20 September 2018

For our summer holiday this year, Lily and I decided we wanted a holiday which offered complete and utter rest and relaxation. We settled on Corsica. I had been to the French island before, but had only flown in to the North, spent a few nights in St Florent, drove down the east coast which is fairly flat and uninteresting, spent a few nights in Porto Vecchio which is stunning, and then driven

06 June 2018

Having qualified as a Gold Travel Counsellor again, I was lucky enough to travel out to the UAE for a weekend of luxury at the Waldorf Astoria Ras al Khaimah in May this year. It was the first time I had travelled on the A380 and I was hugely impressed. It has to be one of the most comfortable economy flights I have ever been on. Ras al Khaimah is served by Dubai airport, and it is only about a

06 November 2017

For this year’s summer holiday, I was going to take my daughter to Canada as it is somewhere we both desperately wanted to go to. However, an almost perfect house popped up on the market and we fell in love with it. So, our holiday budget was somewhat downscaled a bit and we headed off to Sorrento instead! We chose the Grand Hotel Riviera for its proximity to the town – 10 minute stroll – and t

13 January 2017

I decided just before Christmas to treat myself to a trip over the New Year to see the Northern Lights – something which had been on my wish list for some time! So, on the 29th of December, I set off with Norwegian Airlines to Tromso with a small group of like-minded people to have a bit of an Arctic adventure. After a long day, we arrived at the 3* Scandic Grand hotel for our 4-night stay

31 October 2016

This year’s Gold Conference was on board the luxury Scenic Jewel for a three night cruise between Budapest and Vienna. Having not been to either city before, I decided to have three nights in Budapest at the beginning, and add two nights in Vienna at the end so that I could explore the cities in a bit more depth. Budapest is split into two parts by the Danube, and I had booked a small eclectic

06 September 2016

Santorini was my daughter Lily’s choice of holiday destination for our summer trip. She wanted to go to the part of Greece, famous for its white buildings with blue domed roofs. The first inhabitants on Santorini were there in around 3000 BC, and recent excavations in Akrotiri in the south have revealed two and three storey buildings under a thick layer of ash. Santorini was originally roun

14 April 2016

On Friday 1st April, Lily (13yrs) and I flew from Gatwick to Banjul (The Gambia) for a twin centre holiday. The flights were with Titan Airways which I have to say must be the best charter flights I have ever flown in my 30 years in travel, and they are considerably better than many scheduled airlines in economy. Outbound we flew Star Class which on the A320 with its configuration of 3-3, h

23 March 2016

I was extremely privileged to have been invited by the All Leisure Group to be part of their first ever travel agents trip on board the beautiful ship: Hebridean Princess. So on Friday 18th March, I set off on the long journey from N E Essex up to Campbeltown (Argyll and Bute) to board the ship on day 4 of an 8 day ‘Spirit of Scotland’ cruise, on its way from Greenock to Oban. The ship was in

23 September 2015

In August this year, myself and a friend decided to have a week’s holiday in the UK and do something both of us had always wanted to do – a narrow boat holiday! So we booked a very long 67ft narrow boat from a depot on the South Oxfordshire canal just south of Rugby with the aim of travelling all the way down to Banbury and back through some very pretty scenery, whilst enjoying a few pubs on the w

22 September 2015

After a very rainy holiday in Austria last summer – due to the Gulf Stream not being in its normal place – my daughter and I decided to head a bit further south this summer and try out one of the 5* boutique all-inclusive options in Greece. Travel Counsellors has a direct contract at the Ikos hotels on the Halkidiki peninsula, so Lily and I settled on a 10 night holiday at the Ikos Oceania in N

06 July 2015

My daughter and I decided to have a more sporty adventure this summer and we booked a 10 night holiday at the Active and Spa Resort Alpenpark in Seefeld, Austria. Our hotel was a very good 4* but very much aimed at families with small children. They had a really good baby nursery on site but little for the older children to do. However the food and service were very good and our room was spacious

05 July 2015

This year Travel Counsellors congratulated its top performing ‘Gold Travel Counsellors’ by taking us all to Orlando for a long weekend! The weekend was hosted at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios which is just steps from the two amazing theme parks, plus all the surrounding action. It is a really beautiful and elegant Italian themed hotel modelled on the seaside village of Port

02 July 2015

I got the opportunity to visit Bermuda for a four night break as a guest of the Bermudan Tourist Board. This was a destination I knew very little about, and with a clear diary it seemed like a perfect opportunity to learn a bit more about this destination. Many people assume that it sits in the Caribbean, but in fact it is in the Atlantic – sort of level with New York – and therefore enjoys the

02 July 2015

My daughter was studying Shakespeare as a school project, so we decided to combine a short UK break away with a bit of research! I booked a short cottage break from Monday to Friday during the October school half term, and off we headed. The cottage was really easy to find and perfectly located in one of the surrounding villages – just a short 10 minute drive from all the attractions of Stratfo

26 June 2015

My daughter and I had such a lovely week at the Club Med Sinai village in 2011 that I decided to book a May half term week in Sharm. I do quite a bit of business down to the Red Sea so I thought I would go and check it out myself! Most of the hotels out there call themselves 5* but probably aren’t! In the end after much perusing, I chose the Sentido Reef Oasis and booked us into the better Sens

26 June 2015

I have visited a few Middle Eastern destinations but this was my first trip to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Etihad Airways (Middle East’s leading airline 2013) and Fairmont hotels hosted our Gold Conference which gave us an opportunity to network with colleagues and experience the destination. We stayed at the Bab Al Bahr Hotel (part of the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts group): a contemporary hotel with

