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Posts Tagged ‘outdoors’

Twenty or thirty years ago, no-one in their correct mind would have gone to Croatia, unless they were in the army, but that has all changed. These days, Croatia is part of the European Union and is much more hospitable to tourists.

One of the tourist activities that Croatia is building its reputation on is skiing. It is a warmer country than northern France, Switzerland and Scandinavia, so it is possible to take a skiing holiday in the mountains and finish the vacation off with a week at the seaside.

One of the best skiing regions to visit is Zagreb and in particular Bjelolasica, which is where the Croatian Olympic skiing team trains. The facilities in this area are excellent and the prices are a lot cheaper than you would pay in either in the French or in the Swiss Alps or in Scandinavia. In fact Croatia offers fantastic skiing facilities at a very affordable cost.

The Croatian skiing community is of very high quality and they know that they have to compete with the history of the more famous French and Swiss ski resorts so they really pull all the stops out to make certain that the tourists and sports people that come to their country get value for money and would like to come back again.

They realize that word of mouth advertising is the best and the cheapest form of advertising that you can get.

Another popular Croatian skiing destination is Platak. Platak is located nearer the Adriatic and can be a bit more expensive than Bjelolasica because it is a bit cut off, but it just depends where you want to go and what you would like to do.

Platak is a decent all round skiing resort which has plans for improvements on a huge scale. During the coming years, Platak will have more ski slopes of different levels of expertise and more hotels and chalets over all cost bands.

You would be forgiven for thinking that there might be a language barrier in Croatia and to be honest there can be, but the ski resorts are all staffed by people who have studied most of the common European languages. It shows how much can be done in twenty years if the government and the populace have the right and the same point of view.

Croatia has a very varied cuisine, so tourists and skiers from all around the world should be able to find lots of suitable food and drink. Croatia has a border with Hungary and their wine is very good. All in all, Croatia offers decent skiing facilities at a knock down price, but just how long they will be able to offer these fantastic facilities at these attractive prices remains to be seen.

If you are a serious skier, it could be worth going to Croatia and purchasing a time-share or some other sort of accommodation now before the inevitable cost rise when the rest of Europe realizes how cheap skiing in Croatia actually is.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with short ski breaks. If you would like to know more, please go over to our web site at Ski Package Holidays.

Most people have difficulty finding time to exercise, but if your job means sitting down to do your work, it can be even more arduous to find the motivation to exercise. Truck drivers come into this category. Sitting all day behind a steering wheel can lead to several common problems associated with the job.

These include back problems, circulation problems, heart problems and obesity problems. After having driven all day, one of the last things a driver wants to do is go searching for a gym. However, there are a few things that truck drivers can do in order to reduce some of these latent problems.

When you park up to eat, stop away from the building and walk the rest of the way. Also when you have your breaks, do not just sit in the cab and read the paper, go for a walk. Walk whenever you get the chance. The short distances will add up, as any physician will tell you, any exercise is better than none.

Be sure to wear supportive footwear. You are clambering in and out of the cab and the trailer or jumping down from the rig throughout the day, so it is easily done to stumble and twist an ankle unless you are wearing boots that support your ankles.

You could buy some exercise equipment such as a mini dumbbell for arm drills. You will find time to use the dumbbell while you are waiting for some official to sign your paperwork. One of the modern chest expanders can be used in restricted spaces as well. Even squeezing a tennis ball helps to keep the blood circulating.

It is vital to get the amount of sleep that your body needs. This varies from person to person, but there are legal requirements to rest. Make sure that you abide by these breaks and that your mattress and pillow are comfortable enough for you to sleep if you want to.

Having a small refrigerator or cool box is useful for keeping fruit, bread and other things palatable; just do not fill it up with pies, pastries and cakes. It is far better to graze, if your body does not require a lot of energy to do a job. It is far better to eat throughout the day than to eat a large meal at night.

