Due to the traffic through Mumbai’s international airport, its average daily rates increased in the first six months of 2007 by 30 percent. In 2006, the city’s average rates increased, as well by 49% compared with the year 2005. It’s too bad that that trend will continue in the Middle East and in Asia, as well.

Even though the rates are increasing, the rising prices of the hotels are not permanent and may vary every month, so it really depends on the economic conditions. Don’t get discouraged if the hotels that you’ll visit charge you more. Just enjoy the stay and find out ways to make your stay more worth it.

United States

This country is very popular for giving tips to the waiters and waitresses that they ask service from. It is known as the tipping capital of the world, so if you visit the United States and dine in one of their restaurants, then make sure that you don’t forget to give a right amount of tip. Many of the Americans expect that British people don’t give tips, so you can give your tip even before you order to establish rapport with your waiter and be given great service.

It is expected from you to give a tip of 15 to 20 percent of the total bill. Always think about giving tips when you are in the United States because the Americans expect you to give tips to everyone who helps you out, from the porter who helps you with your luggage to the bartender who serves your beer. In this way, the Americans will slowly think that Brits have become good tippers already.

Japan

In this country, you do not need to give out tips because their waiters do not expect you to leave money on your table when you leave. If you do that, the waiter may chase you and call your attention to return to you the money you left behind.

Spain

The people in Spain expect tips from tourists whether you eat in a restaurant or drink in bars. The total bill usually includes the service charge already, but you are still expected to leave a small amount of tip.

Australia

Giving tips in Australia is optional; but in restaurants, a 10% tip is just acceptable.

Ireland

It is Ireland’s custom to leave 12 to 15% tip in hotels or restaurants if the bill does not include the service charge.

Canada

You are expected to give out 10 up to 20 % tip to your waiters in Canada. If you are given poor service, then you can let your waiters know by leaving a few cents on the table.

The guests will be able to fly high with a flight specialist. The special package also includes adventures aloft, breakfast at the hotel itself from the “Celebrate the Flight” menu, an in flight photograph, and champagne on landing.

The hotel is located near Kelso, 50 miles from Edinburgh (Scotland’s capital city), and is owned by the Duke of Roxburghe. It has six Courtyard Suites and sixteen beautiful rooms. The Courtyard Suites are newly converted from the hotel’s established buildings. The Duchess herself designed most of the Courtyard Suites.

If you love to play golf to relieve stress like I do, the Roxburghe Hotel also offers a very satisfying golf course for all golf lovers. You can also enjoy several other activities like clay pigeon shooting, fishing, and archery. To enjoy the wonderful area, you can take long walks and just savor every moment. You can call this telephone number for reservations: 01573450331

You will learn how to try bodyboard surfing and stand-up through the revolutionary Surf Stream. which is a part of a network of slides, waves, and pools. The very big indoor water park also includes the world’s very first uphill water slide, called as the “Masterblaster”.

The cost of the redevelopment of the Swansea Leisure Centre is around £32 million. The centerpiece of the Swansea Leisure Centre is a huge water park. If you love sports or a luxurious treatment, you’ll definitely want to visit the Centre because it also has great facilities.

The Centre includes exhibition and sports halls, a health spa, the biggest fitness arena in Wales, with around 160 items of high end equipment, a café bar and treatment centres.

The Swansea Leisure Centre is also nearby the Gower Peninsula and is home to the National Waterfront Museum, if you love visiting museums. You will be able to find spectacular golden beaches in the Gower Peninsula where you can catch real big waves and surf them. So be sure to include the Swansea Leisure Centre during the holidays and visit nearby beaches.

In this beautiful 17th-century riverside inn, you will find the ruins of the Skenfrith Castle. The castle was reconditioned in 2001 by William and Janet Hutchings and remains as welcoming as ever. You will definitely love the lived-in feeling of the inn, with its overstuffed sofas, buttercup-yellow walls, and inviting wing chairs.

The inn has eight rooms that have the trappings of a Welsh country home. The river views are spectacular and you’ll love the inn’s grand additions, like toiletries, as well as the delicious food. You will get to taste the famous Gloucester Old Spot pork, Welcsh dishes, berry crumble, various duck specialties, and cheeses served with fig chutney and grapes.

