Traveling To America

New York City is one of the most popular key travel destinations for corporate travellers worldwide. The city is the center of much that’s great, dynamic and profitable in America. It is home of one of the world’s principal financial centres (i.e. anchored by Wall Street), and a popular business hub for the publishing and entertainment industry at the same time. So, it’s no surprise it features three airports, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and J. F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). As a frequent corporate traveller you probably may have flown to one of the three New York airports at some point or another. With JFK being a major international gateway to the US, this city guide aims to provide some helpful travel agents tips for corporate travellers flying to or from JFK Airport.

New York JFK Facts & Figures

Located about 25km away from Manhattan in Queens, JFK Airport is the largest airport in the state of New York and one of the busiest business travel hubs (over 50 million travellers/year) in the US and internationally. It has six operating terminals (numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8; terminal 6 was demolished in 2011, Terminal 3 in 2013). Currently, the 4th runway is under redevelopment to comply with the needs of Group VI aircraft (until December 2015 as planned so far), which may cause delays, but measures are in place to minimise them, so you shouldn’t be too much affected. With more than 90 airlines arriving and departing from JFK, various business travel solutions for flights to New York can be arranged. Points of origin and destinations include places within the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Pacific, Australia/New Zealand, basically all over the world. The airport offers corporate travellers a choice of non-stop flights to about 100 international destinations which may prove convenient for your next business trip. However, JFK is very susceptible to weather-related delays due to its position. Corporate travellers are well advised to consider and prepare for possible thunderstorms in summer, causing delays across the US, as well as snow, icing and assorted slush throughout the winter season. For the months between June and November the risk of potential hurricanes is increased.

In general, our business travel agents team advise leisure and corporate travellers to allow plenty of time for getting to and from JFK. Serious traffic incidents on the way between the city and the airport left many wondering whether they’ would be able to make it in time or miss their flight. Furthermore, don’t forget that this is America. Therefore, bear in mind that the TSA rules supreme over security checkpoints. So, take a deep breath and take maybe a book with you or something else to keep you busy. Make sure you arrive early.

Useful JFK terminal facilities for corporate travellers

In most public areas within most terminals, corporate travellers will conveniently find that Wi-Fi is available for free for up to 30min. You can get online near the ticket counters, boarding gates, designated work stations and food courts. The Wi-Fi access is provided by Boingo Wireless Company. If you need to use the internet for longer than 30mins., consider the following options: 1) $4.95 (£3.01, €3.77) per hour (pay as you go), 2) $7.95 (£4.83,€6.05) for unlimited access throughout a 24-hour period (day pass), 3) $9.95 (£6.04,€7.58) per month (unlimited access via a monthly subscription, to be used worldwide), or 4) if you already have a user account, simply log in using your user name and password. ATMs, currency exchange options (Lenlyn or Travelex), a rental phone shop, and more than 100 shops alongside various dining options are available at the terminals.

Ground transportation services from JFK Airport to New York City

The most convenient, stress-free way for travel from and to JFK Airport is to take the AirTrain. It is a cost efficient and helps you make sure you arrive at the airport in time, whilst avoiding possible traffic jams. You can access AirTrain services via the New York City subway system, which is also connected to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR). The journey from/to the city takes just over an hour. AirTrain is operated 24 hours on 365 days a year. Within the airport area, it connects terminals and also enables you to easily access car rental services, hotel shuttle areas and parking lots. At peak times the trains depart every 7 minutes and at off-peak times they go every 15 minutes. However, be clever in choosing your business travel route, as various routes make different stops within the airport. Good news for corporate travellers is that travel within the airport is usually free of charge. However, travel outside the airport is subject to a fee. AirTrain prices generally start from $5 (£3.04, €3.81). For more details on ticket prices are provided on the JFK Airport website under costs and tickets. If you travel via New York’s public transport network, then it is a good idea to use MetroCard, which is widely accepted and is worth to purchase for travel via subway, local trains, or buses. You can find vending machines for buying a MetroCard at Howard Beach and Jamaica Station. A good alternative for corporate travellers would be to take a taxi (for up to 4 passengers). Simply wait in the cab line for a licensed and insured cab to take you to your destination (about $52, i.e. about £31.58, €39.59, flat rate between JFK and Manhattan, excluding tips and tolls). The time for this trip should be about an hour. However, it can take much longer during rush hour.

