15 September 2023

I have just returned from an amazing two weeks in Turkey. In our usual style, we stayed at three places, an apartment for 5 nights, an all inclusive for 6 nights and a city hotel for 3 nights – we love doing this as it means we can see more of the country and explore a bit but still have a few nights all inclusive for the kids to enjoy. I can organize holidays for clients too in the same style so please let me know! We flew into Dalaman with Turkish Airlines, which really surprised me in a good way. Their international flights in Economy have a good seat pitch, seat back TVs and a meal service including alcoholic drinks. Amazing for a 3 ½ hour flight and a world away from EasyJet and BA for a really good price! From Dalaman we had a two hour car transfer to Kalkan, a place I have wanted to go to for a long time, and it lived up to my expectations. Kalkan is a fabulous bay side town built into the hills overlooking the Turquoise coast. People often stay in villas but we stayed in a wonderful centrally located apartment hotel called Samira Exclusive Hotel and Apartments https://www.samirahotel.com/ We loved everything about this beautiful town. We were steps from several amazing restaurants and in our five days there we didn’t have a bad meal. The way the town is laid out, there are no or very few hotels with beach access, so there are several beach clubs around Kalkan or a short free boat ride away. We spent two days at two and absolutely loved both. For 150 Lira (around £4) the beach clubs provide loungers and towels and access to their diving platforms, trampolines and whatever other things they have in the sea. The beach clubs we tried all had outstanding, really well priced restaurants and so were the perfect place to spend the whole day. We also took a boat excursion one day we were there. At the harbour there are several boat companies and most do a similar style tour around the nearby islands. We went with a company called Falcon and had a superb day on a catamaran with around 20 others. For around 40 euros each the tour took us around several snorkelling locations, some beautiful islands, a place for a mud bath and included a superb lunch. Kalkan certainly stole my heart and I know I will be back! Next stop and we took a car transfer of around an hour back towards Dalaman for our next location. We stayed at Jiva beach, an all inclusive hotel in Calis, close to Fethiye https://jivabeachresort.com/ The rooms at Jiva were amazing, two huge rooms with high ceilings connected by a large airy corridor. The buffet was good, with loads of choice and very good Turkish food. The beach is gorgeous – pebbly but with lots of comfortable loungers and a great bar with the occasional DJ, especially nice to listen to while relaxing with a sun downer! The entertainment was great with really high quality singers, dancers and performers. Slight downside is that a la carte is limited to one free one every 7 days. However, the hotel is really good value and you can pay for around 15 Euro each to have extra a la carte meals. Our final stop was Istanbul – we took the very short one hour flight from Dalaman and arrived in time for some late afternoon sun at our hotel. We stayed at Hilton Bosphorus which we loved! https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/isthitw-hilton-istanbul-bosphorus/ It had an old world glamour about it and it was a huge resort style Oasis in the heart of Istanbul new side. The fact we had a pool really was lovely as after a full days sightseeing, we could jump into the beautiful pool and cool off and have a cold drink at the pool side bar. Istanbul is a fabulous, historical but cosmopolitan and beautiful city. We visited the Hagia Sophia and Grand Bazaar as well as the Spice Market and Taksim Square, walking for miles and using the brilliant tram system, including the world’s second oldest underground, the ‘Tunel’ I would highly recommend spending a few nights in Istanbul as part of a Turkey holiday, I can incorporate this into your trip using free stopovers on Turkish Airlines. A very good value way to include a trip to this beautiful city! All in all Turkey surprised us, we loved exploring the coastal towns and Istanbul - it really felt like a bit of an adventure, rather than the average short haul holiday. You can’t fault the food and the weather either. All in all a great place for a multi centre trip. Of course you can also fly and flop, but I think you’d be missing out on the marvelous experience of seeing a bit of Turkey outside of the resorts.

21 April 2023

Our Mexico and Miami trip continued.....! Next and last stop was Miami. We stayed at Abae Hotel: https://abaehotel.com/ This hotel had an amazing location, a few blocks from South Beach but with its own lovely local area too. I have to say, I fell in love a bit with Miami – the people, the food and the ambiance excelled. Miami is a lot friendlier than I realised and we spent a fabulous four days sightseeing, shopping, experiencing the gay pride festival and eating! On day three we hired a car and drove to the Florida Keys, something I highly recommend if you have a few days in Miami. We hired a mustang which was amazing, as we drove down the long bridges with the top down! We made it as far as Duck Key before we returned home, but stopped for lunch in Islamorada and tried the famous Key Lime Colada at Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar, highly recommended if you are not the designated driver! Pros: The hotel was really well located with gorgeous places for breakfast nearby and only blocks from South Beach and beyond. There was even a Budget car rental place round the corner. Miami is great and we could have spent loads longer exploring and venturing on day trips. People are wonderful and it's a great place for a city break or a longer holiday. It’s a great city to walk around and we loved exploring. The beach is lovely too so can combine with a beach stay. Cons: Miami and the USA in general is expensive. However, everything we ate was great quality and so many lovely restaurants and bars in the city. The airport staff are very different to the lovely people of Miami. Get a direct flight home and book a protected package with TC as otherwise you will be queueing for ever if anything goes wrong with the weather or flights. I am here to make things like this easier for you! The only downside of the holiday was the flight home. I chose to save a few pounds and booked an indirect flight from Miami via Raleigh-Durham, I like to learn from my own mistakes and would choose the direct flight for clients instead! The Miami to Raleigh-Durham flight was delayed which meant we missed our connection. After 5 hours of the flight trying to take off, we actually ended up not leaving Miami at all. Luckily as I booked this as a Travel Counsellors package, our duty office intervened and rebooked us on new flights the next day (via Barcelona this time, not Raleigh-Durham!) and booked us into a hotel for the night. Other travellers on our flight were not so lucky and ended up having to wait two days to return home, as flights were so busy due to school holidays and storms. Reassuring to know the Travel Counsellors process worked so well – other passengers booked with well-known online companies could not get through to anyone and were stuck at the mercy of the AA staff! We made it back home and back to work with some great memories and a fast-fading tan!

