There are dozens of benefits of having a home based travel business. First this is a great idea because you are now in the industry which means you qualify for insider benefits. By just having a home based business in the travel industry you also get huge tax advantages.

You also get your own personalized website where your friends and family can book their travel as well and you earn up to 90% commission.

Also your travel business runs 24/7/365 days a year. Your home based travel business is running 24/7 and has the potential of making you money every second of the day, allowing dozens of people from all over the world to book from your travel site and you get the commission... It's as simple as that.

They also have very little start up capital- you can have a profitable travel business up and running with very little capital. And you also have unlimited customer base. You can even sell travel international.

One of the best parts is that you get to travel at wholesale prices just for having a business. And you will get paid every single time you travel, no matter it be a cruise, hotel, family vacation, and even travel for free. Travel companies offer travel trainings, and even allow you to get your CLIA card (Cruise Line International Association) which is great because with this card you can receive the highest commissions from cruises, hotel, flights etc.

Another great benefit of owning a home based business in the travel industry is that you get huge tax breaks, for example....Gas, clothing, rent, mortgage, food, cell phones, and many more are all things you can write off on your taxes just by owning a home based business in the travel industry. Your start up cost is also tax deductible as well so you can literally own your business for free.

You can work your own hours with your business, and you can work it at your own leisure. Most travel business are very easy to start and have programs known as the member trips program. This program is a program that allows you to take these trips at huge discounted prices. All inclusive cruise, vacation spots and more. Most people get involve just for this benefit alone. And you are also able to create residual income from home with the referral program. If you are going to start a home based business, by far the travel industry is by far the best kind just because you don't have to do any selling of products or services, and everybody loves to travel and save money, and even make money at the same time. Just find a company that has the best interest in your needs.

To view more information on this topic please go to http://specialtravelperks.com

Jeffrey Hunter - Certified Travel Specialist 240-645-9718

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For my first trip to Shimla, I took Kalka Mail from Delhi to Kalka. After an overnight journey, I reached the sleepy little station of Kalka around 5.30 in the morning. From Kalka I had one of the most beautiful train journeys one can have. The journey, some 90-KM long, was done in a toy train. It was November 8, 2003, just a day before that railway line was about to complete its 100 years. I was travelling in the same train, which was supposed to make the historic journey next day, marking the hundred years of this wonderful gift of British India. You can blame them for a lot of bad things they did to India during their rule here but you have to give it the firangs (As British rulers were called then), they took the trains to the kind of places where Indians have not been able to even 60 years after getting independence. The toy train passes through some 103 tunnels, one of them, at Barog, is more than a kilometer long. That's not all. It uses more than 800 bridges to reach Shimla!

My train, Shivalik Deluxe Express, stopped at Barog - a beautiful little station. The stop was for 10 minute where most of the passengers got down while catering staff collected breakfast to be served on the train. It was a lovely experience; early morning sunshine made me feel in a different world.The train was full of honeymooners, as it was marriage season in India. Some of the couples seemed in a hurry to get lost in each other's arms. Since it was a toy train that has small coaches, people were seated pretty close to each other.

I arrived at the Shimla station around 10.30 am. Starting from 660 mts at Kalka, I was now about 2000 mts above sea level. Immediately I was surrounded by Kashmiri potters. I negotiated with one of them and he helped me climb out of the station where I was met by the cab drivers. After bargaining, one of them drove me to my hotel. After checking into the hotel, a Raj-era building, I took shower and had brunch. I checked with the hotel manager about the places I could see in the remaining day. He suggested I walk up to the Mall Road, that quintessential Raj left-over. Acting on his advice I decided to walk to the Mall. I was surprised to see so many tall deodar trees on both sides of the road before I reached the actual hustle and bustle of the Mall. It was same as the other Mall Roads. All kind of eateries asking you to 'come and try' the delicious fare. I went inside a restaurant, which served north Indian, south Indian, Chinese food and whatever you can think of. To be frank, it was awful. I ordered a pizza and that did not look like the pizzas one had seen or eaten before! After that misadventure with food I walked up to the Ridge. It has, for years, been used for all kinds of functions. During British rule, it was used to hold military parades. Sahebs and memsahebs used to enjoy the romantic evenings. There, you even have a place called Scandal Point, thus named because it is said that some officer's wife had run away with an Indian prince from that very point!

