Nothing shifts a vacation into fifth gear like a high-intensity hook up with a beautiful stranger. Your stresses and inhibitions are left at home, exotic drinks with tiny umbrellas are flowing, and all too aware of your limited time together, you are both having the time of your lives.

The goal here is to help you transform your international fling fantasy into a reality, and the first step is to put the odds in your favor by choosing the right setting. Following are some of the pros and cons associated with popular holiday pickup locations.

The Beach

Unless you were cast as a Spartan soldier in the film 300, you should forget about trying to pick up at the beach. People generally go to the beach for 4 reasons:

1. To tan their chiseled bodies.
2. To show off their chiseled bodies by throwing various beach objects like Frisbees, footballs, or nerds.
3. To stare at the people with chiseled bodies.
4. To place bets on who can throw the nerd the furthest.

So if you’re the type who doesn’t so much tan as you do catch on fire, and who usually relies on archaic techniques like conversation, charm, and sense of humor to make your first impressions, then you’d be better off waiting for the sun to go down and the beer lights to go up, putting on your best money-shirt and hitting the dance clubs or the hotel bars. Now women might actually listen you what you have to say as opposed to wishing your belly keg looked more like a six-pack.

Cruise Ships

A cruise vacation can either be an incredibly romantic experience, or a horrifying floating prison sentence, depending on your pick-up objectives. Meeting someone on a cruise is never the problem. Packed with casinos, dance clubs, restaurants, and even rock climbing walls, your chances for bumping into someone who shares your love for peanut M&Ms and reruns of Family Guy are extremely high. Once the connection has been made and the sparks have flown, a cruise ship suddenly transforms into the ultimate dating extravaganza with exciting activities and romantic settings from sunrise to sunset. Perfect for someone looking for an action-packed one week relationship.

However….and this is a big however, what happens when you’re more of a Baskin Robbins, likes to explore 31 different flavors type of guy? Well, suppose you manage to score big one night with Miss Right at the beginning of your oceanic adventure. Now suppose the tequila shooters eventually wear off and you find yourself in bed with Miss Pirates of the Caribbean. Suddenly the classic “I’ll-call-you-later”-then-disappear-forever-into-a-cloud-of ninja-smoke maneuver becomes a mission impossible. Unless you consider walking the plank, stealing a life raft, or sprinting off into the jungle as soon as the ship docks as options, there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

You’re probably thinking “But the boat is huge, she can’t be everywhere at the same time.” True, but women have a GPS tracking system in their brains that starts beeping as soon as you come within three feet of another woman. She will find you. Besides, the whole point of a vacation is to relax, do you really want to spend yours tip-toeing around, looking over your shoulder every second like a deer during hunting season? Of course not.

So what’s the moral of this story? Keep away from tequila shooters.

Hostels

Whether you’re backpacking through Europe or simply saving your vacation cash for more important things like cosmopolitans for the cute blonde at the bar, youth hostels are great locations for meeting single women from all over the planet. Now if you’re extremely lucky, like lottery-winning-caliber lucky, then you might end up sharing a room with a gorgeous Ukrainian dancer named Svetlana. But in reality you should invest in a pair of good ear plugs, you’ll need them to drown out the thunderous snores of Borislav, the eccentric shoemaker from Bulgaria.

Thankfully most hostels have common kitchens and living rooms which serve as excellent breeding grounds for ice-breakers like: “Where are you from?”, “What’s a good bar around here?” and “How about we ditch Borislav and go to that good bar you just mentioned?” Things might become tricky when arriving at the “my place or yours” chapter of the evening, with both of you sharing your rooms with several strangers, and unless you are willing to distribute earplugs to everybody, discretion is next to impossible. In this case you both should combine money you saved from the hostel, and spend the night in an actual hotel.

Traveling to a foreign country is always an exhilarating experience. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells expand our minds and broaden our cultural horizons. We try to absorb as much as we can by taking the tours, visiting all the hot spots, cramming our days with activities and then we try to bring it all home in our digital cameras. Why not absorb the experience into our bodies, literally? When planning your vacation’s activities, why not give some good ol’ hand to hand combat a try? You can learn a lot about a culture by the martial art practiced by its people, as it shares a symbiotic relationship with the country’s history, its religion, its survival.

