All of us at one point have searched for budget travel tips to get us to our dream destination without breaking the bank. This is entirely doable given the technology that is available to us today. This article covers three tips that should help you plan your vacation and stay within your budget.1. First of all, try to plan your vacation during off peak travel times. On average, airlines tend to charge 25% more if you fly on peak days. But if you leave mid-week, say on Wednesday, and plan to come back on Saturday, you will save some serious cash. Additionally, catch a flight that flies at a non-peak hour and your savings will add up. Airlines tend to charge a premium for flights that leave between 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Yes, people who fly sometime out of that eight hour window are generally inconvenienced because it is a pain to plan for a 6:00 AM flight but you will probably stick to your budget if you do this. To add to this, you will encounter much fewer crowds at the airport.2. You can score big on airfare just by knowing the secret code. Many airlines are trying to entice customers by giving their customers special promotional codes for deals on their airfare which is not advertised to the general public. You either have to be part of their frequent flyer program or you may have to register via their website. Many airlines are also offering their Twitter followers special discounts. To take advantage of these unique savings, sign up for any e-mail offered by the airline that you want to fly, or follow the airline via Twitter.3. Hotels are feeling the pinch nowadays too. To take full advantage of this, once you find a hotel that you like, give them a call. And not through their 1-800 customer service phone number. Find the phone number of the location where you want to stay and talk to someone at that location. Ask if there are any special promotions or perks not listed on their website. More often than not, this person will have the authority to give you special treatment.Just by following these three simple techniques, you should be able to find a few travel bargains. It really is easy to sign up for an airline’s e-mail list or to follow them on Twitter. Traveling during off-peak season takes some planning but is also easy to do and you might be happily surprised what extras you can get just by asking the hotel desk clerk. By following these budget travel tips, you will be able to travel cheaply and have a great time in the process.
The Accidental Project Manager: A Threat or an Opportunity?
Good Day AllAre you an accidental project manager?We hope that no one get offended by this term since the use of this term in our view is not offensive at all, rather it reflects a common reality. However, in case anyone object to the term, we truly apologize in advance and humbly ask you to read on and you might find out that our intentions are good-hearted.DefinitionSo what is the accidental project manager? Is it someone who is clumsy and stumbles into too many accidents? Absolutely not!It is a term that somewhat common to use. It typically refers to a professional who is educated, experienced, and practicing in one function or domain, such as: engineering, programming, marketing, human resources, finance, general business, art, and healthcare, among many other fields. This professional, at one time or another, is tasked with managing a project related to their function or department, such as an engineering related project, learning and development project, a media project, or any other project. Now, the challenge is that more often than none, this professional might not have any experience or education or training in project management yet they are still asked to manage a project.In other words, the professional is accidentally, or by chance/coincidence, get to manage a project although that was not likely a preferred career choice. Managing the project can be on a part-time or full-time basis. Once the project is complete, the professional resume his or her normal functional duties and maybe never manage a project again.The OpportunityFor many professionals the above bring about a great opportunity. An opportunity to take on a new challenge, and acquire new and highly valuable skills; management skills. These skills are in demand in today’s economy and life and are transferable to many domains, including managing personal non-work initiatives.If the person does a good job in managing the first project, she/he might be given an opportunity to manage another, and another, and maybe shift totally into project management and become a career project manager. A career PM is someone who chose project management as a career choice and shifted from whatever career they were in before. The transition might not be easy but would be quite rewarding.The ThreatsThe threat to the professional and the organization is that the accidental PM might not be ready to manage a project and as a result they might not do well on the first project. If the project has a significant degree of complexity, then the project might even fail and we are likely to blame the project manager. Could this be the error of the accidental PM? Basically, the professional is given a new “challenge” as the boss might have said, yet this professional who is given the challenge might not have the characteristics that is necessary for a good career project manager. Further, this person might not have been given the necessary education or know how to manage the projects and would not be fair to blame her/him.Therefore, the threat in this case is double edge: on the personal aspects, the accidental project manager is likely to feel responsible for the failure and this situation might hurt them professionally and personally. In some cases the consequences could be severe and detrimental to the person’s career. The other aspect for this situation is the organizational aspect. Here we have a failed project with cost and schedule impact – at least. If the project is for a client, the damage could be significant.In short, all involved lose in this scenario.The SolutionOne solution is to have all project managers educated and trained in project management but we do not believe this is necessary for all type of projects. For major capital investment projects, and projects that are very important for an organization we need the necessary preparation before we should put a project manager in charge.However, many projects, especially those in our day-to-day life and business, can be managed effectively with accidental project managers with some preparation. But we should not throw the person into the ocean and expect them to reach the shores safely if they do not know how to swim. We need to teach them the necessary to survive, maybe in a large pool and not the ocean; for the ocean we need an expert swimmer.How can we do that? Have the professional works on projects to see what it is like. Provide some basic project management learning opportunities. Have the person work as an assistant project manager under the supervision of a more experienced professional. All of these actions will enhance the chance of success and minimize the chance of failure. This way, we would have effectively managed the risk of the accidental project manager and the professional gain new skills while the organization enjoys the benefits of a new service or product.For all professionals out in the world, welcome the opportunity to manage a project and it may change your life. If the organization gives you the task without getting you ready, prepare on your own – seek the new knowledge and best of all learn how to apply it. We wish you an enjoyable and exciting journey of learning and growth.By the way, the author started his career as an engineer and then moved to projects.