I walked back to my hotel as it became dark and cold. The mountain air was having its effect. Next day I visited Kufri, came back to The Mall Road, and did some roaming around.

On my last day in Shimla I went to see Viceregal Lodge from where British Viceroy ruled all over India for six months during summer. The Lodge now houses IIAS (Indian Institute of Advanced Studies). It was a magnificent building with a well-maintained and beautiful lawn in front of it. It was in this building that India's destiny was decided by the Britishers. The tables and chairs have been kept as it is and every half an hour a tour is conducted with a guide to give you a glimpse of the history.

The visit to Viceregal Lodge was worth it. I am now better informed about the goings on in the final hours before India got its independence.

Archna Gupta is a veteran in the marketing of Internet and writing of the articles on the range of subjects. For any information on currently working on Travel To India and India Tour Packages

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There are numerous other treasures waiting to be discovered in the Eternal City, which most probably would not be found within the pages of a guidebook. So if time allows you to take a stroll off the beaten path, take some notes because it is there that you will find Rome's best kept secrets. Sites such as the church of Sant' Ignazio di Loyola, San Luigi dei Francesi and the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli are just a few of the many sites often left out of the guide books, yet definitely worth a visit.

Sant' Ignazio di Loyola is located amongst the shops on Via del Corso and has one of the most impressive "domes" in Rome, sure to make you look twice. Enter the church and you will find the dome, located at the front altar. If you take a few steps forward, you will notice that it is painted on a flat wooden surface making the dome an optical illusion. Many visit this church to witness for themselves as they find it quite amazing.

Also not to be missed in the city center is the Church of San Luigi di Francesi. This little jewel is located off of Piazza Navona. Designed by Giacomo della Porta and built by Domenico Fontana in the 1500's it is known as the official French church of Rome. Here you will find three of Caravaggio's world-renowned originals: "St. Matthew and the Angel", "The calling of St. Matthew" and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew".

Last but not least is Santa Maria degli Angeli. Michelangelo designed this church, planned its construction alongside the ruins which were originally there from the roman baths of Diocletian. The outer walls consist of the brick of the baths giving the exterior of the church its unique appearance. It is quite impressive to see how he actually incorporated these ruins into a church that is still used to this day. Getting to Santa Maria degli Angeli is simple, as the metro line A will take you directly to Piazza Repubblica where the church is located.

The best thing about visiting these sites is that they are free. However, keep in mind that proper dress code is required as they are places of worship. It is advised to turn off your mobile phones and keep your voice down before entering.

Article contributed by Danielle Russo of When In Rome Tours WhenInRomeTours.com, Experts in Vatican Tours and Rome sightseeing Private-Tours since 1999.

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Thailand is an amazing place to live. The friendly people, delicious food and beautiful scenery are just a few reasons to live here. However, the culture is very different from what most westerners are familiar with. Below is a list to help you determine if some of the more curious Thai cultural oddities have rubbed off on you.

You see an elephant in the street and don't think "Oh wow! An elephant!" but instead complain about how it's slowing down traffic.

You wake up in the morning with a hankering for rice and noodles, not eggs and toast.

You think that riding your motorcycle the wrong way down one-way streets, running red lights and riding on the wrong side of the road are perfectly normal.

You think that Singha and Chang are actually pretty decent beers.

You see a family of four and their dog riding together on a single motorcycle and you only wonder what they ate for dinner.

You wear sweaters and sweatshirts despite the steaming hot weather.

You are deeply concerned when your favorite rice dish goes up in price by $0.15 to a staggering $0.60.

The language actually starts to make a little sense.

You have no problems eating raw pig organs mixed with pig blood and spices.

10 year olds riding motorcycles in the streets do not faze you.

You think Sangsom and Mekong are actually pretty decent whiskeys.

You haven't cooked a meal in months, besides what can be made with a hot water maker.

You find that some of the Thai music is actually pretty decent.

Shaking somebody's hand feels weird.

You can ride a motorcycle with 10 grocery bags, a bookshelf and a hot pizza box strapped to it.