21 April 2023

We have just returned from an amazing trip to Mexico and Miami, a trip we planned in 2019 (with a few changes) and due to the pandemic had to move and rebook a few times. What can I say, apart from it was worth the wait! We had a fabulous time and now the kids are 11 and 13, and up for a bit of adventure I think the combination of apartment, hotel and city break created the perfect holiday for us. We did our tried and tested holiday formula of 4 nights in an apartment, staying 4 nights in Playa del Carmen in a beautiful two-bedroom apartment right next to 5th avenue, followed by 6 nights at an all inclusive, in Playacar at a wonderful resort on a beautiful beach and then did a 4-night city break stopover in a fabulous apartment in vibrant Miami beach before returning home. Using AA and BA’s network this worked so well as you get a free stop in the USA on the way home from Mexico which we have access on our GDS to book. I can do this for my clients too – so just let me know if this is something you would like to do! We started in Playa Del Carmen, staying at The Fives Downtown Hotel & Residences: https://www.thefiveshotels.com/downtown This is a lovely hotel, steps from 5th Avenue with a fabulous roof top pool. The two-bedroom apartment was so spacious, we hardly saw the kids when there as they had their own entrance behind the communal front door and own bathroom. The lobby had turtles in the indoor pond and was very stylish indeed! We organized a tour to Isla Mujeres from the hotel which was crazy but worth doing and we did our own tour to Tulum, using local clean and efficient buses from the nearby bus terminal and caught a cab back. Pros: Great location, fabulous stylish apartment, lovely reception that will do service washes for you very cheaply, breakfast available on site and one of the best rooftop pools I’ve ever seen with views over the sea and beyond. Cons: A little noisy outside but it is in the centre of Playa Del Carmen! We then stayed in Playacar at the all-inclusive Iberostar Quetzal: https://www.iberostar.com/en/hotels/riviera-maya/iberostar-quetzal/ This hotel is connected to Iberostar Tucan and between them they have something I’ve never seen before in a resort, their own nature reserve. It’s very hard to describe so you really must see it for yourself – they have Coatis (racoon type creatures), Aguti (Capibara type creatures), Flamingos, Peacocks, Howler Monkeys, African Turtles, Iguanas, several other birds and other creatures wondering around the nature reserve and in some cases, (especially with the naughty Peacocks, Agutis and Coatis) the whole resort and beach! The kids loved seeing all the animals and they appear to be treated really well as all looked healthy and happily wondering around! The beach is beautiful, and we rarely saw much sargassum, which was something we did worry about. The main pool is huge, and everything is very clean and well maintained. The entertainment team were very enthusiastic and did everything in two languages, English and Spanish. Interestingly, the main nationality at the resort is Argentine – which we found amusing as most of my family come from Argentina. My husband joked repeatedly that many of the other hotel guests sounded like one of my many relatives! The food was healthy, delicious and plentiful and even though you are only allocated 3 a la carte in a week’s stay, they have a system where each morning you can ask about cancelations so if you are flexible on timings, it’s possible to have a la carte every night if wanted. Pros: Beautiful beach, great wildlife, enthusiastic and lovely staff, food was great, and drinks were flowing, relaxed atmosphere and very clean. It's super eco as no single use plastic and refillable water bottles and toiletries. Cons: A little tired looking and in the classic Caribbean style, a bit of upselling in restaurants with drinks which was frustrating. We just said no and went with the very adequate wine from the all-inclusive. They seem used to Americans and Argentines tipping but we never carried money around and no one seemed to mind. Next and last stop was Miami - read more on the next blog! To be continued!..........

10 June 2022

During lockdown we had a few webinars from hotel groups rather than in person meetings, and it was during such a webinar with the fabulous Elounda Beach group I found out I’d won a 3 night stay at Elounda Bay Palace. Fast forward a few months and out of lockdown, we decided to book our stay for the start of June. I took my long suffering husband and jetted off in trepidation, after hearing about the long queues and issues at Gatwick. We needn’t have worried as the biggest queue at the airport was for the Boots shop airside. We were through in half an hour at the undignified hour of 5am but eager to go to the sunshine. On arrival at the hotel, I met the manager, the sales director and several other staff members who were lovely and very welcoming. I was delighted to find they’d upgraded our room to a deluxe sea view suite, with two rooms and more room than we knew what to do with. A highlight was the jacuzzi bath and huge balcony with amazing views over the beautiful bay surrounding Elounda. What also surprised me was the proximity to Elounda and all the amazing restaurants. Elounda centre is a short, picturesque 10-minute walk through olive lined roads, and we discovered full of wonderful restaurants and bars. It’s not for anyone who wants bustling nightlife, but if you like to eat late and enjoy amazing food and drinks overlooking the bay, it’s perfect. Its also one of the places to catch a boat to Spinalonga, a very interesting island off the coast of Elounda/Plaka which once held a leper colony and has a great historical past. Other great places to visit close by include the city of Agios Nikolaos, we spent a lovely day walking around and eating at an amazing restaurant called Gioma Meze. Highly recommend but be wary, there are few steps up to it! I would highly recommend Elounda and Elounda Bay Palace and it’s sister hotel Elounda Beach hotel and villas. The rooms are stunning, and you can get every type of accommodation from hotel rooms to 3-bedroom villas with pool. The staff are exceptionally friendly, the views amazing and the fact it’s walking distance from an amazing town makes it even better. I only wish I stayed for longer, 3 nights is really not enough!

