A (discount luxury cruises) Glimpse at the San Francisco Bay Area

March 7th, 2010 admin Posted in travel |

By Arnoldo Watson

Nestled along San Francisco Bay, the Bay Area boasts of one of the finest natural harbor in the world, which has a total area of around 450 square miles. Home to almost 8 million people, the San Francisco Bay Area provides the only real break in the coastal mountains of California making it one of the most ideal spot for living within the state. It is divided into 6 sub-regions (North Bay, San Francisco, East Bay, Peninsula, South Bay, and Santa Cruz) and composed of 10 counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma).

North Bay is a sub-region north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is separated by water from the rest of the Bay Area. It has numerous affluent communities and is probably the least urbanized among the 6 sub-regions. North Bay has many undeveloped parks, farmlands, and plantations. One popular location is Napa Valley, which is well-known for the world class red wines produced from its vineyards.

The City and County of San Francisco was once the largest city, in terms of population in the whole Bay Area. Although it no longer holds that distinction, it remains as the traditional, cultural, financial, and urban center of the region. The most famous landmark in this area is the Golden Gate Bridge, which spans the Golden Gate Strait, a water passage connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge connects the city/county of San Francisco with Marin County in the North Bay.

The East Bay area is split into 2 regions, the Inner East Bay and the Outer East Bay. Inner East Bay, located along the bay’s coastline, is more urban, densely populated, and has a more ethnically diverse population. Old buildings in the area suggest that it is one of the oldest developed regions. Outer East Bay, on the other hand, is composed of inland valleys separated from the Inner East Bay by hills and mountains. Its development dates back to less than 60 years ago and is mostly suburban to rural.

San Francisco Peninsula (or simply Peninsula) is the area between East Bay and San Francisco. It is composed of a series of towns, small cities, and suburban communities along San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

South Bay is the sub-region where the past blends well with the present and the future. The past is typically characterized by the city of San Jose, the oldest city in California, while the present and the future could be gleaned from the products churned by Silicon Valley. In 1990, San Jose became the most populated city in the area.

Santa Cruz, although regarded by most as part of Monterey Bay Area, some agencies and records show it as a part of San Francisco Bay Area. It is sprawled along San Francisco Peninsula, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Monterey Bay.

With tourism being the region’s leading industry, the Bay Area is teeming with tourist destinations and historic landmarks. It is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States. Of the 280 metropolitan areas nationwide, the Bay Area has the highest median household income with $62,024. Six of the top ten places in California with the highest per capita income could also be found in the Bay Area. These figures are a testament of the boundless opportunities available for the citizens residing in the region.

With its idyllic setting and mild climate, living in the Bay Area is an investment that you can never be wrong about.

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Lost and Found Travel Advice

By Pat Underwood

Traveling calls for people of all sorts to safe keep their travel papers to prevent misplacing these items. Travel documents should never be left unguarded for obtaining new sets of these would require much time and effort. This article will be tackling travel advice on how to protect important travel documents for all situations.

There have been events leading to the increased difficulty for when people obtain travel documents and an example would be 9/11. Travelers can encounter problems with passports and passes by not being able to fit these inside their wallets and at the same time having the unpleasant task of carrying them. Travelers can be assisted by travel advice especially for events when thievery is a major concern.

Travel advice tells how documents can generate huge profits for thieves causing a theft alarm for these since travel documents like any other legal personal documents for that matter can sell at very high amounts when sold in black markets. There are ways that can fit any travel plan for the guarding of travel documents for any traveler and a traveler of all sorts should take advantage of having these options that he or she can decide from. A traveler has different storage options to decide among for any particular trip so he or she needs to be familiar with the details of the trip.

Travel advice for the home is keeping the documents guarded but not so as the traveler himself or herself is unable to reach them. Additional security for fireproof safes can be attained by simply bolting these to a solid floor. It is a known fact that many safes have been stolen by thieves and destroyed later on when home free.

At a hotel, the travel advice would be to keep the documents right away in the hotel room safe or have them deposited at a safety deposit box by the front desk. Staff members can come and go so it is of much consideration for travelers to place documents ion the in room safes. Bringing documents is crucial for any traveler may it be for a short period of time that he or she is out of the hotel.

