19 July 2017

Its been a couple of months since we set off for Dubrovnik, over first time in that part of the World. We were looking forward to it and it exceeded our expectations. We arrived in the evening and took our forty minute transfer to our hotel, which was located in the Lapad, Babin Kuk area of the city. The Royal Princess was situation on the beautiful peninsula, a 5km walk or bus ride into the old town. The hotel, built on the cliffs was lovely, we booked a deluxe sea view suite, it was fabulous with amazing views over the Adriatic. On our first day we set off to walk along the cliff top path, it runs into a pedestrianised area where there are many restaurants and some shops. On leaving that area we took the road towards the old town. It takes about an hour or so. When you arrive you are immediately taken back in time, inside the city walls. Make sure you do the walk around the city walls, it costs about £14 per person and takes roughly a two hour stroll, stopping to take lots of photos. Wander around the rest of the old town when you come down off the wall, there are lots of narrow streets and steps, not for the unfit! You will find an abundance of shops, bars and restaurants. We did find it pretty expensive in this part of the city. We did lots of walking to explore the surrounding areas, we headed down to the main port, where all the cruise ships moor up and the inter island ferries run from. For the next three days we hired a car to explore beyond Dubrovnik itself. So pleased we did, there is so much more to see. On the first day we drove south along the coast, our destination was Kotor in Montenegro, a picturesque drive all the way. Make sure you take your passports with you for the border controls, queues can be lengthy too!! We even got a stamp in our passports going into Montenegro. Take stops along the route for photographs. The town of Kotor is very pretty, there is an old part, on a smaller scale to Dubrovnik but very quaint. I would recommend taking the trek up the walled walk, although we did not have time on this visit. You might even be lucky to see a cruise ship meandering up the channels towards the town from the sea. On the way back you can cut the journey down, but heading towards Tivat and catching the small car ferry across the water. Our second day in the car took us north of Dubrovnik, another fabulous drive around the mountain roads, passing through seaside villages, we stopped in yet another quaint town called Ston. It is located on peninsular, another place to do a walled walk to another small village. Unfortunately, I did not have the right footwear for this one, such a shame. We continued to drive along the peninsular for a few more miles. On our return, we spotted a lovely cliff top restaurant with stunning views over an azure blue bay, with not a sole on the beach. We enjoyed a special anniversary lunch there, before heading back. Our last day with the car, and off south again to another tourist resort called Cavtat, (pronounced Savtat). We had good walk around the headlands of the resort and stopping for lunch looking out at one of the two harbours in the town. There are local buses into the old town if you are staying here and do not want to drive. It takes about half and hour. The buses are very cheap, about £2.50 for a one way journey. There was also free parking in Cavtat. Our last couple of days we spent doing more walks and trying out different restaurants for dinner. Be aware that, we found Dubrovnik quite expensive overall, I would probably recommend going for half board and not bed & breakfast as we had done. This is certainly an area I would visit again, perhaps starting at Split further north, catching ferries and staying on some of the islands and hiring a car for longer. For any motorcyclists reading this, the roads are amazing, my husband was wishing he was on his!! We did see lots of riders out there, touring around.

01 May 2017

We set off in late February to do a private guided tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. First stop - Ho Chi Minh City, however, the locals still refer to it from its original name of Saigon. We spent three night there, we have never seen so many motorcycles, they actually take precedence against cars and pedestrians, you take your life in your hands trying to cross the roads. I was not very familiar with Vietnam war that went on for just under 20 years and finally finished on the 30th April 1975. There were huge losses of life during this time. We paid a visit to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels about an hour out of the city. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces. Next on the itinerary was three nights on a Pandaw cruise boat along the Mekong river, disembarking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We travelled on a lovely traditional river boat, just right for this part of the journey. We left the vessel daily on sampans to visit local villages and see how the country and boat people live. We learnt how to make traditional summer and deep fried springs rolls on board. On leaving the boat we spent a night in Phnom Penh. We visited the Cambodian Killing Fields, where over 2 millions people are buried in mass graves from torture and execution. These atrocities were carried out by the Communist Khmer Rouge, to anyone who was suspected of connections with former governments or foreign governments. We then flew up to Siem Reap in Cambodia and spent a couple of nights there, a must visit if you want to see the famous Ankor Wat Temple, along with many other different temples. We enjoyed our time there, with a walk along the river and nightly visits to the famous "Pub Street" a very lively brightly lit area on the town with lots of bars and restaurant. Next stop, back to Vietnam and Hanoi for two night stay, we arrived late on the first evening, so did not get much time to explore. Our hotel, La Siesta was in the "Old Quarter" highly recommended to be near everything. A bustling town again with lots of motorcycles. We were given a guided tour the next day of the city and saw the Mausoleum Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body is held. The following day we were driven for about three and a half hours to Ha Long Bay, where we boarded our vessel for two nights. Haong Bay, in northeast Vietnam, is known for its emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone islands topped by rainforests. Junk boat tours and sea kayak expeditions take visitors past islands named for their shapes, including Stone Dog and Teapot islets. The region is popular for scuba diving, rock climbing and hiking, particularly in mountainous Cát Bà National Park, where we did a 5km cycle ride to a local village, which was great fun. The only downside to this part of the trip was the sun was not shining for us. I don't think it brought to life the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Our final stop on this very hectic schedule was Hoi An, on the east coast about an hour or so flying time. We stayed in the Alamanty hotel just outside the "Old Quarter" of the town. It was a great location for us to walk in an explore. On our first morning we did a half day cookery class. We met the chefs and they guided around the fish, meat, vegetable and spices market, advising us what to look for when purchasing quality! A 4km meander along the Thu Bon river to our cookery school. We watched the demonstrations by the chef and then undertook to make the recipes for ourselves, which was great fun. We then got to eat our own cooking, delicious. Hoi An is a great place to shop for made to measure clothing, I bought a lovely cotton dress. If you want adventure and culture then I would highly recommend this trip.

