Heading out to the campground with friends and family can be loads of fun. You have time to just habg out with out worrying about work, chores, or anything else. Your biggest concern will be, who will light the fire tonight and what's for dinner? Take the horseshoes, the badminton set, and any other out door games you might enjoy. Plan on taking a hike around the area or if you're into it, go rafting or kayaking.

Camping is also a great way to make new friends. It's amazing how many new people you will meet, and how helpful your fellow campers are. So what are you waiting for? Pack the tent and the camping supplies and get out there!

You don't have to drive! Hah, sit back, enjoy that margarita while you take in the great music and the warm sun, and let someone else get you to your next destination! Your biggest concern will be which deck do you want to sit on and what will you have at the buffet this time!

Almost everything is included in the price! So, now you look at the price of your cruise, factor in the length of time you will be cruising, then realize that your price includes, your stateroom, your food, your entertainment, and well, except on some shore excursions, your transportation! All you have to pay for are drinks, any gambling you do in the Casino, items you purchase in the duty free shops, and if you have the children with you and you want a night alone, babysitting services and spa treatments. Most cruise lines have a kids camp that is free for everyone during the day but charges a babysitting fee from around 9 p.m. to as late (or early) as 3 a.m. You get excellent food, live entertainment, the chance to meet new people, and a comfortable room for the entire length of your stay!

Wonderful destinations! This is an excellent opportunity to see places in the world that you might never see otherwise. Want to see Alaska? The Bahamas? The Mexican Riviera? How about Europe? Or, what the heck, take a world cruise! Okay, so the world cruise is a little excessive, unless of course you can get a whole year off of work. “Bye guys! I'm on vacation! See you in a year! I'll send you a post card from Italy!” I wish! Anyway, taking a cruise vacation gives you the chance to see areas of the world without the worry about international flights, car rentals, and everything else. Unless you are taking a European cruise, most cruises leave from ports right here in the United States. Go ahead, search for cruises online, you will find a large number of cruise lines and destinations that might even leave from your own backyard! So far I have been to Baja Mexico and the Mexican Riviera. We plan to go to Alaska in the next few years and I would love to take a Caribbean cruise sometime too.

Great for the whole family! It used to be when you thought of taking a cruise, you would think of shuffleboard, and sitting around doing very little. Well, not anymore. Cruise ships have developed some of the most exciting activities for the whole family. You can climb a rock wall, go down a waterslide, try out a surfing pool ( yes, you can actually surf in this awesome new pool!), play golf, tennis, run the track, play fun games with an activities director, and lots more! The funniest game I think I've ever watched on board was the men's hairiest leg competition! And that's only outside! Inside, you've got the Casino, karaoke, dance clubs, card rooms, internet cafes, forum shops, game shows that you can watch or participate in, live music, and more. Got the kids? Check out the arcade, the kids camps, some cruise lines even have a movie theater, for teens there are teen only dance clubs where no adults except the staff are allowed. You can rent Gameboys and strollers as well. Oh yeah, and then there is the spa. You can get your hair done, get a facial, get a massage, get your teeth whitened, or you can exercise in the sports club! Want to see some of these activities for yourself? Carnival Cruise Lines has a fun virtual website you can check out called Funship Island.

Last but not least, Towel Animals! You can have so much fun with these towel animals! Leave a pair of sunglasses in your stateroom in the evening and just see what those creative people with do with them! Have a favorite animal you want to see? Just ask your room steward, you just might be surprised when you turn in for the night.

Each night you cruise you get a different animal! We have had, elephants, snakes, dogs, cats, monkeys, and more! They even made a cow for our relatives staying next door at our request! Have fun with it but remember to leave out a pair of sunglasses and maybe even a hat.

