Archive for March, 2010
Hopping across the channel has never been easier, either by boat, plane or train so a break away in France, Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands is easier than you think. If you are basing yourself in one of these countries and exploring the local regions a self catering holiday cottage or villa is a great option to base yourself in especially if you are driving your own car or hiring one. If you are self catering you are not regimented to hotel structure and can come and go easily and freely, plus if you intend to explore as much as possible of the surrounding area you do not have to be back at certain times to catch a meal.
There are so many culinary delights to enjoy across Europe it’s great to get out and about and enjoy these, visiting local markets to bring back food to cook in the comfort of your own kitchen or exploring local restaurants to sample local produce.
When you are staying in a holiday villa or cottage you have much more privacy than you do in a hotel, plus a lot more peace and quiet to enjoy, some villas and cottages also come with their own private pool so if you are looking for a summer getaway but don’t want to fight for a sun lounger then these are a great choice. You also have the option to stay in larger groups, great for the whole family to get away and all be together.
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Bringing the past back to life with a transatlantic cruise is defiantly something one should experience, the Atlantic ocean is one of the world’s greatest cruise routes going back to its heyday of steam liners crossing the vast expanse. There’s nothing better than setting out on this exciting voyage in luxury that you get on a cruise ship which has a superb selection of international cuisine, leisure activities, evening entertainments and kids clubs, to ensure the entire family has a memorable experience everyone will love.
A cruise holiday from Southampton to San Francisco is one of the best over 20 nights you stop off at ports that include Madera, St Lucia, Isla Margarita and Curacao as well as passing through the Panama Canal and stopping off at Acapulco before you arrive in San Francisco.
Willemstad, Curacao
Picture courtesy of Jessica Bee
There is no worry about not having enough time to enjoy all the ports as you get to spend a day in each travelling to some over night as well as been able to relax and enjoy the amenities the ship has to offer on the days you are at sea.
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Picture courtesy of Alain Picard
So there is no better time to start looking for cruise deals to go across the pond!
Most people can name the major UK airports but many are unaware of smaller UK Airports unless they happen to live nearby. If you are looking to take a short hall flight to the continent or taking an internal flight these smaller UK airports are a godsend, you will find as they are smaller they are not as busy so you don’t get caught up with too much queuing especially with all the added security we have now. They are great if you are wanting to take a trip around the UK but it’s just too far top drive and too inconvenient to go by train a flight to London or Glasgow is made some much easier and convenient. Below is a list of some of the smaller UK airports:
Dundee
Barrow In Furness
Carlisle
Hawarden
Gamston
Alderney
Blackbushe
Bournemouth
Cambridge City
Farnborough
Kent International
Lydd
Oxford
Shoreham
Gloucestershire
Lands End
Penzance
Plymouth
Swansea
All these small airports offer cheap flights to various UK destinations as well as to some other European destinations it worth looking before you book your holiday if you can fly to your chosen destination from a smaller airport closer to you.
The Yorkshire city of Bradford was voted the city travellers least want to visit, a poll of 5,000 people conducted by hotel company Travelodge revealed that not only was Bradford bottom of the list but also other Yorkshire cities such as Wakefield and Ripon as well as other northern cites like Sunderland. Wales also didn’t fair too well with people voting St David’s one of the least attractive as well along with Wells in Somerset, Ely in Cambridgeshire and Lichfield in Staffordshire. Some of the reasons given for disliking all these places were bad weather there, nothing to offer, dislikeable local accents, high crime rate, dangerous, ugly and boring.
London led the list of the most popular and most visited places as well as being the place most people wanted to go to this year, other popular destinations for travellers include Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and York. A boost for some of the more popular destinations like London and Manchester is the transport links with good road, rail and air links available, you can get flights to Manchester, Birmingham or Edinburgh from most UK airports as well as access via train to and from these destinations.
Bradford Council’s strategic director for culture, tourism and sport Jane Glaister, said: “Bradford is a great city to visit. It’s home to the National Media Museum, the most visited museum outside London and host to the nationally acclaimed Bradford Film Festival. Also, Bradford has recently been designated as Unesco City of Film – the only city in the world to achieve this designation.” Not only that, Bradford has good rail links as well as been close to Leeds Bradford Airport
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With the recent announcement of a series of strikes by British Airways cabin crew, it’s no surprise that many people due to travel on the planned strike date are worried about their holiday or trip plans. The walkouts, scheduled for three days from Saturday, March 20 and for four days from March 27, are expected to bring widespread disruption to flights from airports across the UK. As well as possible problems at flight destinations with Unite asking other Unions to join in and boycott their services they provide to BA.
BA have been working on a contingency plan to flight the disruption and has up to 1,000 volunteer staff ready to work as cabin crew, including hundreds of pilots. They hope to operate all flights from London City Airport, all long-haul flights from Gatwick and 50 per cent of short-haul flights from the West Sussex airport. BA says. “At Heathrow, a “substantial” number of long and short-haul services will operate during the strikes.”
If you like more freedom on your holiday and don’t like to be set to regimented times of eating then a holiday cottage or villa can be the answer for you and your family. You are able to be away from the noisy and busy hustle and bustle of a hotel and can enjoy peace and space away from the crowds as well as having more living space than what you would get in a hotel room.
Many people choose self catering holidays and staying in villas and cottages than to spending a week cooped up a hotel complex fighting for a space by the pool or your own sun bed or if you are on holiday as a couple you don’t have to put up with the noise and disruption from other people’s children. Many villas in summer sun destinations offer private pools terrace and even BBQ’s so you still have the added luxuries you don’t get at home.
