For the last few years, I have worked as a traveling sales representative, serving as a liaison between the heads of different regions. In many ways, it is a terrible job. To say that it has put a strain on my relationships is putting it mildly. It has ruined more than one relationship. I simply can’t devote enough energy to keeping things going when I am gone three weeks out of four! Nevertheless, it does have some perks. I get to meet interesting people from all over the world, I make great money, and best of all I get to enjoy amazing accommodations.

If you have never stayed at luxury hotels before, you really don’t know what you are missing. As a matter of fact, before I stayed at luxury resort hotels, I didn’t know there was anything to it. Even though I had enough money to afford staying somewhere nice, I usually would keep it pretty simple. A clean room, a bed to sleep on, and maybe a continental breakfast were enough for me. My business trips changed all that. The first trip, I got to stay on a luxury beach hotel in Mali! I had the ocean right outside my front window, and every day I got to watch the sunrise over the waves. There was a pool, spa, and even a free massage included! Before I stayed in that luxury hotel, I didn’t know what living well was.

An annual holiday is always something to look forward to, but it’s good to treat yourself in between those holiday periods as well. One way to do this is by booking a weekend break - and the possibilities for what you can do are endless.

First of all, think about whether you would like to relax and unwind: somewhere quiet and peaceful, or whether you would prefer to de-stress by taking part in an outdoor activity like boating or mountain biking, for example. Your answer to this question should give you some ideas on what kind of location would be best for you.

You don’t have to go that far a-field to get away from it all either. In fact, when you are spending a weekend away you don’t want to be travelling for hours to get to your destination. Pick somewhere that is ideally not much more than a couple of hours away from your home. That way you can get an early start on Saturday and still enjoy the whole day - and on Sunday you won’t have to worry about leaving early to get home in time for a good night’s sleep before work the next day.

According to economists, there are five principal reasons for the East Asian currency Crisis or IMF of July 1997 that caused a period of economic unrest and turmoil in Southeast Asian financial markets. The countries that were mainly affected during the crisis included Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea. Inadequate foreign exchange reserves, improper handling of fund allocations and inadequately developed financial sectors in the developing Asian countries have been held as the prime reasons for the drop in the local currency exchange rates against the US dollar during the period.

The entire episode of economy crisis started due to inappropriate speculations. Speculators forecasted a decline in international market growth and started selling South East Asian currencies. With this, there was a currency depreciation and sudden drop in the value of Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, Phillipine Peso and Indonesian rupiah. Due to this, all these markets had to sell their dollars to buy back their currencies. This caused a rapid decline in the foreign exchange reserves. In the second stage of the crisis, the lower value of the neighboring currencies affected other Southeast Asian currencies like Taiwan dollar, South Korean Won, Singaporean Dollar and Hong Kong Dollar. Governments raised the interest rates for the purpose of defending the local currency and inviting foreign capital. Due to the rapid decline in the economy, investors started removing their investments from the markets, thereby initiating a fall in the stock prices. IMF with the assistance of World Bank and Asian Development Bank arranged support packages of around $120 billion in order to rescue these markets.