Europe Euphoria

There’s no doubt about it. Jobs in the healthcare field are growing at a steady rate. There’s an ever increasing need for qualified doctors and nurses. With the need for exceptional healthcare professionals rising on a daily basis, many hospitals are finding it difficult to keep their places staffed with the best of the best in the field. That’s where nursing travel jobs come into play. Nurses who are looking for an opportunity to work with fantastic pay choose travel jobs. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why you should choose a travel job as a nurse. 1. Travel to new and exciting places. If you are a nurse, and you love to travel, this is a win-win! Travel nurses often go to exciting cities and destinations that they may not have had the opportunity to travel to in the past. You stay for a few months in a new city, and then move on to another adventure. It’s a very exciting career for someone who likes to see the world . . . while taking care of the world’s ill. 2. Make the big bucks. Becoming a travel nurse is also a very lucrative opportunity. Most travel nurses make up to 15% more than a traditional nurse. Add in bonus, benefits, and incentives, and you’ve got one incredible opportunity. 3. Build your resume. Travel nurses often have the opportunity to work in some of the most prestigious hospitals. You can work in a place where you’ve only dreamed of. You’ll have the opportunity to experience different environments in different locations, giving you the opportunity to reach your potential and expand your knowledge. Travel nurses are the wave of the future. Experience a true sense of freedom, independence, and growth when you become a travel nurse. There are agencies around the country willing and ready to help you find the job of your dreams!

To the utter computer neophyte, or the person just learning English, computer terms are pretty weird. Why do I want a rodent on my desk? Why not call it a clicker instead of a mouse? If I go to the computer store to buy a computer, they are going to ask me how much memory I need. My memory is good, thank you. I know all my kids’ birthdays and anniversaries, and I can remember my grandchildren’s names. That’s pretty darn good for my age! I get email, but what is exchange hosting? Something tells me it has nothing to do with having a foreign student come and live with me! Why do computers have bytes? Maybe they are taking a byte out of crime. Maybe they take a byte out of Internet crime. It would be really cool if they could take a megabyte out of crime! What is a driver? Is there a little car in there? If I’m the computer user, why am I not the driver? Or the pilot? No, I’m the user. Well, I have to admit I’ve heard that computers get addictive at times. So does voyeurism, another name for looking into Windows. But that’s illegal. Now, you’re going to ask me if I want PC or Mac. I don’t know! Who’s Mac? Who’s on first base? How do I know if there are Ethernet connections at my house? Does the Ethernet make me sleepy? I understand Internet because I once had to learn roots like inter in my English class, but to me a website is the place where Charlotte put up messages to save the pig! Speaking of Charlotte and pigs, what’s with a RAM? How many more animals do I need in this little box? I wasn’t planning to start a farm.

Ever wondered where is the best place in the world to live in? Well, according to a survey by the Readers’ Digest Magazine, it’s Finland that tops the list as the world’s most comfortably habitable place. The study was conducted by environmental economist Matthew Kahn. He did the rankings on the basis of green indices like quality of air and drinking water as well as socioeconomic indicators like education,income and life expectancy. According to the study, Finland won high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters. The Scandinavian countries top the list with Iceland, Norway and Sweden following close behind Finland. At the bottom of the list are the African countries, with Ethiopia ranked lowest. The statistical basis of the ranking is the UN’s Human Development Index and the Environmental Sustainability Index drawn up by Yale and Columbia universities and the World Economic Forum. Finland, also known as "Land of a Thousand Lakes" for its many clear blue lakes, also scores high on the United Nations’ Human Development Index and ranked as the sixth happiest nation in the world. And no wonder, who wouldn’t be happy to live in the best place on earth? Image: ICT-UC Europe Via: Yahoo!, Shanghai Daily, Wikipedia

