Sailing the Seas with Crystal Cruise to Explore the Horizons! When one thinks of the best luxury ship cruise, what comes to mind?

Right off the bat, Crystal Cruises should be the first on your list. With an impressive range of cruise ships, which cover pretty much the entire globe, you are spoilt for choice. From South America to the South Pacific, from Canada to Europe, the Crystal Cruises are a global phenomenon.

Offering the best in luxury accommodation and entertainment, you could not wish for better. Think Love Boat and then multiply that by 100. And Love Boat was impressive enough back in the day.

Northwest Passage Just recently, they let the cat out the bag with their newest venture into the Northwest Passage. This entails, what was once, one of the most impossible routes to navigate. What with the ice that covers the entire Arctic Ocean the entire year, this Northwest Passage has been a trip not for the faint-hearted, but one that many wished they could make.

Crystal Cruises was one of the first to announce their trip into the Northwest Passage for 2016. So, if this has been on your bucket list for ages, don your heavy-duty parker, mittens and warm earmuffs, because your lucky day is arriving soon!

New World Trip Announced Further, they have announced another world trip that will stun all frequent travellers. Since the S.S. United States cruise liner has been undergoing extensive work to get her up to speed like her counterpart S.S. Norway, the Crystal Serenity has stepped up to the plate.

America is in for a global treat! New cruises have been announced for 2019, which will begin in Los Angeles, follow through to the Australian coastline and edge its way around to the beautiful African continent.

Crystal Cruise

s are mapping out a world trip of note here! Further, on their voyage, they will touch on New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and Fanning Island. In addition, they will cross the Indian Ocean and stop over in Mauritius and Reunion Island.

Not to miss all that Africa offers, the cruise ship will dock in the ports of South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Madagascar.

Eventually, after an 84-day expedition, the Crystal Serenity will dock in Monte Carlo for their last stop.

What a trip! So, now, you are wondering what this impressive world cruise will set you back? Well, sit down, take a deep breath and prepare yourself.

The full world cruise starts off at a whopping $26,285 per person and this does not include taxes, port charges and other fees.

You can, if you are not able to or don't want embark on the full journey, hook up with the ship mid-cruise.The shorter segmented journeys will be announced shortly.

If you're too impatient to wait for 2019, Crystal will be announcing, again, two world cruises to take place in 2018, on the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity.

So, you can see, there are plenty of options for all here because

Crystal Cruise

doesn't disappoint.

To have and to hold is a 'forever' concept. Though, sadly a dying one if you see the world scenario in general. In the forever changing world of global business and share markets, will this concept of 'to have and to hold forever, hold? Supposing the answer is yes, how long is that 'forever'?

Is it 10 or 15 years or is it in decades? For many, a year or even quarter of that is an inconceivable period to hold on, as stock market is fluctuating and will swing the way you expect in the least.

So how do you 'have and hold' at least for the next 10- 15 years?

How do you decide upon a long term investment? What are the keys to a safe long term investment? Or rather is it safe to hold on to an investment that long?

The world of business and stock markets are governed by not only the business itself and the technology, market and managing personnel but also partly by the political agencies such as local and national governances.

Now coming back to the big question of how you select your safe long term investment for the next 15 years?

Basically any company manufacturing products that endure the testing of time can be deemed as 'long term investment ' safe. Secondly, the balance sheet should be consistently a steady line or even better 'up'. The technology involved should be innovative to withstand the competitive market. Lastly the management should have a proven record of steering clear of risks; with a history taking care of their investors' interests and property as good as their own. Any company with that emotional connection with the investor will thrive and is commendable as worthy of a long term relationship. It is close to an impossible task to find such a 'paragon ' of a company with all these traits.

Anyway, it is safe to invest in a company with staying power and which yields within 10-15% of the annual returns. At the same time steer clear a long way of company stocks with huge market capitalizations.

With that in mind let's take a look at the Bank of America's study; it states 82% of the millennial claim they want to invest more in 2018. If so where should they look for a long term relationship? Is the financial future for the millennial doomed?

Financial wizards in the US and across the world have opined alike that young investors who are averse to risk and looking for stocks with long term relationship in mind should be focused on the 'blue chips of the future' like Netflix.

The market is varied in industries ranging from energy, technology, food, entertainment, real estate and many more. It is up to the investor to do his own research and follow certain guidelines to decide upon the stocks for long term, and diversify his interest in a few index funds simultaneously with discretion.

As the saying goes the world's one's oyster – truly!

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Likewise sharing economy, collaborative consumption, peer economy, access economy and a person can call this by any name of his/her own choice, the result is the same sweet concept. Yes, this is based on the great concept of 'sharing is caring'. This can be considered as a hybrid between ownership and donation of gifts. But how does it work or who makes it work?

In simple terms Sharing Economy refers to sharing of access to goods by consumers and is facilitated by community services that are operated online. So the key factors that are essential in the smooth running of share economy include:

1. Consumer behaviour itself which changes here from ownership to sharing 2. The electronic media / social network that link the sharing consumers and 3. Mobile apps that enable the use of Sharing Economy extremely simple easy and convenient for the consumer.

Sharing economy has revolutionised and transformed various fields much to the convenience of millions of customers worldwide.