Shared-ride shuttle services are a cheaper option than taxis, but can involve a lot of waiting and being driven around New York City to drop other people off first. You can find a full list of providers on the airport authority’s website. But remember to tip appropriately, as tipping (around 20% of transfer cost) is quite common and keep in mind that bridge/tunnel tolls are not included in the shared-ride shuttle services fares. Another option is to ask your business travel company to arrange a shuttle service for your trip from and to John F. Kennedy International Airport as prices can vary greatly depending on location and number of passengers. In this way you can ensure that you are travelling with a reliable supplier.

If some one asks me the first thing that I would like to change or improve upon given an opportunity. The answer without second thought would be my home. Why? This is the place where I feel most comfortable and this is where I have enjoyed my best times and to enjoy those again and again I would improve my home.

In fact that is the case with almost every person. So if you are one of those people who wants to go for home improvement but cannot because of financial constraints. UK guide to home improvement can provide an ideal platform from where it would be a lot easier to go for home improvement.

The home improvement that you may go for could be minor or major. It purely depends on the requirement of individuals on how they see things at that point of time. The usage for which a home improvement loan may be taken depends on person to person and his needs or just luxuries.

Few reasons why a home improvement loan is taken in UK are:

·Adding of new rooms like bedroom

·Renovation

·Safety repairs

·Roofing, plumbing and sewer repairs

·Landscaping

·Adding luxuries like a swimming pool

The home improvement loan in UK is available with two options to the borrowers. They are:

A secured home improvement loan which can be taken by the borrowers if they can provide a security to the lender. The security may be any of the assets of the borrower his home, car or any piece of land. With these loans we can get a loan of up to £75000 for a long period.

Advantages of a secured home improvement loan in UK are

Low interest rates, hence low monthly payments.

People can easily avail big amounts for long time.

Easy and fast approval of loans.

A disadvantage of a secured loan is that it can only be availed if the borrower has a security otherwise these loans are not available.

Other way of getting a loan is through unsecured loans these loans do not require any collateral to be provided. So these loans are available to almost every body from tenants to home owners. With these type of loans we can loans starting from £500 to £25000.

Advantages of unsecured loans are
Everybody can take these loans as no collateral is required to be provided to the lenders. Therefore no risk is attached to the borrower.

Disadvantages of taking unsecured loans are

High interest rates

High monthly installments

Small loan amounts are approved

Home improvement loans in UK are now available to every body even to people who have bad credit history. It includes people like CCJ’s, arrears, defaults, or late payments.
Bad credit history is determined on the basis of a credit score which is given to every borrower in UK who have previously taken loans. A score of below 600 is the one which brings in the reputation of bad credit.
Considering the importance of homes and their improvements these loans are made available to people with bad credit history as well.

Home improvement loans not only serve the purpose the also provide many benefits to the borrowers as well.

·Home improvement appreciates the value of the house which helps the borrower in many ways.

·For people with bad credit history it is a chance of improving their credit reputation.

·While in the process of taking home improvement loans you can get suitable advice on other different topics.

“Home sweet home” that is how the phrase is and that is certainly true for most of the people. A healthy home environment can lead to a healthy work and other things. So a home should be perfect in our eyes. As perfection begins from home and then filters through to different aspects so if you feel that home improvement is needed than you should go for it.