28 November 2016

We travelled to Hong Kong at end of September for eight nights. Not somewhere you would think of for a longer stay. Well, our son moved over there in January to start a new job with Cathay Pacific, the national Airline of Hong Kong. He looks after the safety of the airline. Having been there on a couple of previous visits staying for only two nights, you don't really get to see what Hong Kong and the surrounding islands have to offer, it is so diverse. On the tourist trips for the short durations, you only really get to see the main sights this vibrant city has to offer. There is so much more so see! We started our adventures by visiting the Hong Kong Zoological Botanical Gardens with an array of amazing plants and flowers on display. There are more than 900 species in the garden planted in such a way as to achieve natural beauty. Most of them are indigenous to tropical and sub-tropical regions. Another attraction in there is the keeping of wild animal exhibits which can be traced as early as in 1876. You could spend a whole day in there, in this park in the heart of Hong Kong Island. A famous landmark is the Victoria Peak, which you can either hike up the winding road to the top at 554 metres (1811 feet for those of us who remember), or take the funicular railway up there. It offers great views around the island and over the bay to Kowloon. We took to doing some hiking on this trip, our first adventure was to take the ferry to Lamma Island lying 3km off the southwest coast of Hong Kong Island. The ferry takes about 20 minutes, the local transportation is so cheap! We hiked on the Lamma Family trail for a few hours before stopping off for wonderful fresh seafood at the Rainbow restaurant. It is pretty expensive and they also make a cover charge and plastic table and chairs, but hey hoy you are eating with mainly locals! Our next major hike was on Lantau Island home to Chep Lak Kok, Hong Kong's international airport. We caught the express train from Hong Kong Central to Tung Shung, such a great service, we set off and make our way over to Tai O, a hot and very humid 16km journey, but well worth it. We wandered around the village and then caught the local bus over to Mui Wo, sat and watched the world go by whilst eating fresh fish and chips and got the ferry back to the island. We revisited some of the areas we had seen on a previous trip, using the frequent, very inexpensive, famous Star Ferries, well 20p for a one way across the bay to Kowloon, but very much more bustling area on Hong Kong, also home to some fabulous hotels including the famous Peninsular Hotel. We saw temples and hidden parks too. We met a distant Chinese relative who took us to a very local restaurant, where the menu is only Chinese and no-one speaks English, good job he ordered for us. We are visiting again for a shorter trip next March, following our upcoming trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. I would recommend staying on Hong Kong Island as opposed to Kowloon. Watch this space for my next adventures.

