Travelling Around the World

Avoid booking flight segments close together. Major airlines consider a connection as tight as 35 minutes to be a valid connection, but this is often not enough time if there are long lines at security! If travel time is not critical, consider allowing at least 2 hours to make each connection. If you are not delayed, you can use this slack time to eat at the airport, where the food is likely many times better than what you may (or may not!) get in the air. (Most major American airports do not require a re-screening if you are merely changing flights, as long as you don’t leave the secure area.)

Traveling alone can be an intimidating experience, especially for those who don’t do it often. Knowing what to expect and thinking about the challenges solo air travel throws at you ahead of time can make it an easy and efficient experience.

Avoid checking a bag. This is true of any air travel really, but I find it’s much easier to be a self-contained entity when alone, leaving as little responsibility to the airline as possible. There’s nobody to search for the right baggage claim with you or to help you talk to the agent if a bag gets lost. By keeping everything with you, there’s less chance of error.

Along those same lines, don’t be afraid to gate check a bag (usually signified by yellow tags put on the bag as you board). This works differently from normal bag checking, as any gate checked bag is only given to the airline as you board the plane, and is retrieved right as you exit the plane. The bag never actually goes through the whole luggage system – that invariably ends misplacing things.

Traveling alone seems to increase the chance of you being searched at security, particularly if one is not obviously on a business trip. Just assume you will be searched and pack accordingly.

The biggest advantage of traveling alone is usually the ability to get an exit row seat. If the airline you are flying with allows online check-in (usually available 24 hours before departing time) exit row seats can usually be obtained there. If not, make sure to ask at the gate, as most of the time there will be the odd one exit row seat that nobody has taken because they want to sit with their traveling companions. They get company, you get leg room. Sometimes a book and being able to stretch is better than someone to talk to.

“Sport and vacation”. There are few sports that can fit to that slogan. Surfing, mountain climbing and golfing is a few of them. Golf takes place in a wide area. Different lands have different climate, wind, and topography. It resulted in different golfing experience and difficulties. It makes every place unique and special. A real golf player should try and experience each and every place. With new golf places being built every year, it will be a road show to try them all. They won’t need to worry about running out of new places and can always do their “sport and vacation” event every year.

What can really lighten up something that is already on fire? A tournament! Big and small tournaments are now being held. There are International or local, professional or beginner level of tournament. Even at virtual community of internet there are tournament any single time. From the childish fantasy golf game called “Pangya” to the super accurate, international golf committee approved golf simulator. In short, everyone is invited. That is including you! To stand out among other competitors, you will need to improve your skills, and maybe buy some new equipment.

Germany is well known for the strength and durability of their product. Both are required in golf equipment. Thanks heaven Germany does produce golf equipment. Better yet they produce a lot of them. They have Golfshop available in the internet, making it easy for us to access, choose and pick what they have to offer. They might be a bit expensive from your local stores. But you will get top notch items that last forever, latest technology that surely improve your form and swing, and of course envious eyes during your golf career. You might want to be careful for the last one though, since they might fail to resist the charm and do something that is not supposed to be done.

As for your skills, the cliché advice of “practice, practice, practice” is the perfect solution. However you might want to use a bit catalyst to boost your skill growth by attending courses. Learning directly from the best can really shorten up your “practice, practice, practice” process. Again Germany has the best golf courses at Golfkurse. Don’t worry if your budget limited or if you don’t want to be too serious. They have many options there. From ones that Tiger Woods or any other professional golf players attend to those for your kids. One thing for sure it will be a fun experience and improving your golf skill at the same time.