Tours of St Petersburg – Must Do Activities on a Trip to St Petersburg Russia

Boat trip through the canals
Take a small boat through the canals – they can be found in various places such as next to the Winter Palace and along Nevsky Prospect. You can either take a boat trip during the day or at night. During the day you can see the features of the buildings a bit better and get a sense of the beauty of the architecture. If you want a romantic time with your significant other, I’d recommend the night cruise. You can still see all the famous buildings and the lights of the city really make the time slip away making for a memorable occasion.

Climb the colonnade of St. Isaac’s Cathedral
St.Isaac’s cathedral contains the third largest cupola in the world. Its a harrowing climb to the top but well worth the beautiful views of St Petersburg that can be had up there. The cathedral itself is beautiful but the views from the top are spectacular as well.

Go shopping
Russian souvenirs are recognized around the world for their uniqueness and make a great gift. Matryoshka dolls or nesting dolls can be found in all different styles – the iconic beautiful Russian woman, political leaders, sports stars – whatever your interest you can probably find a matryoshka to reflect your personality. Also among the popular gift items is Russian caviar which is well known for its quality (and sometimes its price – be careful and shop around a bit). Another item that is widespread is cheap DVDs and Software – though technically not legal and the Russian government has been cracking down on this lately it can still be found.

Visit Peterhof and ride the Hydrofoil
Near the Winter Palace you can find strange looking boats that seem to glide on top of the water – these are the hydrofoils that can take you to one of the most beautiful places in St.Petersburg – Peterhof. The fountains of Peterhof are well known for their extravagance and beauty – this is a place you definitely must see.

Russian banya
Russia is a cold place for the most part and during the winter it is especially important to keep warm. Taking things to the extreme is literally in the Russian blood in this case – the Russia banya is a sauna where they prefer really, really hot temperatures and being beaten with birch tree branches followed up by jumping into extremely cold water. This one is not for the faint of heart but afterwards you feel spectacular.

St Petersburg Metro
There is not a better place to get a feel for what life is like for the majority of people that live here unless you take a ride in the metro. The fares are pretty cheap and the stations often contain beautiful artwork and sculptures. There are 5 lines now and you can get almost anywhere in the city efficiently and quickly.

Russian food
Russian food is filled with tradition and flavor. Russian ‘pirogi’ or pies are very tasty and come with many different fillings – meat, potatoes, fruits, etc. Russian ‘blini’ or pancakes are the best type of Russian fast food you can find with similar fillings to the pies but blini with Russian caviar is exquisite. Russian ice cream is popular year-round, even during the winter you will see Russians eating ice cream on the street – it is just that tasty. Pelmeni is Russian style dumplings filled with meat and best eaten with sour cream.

What to Look For With Your Cheap Travel Insurance

In 2009, a major financial survey brought some rather worrying figures to light…

Even though only 14% of holidaymakers will need to make a claim on their travel insurance, around three-quarters of us do not bother to take any out at all!

Now this is all a little strange… There are plenty of cheap travel insurance packages to be found online. Perhaps it must simply be put down to laziness?

But taking out insurance to protect you whilst you are travelling overseas is a must!!! It is just as important as remembering to take your passport!

Here are a few things to be aware of when you are organising your cover…

• Higher Prices for the Over 65’s

A traveller over 65 years of age is thought to be three times more likely of making a claim on their policy… and these claims are normally three times the size of one that is made by someone younger. These figures come from The Association of British Insurers and all insurance companies will take them into consideration…

So you can understand why insurance will be more costly for the older traveller. However, some insurers will still be far cheaper than others… So it is still worth shopping around for cheap travel insurance, even when you are a senior citizen!

• The Merits of Price Comparison Sites

Don’t be fooled into thinking that travel agents will provide the lowest holiday cover! This isn’t the case at all.

Taking out your policy at the same time as you book your holiday can result in you paying around 90% more than a cheap travel insurance company!

It is always worth looking for your holiday cover on price comparison websites! This will normally result in you paying a great deal less for your insurance. And if you take out a policy from a company you are already using for something else, then you stand to make an even bigger saving!

• The ‘Multiple Policy Excess’ Danger

You should always make a point of checking the small print in a travel insurance policy. One of the biggest reasons to do this is because some insurers will turn one claim into two separate ones…

Imagine if you fell down a flight of steps and broke your mobile phone. Would your insurance company see this as one claim or two??? It’s your job to find out because it could save you a great deal of money!

