General Travel

While having drinks with some friends recently, I was introduced to a number of practices that people go through when they find themselves staying in a hotel room. Having done quite a number of hotel stays myself, I must admit some of these practices were not new to me personally.

Armed with this curiosity, I then checked around with a few fengshui experts and asked for some do’s and don’ts as well as the astrological reasons behind them. Personally, I am not a superstitious person but among the items in this list, I have to admit I practice #1 whenever I enter a hotel room for the first time. I guess it doesn’t hurt to do so!

Without further ado, here are some hotel room feng shui tips to hopefully bring even better luck to your travels!

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Ukraine has recently loosened its visa requirements for several nationalities. This follows a similar trend by neighboring countries to allow foreign visitors to enter without a prearranged visa.

From the 16th of April 2017 onwards, nationalities of the following countries can enter Ukraine via any border crossing (including the international airports) and obtain a visa-on-arrival. In order to be granted a visa-on-arrival, travelers need to present either an invitation or a document proving themselves as tourists (i.e. hotel reservations, tour agency letter, etc) or business people.

The new ruling supersedes the previous one which was applicable for fewer nationalities and only for entry via Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport.

In case you are wondering what is there to see in Ukraine, check out my guides here.

The eligible countries for visa-on-arrival are the following (the ones in Italics are effective 16th of April):

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I normally post my annual travel-oriented currency outlook at the very beginning of the year but due to other commitments, it took me only now to publish it. As we start a new year, we once again look for travel ideas and aim to scale new depths where travel is concerned. There are several factors that may affect your decision on where to go but one that is widely considered is to go somewhere that is cheaper than it used to be only a short time back. This tactic worked very well for Japan when the Yen depreciated by as much as 60% against the US Dollar in 2 years. The same happened in the middle of 2016 when the UK voted for Brexit and the Pound Sterling plunged by 15%, triggering an influx of tourists visiting the UK for shopping and sightseeing.

So what’s in store for 2017? I have by no means a crystal ball. Looking at my list from 2016, I got about 3 out of 5 correctly including the outlook for Chinese Yuan which dropped quite substantially last year. I also identified 3 places to avoid last year based on the expectation that those countries’ currencies will strengthen and got 2/3 correct….

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As 2017 draws near, it is once again time to check out the official publication of Singapore public holidays from the Ministry of Manpower. You know the drill each year. Look out for the dates of the 11 standard holidays, see if the date for Deepavali is confirmed and then determine whether there are any potential long weekends for the coming year.

It is shaping up to be a wonderful year if long weekends are your thing. Jetstar has even planned ahead and rolled out a package offering flights to seven destinations during the seven long weekends for 2017. It’s a great idea but options were only limited to their network.

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With its anodized titanium finish, the American Express Centurion Card is usually recognized as the most exclusive credit card in the world. It has no credit limit. Membership is supposed to be by invitation only and some channels have reported a seemingly endless number of perks with the card. A member had reportedly used the card to buy a painting for over US$100 million from an auction house.

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Creative recently launched the Aurvana ANC, the latest in its line of Aurvana headphones and its most wallet-friendly noise-cancelling option so far. As an urbanite and a frequent traveler, this was a most welcome feature as it gives the ability to have a more personal listening space in an ever shrinking and increasingly noisy world. I went for a series of trips recently and took out the Aurvana ANC for a spin. These were my impressions:

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