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In the realm of aesthetics and corrective procedures, the allure of finding the perfect solution often sends many of us on a quest far beyond our local boundaries. With the promise of lower costs and exotic destinations, the trend of seeking laser surgery overseas has seen a significant rise among Australians.
However, beneath the glossy brochures and alluring price tags lies a series of risks that many fail to see until it’s too late. As a voice from the Australian laser eye surgery community, we urge you to consider the safer path of trusting local expertise. Let us take you through the compelling reasons why staying closer to home for your surgery might just be the best decision you’ll ever make.
Understanding the Risks
- Quality of Care and Standards The most glaring difference often lies in the standards of care. Australia boasts stringent healthcare regulations, ensuring that both the facilities and the professionals performing your laser surgery meet high standards. Overseas, these regulations can be markedly different or unevenly enforced.
Whenever you plan on going on a long trip or a vacation overseas, a long list of matters must be decided upon. For many reading this, that will include the importance of what valuable jewellery you are taking with you. Checking your passport is up to date, booking a taxi to take you to the airport, and ensuring that the clothes you are taking will all fit in your luggage are important, but for lovers of their jewellery, this will take precedence.
To many people, the jewellery you take with you might be an automatic choice. That could be because you only ever wear a small range of beloved jewellery special to you, or you have jewellery which is your ‘go to’ jewellery every time you travel. However, suppose neither of those two scenarios applies to you. In that case, might be unsure how to proceed when taking valuable jewellery on vacation or a long trip away from home.
Fear not, because if you read further, you will see that we have outlined five tips we have gathered from seeking out the best advice and recommendations from those who travel often and, more significantly, from those who travel with valuable jewellery when they are away from home. These tips from jewellers give you some pointers on choosing what jewellery to take and ensure your valuable jewellery will be safe.
If you are keen to have a holiday in Bali and plan to rent one of the stunning Bali villas which are available, there could be several things that prevent you from doing so. It might be work or business commitments meaning you cannot get the time off, family matters which you must attend to, or it could be what prevents up to 7% of people from having an overseas holiday, and that is an extreme fear of flying, also known as aerophobia.
Let us first say that there are lots of people who consider themselves nervous flyers. Even people who have several overseas holidays per year admit that they get a sense of uneasiness whilst flying, especially if the plane they are on encounters some severe turbulence. However, whilst they might be nervous flyers, they can at least to can get on a plane and fly to their holiday destination.
What we are going to address, or rather who, are those whose fear of flying stops them from even getting on a plane and, as such, prevents them from booking overseas holidays, including to Bali. We cannot wave a magic wand, and suddenly, your fear of flying will disappear; However, what we can do is give you some advice that can hopefully get you closer to a point where you can fly, especially for your dream holiday to Bali.
The array of digital marketing options, strategies, and tools available to holiday resort businesses is extensive, and it is little wonder that many owners of these holiday resorts scratch their heads wondering which one they should focus on. If you were to ask Peter Brittain and any other digital marketing expert in unison, they would say that email marketing is the one online marketing strategy that remains effective for all business types, provided it is used correctly.
The key phrase in that last sentence is ‘used correctly’ because the sad fact is that so many business owners and marketers use email in ways that are nowhere close to being correct. This is partly due to the double-edged sword of an email being so easy to send. It is a great way to market to many people, however, its ease of use also means email is abused, either deliberately, or unwittingly. Whichever it is, it is wrong.
If we leave those who purposely send spam for now, and instead focus on one of the biggest mistakes made by those who are not necessarily trying to abuse the use of email, but simply do not know how to use it properly, we come to how often you should send email to your subscribers. This is a question that has vexed business owners and marketers for many a year, and the simple truth is there is no magical answer that will apply to every business.
To take someone from their very first contact with a business, through each step towards them becoming a paying client, they must be persuaded to take some form of action. As your digital agency will tell you, the main way this is achieved online is with the use of great copywriting which appears on online marketing channels.
When it comes to your holiday villa marketing business, you will know better than us what your current digital marketing strategy is, and where your potential clients are exposed to your offers and promotions. The conversion rate of these promotions will be greatly influenced by how well any sales messages and promotional material is written, and these come under the umbrella of copywriting.
In fact, wherever it is located online, and whichever medium is used, be it text, audio, or video, the words which people read or hear are the words originally written by a copywriter, and the more skilled that copywriter is, the more likely that their words are going to convince someone to take action.
Even though Botox has long been touted as a cosmetic injectable for women, it’s not only women that can benefit from them. In fact, ask any man, and they will likely see at least one benefit of having it for themselves.