When we hear the words “martial arts” countries like China, Japan, Thailand usually come to mind. But all countries have had to defend themselves at one point or another, and as a result have developed their own unique styles and weapons. Martial art schools are generally friendly, welcoming to visitors, and much less expensive than snorkeling or parasailing. The following are some vacation destinations with some lesser known fighting styles definitely worth sneaking into your itinerary.

India - Kalaripayattu

Whether it’s a spiritual journey to the Himalayan mountains or to visit the white marbled wonder of the world, Taj Mahal, India awe-inspires with its natural beauty and structural magnificence. Home of the oldest major religion still in practice on earth, Indian masters can also teach you the world’s oldest martial art, kalaripayattu. With origins tracing back 3000 years, kalaripayattu incorporates strikes, grappling, weaponry, martial dance and massage. The system draws strength from animal forms such as lions, tigers, elephants, snakes and crocodiles, oh my. Once learned you can move onto wooden weapons, and eventually onto metal swords, spears and shields. Fervent believers in health and healing, training sessions begin and end with massages, using oils and incense to calm the mind and improve flexibility.

To find a school in India, click here

France - Savate

Relatively low-key among martial arts, the kickboxing style of savate isn’t the first thing you think of when you think of France. But providing you’re not on honeymoon, a visit to the land of typically less violent passions can be a great opportunity to learn a new fighting style. Savate is named after the French word for “old shoe”, highlighting the peculiar fact that it is fought actually wearing shoes, unlike most martial arts. This graceful kickboxing style was formalized in France early in the 19th century, having evolved from street-fighting origins. It’s partially known for its particular weapon specialization, a type of cane.

Videos of savate in action:
Savate Training and Execution

The Eminem playing over this next clip is a bit lame, but the match shows the flavor of the savate style.

More reading about savate here

Find savate schools in France here and here
Knowing French would help…

Russia - Systema

An ancient country whose history is as rich as its culture, Russia is the birthplace for one of the most effective and devastating martial arts on the planet today. Unlike the rigid forms and animal stances of many Asian martial arts, systema emphasizes fluid and natural human movement. Understanding that combat is a state of chaos carrying with it an infinite number of challenges and opportunities, the Russians developed a system of defense adaptable to any situation. Outside the schools practitioners train in the woods, in the water, in the snow, in a car, anywhere, learning how to avoid and counter-attack all forms of strikes, kicks, holds, chokes, anything. They learn how to disarm knives, guns, sticks, as well as how to become deadly with improvised weaponry such as pens, magazines, and shot glasses (if you don’t think pens or magazines can be dangerous, please see The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy).

Don’t let the cheesy music and slippery movements fool you, systema is taught to the Spetsnaz, the most elite special force in the Russian military.

Read more about systema here

To locate a school in Russia click here

Brazil - Capoeira

Brazilians know how to celebrate, and the martial art of capoeira literally embodies the celebratory spirit. Add martial spice to your visit to Brazil, and at least try to see some of the style in action. You can’t miss it – it’s a hybrid of traditional fighting techniques and dance-like moves. It began to take shape in the 16th century with the mass influx of West African slaves into Brazil. While there is certainty that there are African elements, there is no pre-slavery evidence of a capoeira fighting style in Africa.

The art, which is considered a kind of play, was developed as a cultural pastime for entertainment and fun, but also potentially as a means for slaves to practice defending themselves against their owners. Either way, the dance element could have a powerful psychological effect on an opponent during a fight.

Capoeira clips:
Peculiar music, but a nice clip of capoeira sparring.

An impressive demonstration of the acrobatic ability of the capoeira adept.

Keep learning about capoeira here and here

Find Brazilian capoeira schools here

Philippines - Eskrima

Known for stunning beaches and hospitality, the Philippines have always been a great spot to visit. An extremely favourable currency exchange means the possibility of an extended stay, perfect for the learning and cultivation of the local martial art, eskrima. Likely developed from a mix of Chinese, Indonesian, and Malaysian styles, eskrima differs from many mainstream martial arts in that students typically learn to fight with a weapon first, then move to open hand techniques. It is a strongly weapons-based style, specifically those that can be dual-wielded, like short sticks and daggers. Outside the Philippines, it is often referred to as Kali.

Here are some great eskrima videos:
The basics.

Eskrima skills display.