You ask for every meal extra spicy.

You put spicy fish sauce on everything.

About The Author

Tom Bak is a professional software developer with over ten years of programming experience on diverse projects, including seven years of videogame experience with numerous published console game titles. He is currently working on a free word game and an online word puzzle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Bak

I always quite fancied myself as a business woman but having had a long and fairly successful career in the media in London I never dreamt that moving to Spain and having a baby would lead to creating my own business!

We live in the age of technology and so it was only fitting that I met my business partner on the net! As anyone who has moved to Spain knows, it can be difficult to make new friends and meet others in the same situation. Lesley and I had both had babies here in Spain at around the same time and were both having a difficult time finding information and dealing with this huge change in our lives without the network we would have had around us back at home. We both discovered a website called mumsinspain.com and as we lived near each other we became friends via the site's forum. A while after we met we found that a lot of our conversations were taken up with moans and groans about baby products we wanted to buy but couldn't find here in Spain. After my parents had literally heaved a heavy playpen all the way from the UK we realised there was a definite gap in the market and on whim decided to fill it!

Looking back we were both taking a huge gamble starting a business with someone we barely knew. But right from the start it felt right for both of us and we both felt that our different professional backgrounds would compliment the business and we both believed in what we were doing, agreed on the way we wanted the business to work and trusted each other. And so far so good!!

Firstly we had to face the facts ... one, we knew little about retail and even less about starting a business in Spain! Two, starting a business with two small (often grumpy) toddlers in tow was not going to be easy! When we started in October 2007 our daughters were both around 10 months old. As they have got older it has become more difficult as our girls need more entertaining and we need more time to work.

One of the reasons we decided to start the business was that we both wanted and needed to work, but neither of us was keen to return to a 9-5 desk job where we would have to leave our babies and not be able to be with them if they needed us. We hoped that working from home would allow us the best of both worlds. Of course in reality it's not as idyllic as that at all!! Most days we have found working at home with babies to be a completely unpredictable experience, one day they'll happily play together for hours on end, needing hardly any attention and we can sit at the laptop and smile over at our wonderful daughters, the next they act as if they can't stand each other and cling to our ankles as if we were the meanest, least affectionate mums in the world.

At times like these it's almost impossible to work properly and we have come to realise that starting a business in Spain is all the harder because often there is less extended family around to support you or those that are here work full time. Both the girls start nursery this September and so things will be slightly easier, but at the moment it is a case of juggling the job of being a full time mum with that of being a company director!

However the trials of setting up a business with a baby on your lap are far outweighed by the thought of having to leave them completely and we have been lucky to have had the opportunity to base our work around our children.

So our first hurdle was working our way around the maze of legalities involved in setting up a business in Spain. Do we become an SL or do we work as autonomous? This seemed to be a question that no one had a finite answer too! After a few months we realised that we just wanted to find someone who could tell us what to do, but as helpful as the lawyers, gestures and general business experts were, every meeting simply seemed to just throw up more and more questions. Luckily our two husbands acted as translators, without them the process would have been even more confusing.

We have found that if you go and search for it, help is out there ... but it's not easy to find!!! By chance we stumbled across an office in our local town hall which specialised in helping new business set up. Through this office we have been able to set up our business, and by doing it ourselves with their help we avoided many of the costs of setting up a business with a gestor. It has however been a time consuming and complex process and is only recommended if you have access to a Spanish speaking family member! The lovely lady who took on our 'case' desperately searched for grants to help us, painstakingly typed up our business plans in Spanish, filled out forms for us and on one crazy Easter weekend stayed late just so we could finish and submit a form for a 'women in business' grant before the deadline. She also spent many hours explaining to us how an SL company would work. (All this with our babies creating havoc under the table, pulling apart the plants, taking all the cups out of the water machine and tying the string from the blinds in knots etc etc ... you get the idea! ) On her advice we took the paperwork ourselves to the various offices in Malaga such as the Hacienda and waited in line for our papers to be processed. The whole process took several months but when we finally signed our business escritura it was definitely worth all the running around!!

