Where you can follow me:

• World Travel and living costs - BackpackAbility.com, a new site destined to be a travel and living cost index of sorts for prospective travelers.
• Eco Friendly Green News blog - Ecofuss.com is a new site I acquired that covers everything related to green - living, building, energy, government policy, and every other type of news green friendly people are interested in.
• Backpacking Travel - The site that started it al, BudgetGlobetrotting.com. It rocks, and will hopefully still collaborate with this site in the future.
• Madrid Travel Guide - A new simple niche site I threw up recently giving a good overview of traveling to Madrid Spain
• College Gadgets - soon to be a go to place for college gadgets.
• Nick O - my personal website

An alternative to constantly traveling to vacation destinations that many travelers choose is purchasing a vacation home. Neeldess to say, most of these vacation homes reside on prime waterfront real estate. Waterfront USA is a site that specializes in finding waterfront real estate for prospective home buyers.

The site is easy to navigate and has a fair amount of listings that home shoppers/vacation enthusiasts could be interested in. You can browse the listings by either a specific body of water, or by state. For example, Florida is obviously a hot vacation destination in the US. So you can hop on over to Florida waterfront homes to find listings of waterfront homes for sale.

So if you’re in the market for a waterfront vacation home, or are just curious, be sure to check out waterfront houses USA

The Florida Keys are broken up into three, simple, easy to remember sections : Upper, Middle, and Lower Keys. Each “section” of Florida Keys offer their advantages and disadvantages, but they’re all great beach vacation destinations. Generally speaking from my own experiences when visiting the Florida Keys, the beaches get better the farther south you go.

The Upper Keys

The Upper Keys main destination is Key Largo, which is a moderately popular destination. John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park is Key Largo’s main public beach, but it isn’t very nice. If you stay at the Westin in Key Largo you’ll have access to a nice private beach, but Key Largo beaches aren’t anything to brag about. It’s a better idea to head farther south for some beaches.

Instead of beaches, Key Largo accels in its snorkeling, scuba diving, and ecoogical activities. They have some of the best reefs in the world, and have many wild nature reserves dedicated to protecting the rich everglades environment.

The Middle Keys

The Islands of Islamorada and Marathon in the Middle Florida Keys have some pretty good beaches and beach resorts. Besides the beautiful and secluded beaches offered on the beach resorts in the Middle Keys, the famed seven mile bridge on the Overseas Highway is located here. A drive on this beautiful bridge is a must for beach goers and travelers to the area around Marathon.

The Lower Keys

The Lower Keys are home to the famed Key West, thus making it the Florida Keys vacation destination. Key West is home to several great beaches, including

• Smathers Beach
• Higgs Beach
• South Beach
• Dog Beach
• Fort Taylor beach

Smathers Beach is the most popular beach, by far, in Key West. Smathers is a long, crowded, and busy beach frequented most by tourists. Beach activities, like parasailing and watercraft rentals are popular at this bustling beach.

Besides the beaches in Key West, the city is also rich with art, history, and culture. It’s also impossible to miss the “southern most part in the US,” which was earned with Key West’s 90 mile distance from Cuba.

So whether you prefer great beaches, great nightlife, or great ecological activities, the Florida Keys has everything to offer you.

This is a sponsored review.

OTbeach.com, (On the Beach for the slower minded) has been around for awhile. For 12 years it has specialized in booking beach vacations for its customers. For one final point to prove the site’s legitimacy, it is a member of the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents), which is a trustworthy governing body. OtBeach also excels as an online travel agency in two other important areas.

1. Good Prices - Price is often the most important thing when booking vacations, especially when booking online. OTbeach has a price matching program and “low price guarantee.” Terms for this can be found on their site.

2. Flexible Booking options - This is one of my favorite parts of OTbeach.com. On their site, they really push using their toll free number, which is a definite plus, since some travelers are still weary of booking online for some reason. But more importantly, for those who don’t like to research hotels and/or really don’t care to take the time to do so, OTbeach can basically find you a vacation destination that fits your desires. So if you tell them the destination, budget, and timeframe, and an OTbeach rep will call you back to discuss your trip. Simple enough.

So if you know you want a beach vacation somewhere (and if you’re British), consider booking online with OTbeach.com, as their specialty is beach travel, and they seem to do a good job with it.

Brave New Traveler has an awesome little guide about easy beach yoga for dummies. They have a thirteen step yoga routine for beach goers. Here are a few random yoga steps in their routine. For the full guide, visit the original yoga article above.

1. Relax your body, especially your shoulders with a deeeep breath.

2. Stretch your arms out to your side (make a cross) and twist your torso, while keeping your head moving with your upper body. Keep your legs still and slightly bent at the knees.

6. Squat, with your back straight. Keep your hands together and put pressure on your knees with your elbows.

12. Stand like a tree. This one looks cool. Stand, and bend one leg and put your foot on the straight leg, but not on the knee. Stand tall, and put your hands together. Try to hold this one as long as possible.

13. Sit Cross legged. Keep your back straight, and try to put your head in the sky.

For an easy to follow along picture guide, there is a flickr photo set here: beach yoga pictures. The yoga pictures go right along with the original guide, so be sure to team them up together when practicing your yoga for the first time.

Photo above originally by judepics at flickr.

It seems that to make a surf spot highly surfed and crowded the spot first and foremost needs to have good surf. Environment plays into the popularity of surf spots, there needs to be: clean water, good weather and easy access. Add the seasonal influx of tourist surfers and closeness to a major city and you have the recipe for crowding! Bear in mind, the ideal crowd is you, and a few good surfing buddies when you check out the 10 most surfed waves in the world where you can go and do battle to get a wave.