If you’re a man who has been thinking about Botox, and you’re just not sure if it’s for you, here are just a few of the many reasons why other men like you are saying ‘yes’ to Botox.
To Improve Their Self Esteem and Confidence
Men, like women, can find it challenging to let the natural aging process take its course. Seeing frown lines, fine lines, and wrinkles appear, seemingly in the blink of an eye, can cause your self-esteem to take a hammering.
Botox addresses those lines and wrinkles so that you can feel more confident. You might even think you look much younger, too! The best part is, Botox lasts for three months or longer, and you can also receive “top-up” injections. As a result, you can sustain the look of smoother skin for as long as you like.
One thing that every tourist loves to do when they travel to a different part of the world on vacation is go shopping, and if that destination happens to be Bali, then they are spoilt for choice. Bali is home to some of the most diverse shopping experiences you can imagine, with everything from traditional street markets to huge air conditioned shopping malls.
The range of products that you can purchase is also huge with handcrafted goods, local brands, international goods, and of course, the quintessential souvenirs of Bali that every tourist wants to take home. To give you some indication of the diversity of shopping destinations you have in Bali, here are seven of them.
Ubud Art Market: If you are looking for local and traditional art, carvings, jewellery, and textiles then Ubud Art Market is the place you will find them. Many of them come from local villages and prices are very reasonable. This market is referred to as Pasar Seni Market by locals.
Beachwalk Shopping Centre, Kuta: If you wish to combine a bit of upmarket shopping with some entertainment you will find them at the Beachwalk Shopping Centre in Kuta. Modern, with all amenities, it plays host to a host of brand name stores such as H&M, Gap, and Fossil. It also has plenty of places where you can eat, a children’s play area, and as for entertainment, there are dance shows and a musical fountain.
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There are several reasons why you may need a new website for your holiday resort business and whether it is for a new company, to replace an ineffective website, or if you are rebranding your business, your new website must include certain design criteria. Web design specialists will tell you that if any of these core design features are missing, your website will not be as successful as it could.
When we use the term ‘website design features’, we are not referring to specific visual elements, such as the border, the colours, or the fonts. Instead, we mean certain criteria that add to the overall functioning of the website, and most importantly, give you a better chance of converting those who visit that new website from prospects to paying customers. Here are 5 of the most important of those website design criteria.
It Must Be Designed With Visitors In Min
The most important people who should have any influence on how your website is designed are not the programmers, the graphics designers, or you, the owner of the business. In fact, it is the visitors who will ultimately be visiting and navigating through that site, and as such, everything included in the design must be created with a view to making it enhance the experience of those who visit the website. In other words, keep it simple, make website navigation easy.
There is no denying that the travel industry is one of the most competitive there is, given the number of choices people have when making their travel and holiday plans. With most people searching online for travel companies, the professionals at the SEO company report it is crucial that travel companies who want to compete online maximise the opportunity that SEO provides them.
By opportunity, what they mean is that SEO provides local and smaller travel companies a chance to compete online for customers with some of the larger travel companies that exist, including those who may have huge advertising budgets, and who rely solely on paid advertising. These larger companies often ignore SEO and prefer to spend continuously to get new customers, leaving the SEO route open to other travel companies.
The issue that any company has, whether it be in the travel industry or not, is that in order to benefit from paid advertising and to receive traffic from paid online sources, the money flow has to be kept turned on at all times. In other words, the minute they decide to stop paying for paid online ads is the minute that the flow of visitors to their website stops too. No visitors = no prospects = no sales.
If you have decided that instead of using your usual local experienced dentist, for cosmetic dental treatment, you are going to do what so many others have done before you, and travel to Bali for your treatment in order to save a significant amount of money, you have made a wise decision.
Obviously saving money is a huge incentive, but in addition, being able to visit what is a stunningly beautiful part of the world, makes a trip to Bali an extremely positive experience for more than one reason.
Now that you have decided to make the trip to Bali, the next step is to decide which cosmetic dentist you are going to select to carry out the cosmetic dental treatment that you want to be done. This requires more than simply sticking a pin in a map of Bali and deciding to use the dentist whose clinic is closest to the pin.
You need to take as much care in choosing your Bali dentist, as you would with any professional, be they overseas, or here in Australia. To help you head down the right path in terms of selecting the right cosmetic dentist in Bali, here are some simple steps you should take.
Look For The Dentist’s Qualifications
The first thing you want to try to establish is the qualifications that the dentist, or dentist working at any clinic you are considering. Obviously, they are unlikely to be the same as what Australian dentists have but they should at least have their local equivalent qualifications.