5 Best Tips to Help You De-Clutter

Tip One: Before you begin DE-cluttering make a list of all areas and stuff you want to de-clutter for that day, then set a goal as to how you will accomplish this. Don’t make the mistake of choosing to DE-clutter the same day you plan on attending an important meeting like a wedding or a day before an exam, this is not wise; it will have you worked up when organizing and you probably end up doing a bad job at it because you’re in a hurry to finish on time; instead do this on a free day and take your work in chunks instead of trying to DE-clutter and organize a whole house at once. Start with one room, finish and then see how much energy and time if you have got left to DE-clutter instead of disorganizing the whole house and never finishing.

Tip 2: Avoid buying things you really won’t need or don’t think you would use in a year’s time. If you have a habit of saving everything you see or touch for example, holding onto grocery bags from many month with no useful purpose but to keep just in case, keeping a bunch of book or clothes that you don’t need just to look at, this only make you collect a lot of clutter. It’s okay to keep certain stuff you know you absolutely will evenly use in the near future for e.g keeping oatmeal cans to be re-used in storing dry food products or keeping collector item for special occasion if you have the need and space to store it but i find that most times if you are not consciously aware of yourself and your environment, it could easily turn into compulsive clutter collection which then turns you into a serious collecting hoard so try to keep things at a minimum–keep what you really need or what is the most Sentimental. If you feel like you have developed the habit of hoarding some of your item, get a supportive friend who understands how you feel to help you de-Clutter.

INVEST IN NEW STORAGE ITEMS such as a new bookcase, filing cabinet, magazine rack, shoe rack, photo album or letter box. Get a container or box to throw things you dust and sort as you go through them e.g little craft items. Have a storage Box or container to store some of the things you think you would need in the near future and have a designated keep area for it. Keeping things in a closed box keeps it from dust and pest. Paper shredder comes in handy as well to shred old paper or unless documents–but be sure it’s unless before shredding.

Tip 4: Have a garage sell or give away things you won’t need or want anymore like old books, clothes and shoes you’ve out grown. Keep in mind your trash may be treasure to someone else, don’t throw things away unless they are absolutely in terrible shape or you really can’t find someone who could find it useful. Before you throw things in the bin, make sure they can’t be recycled, given to charity or sold at a car boot sale or second-hand clothes shop. This way you help your city recycle and allow others in your community to use your trash if they find it valuable.

Tip 5: Avoid Littering after you organize your home, keep things where you want them to be so you can find them easily without wasting your precious time on earth. Don’t put it away till later because it will keep on piling, it’s best to start little by little, one day at a time till you finish instead of leaving it to pile for another day which then leaves you with much more work to organize.

Emotional De-cluttering: The best way to de-clutter your thoughts or feeling is to keep a journal. Get a pen and a book or even a tape recorder with a password to record your thought and feeling or even an online private journal however if you’re writing some really private things or if you are a private type of person, online LiveJournal may be not an ideal thing for you if it keeps you worrying if you logged out correctly in case someone finds it. Be cautious about what you write and how you keep your live journal because you may write something out of anger that you really didn’t mean just for someone to find it and end up becoming angry at you for it. For example, let’s say you called your wife gay or a shallow sink and she happens to come across it, only to be hurt though you didn’t mean it but unfortunately she read it and now you can’t take it back but only hope they understand you really didn’t mean it, that you were only letting go of your anger and didn’t mean any harm, so it is wise to keep your private journal locked and personal to save you from this kinds of drama. Don’t tell a friend your problem if you feel or think they would use it against without any doubts, it’s best to keep your private thoughts to yourself in your journal if you ever feel this way. Your fears are not paranoia, they are a warning signal from your subconscious even if you are not aware of why, listen to your intuition–your inner voice to guide you through as you de-clutter your emotions.

Finally, note that: Is okay to get rid of over annoying or over burdening friends, it doesn’t make you bad or mean, it will only give you peace of mind and more time to spend in building more meaningful relationships. keep it simple.

Staying De-cluttered

De cluttering is a way of life, not a one-off chore. To stay De-cluttered you will need to maintain organizing habits beginning Now. Use word “NOW” in your daily life, it helps kick procrastination to the curb. It’s okay to let go at times to relax but been lazy when you really need to start your goals is Procrastination– a thief of dreams and life moments, avoid it as much as you can.

Find tools to help you de-clutter your home: Don’t forget to grab Solay wellness Air purifying Salt lamp or Amway Air purifier to help you keep dust particles under control.