiday a truly memorable one. You should not forget to carry your camera to capture all the sweet memories of the vacation.

Hello From Ontario – A Southern Ontario Tour: Creemore, Collingwood And Orillia

Late spring is the perfect time for a driving tour, so yesterday my co-workers Vanessa, Khurram and I set off to check out the countryside around Toronto. Neither one of my co-explorers has lived in Canada for very long, so they havent really had a chance to discover areas outside the Big Smoke. So this was their first opportunity to venture forth into the hinterland that surrounds our big city.

After leaving the 16-lane frenzy of Highway 401 and a brief ride on the 410 we drove into Ontarios countryside north of Brampton. The landscape started to open up – farms, fields and forest started to appear. The serene rolling hills north of Ontarios capital have a subtle beauty to them and I started hearing comments like this is like a picture book, this would be a great place for spending a weekend etc. The scenery around Hockley Valley and the hilly moraines further north offer quite breath-taking views over Ontario farm country.

Our first stop was in the village of Creemore, a little village tucked away in the Mad River Valley, surrounded by the Purple Hills. The villages history dates back more than a century, originally supplying Toronto with much needed lumber and later supplying hogs. One of the main attractions today is the Creemore Springs Brewery, a very popular Ontario micro-brewery. After a local breakfast with tea and scones we crossed the street to check out the brewery, and even though two of us are not beer-drinkers, we still had fun learning about the brewing process, combining hops, barley and various other ingredients. We admired the large brewing kettles, two made of stainless steel and one made of copper. Creemore Springs makes a premium lager and during the winter season the brew masters also come up with an UrBock version for the festive season.

With our knowledge of beer appropriately augmented we continued on with our country drive, slowly approaching the Niagara Escarpment area, Southern Ontarios highest geological feature. We stopped in the tiny hamlet of Glen Huron (population 51) where we admired the ancient feed mill of the Hamilton Brothers, dating back all the way to 1874. Just a few steps away was a picturesque water wheel (cheekily fed by a water hose instead of a real river…).

On a hilly area just south of Collingwood we stopped to enjoy the sweeping view that stretched all the way to Georgian Bay and then we continued into the Town of Collingwood, a place that has really become popular over the last few years. Collingwood, its adjacent Blue Mountains Ski Hill, Ontarios largest ski resort, and its location on Georgian Bay make it a four-season recreational destination. In recent years, the ski facilities have been upgraded and a whole European-style village awaits at the bottom of the ski hill. Downtown Collingwood itself features more than 300 shops and restaurants, waiting to serve discerning travelers.

Our day was short so we continued our drive eastwards towards Wasaga Beach, with a length of 14 km the worlds longest freshwater beach. Surrounding this white sandy beach are many kilometers of hiking, cycling, cross-country and snowmobiling trails. In addition, Wasaga Beach is also a favourite destination of beach volleyball players. We got out of the car, and on this breezy blustery day (it couldn’t have been more than 12 degrees Celsius) you definitely needed a warm wind-proof jacket. I admired the para-sailers, daredevils who braved the cold waves of Georgian Bay.

The highlight of our day was yet to come: after a veritable traffic jam in the city of Barrie, we squeaked into the Town of Orillia just in time to make it onto the Island Princess, Orillias famous double-decked river-style cruise vessel, capable of holding 230 passengers. On this cold and increasingly rainy-looking day there were only about a dozen of us, but we enjoyed the narrated tour around Lake Couchiching. Lake-front living is popular, and we found out that most of the houses around the lake now sell for C$750,000 and up.

After our hour-long exploration by boat we disembarked and went on a relaxing walk through the parklands right next to the shores of Lake Couchiching. An imposing monument to Samuel de Champlain graces the waterfront parks. Several young children were actually swimming in the cold lake waters, proving again that Canadians do indeed have anti-freeze flowing through their veins.

Our brief waterfront walk was followed by a much-needed stop for ice-cream in one of the lakefront sales trailers. Close by and right across from the Island Princess dock is another Orillia attraction: the Ossawippi Express, a seafood restaurant featuring several fully-restored, turn-of-the-century railway cars dating back to 1896 with an outdoor patio overlooking Orillia’s Lake Couchiching. We had a sneak peek at this unique dining concept and all agreed that the Ossawippi Express would be the perfect restaurant for a special event.

Off we were back in the car, driving back towards Toronto on the east side of Lake Simcoe. South of the lake we were back in the hilly moraines and we stopped briefly at a local country store called Hy-Hope Farms to pick up some gooseberry and rhubarb-strawberry pies, a sweat treat to remember our country drive..

What’s more disappointing than a person who makes a promise he can’t keep? A person who makes a promise that is a lie. Many promises to make a “decent living” teaching English in Mexico are just thata lie.

If you do a phrase search on Google, “teach English in Mexico,” you will get almost 900,000 hits. Some of these sites are filled with tantalizingly appealing phrases like,

“For only a few dollars a week you can have_____in Mexico”.

“First-class bus travel to such and such a place is only____”.

All are allurements trying to sell their how-to book, tapes, seminars, or placement service for teaching English abroad. They give the impression that you will be able to make enough money to live a life of luxury and ease with all that money you will make teaching English in Mexico.

We’ve met many young women who come to Guanajuato with the hope and dream of getting a teaching job making a bundle. The word “shock” is putting it mildly when they find out what their salaries will be in some of these private schools. A good pay scale would be less than $3.00 an hour. I know of some schools that pay even less than that amount.

Can you imagine how many hours you would have to work to make ends meet? Minimum wage is about $400.00 USD a month. Granted, many Mexicans live on that. But could youan American? Could you downscale to living on so little?

Four types who come to Mexico to teach English are:

1) Someone who wants a new adventuresomething different.

2) Someone who wants to build a resume, no matter the salary.

3) Someone who wants to earn a little traveling money.

4) Someone who thinks they can earn a decent living. Groups 1 through 3 don’t care what the dollar sign is in their salary. They have other sources of income like savings or parents who help support them while they are in Mexico. These are the most transient. Here today, promising their employers a year contract, and gone tomorrow. Some employers will not hire these “floaters.” Schools would love to hire those with ties to the community but they are rare.

Group 4, people who think they can make a living, do not accept the reality that you can rarely make a living at teaching English in Mexico. They are like those who go to Hollywood with the delusion of becoming an actor, “Oh, it’s a long shot, but maybe I can do it.”

In an informal e-mail survey I took of Mexican schools that offer ESL classes, the overwhelming majority agreed that it is rare for anyone to make a living at teaching English in Mexico. One called it “an unrealistic expectation” to believe otherwise.

“…the pay is very low and it is difficult to imagine how one could live on it.”

Another source told me that unless the teacher had signed a contract with a large established organization before departure to the country, it was unlikely that a good salary would be waiting for them. Countries like Japan or China offer a competitive salary with benefits.

Mexico does not.

Most of the available jobs are with small private schools that pay little.

Some told me that those who do not fulfill their teaching commitments no longer surprise them. They’ve grown accustomed to this unethical practice by North Americans.

Some have come to Mexico and made a living teaching ESL. But, that is all they can dowork until they drop. They usually have to sign on to teach with at least three schools to get enough hours to earn enough to pay for cost-of-living expenses. There is little time to anything else.

A life of luxury, excitement, and adventure? Hardly. But they keep coming, filled with the delusion that perhaps they can make it work.

Sad.