Tips for Travelling with a Small Group

Travelling with a group can be a very daunting experience. Decision making can be slow due to several people involved. Group tours can come in various forms such as adventures, luxury travels, student’s trips and other types. They require special preparations in many ways and whatever preparation you make for a student’s trip will not be the same ones you make when going for an adventurous hike.

image:pixabay.com/en/adventure-clouds-exploration-group-1839147

With a group travel, you have a lot of things to keep in mind so that you will have a wonderful and peaceful travel. Group travel can be affected by people’s moods and it is therefore wise to consider having people skills.

You can always opt for a planned tour with Charter North Tours whereby you can have incredible small group tours of the marvelous Kimberly, Kakadu, Arnhem Land or Karijini all at reasonable packages. Here are several tips that will aid you in your group travel and make it a less grueling experience.

1.   Plan as A Group

One of the things that will make travel successful is communication. If you don’t talk everything out, you will have a tough time executing simple tasks leave alone the difficult ones. Draw a schedule of the whole journey prior to the day of travelling and look for any loopholes in the journeys.

If you travelling with your family, senior members of the family should organize the whole of the travelling experience and make critical decisions prior to the trip.

2.   Chose A Leader

Although a group is all about inclusivity, have that one person who implements the decisions that you have made as a group. You should choose a person who can oversee the whole trip and make sure that everything is going as planned. Several people may carry out several tasks such as handling accommodation or doing research on the venues and expectations but in the end, you will need someone who puts it all together into one big master plan.

It is very frustrating having to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do in what situation so it is just good if you just delegate all those tasks to one able leader.

3.   Make A Viable Budget

You will definitely need to fund your trip at some point. I know some trips can be funded but what if they are not. You therefore need to make financial decisions during your trip. Coming up with a viable budget is necessary for any trip to be viable. List out all the activities that you and your group want to take part in and find out the costs of involving in them.

This may not apply for travel agency tours as they have it all figured out in an all-inclusive cost. Check whether the proposed budget is friendly to your wallet and if not, you can always reconsider the tour or ask for adjustments to fit your budget.

4.   Get Accommodation Alternatives to Hotels

When travelling in a group, accommodation will be one of the toughest issues you will have to deal with. My advice is for you and your group to look for alternative accommodation other than spending the night in a hotel. Hotels can be expensive and the space can be too small for a group of people who are out to have fun and make connections.

You can opt to stay in a house or an apartment where you will have access to a lot of space to play around and make memories.

5.   Make Prior Plans to do Some Activities

If possible, you can visit several of your destinations to get a hang of the expectations and have a light idea of what you are going to do there. This can help you make more accurate budgets. You should also make some prior arrangements such as securing accommodation. Booking early can ensure that you get group discounts and will also ensure that there is available space for everyone in your group.

You don’t want to grapple on the tour date because of inadequate accommodation.

6.   Make Your Personal Rendezvous

It’s a group travel I know but it doesn’t mean that you need to be stuck with the gang all the time. This is a vacation and it is all about having fun and discovering new things. Let us say that there is this place you have always wanted to go and the group is not planning to visit. You can split from your group and visit anywhere you have been planning to go.

7.   Make A Way for Splitting Expenses

On the course of your trip, your group may have incurred several costs which need to be split between the members. Calculating on who owes who can be a daunting task and remembering who paid for what is even harder. You should use the services of an app like Tricount and Split wise to help you make these calculations. Such apps enable you to calculate all the costs you have incurred throughout the trip and who owes who how much.

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Tips to Decorate Your Home During Monsoon

When it is the monsoon season, obviously the discussion will be mostly on bright colours and lots of interesting things. Now, as this post will be all about home decor and home interiors, let us mainly concentrate on it. It is said that colours especially the bright ones are responsible to lift up the mood. Of course, there are several ways to offer a new and lively look to your apartment during this season. Usually, monsoon seems to be a boring season due to the depressing weather. However, to make the season exciting, people try out many things like enjoying over a cup of tea/coffee, playing board games by calling friends at home, sometimes crazily moving out and playing in the water-logged streets and so on. Among these, changing the interior for the season needs a special mention.

All you need is some interesting tips to brighten up the interior of your home. This won’t just uplift your mood but help you try out other motivating activities in your home. Pick up colours like yellow, blue, green, bright orange, pink and play with them accordingly. When the climate conditions outside tend to make you lethargic then why not try introducing some peppy interiors for your home!