As well as good facilities you can also have more freedom on your holiday especially if you can hire a car with the option of eating out or even buying your own food to cook and unlike hotels you can eat whenever you like. With many holiday cottages and villas offering fully fitted kitchens and dining rooms and as well as that you will find they also have comfortable bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces that have more of a personal touch than what you would find in a hotel.
In the heart of Glasgow you will find an area of one square mile that has a concentration of inspirational shopping, cafe’s restaurants and bars. If you love shopping then Glasgow is defiantly the place to go for a break away for some retail therapy, there is something for everyone no matter what your style, taste or budget is. All you have to do is hop on a flight to Glasgow from any UK airport and you will be there within anything from 30 minutes to an hour ready to enjoy all it has to offer.
The streets you need to know in the Style Mile are:
Sauchiehall Street where you will find big famous high street retailers such as M&S TK Maxx Primark and Bhs as well small unique shops like Henderson the Jewellers and Deichmann Shoes as well as the restored Room de Luxe of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s iconic Willow Tearoom.
Buchanan Galleries has many shops all under one roof, with a mix of highstreet fashion stores such as Next, H&M, River Island, Gap, Mango, and Republic, plus many more all over four floors.
Buchanan Street is a pedestrian boulevard lined with some of the finest shopping a great place to go for those who love shoes, you have Russell & Bromley, Also, Jones The Bootmaker, Dune and Office. At the end of Buchanan Street you will also find House of Fraser which is home to designer brands such as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo.
Princess Square also know for is outstanding architecture has some stylish shops for those who wish to pamper themselves like Space NK, Jo Malone, Crabtree and Evelyn as well as Scotland’s own Aaron Aromatics.
Argyll Arcade is the place to go for something sparkling her you will find a whole array of world class jewellers such as James Porter & Sons, Bernstones, Harold Barclay, Diamond Studio and Rox, plus many more.
Argyll Street is the place to go for highstreet designers like Topshop, Warehouse, River Island, Wallis, G-Star and Fat Face.
Royal Exchange Square noted for its neo-classical buildings that now house some of the most stylish stores, here you will find some of the hottest bars and restaurants such as The Social, 29 and Rogano as well as chic shops like Reiss, LK Bennett, MA Mode, Bags & Baggage and Radley.
Ingram Street which runs off Royal Exchange Square has some very luxurious store like designer haven Cruise as well as higher end highstreet stores like All Saints, Replay, Gant, Agent Provocateur and Boudich as well as designer favourites Mulberry, Jaeger, Ralph Lauren and Emporio Armani.
Glasgow is a city with so much to offer which is easy to get to with cheap flights to Glasgow Airport and great accommodation right in the centre of this bustling city there is no reason not to go.
Royal Exchange Square Glasgow
Picture courtesy of neilh205
The best way to enjoy everything the Mediterranean has to offer is by taking a cruise holiday there, with many ports to stop off at it can be hard to know what to choose. Whether it’s France, Italy, Greece and Turkey there are plenty of cruise holidays to the Mediterranean from various cruise lines.
You can stop of at some of the most beautiful ports in the world such as Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Naples, Athens and Mykonos, here you can enjoy life at a slower pace and take in all the sights and sounds around you.
You can enjoy cruises all around different parts of the Med like an Adriatic cruise that covers Italy to the Balkans, taking in the eastern coast of Italy into countries such as Croatia and Albania. Or you can see the sights of the Western Mediterranean and enjoy Spain, Portugal, Italy, Monaco, Malta, Croatia, and Morocco. You can find lost civilisations on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise and see the sights of Turkey, Greece and Italy.
There are many places to choose from when looking for villas in Canary Islands, with some luxurious holiday villas dotted around the Canary Islands you just need to choose which island/islands you want to stay on. There is something for everyone’s to choose from, for those looking for a holiday in the mountains, you can rent holiday cottages and holiday farmhouses in Gran Canaria. Or if you enjoy the hustling and bustling party scene then you can rent villas in Tenerife.
There are eight islands that make up the Canary Islands the most popular with tourists are Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and La Palma.
Canary Islands
Picture courtesy of Secret Tenerife
If you enjoy lazy on or by the beach for your holiday topping up your tan then Fuerteventura will be the Island for you, it has the longest beaches on all of the Canary Islands, it also has many beachside activities such as swimming, diving, snorkelling and fishing and for those who like excitement you can also enjoy some watersports. For those with families looking to get away and stay in holiday villas then Lanzarote will be the place for you with much accommodation geared towards families, also Lanzarote also makes a good base for exploring the other islands.
The weather on all Islands can vary some like Fuerteventura can have gloriously dry weather but the some like La Palma is often wet. There are plenty of things to see and do on all of the Islands Lanzarote’s Timanfaya Park which was declared a national reserve in 1974 and has one of the most extraordinary volcanic landscapes on the planet, here you can actually grill meat on volcano-powered barbecues. Gran Canaria has a wide range of vegetation to explore and see such as thousands of exotic fruits, trees, banana and coffee plantations, fields of sugar cane and tobacco, date palm forests and orange groves. With so much to do on all of the Islands its no wonder people come back time and time again.
Gran Canaria Mountains
Picture courtesy of Furya
When you book your flights you can be enticed by the £1 return fare offered by some airlines however make sure you’re not caught out by extra charges, most credit cards will incur a payment handling fee of £5, and that’s per person, per one-way flight. Not to mention some airline don’t mention tax, extra baggage charges and meals on the original price these are normally the added extras that make your flight not so cheap.
If you can be flexible about when you travel you can get better ticket prices for example flying mid week is a lot cheaper than at weekends, not only that if you also actually book your tickets during the week you will also be able to get cheaper tickets. This is because many airlines bump their prices up at the weekends because they know this is when most people have the time to research and book holidays.