A youth hostel on the other hand may require travelers to share rooms with roommates so the travel advice here is to simply use a reliable safety lock on the luggage. Some hostels have lockers for patrons but personal locks should still be used even for these. Some travelers want added safety for their documents and luggage and so they chain the bags to the bed.

Travel advice for when going out is simply to keep travel document protected with neck wallets or bags that can be placed underneath clothes. There are different choices that a traveler can decide among for when he or she chooses a travel pouch to use. Thieves have easy access to documents if a traveler uses fanny packs or backpacks for that matter.

Alternatives include online storage systems for travel documents and other pertinent papers. In general, an online storage facility for important documents such as those used for traveling can provide people with an enhanced degree of security for their documents but there is still a risk of hackers. Using these websites is good travel advice since these make use of legal copies of actual documents that can be used conveniently for purposes such as traveling and the like.

A lot of secure options are available to travelers for the protection of their travel documents and this is in order to be able to have various options that can cater to any possible form of traveling plan that people may have. Travel advice tells of which methods works perfectly for any kind of travel plan and again people have the responsibility of choosing among a wide variety of possible options for this kind of travel safety suggestion. People need to know how to secure travel documents and other documents for that matter and they can get help to do so and this is I considering that they do want help on the matter since every decision is ultimately up to the traveler concerned.

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The Autumn Leaves Are Ablaze!

By Isaac Small

It is fall and the trees are ablaze in all of their glory. Who isn’t in awe of this bountiful tapestry of red, gold, and orange leaves that adorn deciduous trees in neighborhoods, parks, and mountains from coast to coast? With an azure sky as a backdrop the colors are all the more magnified, your viewing pleasure increased. In the middle of all of this lurks a menace, one that can be both destructive and deadly. Please read on to discover the inherent dangers of the autumn season and what you must do to protect yourself and your property.

Anne Bridgeton was accustomed to taking her ‘99 Camry on weekday excursions from her home in the Kentucky foothills to her job some thirty miles away. By traveling along narrow, twisting back roads and avoiding the interstate, Anne’s trip took an additional fifteen minutes each way but it was a small price to pay as one of the benefits included viewing a bucolic landscape replete with farms and forested areas, and pocketed by small stores. Somehow the sterile scenery of the interstate was more unnerving than calming, even unsettling at times. Besides, no tandem trailers took the Kentucky backgrounds unlike the interstate which was full of them. Staying out of their way was the chief reason Anne avoided the interstate.

This past October all of that changed for Anne and dramatically so. It had been a dry summer and autumn seemed to have arrived earlier than usual as the leaves changed and fell well before the month ended. In some sections along the back roads, particularly in more residential areas, leaves were piled up alongside the curb for removal by the local sanitation crews. It reminded Anne of the snowdrifts that she would soon see all winter long on her way back and forth to work.

When the phone rang, Anne assumed that it was someone at her place of work calling to ask her if she would stop by at a local farm and pick up cider and donuts. Several times during the year Anne would visit a nearby farm and pick up a treat for her office staff. As it turned out it was her mother calling to remind Anne that today was her younger sister’s birthday.

Pulling off to the side of the road, Anne turned on her emergency flashers, shut off the engine, and engaged her mother in conversation. Not three minutes went by when Anne noticed a plume of smoke rising up outside of the front passenger window. Alarmed, she cut off conversation with her mother, exited her Camry to investigate and soon saw flames shooting up from the ground. As she dialed 911 the Camry was quickly engulfed in an inferno and within moments it was destroyed. Fortunately for Anne she was unhurt — deeply shaken — but alive.

What happened to Anne occurs all too frequently to drivers who park their vehicles directly over leaves. Anne’s catalytic converter was the culprit and as with so many newer cars it can heat up to temperatures well over 1500 degrees. When Anne stopped her Camry right on top of the leaves, sparks from the Camry’s catalytic converter dropped down, the leaves caught fire, and her car was engulfed within minutes. Fortunately, Anne escaped with her life but her Camry was destroyed.

Take care to make sure that the season’s beauty does not lull you into forgetting potential hazards. Keep your vehicle far from leaves and only park on surfaces that are completely clear of all debris. Hundreds of fires each year are ignited by catalytic converters; remain vigilant and don’t fall prey to this deadly peril.

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