Flights Beijing

By Pat

 (1888PressRelease) The Green Bride Guide and Elevate Destinations are working together to help honeymooners make a difference.

New Haven, CT - The Green Bride Guide launched a new partnership this week with Elevate Destinations to offer couples a wide range of eco-friendly and philanthropic honeymoon trips.

According to The Wedding Report, couples planning “Eco Weddings” are 20% more likely to have a destination wedding than the average bride and groom, and approximately 60% of honeymooners will travel to a foreign country.

“Many couples are not aware of the impact traditional tourism has on local communities and the environment,” said Kate L. Harrison, author of The Green Bride Guide and founder of the leading green wedding website www.greenbrideguide.com . “With most packaged trips, 80% of the revenue goes to airlines, hotels, and international companies, but through Elevate Destination we are able to offer couples amazing alternatives.”

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” Elevate Destinations is a leading responsible travel company offering custom designed trips that provide couples with the opportunity to better understand the environmental, socio-cultural and economic needs of the countries they visit.

“Everything was taken care of, from someone meeting us at the airports, to outings which showcased the natural wonders of the Seychelles, to wonderful hotels. Throughout the trip, logistics and activities were arranged that made it apparent that our commitment to being green was being met,” said Tina and Kulbir Walha who went to the Seychelles on their green honeymoon.

When it comes to honeymoons, being a green does not mean giving up luxury or comfort. “One of the things we are trying to show on the Green Bride Guide site is that couples do not have to sacrifice style or comfort to be eco-friendly,” said Harrison.

“Our green honeymoons are romantic and luxurious,” said Dominique Callimanopilos, founder and president of Elevate Destinations. “We never compromise on aesthetics, amenities, service or security and every trip gives back to people and the planet.”

-Every trip is carbon offset, to neutralize the impact of travel on the earth

-5% of the net cost of every trip is donated to NGOs working on conservation and community development projects in the destination country

-Couples stay at eco-hotels and lodges that also give back to the community

In addition, couples can choose to add one or more days of community service to their adventures. Ambitious couples can plan full service trips, where they can teach English, volunteer at an orphanage, or assist with species preservation.

Billy and Kristin Byrnes, who traveled to Belize in December 2009, chose to do service with a conservation organization: “We wanted to have an eco-friendly honeymoon in which we could do some volunteer work. We tried unsuccessfully, on our own, to find destinations in the Caribbean that could accommodate our two priorities: eco-friendly and volunteer opportunities. Thank goodness we came across Elevate Destinations! They were able to fulfill both of our top priorities, in addition to planning a fabulous honeymoon for us.”

According to Callimanopulos, many couples who take service trips stay connected with the people and projects they work with and continue to support their efforts to make the world a better place long after the honeymoon is over.

The Green Bride Guide is offering every couple who books an eco-friendly honeymoon this year a free couple’s massage on their trip. Couples just need to mention the Green Bride Guide promotion when they book the trip.

About the Green Bride Guide

The Green Bride Guide, founded by Kate L. Harrison, is the most comprehensive and credible resource for engaged couples seeking eco-friendly wedding ideas, products and services. The site is a companion to Harrison’s book, The Green Bride Guide: How to Plan an Earth Friendly Wedding on Any Budget and offers pictures and stories from real green weddings, decor ideas, educational resources, approved green vendor directory, planning tools, and advice from industry experts. Kate L. Harrison has a background in environmental law and conservation. She recently developed the country’s first Green Wedding Professional Certification Course.

About Elevate Destinations

Founded by Dominique Callimanopulos in 2005, Elevate Destinations is a leading sustainable travel company that caters to luxury-oriented travelers seeking once-in-a-lifetime adventures to exotic destinations where they have an opportunity to better understand the environmental, socio-cultural and economic needs of the places they visit. The company also organizes donor trips for non-profit organizations.

Source:

http://www.1888pressrelease.com/eco-companies-partner-to-provide-green-honeymoon-and-service-pr-218099.html

Article Source : Article King Pro - Free Reprints and Distribution

http://www.greenbrideguide.com/

Find Flights To Beijing

Introduction to Antarctica

By CharleneF Sloan

 Antarctica can be represented by numerous things like penguins, icebergs, albatrosses, and elephant seals. 3 million tons of ice that hold 3.3 billion gallons of water as well as tiny baby fur seals weighing in at 10 pounds or less always become quite a sight in this dry, windy, and high continent on earth.

Even if Antarctica is known to be a land of frozen wastes and also a land of uneventful expeditions, this did not dishearten two well traveled teachers to choose such a location to spend the Christmas holiday. Never having seen Antarctica up close, these teachers are in the quest to finally visit this somewhat remarkable vacation destination. Along the way while they were thinking about how this journey could be possible they read about the explorer through travel magazine.

These women were able to discover the value of being prepared. When you are planning on a day in Antarctica, the basic dress code would be inclusive of three pairs of socks, on wool, worn under 15 pound boots, insulated underwear worn under a regular set of clothes, a parka, and a covering of rubberized pants and slicker that are seamless and waterproof. In order to complete the outfit, one waterproof and one regular pair of gloves is necessary.

There is always the possibility of frostbite never mind cold feet. Here is how summer in the Southern Hemisphere is. Although the ice was warming to a point above freezing and travel can be done through the breaking ice pack as a result the water was still at a level of 32 degrees. When it comes to air temperature, one Antarctic research station had a thermometer measuring it to be at 47 degrees. Snowstorms and sleet storms confronted the explorer in the evening after the sun had shined directly on it for the entire day.

Part of the information given to the women was that other than unpredictable weather the winds could also be detrimental to itineraries. Last Christmas was when an 84 below wind chill swept through their hometown but they did not encounter this during their 24 days in the southern ice cap.

Although dreaded, the Drake Passage proved to be no obstacle. Claiming a lot of ships along the way is this passage going from the tip of South America in Cape Horn to the Antarctic Peninsula. As the Explorer traveled 48 hours across the passage, the women strapped themselves in for sleep using their bunk seat belts. It was a bruising experience for one of the ladies.

About millions of penguins were there. The penguins and their nests could be touched, says one lady. Most of the penguins did nothing but talk. There was much bliss in looking at them. Then there were a number of seals too. Scooting around with an open mouth made a seal’s day. There are times when they bite if you get close to them and their babies.

It was a trip that was well worth taking. Everything from the sky to the water were gorgeous shades of blue. Magnificent were the icebergs that ran up to three stories high and were as big as city blocks as they floated along with penguins. 20 years is the amount of time that the old whaling stations they saw have been closed down. No matter how it took them to see the South Pole the old huts left by the early explorers were really something, and some of them still had the canned foods left by these travelers.

From Punta Arenas on the south end of Chile to the Shetland Islands, to Antarctica, to the South Orkneys, to South Georgia, and then to the Falklands and back was their route. In particular, the two agree that they had a one of a kind trip.

You can get resources on antarctica trips by visiting this site.For resources on antarctica trip check out this site.

Find The Best Luxury Cruise Vacation Options On The Internetbeijing flights

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.