Managing people has always been a challenge everywhere. This is because people are difficult to manage and most managers too lack the skill of effective people management. This is why we are X-raying this book entitled “The Art of Managing People”. It is co-written by Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr.Anthony Alessandra, two brilliant management experts.Hunsaker is a professor of management and director of management programmes, School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. He is a renowned consultant, speaker and author of many best-selling books on management. As for Alessandra, he is a highly-respected sales, marketing and management consultant as well as an award-winning public speaker. He has written more than 100 articles.According to Hunsaker and Alessandra, the art of managing people productively and effectively is a dynamic process that is ever changing and evolving, and many of the managerial concepts proposed only a few years ago cannot and will not work in today’s environment. These experts ascribe this development to the fact that people, business environment, government and world have changed, while scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labour.Hunsaker and Alessandra submit that attracting, training, motivating and keeping employees have become much more difficult and expensive, adding that these will even get worse in the future. They submit that this text has been written to overcome many of the traditional manager-employee relationship problems. According to these authors, when a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the whole organisation are substantial.These authors assert that the text offers you practical strategies, guidelines and techniques for developing interpersonal skills critical to the improvement of relations with employees; how to understand differences among people and behave accordingly; assessing and improving current working situations; creating trust between managers and employees, etc.Hunsaker and Alessandra say person-to-person skills are central to the development of an effective team of satisfied and energetic workers. They educate that allowing your workers to express their own personalities and maximise their potential will reduce stress within the workforce, create a positive spirit throughout the company and increase the organisation’s productivity and profitability.This text is segmented into three parts of 19 chapters. Part one has a generic subject matter of building productive managerial relationships, and covers the first five chapters. Chapter one is entitled “Adjusting effectively to personal style differences”. According to Hunsaker and Alessandra here, interactive management is a process of dealing with people as individuals in order to build trust, openness and honesty in the manager-employee relationship, thereby improving productivity in the organisational set-up. In their words, “To treat your employees as unique individuals, you as the manager must understand what makes them different from one another. With this knowledge, you can go about managing your employees as unique individuals with unique personalities, problems, and needs. This ‘custom-tailored’ approach to managing employees in an organisational setting is one of the major thrusts of interactive management.”Chapter two is entitled “Learning how to learn”. These authors say here that successful managers in today’s rapidly-changing world are distinguished not so much by a set of technical skills as by their ability to learn and adapt to the fluctuating demands of their careers. They stress that continuing success requires the ability to explore new opportunities and learn from past successes and failures.Hunsaker and Alessandra say one purpose for studying the learning process is to understand how people go about generating concepts, rules and principles from their experiences as guides for their future behaviour, and how they modify these concepts to improve their effectiveness in new situations.In chapters three to five, these authors discuss concepts such as doing unto others; deciding how to decide; and analysing transactional styles.Part two is summarily woven together as “Interactive communication skills” and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters six to 13. Chapter six is entitled “The art of questioning”. Here, Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that one of the most critical and valuable tools in the manager’s arsenal of communication skills, is the art of questioning.They add that the ability of the manager to ask the right questions at the right time to help his or her employees best is an essential and integral part of interactive management. “Skilful questioning simplifies the manager’s job because it gets employees to ‘open up’. The employee feels free to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, current situations, goals, and desires. With this knowledge, the manager is in a much better position to guide the employee to the ultimate achievement of personal, professional, and organisational goals,” assert Hunsaker and Alessandra.In chapters seven to 13, they beam their analytical searchlight on concepts such as the power of listening; projecting the appropriate image; communicating through voice tones; using body language effectively; spatial arrangements saying things; how your use of time talks; and making sure with feedback.Part three, the last part has a general subject matter of interactive problem-solving and covers the last six chapters, that is, chapters 14 to 19. Chapter 14 is entitled “Problem-solving together”. Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that when managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually something like “I don’t know. I just do what has to be done”. In the words of these authors, “Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, all would probably agree that making ‘good’ decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management.”In chapters 15 to 19, Hunsaker and Alessandra discuss concepts such as defining the problem; developing action plans; implementing action; following through; and what to do with what you have learnt.As far as style is concerned, this text is on the high rung of the ladder. For instance, the language of the text is simple while the organisation of concepts is okay. The authors use graphical embroidery for visual reinforcement of readers’ understanding. What’s more, the title is short but assertive.However, grammatical errors are noticed in the text. One of these is, “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potentials…” (outside back cover), instead of “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potential…” Note that “Potential” is an uncountable noun and therefore does not structurally take an “S”). Another error is that of structural redundancy, that is, “Much more difficult and much more expensive” (page xi) instead of the elliptical version “Much more difficult and expensive”.In spite of these errors, this text still passes for a masterpiece. It is a must-read and the tips must-apply for anybody that wants to become well educated in the art of management in the New Year.