Category: Travel

By Phin Upham

Your DSLR is only as good as the equipment you carry with you. When you’re at home, you have the advantage of arranging a travel day where you can carry only what you need. When you’re travelling abroad, things get a little trickier. You have to worry about how much weight you’ll carry in a given day, where you’ll go and the kind of photos you’re likely to take. You can solve some of these issues by reading up on your destination and planning ahead (such as anticipating when you might want to focus on scenic landscapes). Determining which equipment is essential means you can pack lighter and shoot the photos you want without issue.

The Basics

Most of what you need is all about the kind of lens you take. If you plan to view a lot of scenery on your trip, which is usually the case when you’re backpacking or visiting an historic locale, you’ll probably want to take a nice wide-angel lens. If you plan to see lots of things from far away, like temples, you’ll want a good zoom lens so you can capture details.

Another concept to keep in mind is focal lengths. If you plan to shoot at night, or you want very specific shots with good depth of field, focal length becomes extremely important. Gaps in focal length can affect the type of shots you take and make it much harder to get the effect you want.

A tripod is a luxury: nice but not needed. Why? Most DSLRs have setups that allow you to shoot at night without one. That’s assuming the night or dark place isn’t pitch black. Even then, a good flash will do better than a tripod will.

About the Author: Phin Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or LinkedIn page.

By Samuel Phineas Upham

Most of the land that would become New York’s Botanical Garden was actually owned by the Lorillard Family. The City of New York eventually acquired that land, along with some of the surrounding areas, and decided to set up both a garden and a zoo there. The garden opened in 1891, during a time when industrial growth stifled natural life. The garden was like a fresh respite.

Today, the garden has more than 50 sections that include various plant species living together in harmony. A cascading waterfall gives way to manmade wetlands. Nearby, visitors will find a growth of 50-acre forest on a tract of land that has never been logged.

One of the more intriguing structures in the garden is the vintage-looking greenhouse, created by Lord & Burnham. It’s modeled after an 1890s crystal-palace greenhouse that Nathanial Lord Britton and his wife saw during a trip to the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. The two thought that it would be marvelous to bring something so fresh and wonderful back to Manhattan.

The forest on that land is split by the Bronx River, which is the only fresh water body to run naturally through New York City. One can even find rapids there.

The grounds also house an extensive research laboratory, which primarily focuses on plant genomics. Among many questions, scientists hope to solve Darwins “abominable mystery”, which asks the question of when, where and why did flowering plants emerge? The lab was also given a grant of more than a half million dollars to try and create tree barcodes from plant DNA, which helps to identify different species definitively.

About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or Facebook.

Article written by Tokyo Travel Guide

If Abu Dhabi is in your future plans as a travel destination, you might want to read below to see which transportation system is the most efficient.

If you’re planning on travelling around Abu Dhabi for the first time, then you should understand the basics of how to get around the city. The preferred method of transportation is by car, and you can find a cheap car rental in Abu Dhabi without having to break the bank.

Rent a Car

If you plan on spending time outside of Abu Dhabi, it’s best that you rent a car. The major highways aren’t difficult to navigate around, which will simplify travelling to where you want to go. There are, however, significant maintenance efforts that go on so be aware of your surroundings while driving to avoid any construction-related traffic accidents.

Taxis and Bus Systems

If you’re spending time inside the city, you could also fare well just by relying on taxis and the bus system. If you plan on visiting multiple locations around the city, the taxi fares might begin to add up and exceed your transportation budget. If you and your family aren’t a fan of pushy crowds, then it’s recommended that you avoid the bus system as it can be quite packed at certain times of the day.

Travelling for Work? Rent Monthly

Planning on staying for a longer period in the city? Pick up a monthly car rental in Abu Dhabi. This investment will unquestionably be worth it, especially if you merely don’t have the time to be hailing a taxi every day. If you’re on a business trip that entails you to travel outside of the city, you won’t have to deal with the hassle of paying extensively to travel longer distances.

Monte Carlo Rent a Car, LLC is your premiere destination for car rentals. If you’re looking for a long term car rental in Dubai International Airport, Monte Carlo Rent a Car, LLC has you covered.

By Phin Upham

Today, Hong Kong residents can relax and walk among the preserved remnants of the Kowloon Walled City in the Kowloon Walled City Park. That name, though, is somewhat lost over time. The meaning of the walled city stretches as far back as 960, and its history has to do with relationship between Hong Kong and Britain.

The Chinese originally erected a fort on the land, which traces its roots back to the Song Dynasty (which ended in 1279). The idea was to create a fort that would manage the salt trade in the region, but it became an important point of conflict between the Chinese and the British during the 1800s.

Although the improvements to the city wall were completed, it fell to invaders and became embroiled in the Taiping Rebellion. Britain won an extension of Hong Kong Territories for 99 years, but chose to do little with Kowloon. It had allure as a tourist attraction, but little lasting appeal.

The Japanese occupied the area during World War II, which led to an explosion in population. Within forty years, those troops would leave the area and no one was around to police it. By the 1980s, Kowloon was a haven for prostitution and narcotics use.

In the early 90’s Hong Kong’s government made the decision to demolish the structures in the area, save for a few key buildings, and construct a park instead. Visitors today frequent the yamen building, for a remodeled example of classic Chinese architecture.

About the Author: Phin Uphamis an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or Twitter page.

By Andy’s Rent-A-Car

So you’ve finally decided to treat yourself to an once-in-a-lifetime vacation by heading to Grand Cayman. You’ve made the right decision. Everyone should head there at least once in their lives, though most who go there can’t help but return over and over again. Before you head over there, though, make sure you do some planning and think the decision through. Do you have everything you need?

First, you have to have an itinerary. Though Grand Cayman may seem relatively small, there is a whole host of things to do there. So take the time to look into what you might want to do. Otherwise, you’ll be spending vacation time trying to figure out where to go next.

Second, you need a Grand Cayman car hire. Like we just covered, there’s a ton to do on this island. A car rental in Cayman Islands is the only way to ensure you can get around at will. You don’t want to waste time sitting around waiting for public transportation, the hotel shuttle, etc.

Finally, we heartily recommend you leave your everyday life behind. If at all possible, don’t check email. Don’t take your cell phone with you everywhere you go. Enjoy the vacation for what it is so you don’t come back with any regrets.

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If you have a vacation to Grand Cayman coming up, don’t forget the most important part. Contact Andy’s Rent-a-Car to get your own Grand Cayman car rental and enjoy your vacation on your own terms.