14 December 2015

We flew out to Barbados for a ten night break last month, we call it our "Winter Warmer" The weather was amazing for the duration of the trip, just a few spots of rain now and again. Our journey from the airport to the new Sandals Barbados took about 20 minutes, which is great when you have been flying for almost nine hours. The hotel was lovely, set in about eleven acres of landscaped gardens. They have full time gardeners, that keep the grounds in pristine condition. We stayed in an Ocean View Suite, very spacious, good sized bathroom and balcony with views of the pool and ocean. There are eleven restaurants to choose from. They have introduced the first Indian restaurant in their Caribbean portfolio. The food is delicious. Our other favourite places to eat were, Butch's Chophouse, where I tasted the most amazing Filet Mignon and Lobster. Kimonos for a great fun night, with your chef cooking oriental food right in front of you. If you fancy a morning coffee and cake, head over to the Café De Paris, mouth watering cakes, pastries, ice cream, crepes and speciality coffees. There is nightly entertainment, which is very varied. Once a week they hold a "White Night" and chocolate buffet. We decided to explore a little during the trip, one day we caught the local bus into Bridgetown, the cost is only one US$ for a trip each way. We wandered around the port and then walked to the famous Kensington Oval cricket ground and managed to watch a match between Barbados and Trinidad. It worked out less than £2 to get in! On another day we negotiated with a local taxi driver, known as "Big Apple" he took six of us around the island, we drove across the island, through the countryside to Bathsheba on the rugged Atlantic coastline, which is great for anyone that loves surfing. We headed to the north of the island and then down the west coast. The driver took us to for a fish lunch at a local restaurant in the port area of Bridgetown. We then completed our day with a visit to the Mount Gay Rum distillery, where some of our group did some rum tasting, all came away with big smiles on their faces! A couple of days before we were due to fly home, we took a sunset cruise, first of all we stopped off in Carlisle Bay and did some snorkelling, we got to see and swim with turtles, fantastic experience!! There are also five ship wrecks in the bay, a haven for divers. We then proceeded to head up the west coast, moored up by the famous Sandy Lane hotel. Our hosts served us with fresh fish and other delights, topped off with rum punch. We watched the sunset and then sailed back to Bridgetown with lots music and dancing on deck taking place. A lovely excursion, highly recommended. Another must if you are visiting Barbados, although we did not get the chance on this trip, is to visit Oistins Fish Fry, the famous fish market. Friday night is party night!! Fresh fish is cooked for you and there is lots of entertainment going on. We did go to Barbados some years ago, but it was lovely to revisit and see how things have changed over the years. Lots of fabulous houses owned by international celebrities. Overall a great holiday.

08 September 2015

Our journey started in San Francisco. Although we had been there a couple of times before, we had never been over to Alcatraz, so we made it this time, it was a great place to visit and learn all about the history of the island and how it became a prison. Another excursion we wanted to do was cycle over the famous Golden Gate bridge. We hire bikes for the day and took the route along the bay, over the bridge and dropped down into the lovely town of Sausalito, with its designer shops and restaurants. After our three nights in San Francisco, we flew up to Fairbanks in Alaska. We stayed overnight before joining our tour which started with a trip along the river in a Paddle Steamer, visiting a traditional Indian reservation museum, we learned about how they live and hunt. In the afternoon we were taken to visit and old gold mine Gold Dredge 8 where we were shown how they dredged for gold in days gone by. We had the opportunity to have a go at gold panning, which was great fun, I came away with my find sealed away in a locket, which is a lovely memento! We now head south to the Denali National Park for two nights. Denali is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road. We took a guided tour into the park with a very knowledgeable guy, we even managed to spot some Dall Sheep, natives of northwestern North America, Grizzly bears and Moose. Our next stop on the road south towards Anchorage took us to views of the famous Mt. McKinley, North America's highest mountain. We were one of the lucky 30% that actually see her with the sun on top, a lot of the time she has low cloud cover. It was a stunning, majestic site, viewed from the sun deck of the hotel, with a cool glass of white wine! We now continue our journey from Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge to the small town of Talkeetna, where after wandering around the quaint streets, we board our train with upper deck full viewing windows, and head to Anchorage, travelling through some beautiful countryside. Today is our last day on land for a few days, on our way to Whittier to join our ship, we visit a wildlife sanctuary, where we see an array of wildlife, birds, bears, moose among the many. It is now time to get on board the Coral Princess, for our southerly journey to Vancouver. Day one we did scenic cruising in and around Hubbard Glacier, followed by, the next day Glacier Bay National Park. The Captain of the vessel took the ship as close as he could to the glaciers, we were able to watch them calving into the water, it was a fantastic site. We were entertained by extremely knowledgeable guides from the area and Mark Harris the cruise line's Naturalist. Our first land port of call was Skagway. Skagway was the gateway to the gold fields for the thousands who flocked to Alaska and the Yukon with the hope of striking it rich. We took a day trip up to the Yukon, Yukon is a wilderness playground with an extensive network of waterways. On the scenic 65-mile drive from Skagway, the lush coastal landscape gives way to rugged wilderness. Its capital, Whitehorse, is the centre for the Yukon's mining and forestry industries. Next stop is Juneau, we took a Whale watching trip and saw lots of Hump Backs, some frolicking about with sea lions in the bay. Following this we were taken up to view the Mendenhall Glacier, a spectacular sight with an amazing waterfall next to it, cascading down with thousands of gallons of water per second. Our last land stop was Ketchikan, the salmon capital of the World and Alaska's first city. It is a quaint fishing town with lots of quirky buildings and shops. We took a twenty minute float plane trip of the lakes and mountains, landing by a lovely lodge, where we feasted on fresh Dungeness Crabs, delicious! Our final day on the cruise was spent heading down to Vancouver through the inside passage close to Vancouver Island. During the journey, we encountered more wildlife and even managed to spot a few Killer Whales en-route. We arrived into Canada Place dock early the next morning, we spent the day visiting some of the places in Vancouver that we had not seen for a few years, including the famous Granville Island, with a fantastic array of fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, flowers and food stalls. It was now time to catch the Sky train back to Vancouver airport and our flight home. There was so much going on with this trip, I am running out of space to say much more on here. I hope you enjoy reading this, I am always available if you want to know more about this beautiful country.