Still not sure? Well, I guess you will just have to go on one. Take a short 3 or 4 day cruise for your first time just in case you don't like it. Remember though, if you do like it, go again and again and again. A little secret, repeat cruisers get higher status each time they cruise. With Carnival, when you get to Platinum status, you get priority everything! They also have this fun thing for repeat Carnival cruisers called a repeaters party. Free drinks, as many as you want, for a half an hour plus great entertainment! So what are you waiting for? Get out there and have fun! Maybe we'll run into each other sometime!

First, the dealership where you purchased your RV should have done a walk through with you to show you how everything works and where everything is. You should do it again on your own just to make sure you remember everything. I always double check everything before setting out for the first time as well. Make sure you write down anything you see that is not working properly or shows damage. You can take your new RV back to the dealership for repairs after your first trip and they will usually address everything on your list.

Second, Do you have everything you will need? Before loading your RV for the first trip, make a list of the items that you will need for the length of time you are gone, then make sure you got everything. I have forgotten stuff even when I had a list. Some of the things you will want are toilet paper, pillows, extra blankets, chairs, food (obviously), dishes, hoses for water hook-up, water pressure regulator, electrical cord adapter, drain hose for holding tank, mosquito repellent, a door mat and a large carpet for outside the RV. You might also want to invest in some throw away latex gloves for when you are draining your holding tanks. Make sure you have the obvious things like toothbrushes etc. It is okay to forget things now and then. Most items can be purchased at a store near the campground. I have made the horrible mistake of forgetting pillows before, luckily we were camping fairly close to home so I didn't have to buy more! Also you might want to take some indoor entertainment in case of bad weather.

Third, consider the length of your RV when making reservations. Many parks have limits on the length of RV they can fit. Many state parks can not handle longer RVs because the roads leading to the park as well as inside the campground are too winding or narrow. One example is Richardson Grove State Park in Northern California. To get to one area of the campground you have to go through a narrow S that is lined with huge redwood trees. Check ahead before you go to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Last and most important, take your patience. You will need it. If you've never backed a trailer or motorhome into a campsite or helped somebody back up you could get very frustrated very fast. Remember that you are new to this and once you have done it a few times you will get a routine down. Work out the hand signals ahead of time or get radios to talk to each other so that nothing is missed. For the person helping back up, always remember, if you can't see the driver in the mirror or otherwise, they can't see you! No point in doing hand signals if you can't be seen right? Get parked and set up then sit back relax and enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Go Surfing

The Internet is the great place to fish for budget travel ideas and resources. Avoid commercial site advertising "cheap rates," and dig out personal sites from fellow travel-lovers who often post photos and journal entries. Cost-cutting tips are also just an e-mail away. Most people re more than willing to share their tried-and-tested insider tips on the best days to book a flight or where to get a decent home-cooked meal in the middle of small-town holiday hideaway.

Get Set and Go

When adventure calls, be ready. Keep a list of travel essentials: what clothes, toiletries, and CDs to bring to grab-and-pack emergencies. You can fly for cheap on filler seats for certain airlines, or tag along with friends on spur-of-the-moment road trips. A well-planned tourist trip to Milan has its perks, but the rush of an anything-goes adventure takes the expression "cheap thrills" to a life-changing level!

Buddy Up

Travelling with friend can enrich your experience (and your bank account). Splitting basic expenses like food and lodging means more pocket money for both of you. Bring the whole friends, and take advantage of group rates and promos from airlines and resorts. Plus, you'll always have someone to take your picture.

Work It

If you really love to travel, why not make a career out of it? What could be better than seeing the world on someone else's budget--and being paid to do it? Plot your course now: learn ne languages, study different cultures, and find out what jobs offer overseas opportunities and what skills they require.

A friend of mine suggested looking in Brookside, a small section of Tulsa, and so we planned on starting our search there. All dressed up and ready to dance, I met Kaytie at her house. As we set out, we hoped to experience something other than our routine small-city lives, and maybe catch the smallest glimpse of what teens in New York City or Chicago get to experience. But despite our best efforts, the only new experience we had that night did not involve partying like the big cities do. Through the course of events, we managed to wind up in a smelly casino: a veritable magnet for broken souls, empty wallets, and annoying security guards.