Whilst many of us are perfectly happy visiting our local dentist at dentalosogentle.com.au for check-ups and routine appointments, the desire to do so is not so great when we need or want to have other treatments, such as cosmetic dentistry. For it might the thought of any pain which might be experienced, however, for many others, the pain is not much in our mouths, but with regards to our bank balance being reduced significantly.
Whichever way you look at it, many dental procedures are costly, and as such, lots of patients are looking at alternative ways of having dental treatments, and one which is growing in popularity is travelling abroad for them.
Known as ‘dental tourism’ what it basically amounts to is travelling overseas to a country which has high standards of dental care, but due to the nature of their economies, the cost of dental treatment and procedures is a fraction of what it costs in Australia.
There are a number of countries that might be candidates for dental tourism and for Australians, the primary locations are Thailand and Indonesia, with the island of Bali being the one that has the greatest appeal.
If you have never considered travelling overseas for dental treatment or a cosmetic dental procedure, then it is something you should give some thought to. If you are looking for reasons to justify it, then here are some which may sway your decision towards saying ‘Yes’.
Candidasa is in the remote Karangasam area of Bali. Until recently, it was very difficult and very time-consuming to travel to Karangasam due to the condition of the roads.
Visiting this beautiful, remote area used to take more than 2 hours on rough roads. Today, though, there has been a lot of development in northern Bali, including the construction of good roads. Visitors can reach Karangasam in just about an hour thanks to these new roads. It is definitely worth the trip!
This area of Bali is also growing as a tourist destination, constructing several luxurious hotels and many beautiful private villas that have been designed and landscaped by leading landscapers. Principal Landscapes. The hotels and villas are the perfect place to stay while you enjoy all that Karangasam has to offer. One area of Karangasam you should consider visiting is Padangbai which is a lovely fishing village that offers some of the clearest and bluest water and the best white sand beaches in Bali. This village can be found on Amuk Bay. Manggis is another beautiful area with the Amankila and Alila resorts which are known world wide.
Whilst the recent pandemic may have curtailed multiple millions of travel plans around the world, that does not mean that the travel industry has met its demise, and in fact, it can hopefully look forward to a boom due to pent up demand. When that occurs, competition amongst travel companies will be huge, especially online, which is why your website design needs to be optimised in every way possible.
According to professional web design, if your website is lacking, seems out of date, or is simply not able to help you compete with other travel companies, your competition are the ones who will be up to their eyes in travel and holiday bookings, whilst sadly your travel company will not. That can be changed by having a website design that has all the elements needed to promote your travel company the correct way, so let us see how that can be achieved.
Visuals Are Critical
One aspect of your travel company website design that needs a huge amount of focus and thought is how it is going to produce anticipation and desire within those visiting the site, and that primarily is going to be done by the many visual elements you include.
This can be a combination of images, videos, and even infographics giving details on specific locations. Whichever you use they need to be as vivid, colourful, and dynamic as possible so that they literally transport the person looking at them to that location in their mind.
Following their divorce or separation, the parents of a child have a number of matters that will have to either be agreed or failing agreement, ordered by the Family Court. For these, seeking the help of your family lawyers is strongly recommended to ensure that you, and more importantly, your child has the appropriate legal advice and representation.
Although it is an unusual occurrence, one matter which family lawyers are often asked to advise on is where a parent is in receipt of child support from the child’s other parent but then the payments stop, and the reason for that is the parent liable for the payments has gone overseas.
The immediate thought of the parent still here is that given the child support order came from a family court in Australia, that there is little that can be done if the other parent is now living in another country, where for the most part, an Australian law, family or otherwise, has no bearing.
For many laws, and legal scenarios that might be true, but the fact that a parent is now overseas despite being liable for child support payments, does not mean that the remaining parent has no recourse in order to try to get the child support payments from them.
Apart from seeking help from a family lawyer, one step which should not be regarded as pointless is to try to communicate with the parent who has gone overseas to try to persuade them to restart and continue to make the child support payments. If you are still on friendly terms with their family such as the child’s grandparents, it could be that they have some influence to bear in terms of persuading them to do the right thing.
If you have been thinking about any kind of cosmetic dental treatment and thought the only option you have for it being done is your local dentist, then you are mistaken. For a start, you have the right to go to any dentist of your choosing, provided you have the funds to pay them.
At this point by ‘any dentist’, most people assume we mean one in your local town or within your state, but we are looking much further afield than that. In fact, we are not even talking within Australia because the dentists we are talking about are in Bali. This Indonesian island is an extremely popular location for Australians who are looking for cosmetic dental treatment.
