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I’m a bloke, and I tend to pack for holidays the night before I go, or the morning I go if the flight is not at the crack of dawn.

So here I provide you with the essential blokes holiday check list, simple, quick, easy – just print off this page spend 5 minutes getting your stuff together.

Blokes Holiday Check List:

Hats
T Shirts
Shirts
Shorts
Swimming Shorts
Pants
Boxers
Socks
Flip Flops / Sandals
Jeans
Sun Lotion
Toiletries
Aftersun
Contraceptives
Camera
Sunglasses
Passport
Money
Travellers Cheques
Local Currency
Tickets / Holiday Booking Confirmation

If there is anything strikingly obvious that I’ve missed then please add to this list. I think if you take the above on holiday you’ll pretty much be all sorted.

Have a Good Time !!!!!

A resort in the United States is offering cheap accommodation, for as little as £11 per night, however there is a catch…your room is in fact actually a tent.

The San Diego resort is offering a “survival package” where prices drop the more amenities you opt out of having. So if you lose the lighting, mini bar, towels, toilet roll, air con, your bed and breakfast you will only be charged $19 per night (£11).

The credit crunch package is on for 2 weeks in August where staff go as far as removing the headboard from the wall, leaving a small tent in its place. The ranch does offer luxuries – a golf course, spa, range of swimming pools and a number of eateries – however if you fancy snuggling up to your irons and drivers, and resting your back on stray golf balls in the night, this could be the ideal solution to beat the credit crunch.

It’s a solution that allows people who couldn’t usually afford the Rancho Bernardo Inn to do so. John Gates, general manager, told the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“It’s our way of getting people here that might not normally come”.

The hope is that people who stay there on a budget will return and stay at full price once the ecomonic climate picks up.

I can’t wait…I’m going on my first summer holiday since 2004 in just over 2 weeks. I’m off to Turkey to the resort of Oludeniz in the Fethiye region. I also tend to go on ski holidays in Jan/Feb but I’ll blog on that nearer the time.

I’ve been looking at the weather on a regular basis (why I don’t know as it’s always pretty hot) just to reassure myself that everywhere doesn’t get the same bad weather as we have to put up with in the UK. I’ve lived in Manchester most of my life and then lived in London for 2 years. I always presumed that London was better weather than Manchester but the experience didn’t give me much hope.

Basically, UK weather sucks, and the only guarantee you have is to go on holiday abroad. So I suggest if you have some holiday time left to take off work then jump on a cheap flight to Turkey – its averaging 35oC at the moment.

Two weeks and 1 day to go!!! Yipee!!!

Due to the lack of properties for sale at this moment in time, this has lead to prices stabilising and also – in certain parts of the country – property sellers are receiving more from their property than the house valuation.

This rise in property prices has generally been noticed in areas such as London and Oxford as buyers are scouring the market to find the right property in a market with a severe shortage of housing for sale at this moment in time.

These findings have been backed up by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors who declared a 16 per cent drop in property which has remained unsold on estate agents’ portfolios. As buyers return to the market, demand is high in areas of the South such as London. We’ll have to wait and see if this spreads to other areas of the country.

Over the past four blog posts I have been going through some of the things you need to consider when buying property overseas. The last few points I would like to make are regarding legal and tax issues.

The process of purchasing the property does vary depending on the individual country and their national laws. If the language of the country is not predominantly English, it would be prudent to consider using an English-speaking lawyer working overseas to represent you in buying the property.

There may also be some tax implications as a result of your property purchase; these may be in the UK as well as the country where the property is located. You may need to speak to an accountant to clarify these tax issues.

Now you have visited a few locations and have decided upon a shortlist you can consider the long-term implications of the overseas property move.

What is the transport access like? If this is going to be a second home, then access to a nearby airport and low cost flights would be important. This will help you to narrow down your choice further.

Will you need to remortgage in order to buy the property, or can you afford to just take out a mortgage on the overseas property? The choice of lender or broker is crucial and there are many services out there.

Once you have sorted out your financial situation regarding the purchase of overseas property you need to visit the potential locations you are considering investing in. This will obviously add to your costs, as you jet around the world looking at property. However it is important to look at a number of properties and where they fit in to their surroundings.

You should also do some research into the country itself and to speak to other investors who have already bought property in the area. This advice is invaluable and will help you to pre-empt any issues you may face during the process of purchasing the property.

If you do not get advice from others in a similar position, this can put you at an instant disadvantage and at a higher risk of being taken in by an unreliable agent.

In the last post I was explaining how you need to consider certain factors when looking to purchase property abroad.

Here are the main things you need to take into account;

First you need to work out and plan your budget. This can all depend on your reasons for purchasing the property in the first place; is it as a main or second home? Or, will you be renting out the property as a source of income?

You also need to consider the total cost including all the other expenses and fees it will cost to purchase the property. There may be transaction costs to complete the purchase, plus professional fees from the use of lawyers.

There is also the home insurance and other maintenance costs. If the property is in need of repair then these costs can easily escalate.

You may need to obtain advice from a financial advisor to make sure you have covered everything.

A lot of people dream about owning their own villa or apartment in some exotic location, where they can just hop onto a plane and visit their luxury home from home whenever they feel like it. However, when turning this dream into a reality, there are many things a prospective property buyer needs to take into account before parting with their money.

Even the most careful of homebuyers have seen the value of their property investments plummet during the recession.

In the next blog article (Part 2 out of 5), I will be looking at the points you need to consider when looking to buy property.

First it was British Airways asking staff to take unpaid leave, and now it is BT’s turn to offer staff an incentive to keep them in employment. BT is allowing its staff up to a year off work, on 25 percent pay upfront, and parents can work during term time only. There is also an option in the form of a cash incentive to work part-time.

This can be rather unsettling for the staff involved. In one sense they are being paid a nominal amount to take a holiday, but are they really expected to just forget about the uncertainty surrounding their job and just hop on the nearest plane to take a long break?