Family Holidays - tricky decisions for parents

When my son was young every year I used to crack my brain on where and what we should be doing at least 3 times a year. He started traveling at a very young age - 4 months to be precise he took his 1st flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Since then he has flown almost all over the world. Times has changed for our children in the 80's. I remembered I had my 1st overseas holiday when I was in my teens.

These days children are more lucky we may say or it's just lifestyle has changed. Most in developed countries traveled at young ages and by the time they are an adult they have at least been overseas once. For the parents who are planning the holidays they are tons of web sites assisting them. The internet age has made travel planning easy and in many ways a joy. There are pictures to see, videos to watch, other people experience to learn from and finally you make a decision - not forgetting finding you the best deal. Only recently did i learn that there is a site call Kayak.com. Kayak consolidate the best deals on the web for us. Everyday brings new learning. Before I was dependent on Expedia, Travelocity, now - 1 click on Kayak.com I can see all the results from Expedia, Travelocity and do comparison. What will happen to the travel agency? Do we need them anymore?

This brings me to the question of types of vacations for families. Cruises seems to be catching on, I can understand why - with ship services providing care for your kids, the adults can enjoy themselves. Since I am web publisher for a travel site to North Italy it dawn on me last evening - why not Italian learning holidays. Exactly this afternoon I added a section on family holidays. Yes to be honest when I first wrote this page I didn't think of family. It's not common you see to have family coming together for this usually it's for individual. The more I think about it I am convinced that this is a great way for family to holiday.

• Something for everyone in it - travel experience, language learning and learning an Italian art.
• Learning a 2nd language is always handy especially when you are in the country to use it, children often learn faster than adults and if they can have simple conversation with locals it will certainly enrich their experience.
• For the parents - once you have your learning holiday mapped out, you can sit back and relax while the rest goes on auto-pilot. Remember how we used to wakeup in the morning during holidays and scratch out head for what activity to do today to keep our kids busy well you wouldn't need to do this on Learning holidays.
• Bonding time - everyone is learning and experiencing the same thing which makes interesting conversation. At the end of class family can reflect on the day experience.

Perfect I said to myself when I finished writing my page on Family Learning Holidays. Like I said I have not seen or read any research findings on families taking such vacations so I am not sure whether it will take on. We shall see what the future brings.

Layoffs, Unpaid vacations and tomorrow

Sitting at my desk reading emails from friends feeling sorry for them..........only more news on job losses. How and what can we do to make someone feel that it's not the end of the world my friend. One door shut and another open. Eventhough you may already have 1 year to get used to the idea of the likelihood this will happen to you, when it happen. It will still be a shock. You will need time mentally and spiritually to get used to it. At least you don't have to deal with the shame of losing a job anymore. It used to be a shame and something you don't talk about. Today it's an accepted way of living.

When I lost my job I felt like a loser. I didn't see it coming. I did hear rumors but tried hard as I couldn't verify it. Then it hit! It really does shake your confidence to the core. It took me many months to climb out of it. It was no easy feat. I drove my husband mad with my - Why me? My son was more optimistic than me, he kept encouraging me to keep moving forward. My husband was extremely supportive taking over all the decisions sparing me the painful tasks of those downsizing matters.

When you lose your job in Italy your chances of finding another is almost impossible. Italians hang on to their jobs. Unless you have great social network, your family is reputable you won't find any great positions in Italy. As women your situation is even worst. If you are a woman over 40 years old your chances is bleak. Here is a category I fall into the above 40 years female gender no hope basket. I am not ready to walk away from earning an income. I still have many plans not realized.

When I got out of my depression I work very hard to find myself a new career. I knew after over 30 years of corporate life I didn't want to go back to one. There's really no benefits in being loyal to an organization at the end of the day you are just a number. I wanted to start something on my own that I can build for ME.

The best research tools is the Internet. I started googling for work at home opportunities, work at home moms, legitimate work at home programs, it took me months to find something that i feel I can safely invest my time and money. Oh I found many frauds too and I get spammed with emails to invest in those programs. It's not easy sifting those frauds. For a few weeks I was gung-ho on training myself to become a Virtual Assistant. Obvious investment costs was a concern and it took about USD2000 - USD5000 to start off to get certified. Emmm.........I found a cheaper alternative in Australia and I also found a site that promises to provide the jobs but you will need to bid for them. After another 2 weeks I gave up on the idea 'cos I just couldn't wrap my head around how to get my clients. This is Italy, this is Europe - many of the companies or even small companies are not used to working with a virtual assistants. Made worst than many of the companies are not even I.T savvy. Emails are only allocated to staffs on a need basis. The thought of someone using a virtual assistant based in Italy...............emmm...... There was also envelope stuffings, designing powerpoint presentations, I must have reviewed at least 500 types of jobs in my 2 months of research.

Then I chance upon Site Build It. Here's an opportunity that requires low investment and opening my audiences to the whole wide world. I certainly have many passions that I can convert into business opportunities. I need to learn how to build a successful web site that will attract traffic. For weeks I studied their tutorials. Learn from their forums. Email other web publisher and asked them about their personal experience and that's how my site Amazing North Italy was born.

Is work at home jobs for you? You need plenty of discipline to drive it - no one will be there to help you through those bad days. For me this was the most viable considering my position living in Italy, with little Italian skills, with no reputable family network to get me that job an above 40 years old female. If it doesn't work I would have lost a princely sum of USD299. This I can afford to lose without compromising my family situation. LOL. My site is doing quite well today. It's only 5 months old but it is ranking well with Google and Yahoo. Through it I made new friends - opening new doors where previously I would never have thought about. I also made new friends at the Site Build it forum and they kept me going through my dark hours.

Now, today, this minute being laid-off isn't bad at all. It has forced me to be more creative with my career. It has forced me to think as a survivor. It has brought new friends with new ideas ultimately it has open my eyes to a world I didn't realized existed before. I am not earning much from my site but I am earning which prove to me that this business works, I just need to fine-tune it and support my business model with better conversion programs. If you ask me what I got out of my USD299 investment I will tell you much, much, much more.

1. The new friends - How can you put a price on friendships?

2. The knowledge - everyday learning new things.

3. The purpose - everyday I wakeup with multiple purposes to work on my web site, I don't sink into self-depression

4. The hope - yes someday when I put all the right pieces together I will be earning a decent income and no one is going to tell me - Sorry we need to let you go.

I wasn't looking for a GET A RICH QUICK program. I was looking for a business that is MINE. My husband is very supportive of my project and he has fueled many of the subjects our website covers. He does all the UAT (user acceptance tests) to make sure the pages works.

If you ever find yourself at a cross-road, I urge you to find a project to work on. If you are laid-off I urge you to consider building a business of your own so you won't be ever caught off guard again.