The Drawing Room at Builth Wells, Powys

It was the Welsh Restaurant of the Year for 2006-2007 both in Good Hotel Guide and AA restaurant. The Drawing Room is owned by Colin and Melanie Dawson. You will love their Victorianesque fireplace, perfectly tended garden, and their pine furniture.

You should try their famous Dawson’s Cardigan Bay Crab salad with avocado, mustard mayonnaise, and prawns. They also serve duck eggs with mushrooms, which just tastes extraordinary.

The Felin Fach Griffin Inn at Griffin Brecon, Powys

This country house is one of the most popular country inns in Wales for its imaginative array of cuisine, roaring log fires, four-poster beds that actually came from Morocco and Rajasthan, woolen blankets, chunky wooden furniture, and slouching leather sofas. You’ll enjoy their food, Welsh rib eye, wood pigeon, Caerphilly cheese, and Portland crab. They also let you make your own toast on their oven and eat them with homemade jams and Welsh butter.

Llys Meddyg at Newport, Pembrokeshire

This country inn is owned by Louise and Ed Sykes and it has six beautiful rooms with a shabby-chic restaurant. You’ll surely like their welcoming lounge, Victorian period furnishings, and guest rooms with slate bathroom floors. You should never miss out their popular Preseli lamb cutlets in rosemary jus.

To have the energy to tour and shop for stuff and souvenirs, a very healthy meal packed with carbohydrates will surely do the trick.  You can also have a Milanese dining experience after that long and tiring day. The different cuisines will surely be a feast for your eyes and once you’ve tasted them you’ll appreciate northern Italian cooking style even more.

In Milan, pasta is most of the time overlooked because the locals eat and consider polenta or rice as its staple food.  They also use butter in cooking their foods.

One of their favorite dishes is the Risotto, which is made up of meat broth, saffron, and rice. Sometimes, bone marrow is also included to spice it up.  They also love fish such as pike and trout, which are seasoned and cooked. Pork and veal are also their favorite where Veal is usually paired up with mayonnaise, anchovy sauce, tuna, and capers.

They’re favorite kinds of cheese are Mascarpone and Gorgonzola varieties. Mascarpone is usually used in puddings by the locals while Gorgonzola is cheese with very strong flavor.

You can check out these restaurants for an inexpensive but very satisfying meal when you want to eat or have a classy dining experience.

Craccco-Peck is one of the most popular restaurants in Milan, Italy where tourists, as well as the locals, love to dine. The best thing about this restaurant is the wide selection of wine and desserts! Cracco-Peck is located at Via Victor Hugo.

Taverna Morrigi is another restaurant in Milan, which is located at Via Morrigi 8. Just make sure to bring cash with you when you dine in at Taverna Morrigi because they don’t usually accept credit cards.

You can also check out Pizza Ok for the largest pizzas that you can ever eat.  There are 86 different kinds of toppings from which you can choose from and again they don’t normally accept credit cards so bring cash with you. It is located at Via Lambro 15.

Luxury travelers like lax security because it doesn’t cause delays and inconveniences.  They usually like luxurious experience and Italy can give it to them.  Such luxury travels will soon grow in countries like China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates.

Global International Travel Services’ managing director named Suzanne Duzenman said that the affluent travelers don’t like to go to the UK because of the very strict security that Heathrow Airport has. She also said that if only her clients can go to London not through Heathrow Airport, then the clients would surely grab the opportunity.

There are so many delays that UK’s airports make, that’s why luxury travelers who have lots of money to expend, do not go to the UK often times. They choose to visit those places that do not have very tight security that causes inconvenience to the travelers.

If you are with a friend or with your family, then you can definitely enjoy hanging out for as long as you like at the cafés in Vienna, because the waiters do not tell you to leave when you’re all done with your coffee.  Unlike in other countries like the United States of America in which they have a coffee-on-the-go culture where waiters subtly shake off their customers after they gulped down everything.

There are so many coffee shops you can choose from to stay awake and enjoy your vacation.

