When it comes to choosing accommodations, you want to make sure that you locate the best property for your family and budget. With some careful planning, you will be able to find the perfect place to make those memories that will last a lifetime.

Here’s how you can ensure the best villa holidays for families no matter where you choose to vacation.

Read about local safety

No matter if you prefer to find a place inside a city or one that’s a bit more remote, you will want to keep your family safe and happy while on holiday. Most cities or regions will publish past crime reports on the internet so you can research the quantity and types of crimes that occurred in the area in which you’re hoping to stay. That information might be scary to consider, but your knowledge will help you find a place where you can focus on fun instead of danger during your visit.

See Also: Strange International Laws Every Tourist Should Know 

Investigate the location

If you’re hoping for a beachfront villa, it will be a major disappointment to arrive at your holiday house to find your villa’s views obstructed by hotels. Avoid any surprises by pulling the address up on Google Maps and doing a quick walkthrough on Street View, noting what types of restaurants, traffic, and shops are in the immediate vicinity.

Map out nearby kid-friendly attractions

While on a family vacation, you’ll want to have plenty of options for your kids’ entertainment. Take note of which villas are close to the beach or the neighborhood pool and which will require you to haul a load of chairs and snacks to the beach every time want to play in the sand. See where the closest playground is to your villa, as this is always a great way to spend a leisurely afternoon.

It’s also helpful to see how far your holiday home is from indoor activities (like a movie theatre or indoor play park) in case one of your vacation days gets rained out.

Consider the number of bedrooms versus the number of kids

Depending on the ages of the children going on holiday with you, you might need to get separate rooms for them. Younger kids usually don’t mind sharing a room of bunk beds with other kids since they see it as an adventure.

Tweens and teens might need their own space, so consider allowing them to have their own rooms, or, if the budget won’t stretch to include that, allow your older children to share a room separate from any younger kids on the trip.

Ask about the amenities

Since this property will be your home away from home during your vacation, you’ll want to make sure it is as comfortable as possible. Ask your contact if there is an available villa with a private pool (which is always a hit when traveling with kids!) or enclosed yard so your kids can play safely.

You might also want to see if the villa comes with a grill for outdoor barbecues, linens and blankets (which will reduce the amount of luggage you’ll have to carry), and kitchen accessories. Other popular amenities include free Wifi, cable, and local telephone service.

Read previous reviews

When finding the best value villa holidays, you’ll need to find the perfect balance between reasonably priced accommodations and luxury amenities for a complete vacation experience. Make sure you’re getting exactly what you want by reading the honest reviews from previous visitors. See what they liked and disliked and if you can deal with any issues that came up.

Particularly note if there are multiple complaints about nearby construction, check-in or check-out, hidden fees, or uncleanliness of the property. If more than three or four people point out the same negatives, you’ll want to ask yourself if you can live with that issue during your stay.

See Also: Use Pinterest to Plan Your Next Vacation — Here’s How

Ask for additional photos

Choosing between luxury private villas can be a difficult decision especially if you’re planning to visit a location you’ve never visited before. If you are having trouble deciding if a property is right for you, reach out to the villa’s listing agent and ask if he or she can take or provide more recent photos for you. These updated pictures can help you see how the villa’s upkeep and decor has changed since the listing was first made.

Choose a family friendly floor plan

When you’re traveling with your family, you want plenty of space for everyone but you also want to be close enough to your kids if they need help. A floor plan with adjacent bedrooms can be quite helpful if your children are young and need reassurance during the night when they’re away from home.

Find out how baby and child friendly the villa is

If you’re traveling with smaller kids, it’s important to know what types of dangers you’ll be dealing with. If there is a pool, ask if there’s a safety fence around it. Ask the property manager if the house has baby-proof locks on doors and windows.

With these tips and advices, you should be able to find the best villa holidays for families wherever your destination. Have fun!

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Tom Brady has created what is possibly the most successful career for any NFL quarterback, perhaps even in all the major sports. He continues to dominate the league as he nears 40 years old, and he cemented his legacy as the best quarterback ever with his Super Bowl 51 win. He now holds more Super Bowl wins than any other quarterback.