08 August 2014

Our journey took us to Los Angeles in March this year, where we picked up a Mustang convertible, something I had always wanted to do the next time we went to California! We set off with the top down, and headed down part of Highway 1 towards San Diego, passing through the areas of Long, Mission and Huntington Beach. We stayed in a lovely small boutique hotel called The Vyvant, close to the area of Little India and Gastown, where there are lots of restaurants to choose from and a few bars. During our three days there we took the trolley bus tour that took us to Old San Diego. There is a layout of museums showing all memorabilia from the Wild West days. The bus goes down to the harbour and through the main town and then across the amazing high bridge to a place called Coronado Island, this offers a great beach resort and very cosmopolitan. It has the largest US Navy air base. Back on the mainland there is the largest US naval dock yard, which is home to the USS Midway, which is now a floating museum and well worth a visit, we spent four hours on board. The next stop on our trip was to head north to Santa Monica, one of the beach areas of Los Angeles, famous for its pier and boardwalk. We stayed here for three nights. We hired bicycles from the hotel and cycled for some miles along the boardwalk, calling in at the famous Muscle beach, where all the body builders are on show. We spent another day driving along the coast to Malibu, another part of Highway 1 coast road. We then drove up towards the famous Hollywood sign, down to the shops of Rodeo Drive and popped in for a visit to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where I just happened to see Brad Pitt coming out of The Polo Lounge having dined there. Off we went to Hawaii, our first stop, and we arrived in Honolulu for one night. We walked the length of Waikiki Beach which is full of high rise hotels with a lot of people surfing. The next morning we took the local bus to Pearl Harbour, it did take about an hour and half though with all the traffic and traffic lights. You could actually spend a whole day there. We were limited as we were due to travel to the port and pick up our Hawaiian cruise ship. We set off from Honolulu and headed towards Maui, where we were docked for two days. The first day we went on a trip to Iao Valley, a beautiful rain forest area, then on to a fruit and nut plantation, and finally onto an aquarium known as the Maui Ocean Centre, which was amazing. We should have really had a car for these two days as we would have seen more. Next stop was Hawaii, known as The Big Island. The first side of the island was Hilo where we went on a trip to the most recent eruption of Kilauea. We walked out on new land from the eruption in 1982, it was a fabulous experience, and there were even the beginnings of new coconut trees on the land. The second day of this island was from Kona on the opposite side. We got a tender into shore from the ship, a lovely town, home to lots of restaurants, bars and hotels. We spent some time on the beach there. Our final island was Kaui. We were there for about a day and a half. We had decided to hire a car for day one and drove up to Waimea Canyon, what an awesome sight. We just managed to catch up on the beauty before the weather came in, the mountain is known as one of the wettest places on earth! We then travelled around the other side of the island and headed along east and up to north, but had to turn back due to the rain and fog. On the last afternoon the ship leaves port at 2pm and sails north to see the area that is not accessible by road, truly spectacular scenery, very rugged. Some of the scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed in this area due to the ancient and dramatic landscape. We even had the pleasure of hump back whales playing alongside the ship, a definite highlight of the trip. Back to Honolulu on Oahu and our flight home via a night in Los Angeles to break up the long journey. A great holiday experience!

