Everyone needs at least one holiday a year, so when you begin spending sleepless nights thinking about the sun and the sea, when you think longingly of the green countryside and forget the mosquitoes and the boredom, there’re no doubt about it – you’re ready for a holiday. You need to get away from all your usual routines and get some fresh air and a change of perspective. Travel is necessary for us all. It keeps us from growing stale and old, it develops our imagination, it gives us that movement and change which are necessary to our life. One of the aims of travel is to go in search of beauty. The beauty spots of the world are magnets, which attract travelers year after year. Yet even more valuable for the traveler is the knowledge, which he gets by going among people of different characters and different ways of life. Then there is for the traveler the great joy of coming home again. When his curiosity for new scenes is satisfied, he turns his thought toward home where all the things are the most familiar and he loves them. Therefore, the traveler, besides the delight of travel, has the warmest feeling of returning home.
Traveling nowadays has become an important part of modern life. Millions of people all over the world travel about their own countries and to foreign lands as well. People travel to visit natural destinations such as seas, lakes, rivers, mountain ranges, deserts and so on. It’s always interesting to discover new things and other ways of life, to meet different people, taste different food, examine various architectural styles, visit museums and picture galleries. It’s common knowledge that travelling is a key to understanding other cultures and a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the world we live in.
Tourism is travelling for pleasure or enjoying yourself away from the place you live in. Nowadays tourism is growing very fast, mostly because people’s lifestyles have changed. They don’t want to stay at home anymore. To my mind, it’s because travelling has become cheaper. What was once the “grand tour”, reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody’s grasp. Now nearly everyone can afford traveling around the world. Not only are budget airlines offering cheap fares, but the higher valued airlines as well. In addition, it’s easy, faster and you get more freedom while travelling. The main reason for this is the technical superiority. For example, you easily book a ticket through the Internet. You don't face long queues wasting your time. Therefore, it simplifies our life. Another change is money. Now we use handy little plastic cards: you can do purchases around the world without any difficulties or problems with local currency. Not long ago this was unthinkable but today it’s reality. So with all of today’s technological advances, it has become easier than ever to travel abroad.
Although tourism has many benefits, such as bringing extra money into the local economy, there are also negative effect. Tourism can do all sorts of damage to the environment, the culture and the people of a country, especially in places which aren’t prepared for large numbers of holidaymakers. It’s important to know how to travel wise. Firstly, you should find out as much about your holiday destination as you can. A guidebook is great place to start. As well as learning about the local places of interest, you can read about the way you will be expected to behave and dress. This can save you from making embarrassing mistakes. The next step is to think about how you spend your money when you are on holiday. Try to put it into the local people’s hands. Even in places where you are expected to haggle or bargain, you should always pay a fair price for things. Then, try to have as little effect on the local environment as possible. Try to leave place exactly as you found it. It’s necessary to follow this simply rules in order to save the culture and environment of the places you visit and to be welcome wherever we go.
Nowadays people can travel in different ways. They can choose a package tour, when everything is planned without your participation, and a self-tour, when you play it off the cuff.
Traveling yourself gives you the freedom to create you own schedule, do as you please. However, when a trip reveals unexpected joys, adventures and challenges, oftentimes these things are best shared with another person, who can relate to your situation and provide moral support. To ensure that a travel partner is one who can value to your journey, choose a travel companion who has similar travel preferences and personality characteristics. It’s importation to find a common interest. I would request my traveling partner to have a lot of energy and be open to seeing and doing a variety of different things. Outgoing without being overbearing or annoying is desirable. Moreover, someone who is easygoing. Life changes, plans change. However, the best traveling partner is someone, who doesn’t get ruffled in tough time and can see the light through a dark moment and laugh! Also, and this way be the biggest thing, they have to be pretty tight with their money. In order to have a pleasant time abroad you need to choose the right partner, who can share your interests and can be a good company.
One of the way to travel independent without intrusive travel agents is to go camping. It’s the ideal way of spending a holiday for many people nowadays. You see, camping has so much to offer. You enjoy absolute freedom. You have none of the headaches of advance hotel booking or driving around a city at midnight looking for a room. Modern camping sites are well equipped with hot and cold running water and all necessary facilities. But above all, you enjoy tremendous mobility. Moreover, you are active all the time and you are always close to nature. Camping provides you with a real change from everyday living. And that’s the essence of true recreation and real enjoyment.
What about a package tour, of course it has many advantages. By choosing a holiday package, you actually get rid of all activities, starting from booking flight tickets, checking out accommodation availability at hotels and booking rooms. Everything will be done on your behalf by the tour operator and would simply be paying the charge. Another big advantage of tour packages is complete tour. At the same time package holidays have a number of disadvantages. To start with, conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own. The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don’t see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are.
People choose different places to visit. Some are looking for sandy beaches, sparkling waters and cloudless skies. Others rest in spacious and elegant rooms, dine on delicious cuisine or unwind in a relaxing sauna, and the luxurious hotels cater for every need. All adventurous nature lovers who long to escape to a land of endless rivers, bottomless lakes, towering mountains and colossal cliffs choose mostly campsites.
As for me I’d like to visit one of the most gorgeous cities - …
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I guess everybody will agree that travel broadens the mind. That's true. Getting out of the place where you always live, then going to an unfamiliar place will be a kind of unforgettable experience in your life.