However, his ability to sustain peak performance condition while staying cool under pressure doesn’t happen by accident. His career management skills are worth an in-depth look.

Job seekers and professionals alike can learn a lot from Brady. His career management tactics can benefit anybody who wants to make the most out of their professional life.

Let’s take a look at how you can be the Tom Brady of your industry:

Stay Healthy

It’s no secret that Brady sticks to a strict set of rules for himself. Early last year, his private chef Allen Campbell told Boston.com about Brady’s strict diet. He eats 80 percent vegetables and 20 percent lean meats. Between that and his exercise routines that focus on muscle pliability, he has a very meticulous lifestyle.

When you prioritize your health, your sleep is better, you improve your mental health, and you experience more energy and alertness throughout the day — a clear advantage in your career.

Brady also ensures he gets quality sleep every night, and uses cognitive exercises to destimulate his brain when it’s time to go to sleep. You should also keep your mind healthy with meditation, mindfulness exercises, and visualization. This way, you think clearer and can manage your emotions and stress levels.

See Also: 5 Easy Healthy Habits You Can Start Straight Away

Be Grateful

A common word comes up when people talk about Tom Brady — humility. Despite so many successes in his career, he takes nothing for granted and focuses on bettering himself every day. It’d be easy to call it quits after winning four Super Bowl rings, but he stays focused on playing well into his 40s.

It’s important to stay grateful throughout your career. Just as Brady does, don’t underestimate the value of an opportunity — and that includes those opportunities to experience setbacks. Exercising gratitude helps you keep a healthy perspective on all your ups and downs.

In fact, gratitude can improve your health. A 2016 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine found that a gratitude journaling intervention improved biomarkers for patients with asymptomatic (Stage B) heart failure. Participants experienced less anxiety and depression, slept better, and even had lower levels of inflammation.

Maintain a gratitude journal throughout your career to stay focused on the positive things. For example, on those days that you feel like you fall short, instead of wallowing in self-pity and stressing yourself out, you can look at it in a healthier way. You can write about how grateful you are to yourself for trying your hardest and to your employer for giving you the opportunity to try.

Remain Calm

Brady is an excellent pocket passer. When the defense breaks through the offensive line, he remains in the pocket instead of scrambling away in a panic and making a bad throw. He adapts quickly when the pressure is on and stays calm while he looks downfield for an open receiver.

He also stays focused on the bigger picture. During Super Bowl 51, despite being down 21-3 at the half, Brady led the Patriots to a stunning comeback. He got sacked five times, threw an interception that was taken back for a touchdown, and still stayed focused on taking the small steps necessary, every one of his 43 completions and 466 yards passing, to make the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.

This level of calmness and confidence can be applied to your career management. Embrace major changes, like added responsibilities or new policies, as a way to expand your knowledge, and continue to focus on the bigger picture.

Remain open minded when facing these challenges, and understand that major setbacks play a part in a successful career. This way, you don’t scramble in a panic and miss out on a growth opportunity. After all, those setbacks, whether you’re throwing interceptions or losing a major client, are opportunities for you to learn and grow.

In fact, you should be proactive and seek out new opportunities to learn and grow. Challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone to look for exciting challenges to overcome.

Show Creativity

The New England Patriots are notorious for running play-action passes. Brady will hike the ball, turn around and fake a hand-off to his running back. As the running back pushes forward into the defensive line, the defensive backfield will come forward to stop what they think is a run play. This gives receivers enough time to get open, and Brady will throw to them for a completion.

This creative play keeps the defense guessing. To succeed in your career, you should seek out ways to innovate and think differently about how you do things at work and with your team. Harness creativity in your line of work and show it off to current employers or prospective employers when you’re looking for a new job.

See Also: Top Tips On Training Your Brain To Be Creative

The 2015 Searching for Work in the Digital Era report by Pew Research Center found that 74 percent of 2,001 respondents said it would be easy to highlight all their employment skills using a personal website. Let’s say you’re passionate about graphic design and want to showcase your skills. A website or online portfolio is a great way to prove your design abilities and showcase your creativity. This way, when people ask to see your work, you can direct them to your online presence.