30 May 2022

I have just returned from what I can only describe as an amazing 4 nights in paradise! We have an annual gold trip to celebrate being gold - which means we are in the top 10% of the company for sales, retaining clients and getting new ones. A feat I am always grateful to my wonderful clients for, so thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope I can continue to look at wonderful holidays for you. The gold trips are usually for around 4 nights and are hosted by Travel Counsellors and our wonderful suppliers and hotels we sell. In this case, RSSC, Celebrity, Atmosphere and Hummingbird. We stayed at the wonderful and brand new OBLU Xperience Ailafushi and I also visited Varu by Atmosphere. It was actually my birthday while away and I experienced the full force of the famous Maldivian hospitality, around 20 staff members singing happy birthday and dancing, along with a huge chocolate cake and petals on my bed! Both are very beautiful hotels and both surrounded by the brightest aquamarine seas I've ever seen. The food was outstanding and if you like fresh tuna, seafood and good food in general, you will be very happy here! Snorkelling and diving are both also very good around these islands and if just relaxing is your thing then you won't be disappointed either! I flew out on Emirates business class which was out of this world with amazing flat beds and on board bar. The service is really something and they know how to make you feel special. On landing in the Maldives, it's a short walk to the Seaplanes and Speedboats, which makes the whole process very simple. I would love to tell you all about the Maldives so please contact me at any time!

01 June 2022

In March I was lucky enough to be invited onto a whirlwind trip to Rome and then onboard RSSC Voyager for 3 nights. Regent has to be one of my favourite ocean cruise lines and when you step on board you realise why - everything is included and it’s truly luxury at sea. They think of everything, from included room service breakfast if you have an early start, to big fluffy towels and dressing gowns. The luxury shower gels, shampoo and conditioner which are replenished constantly. From an attentive butler who will stock the in suite fridge with any drink you may desire and the canapé menu for when you’ve not eaten for an hour or so! All excursions are included and I enjoyed my first taste of Corsica with a wine tasting experience, but had a huge selection of tours to choose from. Premium everything is included and so are tips, so no worrying about money while on board! The biggest surprise is the quality of the meals and specialty a la carte dining, which you guessed it, IS included! Regent Seven Seas may initially seem more expensive but it’s not when you see the inclusions. This is my second time experiencing what RSSC has to offer and it's reinforced my love for this luxury cruise brand. If you like luxury and want a cruise but have never cruised before, I think Regent Seven Seas is the perfect cruise line for you. Contact me anytime for more info! Michelle x

02 March 2022

Desperate for sun and in need of some R and R, we thought we’d go away for a February half term break. Having sold Dubai a lot but never actually visited, I thought it was high time we went to the UAE and saw it for ourselves. We spent the first three nights at Rixos Bab Al Bahr and to be honest, we didn’t really expect much as I’d booked it as a cheap flop-on-a-beach escape before our Dubai city break. We were very pleasantly surprised and really loved the resort and our ridiculously big two bedroom suite. We had two rooms connected by a lobby area and the biggest balcony with loungers and table. Also surprisingly, the garden view was actually a view of two sides of the sea! The resort was lovely, and the food was amazing. They do a la carte and buffet and we couldn’t fault any of the meals. Entertainment was top notch and appealed to all nationalities. Honestly, we’d love to return as it’s great value for guaranteed February sunshine! We then spent three nights in Dubai, where our hotel, The Grosvenor House exceeded our expectations. We loved our stay in our spectacular, huge two bedroom suite, with again the most amazing balcony with a view that is hard to put into words. For those with families, it’s perfect as one room had huge twin beds and a main bathroom with bath and shower opposite, while we had the biggest bed in the master suite with ensuite bathroom. We even had a very swish kitchen and a washing/dryer machine. We had the half board package which included two buffet restaurants or a la carte in several restaurants in Grosvenor House and the sister hotel Le Meridian on the beach. There is a courtesy shuttle bus between the two hotels which saves a bit of a walk! We spent three jam packed days exploring Dubai, going to Souks, seeing the tallest building in the world, travelling on the metro and the monorail, promenading the JBR, eating delicious food everywhere and finishing the trip with a day at Aquaventure and the aquarium at Atlantis The Palm. One thing I didn’t realise is that Dubai is HUGE! However, the metro, tram and monorail system is really easy to use and ridiculously clean. It’s also cheap as are taxis, which when you consider the price of a glass of wine in Dubai (not cheap!) is amazing! I can honestly say we loved Dubai and will return – it’s perfect for a stopover on the way to other places too and my kids keep on asking to return to Aquaventure for another go on the Zoomerango! We won’t forget this trip and have made some amazing memories we’ll treasure forever.

