What is a ‘sister city’ and how can you travel to one on a budget?



A number of cities all over the globe have adopted a sister city in another part of the world to promote greater understanding, among other things, between the two cities and their nations. The sister city ‘movement’ began at the end of World War II and was instigated by America.



Participating cities aim to develop friendships and foster relationships between their chosen sister cities (some cities have more than one sister) and to encourage peace and understanding between nations. This is done in a number of ways – encouraging business and economic relationships through trade and technology, stimulate cultural and creative networks, develop partnerships between cities and countries and to provide the opportunity for sister city citizens to experience other cultures through travel.



Traveling to your sister city may be something you wish to do and it can be done at relatively low cost if you are able to become part of an exchange program. Cultural exchanges between sister cities are generally paid for by your home town. Some cities select students to travel to their sister city for a period of time, (it could be weeks or months) and pay all expenses. If you are a student, investigate what opportunities are available for this type of travel.



Traveling to a sister city is not only for students. Other residents may participate in the program as well. You may be selected as an ambassador of your town to travel to the sister city and take part in projects fostered by the sister cities. You will then likely to be asked to host visitors from the sister city when they travel to your country. If you are able to get on one of these exchange programs you can expect accommodation and food to be taken care of (you will probably be living with a sister city family) but you may have to get involved in fundraising for your trip.



If you think this sounds like a fun (and cheap) way to travel, visit your town’s web site and find out about their sister city program. You’ll need to become a member and join in the volunteer program to help with fundraising. You could be asked to host visitors from your sister city and you may get the opportunity to travel. Becoming involved in the sister city program means becoming a part of creating community links and learning about other cultures – exactly what traveling is all about. You may even have ideas for your community’s sister city program and how it can further foster its global sisters’ relationships.



This article is brought to you by: Stuart S. Travel – Your Online Travel Guru

www.stuartstravel.com

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to travel around the world and get paid while you do it? With a little creativity and a lot of courage, those who intelligently plan their world travels can make a serious income while living it up in exotic, worldwide locations.

Let’s get into the ‘meat’ of how this can be done.

There are 3 types of travelers. Which one are you?



1) Savers – You get a job, or jobs, in one location, save and save, and when you have enough money and nothing tying you down, you go travel. If you’re reading this article you probably already know you don’t want to have this type of job. So, world travel job type number two is…

2) Traveling job seekers. These are people who seek to land jobs that pay them while they travel. Included are tour and adventure guide jobs, film and writing jobs, flight attendant and airline jobs, medical jobs, military work, and so on.

You can get one of these jobs following a very simple formula: Apply for a bunch of positions. Send recommendations. Make follow-up calls. Send thank-you cards. Sooner or later, someone is going to ‘bite’ and give you a position.

3) Systems travelers. These people are referred to as the ‘new rich.’ They set up systems using simple (but new) technology to constantly deliver value to other people, for which they get paid over and over again. If that was jibberish to you, don’t worry about it. Let’s go a little more into depth about what, exactly, this type of person does.

Here’s an example of a ‘systems traveler’ at work:

Katie likes training dogs, so she makes some YouTube videos and writes a few 1 page articles about some of the stuff she knows. Her ‘job’ is to help other dog owners train their dogs.

When she puts these resources on the internet for others to benefit from, the people who are serious will click on the links in her articles and videos to get more information.

When they do, Katie sends them to a product she has found online that pays her every time someone buys a product. In this case, she makes $66.46 per sale (the actual amount I make for selling a dog training product). One in twenty people buys the product, so if Katie sends 40 people per day to the product, she makes $132.92 per day.

Getting the idea?

Here’s a hint: 40 people a day in terms of traffic is NOTHING. And once the systems are setup properly, your travel job consists of tons of traveling and not a lot of job.

Jobs that travel the world are a dime a dozen. The ideal situation is to become a systems traveler with a job that travels the world. In other words, your online system covers all your expenses and more, while your ‘job’ is for fun and anything they pay you is just gravy.

Gulmarg is known for its unparallel beauty and is rated as one of the matchless tourist spots of the world. It is famous for Golf hikes and boasts of a beautiful highland golf course. It is premier resort for winter sports in the country. The meadow of Flowers is a world famous tourist spot in the Baramulla Distt of Kashmir. The altitude of Gulmarg is 2730 meters.