Home Decors to Enliven Your Spirit

Add Pretty and Colourful Flowers

This time of the year needs some spice, so bring out the empty wine bottles and vases. Fill all of them with the bright colours of monsoon. Remember to keep lilies, tulips and peonies at your desk for the decoration. Do not forget to pluck pretty hibiscus and jasmines and let the same float in a water bowl.  How about reusing your old boots and making some wonderful flower vases? You can easily design the entryway with this amazing DIY vase by adding lovely daisies or sunflowers.

Add Fun Decor Accent With Umbrella

It’s time for you to bring out your umbrella as it would be your best friend throughout the season. Buy some colourful umbrellas to add to your style statement. This isn’t enough because you have to add to your apartment’s style statement as well. Leave a basket or a sleek vase right at the front door, so that whenever anyone enters, can place their umbrellas in the allotted place. This would help in leaving a water trail inside your apartment and most importantly a few colourful umbrellas would add to a fun decor accent.

Add Peppy Colours

With grey and gloomy skies outside, it’s obvious that your apartment will start reflecting the dull outdoors. Add pop coloured cushions to enliven the spirit of your home. Bring in bright shades of citrus, pinks, tangerine, turquoise and swap with the dark hues, blues and greys. The easiest way to keep your home decor preppy and fresh just change the cushion covers.

Perfumed Candles

Bring scented candles and couple up with accent pieces to give a different look to your rooms. Take a stylish tray and place the same accordingly, thereby, adding warmth to your home. This will not only beautify your home but add to the mouldy and musty smells of the rain.

This time when you buy an apartment, make sure to keep all these points in mind. If you plan to stay in Kolkata and buy a home like a residential flat on Badu Road Madhyamgram, ensure to follow these tips without fail. Needless to say that, these tricks will be of great help to you. 

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A look at the new trends in the gifting industry

The gifting industry today has changed a lot as compared to the olden days. Earlier a gift shop gave us a picture of a shop filled with a bunch of bouquets, some greeting cards collection, showpiece collections and a few paintings/ frames etc. But today the idea of gifting is completely changed and is not just limited to old gift articles. Today people believe in gifting their loved ones with something very special and durable. These days it's a trend to please people with unique gifts and maintain their standard. This is the reason why the major changes in the gift industry had occurred.

image:www.edibleblooms.com.au/category/donut-bouquets

Let us have a look on some of the major changes in standard gift items

Bouquets: Earlier from the term bouquet it only meant a bunch of flowers put tougher in a creative way. But today there are bouquets made up of anything and everything possible! The latest trend is to make edible bouquets; instead of flowers edible items such as chocolates, marshmallows, doughnuts, exotic dry fruits etc. are used. Chocolate bouquets and donut bouquet are some of the most gifted items these days. These edible bouquets can be customised as per the choice and preferences of flavours and chocolate brands of the gift receiver.

Cakes: Unlike the cakes, in the early days the cakes are not limited to just a handful of flavours. There is a vast variety of flavours and customisation done in cakes. With the use of modern technology, photo cakes are made wherein you can have for a photo on your cake and cut it later. There are also personalised cakes with end number of choices of exotic fruits/dry fruits, cream, flavours and themes etc. Apart from the above, there are alcoholic cakes available in the market which has a certain amount of the desired alcohol in it. Alcohol cakes are very famous for youngsters and corporate events today.

Personalized and handicrafts items: People prefer and cherish personalised and customised items today as compared to other general gift items. Personalized gifts have much impact on people and are more durable as compared to other gift items. Through personalised gifts, people relate themselves to the gift and hold it longer. Personalized gifts include gifts items which hold the receiver’s photos, names, special dates etc. on it. Such gift articles may include a personalised mug, pillow cover, pen, keychain, mobile cover etc.

On the other hand, the demand for handmade gift articles is also rising as it has a traditional touch and is very creative. Handicrafts items include handmade articles such as crochets, pots, terrariums, paintings etc. Handmade paintings are especially in demand; people prefer handmade paintings over digital paintings as they are very classy. Gifting handmade painting is also considered a symbol of richness in many countries.

Thus, the gifting options today are not limited, and customers have a variety of things to gift their loved ones today, unlike in the olden days. The gifting trends have changed rapidly, and the demand for highly creative and unique gifts is increasing.

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