27 September 2021

Regent Seven Seas Splendor, a fabulous FAM at sea. I was invited onboard RSSC Splendor to experience her second maiden voyage. I say second as the first maiden voyage was in January 2021 and sadly she couldn’t go anywhere for 18 months. However, as part of the restart process, many of the major cruise lines put on trial cruises, including this one on Splendor which I was especially happy to join! I am not exaggerating when I say it was the best ocean cruise I’ve ever been on. If you like delicious food, beautiful surroundings, superb service, never ending very good drinks, fantastic entertainment and out of this world luxury, then Regent Seven Seas is for you. Seven Seas Spendor is a gorgeous ship and so luxurious and comfortable that I could have easily spent weeks on it. We stayed in a Penthouse suite which was much bigger than most hotel rooms. The butler service was a wonderful addition that I could definitely get used to (sadly I don’t have a butler at home!) and the level of luxury was superb but not stuffy. What makes RSSC stand out for me despite the food, drinks, ship etc (which were outstanding as mentioned!) is the service onboard. The staff genuinely appear happy and proud to work for RSSC. I think I’ve been a bit spoilt by this cruise and I have to say, I can see why people return to Regent Seven Seas Cruises again and again.

06 August 2021

I wanted to prove to myself and my clients how it is still possible to travel and if it was easy or not to do so. I attended a training session early in 2021 on the new hotel that the Voulgaris group were opening in Corfu. As we had fallen in love with the crystal blue seas of this side of Corfu last year, I thought I would watch the training and see what this new hotel was about. I honestly fell in love with the hotel instantly and knew I had to stay there and promptly booked it for July. No one knew that rules would come into place demanding that we not only had to pre-test if not vaccinated but also test 72 hours before coming home and on day two when back in the UK. However not to be deterred we decided we would still go on holiday and see if these obstacles would put us off. It was still 100% worth it! To summarise, this is what we did: • Adults vaccinated so all we printed off vaccination certificates. No tests needed. • Child 12 years old – we booked lateral flow tests at Gatwick. Printed off results which were back the next day. • Child 9 years old – no tests needed. • PLF completed and printed off. • Booked day 2 tests for our return and just needed codes for form to come back to UK. • In resort – booked three lateral flow tests for two days before coming back. Very easy and staff come to your room to do it. Results back the same day in the evening. • Before coming back completed UK form two days before. Honestly though, the holiday was amazing. Maybe even more so for the slight increase in effort involved - being away felt like a world away from the UK and the sun was hot and the beer was cold! Corfu felt so safe and as dining is all outside, it felt freeing and we all gained a good dose of vitamin D, something lacking in the UK at the moment! The hotel itself is stunning and situated in the heart of beautiful Messonghi. We opted for a Corfiot Suite and had two separate bedrooms, one very large bathroom with doors to toilet and shower and two sinks, a spacious paved area, and a gorgeous private pool, which we very much took advantage of! The hotel is low rise and beautiful with olive trees and stone walls surrounding the resort. The main building is an architectural delight and there is a separate restaurant and bar that serves exquisite food and drinks. The breakfast was included in our rate and was beautifully presented with a menu for hot a la carte options and a buffet full of fruits, cold cuts, breads, and cheeses. The beach is across a small road and is gorgeous with sand and pebbles. The hotel provides cabanas, loungers, beach towels and cartons of water too. Surrounding the hotel are countless restaurants including some really great tavernas and bars. Be sure to visit the amazing Archontiko, nestled up in the hills and a five-minute taxi ride from the resort. The views are breath-taking, and the food is delicious with lots of veggie options as well as the traditional fish and local dishes. The staff are extremely friendly and approachable, and you can book your lateral flow fit to fly directly through reception. The process is as easy as it can be, and the medical staff do it in the comfort of your suite and send results the next day. The reception staff printed off the results as well as our form to enter the UK, so we had it ready for immigration in Corfu. The big question is if it is worth travelling during covid times. Not only is it worth it and a few extra forms really isn’t much hassle, it is actually something that personally I needed. Getting away from the media, the cold and the office made a world of difference and we returned rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. The extra paperwork and a few tests did not really impact us much. The airports had no queues and Corfu was welcoming and as gorgeous as ever. Jump on a plane and travel – it’s worth it. Trust me. I'm a Travel Agent!