Adventure Sports in Gulmarg

Trekking

Gulmarg makes an excellent base for trekking in the northern Pir Panjal Range. Nanga Parbat can be seen to the north from several view points, including Khilanmarg, west and over 1,500 feet up the forested hillside from Gulmarg. From a distance, the Pir Panjal appears somewhat rounded, but when you are actually walking up its slopes, you will find that its smoother peaks rise above evergreen clad slopes that seem quite equal in steepness to those of the main Himalayas.

Golf Courses in Gulmarg

Situated at an altitude of 2,650 m, Gulmarg has got the highest green golf course in the world. The layout of the course is quiet striking and the layout is similar to a normal golf course with land slopes and inclines along the complete area of the course, which has a par of 72. The golf club was started by the British who used Gulmarg as a holiday resort, and opened it for golf lovers in the year 1904.

Skiing Adventure in Gulmarg

Gulmarg is also counted among the best skiing resorts in India, but you require a pretty good experience as well as training to ski down the slopes over here. Gulmarg also make a good ski spot for starters, those who are new to skiing. Ski enthusiasts can easily find out all required gear and equipments as well as professional ski instructors in Gulmarg, to try out a hand on skiing. The longest ski run in Gulmarg is providing by the Gondola Cable Car, where skiers can swoosh down the slopes from the height of 2, 213m.

Places to Visit

Khilanmarg

A 40-minute journey through valleys of wild flowers from Gulmarg to Khilanmarg offers a breathtaking view of the majestic peaks with their reflections in Wular and other lakes.

Alpather Lake

Streaks of floating ice in this triangular lake, nestled in a hollow under the shadow of Apharwat Mountain are a visual delight. A well-graded pony track joins Apharwat Ridge with Gulmarg.

Since last year, I have heard of several people making good money working in the travel industry as a home based online travel agent. The good news is that you can, too. In fact it’s easy! These people have done it honestly, legally and ethically with the proper guidance of knowing all the details in this new online career. Once you know the basic steps then you can start making real money.

There are two options to start with and those are; either to be a part timer in the first 3 months, giving you time to become more acquainted with the business flow of being an online travel agent from actual transactions and later dedicating yourself full time to your new career.

Then, there are those that start straight away as full timers and are now successfully supporting themselves and their loved ones. The fun part is that they started seeing the world together with their family, something that may have been just a dream when they were still in those clerical jobs. Their often find that their entire lifestyle has dramatically changed in just a short period of time.

In definition, a home-based online travel agent markets travel products offered by travel companies and suppliers that has a vast inventory of vacation package deals. The position is often referred to as “independent sales representatives.” “Independent” due to the fact that you are not working inside an office space of a travel company whose products you represent.

As an independent travel agent, you may deal directly with a travel supplier or through a middleman (host agency). Because you are not an employee from any of them, you are not on their payroll list or have employee benefits.

The bottom line here is that you make your own money and get paid through commissions on whatever travel products that you can sell and there is no limit to the income you want to generate from your own time table (weekly or monthly sales). These is achieved by negotiating your own commission level or get the best offered commission package from either the host agency or the travel supplier of your choice. Earning capacity is generally unlimited from commissions and it will steadily increase as you grow your network.

To gauge your success as an online travel agent is easy! When you sell more, you earn more, sell less and you earn less.

Important advice here is that when you are independent and on your own, remember that you should never be completely alone and do all of the work with no support. There are travel suppliers who offer great packages for independent travel agents that are all automated and can mean easier work for you, giving you more time to focus on expanding your client listings. Remember that you must constantly work with others who have all the resources that will help provide the best service to your clients. To have a good understanding of what I am saying here, check out this travel supplier, http://www.personaltravelgroup.com. and you will see the difference!

Personal Travel Group offer full professional support to all of their agents and their motto is “We do the work – you make the money!” You don’t need qualifications and they pay out 70% of the available commission! It’s the best one I’ve seen – check it out for yourself…

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOHt3_qBmuo"]Watch this video on how to be a Travel Consultant. [/url]