Having decided on an online shop, we secured the site domain name ( http://www.indybel.com ) and choose and registered our own name ( a story in itself as the names we chose kept coming back as 'taken' ... in Spain you must submit 3 names but you won't know for a while which name will be chosen, so you just have to keep your fingers crossed it's the one you want! ) Our next challenges included the logo design, website design and deciding what we could afford to sell as opposed to what we would really like to sell! This was now several months after we had began and with one expensive trip to London to visit a baby product trade show under our belts, we were feeling the pressure to get the business up and running. Lesley in particular needed everything to be finalised as she had just discovered she was expecting her second child and we needed to be up and running before she gave birth.

We began the 'second phase' of starting our business by 'interviewing' design companies. The look of both the logo and site was very important to us as we wanted both to look professional, sleek and most of all convey our message. Having chosen different companies to work on the logo and the site we excitedly gave both the go ahead to start work. We expected the logo design to take a few weeks but it ended up being nearer to a few months. We wanted the logo to have an 'organic' feel or theme whilst clearly also saying 'baby' and preferably 'pregnancy' too ... we went through a number of ideas with our long suffering graphic design company and after exploring teddy bears wearing towelling nappies, babies playing on our name, babies sitting in flowers and bumps and lumps all over the place, we eventually settled on a baby on a leaf in green and brown colours. It took a long time but we are really happy with our logo and have received some really nice compliments on it already which makes the whole process worthwhile.

Once we had our logo colours confirmed we could really get to work on the website design. We wanted a really clear and easy to negotiate shopping section as well as easy to understand pages on baby showers, gift deliveries etc. Choosing a company to work with was difficult and unfortunately we parted ways with our first design company shortly before the 'first' site was due to launch. We lost a lot of money but felt that we had been through a real 'learning curve' and that although this was a major setback and we had to cancel advertising and put the launch date back, in the long run we'd probably had a lucky escape. After a very stressful few weeks during which we both began to wonder if we'd ever actually launch our business and if we could even afford to pay for a new site, we found another company and our 'second' site was created on an extremely unrealistic timescale and with neither of us really sure how it would turn out. Luckily and to the credit of the second company we were delighted with the end product and the site was launched only a month later than first planned!

Choosing products has been really exciting. We started off with a wish list and changed our minds about a lot of products which were either too expensive and we felt wouldn't sell, or weren't quite what we were looking for. We wanted to offer the types of products that we have found we needed over the last 18 months but just couldn't find here in Spain as well as a good organic range. As our babies grow we find there are more things we need ourselves and so we are adding products with experience! We went to the Baby Show in London last year and found some brilliant new products and Lesley has managed to find the time and energy (while pregnant with number 2) to pop over to Thailand twice to source manufacturers, suppliers and products for our own brand items and packaging! One of the things we have had to learn to do is negotiate with suppliers and barter the price down ... Lesley was definitely better than me at this!! With the products in place we finalised courier companies, delivery prices, packaging options and translating the whole site into Spanish. We organised storage of the products here in Spain, chose a bank with the right business package and organised our monthly accounting with our gesture for when we launched. As with everything none of these things was simple, but we got there in the end!!!

The last few weeks before the launch were hectic. We had about a week to get all the products and all our information and photos onto the site before it went live. It was lucky that this period co-incided with the summer and we both had families out here. During those weeks we worked around the clock and long into the night once the girls were sleeping.

And so in August 2008, nearly a year after we first started, we finally launched our business!! In the time it's taken us to set up a business our daughters have gone from crawling to walking, from purees to three course meals, and from home to nursery! They've celebrated their first birthdays, started to talk and discovered they don't much like us working! Meanwhile Lesley's bump has grown and she is due to give birth any day now!!

As for the business, we finally launched and have received some lovely feedback and many positive comments. There is so much still to do and most of our days are spent juggling babies, emails, meetings and whenever possible grabbing just a few minutes here and there researching new products on the net. But the experience has been so fulfilling and so exciting that despite the sleepless nights, babies in meetings, working into the small hours once they are sleeping and ongoing fear it could all be a huge disaster and we might be bankrupt this time next year .... we wouldn't change a thing!!

For more information about our products please visit http://www.indybel.com

Samantha Sintes

http://www.indybel.com

British, International and Organic Products for Pregnancy and Baby in Spain

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