28 October 2013

We headed down to Port Issac in Cornwall last month, where they film scenes from the TV programme "Doc Martin" - this was my first visit to this county. What a beautiful part of the country, we rented a four bedroom house with some friends in a lovely spot with views from the lounge across the bay of Port Issac. There are plenty of restaurants and a couple of pubs in the village. The restaurants specialise in locally caught fish and sea food which was excellent. We went out for a day to the Eden Project. It is a fantastic array of shrubs, plants and trees in special domes. One dome features species from tropical climates and the other with species from Mediterranean countries. There is another hall showing inventions and information relating to our eco system and climate change. It has been a very carefully designed tourist attraction so as to not appear to be a blot on the landscape of the countryside. We popped down to Lands End which unfortunately was shrouded in cloud that day. There is a few tourist shops and some history and information on the area. Another great day out is to drive a short distance to the village of Rock and catch the local ferry across the estuary to Padstow, made famous by celebrity chef Rick Stein. There is a quaint little harbour and there are lots of cafes, restaurants and small shops selling local produce, and a must buy is a chicken, leek, bacon and cheese Cornish pasty from the "Chough Bakery". We drove to the lovely villages of Boscastle and Tintagel, on the north coast, not too far from Port Issac. We also did some great hikes along the hills and coastal paths which had some stunning views. It was an amazing week which I would certainly recommend.

25 February 2013

We travelled back to the west coast of Canada in September 2012. We wanted to visit some areas we had not been to before and pop back to some we had seen. We started in Vancouver. As we were only there for one night on this trip, we just had a wander round the city to see if anything has changed since we last went there. We had dinner in the Old Spaghetti Factory in the old Gas Town area, near the famous steam clock. The following day we picked up our hire car and headed out of town. We stayed for one night in Kamloops and then headed through some fantastic scenery to Jasper, where we spent two nights in a lovely B&B. We went hiking and horseback riding on one of the days, and drove out to Maligne Lake. We were really lucky to be able to see grizzly and brown bears, also saw a coyote on the roadside. We then proceeded south towards Banff. On the way we stopped off at the famous Athabasca Glacier and took the excursion in the huge trucks that take you onto the ice. Once in Banff we borrowed cycles from the hotel and explored the area, passing the famous Banff Springs hotel. A lovely town surrounded by spectacular mountains. After Banff we drove to Lake Louise and did a hike up to the tea house in the woods, about four kilometress uphill, passing Mirror Lake on the way up. The scenery was fabulous and we then walked along the lakeside by the Chateau Lake Louise. We continued on to Revelstoke for a night, an old logging town. The next day we drove south to the Okanogan area of British Columbia, which is the wine growing region for Canada. We stayed with friends in the lovely town of Pentiction which lies at the bottom of Okanogan Lake. We toured around that area and stopped off to do some wine tasting at several of the many wineries in the area. We were getting near the end of our trip, which took us back to Vancouver via Harrison Hot Springs, another lovely lakeside resort, which is great for a beach type stop for relaxation. We stopped in another lovely B&B just outside of town; it was in a great spot in the wilderness. What a great trip this was and being able to see the wildlife of the country, this was a real bonus.

17 May 2012

We have just been to Rome and Sorrento to celebrate a special wedding anniversary. We flew from Gatwick to Rome and spent two nights at a lovely boutique hotel called The River Palace, it was very authentic with lots of Italian charm. It is in an excellent location, close to the Piazzo Popolo. We walked for miles, along to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Colesseum (where we did a tour) and then onto the Roman Forum. There really are some great sights to see. The next day we went to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. There are some amazing things to see in there, especially the painting by Michelangelo inside the Sistine Chapel (make sure you pre-book to miss the queues). We then proceeded to visit St Peter's Square and the Basilica, where we went part of the way up to the dome in a lift and then climbed about 320 steps to the top, (with some very weird climbing angles), to be greeted by fantastic views all over Rome. The Basilica itself takes your breath away inside, it is quite magical! Afterwards we walked to The Pantheon and Piazza Navona for a well-earned drink in the heat, and on the way back to the hotel, we browsed the many famous brand shops on the Via Del Corso. The next leg on our journey takes us by train from Rome to Naples. When we arrived we were picked up and driven along the winding coast road to Sorrento, where we spent the next eight days. We stayed in a very nice hotel called the Hotel Grand De La Ville, which is about a five minute walk from the main square the Piazzo Tasso. There are lots of shops, bars and restaurants to choose from. You will also find lots of narrow streets to wander through, these are really quaint. We got the local train one day from Sorrento to Pompeii, it takes about 40 minutes and will cost you 4.10 euros return. The cost of getting into Pompeii is only 11 euros and it has some amazing sites to see, you cannot believe this Roman area was devastated by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and was not discovered again until about 1700. We went over to the island of Capri on the local ferries. This will cost you between 26 and 30 euros return, depending on the ferry company you use. A beautiful island of two halves, Capri and Anacapri, where you can get on the single chair lifts and skim over tree tops and gardens up to a height of almost 2000ft and take in the most fantastic views. You can take a boat trip around the island and visit the Blue Grotto if you have good sea legs, as they are a lot smaller boats. Our final day took us on the ferry along the coast from Sorrento to Amalfi. We wandered around the streets there and got the local bus back towards the gorgeous town of Positano, another place which has been built into the dramatic cliffs; a popular spot for the rich and famous and for people watching. We then took another local bus back to Sorrento, negotiating the very winding cliff roads. A memorable experience!!!