Career management involves planning and making deliberate choices about what kind of work fits you, how you want to achieve a comfortable work-life balance, and how you want to succeed at personal goals.

It all starts with a vision. Tom Brady envisioned playing a long, successful career in the NFL, and he continues to pursue that everyday. His dedication to his daily routines and career management tactics drove him to five Super Bowl rings, and his career, as he nears 40 years old, doesn’t have an end in sight. You need to commit to your goals, stick to your values, and always be aware of how your actions impact your career management.

How are you managing your career like Tom Brady?

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Studies have previously suggested a link between cat ownership and the development of neurological diseases such as schizophrenia. However, a new study published in Psychological Medicine by Francesca Solmi and colleagues at University College London failed to find such a link.

Why would researchers suspect such a link in the first place? This is because of a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma can infect any warm-blooded vertebrate, including people, but it only reproduces in the gut of feline species. When a cat becomes infected with the parasite, it excretes infectious oocysts into the litterbox or elsewhere in the environment for one to two weeks. A new host can acquire the infection through ingestion or inhalation of these oocysts.

Toxoplasma presents a clear danger to two primary groups: immune-compromised patients and unborn children. The latter is why doctors advise pregnant women to avoid changing the litterbox, to wear gloves and a mask while gardening, and to wash fruits and vegetables before eating. Importantly, Toxoplasma can also infect people who consume undercooked meat since the parasite can encyst in muscle tissues of infected animals.

See Also: The Importance of Personal Hygiene for Healthy Living

Given these multiple routes of parasite transmission, it is no wonder that Toxoplasma has spread widely around the globe with an estimated one-third of the human population carrying this parasite. Despite its prevalence, most people have not heard of Toxoplasma because it rarely causes symptomatic disease.

However, reports have surfaced over the last fifteen years that Toxoplasma infection may be producing neurological changes in people. Taking up residence as tissue cysts in the brain, heart, and skeletal muscle, the parasites are never eradicated from the body. Given the parasite’s predilection for the brain, it is tempting to speculate that neurological problems may ensue.

Well-documented studies do indeed show that Toxoplasma causes mice and rats to lose their fear of cat urine. That seems like an oddly specific behavioral change until you recall that the cat is where the parasite completes the sexual stage of its life cycle.

Since 2001, Robert Yolken and E. Fuller Torrey at Johns Hopkins have published many correlative studies showing a link between Toxoplasma infection and schizophrenia. Other neurological problems have also been linked to Toxoplasma infection, as have personality changes.

Since cats are the definitive host and one means of parasite transmission, investigators have been trying to find a link between cat ownership and the development of psychotic symptoms. Yolken and Torrey have published studies suggesting a correlation, but the latest study by Solmi and colleagues contradicts these data.

There are important differences in study design that may account for the discrepancy. The newer study by Solmi’s group used a much larger sample size (nearly 5,000 individuals) than previous studies, and accounted for several confounding variables that could have been misconstrued as a link between cat ownership and neurological disorders. The current study also followed individuals in real-time since the 1990s; previous studies have been retrospective, which relies on the participant’s recollection of the past.

It should also be noted that the current study tracked individuals up to eighteen years for psychotic experiences, which are typically predictive of schizophrenia later in life. Previous studies supporting a link were based on a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia.

None of these studies address whether Toxoplasma actually causes neurological issues in people. This is still an outstanding question that deserves further research. It is estimated that 60 million people in the US are infected with the parasite yet 3.5 million people in the US are schizophrenic. If Toxoplasma is involved with schizophrenia, there must be another factor at play in this relatively small subset of patients.

To date, there is insufficient evidence to declare pet cats to be a cause of mental health problems. Nevertheless, simple precautions can be taken to safeguard you and your cat from getting infected with Toxoplasma. Keep your cat indoors. Do not feed your cat raw or undercooked meat. Finally, clean the litterbox promptly, as it takes a day for the oocysts to mature into an infectious state.

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