To read more about eskrima, click here and here

Finding Schools in the Philippines:
It’s actually quite difficult to find schools online. The best bet is to search around FMA (Filipino Martial Arts) Forums like this, or post a thread asking for help finding a school near wherever you are or plan to be.

Stephen King wrote books about them, Hollywood produced films based on them, millions of tourists seek them out each year in attempts to creepify their next vacation. Haunted Hotels are more popular than ever, especially since the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Ghost Hunters” aired thermographic video footage of what appears to be a full-sized paranormal apparition, in the basement of the Crescent Hotel & Spa in Eureka Springs Arkansas. In other words, a ghost caught on tape!

All “haunted” hotels have their ghost stories: the spirit of the heart-broken bride who hung herself in the shower; the angry voices of children who were murdered in room 217; the disgruntled bellhop who threw himself out the 13th floor window etc…. But many of the ghosts and ghouls who flutter about “America’s most haunted hotel” had one thing in common while they were alive: cancer.

If you stayed at the hotel anywhere between 1937 and 1940 you would not have been considered a “guest” per se. You would have been a cancer patient under the care of Norman Baker, and chances are, you would have died. Without one day of medical training in his life, Norman Baker transformed the facilities into a hospital where he offered patients his aggressively advertized “miracle cure”. Turns out there is nothing miraculous about mixing watermelon seed, brown corn silk, alcohol, and carbonic acid. His horrible injections only succeeded in decreasing patients’ bank accounts while increasing their suffering as they approached the end. No wonder so many came back to haunt the hallways, they were robbed by a money-hungry quack!

Redrum anyone?

Thousands of people have visited and even slept in the hotel basement, also known as “the Morgue”, where the ghostly thermal image was captured by investigators. Complete with autopsy table the morgue is where Baker conducted his human experiments (remember: without one day of medical training), and a walk-in fridge where he kept many body parts in jars of formaldehyde. He was eventually convicted of mail fraud and was sentenced to a mere four years in prison. After the ruling there were reports of Baker’s victims actually spinning in their graves!

Is the man in the morgue the clearest image of a paranormal presence ever captured? Or a mere symptom of low camera batteries? The best suggestion is to check it out for yourself. So if you’re hunting for ghosts and you happen to own a $3000 thermographic video camera, there is a good chance that you are single. This will make things a lot cheaper when booking a room in your next haunted hotel.

Planning your next vacation? Fantasizing about going toe-to-toe with a wild animal other than Mike Tyson? Why not do both? Forget the boring all-inclusive beach resorts and inject your next getaway with some good ‘ole fight or flight adrenaline. Here are some of the world’s most beautiful destinations, as well as the homes for some of the planet’s deadliest animals. They’ll do more than just bite your ear off.

Surfing Hawaii

Aloha! Nothing beats catching the perfect wave. For a shark however nothing beats catching a fresh seal for lunch, which is exactly what you look like when paddling out on your board. Shark attacks are responsible for over 100 fatalities a year.

Scuba-diving in Papua New Guinea

Were you trembling with fear when Marlin and Dory were surrounded by jellyfish in Finding Nemo? I hope not ’cause that’s pretty lame. Nonetheless, jellyfish are extremely dangerous and kill as many people as sharks do in a year.

And if the jellyfish don’t kill ya, the humiliation of someone peeing on you to relieve the sting from their tentacles will.

African safari, visiting the Victoria Falls

They’re not called “hungry hungry hippos” for nothing. Despite their sleepy, sluggish appearance, hippos are renown for attacking boats, chomping through canoes, and killing over 150 people per year.

India, Taj Mahal

Okay so maybe you won’t find any in the Taj Mahal itself, but stray too far in any direction and you’re sure to bump into an elephant. With adults weighing up to 6 tons (approximately the same weight as a Smart Car dealership), elephants are the largest mammals on land. These unpredictable giants cause up to 500 fatalities per year, a tiny number when you consider how many pianos exist in the world.

Cambodia, Angkor Wat

Make sure to get your shots when visiting this natural Wonder of the World. While a mosquito bite won’t kill you directly, diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and the West Nile virus will. 3 million lives are taken each year by mosquitos, making these annoying little blood-suckers the world’s number one killer of humans, proving once again that size doesn’t always matter.

Happy trails!