There are many reasons why they go there, with the most obvious one being the significantly lower prices of cosmetic dental treatment such as veneers and dental implants in Bali compared to Australia. The difference can be several thousand dollars depending on the specific treatment, so the incentive to travel there for those savings is high.
In addition, the expertise of the dentists in Bali and the levels of service patients receive is extremely high, plus there is always the added benefit of experiencing a different culture for a few days whilst you are there.
Everyone loves to travel, and that is likely to be one of the reasons that the travel industry is such a competitive one. The need to attract customers versus them going to your competitors is significant and that is why a professional digital marketing agency will strongly recommend that travel companies have a digital marketing strategy in place to compete effectively.
Apart from allowing your travel company to compete for customers, there are several other ways a properly planned and implemented digital marketing campaign can benefit your business, as you are about to see.
Multiple Routes To Market
When most people see the words digital marketing they immediately think of ‘internet’ as though that was just one opportunity, but it actually offers multiple opportunities to acquire travel customers. These manifest themselves as the properties and locations online where, if you have an effective marketing plan, potential customers will find you. Some examples are:
- Website: The most obvious is your travel company website, which provides so many ways for you to engage with those who visit it, and to turn them from prospects to paying customers.
Visitors to Kuta find that there is something for everyone. This is a world class destination that is visited by people from all parts of the world. There are elegant and luxurious Bali villas available for a very reasonable price when you compare prices on Bali villas in other parts of the country. There are also many excellent hotels available including the Hard Rock Hotel, Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, Harris Hotels, Kuta Bali Hotel and the Mercurre Hotels. All of these hotels and Bali villas will allow you to feel comfortable while in a very elegant setting.
Kuta Villas
A lot of people visit Kuta to go surfing. You can get to the beaches where surfing is amazing by car, by taking a taxi or on a motorbike. However, if you choose the right hotel or Bali villa you will be able to walk to the beach. This is the best choice for people who want to surf because the traffic in Kuta is very heavy and it can take a long time to get anywhere.
A decline in the ‘quality of tourists’ visiting the Indonesian island of Bali has prompted authorities to re-evaluate their current tourist policies around temples.
In 2017, a photo of a Danish tourist went viral after she was seen sitting on top of the Linggih Padmasan shrine at the temple of Puhur Luhur Batukaru. The throne-shaped temple, according to authorities, is reserved for the most important deity, the supreme God, in Balinese Hinduism. The act by the tourist was seen as highly offensive to the faith.
After the photo went viral, the Indonesian Hindu Religious Council approached the police, asking them to track down the tourist and investigate the matter. Indonesia has strict blasphemy laws and new rules surrounding temple visits could improve the ‘quality’ of the tourists the island receives.
Tourists clambering over sacred temples are not the only problems the Balinese are trying to combat either. An influx of bikini-clad western tourists to the many hundreds of temples is being seen as disrespectful by locals. A tourist came under fire in past years, too, for wearing a bikini in front of a temple while carrying out a fitness pose for a photograph.
After you’ve finished lounging on the beach sipping cocktails then relaxing in Bali villas, anywhere else with lower temperatures will seem ice cold. After all, it doesn’t take long to acclimatise to the warm and tropical climes in Bali, soaking up the rays after being office-bound for eight hours a day.
However, now that you have experienced luxury and extremely desirable temperatures, have you ever thought about visiting somewhere on the extreme end of the scale? Here are five of the coldest destinations that are well worth a visit. They may not offer the warmth and tropical atmosphere of Bali, but they sure do offer something unique and special.
Rovaniemi, Finland
If the less than balmy “average” temperature of -12 degrees Celsius doesn’t put you off, then it might be worth a trip to Rovaniemi in Finland. While there’s no denying you’ll need to rug up – to the point of wearing all your packed luggage as soon as you arrive – it will be well worth the experience.
In Finland during the winter, you may be cold, but you will be rewarded. Visiting in the middle of winter offers plenty of Christmas-like festive fun, while the possibility of seeing the Aurora Borealis is also another draw card as well.
Rogers Pass, Montana
If you weren’t already daydreaming about travelling to Bali and relaxing in Bali villas or poolside, then the thought of freezing your extremities off in Montana, United States will encourage it. Believe it or not, some of the coldest temperatures you will ever experience are only a short trip away to the United States.