05 October 2020

This was an unexpected holiday as originally, we had booked to stay at the in-law’s apartment in Spain. As time went on and it became clear that we couldn’t visit Spain and seeing myself and my brother’s businesses suffering due to Covid, my mother kindly offered to take both our families to anywhere of my choice. Marbella Corfu has been a popular choice for many of my clients for a while now. I wanted to see what the fuss was about! I last went to Corfu when I was a 22-year-old backpacker. After spending close to a year in South America, I decided to travel round Europe before heading home. A few school friends and I interrailed round Europe and went by boat to Corfu, staying in a rather dodgy establishment called the Pink Palace. Fast forward 20 something years and this time flying rather than sailing, we stayed at a far nicer hotel and location. Sadly, this time, we were not greeted by toga wearing Greek waiters bringing us ouzo shots as we checked in (probably for the best!) Firstly, I think a lot of people are worried about the airport and social distancing. We went to Gatwick and I felt very safe. Everyone is very respectful of keeping their distance and no one touched our passports, instead asking us to flash the relevant page or boarding pass and to remove our masks only when checking the photo. Most of the shops were open but not all the restaurants were. However, the ubiquitous Weatherspoons was of course open for those who need some fortification before flying. Masks are mandatory in the airport and onboard the flight for everyone apart from small children and you can only remove them to eat or drink. The toilet system is interesting as you cannot have more than two in a line but somehow this worked fine most of the time! We felt safe travelling with EasyJet and arrived in Corfu in high spirits ready for our adventure. Marbella Corfu is a beautiful hotel with several different room types situated on one the most beautiful stretches of water I have ever seen. The Greek mainland is visible across the Ionian Sea and the crystal-clear waters give the impression of a vast, fish filled, azure swimming pool. The beach at Marbella Corfu has decking which the kids (and adults) loved launching themselves off to snorkel among the abundant and magnificent fish found there. Personally, I preferred to watch from Marbella’s beach restaurant and bar, soft drink or cocktail in hand! The hotel has three a la carte restaurants and a buffet style one as well as a beach side restaurant and beach/pool snack bars – the latter two only serving food at lunch. The diner style a la carte restaurant was closed due to Covid, but we ate in the other two and at the beach restaurant several times. The choice was a bit limited for a two week stay but the buffet did change its food choices daily. We ventured outside of the hotel a few times and found Corfu Town in easy reach with a regular bus service from outside reception. The nearest town is probably Benitses, the old party capital of Corfu (very sleepy now!) and is a 5-minute taxi ride away. In addition to this, there are a few tavernas walking distance from the hotel. We did an excursion one day which I highly recommend. A lovely lady works in collaboration with the hotel and advertises boat trips on her father’s boat. The company is called Dimitra J and we spent a very happy day visiting and snorkelling in the blue lagoon, caves and shallows and visiting mainland Greece. All in all, we loved our trip to Corfu. I would love to return for a third time and perhaps see more of the island. In the meantime, I will get through the UK winter by imagining I am back by that azure sea and sipping a cold drink. Holidays are for fun and memories and we made many of them on this unexpected trip to beautiful Corfu.

24 October 2019

When a few friends suggested we go away with our oldest kids, I thought maybe we’d have a weekend away somewhere warm and sunny. One of my friends came up with the idea of Belfast which I had never even considered for a weekend away. It turned out to be a fabulous suggestion and one I can now wholeheartedly recommend. Belfast has everything you could want from a weekend break (apart from maybe the sun!) and we filled the two days easily. On the first day, we toured the surroundings of the city and visited The Dark Hedges (fans of G.O.T. may find this familiar), Giants Causeway and Carrick a Rede rope bridge. The latter was somewhere I had been dreading as I’m not a fan of heights and wobbly bridges. However, as my son was keen to cross it, I had to really. Verdict: Not as bad as I thought and seeing the kids’ excited faces after they’d crossed the bridge was worth it! We spent the next day exploring Belfast itself. We pre-booked entry to the Titanic Museum for 10am, so had a pleasant walk across the city to reach the museum by our allotted time. Belfast is an easy to navigate city and very continental in places with wide streets, cafes and promenades hugging the river. The Titanic Museum is an imposing but beautiful modern structure, my son decided it resembled an arrowhead whilst I thought it was perhaps more like an angular ship. I’m guessing the ship would make sense seeing the subject matter, but it’s bad form to argue with a ten-year-old! The museum was well laid out and especially enticing to children, they provided the kids with a quiz sheet which they took great delight in filling out over the next few hours and excitedly finding the answers. We ended our weekend with a visit to Belfast’s St Georges Market, a Victorian covered market in the heart of the city. There are lots of food stalls as well as some really lovely local art and crafts. On weekends there is even live music to entertain you as you eat and browse. I would highly recommend Belfast for a short break, especially with children. I really didn’t think I’d enjoy the stay as much as I did. It’s an easy and quick flight from most of the UK and the airport is not far from the centre, making it an ideal weekend, after school destination.

25 September 2019

As the family travel agent, my mum tasked me with finding a suitable location for a big family holiday. My mum wanted to take myself and my family, my brothers’ family and herself away to celebrate her semi-retirement. Pressure aside, I enjoyed finding something that would tick the boxes for all of us and I decided to book a fabulous hotel in Cyprus that I had sent many of my clients to and wanted to see for myself! The Almyra is truly beautiful and a place I knew that would appeal to my design obsessed brother and mother. It’s great for families and has little touches such as kids’ cutlery at dinner, a separate buffet for the children and films after dinner. In addition to this there is also an amazing covered pool which has just the right amount of shade and sun, for people like me that want my kids to be in shade but also a tan for myself! The staff are super attentive and friendly and the food in the half board - the buffet is really good. You can also pay a 15-euro supplement per person to eat a set menu in the Asian-med fusion restaurant and it was worth every penny. We were presented with a tasting menu which included a sushi course, prawn tempura, a fish course, meat course and a trio of puddings. It is a quiet resort so no real evening entertainment, however there is live music in the taverna attached to the hotel and also in the sister hotel, Annabelle next door. In addition to this Paphos harbour is a very pleasant 10-minute walk away with lots to do if you want to go out. We also visited the nearby Kato Paphos Archaeological Park, a fascinating site containing four large and elaborate Roman villas as well as other ruins. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and is still partly under excavation but has plenty to see. We had a little bit of a two-centre holiday, as after saying goodbye to my extended family after a week, myself and my little family decided to stay at another hotel for four nights more. We stayed at Olympic Lagoon Paphos. This is an all-inclusive resort a few minutes’ drive further from Paphos Harbour. It’s a very different hotel to Almyra and it does have amazing facilities – there is an excellent buffet as well as four other restaurants and a coffee bar. It has a fabulous kids club that takes babies as well as older children and a great entertainment team that put on a show every night. A slight negative is that you could be anywhere as it’s not particularly Cypriot, however, if you are after a very relaxing holiday where you don’t have to leave the resort, then it’s perfect. We loved Paphos and it really was a gorgeous place to spend a holiday. The food is delicious and the people are lovely. I only wish I had longer to explore more of the city and beyond!

