I have not been back to Bulgaria since June. I’m suffering withdrawal symptoms. Above all, I miss that spectacular scenery, fresh food and heart warming rakiya. Nazdrave! However, my last visit did inspire me to take up golf. I started seriously in August and am just about to take the French ‘Carte Verte’ exam* which will allow me (hopefully!) to come back to Bulgaria and play properly at Pravets, as well as on most golf courses around the world. But I’m still a beginner and will probably be so for many years to come. But anyway, thank you again Bulgaria and Odysseia-IN for the inspiration.

As in the past, I bring you some more tips, comments and facts for first-timers to help you discover the real Bulgaria……

Meet another internationally famous Bulgarian
Larger than life Bulgarian-born artist Christo lives in New York where he dreams up his fantastic creations. But he continues to work all over the world. You name it, Christo covers and wraps it up to create strong visual impacts…..landscapes, monuments, islands… Two of the best known projects he undertook with his wife, Jeanne-Claude, when she was still alive, were the Gates in Central Park New York and the wrapping of the Reichstag building in Berlin www.christojeanneclaude.net

More FOOD glorious fresh food
Banitsa is part of the Bulgarian psyche and a meal in itself which is eaten anywhere at any time of the day or night. It’s a traditional Bulgarian savoury dish made by layering a mixture of whisked eggs and pieces of white cheese between filo pastry, and then baking it in the oven. Delicious and very filling…just what you need in the fresh mountain air. And talking of white cheese, as Bulgarians do constantly, don’t miss Chushki biurek (fried peppers stuffed with white cheese)

A land of amazing HERBS & SPICES
There are herbs for every medicinal purpose and condition – depression, anti-cancer, headaches, blood circulation & purification, diabetes….And as you walk in the mountains, there they are growing wild before your very eyes. But you’ll need an expert to guide you. Mixed together they make a wonderful free and soothing herbal tea.

Achillea Millefolium is a perennial flowering plant (with small white flowers) related to chamomile, and it has always been highly prized by traditional healers for its wide range of medicinal properties, particularly its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory qualities. It has been used to combat everything from infections and cuts, to digestive disorders and arthritis.

And ЧУБРЦА (chubritsa) is the spice Bulgarians take with them whenever they go abroad. They use it in everything; beans, lentils, stews, bread….

Welcome Mr. PRESIDENT
Bulgaria’s new President Elect is Rosen Plevneliev. He’s 47 and comes from the centre-right ruling party, GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria). He’s an ICT engineer and former entrepreneur who became Bulgaria’s Regional Development Minister in 2009. He managed the EU funds for infrastructure and saw through several successful large-scale projects. He is married with three children.

Rosen Plevneliev is a results-oriented politician (Yes, Bulgaria can!) who takes up his new office on 23 January. Both Bulgaria and Europe are expecting great things from the President in his continued fight to improve the country’s image and stamp out corruption.

Flexible RESTAURANTS
It’s not like rural France where you often can’t find any lunch after 13.30. Restaurants in Bulgaria are normally open 11.00-24.00 and you always seem be able to get a meal, however late in the afternoon or evening. As long as there are customers, they’ll never say it’s closed.

There are open fires everywhere which gives real atmosphere in winter and makes even empty restaurants psychologically warm. Mehana is the word for a more informal tavern and han/hanche is an inn. They also serve food.

SKI-ING up mountains….you don’t have to be completely mad, but it helps!
Well you don’t exactly ski upwards, but you do climb with skis on. Ski mountaineering is not for the faint-hearted. It’s for masochists and the very fit, who are also experienced skiers. Coming down again off-piste makes it all worth it in the end…

As the father of modern skiing, Sir Arnold Lunn (1888-1974) once said, “the combination of skiing and mountaineering is the finest of all sports”. Mind you, he was slightly biased.

Book your travel with Odysseia-IN Bulgaria.

Vienna, VA

“I think the most effective way eco-lodges enhance a family travel experience is by introducing travelers to how to live responsibly and comfortably without taking something away from nature,” said Irene Lane, visionary founder of Greenloons.

She added that eco-lodges recommended by Greenloons are community owned and operated, use environmentally friendly building materials, buy locally and responsibly grown produce, reduce overall water consumption, use renewable energy sources, carefully dispose solid waste, and utilize indigenous plants for landscaping. Additionally their guest programs, such as treetop game viewing in lieu of safari drives in Kenya, are also environmentally astute.