1. Superbank, Queensland, Australia - The Superbank formed around 2002 when sand pumped from the nearby Tweed Rivermouth started filling in the gaps between Snapper Rocks, Rainbow bay, Green Point and Kirra to form one long sand bank - 10 second tube rides are commonplace. Swell is consistent, the water is warm and there is usually every man and his dog out surfing! The Superbank hosts the first event on the WCT calendar, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is known as the “coast with the most” and is a favorite surf travel destination for Europeans, Japanese and Americans. Crowding Factor: Ultra Crowded

2. Pipeline, North Shore, Hawaii - Pipeline (Banzai Pipeline) is the king of all surf spots for its amazingly perfect tubes and ferocity. It breaks close to the beach over a shallow reef close to Ehukai Beach Park. Pipeline is the hollowest, biggest barrel on the North Shore, always crowded and always dangerous. Before, during and after the winter season when the WQS and WCT events are being held Pipeline is seriously crowded. Tempers get frayed and drop-ins are commonplace. Don’t even attempt it unless your familiar surfing big, heavy, hollow waves and are willing to pick up the waves that the pros and locals throw away! Crowding Factor: Ultra Crowded

3. Trestles, California, USA - South California is a place where every man and his dog surfs! Trestles gets very crowded and is highly localised. There’s no doubting the quality of waves at Trestles, they can reach a clean 10ft and on a good day you’ll get 300-500m rides (if the locals let you). Trestles hosts a raft of surf contests all year including the ASP Boost Mobile Pro in September. Trestles fame, quality of wave and proximity to Los Angeles and San Clemente no doubt make it as crowded as it gets. Thankfully there are other local waves to sample. You’ll need to remember “be cool and they’ll be cool”. Crowding Factor: Always Crowded

4. Duranbah, NSW, Australia - Duranbah is a beachbreak that straddles the border between New South Wales and Queensland and actually belongs to NSW although its on the surf vacations hotspot, the Gold Coast. Brisbane city is only 1 hour away and the Gold Coast itself is a densely populated area plus its a favorite for tourists from all over Australia. Duranbah (Dbah) is possibly one of the most consistently crowded surf spots year-round in all of Australia, if not the world. This is the home beach for many pro’s like Occy, Parko, Fanning and Deano. Duranbah sucks in any swell going producing consistent waves. So while the rest of the Goldie may be flat, Duranbah will have a wave. Crowding Factor: Crowded - Ultra Crowded

5. Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia - Uluwatu (Ulu’s) is by far the most popular surf spot on Bali due its unrivaled consistent surf in the dry season. Ulu’s has 4 different sections; long and hollow ‘Temples’, ‘The Peak’ right below the warungs. Super fast, shallow but makeable barrel ‘Racetrack’, ‘Outside corner’ which is a breaks when swell is in the 8ft range. The most surfed waves and among the best are to be found at Uluwatu. You can still get a wave if you wait your turn or get up early enough. Pay $10-20 dollars and get one of the many local photographers to take pics of you surfing. Crowding Factor: Always Crowded

6. Malibu, California, USA - Longboarders love this place! If you’ve ever watched the original ‘Big Wednesday’ surf film you’ll see a little of the history and buzz built around this fabled right hand point. Malibu has been surfed since World War II and its name is synomious with surfing and surf lifestyle. The waves are perfectly shaped for hot dogging. Not even polluted waters can keep surfers away from this place. Crowding Factor: Always Crowded

7. Fistral Beach, Newquay, England - The Brits call the Newquay area the Gold Coast because of its surf, sun and sand. You wouldn’t believe it but the cold, wet, winter weather does give way to warmth and sunshine in the summer. Waves max out around 6ft but up til then you can ride lefts and rights all the way to the beach. Summer time can be very crowded with locals, newbies, learners and swimmers making full use of the summer weather. Unfortunately for the locals, the crowds don’t let up that much in the winter. Crowding Factor: Can be Ultra Crowded

8. Rocky Point, North Shore, Hawaii - Rocky Point is one of the most consistent surf spots on the fabled North Shore and its a surfer’s dream. You’ve got varying sections of rights (Rocky Rights) and lefts (Rocky Lefts) breaking up to 6 foot but working best on 3-4 foot swell. Rocky Point works on almost any swell direction but due to its consistency and location between Pipe and Sunset it can get ultra crowded. In the busy surf contest season crowds have been known to get well in excess of 100 surfers and 60 photographers on the beach! Our advice is check it out in the off seasons between Febuary and October. Crowding Factor: Usually Crowded

9. Katsuuras, Chiba, Japan - Otherwise known as ‘Malibu’ is one of Japan’s classic reef breaks. Locals, including pro surfers from Chiba area crowd the lineup making for a strong local scene. Because Katsuuras is 1-2 drive from Tokyo (a city of 12 million people) the potential for crowding is heightened significantly. It’s hard to catch a waves if more than 10 surfers are out at the best of times, but at times there will be over 100 surfers out. Autumn typhoon season is the best for surf. Adding to its fame, Malibu saw epic 4-6ft barrels for the 2004 WCT final of Kelly Slater vs. Andy Irons. Crowding Factor: Can be Ultra Crowded

10. South Beach, Florida, USA - American’s summer playground, an active local surf scene and a favorite tourist destination of Europeans means that Florida gets pack in the summer. The beaches are abundant with sun soaker types. As many as 400 people have been known to fill the water at South Beach. Not all of them are surfing but it sure makes the inside super busy with swimmers and learners. South Beach may lay claim to the most grotesquely crowded lineup in the world. Crowding Factor: Ultra Crowded at times