23 August 2019

I was beyond delighted when I heard I had been chosen to have the opportunity to go on a Balkan river cruise with APT. After the wonderful experience on the Emerald Douro river cruise last year, I decided that river cruising could perhaps be one of my favourite forms of transport, and this Balkan cruise reaffirmed that thought! We boarded the MS AmaVerde in Giurgiu in Romania, around an hour’s drive from Bucharest. This was to be the starting point for our 1151km journey down the Danube, from Giurgiu to Budapest. On boarding this beautiful ship, it was evident we would have a fantastic week. APT/AMA ships have spacious rooms and beautiful upper decks with small swimming pools (and on some ships, a pool bar) as well as two restaurants, a comfortable lounge area and many other facilities. On our first full day we had a choice of two tours in Bulgaria – Veliko Tarnovo or the Rock Hewn Church Hike. I took the latter and loved the gentle hike into the Rock Hewn churches. These churches dating back many years were beautifully preserved, and we saw murals dating back to the 14th century. The second day we sailed the final stretch of the Bulgarian Danube and docked in Vidin. This allowed us a stroll straight from the ship into this interesting town. In the afternoon we had a tour to the Baba Vida fortress and then to the rock formations at Belogradchik. These were bizarrely shaped rock formations which came complete with equally bizarre legends, such as ‘the bear’, ‘the shepherd boy’ and so on due to what they resembled. On our third day we had a day at sea, the only day on this trip with no planned activities. We spent a very pleasant day in the on board pool watching the scenery go by – a pastime I would recommend to anyone! We passed through the beautiful Iron Gates and other rock formations, including Trajan’s Tablet and the carved face of King Decebal. We arrived in Serbia the next day and docked close to Novi Sad. Music fans may recognise this as the location for Exit festival, which takes place at the Fortress. In the afternoon we had a more sombre outing after docking at Vukovar in Croatia. This town was completely devastated during the Yugoslavian civil war and you can see the remnants of the devastation and hear the horrific stories from that time. The visit ended with a visit to Ilok and a wine tour. The last two days took us to Hungary, one day at the medieval town of Kalosca and then the following day in the well-known capital of Budapest! Budapest is simply beautiful, and the tour took us to both sides of this wonderful capital. The beauty doesn’t manage to hide a sad past however, and with most of these locations on the Danube there are monuments to the devastation left behind by the Nazis in the second world war, including the poignant sculpture of the shoes on the Danube itself. This is a magnificent voyage and one that took me to places I may otherwise not have visited. I would recommend a tour to this end of the Danube. The raw beauty of many of these places and the history is something everyone should discover, and travelling by River cruise is probably the ideal way to do it.

15 July 2019

A few years ago, I went on a girl’s short break to Verona. We had a fabulous time and I fell in love with this amazing Italian city. At the time we toured the glorious Arena di Verona and discovered it was holding a rock concert in the coming days, which alas we couldn’t make due to flying home the next day (and not knowing the foggiest about Italian rock!). Fast forward three years and I was surprised this year with tickets to see Carmen at the very same amphitheatre. Seeing the opera in an open-air venue had been on my bucket list for a while so the husband did well with this surprise, and I was also delighted to know I’d be watching it in this beautiful location. Verona is only a 1 hour 40-minute flight away and crazy as one night away to see the opera may sound, it was actually really easy and the perfect getaway. Keeping with the opera theme, we stayed at Hotel Academia, a gorgeous hotel situated in an 18th century building, owned by descendants of Giovanni Zenatello, the world-renowned tenor of the end of 20th century, who launched and sponsored the Arena Opera Festival. The hotel even gave us a room frequented by Maria Callas, an opera singer from the same era! Food in Verona is sublime. There are so many restaurants to choose from and most have plenty of scope for people watching while enjoying delicious pasta and wines. However, a little warning to horse lovers, this meat does appear to be a speciality of the region and features on most menus in various guises. I stuck to the fish! I cannot express how amazing the opera was. Sat in the roman amphitheatre, the acoustics were fabulous and the show spectacular. Carmen was everything I had expected from the opera with quite a few familiar songs and subtitles which made it easy to follow. The atmosphere is like nothing I have experienced before, and I can highly recommend it to opera buffs and opera novices like me!