Here are Greenloons’ top examples of ecologically sustainable family lodges:

Costa Rica’s Pacuare Lodge carries a Certificate in Sustainable Tourism and has received Travel + Leisure’s Global Vision Award, Condé Nast Traveler’s World Savers Award and the World Tourism Award for Sustainable Community Development. When being constructed not one tree was chopped down. The lodge employs local Cabecar Indians and, among other green initiatives, promotes jaguar conservation. It also offers world class whitewater rafting nearby.

Peru’s Refugio Amazonas Lodge in a 200-hectare private reserve on the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve is a Rainforest Alliance-certified lodge using traditional native materials of wood palm fronds, wild cane and clay. An observation tower overlooks a fraction of the Amazon canopy.

Ecuador’s Yachana Lodge, also in the Amazon, can be a learning experience in, among others, medicinal medicines and traditional healing practices.  This is a Smart Voyager-certified establishment.

Kenya’s Masai Mara Lodge enjoys the Kenya Eco-Rating Gold certification in Kenya’s premier wildlife reserve, the Masai Mara. The lodge endeavors, in addition to applying highest level green practices, to preserve the local culture and improve local income generation by promoting traditional handicrafts as well as featuring in guest tents furniture made by women’s groups in the Talek region. Tree-top wildlife viewing posts have reduced the need for game drives.  The varied wildlife and natural environment, in addition to the culture of the local Masai people, come together to provide a spectacular lodge safari experience.

I just finished reading Seth’s latest book, Linchpin – Are you Indispensable? It’s a challenging and  inspiring call-to-arms for each and every one of us to become a linchpin…”the people that invent, lead, connect others, make things happen, create order from chaos, figure out to do when there’s no rule book, and delight their customers and peers. Linchpins love their work, pour their best selves into it and turn each day into a kind of art.”

It was when I read the word last word line paragraph above—art—that I thought of guides…the trip leaders who I’ve traveled with that made my journey one that exceeded my expectations, surprised me, delighted me, changed me. Their joy, passion and enthusiasm were immense…and genuine. The best guides are ones who routinely and seemingly without effort are able to elevate their work into an art form. And it made me realize that given an identical itinerary, you could have a very different experience depending on your guide.

With good reason, the best tour operators obsess over selecting, training and nurturing their guides. After all, once the trip departs, the operator’s brand is embodied and delivered by the guides and other field staff assigned to the trip. Here’s how Kurt Kutay, who along with his wife Anne are the co-founders and owner of Wildland Adventures, define what makes an exceptional guide:

“Being a really good Wildland guide is a really easy job (hah!). Actually, it requires a knowledge of history, ecology, archaeology, or other areas of expertise, first-aid training, in addition to having leadership skills and being a good communicator and a great listener. But the most important thing is to be, and to share, your genuine Self! If Wildland travelers are the initiates who seek to connect with the people and the places we visit, then our guides are their best friends who take them down new pathways by encouraging, sharing and supporting the traveler to be open-hearted and open-minded to new experiences.

Our goal is to share a real world without artifice, that craves our understanding and compassion rather than our judgment; a world that seeks to welcome us rather than entertain us. And to accomplish this, above all other factors, it’s the guides: guides are the catalyst between travelers and their experience.

Having the right guide that creates the ‘Wild Style’ experience is the difference between magic and mediocrity in travel. There are many trained naturalists, excellent tour escorts, and knowledgeable historians and archaeologists, but we seek native guides with the requisite wide range of skills and character: a sufficient command of multiple languages, the requisite knowledge and the skill to impart the information, the experience to lead, but above all else a personality that is open to sharing a part of themselves, and their personal beliefs and values, which creates an opening that induces heart-to-heart interactions between travelers and their hosts.

With guides like this, who bring with them a smile and good-natured sense of humor, our guests go farther in their journey to know a place deeper, to discover themselves better, and to develop closer emotional ties to others they meet along the way. Therefore, it’s not just about the ability to transmit information succinctly and quickly to the traveler, but more importantly to create experiences unwritten in a published itinerary that often become the most meaningful and memorable simply because they are real, unplanned and in-depth.