Café Einstein

You will definitely remember Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” once you’ve entered the premises of Café Einstein and tasted their café au lait. It’s like walking into Vienna because of the high ceilings, red banquettes, and mirrored walls which will give you the ultimate traditional Viennese coffee house feeling. Their coffees range from £6 to £10 which is relatively expensive but probably the best coffee you’ve ever tasted.  Service is very good too so you’ll definitely find Café Einstein worth it.

It is located at Kurfuerstenstrasse 58, D-10785 Berlin. You can also visit another Café Einstein coffee house at Unter den Linden 42, Berlin-Mitte.

Café Central

This is the most popular and most frequently visited café by tourists. It is located at Herrengasse No. 14 1010 Vienna – Innenstadt. Its interesting architecture, good quality coffee, and gothic vaults attract visitors as well as the locals.

In 1938, it was a favorite place of chess players but the café closed after World War II.  It reopened in 1986 and now it’s famous again for its history of literature.

Café Eiles

Café Eiles is located at Josefstädter Strasse 2, Vienna and is frequently visited by people who are looking for the ultimate ‘gemütlichkeit’ (genuine coziness).  The locals are usually the customers because the location is off the beaten track so the tourists are not frequent at this coffee shop.

Café Bräunerhof

It is located at Stallburggasse 2, Vienna, and it is a favorite hangout place of locals on weekends because every Saturday, a small orchestra plays classical music at the café.  It is famous because Café Bräunerhof has the widest selection of newspapers in Vienna.  On of the regular customers is Thomas Bernhard who is a famous writer.

Café Griensteidl

It is located at Michaelerplatz 2, Vienna and is known to be one of the best cafés in Vienna where it is a favorite place of journalists, tourists, and businessmen.  Before, the café is a hangout of artists to talk about art.

Probably the most popular is the Museo Cenacolo Vinciano, which can be found at Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie nr. 2, in Corso Magenta. This is where the famous painter and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci, showcases “The Last Supper” on the inside back walls of the Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church.

He painted it for three years, from 1495 to 1497, and tourists who have actually been in its presence have said that it exudes a rather humbling aura.

The museum is closed on Mondays but is open all day from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 am to 7:00 pm with only up to 25 people admitted every 15 minutes. Tickets are free for European citizens under 18 years old and over 65. The regular price is € 6.50, with an additional booking fee of €1.50, which is reduced by 50% for all European citizens who are 18 years old to 25 years old.

Museo Civico Archeologico

Museo Civico Archeologico, also known as the The Civic Archaeological Museum of Bologna, is located at Corso Magento 15.  The museum is inside Palazzo Galvani, near Piazza Maggiore and San Petronio Church.  You can reach the museum by taking the bus that goes to Piazza Maggiore, or you can also take the train and then a cab.

The museum opens from Tuesdays to Fridays and from 9am to 1pm only. The regular price of the each ticket is € 4.00 but it will be reduced to € 2.00 for persons aged over 60, teenagers between 15 and 18 years of age, ISIC-card owners, Club Carisbo associates, Carta Giovani owners, Italian Touring Club associates, and foreign and Italian students with a valid ID.

Visitors that are 14 years old and below are free of charge.  It’s also free for the Town Council members, Tourist guides, interpreters, journalists, and ICOM members.

La Scala Theater Museum

It is also known as Teatro Alla Scala and was created and designed by Giuseppe Piermarini in 1913.  It is located at Largo Ghiringhelli 1, Piazza della Scala.  Upon entering the museum, the visitors are welcomed by several rare musical instruments, including lyre-guitars, a few psalteries, lute, and the like.

As you go along, you will find a room called “The Commedia Dell’Arte”, which contains a beautiful collection of theatre-related, as well as music-related, porcelain figures that came from famous porcelain factories, such as Doccia, Meissen, Capodimonte, Sevres, Chelsea, and the like.  The regular price for a full fare ticket is €5.00.

The last time this prestigious competition was held in Europe was in 1851 when the members of the New York Yacht Club sailing on America beat 15 British vessels racing them around the Isle of Wight. Since then, the competition has been held in England, Australia, the U.S and New Zealand.

Europe For Visitors has more information.