21 May 2019

Having always wanted to visit Disneyland Paris (or EuroDisney as it was called in my day), I used the excuse of my son’s imminent 10th birthday as a reason to visit Mickey and his friends. As we live only an hour and a half from Ashford, we decided to take the Eurostar from this quaint little station rather than brave the masses at St Pancras. It really is a lovely little terminal and you can park right by the station which makes it a really easy way to travel (and a nice change from Gatwick park and rides). On arrival, it’s a short walk to English customs, followed swiftly by French customs and the whole process is very easy and quick. This is in stark contrast to our return journey from Gare Du Nord – a station we had to return from as there was no availability back from Marne-la-Vallee - Chessy Station. More about that later! I would highly recommend the Disneyland Express luggage service. When we arrived at Marne-la-Vallee, we simply had to leave our luggage at the express desk at the station and we were free to go straight into the parks. The station is metres away from the entrance to the park which is a little surreal – even the kids had anticipated a Glastonbury-style walk to anything fun, so we were pleasantly surprised we could just jump straight into it. As we walked into the park, it started to rain and then as if we weren’t reminded of home enough, it started to hail! The advantage to having wet weather is that there were no queues, so we decided to head to the first attraction and run in. I had no idea that Disney collaborated with Aerosmith and we found a ride featuring the band itself, called Rockarolla. The clue should have been in the name, but we didn’t realise we had unintentionally led our young children into a roller-coaster that featured not one, but two loop the loops and several hair-raising bends. The joy of this ride is that you cannot see the person next to you, so for two frightening minutes, we tumbled and swayed to the tunes of Aerosmith and I prayed that my nine-year-old didn’t hate me at the end of it. Luckily, he enjoyed it. However, our seven-year-old daughter who sat next to my husband, less so. I decided to partner up with my son for the rest of our time in Disneyland. After several less scary rides, we went back to our hotel, collected our bags and found our room. We had booked to stay at Sequoia Lodge and chose to stay in the Golden club section. This gave us our own (less busy) dedicated club check in, breakfast and afternoon tea in the golden club room and one fast pass a day. Sequoia Lodge is a short walk from the Disney parks and is designed to look like an American mountain retreat. It reminded me of a camp I worked at in the 90s in the Pocono mountains, probably the look they were going for so quite accurate! It may not be for everyone, but we found it comfortable, well located and the breakfast good. That evening we had pre-booked the Buffalo Bills show, a western-style show featuring cowboys, Indians, cattle and horses. The set meal is actually really good, and they cater well for kids and all meal types. The show is entertaining, and I really do recommend this. One huge warning however: do not go to this show if you suffer from any type of asthma, animal or dust allergy without taking antihistamines (if they work for you). My husband did not realise we were going to a show with live animals (he didn’t listen to his travel agent) and did not take any precautions. I can safely say he did not enjoy the show, what he could see of it anyway as his eyes watered constantly and he sneezed his way throughout. The rest of us loved it though – you even get to keep your cowboy hats at the end (a small consolation for the husband). The following day passed in a happy blur of rides, shows and Disney-ness. Rides that stood out for us were Thunder Mountain, Hyperspace mountain (the son only came on this one), Buzz Lightyear, Ratatouille, Star Wars, Peter Pan and the various shows they had on. We ate that night at the Remy Restaurant, and I think it’s fine for meat eaters but really bad for children and for vegetarians. My husband happily shared his steak with the kids while I had bread as the veggie meal (boiled vegetables with tofu – oddly not Asian in style) was inedible. The whole experience was quite fun though. As we had a late train back and the Disney luggage service, we had another almost full day in the parks revisiting rides we enjoyed and spending a last day enjoying the ambiance. We foolishly booked a train back from Gare Du Nord so had to cross Paris on several metro lines to get there and found ourselves in the longest commuter line to get into the Eurostar section of the station. I would highly recommend you don’t do this as it is much easier to return from Marne-la-Vallee - Chessy Station. But I experienced this, so you don’t have to - The things I do for my clients! I do highly recommend Disneyland Paris though and can see what the magic is about. We enjoyed our little stay here and in the kid’s words – found the whole experience ‘awesome’!

01 May 2019

We have recently returned from a short break to the Chania region of Crete. We stayed in Anemos Luxury Resort, a gorgeous place located close to the town of Georgopoulos, around 40 minutes from Chania airport. I would best describe the resort as modern, with beautiful features, large well-appointed rooms and an eccentric Greek/Arabic style which I really liked. The staff are beyond welcoming and very helpful. The resort has a fabulous buffet restaurant with delicious and varied food. Even fussy eaters (one of my children) loved the food and found something to his limited tastes (i.e. they had lots of meat and chips). The unfussy one also really enjoyed the food and we all found ourselves eating varied, fresh tasty meals every time we went to the buffet. There are also four a la carte restaurants, of which you get to dine at twice a week included in your half board deal. Unfortunately, as we visited early in the season (the first day it opened this year), the seafood restaurant was not open yet – they explained that this was because it’s situated on the beach, so the weather has to be good. Fair enough, no one wants to eat crab in the dark when it’s windy! We tried the Greek, which was excellent (go hungry!) and the Asian which was ok. I think the main issue with the Asian restaurant was that again as it was early in the season, they hadn’t many of the ingredients in stock yet. Friends who we were there with and who arrived later than us tried the Italian a la carte restaurant and declared it amazing. Georgopoulos is relatively close to the resort and is a pleasant 30-minute walk down the beach. There are several tavernas closer to the resort along the beach in both directions so if you don’t want to walk so far you can stop in one of those for lunch. All the local tavernas served similar delicious food and really great prices. Hubby did the beer test and found that beer was very tasty and cheap in this region! We ventured further one day to Lake Kournas, a very pretty inland lake with tavernas overlooking its beautiful waters and pedalos a plenty for rent. The walk was slightly longer than anticipated but definitely worth the hike. It probably took around an hour and a half to get there but we did walk at a very slow pace and admired the flora and fauna on the way (and every single dandelion and insect – people will small children will know what this feels like!) All in all, I can highly recommend Anemos Luxury resort and this region of Crete. I really enjoyed the food; the kids loved the kids club and pools. I think perhaps in retrospect early April may be a bit early for Crete as it was quite chilly in the evenings and a few tavernas and facilities at the hotel were not open yet. However this didn’t ruin our holiday in the slightest – it just made me want to go back!