06 July 2011

I went to The Seychelles main island of Mahe about seven years ago, which I thought at the time was wonderful. I thought maybe one day we would go back; as they saying goes, if you bring home some of the local currency it means you will return! Well we did, we travelled out with Qatar Airways via Doha in the Middle East. We were attending a friend's wedding which I had organised for them, I felt we had to go as I did play matchmaker and set them up on a blind date. We flew into Mahe and then got a small Twin Otter - twenty seat aircraft, which was great fun, over to the island of Praslin. This takes about fifteen minutes and you get a great view of some of the other islands. We then transferred onto a catamaran over to the smaller island of La Digue. We were taken on very short transfer to The Patatran Hotel, which had stunning views from the pool and restaurant area. We were then taken up a very steep hill to our room, which we later found out was one of their honeymoon suites. It was pretty amazing, we had a large bedroom with a four poster bed and panoramic views of the turquoise sea, a large lounge area, his and hers sinks and dressing area, a jacuzzi bath, large shower area and a lovely balcony. The next day we hire bicycles from the hotel and cycled around the island, which is quite easy to do in a day. We went to visit some great beaches and even saw a giant tortoise in one of areas called La Union Estate, it is a lovely peaceful island and we would go back there again without any hesitation. After a couple of days we took the ferry back to Praslin and stayed at the Coco De Mer - Black Parrot Suites. Again we had a fabulous suite high up, overlooking the ocean and lots of space too. We went to the wedding at a hotel called La Reserve on the other side of the island; we had a great day there. Another day we took the free hotel shuttle bus to the fantastic beach of Anse Lazio, what a stunning bay with more turquoise waters and a few waves. Hire a car and drive or take a trip to Valle de Mai; it is on the list of World Heritage Sites because of the rare coco de mer palm tree. This type of palm grows in the wild only here and on nearby Curieuse Island. Your entry fee to the park goes towards preserving the area, which is a real gem! This slice of paradise is considered by everyone from artists to wildlife enthusiasts to be one of the best spots on earth for experiencing tropical perfection. There's a black parrot that lives only here on Praslin, whose habitat is preserved by the park's existence. Visitors to Valle de Mai should keep to the trails of which there are three. You can enjoy the park for hours on end on these trails, one of which takes several hours to traverse. Our final destination on the way back was Mahe, we stayed in the Berjaya Beau Vallon Hotel. The Beau Vallon Bay is another lovely large bay with a couple of hotels, the 4.5 star Le Meridien and the 3 star Berjaya Beau Vallon. From this area you can walk to local shops and amenities, there is a pretty good bus service and the hotel also offers a free shuttle bus in Victoria known as the smallest capital town in the world. We did this on one of the days and went to the lovely Botanical Gardens, with hundreds of species of trees and plants. We didn’t hire a car on this occasion as we had done this on our previous trip. I would recommend car hire for at least two days, travel around the island and up into hills where there are some spectacular beaches and views to be seen. We had a great trip and would love to go back there again, for your information there are two weather systems that affect the islands; from May to October the south-east tradewinds can cause the sea in certain parts of all the islands can be choppy and from November to March the north-west monsoon creates the wetter months. April is the calmest month, but temperatures are very good all year round usually between 24C and32C. An amazing trip!!!

