If you’re thinking of travelling to the United Kingdom to learn English, or to study any subject, then you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. According to a recent infographic on learning English abroad, published by Kaplan International, around 600,000 students arrive in the UK to study english every single year.

So where are these students coming from? According to the infographic (which you can see in full by clicking the link above), China sends the most students to the UK, with nearly 50,000 in the 08/09 academic year:

The UK of course isn’t the only place you can travel to in order to learn English (the US for example is an excellent place to learn the language), but it is the primary destination for the majority of international language schools and agents and is an excellent place to immerse yourself in the language.

According to the Kaplan infographic, a hefty 15% of all the students in the UK are international students, with 16% of those coming to the UK to study language (with English being the most prominent):

It’s not surprising the UK is such a popular destination (despite English being an official language in over 70 countries, giving students a lot of options), with some of the best educational establishments in the World and some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world (as long as you’re not too bothered about the weather).

If you’re interested in studying English abroad (in the UK or further afield), then get in touch with Kaplan International via their website and see what they can offer you.

Increasing numbers of people are choosing to invest their spare cash in holiday poroperties. Rather than squandering money in foreign resorts, you can hope to earn money from your vacant holiday home, and have the benefits of great personal accommodation in your favourite holidaying spot every time you go away.

Unfortunately, holiday homes are not all about the fun and weekends away.  When you are looking to secure your holiday home investment with an appropriate insurance policy, there can be an alarming amount of figuring out to do before you are ready to talk to insurers.

As with any business transaction, it is worth being as well prepared as possible, including holding specific information, facts and figures for your property. In the case of overseas property insurance there are many potential pitfalls, areas of red tape and country-specific details you should try to understand. In this article I have gathered together some of the most useful internet resources, which might make your life a little easier, and the holiday part a little closer!

French Property Insurance for your Holiday Home

Many people choose to invest in property abroad, and with its great cuisine, peaceful countryside and civilised pace of life, France is one of the most popular locations to find the perfect overseas holiday home. Unfortunately, many people only discover the intricacies of French property insurance when they have to make a claim, and often find that small print, conditions and local restrictions can make a badly-chosen policy literally worthless.

This useful guide to French property insurance is an excellent introduction, and should help you get off to the right start in selecting a well put together policy.

Unoccupied Holiday Home Insurance

Quite rightly, any insurance company worth its salt recognises that unoccupied holiday homes have unique risks attached. Any property that may be left unoccupied for long periods poses specific risks. Unoccupied holiday property is more vulnerable to burglary, vandalism, damage from extreme weather, and unlawful occupation. The extra possibility that an issue can remain undiscovered adds to the potential for disaster. All these factors mean that it can be hard to secure the right unoccupied holiday home insurance, and many policies place totally unreasonable limitations on your cover.

This guide to unoccupied holiday home insurance will help you understand the issues involved, and what you need to look out for.

Insuring Your Holiday Home in Spain

Growing numbers of people are choosing to buy their dream second home in Spain. Maybe you went on holiday and didn’t want to come back, or perhaps you were sold on the idea by one of the popular TV shows featuring gorgeous Spanish properties? Well, however you got there, owning and insuring property in Spain comes with its own set of potential pitfalls, and it is very easy to end up with a cheap Spanish insurance policy that could be useless in the event of anything going wrong. This handy guide to insurance for holiday homes in Spain will help you to iron out the risks.

Raoul Jouk is an independent writer based in England. Raoul enjoys writing about travel, music, holidays, culture and the whole business of spending your spare time well.

When looking for fun and exciting things to do in Canada there is only one place you should be looking that has the lot from the Niagara falls to the Haliburton Forest, here is the list of top 5 places to see when you find yourself in Ontario.

1. Kayaking in Georgian Bay
Why not try your hand at wilderness living by taking your camping gear and roughing it on one of the 3000 mini islands along the eastern shore. Or just see how many islands you can travel around in a day by canoe or raft. There is much to do on these mini islands and you can improve your skills by going on one the different group excursions available.

2. Canopy Trails in Haliburton Forest
Scaling up the canopy at a height of between ten and twenty metres above the ground you will have a completely different sense of the forest and as you travel along the longest canopy walk in the world you will gain a new perspective of the forest.

3. Ice Climbing at Batchwana Bay
If you are travelling to Canada in the Winter Seasons then you might just be on for the most extreme of spectacles, the Eastern Shore of Lake Superior, Batchawana Bay Agawa canyon. But beware it is extremely hard work but they do have different grades of difficulty and different routes ranging from 10 to 200 metres, try the Mother of Pearl route if you’re a reasonably fit individual, it’s only 20 metres but has it’s challenges.

4. Mountain Biking via the Ontario North Bike Train
Mountain biking is taken very seriously in Ontario, so much so that they have introduced a train specifically for those mountain bikers all with interconnecting bike trails to explore. There are plenty of places to rent bikes as well if you don’t have your own.

5. The Niagara Falls
Let’s face it, a trip to Canada wouldn’t be the same without a visit to one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world, so a boat trip or a helicopter are the ideal methods to really get the sense of scale of the greatest water fall in the world.

Canada is not just for the retiree as you can see there are plenty of exciting things you can do and this is just one territory. Why not take a look at Vancouver holidays if this doesn’t quite take your fancy.

Andy is a travel blogger and copywriter currently working for a company that specialises in Holidays to Canada. If you have your own experiences he would love to hear them so comment below or tweet him @andym23

England is renowned the world over for its miserable weather and almighty gusty conditions which in theory should create perfect sea conditions for surfing. You won’t be wrong in thinking that the British coastlines are forever being battered with harsh coastal surges and unforgiving winds, but rest assured these don’t make perfect surfing conditions, in fact these types of conditions are a surfers worst nightmare.