The criteria for excellence in guiding have changed from knowing the place to facilitating the most profound and meaningful experiences that travel can provide. This is only accomplished by knowing the individual traveler; not only from knowing what the individual traveler wants, but knowing what the individual traveler should want and how to artfully deliver it.”

Godin says “If art is a human connection that causes someone to change his mind, then you are an artist.” In my experience, an artist guide is the catalyst that sets the stage for the magic of travel that transforms and inspires us as we celebrate and embrace the incredible diversity of our planet and its peoples.

In a future article, I will share with you the key questions you’ll want to ask an outfitter before you entrust them with your money and precious vacation time.

At Off the Radar, we usually write about trips you can book immediately – but traveling deep into Equateur Province of the Congo to visit the Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve to see Bonobos in their natural habitat is not something you can do…yet. In April 2009 primatologist Jef Dupain of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), in partnership with Jengai Tours out of Cameroon, led a group of 12 adventure tourists to test out a trip that AWF hopes to begin running four times a year.

The Lomako reserve is the only place in the world tourists can visit to view Bonobos in their natural habitat. The endangered Bonobos are our closest living relative. They only live in the dense lowlands of the Congo Basin, and are rarely found in zoos, likely because of their sexual repertoire: they use sex for most types of communication, including greetings and conflict resolution.

The group flew into Basankusu, where they climbed in pirogues – traditional dugout canoes carved from one tree, for a four day journey up-river. They floated up increasingly narrower tributaries of the Congo River, squeezing though the dense jungle that looms over the water. As the pirogue glided upriver, the group encountered small communities, living on the riverbanks and subsisting entirely on fishing.  Camp was set up in the pitch black of night and goat dinners were cooked over coal braziers.

The days at the reserve were spent on extended forest walks through the wet vines, creeping moss and verdant thistle, led by local guides who have grown up in the jungle.  Guests could taste fruits, sniff and touch trees, vines and flowers, or swim in the spring in the middle of the forest and or the fast moving currents of the Lomako river.

AWF built the Conservation Center with three goals: study the bonobos, protect the forest, and develop eco-tourism as an income generator and incentive for conservation for the local people.  AWF spent nearly two years in talks with locals. As Jef said, “This was the first time the (planning process) brought local communities together and allowed them to meet with DRC wildlife authorities and government ministers. This sent a clear message that the AWF approach to conservation was really built on a regard for the traditional rights of local people.”

Keep this one in mind for your trips next year (as AWF plans on running trips four times a year starting soon) – the experience is truly unique and contributes meaningfully to conservation and local communities: 60 Eco-guards have been trained and have graduated from the Congolese Institute for Conservation, most of the food is bought from nearby communities, and the building materials and labor was all locally sourced. The custom trips will depart from Bansankusu. You’ll spend a few days at the Reserve learning about bonobos (as well as forest elephants, congo peacocks, and other fauna), interacting with the local community, and participating in the Center’s activities. Click here to see the visual blog from trip participants Sigrid Johnson and Donald McMaster. For the latest news on the trips, be sure to sign up for AWF’s newsletter here.

(Thanks to Sigrid Johnson, Donald McMaster and Kate Gersh for their accounts of this trip!)

Please note that several countries recommend no non-essential travel to the DRC as it remains a difficult and dangerous place to travel.  Please be sure to check advisories before planning a trip to the region.

Off the Radar is the online magazine for adventure travelers featuring responsible adventure operators, news from adventure destinations, images and personal accounts from the field.  Sign up for our newsletter here ]]> http://news.adventure.travel/2009/08/03/watching-bonobos-deep-in-equateur-province-of-the-congo/feed/ 0 http://news.adventure.travel/2009/05/14/kite-the-costa-esmeralda-in-veracruz/ http://news.adventure.travel/2009/05/14/kite-the-costa-esmeralda-in-veracruz/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 22:50:18 +0000 Off the Radar http://news.adventure.travel/?p=322 Off the Radar is the online magazine for adventure travelers featuring responsible adventure operators, news from adventure destinations, images and personal accounts from the field.  Sign up for our newsletter here

Peppi Stunkel and Omid Kay recently founded Elemental Kite Club on the Costa Esmeralda, in Veracruz. We first met Peppi in 2007 when she was working with volunteer-adventure tour operator Protect the 

Earth, Protect Yourself, in Cambodia. Now far from the rice fields, Peppi’s new project opens up her favorite bit of coast in Mexico to new and experienced kiters.