Make sure that you use your days off to do some bending and stretching. Swimming is very good for most of the muscles and internal organs in your body. So is walking. Gardening is a great way of keeping in shape as well. It is not necessary to go to a gym, that is modern hype. Nobody went to gyms before and there have always been driving jobs and office jobs.

The difference is that there was no TV back then and people were more active. They walked and they worked in the garden or on the allotment growing potatoes and other supplements for their income. That is what people do not do now.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various topics, but is currently involved with LED automotive lights. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Escort 8500.

Many people over the age of twenty have a sort of love-hate relationship with birthdays. They love to have a party and be the centre of attention and a lot of fun, but they hate getting older. But I believe that people should celebrate their birthdays. After all, you enjoy going to someone else’s birthday party and so you are morally obliged to put one on for others too.

And birthday parties ought to be a lot of fun. It does not have to be a children’s type party, of course, but you could still dress up and play games.

You could have a barbecue for all your friends and family and do it cowboy style. Have a barn dance that would make ‘JR’ proud. The food for this is straightforward enough. Begin by providing plenty of Texas sized spare ribs, half-pounder hamburgers, T-bone steaks, and jumbo size hot dogs with loads of bread and salad.

For music, it has to be country and everybody has to wear cowboy clothing, although it would probably be better to leave the shootin’ irons at home. Annie Oakley style clothes for the ladies and Buffalo Bill style for the gents. If it is going to be a big party, ask everyone to bring their own favourite dish, in true Southern style. That would be a great way to celebrate an adult’s birthday for the family.

If you do not go much on the macho cowboy scheme, you could try a Caribbean style barbecue. Wear flash short sleeved shirts and vivid colours or swimming costumes. The music could be reggae and calypso and the food would be grilled fish and chicken with salad and plenty of fresh fruit. Offer hot and not so hot chilli dips and barbecue sauces. You could have a go at limbo dancing too, that is always good for a laugh.

Or perhaps you would rather a humorous barbecue party and all dress up like the hillbilly family ‘The Clamperts’! That would be fun. The men could wear old velvet hats and old clothes tied up with string like Jed and Jethro and the women could come as Ellie May or Granny. I think that the authentic food like possum and bullfrog might be difficult to get hold of in some areas, but you could just supply what you want for this one. Steaks, hamburgers and fried fish; bread and salad with cake to finish.

Another favourite form of barbecue for a birthday do is the Luau. An Hawaiian barbecue is really something else. You will need bright colours and plenty of tropical Hawaiian decorations. You could provide half coconut shells for drinking out of and lots of coconut and pineapple based drinks. You should ask your guests to wear loud Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, provide plenty of leis and hula music and a ‘loudest Hawaiian shirt’ contest is compulsory.

If none of those tickles your fancy, how about a ‘Vicars and Tarts’ barbecue? You can use your own imagination on that one though. Any more tea and crumpet, vicar?

If your barbecue party is to continue into the evening and it might get nippy, you could hire or borrow some patio heaters, just so as to give you a few additional hours in the garden.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the electric outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Submitting one’s tax papers are a necessary chore for many people, but for more people, they are a means of reducing the money that they owe the state. It depends on which country you come from. In some countries, people pay no tax until the end of the tax year, in others, workers pay a fixed rate, say 25%, of everything they earn, but settle up with the state at the end of the tax year.

They settle up by filing their tax returns, which basically means claiming tax relief for expenses that they have incurred in the completion of their work. It is the difference between what an employed person earns using the boss’ equipment and a self-employed person earns using their own equipment. After all, a boss would claim for every shovel that employees use, so why should a self-employed person have to pay for his own shovel?

The same is true of owner operator truck drivers. So what are the sort of expenses that an owner operator truck driver can claim for?

First and foremost is the reduction in the value of the truck itself. The rate at which this is permitted varies from country to country, but in many it is 25% of the value of that truck per year, based on the cost price. You will also be able to deduct 100% of the interest charges on the loan that you took out to buy the truck.