At the start of our evening, we cruised down Brookside, expecting to see club after club. What we did see were a few nice restaurants and a couple of unkempt looking bars, but no clubs. Disgruntled, and wanting to find somewhere new to visit soon, we searched for some sign of a nightspot we could visit. After an hour or so of driving, Kaytie and I had seen neither hide nor hair of any clubs, although we had seen some beautiful and some slightly scarier parts of downtown Tulsa. Some of the parts of downtown were grungy. Scattered in them were homeless persons, dark alleyways and broken-down buildings way past their prime. The better parts of downtown were well-lit underneath towering skyscrapers. However, downtown Tulsa did not present any possible place we could both have a new experience at, so we began to consider other promising venues we could visit.

Stepping out of Kaytie's silver Ford Taurus, the two of us were immediately greeted with an intense smell of cigarette smoke and greasy foods, reminiscent of bowling alleys. Walking into the Creek Nation Casino, we had our wallets ready with our ID's, presuming that we were to be carded as we walked into the door. Soon we found out that this wasn't the case. We were both disappointed - having just turned eighteen, we were ready to show off that we could legally enter the casino. Instead of security ready to check our identification, we were welcomed by the sight of tacky red carpet and ugly mauve walls. Not to mention slot machines. The slots were everywhere, wall to wall, huge, flashing beacons, ready for unsuspecting victims with pocketfuls of money to be drawn in. The smoke was visible in the air. Light smog wafted ubiquitously, an inescapable fog of potential lung cancer. Kaytie and I quickly stepped into the much smaller non-smoking room, and as we stepped in, I observed a man with a pipe in his mouth stepping out. So much for smoke-free.

Older people were everywhere in the casino; almost everyone seemed to be above the age of sixty. They would sit and press buttons for long periods of time, presumably not getting the results they were expecting. Their eyes seemed to glaze over as they stared at the flashing screens, scanning the computerized reels as they spun, with cherries and sevens and other bright images. Kaytie and I sat down to try one of the cheaper slot machines; we slid our dollar bills into the bright beacon and tried to figure out how the heck it worked. Mostly we pressed random assortments of buttons, trying to press the right combination in order to win. A helpful, but slightly annoying, security guard came to our rescue. He was young, overweight, and he spoke with a lisp. He showed us how to play the slot machines, and when he was done with his explanation, he stayed to watch us play for around ten minutes. Kaytie and I assumed that he stood chatting with us for so long because he thought we were attractive, because surely talking to two eighteen-year-old girls for ten minutes would be frowned upon by other security guards. Kaytie was much better at the slots than I was, or, as she put it, “better at pressing buttons.”

We didn't stay at the casino for very long, mainly because we found that it was just plain boring. It was quieter in the casino than I was expecting; I suppose it was due to the immense concentration that pushing buttons must obviously take. The slot machines seemed to be more work to figure out than they were worth, and winning a few bucks definitely did not seem worth the second-hand smoke inhalation from just standing inside the casino. Our night may have not ended with the excitement that I was expecting, but I did realize that, in life, it is probably better just to put in a hard day's work, rather than spend all of your time in a smoky, old person, tacky carpet-filled establishment.

It is a country that has been blessed with many tourist attractions, its ministry of tourism was created in the 1970's to encourage investment in this sector. Tourist attractions include amongst others; wildlife parks, highlands, lakes, Mankon Fondom (kingdom) and museums.

Despite government's efforts over the past decade to boost the sector, its growth has been hampered by poor infrastructure and mis-administration. However, this has not deterred foreigners from visiting the country's attractions.

Tourists Climbing Mount Cameroon

One of the main sites that attracts many foreigners and nationals alike is "Mount Cameroon" also known as "Mount Fako". It is situated in Buea, in the Fako division of the South West province of the country.