A prepaid credit card is the perfect way to buy online and protect your private data. The internet has surely opened the world to consumers, and consumers are happily consuming more than ever before. They’re spending incredible amounts of money online, at sites that didn’t even exist ten years ago. Whether for everyday needs, seasonal items, or Christmas shopping, online shopping requires a credit card. That prevents some people with perfect credit from shopping online, although they wish they could. Many people worry about surrendering their credit card number and personal data online. Unless you’ve been in a cave on the dark side of the moon, you’ve heard the horror stories told about thieves who steal identities to pursue a reckless, free-spending lifestyle—with your good credit. A prepaid credit card can prevent the latter and assuage the former. Here’s how a prepaid credit card works. You buy one at a store. When you buy the card, you deposit an extra amount that becomes your available balance. Use the card as you would any credit card–online or in town. Online, it’ll protect you from having to surrender your financial data, but you’ll still be able to shop. In town, you’ll know that your platinum credit card account number and expiration date aren’t waiting in the trash to be found by a dumpster diver. When you deplete your balance, just add more cash at any affiliated store, not only where you originally bought it. Recharge and deplete. Repeat. Rinse the opportunity for thieves to steal your identity thoroughly. A prepaid credit card is also a safe way to join a subscription site. You have the option of disposing of the card if you feel it has been compromised. A prepaid credit card can be a nice barrier between you and a big problem so get one before the bad guys get you.

Global citizens chose the finest monuments when they voted for the new Seven Wonders of the World, the results of which were announced on July 7th, 2007. Preparations are on to celebrate and unveil each one of them over a period of two years. India’s Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Brazil’s Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru’s Machu Picchu, Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid, the Colosseum in Rome and Petra of Jordan are the new Seven Wonders of the World. Petra, also called the ‘Lost City’ is the first of the new Seven Wonders of the World to be inaugurated in December this year. The idea behind choosing Petra to be inaugurated as first new world wonder is to shed a positive light and boost the image of the tainted Arab world. The inaugural ceremony will feature live entertainment including re-enactment of the Nabataean life and unraveling a large tablet inscribing this distinction. This city of architectural marvel was carved into the sheer pink rock by the Nabataean Arabs who settled in Jordan around 2000 years ago. There are hundreds of awe-inspiring and elaborately carved temples, theaters, Corinthian columns, obelisks, sacrificial altars and carved buildings that’ll leave you mesmerized. You will need at least a week to enjoy the dazzling beauty of the city. The city was often subjected to earthquakes and most of the monuments were crumbled by the nature’s fury. Petra is now recognized by the UNESCO as the World Heritage Site and efforts are on to rebuild and restore the ancient city of marvel. Image Source

Running out of options to visit places? Well, try visiting Stockholm over a long weekend vacation. Mostly popular as the Venice of North, Stockholm is built of 14 islands. You can go on 30 different sightseeing tours, try the regular sports or even take a night walk. A round trip airfare to the city starts at $559 and after taxes and fees of $270 it goes up a little bit. March, October and December are good months to obtain this travel deal. All major US airports like Boston, Chicago and Miami have flights heading towards Stockholm. Air taxes and fuel surcharges are an extra $270. At about $60 per person per night, you can book yourself a pretty decent room. Off course, this is the cheapest offer. Stockholm even has Best Western hotels, which are probably one of the world’s leading hotel chains. Winter travel to the Venice of North can be pretty expensive if not booked early. The wonderful city has plenty of museums, parks and waterways. The museums uphold the pride of medieval Stockholm. The museums are categorized into dance, music as well as historical ones. Over the last decade, a record number of visitors(1.6 million) visited the city. If I had time and the money, I would book myself a round trip ticket to Stockholm right now. Image Credits: Seedmagazine

What’s art if there are no patrons to appreciate it? An amazing collection of paintings depicting the scenes of Roman life and legends sat under dust at the Archaeological Museum in Naples waiting to see the light. At last, they seem to have come out of the storage as they go on public display in Rome for the first time in years. The stunning paintings, once adorned private and public buildings in Pompeii, Herculaneum and other towns near Naples before they were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and had to be restored to revive the colors and figures that were faded. The eruptions of Mount Vesuvius killed thousands of people, but the artworks lay beneath the layers of volcanic ash waiting to be unearthed. Like phoenix, nothing could stop these paintings from rising out of the ashes!The paintings offer a glimpse into the Roman history, lifestyle and give valuable information of the ancient civilization to the historians. The great painter Leonardo Da Vinci said, Art is never finished, only abandoned… Source: USAtoday