22 January 2011

I thought that I would share the fantastic holiday my husband and I recently experienced in South Africa. We flew out to Cape Town at the end of November, when the UK was having the really bad weather spell with lots of snow. We arrived to lovely blue skies and temperatures in the mid twenties - what a welcome! We spent five nights in the centre of Cape Town which was a great location for exploring the surrounding areas. We visited the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront area with its abundance of tourist shops, shopping malls and numerous bars and restaurants. You can enjoy a meal and drink sat by the water’s edge whilst watching all the sea faring vessels passing you by. We went on the open top red bus tour which took us all around the city area and up to the Table Mountain cable car station. We were lucky that the sun was shining and that we were able to go up in the cable car that day, as Table Mountain is renowned for having what they call the table cloth on, when it is shrouded in clouds and the cable car may not operate. When we reached the summit we walked half way across the mountain, which has spectacular views over the city and down to Cape Point. We hired a car during our visit and drove down to the Cape and climbed up to the lighthouse with its amazing views over the Atlantic and the Cape of Good Hope. On the way back from that trip we went to see the penguins at Boulders, a town overlooking False Bay. The next part of the trip took us to the wine lands of Stellenbosch for a two night stay. We went on a small organised tour to some of the numerous wineries of Paarl and Franshoek, beautiful countryside and lots of wine tasting. We then headed down to the seaside town of Hermanus, famous for the Southern Right Whale, although it was just about the end of the migrating season, where we were lucky enough to see one in the bay. We also spotted dolphins around the bay in De Kelders. We headed north then to the pretty town of Swellendham which has a lot of Dutch influence in their buildings, and then our next stop was at a lovely guest house on an Ostrich farm just outside Oudtshoorn, where we visited the farm and saw Ostrich chicks just four days old, one of which my husband held in his hand. We drove about an hour to the Cango Caves with magnificent stalagmites and stalactites that were millions of years old. Back down to the coastal town of Kynsna for our next leg of the trip where we stayed for three days. We visited wonderful beaches including Plettenberg Bay and got fantastic views from the heads that shelter the Knysna lagoon. Our final part of the trip was at the private game reserve of Shamwari where we spent three nights. Shamwari is about a one hour drive the east side of Port Elizabeth. We stayed in one of the lodges known as Long Lee Manor, where we had a lovely suite overlooking uninterrupted views of the reserve, the hills and the wildlife. We went out on five games drives during our stay - they take you out at about 05.30am for around three hours and again in the afternoon about 4pm for another three hours. Among the animals we saw were a pride of Lions, Cheetahs, Giraffe, Elephants, the endangered White Rhino and Black Rhino, Buffalo, Hippos, Zebras, Hyenas, various Antelope and much more. We watched two young male Cheetahs hunting for food, on one occasion they had just made a kill and were enjoying their meal of Springbok! On the reserve there is also the famous Born Free Foundation rescue centre where we saw lions and leopards that were now safe from the terrible places they were living previously, often in appalling conditions. We had a fantastic trip and would certainly go back to South Africa again, the people were all very friendly, eating out is very reasonable, and we experienced wonderful varied scenery. Please feel free to contact me if you would like any more information on my trip.

29 March 2010

I have just returned from a two week voyage on the Sea Princess, which commenced in Barbados. We visited the Caribbean Islands of St. Vincent, home to some of the scenes shot there for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. We then sailed on to Grenada, Curacao, Bonaire, the latter two being very European in their architecture. After two and a half days at sea, we had to miss Grand Caymen due to the port authority advising that it was too choppy to land the tenders from the ship to shore. This island is famous for it having 600 banks on the island and also for its marine life, especially stingrays. We then arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica to disembark passengers that were finishing their two week cruise, and welcome a new contingent. We proceeded on to Samana in the Domincan Republic, which I feel was not worth visiting, apart from seeing an off shore island there was little else to fill the day there. Our next port of call was the US Virgin Island of St Thomas, which was stunning, and home to Magens Beach, which has been voted as one of the top ten beaches in the world. Beware on cruise ship days, there are hundreds, probably a few thousand on the beach at any one time, and one has to pay $4 per person to go on to the beach. If you walk to the far end of the beach it is much quieter there. From St Thomas we went to St Kitts/Nevis. We did the scenic railway trip around St Kitts which was most enjoyable and you were able to see most of the island from a great vantage point on the open air upper decks on the train. They used the train in days gone by to transport the sugar cane around the island ready for export. After St Kitts/Nevis, a day on the beach at Sandals Antigua, as we travelled to Antigua for a week last November, details on one of my previous journals. Our final stop was on the island of Dominica, which was lovely, we took a tour up into the rain forest and saw the beautiful Trafalgar Falls, and the sulphur mud pools. And finally back to Barbados for our journey home. Barbados has beautiful beaches on the west coast and an excellent choice of hotels, towards the south of the island, more hotels and self catering complexes, and then you have rugged Atlantic coast which is great for surfing. Overall a great holiday.