What she loves about the new business: “miles of empty, hazardless beach, and the mango margarita at the palm-thatch Palapa Bar!” She and Omid have spent countless hours scouting the best areas for kiters of all levels, and also put together trips to the nearby El Tajin ruins and white sand beaches.

Elemental guests can stay in their partner hotel, the Taboga, an eco-boutique facility catering specially to kiters.

Visit their site at www.elementalkiteclub.com or email Peppi at peppi@elementalkiteclub.com
- Off the Radar at www.travelofftheradar.com

Follow us on Twitter: @traveloffradar

Spice up your classic Kenyan safari by following it up with a few days of kite surfing on Kenya’s coast. Glassy bays and the challenging waves of the Indian Ocean beckon kite surfers to Che Shale where lessons and rental equipment are available for newbies. On the days you’re not in the water, visit Malindi or head to Tsavo National Park, famous for being the real site of the 1996 thriller about Tsavo maneaters, The Ghost and the Darkness.

The founders of Che Shale take their responsibility to the community seriously and eight years ago built a school which now serves 180 students. They also established the Che Shale Kasimani Community Program which offers incentives to local people to identify, develop and manage their own small business projects. The program is managed through an Italian NGO, Terre Solitarian.

Visitors stay in one of Che Shale’s several “Bandas” (swahili for hut), constructed from all natural and local materials and rave about the mouthwatering seafood at the Che Shale restaurant – don’t miss the crab!

Visit their website or send an email to cheshale@gmail.com for more information.

- Off the Radar at www.travelofftheradar.com

Follow us on Twitter – @traveloffradar

Ever wonder about the people making the great gear you use when you’re hiking the Annapurna Circuit or cycling through Moab’s Canyonlands? They’re people like Stasia Raines of Eagle Creek, who just returned from a mixed adventure-volunteering trip through Thailand and Cambodia.

In addition to its efforts at creating more sustainable fabrics and equipment, Eagle Creek supports a number of philanthropic projects around the world, often discovered through the traveling adventures of their staff. Stasia visited a couple of projects when she mixed her recent dive holiday with a stint volunteering in a North Thailand orphanage and short visit to Cambodia.

In Cambodia Stasia visited PEPY, a volunteer-adventure tour operator featured in past editions of Off the Radar. And she says that in Thailand one of the best aspects about her time at the orphanage was talking with some of the older girls about to leave the system and enter college – “they’re debating things like, ‘Should I go back to my village?’ ‘Should I go to on to school?’ ‘If I go to school, what should I major in?’ – worries that are really so universal,” she says. “And now, they’re all my friends in Facebook!”

In the outdoor industry it’s not uncommon to discover people like Stasia, finding unusual ways to bring their personal interests and passions into the workplace. Both Off the Radar and ATTA are  proud to have Eagle Creek as a lead sponsor. Thanks Stasia!

- Off the Radar at www.travelofftheradar.com

Follow us on Twitter –  @traveloffradar.com

Off the Radar is the online magazine for adventure travelers featuring responsible adventure operators, news from adventure destinations, images and personal accounts from the field.  Sign up for our newsletter here

Some of the best kitesurfing in the world is found over 100 miles from the ocean in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.  Local kiters turned us on to Big Winds in Hood River,  where you can get safety-conscious instruction from people who are passionate about kite surfing, the Gorge and the Hood River community.

Atmospheric pressure differences between the east and west side of the Cascade Range create the wind tunnel effect in the gorge, which generates reliable winds for kiters all year round.  Learn on solid ground with a “trainer kite,” and then take it to the water!

And if you find yourself tired at the end of the day, try one of the local sustainable beers and organic wines, as well as local fruit, meat, and goods on the not-to-be-missed Fruit Loop!