This can get quite tricky if you want to sell the vehicle before it can be called ‘written off’ in the terms of the law. However, whatever you get for the vehicle has to be considered as income after the truck has been written off.

You will have to take advice on this subject because it is very complex, varying from country to country. The main point is that you are not allowed to deduct the full payments for the truck, only the interest.

Another major cost that drivers can claim back are road fees. If you have to pay anything to remain on the road, you are allowed to off-set that against your income. The same goes for cleaning, washing and maintaining the truck, but you must retain all the receipts.

No tax man will believe you without them. Meals and over-night stays are also tax-deductible, but again, bills are an absolute essential.

Many people reckon that they can claim for clothing, but this is a tricky point. You are only allowed to claim for working clothing that can only be utilized wholly and exclusively for work. Overalls are a good case in point, as are steel toe-capped boots or wellingtons. A sleeping bag is ambiguous.

Fines or traffic tickets are not deductible, because they were your fault. Likewise solicitors’ fees fighting them – unless you win. However, if you fight and lose, you may incur penalties from the tax office. Sometimes it is simpler, and cheaper, to just pay up, unless it endangers your driving license.

Fuel bills are a large part of most drivers’ expenses, so it essential to keep a close eye on those receipts. It is a good idea to pay for fuel with a fuel card because then you have a permanent, re-retrievable record of them.

Cell phones, sat nav and laptops are necessary to many drivers, but authorities take a particular view on them. Some allow 100% deduction, others allow only 25-50%, because they assert that they can be used for purposes non-essential to carrying out your occupation. Calls on the cell phone may have to be justified for similar reasons.

You may get away with claiming for air-con and even a fridge to keep your food cool or a special ergonomic seat for your back, but do not rely on it.

In general, the allowances for owner operator truck drivers are reasonable, but you cannot condemn the authorities for questioning some of the outrageous claims that some drivers make.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various subjects, but is at present concerned with truck sat nav systems. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Laser Temperature Gun.

Are you thinking of throwing a party in the near future, but are not sure whether to have a picnic in the park or a barbecue party at home? People do enjoy both kinds of party, although some may have a first choice. One of the big differences between a picnic and a barbecue is often the food.

After all, you are usually permitted to have a barbecue and cook food in your own backyard, but there may be bylaws on cooking food on an open fire in a park or picnic site for fire safety purposes, so most people take pre-cooked meats and sandwiches.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of party, but we will start by looking at the food aspect, as most parties centre around food. An advantage of having a picnic is that you will be able to join in with your fellow revellers more, because you will have already cooked the chicken wings and legs and completed the sandwiches the night before.

You will have tins of sausage rolls and small cakes and all you will have to do is put them out for people to help themselves. If you run out of sandwiches, people can do their own with the sliced bread that you will have brought just in case.

The disadvantages of a picnic are that you also have to tie your time up the day before preparing all the food and you will need transport to get there with your hampers, bottles, flasks, plates, beakers, tissues, flannels towels and whatever else you normally take with you. People may not even like your choice of sandwiches and if you let them make their own with what you provide, there could be a terrible mess. Your sandwiches could also curl up overnight of go off in the heat of the day or in the back of the car. This is a particular danger with pork, chicken and eggs.

You may have to put up a tent or rig up a shelter for those who can not stand strong sunlight. You may also have trouble with ants and wasps and the toilet amenities are often abysmal. Also if it starts to rain, you have little choice but to pack up and depart for home or a pub

Barbecue food on the other hand is cooked there and then and cannot go off. The only danger is under cooking, but it is not too hard to get it right. There is not much chance of preparing vast quantities more than you need either as the chef will see when his food is not being taken away.

This is one of the disadvantages of barbecuing though, someone needs to stand there all day and cook, although this can be done in turns and there is usually a string of men eager to show off their expertise as a barbecue chef.

With a barbecue you have the advantage of shelter if it rains and the toilets are better than in the park and if it gets cool later on in the evening, you could use a patio heater to prolong the party.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the outdoor heat lamp. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.