Even if you have been saving for years to be able to relax in Bali or see what the world has to offer, it’s still nice to be able to save a little money where you can. When you’re a tourist to a new country, it can be a challenge to know whether you’re getting a good deal or not, which is why doing your research beforehand can help. Aside from being aware of discount offers and the best websites for accommodation, these five tips below may be of assistance as well.
Consider Home and Pet Sitting
If you’re in desperate need of a holiday, but your budget doesn’t stretch to flights as well as accommodation, then why not consider being a house and pet sitter? There is an abundance of websites with people looking for reputable house sitters and pet sitters to take care of their precious possessions while they are away. The best part is, it doesn’t cost you a cent – saving you thousands in accommodation.
Know When to Book Flights
No one is a mind reader when it comes to booking flights. Therefore, there is always going to be a time when you book a trip then find out it is several hundred dollars’ cheaper the next time you look. Whether you’re booking one return flight to get you to Bali villas and back, or several for a world trip, it’s a good idea to do your research on flight booking tips.
According to CheapAir, you can save a significant amount of money if you book four months or three weeks before your holiday, and on a Tuesday or Wednesday. In most cases, Friday, Saturday, and Monday tend to be the most expensive days to fly.
When we think of going on an overseas holiday it is usually all about the nightlife and the main tourist attractions, but there are many other ways to have fun as well. Once you’ve settled into your accommodation, you might want to try a cycling adventure. Don’t worry whether you will be able to cycle up hill and down dale, because mostly the trips are not in steep country. On a cycling tour you can often cheat by being taken to the top of a mountain by vehicle and just riding down, along with your guide.
Cycling adventures are for kids, adults and seniors. Even babies can participate so long as Mum or Dad take the handlebars, because there are bikes with baby carriers and seats so the whole family can enjoy their ride. You can stop on the way there or back for a meal, depending on what time your tour leaves.
It’s a great idea to travel overseas, explore different cultures and see how other people live. Often people just travel for fun and to see the world. However, if you intend to go into places where English is not the main language, it’s important to follow some tips to make your experience a positive one and ensure the time spent is not wasted.
- Learn a few phrases of the main language. Don’t just follow the guidebook with phrases such as yes please and thank you. It’s important to also learn how to say no thank you. After all, you won’t want to agree to everything that is said if you don’t know what it is.
- Remember that other countries have seemingly harsh penalties for what you may think is a minor infraction. Australian law is not in force just because you’re an Aussie. Learn the laws of the land and follow them.
- Pack for the climate you are travelling to, not the one you are leaving. Most people pack too many of the wrong clothes.
- Never leave any kind of drink unattended. If you forget, don’t drink it when you come back to your table.
- Don’t keep valuables or ID in your backpack. In a crowd you won’t notice someone slip their hand into it. Keep it on your person, at the front where you can see what’s happening.
- If you plan on hiking, do some long walks for several weeks before you leave to strengthen your muscles.
If you were thinking the cost of an overseas holiday would be too much, there are many ways in which you can save. The biggest cost factors on holiday travel are for the travel fares, the accommodation and the food. If these three biggies can be reduced in some way, your holiday suddenly becomes much more affordable. And this applies to holidays in Australia, not just overseas.
Here are 10 tips to help reduce the cost of holidays.
- If flying, watch for specials run by the airline of your choice. Be flexible so you can get packed and go at short notice when the specials come on.
- With cruise ships, booking way ahead will often get you a great special in price. But it is also possible to get last minute deals because they want to sail with a full ship if possible and if all the cabins are not booked by a week before sailing they’ll offer them at a good rate.
- If going by car, the way you drive can save a great deal in the cost of fuel. Braking and accelerating smoothly save fuel; jamming your foot down on the brake or accelerator waste it.
- Watch what you buy when overseas because you’ll have to pay excess for luggage that is over the weight limit. So pack light and take an extra suitcase if you intend to get a lot of stuff, then you won’t have to buy luggage to carry all those things you bought. Luggage is quite expensive in other countries.
If you want to delight the kids with an overseas holiday, Bali has many unique adventures suitable for kids and adults alike. Participating in these fun outings with them will guarantee to ensure a fun time for all with no chance of being bored – and you won’t need to hire a babysitter. Settle into your villa and start to enjoy.
Here are some of the great places in Bali that kids will love.
- Walk through the treetops at Tabanan. It’s great to view the forest from the top instead of the bottom. At Tabanan you’ll find high walkways through the treetops. In fact, it’s made more fun by including obstacles of varying hardship degrees. In every case, safety is assured with a safety wire attached to your harness. Start from 2 metres high and go up to 20 – if you’re game. It’s called Bali Treetop Adventure and is located at the Bali Botanical Gardens.