- Off the Radar at www.travelofftheradar.com

Follow us on Twitter @traveloffradar

1. Always pack a shawl or sarong and keep it handy in your pack. It’s good for covering up your legs or your head; good for sitting on; great for wrapping around your waist while you change out of a swimsuit and back into your jeans; excellent for warming up, shading yourself, or replacing a towel.
2. Scan your credit cards, passport, and vaccination certificates and keep them in your email in case you lose them while traveling.
3. Don’t bring anything you don’t mind losing.
4. Bring one bag. Only.
5. Pack a jar of Iodine tablets for water purification.
6. Carry a a simple but thorough first aid kit for internal and external problems, from heartburn to puncture wounds.
7. Don’t forget your sense of humor!
8. It’s nice to have a comprehensive travel guidebook but also the knowledge that it can only get you so far, and there is a lot more than is in the book…
9. Tuck a a small headlamp, baby wipes and ziploc bags into one of those suitcase sidepockets.
10. Always order the local foods - locals make GOOD local food, but you’ll likely be disappointed by their version of American cuisine.

- Off the Radar at www.travelofftheradar.com

Follow us on Twitter: @traveloffradar

Please note:

• Always check seasonal weather and destination activities to further fine-tune your proper attire and gear
• Also check local cultural restrictions to determine appropriate attire
• Gear and vendors recommended by the Adventure Travel Trade Association is in parenthesis following select items

Pre-Departure

• Personal identification
• Passport
• Visa
• Health documentation
• Insurance for trip cancellation/medical/evacuation (Medjet Assist, Travel Guard, Travel Insure, or World Nomads)
• Emergency information
• Transportation tickets (www.Away.com, www.Orbitz.com)
• Frequent flyer information
• Lodging, transfers, and activity reservations (www.Away.com, www.Orbitz.com)
• Hotel/tour contact info
• Traveler’s checks
• Currency
• Money belt (All Terrain Money Belt)
• Credit & ATM cards
• Copies of airline tickets/passport/etc.
• Security pouch and/or organizers for passport, tickets, etc. (Security and ID)
• Reconfirm/check-in online with airline
• Positive attitude and an open mind!

Luggage

(For a variety of luggage options, see the Eagle Creek, Kelty, or Osprey websites)

• Primary travel bag (Take 2 ORV Trunk 28, Big Rolling Duffel, or Sojourn)
• Carry-on bag (Porter or Redwing)
• Packable spare bag (Packable Day Pack)
• Packing accessories for clothes, toiletries, etc. (Packing Solutions)
• Luggage locks (Security and ID)

Clothing:

*Always check seasonal weather and destination activities to further fine-tune proper attire
*Also check local cultural restrictions to determine appropriate attire

Tropical

• Footwear (Newport H2 – M’s, Whisper – W’s)
• Underwear (Give-N-Go Underwear)
• T-shirts (Neptune Tee – M’s, – W’s)
• Pants (Insect Shield® Convertible – M’s, – W’s)
• Shirts (Insect Shield® Halo Long-Sleeve – M’s, – W’s)
• Visor or brimmed hat (Insect Shield® Adventure Hat – M’s, Insect Shield® Sun Bucket – W’s)
• Bandana (Insect Shield® Bandana)

Dry

• Footwear (Voyaguer – M’s or W’s)
• Underwear (Give-N-Go Underwear)
• Socks (Insect Shield® Pro Calf-Length Sock)
• Shorts (Nomad Short – M’s, – W’s)
• T-shirts (Satellite – M’s, Dri Pointelle Scoop Top – W’s)
• Pants (Insect Shield® Convertible – M’s, – W’s)
• Shirts (Air Strip Lite Shirt – M’s, Dryflylite Shirt – W’s)
• Light jacket (Gobi Jacket – M’s, – W’s)
• Visor or brimmed hat (Insect Shield® Adventure Hat – M’s, Insect Shield® Sun Bucket – W’s)
• Bandana (Insect Shield® Bandana)

Temperate

• Footwear (Redmond – M’s, Genoa Peak – W’s)
• Underwear (Give-N-Go Underwear)
• Socks (Insect Shield® Pro Calf-Length Sock)
• Shirts (Insect Shield® Barrier Crew – M’s, Insect Shield® Barrier Crew Hoody – W’s)
• Pants (Insect Shield® Ambush Pant – M’s, – W’s)
• Soft shell (Latitude Jacket – M’s, – W’s)
• Shell (GORE-TEX® Foray Jacket – M’s, Aspire Jacket – W’s)
• Gloves (WINDSTOPPER® Gripper gloves – M’s, – W’s)
• Visor or brimmed hat (Insect Shield® Adventure Hat – M’s, Insect Shield® Sun Bucket – W’s)
• Bandana (Insect Shield® Bandana)

