All Inclusive Travel Tips: Protect your skin and avoid sunburn.

The one common factor that everybody shares is that we all want to look great on our trips. In fact, not only do we want to look great, but we want to look fabulous! Now in order to do that, we've convinced ourselves that we need to look tanned. I prefer to get a little shimmer and protect myself from the damaging rays.

If you are going to pursue getting yourself a tan, first thing you need to do is get an early start. Preferably, in a tanning bed. This will give you a head start to your base tan so you don't burn while you're on your holiday. I speak from experience when I say...DON'T burn on your holiday. I ended up spending a day in bed on my first holiday and burned both eyelids shut. They were so burnt and swollen, I couldn't open my eyes. That was from falling asleep under the burning sun with little to no protection and NOT laying under the shade.

Next, you'll want to invest in some good ol' SPF! Use your imagination and discretion here and do yourself a favor and get the highest one you can find. I've gone as high as SPF 60...and it was a great year. My burn was minimal and my tan was great! I prefer to use the spray on...my hands stay clean and sand particles don't seem to stalk me as much. Just remember, the higher the SPF, the thicker the cream and the longer it will take to absorb.

Try to stay in the shade. I can't stress this point enough...for our own comfort, find yourself a nice shaded tree, or even little grass hut with umbrella and pluck yourself down UNDERneath it! The more protection you get, the more comfortable you will be.

If tanning is just not an option for you and you want to protect yourself from the sun completely, you can always use a sunless tanning lotion. It is a bit tricky to use, you could end up looking orange and oddly streaked if you don't apply it properly. So for this, I suggest you take a nice long bath, exfoliate your skin, apply your favorite moisturizing lotion THEN apply a thin layer of your sunless tanner. You'll see results the next morning when you wake up. So, I suggest giving it a trial run before heading off on your trip. This way, you'll see the effects and perhaps learn to gage how much you need to apply and if there are any areas of your body you should avoid altogether.

Whichever tanning path you choose to follow, I suggest you stay protected at all times with the highest SPF possible. Also stay in a shaded area...and DO drink lots of water. After all, you do want to stay hydrated and healthy.

Travel Well,
Jennifer Boudreau

http://www.organizedbrainclutter.com
http://www.allinclusivetraveltips.com

All Inclusive Travel Tips: Tipping at All-Inclusive Resorts

I will share with you some my ideas on how to tip so your stay can be as comfortable as possible...of course with the assistance of those you've tipped well! The goal is for them to remember your generous tip and the promise of another tip by the end of your stay! Please use your discretion when you are tipping as to not let any of the other staff members see you doing so. I'm not going to get too elaborate on this, but some resorts frown on it. Or at least that's what people are expected to believe.

Ideally, you will have brought a small bundle of $1 and $5 bills with you for tipping and always keep a stack on hand with you at all times. When you arrive, you want to tip the Bellhop at least $1 per luggage. That's it. If everyone does this...they're making a fairly steep little bundle on the side of their regular low paying salary.

Next, you want to tip every server that's served you at each and every restaurant you dine in at your resort. They will appreciate this and make special arrangements for you later on in the week if you so happen to get food sensitivities or other sensitivities due to your new heavenly environment.

Now this is another VERY important one. You NEED to tip the water boy. I don't care what you have to do to flag him down...chase him, stalk him...I don't care, but for the love of gawd, TIP him at least $10 on the first day you see him with the promise of another $10-$20 on your last day of your stay. You will NEED him to stay hydrated. Sometimes the resorts don't provide enough water in your room to suffice for the day...be smart about this...especially on the days you will be hung over...you will worship your water boy then!

You sitting for this one??? This is the most important piece of information I will provide you on tipping. What you need to do is make friends with one of the bar people that work at the outside bar or pool bar. You tip them $20-$30 and tell them you and your friends want to be taken care of and never want to be left holding an empty glass. You also tell them that some days you will want to lay on the beach and will NOT want to walk down to the bar for refills, so you'd like to always have a full glass on hand. For this service, you will pay them the exact amount on the last day of your stay as well. Not only will your glass always be full, but you will make some friends along the way...who wouldn't want to be friends with the cool person that gets special service like that...! :O)

Lastly, all your day trips and excursions need to be tipped out at least $5 depending on how long it was and how much value you think it was worth. You may use your judgement on this one. If it's a large group of people tipping, then you know they will make more by larger numbers...so you will want to keep it low. However if it's a small group, you may even want to tip more. It's all up to you.

It may seem like a silly idea to be tipping so many people. After all, you'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort. However, keep in mind, it is a humanity thing. These people work their poor butts off to make your stay as memorable as possible working for peanuts a day. The least you could do is reward them for it giving them better quality of life for them and their hungry families. Or, you could just be a cheappo and not tip at all. It's totally up to you...I on the other hand can sleep at night knowing I've contributed at least a little to enrich someones life.

Travel Well!
Jennifer Boudreau
http://www.organizedbrainclutter.com

http://www.allinclusivetraveltips.com