29 March 2010

I travelled to the ski resort of Les Arcs 1800 last December. This was a familiarisation trip to resorts in this area. We stayed in Les Arcs 1800 for a week in Les Alpages De Chantal self catering apartments, they were very clean, warm and comfortable. However, for anyone that is not an experienced skier, you would have to catch the shuttle bus down to the resort centre about five minutes drive to join the ski school. You could ski down to the resort centre from the apartments and catch the lifts there for higher altitude skiing. During our stay we visited, Les Arcs 1950, which is like going to a snowy Disney Village, very purpose built with ski to door. There was a mixture of hotels and apartments. We went to other resorts including La Plagne, which has many catered chalets, which are great for groups and families, then on to Val d`Isere, Tignes, La Tania, this was a great little compact resort, we proceeded to see Courcheval 1850, a very large resort with some expensive hotels. Our final visit to was to see Meribel, which houses the Olympic Ice Rink and Swimming pool. It was great to try the ice out!. We skied in Les Arcs and La Plagne, I found La Plagne a much nicer resort and the ski runs much better too. A thoroughly enjoyable trip, so if any skiers looking to book a French resort please drop me an e-mail or call me for more information.

01 December 2009

I have recently returned from a trip to the beautiful island of Antigua in the West Indies. It is correct what is said about there being 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. We decided to try two hotels out during our visit, staying at the Jolly Beach Resort on an all-inclusive basis for five nights in the area of Jolly Beach Harbour. This is a great location and you can walk along the lovely stretch of white sand to the harbour area, where there are fabulous boats and yachts, moored up by waterfront apartments and villas. It is also very close to the local golf course if you fancy nine or eighteen holes. We travelled around by hiring a driver and people carrier and he took us to other parts of the island. We went to the famous Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour where there was a very interesting museum on site, which was well worth seeing. The driver then took us up to Shirley Heights - go on a Sunday after 4pm and you can watch the sunset over the Caribbean sea and dance away to the steel bands, enjoying a barbecue and drinks, plus a stunning setting with amazing views. They charge $8 US to get into the area after 4pm, but you can go in before and there is no charge. It does get really busy, so get there early to get a good seat by the cliff edge. We then moved on to the Sandals Grande Hotel in Dickenson Bay, another fantastic beach, not quite as deep as the Jolly Beach, but still good. We stayed in the Mediterranean Village which is the part to Caribbean Village on the resort. It was a lovely setting boasting nine restaurants, a huge pool with a swim up bar and lots of other pools dotted around the complex. On one of the days we went on a catamaran trip, which was on the Wadadli Cat (this is the original name for Antigua). We did a circumnavigation of the island - what a day! We snorkelled by one of the islands off shore and then enjoyed a delicious lunch served by the crew, with rum punches flowing. They pick you up on the beach and you get to see some of the other hotels and their beaches as you pick up and drop off other guests. We had a great holiday and would not hesitate to go to Antigua again.

10 September 2009

I travelled to Bali and Singapore in June with my husband. We had a lovely week at the Nusa Dua Beach Resort and Spa. The hotel is situated in the resort of Nusa Dua, which is a purpose built resort designed to very high standards. As you enter the resort you will be bowled over by the wonderful array of flowers, plants and shrubs which adorn the roads leading to the various hotels. There is a very new shopping area called ‘The Bali Collection’ where you have many upmarket designer shops. In the complex there is also a selection of restaurants and if you want a little pampering, a few Spas. The hotel is directly on the sandy beach and you can walk, jog or cycle along the path which leads into three other hotels, The Laguna Resort, The Westin Resort and The Melia Bali. You can visit any of the beachfront restaurants of these hotels as well as several within the Nusa Dua Beach Resort. We stayed in the Palace Club Rooms at the hotel, which entitled us to the use of the Palace Club Lounge where we were able to have our daily breakfast, afternoon tea and cakes and two hours of cocktails each evening. It was well worth the extra money for this room type. The staff were wonderful and the Balinese hospitality was amazing. During our visit to the island, we hired a car and driver. This only cost us about £25 for the whole day, great value and he took us to wherever we wanted. We went up to a village called Ubud. Historically, the Balinese village of Ubud can trace its roots to as far back as the 8th century; it is documented on ancient palm leaf scripts that a revered holy man from India by the name of Rsi Markaneya embarked on a spiritual journey across Java and eventually came to the island of Bali to spread the teachings of Hinduism. We then travelled on to Lake Batur and the Kintamani volcano. On the way back we visited the exotic rice terraces at Tegallalang and then on the Elephant Cave Temple. We left Bali and flew to Singapore for a couple of days on the way home. This was our third visit here and we never tire of it, we walked for miles around Clarke Quay with its host of restaurants and shops, we spent a day at the Singapore Zoo which was very interesting and has links with Steve Irwin and Australia Zoo. The city is very clean, the people are very friendly and we will return again when we venture to the Far East in the future.