Cold

• Footwear (Growler – M’s, Vail – W’s)
• Underwear (Give-N-Go Underwear)
• Socks
• Shirts (Migrator 1/4 Zip – M’s, – W’s)
• Pants (Takeover Pant – M’s, – W’s)
• Fleece (Alpental Fleece – M’s, Alpental Fleece Hoody – W’s)
• Shell (GORE-TEX® Foray Jacket – M’s, Aspire Jacket – W’s)
• Shell pants (GORE-TEX® Foray Pants – M’s, Aspire Pants – W’s)
• Hat (WINDSTOPPER® Alpine Hat)
• Gloves (WINDSTOPPER® StormTracker gloves)

Polar

• Footwear (Summit County Boot – M’s, – W’s)
• Underwear (Give-N-Go Underwear)
• Socks
• Sock liners
• Baselayer top (Midweight Zip Neck LS – M’s, – W’s)
• Baselayer bottom (Midweight Bottom – M’s, – W’s)
• Gloves/mitts (GORE-TEX® Alti Mitts – M’s, – W’s)
• Glove liners (Midweight Baselayer Glove – M’s, – W’s)
• Hat (WINDSTOPPER® Alpine Hat)
• Balaclava (WINDSTOPPER® Gorilla Balaclava)
• Shell (GORE-TEX® Mentor Jacket – M’s, Enigma Jacket – W’s)
• Shell pants (GORE-TEX® Mentor Pants – M’s, Enigma Pants – W’s)
• Insulated shell (Greenland Baffled Jacket)

Gear

*Always check seasonal weather and destination activities to further fine-tune proper gear

• Watch
• Camera, lenses, memory card/stick
• Camera bag
• Sunglasses
• Binoculars
• Guide books and maps
• Language materials
• Reading materials
• Travel journal
• Pen/pencil
• Electric converters (Converters and Adapters)
• Travel alarm (Easy View Travel Alarm)
• Scarf/bandana
• Games/playing cards
• Snacks
• Water bottle/hydration system
• Travel neck pillow (Comfort Travel Pillow)
• Eye shade/earplugs (Comfort Plus Eye Shade / Ear Planes)
• Tissues/toilet paper
• Cell phone – or not!
• Flashlight with batteries/bulb
• Spare batteries/bulbs
• Sewing kit
• Duct tape
• Clothes washing kit (Clothing Care Kit / Stain Removing Towlettes)
• Sleep sack (Design Salt)

Travel Health

*Please consult your local health center or personal physician for help in planning your trip’s medication needs. (www.travel-vaccines.com)

• Water purification system (Micropur and/or Ultralight Series)

• Travel health booklet

• First aid kit, including:
  • Pain reliever/fever reducer
  • Diarrhea medicine
  • Laxative
  • Malaria or other destination-specific medication (www.travel-vaccines.com)
  • Tweezers
  • Band aids
  • Moleskin

• Cold medicines/throat lozenges
• Extra eyeglasses and/or contact lenses
• Contact lens items
• Insect repellant
• Sun screen/lip balm
• Sunburn relief
• Antibiotic cream
• Hand sanitizer
• Motion bands (Motion Bands)
• Vitamins

Toiletries

• Toiletry kit (Toiletry Kits)
• Prescriptions
• Shower shoes
• Comb/brush
• Toothbrush/paste
• Mouthwash
• Dental floss
• Deodorant
• Soap
• Skin lotion/cream
• Mirror
• Manicure articles (nail file/clippers)
• Shampoo/conditioner
• Razors/shaving cream
• Hair dryer
• Travel towel (Travel Towel)
• Travel bottles (Pack-It Liquid/Gel Set)

Home Checklist

• Advise bank of pending foreign credit card use
• Stop deliveries
• Stop newspaper
• Have post office hold mail
• Advise home alarm company of absence
• Arrange for care of pets, lawn, and plants
• Re-set sprinklers
• Set-up timed lighting system

• Leave house key and trip itinerary with a neighbor
• Leave flights and hotel itinerary with a relative
• Empty refrigerator
• Eliminate possible fire hazards (unplug appliances, etc.)
• Turn off/down heater or air conditioner
• Turn down water heater
• Store valuables in a safe place
• Lock all doors and windows
• Pre-pay bills

Download Printable PDF Checklist