Goodness, I Travelled a Long Way in 2010

Hey

I expect by now you are wondering just how many miles I travelled during 2010.

Well, I was also wondering as I had not actually done the math.

Imagine my surprise when I just did the calculation to find that I actually travelled over 50,000 miles last year!  Yes, really :-)

Would you like to travel that much?  Best part is that every trip I made was on a very tight budget and I loved every minute of it.

Here are some more images for you to enjoy from my travels ... enjoy and have a great day!

These were taken whilst I was in Sri Lanka at the end of last year - my word - that elephant was HUGE - cute though, his name was 'Mojo'!

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert
http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

How I Got to Travel so Much

Hello again!

So many people have been asking me to tell then how I found my 'niche' - here is a little of my story.

When my son was born, he was diagnosed with a serious heart defect, one that was going to need major surgery when he was 2 years of age.  Can you imagine how this made me feel?

What happened next was something I never dreamed of and subsequently changed my life beyond all recognition…

My partner decided that he was unable to handle the situation and felt that it was for the best for everyone, if he were to leave my son and I alone.

At 5 months old, my son underwent extensive tests to determinethe severity of his heart defect.  It was confirmed – he would need ‘open heart surgery’ and pretty soon, if he was to have any chance of surviving beyond the age of 10.

Completely shocked, alone and devastated by his father’s reaction, my fight for survival commenced.

Countless trips to hospitals for invasive testing, tears – lots of them, but somehow I found an inner strength and decided that I must utilise the time well and spend as much quality

time with my tiny son as it was possible that he may not even survive the operation.

Having decided to quit my job to spend time with him, I had many personal challenges to deal with.  Being alone at these times was really tough as there was nobody to talk to.

Whatever happened, my legacy to my son was that he would see as much of the world as possible.  He was a very bright andmischievous little boy, always asking ‘why’ and his inner strength and determination were far stronger than mine most of the time.

Anyway, having set the scene, you need to know that we didtravel extensively, and we are still doing so, together.  He is now 19 years old and a very smart student at University.

We had no choice - if we were to travel, it had to be on a budget.  Hence my idea to write my book entitled ‘Women Travelling on a Budget', soon to be releasd ...

You will be the first to know :-)  

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader


Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Ever Dreamed of Travel to New Zealand?

Hey

When I was planning to travel to Australia last year, I thought it would make perfect sense to hop over to New Zealand whilst I was there.

It was really easy to get a cheap flight and hotel as a deal through a local flight centre in Sydney.

New Zealand is an awesome place, perfect climate and in March, when I was there, it was a comfortable 25 degrees.  I hired a car and went exploring.  Here are some pictures I took in Auckland for you to enjoy whilst you are thinking about where you would like to travel to next :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert
http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

A Sneak Peek into Travel in Sydney, Australia

Wow!

I have just been going through my holiday pictures from last year - my goodness, I travelled some miles ...

Here, for you to enjoy is another video from my visit to Sydney ... Enjoy :-)

Please do leave your comments - we love to hear from you :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert
http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

How to Travel at the Best Time of Year

Hi There

I often get asked how to decide the best time of year to travel.

Here's how ...

Of course, I am very privileged these days as travelling is what I love to do and am able to enjoy the freedom and lifestyle having learned the best way to travel on a budget.

Generally, I keep a close eye on the worldwide weather forcasts, but also research the best time of year to travel to my next location by browsing through brochures and online for the country and then looking at the annual rainfall and temperatures.

Some places are extremely humid at certain times of year and for me, I try to avoid travelling to those places at such times.

Here is a video I recorded recently in Abu Dhabi...

The weather in the Middle East soars to over 50 degrees in the summer months and the humidity at that time is almost 100%.  However, in the cooler months, there is zero humidity and the coldest it gets at any time is around 12 degrees at night.

Continue enjoying my videos and photos until next time and thanks again for following :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Discover How to Keep to Deadlines

Hey

I just wanted to share with you something that I found so many of my friends struggle with, and how I have managed to overcome the problem of sticking to deadlines.

Interestingly enough, most people struggle and become overwhelmed if they have too many projects on the go.

So, I realised that there must be a way to help people with this.

What I found was that if I wrote down everything I had to achieve in a day in order of priority, it became so much easier to focus on each thing.

So, just one thing at a time ... that was it ... seems obvious to me now, but at the time, my office was just a complete shambles - I could never find anything.

Hope this helps you and here are a few images for you to enjoy from my trip to Malaysia ...

Stay focussed ... and you will soon be travelling :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Do You Ever Dream About Travelling the World?

Hello

Today is the day I want you to think more about your dreams to travel...