Food is never too far from Italian’s minds and it’s the place where world’s biggest cheese festival is held bi-annually. Popularly known as Bra Cheese Festival (Cheese – Le Forme del Latte), its one big cheesey party where one can see tables lined with cheese after cheese. In fact it’s a plethora of cheese as far as the eye can see. The fest features thousands of artisan varieties. Every two years, a small city of Bra hosts a four-day street fair for cheese lovers and cheese makers from around the world, where one can sample never imagined variety of cheese. The aim with which the festival was started and still continues to be is to prevent the disappearance of local food traditions and stimulate interest in the food we eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how food choices affect the rest of the world. The cheese comes in all types, shapes, sizes and form (soft, hard, stretched, pressed or blue). Pecorino, Gorgonzola, fontina, mozzarella, provolone, bitto, robiola, taleggio and hundreds of different cheeses with obscure names from the Italian regions and from distant parts of the world can be seen and sampled. Also, there is a huge tent (Great Hall of Cheese) that is set up in the main square where one can taste hundreds of cheeses on display and wash them down with sips of wine from an array of more than 1,500 bottles from around the world. It’s a fun event that attracts thousand of people from all corners. Believe me, it’s one of the biggest appointments of the year for people who are passionate about eating well. The next Cheese fair in Bra will be in the fall of 2009. I’m sure cheese fans won’t even think of missing the fest. Images Source: ABC News

If you’re the one who is interested in buying a piece of history, then go about reading the post. We all know about the Concorde crash, right? Now the news is that the spare parts of this iconic plane and other memorabilia are up for auction at the Hotel des Ventes Saint-Aubin in Toulouse, France. The four day auction got off to a bumpy start Friday. The auction is obviously luring aeronautics enthusiasts. A total of 835 lots, including dozens of cockpit instruments, door panels, oxygen masks, dinnerware and a toilet seat valued at $850 are offered for sale. Among the more sought-after pieces are three Mach-monitoring speedometers, the orange and black analog dials, which display speeds as high as Mach 2 (expected to fetch the highest bids, as much as €20,000 each) and unused replacement parts or components that were actually installed on a working Concorde. A piece of nose landing year (in its original wooden case) weighing 1.2 tons is one of the largest items on offer. An organic-looking airflow-regulator valve made of iridescent titanium (estimated value-€300 to €500) is also a part of the auction. This is the third sale dedicated to Concorde ephemera since the supersonic jet stopped flying in May 2003. Concorde: Commercialized by Air France and British Airways, Concorde was a supersonic jet (a technological marvel) that made its first flight in 1969 but was formally retired in 2003 as ticket sales plummeted after a crash near Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people. The maximum cruising speed of this supersonic jet was 2,170 kilometers per hour and it was capable of flying from London to New York in less than three and one-half hours. The auction is anticipated to reap about $337,000. The items do not have the reserve price meaning thereby that they will be sold to the person who bids the highest no matter what the catalog price is. Even if you can’t attend the auction personally, you can send bid orders online. Image Credit Source: USA Today

If you are a big fan of Champagne and traveling through London, you might want to check out Europe’s longest champagne bar. The 315 feet bar is located at the St. Pancras International train station. Here’s more on the drinks and the ambiance of the Europe’s longest bar – St. Pancras. AS a matter of fact it has become one of the major British landmarks. So, if you want to drink and talk or want to have a champagne breakfast, this is the place to be. On its first day, the bar sold out about 4,500 glasses of champagne! You can buy champagnes worth from 40 pounds till 2700 pounds. I think that’s a hell lot of champagne. If you are dazzled with this number, try the menu. The bar boastfully lists about 70 champagnes on the menu! As of now, it offers about 10 by the glass. There are about 110 bar stools for the guests. The bar also has an elaborate food menu. So, if you just got out of work and feel enervated, you can grab a bite. You can order anything from baked potatoes with sour cream to Seruga caviar. St. Pancras has a very warm reception, along with individual booths equipped with separate heating controls. Image Credit: BBC