Did you know you can’t surf on any old waves, the saves you surf on need to have a “swell”, a set of swollen waves have a large much larger frequency than normal waves (longer time in-between each wave) and are much less choppy, instead they have a fuller body and are much more stable which enables them to support a weight of a surfboard.

Swells are the results of tropical storms usually in the Caribbean region, these sets of swollen waves then travel many thousands of miles across the width and length of the Atlantic Ocean until they crash on the coastlines across western Europe.

Secondly even if a good set of swollen waves are among the mix alongside standard English waves they can prove relatively difficult to define as they commonly stay same size until they hit a seabed, distinguishing which wave is which can prove quite difficult to amateurs surfer although seasoned surfers generally think it easy.

In the United Kingdom it’s unlikely you’ll ever catch anybody surfing the beaches unless they’re giving it a shot in the south-easterly counties like Cornwall or Dorset, the only counties luckily enough to ever receive a decent amount of swell. The waves that lap the mostly sandy shores of the south are generally around 5ft high, just the perfect height for beginners and amateurs not but too small that experienced surfers wouldn’t be challenged.

The coastal towns and cities are extremely tourist and surf orientated which pose positive and negative values in both respects, you will always find what you’re looking for be it good hotels, nice restaurants and thing to do and see, while on the other hand the beaches will be heavily saturated with other tourists and the general shop prices will be that little more expensive to gain more from demanding visitors.

So is it actually worth trying to surf the coastlines of the United Kingdom? The answer is yes!.. But you have to go to the south-western counties where the waves have swell, and expect to be confronted with masses of tourists who flock to these regions during the summer months.

Article Wrote by Adam Roggers a board shorts designer and cool sufer dude living in the United Kingdom

So, we all know that there are Crocodiles in the sewers, Obama isn’t American, and women can’t have orgasms.

Whether or not you are a victim of any of these common myths, everyone can fall for a lie sometimes and swimming pool myths are no exception. In order for you to get your facts straight and hopefully relax a little more by the pool, I have collected up some of the most popular and prevalent myths about swimming pools, and most importantly – why you shouldn’t let them spoil your holiday.

Myth #1 – Chlorine makes swimming pools smell bad.

“We went to the pool today, and had to leave because the smell of chlorine was so strong. I even put in a complaint.”

Honestly, there is no reason why well-looked after swimming pools should smell at all. That familiar ‘swimming pool smell’ that seems to vary in intensity is not actually the chlorine itself, but things called combined chloramines that are created when chlorine does its job destroying bacteria & other ‘organic material’ (yup including THAT organic material). So the chances are that if you find the smell too much, the pool staff most likely need to use more chlorine and better swimming pool filters to clear up those nasty chloramines.

Quite simply, the dirtier the clientele & the less rigorous the cleaners, the more chloramines build up and the smell gets stronger. Sort it out please, hotel manager!

Myth #2 – Don’t swim for an hour after eating or you’ll get cramp and drown!

“Kids! NO!!!! You can’t swim for an hour you’ve just had your lunch.”

Well, whichever side of the fence you are on, we all know that parents’ main function is to worry about everything, know everything, and have the final word. But on this one, my mum, your mum, most people’s mums – were in the wrong. People get cramp because they are using their muscles more than their system can currently handle; it’s a simple case of blood flow, oxygenation and muscle health not living up to the demands placed on them. Of course, if you’ve just had a large meal, your body is diverting more blood to the digestive system, which could moderately increase your chances of getting a mild cramp. Even in this case, the chances are increased no more than jumping in the swimming pool and going wild after a whole morning lazing about.

So, send the kids in the pool whenever they want. The digestive, muscular & circulatory benefits of swimming far outweigh any truth in this ridiculous myth!

Myth #3 – They put chemicals in the water that turn purple if you wee!

“Listen kids – don’t wee in the pool. It will turn the water green, everyone will know, and you’ll have to go home.”

Call it the wee-finder, call it guilty water, call it a ‘most embarrassing’ childhood fear, call it what you want, but this myth is especially pervasive and seems to be accepted by children worldwide.
But thankfully here’s another terrifying myth we can safely put to rest. I for one remember being told this on some fun day out with all my mates at the Lido. We all looked in terror at one another, promised we wouldn’t wee and get ourselves kicked out, and spent the entire day running off to the toilets every time we sipped our drinks. It was late in the day when one of my friends whisperingly told me he had wee’d in the swimming pool… and there was no purple cloud.

Mmm… combining the answers to myths #1 and #3… we’ve uncovered the true purpose of this myth. To save money on chlorine! But seriously, don’t wee in the pool.

Myth #4 – Chlorine turns blonde hair a nasty bogey green!

“Tracy, don’t get in the pool… I spent hours in it yesterday and my hair turned green! It’s too much chlorine!”

This is another case of mistaken identity. Poor old chlorine is like the ‘usual suspect’ in the neighbourhood, always getting lined up to take the rap for any old crime that comes along. Quite simply, good old misunderstood chlorine is innocent, but someone else was at the scene of the crime – and left some irrefutable evidence. The real perpetrator of this swimming pool horror is a common mineral (get it? Huh-huh…) often found in swimming pools in safe levels. Copper, the vicious green hair-colouring blonde-thief, can be introduced by using mineral-based systems intended as alternatives to popular swimming pool chemicals.

Guess what you need to clear up excess minerals like copper? Our best mate – good old innocent chlorine!

Well, that’s it for this post. I’d be especially interested to know if anyone’s got any more swimming pool myths for me to debunk, and in the meantime – enjoy the pool!