Month: November 2024

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Choosing the Best Inflatable Kayaks for a Thrilling Watery Adventure

The traditional hard shell kayaks were expensive. To add, they brought along concerns of storage and portability. Modern-day kayaks, the inflatable ones, are specially designed keeping in the mind the constraints of space. Nevertheless, they do not put a dent to your experience.

If you are an adventure sports aficionado, you understand the importance of being equipped with the right gear. It not only guarantees an exciting experience, but also keeps you safe. Looking for the best inflatable kayak includes comparing various makes and models for different features. We’ve mentioned a few of them right here.

Inflatable Kayak Design –

The style of inflatable kayak that is most ideal for you depends on the type of conditions you perform in and your comfort level.

· Sit-on-top – The seat in this type of kayak is slightly raised. These are created for recreational purposes. It is suited for lakes, whitewater, and rivers that don’t see much turbulence in the water. Beginners can opt for the sit-on-top kayaks as being easy to maneuver and control, the learning curve is less.

· Sit-in – The seating area is a hollow cockpit enclosed on all sides; so when you sit in you feel snug. These are designed for competitive performances and conditions that see a lot of wind, waves and currents.

· Self-bailing – This design features tiny holes to allow water that has accidentally entered the kayak to drain out. It is best for whitewater situations, but not calmer waters (as it might cause the kayak to fill up).

Solo or Tandem

This depends on what trips you take. Do you prefer to go alone or do you enjoy paddling with a companion? A single seater can be your choice for solo trips; however, if you travel in multiples, go for a tandem. By paying a little more, you can settle for a convertible that doubles up for solo and tandem. It allows you to alter the position of the seats.

Cost

The price of an inflatable kayak varies depending on the features you want. You can get your hands on a good quality inflatable kayak starting as a low as $100. While there are cheaper ones on the market, they are not as durable.

Portability

Inflatable kayaks have a foldable design. Thus, they can be folded and put away into a backpack or suitcase. You should know the weight of the Kayak when it is packed and also when it is inflated. The latter is important especially if you travel alone, and need to get the inflated kayak out into the waters.

Size and carrying capacity

For the best inflatable kayak, choose one that confirms to your size and height. If you are tall, you will need more leg room. In addition to this, you need to consider the weight capacity of the kayak. If you plan to carry paddling gear, you need space to store it, either within the kayak or as attachment options (clip-on).

Materials –

The earlier models were made of Hypalon, a highly-durable synthetic rubber and Neoprene. PVC offers the same strength and durability as Hypalon; however, this plastic variant works out as a cheaper option. Whichever fabric you choose, check the thickness. It should also have features such weather resistance especially protection against UV rays and damage-proof against fungus and chemicals.

Along with the features mentioned above, the best inflatable kayak is also one that is easy to maintain and repair, whenever the need be.

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The Basics About Food Poisoning And Prevention

Some doctors opt for treating food poisoning omitting any medication, leaving the disease to evolve by itself. Of course this option is not suitable for children, elderly and chronically ill. This therapeutic approach is allowed for people who receive usual and tolerable symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal cramping. These are typically mild bacterial infections, which disappear within a few days, in the absence of any treatment to help boost the immune system, and the acquisition of new antibodies, ready to fight the infection.

But there are also cases where diarrhea persists and the symptoms get worse. In this instance, you should see your local GP for treatment. The treatment itself is simple. No antibiotics are needed, just good hydration followed by a transition diet (switching from diet to regular diet therapy, pre-illness).

MOISTURISE using teas (mint, hay) sweetened water, boiling water, vegetable soups, stewed fruits, carrot juice. Can be sweetened drinks (no exaggeration), contrary to popular belief that sugar should not be used. Avoid carbonated beverages or those with too much sugar. Drinks should be in small quantities and frequent administration.

TRANSITION DIET consists of boiled rice, cheese, bananas, vegetables or mashed potatoes, administered in doses often and in small quantities.

Warning: Botulism is a potentially lethal food poisoning. It is due to ingestion of food containing a toxin made by certain spores in food. Botulinum toxin is most commonly found in green beans and tomatoes.

