GrandLuxe Rail Journeys End Up Their Journey

Life is getting harder for airline and other travel service, due to economic condition recent day. And train travel service industry have to through worse condition, duo to economic crisis and consumer behavior change.

Chairman and owner of GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, Tom Rader has announced that they cannot continue due to financial problem. GrandLuxe, formerly American Orient Express has been one of major player in train travel industry, once runs luxury train trips through US and Mexico. But time is changing, and they never aware that train travel in US become less popular.

Some people and agencies worked with GrandLuxe blame economic downfall for its collapse. Is it true? Let the consumer answered that.

London Eye, Millenium Age City Landmark of London

Thanks to Tristan Legro from Flickr

London is home for many unique historical building, and they successfully gained millions of tourists every year. But this achievement is not enough for them. On 31 December 1999, closing of early Millenium, PM Tony Blair opened new attraction site for Londoners : a giant ferris wheel named London Eye or Millenium Wheel.

Located on the south bank of river Thames, makes it clearly visible to many other historical buildings. London Eye is 135 meters tall, holds 32 sealed capsules with capacity of 25 people, allows visitors to enjoy London city view from above. It rotated slow, finished 1 rotation every 30 minutes. Just enjoy the pictures above!

Suite 88 Chocolatier Shooter

Chocolate has been accepted as aphrodisiac and mood stabilizer food for many years. How if we match chocolate with finest liquor? Sounds interesting.

If you were in Montreal, just hang on to city's first chocolate lounge and boutique Suite 88 and try this sharp-pointing cone Shooter. At first glance it looks like ordinary chocolate, but by the first bite you will notice that this is actually chocolate containers filled with an assortment of 12 different liquors.

So, how should I ate it? First, bite the top point and drink liquor inside of it then finish the remain chocolate. But It will give you higher sensation if you let all chocolate and liquor blended in your mouth, because the creator have mixed the liquor with various high quality chocolate.

This set is good slow starter for first timer liquor drinker, or for mood boosting after you finished the dinner with partners. Did I said partners? That's ok, there are 12 chocolate in one set, that's enough to satisfy all of you.

5 Most Sacred Cities To Chill Out Your Soul

Let's say you've dumped your life for work, get bored at your life, and wanna have a vacation. What would we choose from those vacation package at travel agent? Planned to spend your holiday to casino in Vegas, sunbathing in Ibiza, have fabulous candle light dinner at Paris, and end up the night at upper club in NY? Sounds interesting. But sometimes glamorous vacation can be devastating, while our soul still weeping, needs for refreshment.

There are lot of alternative vacation plans to chill out your hungry-for-peace soul, and spiritual vacation is one of it. The main attraction of spiritual vacation is visiting the sacred city/place according to visitor's faith. There are more than 4000 faiths still being practiced all around the world and many of them have its own sacred place, but I will only review 5 of the most visited sacred cities in the world:

1.Jerusalem
If you were a Jew, Christian, or Muslim you must known this city very well. Sharing its history with those three religions, makes the city rich with sacred sites. This city have Wailing Wall, where the temple of Salomon was stand and still regarded to be most sacred place by Jews. Just walk few meters from the wall, you will find Al Aqsa mosque where Muslims believe to be the descending place from Night Journey. Walk up to hill, you will find Church of The Holy Sepulchre, place where Jesus was crucified according to New Testament.

Getting into Jerusalem city is quite challenging since the conflict still raging on, but once you get into the old city you'll find great excitement to fill your thirsty soul. If you traveled to Jerusalem, don't get mess with the conflict, just follow your soul and experience the highlight of your faith.

2.Vatican
Vatican is only a smart part in metropolitan Rome, but it has been the center of Roman Catholics for hundred years. If you traveled to Vatican, don't forget to check out the mass communion schedule to your travel agent, it will be a great experience to be given communion by Pope himself at St. Peter's Square. Next, you can get into Sistine chapel, where you can see Michelangelo's masterpiece on its ceiling. You can also take your picture with famous Swiss Guard and show it to your friends, just after you arrived back home.

3.Mecca
Mecca is home for Kaaba, the most sacred building of Muslims and believed to be the center of the world. Mecca is believed to be built by prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael, and birthplace of prophet Muhammad. Each year, millions of Muslims arrives here to attend Hajj, the pilgrim journey of Muslims. Due to millions of visitor each years, Saudi government expanded the city very rapidly so you can see the mixture of classic building and modern hip building all around town. But unfortunately, Mecca gives its entry pass only for Muslims, non Muslims believers are prohibited to entering this city.

4.Varanasi
Ganges River is sacred, and Varanasi is heart and center of Hindu universe. Each year millions of Hindus attend Varanasi festival to celebrate the legend of God Shiva at holy shrine of Lord Kashi Vishwanath. Varanasi is also a sacred city for Buddhist. They believed that Varanasi is one of four Buddha Gautama's pilgrim place, and place where Buddha gave his first sermon to his students. If you traveled to Varanasi, try to get yourself blended with people at Ganges River bank, and rejoyce your soul by swimming in river!

5.Bodhgaya
Wanna have your own personal enlightenment? Here at Bodhgaya you can find Bodhi tree where Buddha was meditated for 49 days and finally attained enlightenment. And at front of holy Bodhi tree, you can find Mahabodhi temple, the most sacred temple of Buddhist.

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Get Spicy: Maybe It's Good For Your Health

Thanks to harper07 from sxc.hu

Chili. Some people might reject it as part of their meal, while some other people in other part of world enjoying it without getting flushed on their face. Some other people even take it as major portion of their meal pepper and won't eat the meal without bunch of chili!

So what really makes those "hot spicy hunter" still consuming chili? Chili contained several chemical agent, collectively called capsaicinoids. When you consuming spicy food, capsaicinoid will bind with pain receptor in your mouth, tongue, and throat. This reaction will triggers burning sensation in your mouth cavity, increasing your heart rate and perspiration, and obviously releasing endorphins to your brain. Endorphins produce excitement feeling, sense of well being, light analgesia (pain relieve). This excitement feeling will recorded in your deep memory, and causing the "chili addiction" to "hot spicy hunter" group.

So, does chili has significant benefits to our health? Yes. Like other fruits, chili contain high amount of carotene, vitamin B, vitamin C, and some minerals (potassium, magnesium, iron). Due to its endorphines releasing effect, consuming chili regularly will decrease chronic pain symptoms. According to latest research, chili could decrease risk for getting cardiovascular disease and type 1 diabetes.

Still cannot adopt with spicy food? You can start with food are only slightly spicy from your currently consumed, try to get comfortable with the hot sensation, and move up with more spicy food. If you get comfortable with spicy food, go to Indian/Thai/Indonesian restaurant. If you can enjoying their deadly spicy foods, congratulation, you have been accepted as "spice daredevil"! But if you had something overly spicy, don't release it with water or beer, it only makes the heat getting worse. Since capsaicinoid is oil based chemical substance, it will only washed away with oil based substance. Milk, sugar yogurt, banana, and strawberry are best relieve for overly spicy and burning sensation in your mouth.

So, are you ready for spicy food?