The idea of sharing economy gained momentum in the late 1990's when online trading venues like e-bay, Craig list, etc. gained popularity as they provided users with the unique opportunity to buy/sell items that are no longer used or in other words turning your junk into cash. Later on the concept of renting as against owning gained momentum with the advent of companies like Lending club, Task rabbit, etc.

The company which has become a big success by taking the transportation industry by storm with the idea of sharing economy is Uber. It became a hit not only in its country of origin, the US but in many other countries around the world. Any car owner with the Uber mobile app can drive his/her car as a taxi and generate income from an otherwise may be under-utilised asset. At the same time, this ride sharing drastically reduces the cost for the customer. Close behind Uber, in the same field is Lyft operating on the same concept with the mobile app.

Another company is AirBnb which is beginning to have impact on the hospitality industry in a similar vein. This enables anyone owning a house or apartment to rent out to the needy who are weary of or do not wish to stay in hotels. Casaversa is a company though small that might pose a challenge to AirBnb. This company basically deals with home swapping. There are several different companies though small operating on the concept of sharing economy in USA and other countries, in various fields helping thousands of people in need.

Skillshare is a website which offers online education in various fields for a monthly fee of $10 to the eager learner and anyone can teach their by downloading and signing in to the app. This is the most unique way in sharing education. Other examples that are noteworthy are 'Getaround' for rental cars, ‘Timebank' for trading skills, 'Pivot desk' to find work spaces for small teams on month-month basis.

Now let us see who can be called the pioneer in sharing economy? When it was first introduced? Surprisingly this concept was used 40 years ago when a company called Legal Shield (An American Corporation) was started. The costly business of hiring an attorney changed with the concept of sharing consumption. LegalShield has 1.4 million memberships that cover over 3.5 million people. These people pay a monthly membership fee of about $20 for which they receive unlimited legal access to reputed law firms which are partners of Legal Shield. The lawyers are paid a steady monthly income regardless of the time they spend on a client for a case. So the lawyer strives to resolve the client's issues in the quickest and most effective way possible. Essentially this satisfies both the client and the lawyer and both are satisfied monetarily.

This concept of sharing economy has thus insinuated itself into our daily lives, transforming and making our lives convenient, at the same time giving a commendable lift to our economy too. On the other side of the same coin, as the Harvard business review points out, the term is inappropriate after all as the consumers end up paying for someone else's services/ goods in effect. Thus there are many who question the genuineness of the concept. Those who oppose opine that under cover of this attitude of making our lives convenient and connected, this collaborative concept is actually taking away means of livelihoods for millions while amassing the wealth of the elite technology providers. This concern is yet to be addressed satisfactorily.

Beer is considered as one of the most favourite as well as most consumed beverages among the alcohol lovers of the world. A drink which is so old, thousands of years or probably as old as civilisation itself, and that can be taken to quench your thirst on a hot sunny day as a cold beer, or with lunch/ dinner or even to pass time with friends or on a cold day a hot mulled beer. Without any doubt, it is the most popular alcoholic beverage consumed in the US, though the American palate generally does not cater to mulled beer unlike the English one. Just for the awareness of those who are ignorant, lager, stout, ale all are beer though technically differ in constituents, flavour and method of brewing.

Beer brewing itself can be micro brewing and nano brewing as against mass brewing in large scale though these terms also do reflect a different stand out approach to brewing customer service. Craft brewing is also micro brewing and it refers to traditional brewing method, with lot of experimentation focussing on quality as well as flavour. This is something that is gaining a lot of popularity in the recent times in the US. Finally, as a completion to the technicalities, a brewpub is a pub which brews its own beer for sale and can be considered as microbrewery too. Alcohol content and even the bitterness of the beer are gauged by standard units. Alcohol is measured by volume - ABV and bitterness is measured in IBU (international bitterness unit).

Alcohol content in the American beer usually ranges from 4-6% ABV. The popular brands like Budweiser, Miller lite, etc. have an average of5%. They used to be quite popular before and now are on the verge of being taken over by craft beer in the US.

Like fashion, changing trends catch up with the choice and taste of consumers in beer too. IPA (Indian pale ale), is a beer that is flavoured with the fruit hop. It used to be hopped moderately with an ABV of 5.5-6.5%. But with time the taste preference of beer lovers has shifted to IPA with higher alcohol content and IBU especially in the US.

The sourness is also getting lot of popularity!

To those newly initiated to craft beer, something light similar to Pilsner / lager or session ale or something less bitter that is light on hop like stout/ Belgian blond etc are recommended.

Now, if you are wondering if the US is the topmost among the countries producing beer in volume, the answer is no; it is China! Wait, time for surprises continues. So which country produces the best beer in the world? The answer is Belgium. But don't be disappointed beer lovers of the US, our country occupies a proud second in both the cases, quality as well as quantity, which is quite good. Anyway let us see which the best haunts are for beer lovers of America for whom drinking beer has become more or less a fashionable hobby.

For craft beer in the US, the most sought after places could be Tornado pub in Sanfransisco and Mekong restaurant in Henrico , Virginia. Another such place worth a visit is Bob's bar in Columbus, Ohio.

A piece of good advice on concluding note- dear beer lovers, do dare to seek your beer out of your local zone, for, the best beer beckons you may be from only just a few states away!