As you have already seen, once I set myself that 'goal', it very soon became a reality.

What I did to achieve took me a few 'steps' - that's all...

Now it is easy for me to achieve anything I want in life - I know how to focus on those things and make them a reality.

Just to keep you motivated, here are some more amazing images taken when I was in Oman at the end of 2010.

Exploring in the Middle East is lots of fun and a much slower pace of life :-)

Write down 3 places you want to visit...

Let me know and I will help you to get there.

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader


Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

How to Get Flights to Travel for Next to Nothing

Good Day!

It seems that every day is becoming a good day ...

Having told you how to get the best hotels for cheap, you are about to learn how to get the flights for cheap as well :-)

Here is how:

Go to http://www.ebookers.com and search for flights there.  In my experience, it is cheaper to book as a 'multi trip' rather than individual flights.  The reason I tell you this is that I know you will be taking advantage of the opportunity to travel the world very soon.

If you are willing to travel at the less popular times of day, then you will generally get cheaper flights.

Can you imagine how much of my hard earned cash I have saved, using this one tip alone?

Just to keep you focussed on your dreams, here is a picture I took over Tazmania ...

Enjoy the journey :-) until next time.

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com

http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader

http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Are You Serious about Travel?

Good Morning

Today will be a great day - one you will remember...  The sun is shining here in Dubai - this is the 'norm' here.

Some days, I have to remind myself that it was no 'accident' that I am here ... there used to be 'stormy days' and 'bad times' - you see, like everyone else, I have had my share of 'bad luck'           

My story is probably one that most can relate to - maybe not the exact same detail, but I know that people do have some pretty rotton luck.

Always being a very positive person, I was determined to transform what appeared to be exceptionally bad luck, into a life changing experience.  From that moment on, my life changed.  It was only very recently that I became more aware that everything that had happened to me was part of 'me', a journey...

There were 'many rivers to cross' but I always stayed true to myself.

Over the next few weeks, I would love to tell you more about my journey to date and how I actually am achieving and living my dreams right now.

For today - I would love to share some more travel with you - this time to Tazmania ...

Enjoy :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader


Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Travel to Great Hotels for Cheap!

Hello

Have you ever spent ages choosing what looked like a great hotel, only to get there and find that it was still under construction, was dirty or in a really bad location.

That used to happen to me too...

However, having travelled expensively in the last few years, I now know exactly how to identify great places to stay for next to nothing.

Would you like to know exacltly how I do this?

I use an amazing internet resource called 'Trip Advisor'

http://www.tripadvisor.com

They have reviews on there that will give you a really good idea about the place before you book.

Here are some images of places I stayed in Sri Lanka recently.  Both of these places were listed as 'Budget Accommodation'.

Enjoy :-)

Have an amazing day!

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert
http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

Travelling to Petra in Jordan

Well, so many request to learn more about Petra - so, here are some of the awesome images I captured whilst I was there.

Finding a reasonably priced, great place to stay in Petra was a little of a challenge, but using my 'secret formula', we found the best hotel at the best price and it was so friendly :-)

Here are the images... Please leave your comments to let me know what you think.

Keep planning to live your dreams and have a great day!

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com
http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010', Dubai, UAE

More Travels in Jordan

Hi

This is such an amazing Journey ... every day, I am getting requests for more information on my travels, questions about the places I have visited, the cultures, what is acceptable etc.

Whilst I was in Jordan recently, what really amazed me was how friendly and helpful the Jordanians are.  Nothing was ever too much trouble.  Having been recommended to take a private tour - this was what I did - our driver was a 'local', he took us to places you would not be taken to on the regular 'tours' as well as the more popular tourist sites.

Here are some more images for you to enjoy :-)

Hope you are enjoying my travels as much as I am :-)

Why not start to plan your dream trip today?

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com

http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010, Dubai, UAE

Travelling in Jordan

Hi

Every day now, I am receiving requests for more images from my travels so just to whet your appetite, here are some images I took on my visit to Jordan... Enjoy!

I would love to hear your comments :-)

Have an amazing day!

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert

http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com

http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee - IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010' Dubai, UAE

Travel in Dubai - Awesome!

Hello again!

I hope you are having an awesome day.  Mine has started well... I have just received a video testimonial from a client.  She had approached me and asked if I could 'tailor make' a personal tour for her in Dubai.

Look here to see what she says... Enjoy:

Thanks Barbara - we had fun :-)

Susan Reader - The Budget Travel Expert
http://www.womentravellingonabudget.com

http://twitter.com/IamSusanReader
http://www.facebook.com/SusanReader

Nominee IBWG 'Business Woman of the Year 2010' Dubai, UAE