It measures 4100 kilometres, the highest point in Central Africa and the second highest point in Africa after Mount Kilamanjaro in Kenya. The mountain rises from the coast through tropical rainforest to a bare summit which is cold, windy and occasionally brushed with snow.

The Mount Cameroon forests are under threat from uncontrolled forest exploitation and encroachment for agricultural production. A population of approximately 350,000 people live within its immediate vicinity, around half of this population live in the urban settlements of Limbe and Buea.

The Bakweri, Bomboko and Balundu people traditionally live on and around the mountain, together with the coastal Bimbia clans; the livelihoods of these people are directly or indirectly supplemented through the harvesting of the forests resources such as timber and non-timber products such as removing bark for medicines, gathering wild vegetables, collecting rattans for making furniture and hunting.

The mountain has erupted six times in the previous century, the latest recorded eruption was in March/ April 1999. During the eruption, the lava flow destroyed farmlands in localities found on the slope of the mountain such as Bakingili, Batoke and Upper farms.

In local folklore the God of the mountain is known as Efasah Moto, it's believed to be composed of two halves, i.e. man and stone; it is also believed that it takes care of people by providing them with water, shelter and food during their journey up and down the mountain. Visitors are allowed to harvest what they can consume while on the mountain but are not allowed to take away anything provided by Efasah Moto. Belief in the God provides an interesting cultural link to ecotourism and sustainable use of resources.

Apart from individuals or groups who go for excursions on the mountain, there is an annual international race that is organised by the Government known as the "Mount Cameroon Race of Hope". The initiative was started in 1995 by the company that brews Guinness.

The race usually brings together hundreds of athletes with scores of them coming from abroad. The starting point of the race is the Molyko Omnisport stadium and participants pass through upper farms, huts 1,2 & 3 before reaching the summit and returning back to the starting point. Participants are divided into male and female categories, they are then further sub-divided into professionals, youths, and amateurs.

The first winner of the male category usually takes just over four hours to complete the race while that for the female category usually takes around 4 hours and 30 minutes. Prize money is in the region of two thousand pounds.

The twelve-strong party, consisting of a variety of ages, background and cultures showed how the wonderful thing called music can unite people together. Traffic congestion around West Yorkshire brought a delayed start, but spirits (in more ways than one!) remained high throughout the journey, which saw us finally board our ferry at 6-30pm, a smooth if bracing sailing of 35 minutes, followed by a five minute drive took us to our hotel.

After dinner, the search began for some “Live” music. Eventually we found “The Argyle Arms” where the locals proved friendly and the owner Robin Patrick proved to be a very versatile and accomplished musician, playing keyboards, lead guitar, accordion and the bagpipes, in a set which lasted four hours, dancing took place in the true D & D tradition, with one of our group completing his Strictly Ballroom application form as he danced.

Returning to our Hotel at 1-30, tired but anticipating an excellent weekend. Saturday saw many of the group set out on various walks in the beautiful scenery, or relaxing on an island, where time seems to have ground to a standstill 30 years ago, one police officer looks after the graffiti-free, litter-free island where respect for people and possessions are all important.

Saturday night and it was back to the “Argyle” and another four hour set, covering a varied and enjoyable range of music, this included a set from Dave of our party playing his cittern, much to the delight of the locals. Sunday morning brought a guided (?) tour of the Island, where we had to take the word of the guide, that landmarks or wildlife where there, but obscured, one passenger quipped “I've never seen so many unseen things!”, this all made for a jovial and light-hearted trip before a walk around the deserted Rothesay, which transported us back to UK Sundays of our childhood, with no supermarkets or DIY stores to visit or endure.

Our last evening was spent at the Black Bull hostelry and enabled our group to bond even further, as musical tales where exchanged. An early start and with fine weather again prevailing we arrived back to Leeds 5-00pm Monday tea-time, weary but high after a wonderful four days of friendship, good humor and a few drinks along the way!

“When friends meet, hearts warm”.