For Efficient International Touring Use a Travel Agency

You have always wanted to join the millions who travel the world on a regular basis. Until now you have put off your dreams because of family responsibilities, professional commitments, or a lack of discretionary funds to make those dreams come true. Suddenly, everything has fallen into place and you are ready to embark on your long anticipated adventure. Where do you start?

Deciding on a Destination


St. Peter's in the Vatican



Before anything else, you need to wander through your dreams again and decide on the one location to which your musings have returned time and time again. Do you see yourself on a cruise across endless seas with stops in exotic ports? Or do your dreams take you to ancient archeological digs that continue to reveal their mysterious past? Perhaps you long to visit the country from which your parents and grandparents emigrated? Whatever your dreams, you would do well to consider engaging a tour counselor with an international tour agency to assist you.

Securing Necessary Documents



The Roman Colisseum

Once you have decided upon the destination you would like to visit, you could search the internet for information about securing your passport, the other documents you need, how to secure them, and what the latest security measures are in place at your departure airport. The websites Travel.State.Gov and TSA (Transportation Security Administration, tsa.gov) could provide you with a wealth of information.

But if you secure the services of an international travel agency, they will not only provide you with that information, but will present it in a convenient readable format. Moreover, your personal travel consultant will include practical advice about weather, customs, appropriate clothing, tipping rates, special events, etc.

Flights and Hotels



St. Mark's Bell Tower in Venice



You might be able to obtain what seems like a great deal on airline tickets from one of the multiple internet websites. Your international travel agency, on the other hand, has an ongoing relationship with all the airlines with flights to your destination. Because they have arranged innumerable trips for thousands of travelers, they have access to group discounts on these airlines. They will be able to get you to your destination in the most efficient and comfortable manner, at a time convenient to your schedule.



Similarly, they do not depend upon the ratings of hotels listed on the internet or in a promotional brochure. They have first hand experience with all the hotels at which they have booked travelers for years and know which ones they can recommend. The five star hotel you found on the internet may not be as accommodating as a three star hotel proposed by your travel counselor.

Tour Guides

While you are touring, you could enlist tour guides at a museum, archeological site, basilica, etc. when you arrive, but your travel counselor would have arranged for proven guides who could introduce you to a whole city. If a travel agency finds that a particular guide is inadequate for the task, they will find one who is. They constantly poll their clients for their opinion about their travel experiences.

Local Atmosphere and Dining Choices



The Canals of Venice

 Since you have never visited your destination before, you would be fortunate to stumble upon a typical neighborhood, a cozy restaurant, a colorful entertainment venue, etc. Your travel counselor is able to arrange for an optimum experience of the locale with no hassle on your part.

You must be prepared for the higher cost of dining out in a foreign country. In Europe you will find that it will require about $144 in exchange for 100 Euros. You could spend that much for a single meal in your hotel restaurant. Your travel counselor can arrange a five course meal for you in a local establishment complete with singing waiters for less.

Avoid The Hassle of Scheduling



The Duomo in Florence

Above all, your travel counselor will lift from your shoulders the hassle of negotiating each detail of your journey from booking your flight and hotels, arranging for transport to each of them, supplying tour guides and museum reservations, making restaurant appointments, and managing the ebb and flow of a more leisurely touring experience.

Having experienced both approaches to travel, I highly recommend using a travel agency. Once you have become a seasoned traveler, you will find it easier to make all of your own arrangements. Until then, find yourself a travel counselor with years of experience and enjoy a relaxing vacation.

Kolachi - An Eastern European Delicacy

When the holidays roll around in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Russia you will be sure to find bakers busy turning out the traditional dessert roll delicacy called Kolachi, also called Kolachki, Kolacky, Kolachy, Kolace, Kolache, or Kolachke.

These are dessert rolls made with sweet rising dough and filled with a variety of fillings. Some fillings consist of ground walnuts to which some bakers add ground coconut and others add honey.

Another popular filling is made with ground poppy seed to which some traditional bakers add raisins, either red or white.

For ordinary occasions or simply as a roll with your morning coffee many eastern Europeans enjoy kolachi stuffed with lekvar, which is a prune filling.

When I was as boy, my mom rolled out the lekvar kolachi throughout the year for morning coffee or an after school snack. For Christmas and Easter, however, she would ask me to assemble the old grinder that was practically an antique, attach the small grinding wheel and churn out bowlfuls of fine walnut powder, adding a little coconut as I went along.

She would take this walnut/coconut concoction and blend it into a semi-liquid paste, the consistency of soft butter, and slather it thickly on the rolled out dough. Carefully rolling each slab of dough the size of a large pizza, she would create kolachi rolls in the unbaked state.  After they had been allowed to rise to their maximum plumpness, they would be put into the oven to bake, giving off a delicious aroma that presaged many enjoyable snacks during the holidays.

The poppy seed grinding process was a bit more difficult since dry poppy seeds tended to slip through the grinding wheel without being crushed. To prevent this, I was advised to add a few raisins to the mix as I started grinding the poppy seeds and intermittently thereafter. The raisins moistened the grinding wheel and assured that the seeds would be ground properly.

Mom would process the ground poppy seed in much the same way that she had the walnut mixture. Sometimes she would sprinkle a few raisinns over the rolled out dough covered with the poppy seed mixture to add a sweet taste to the kolachi.

When all the hustle and bustle in the kitchen was brought to completion, my mother would have baked enough kolachi to last throughout the Christmas or Easter holidays --- that would be the equivalent of a huge canning kettle filled with upwards of 25 rolls. The hardest part of this enterprise was waiting for the holidays when, and only when, the first kolachi would be sliced and served.

If you don't bake them yourself, it is difficult to find authentic Eastern European kolachi in your local bakery. Fortunately, I have discovered a great source for kolachi just like your mother and grandmother used to bake.

Bubba's Home Baked kolachi are everything they claim them to be. This past Christmas I ordered some for my eldest sibling who is a religious sister. She attessts that she and the other Slovak nuns enjoyed them immensely, all agreeing that they were just like the ones their mothers and grandmothers made. For a moment they were giving me credit for baking them as if I could!

You can't go wrong with Bubbas's kolachi. They are still following the recipes of their grandmother whom they affectionately called 'Bubba' since they were children. Just click on the link below and see what they have to offer. You won't go wrong with either the nut, poppy seed, lekvar or other rolls. Take special notice of their discounted combination packages.

 http://store.bubbashomebaked.com/?Click=1204