03 May 2013

What could be any lovelier than holidaying with friends and family? To get that great social space, look no further than a holiday villa with your own pool! Villas with private pools come in all shapes and sizes, and can be found in all types of locations, from isolated hill tops to fantastic beachfront spots. You have to be very careful when travelling with very small children as most villa po

03 May 2013

In May 2012, I was lucky enough to enjoy my second visit to the wonderful island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was the venue for our annual Gold Travel Counsellors conference! Delegates were joining the conference from our offices worldwide, but I flew from Gatwick with British Airways on what turned out to be a very comfortable and efficient service. The conference was split across the

10 May 2012

I have always wanted to visit Marrakech – even the name sounds exotic – so it was with some excitement that I boarded my early morning flight from Gatwick. It is just over 3 hours by air and yet a world away from Europe in terms of sights, sounds and culture. With temperatures in the high 20’s and clear sunny days it was also a welcome respite from the torrential rain back home! I spent the fir

13 October 2011

Bula! Well that means ‘greetings’ though you will find it used for many things in this fantastic country. What did I expect before I arrived in Fiji? Well I guess a couple of small islands with palm fringed beaches, lots of coconuts and a place perfect for a few nights stopover on the way to Australasia. How wrong could I be? The country is much larger than I had anticipated with some 1000

12 September 2011

The last time I went to Lanzarote was about twenty two years ago, and as I sell this destination a lot for spring and autumn breaks, I felt it would be a good time to go back and revisit it. My daughter was also keen to see the volcanoes and the cacti plus we also wanted some down time together in the sun. So off we headed for an 11 night stay at the Los Jameos Playa hotel in Playa de los Poci

11 June 2011

The last time I went on a Club Med holiday, you had to use plastic beads for currency. Now was it two red and a blue for a gin and tonic or three yellow and a pink? Whatever it was, after several drinks it became more difficult to remember! So 16 years on, in May half term, I decided to take my daughter Lily aged 8 to test out their newest resort – Club Med Sinai – located on the Gulf of Aqaba

11 June 2011

This year’s Travel Counsellor’s GOLD conference was hosted by the Westin Mena Seyahi Hotel in Dubai. Having not been to Dubai for some six years, it was going to be interesting to see how much it had changed. The last time I was there, the Palm project was just rising above sea level and there were literally thousands of cranes on the horizon. The drive from the airport was very quick and it w

16 November 2010

Children are only young once, and to make sure I got some quality time with my 7yr old daughter during October half term, I booked a 4 night break away on the Norfolk Broads with Hoseasons holidays. We stayed at the Peninsula Cottages in Wroxham for 4 nights for the bargain sum of about £250. I booked the smallest unit which is a 2 bedroom house sleeping up to 4 people, and we were really luck

13 August 2010

This was my first summer holiday on my own with Lily who is 7, so I thought I would be cautious and stay in one of the all inclusive family holiday villages which are springing up throughout the Med. First Choice advertised a brand new 5* one in Rhodes, and after having a look at the activities on offer, I booked for a fortnight’s stay. I opted for the Royal Deluxe area, as the accommodation

25 June 2010

Every year, Travel Counsellors take an elite group of GOLD Travel Counsellors away on a conference somewhere overseas, and this year the venue was Las Vegas! I have been to Las Vegas before but it was some 18 or so years ago when the pyramid shape of the Luxor hotel was the largest building on the horizon, but I was very interested to go back and see how much the city had changed. We stayed

26 November 2009

Well what a lucky person I am! I was invited to jet off to Mauritius at fairly short notice, spending 6 nights checking out 5* deluxe hotels!! Over the years I have sold a lot of holidays to this island and it was in my top three of ‘must do’ destinations so there was no hesitation in accepting this trip at all! We flew economy with Air Mauritius on the 12 hour overnight flight and it was fine.

02 September 2009

This strangely was my first step into Asia, and we did it in two parts. We stayed in Kowloon for three nights at the beginning of our holiday and on Hong Kong Island on the way back. Our first hotel was the 5* Langham which is nicely placed in Kowloon, a short stroll from the Star Ferry and in an area surrounded by other 5* hotels. It is a lovely hotel with a suitable amount of wow factor but b

19 August 2009

Borneo was a little different to Majorca last year, but it definitely provided the WOW factor and a 5* family holiday with a difference. It is only a 2 ½ hour hop from Hong Kong and just 40 minutes from the airport so relatively easy to get to from most Asian cities. We didn’t want to be too adventurous and settled for a 10 night stay at the Shangri La Rasa Ria, Kota Kinabalu. I booked a premi

09 June 2009

I was given the opportunity to jet off to Oman for a long weekend to have a look at some hotels and experience what this country had to offer! This sultanate is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE, and is home to a population of just 2.5M people, of which a third are expatriates from overseas. It has an incredible history dating back some 10,000 years and has four UNESCO world heritage

09 December 2008

I had the opportunity to travel to this part of the world which I freely admit I knew little about! Anyway off I set on the new direct service with Sri Lankan airlines from Heathrow – yes it’s a long way – 11 hours to be exact but nothing prepared me for the incredible aqua blue seascape of small coral islands, sand banks and reefs as we came into land. Our first stop was at Olhuveli island st

08 December 2008

A short break in Africa? Yes well even my mother thought I was mad but you know, life is too short and sometimes you just have to seize the opportunities when they come, so when I was offered the chance to spend three nights in Cape Town, I jumped at the chance. Off I flew with a group of friends for a weekend of luxury in the 5* Table Bay hotel, situated on the vibrant waterfront of this exci

08 December 2008

For the second summer in a row, we have had our main summer holiday in Majorca. Travelling with a 5yr old means short flights, a guarantee of sunshine and great accommodation are essential as is the proximity to sandy beaches when carrying all her plastic buckets, spades and inflatable paraphernalia!! The North East part of Majorca is really quite pretty with great sandy beaches and pine forest