Symptoms usually start at 12-36 hours after eating contaminated food and the symptoms include headaches, blurred vision or double muscle weakness and eventually paralysis. Some people accuse nausea, vomiting, constipation, urinary retention and decreased salivation. These symptoms require immediate medical attention.

We recommend people respect some basic food guidelines to prevent food poisoning or other digestive diseases being transmitted.

1. Avoid cooking foods more than 2-3 hours before consumption, if you can not provide the conditions necessary for keeping the temperature of food preparations.

2. Providing food keeping the temperature 4-80 C, if the food to be consumed in less than 2-3 hours of preparation (refrigeration).

3. Eating foods prepared for infants immediately after preparation, without being reheated or refrigerated.

4. Avoiding contact between the food we prepared and cooked.

5. Maintaining cleanliness of all kitchen surfaces (floors, worktops).

6. Avoid cooking food by people who have injury or infection (nail infection) in the hands / fingers – if this is not possible, use a sterile dressing to completely isolate the lesion / infection.

7. Careful washing of fruits, vegetables and herbs before eating them.

8. Keeping in maximum hygiene for all food preparation surfaces.

9. Providing the conditions necessary to avoid any contact between food and insect or animal consumption.

10. Use only potable water for human consumption – special attention should be given to water used to prepare food for children.

11. Boiling water is mandatory if there are doubts over the quality of drinking water.

12. Avoid eating food sold on the street, such as ice cream, cakes, pastries, hot dogs, small, hamburger, etc.

Home care tips

* Rest and drink plenty of fluids.
* Do not administer drugs against diarrhea because they may slow elimination of bacteria and toxins.
* Diseases of light and medium frequently resolves itself within 12 hours.

It is important to avoid eating excess quantities of food while gradually recovering from any case of food poisoning.

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Travel Portals Help Reach and Retain the Growing Number of Tourists

E-commerce in the sphere of tourism and traveling is growing at a brisk pace. Continuous functionality enhancements stipulate significant investments in the development of web portals. A successful online travel portal provides a steady stream of traffic, wherein user visits can be converted into sales.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) research Tourism 2020 Vision, international arrivals are expected to reach nearly 1.6 billion by the year 2020. Of these arrivals in 2020 all over the world, 1.2 billion will be intraregional and 378 million will be long-haul travelers.

The above mentioned research also suggests that by 2020 the top three tourist receiving regions will be Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million), and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

In order to turn visitors into engaged travelers, an online travel portal can contain the following features:

  • Search for flights, hotels, hostels, cars, package tours, cruises, etc.
  • Easy booking flow combined with a user-friendly and intuitive interface.
  • Automated sending of Emails, E-tickets details, SMS confirmation messages, as well as alerts about flight postponements and cancellations.
  • A mobile version of the portal.
  • Secure processing of payments with the help of credit cards.
  • Multi-lingual and multi-currency support.
  • Convenient account management with user activity history.
  • Option of getting a travel insurance.
  • Customer reviews and ratings of tourist sites, services and destinations with regular updates.
  • Useful destination information, like weather forecast, local maps, photographs, airport parking details, driving instructions, etc.

Up-sell opportunities (for example, if a customer purchases a car rental for a specific city, it is also possible to offer tickets to popular tourist attractions).

Real-time support for customers during the purchase process (online chat, phone and email support, or even a call-center).

Creation of a tourist portal implies certain challenges, like online security threats, possibility of financial loss due to outages and slower response time, adapting to the rapidly changing market scenario, and ever increasing customer expectations. In addition to that, a sophisticated travel portal should have an effective content management system (CMS), and must be directly interfaced with reservation systems of travel suppliers, such as hotels, airlines, car rental agencies. It should also create a consolidated record for storing all aspects of a traveler’s itinerary.

Quick and easy to access travel portals with optimized functionality will always be of great value to travelers, especially to those people who are often busy or do not have much time at their disposal. Therefore, such web portals make it possible to reach a broader audience, and ultimately generate more profit.