Si vous n’avez pas eu l’occasion de manger au Restaurant Patrick Bermand à Mont Tremblant (ancien village), vous devez le mettre à votre agenda lors de votre prochaine visite à Tremblant. Au menu vous aurez le choix entre poisson frais (bar, thon saumon), fruits de mer (homard, crevettes, escargots) et viande de première qualité (agneau, veau, bœuf). On vous propose une table d’hôte à partir de $24.95/personne et également un menu pour enfants.

Mon expérience personnelle…

Fin janvier 2008. Dimanche soir, 18h j’entre pour la première fois au restaurant Patrick Bermand avec ceux qui me l’avaient recommandé et ma première impression est le sentiment de venir souper chez des amis dans un chalet bois rond. L’ambiance est chaleureuse et sympathique et on vous accueille avec beaucoup de respect.

Nous ne prenons pas d’apéritif mais commandons plutôt du vin rouge. On nous suggère un vin portugais qui accompagnait parfaitement les plats que nous avions commandés, une excellente suggestion. En entrée, nous avons mangé une succulente crème de légumes avec de petits pains chauds tout frais et comme plat de résistance, je choisis une entrecôte accompagnée de crevettes (surf and turf) le tout cuit à la perfection et servi avec beaucoup d’attention et de jovialité. Au dessert nous avons eu droit à une trilogie de dessert à rendre jaloux le meilleur des pâtissiers.

Manger au restaurant Patrick Bermand fût une expérience fantastique non seulement gustative mais qui rejoint le cœur avec sa convivialité et son amabilité.

Une expérience à renouveler encore et encore… surtout après une belle journée de ski et un après-ski avec une atmosphère de chalet Tremblant!

Here are some really useful tips for efficiently packing luggage for when you plan to travel in Mont Tremblant (or anywhere else, really!) It’s not necessarily easy to pack a lot of stuff for a week trip in a trendy hotel, so you might benefit from Alejandra’s advice.

Here’s a quick guide for you and your children, to get the most out of your next vacation.

Learn about the area

It’s always a good idea to learn about the history, the geography and any other information you can gather about the place you’re about to visit. With the right background knowledge, your experience of the attractions will be much richer. There are a lot of good books and websites available to help you find information about events, weather, and food, as well as historical and cultural overviews. Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia, is a good place to start your search on the web.

Explore the web

When planning travel, it’s always a good idea to scout local web sites to get a insider’s point of view. If you plan a trip in the Quebec Laurentians at Mont Tremblant, here are some good websites to help guide you:

Wikipedia page about Mont Tremblant

Condos in Mont Tremblant

Mont Tremblant Weather

You work hard, right? And you need a vacation sometimes, right? If your employer’s not the type to give you one, your government might have you covered – depending on where you live! Take a look below at some of the vacation stats from around the world, and notice how North American countries stack up as far as legally due vacation days. No wonder why the Mont Tremblant real estate market welcomes so many foreigners.

France: 30 days (+1 paid national holiday)

Finland: 25 days (+9 paid national holiday)

Norway: 25 days (+2 paid national holiday)

Spain: 22 days (+12 paid national holiday)

Switzerland: 20 days

Italy: 20 days (+13 paid national holiday)

Canada: 10 days (+8 paid national holiday)

United States: None

If you plan to ski in the Mont Tremblant region as a beginner, it’s a good idea to look into rentals services before you buy (potentially expensive) equipment - especially if you’re not going to spend a lot of time on the slopes. Renting is always a good option for new skiers, giving an opportunity to get used to different kinds of skis before committing to a perfect purchased pair.

Mont Tremblant ski rental advantages

• trying out different ski lengths, depending of you’re weight and ability
• often ski rentals are included in lessons package to get you started as quick as possible
• most rental packages include all the stuff you need (boot, poles and skis)

The person working behind the ski rentals counter should let you know why they’re choosing particular skis for you, so you can make a better-informed decision for next time. Here are some tips to consider, for a bit of an equipment inside edge.

• the longer the skis are, the faster you can go, but the more ability you’ll need to keep control
• check the bottom of the skis to be sure they are not too scratched up
• be sure to check if the blades are nice and sharp to get a good grip on the snow

Other, general tips before your first time skiing

• Expect to fall a few times, and expect a sore bottom the next day!
• Bring a warm winter jacket, warm gloves, warm underwear and a some goggles, if possible.
• Start on the most beginner trails, and stay until you’re 100% certain you’re ready to move on.

Find out more information about ski in Mont Tremblant before you go.