Nature Photography – Five Tips For Great Rainforest Photos
Rainforest photography, like all good nature photography, is more about your sensitivity to nature than about expensive equipment. Of course you need a decent camera, and you must know how to use it. But the quality of your photos does not depend on the price tag on your camera. As long as you have a tripod, and a camera that allows you to adjust the aperture and shutter speed, you are set to go.I make my living from nature photography, including a lot of rainforest photos, and I have never relied on the latest equipment for my work. Great rainforest photography is simply about finding an eye-catching subject, in good light, and having a creative eye for composition.Note: The following tips are for photos of rainforest scenes, not for close-up photos of leaves, fungus etc.Rainforest Photography Tip #1: Choose a subject. As they say in the classics, “It’s a jungle out there.” In the rainforest, you are confronted with foliage, branches, roots, rocks, vines…in your face and all around you. A really good rainforest photo requires structure, to make some visual sense of all that clutter. Look for something that is immediately eye-catching – a big tree that dominates the trees around it; a root system that leads the eye; a waterfall or stream; in short, something that you can build a composition around.Rainforest Photography Tip #2: Use the best natural light. The mistake almost everybody makes at first is to take their rainforest photos on a bright sunny day when they are in the mood for a walk. Wrong! In full sunlight, the rainforest becomes a patchwork of light and shade that is impossible to expose properly. What you need is a cloudy day, when the light is much more even. Misty weather adds even more atmosphere to the rainforest, and can add a mysterious character to your rainforest photo.Do not use a flash. The flash illuminates the scene with flat, white light, eliminating the gentle play of natural light and shade that gives the rainforest its character. Always use the natural light.Rainforest Photography Tip #3: Carry a tripod. Taking your rainforest photo under a heavy tree canopy, on a cloudy day (see rainforest photography tip #2), means the level of light will be very low. You may be shooting at shutter speeds as slow as one or two seconds. You will always need your tripod, and it is best to avoid windy days so that the scene is as still as possible.Rainforest Photography Tip #4: Use a wide-angle lens (or a zoom lens, zoomed back to its widest angle). The wide angle lens has several advantages for rainforest photography. Firstly, it exaggerates the sense of perspective in a photo, creating a sense of three dimensional depth. Viewers of your photo will feel like they are looking not just at a rainforest, but into it. Secondly, the wide-angle lens has a naturally wide depth of field. With so much detail all around you, it is important that you can keep both the foreground and the background in focus.Rainforest Photography Tip #5: Stay on the path. There are some practical reasons for staying on the path when bushwalking. You minimize the possibility of getting lost, injured, or fined by some over-officious park ranger. The people who run the national parks are not stupid. They know what you want to see, and design their trails accordingly. Sticking to the path will not rob you of any great photo opportunities.In terms of rainforest photography, you are able to create some distance between you and the foliage around you. It is much easier to photograph a tree when you don’t have the branch of another tree in your face. By staying on the path, you can get a clear view of your subject, without interference. You can even use the path as part of the composition in your rainforest photo. It is an excellent way of inviting the viewer to join you on your walk in the rainforest.So there you have my five rainforest photography tips. Notice they concentrate on light and creativity, not on fancy techniques or equipment. You can make great improvements in all your nature photography this way, regardless of what type of camera you have.