23 March 2019

Prague is absolutely perfect for a short break. The flight is less than two hours and when we went the time difference was only an hour. We stayed in the new part of the city, but all the major attractions were a short walk away. Saying that, we did clock up over 25,000 steps a day as Prague is a wonderful city to amble about and discover by foot so bring comfortable footwear! The food in Prague is amazing – and even as someone who doesn’t eat meat, I found quite a few options. Admittedly though, the meat eaters in the group had more choice and the goulash, sausages and meat dishes looked really tasty! For sweet lovers Prague seems to be overrun with places selling funnel type pastries which can be filled with cream or ice cream. These come in a few flavours and are really good for re-fuelling. Along with mulled wine which is also sold on every street corner this time of the year, you are never short of a snack in Prague! We did a lot of sightseeing and tried to cram as much as we could in the short time we were there. We started with a place that is probably not for everyone and definitely not for the faint hearted, the Sex Machine Museum. All I can say is go there with an open mind and try not to laugh too much (I didn’t succeed and myself and my friends laughed probably a bit too much – the curator frowned as we left!) The next day we did the traditional sites and spent some time in the castle, saw the changing of the guard and visited Lennon’s wall. Naturally we also crossed Charles bridge numerous times and we even took a boat ride under it and around the river, learning a lot about the previous occupiers of Prague and what Defenestration is (look it up, unfortunately it seemed to be all the rage in Prague in the 17th century!) In the evening we went to a (maybe not so) traditional medieval feast. It wasn’t as touristy as I expected and surprisingly fantastic food and really good value. We paid around £35 each for transfers, a five-course meal, unlimited drinks and entertainment. Our driver was even part of the show which was unexpected! On our final day in Prague, we spent a few hours happily riding Segway’s and exploring the monasteries on the outskirts of the city. The tour took us to two monasteries that happened to brew beer, which we sampled happily. We then had a sombre afternoon discovering the Jewish quarter of Prague and reading about what happened to the Jewish population of the city. The Synagogues left behind are very beautiful and it’s definitely worth a visit. It’s all preserved beautifully with names listed of the dead and very sad but important to see. Prague really has it all, it’s a wonderful place for a city break and I highly recommend it!

05 December 2018

Qantas and our destination management companies in Australia and Singapore very kindly invited myself and nine others on this amazing FAM trip in November. On receiving the itinerary, I knew it would be a very exciting trip – not only were we visiting Perth, Brisbane and Singapore, I had also heard on the grapevine that we would be visiting the home of the Quokka, the cutest marsupial in the world! We had a relaxing hour or so in the very luxurious Qantas lounge at Heathrow before our flight. This lounge is superb – if you like gin, there is a gin menu. If you like food, there is plenty of that! I had a superb smoked salmon and poached egg dish with a cheeky glass of bubbles (something I would not usually have for breakfast I assure you!) and left ready to tackle the next 17 hours on the amazing Qantas non-stop flight to Perth. You would think nearly 17 hours would drag by, but the Dreamliner is so smooth and comfortable that even in Economy, time flew. You get the usual mod cons, but what stood out was the service, the food and the huge selection of movies and programs on a larger than average seatback TV. The lights are dimmed at around 4pm UK time to encourage sleep and we all arrived fresher than anticipated! On arrival in Perth we went straight on a city tour of this magnificent city. Our wonderful guide, Claire, took us to Kings Park (one of the world’s largest and most beautiful inner-city parks) to see the views of the city, then Elizabeth Quay precinct to see the hidden laneways in central Perth. We stayed for two nights at the Crown Promenade hotel, close to Perth’s CBD. This area has a casino and many restaurants and bars situated in the Crown entertainment complex. We ate on the first night at Epicurean, one of the hotel’s restaurants and I have to say, the food was out of this world – a mostly Asian buffet with amazing sushi among other delicious delicacies. After a good nights’ sleep, we were to visit the Quokkas at their home on Rottnest Island, roughly a 1 ½ hour ferry ride from the mainland. Rottnest Island has a rich history and is very beautiful in its own right. Even if you don’t like tiny marsupials, a visit to Rottnest is a must as part of a trip to Perth! After a day of exploring and trying to take a selfie with my new furry friends, we went to visit another fabulous hotel in Perth for dinner. COMO the Treasury is a stunning hotel located in the historic heart of Perth. The 48-room luxury hotel occupies state buildings from the mid-19th century and combines luxury, modern touches and history beautifully. We ate at Post, a classical Italian restaurant with contemporary twists and food that was out of this world. Our trip to Perth was very short but in that limited time I did see what an amazing city Perth can be for a holiday. With the non-stop service, Perth is now more accessible than ever and should definitely be on your Australia go to list. There are many nearby places also that we didn’t have time to visit (this time!) such as Fremantle, Margaret River and more that make Western Australia a fantastic holiday destination.

06 November 2018

The final leg of our summer holiday took us to Bangkok. It had been a good decade or so since I last went to Bangkok, so I was intrigued to see it with fresh eyes. First impressions were of a clean, less chaotic city compared to my first visit. The Kao San Road seemed smaller somehow and less hectic, but this may have been due to me not staying at a backpacker hostel on this occasion! We spent the first day visiting the Grand Palace and taking in the splendour of this massive area for a few hours. Top tip: go after eating as the food choices in the Grand Palace are limited. Also make sure you have covered legs and shoulders, otherwise like us you will have to make a hasty purchase just outside the Grand Palace. A situation I do not regret as now I have a pair of funky elephant print, tie dye trousers and a white batik top which I would not otherwise have! If, however you do not have room or do not want an impromptu shopping trip, wear appropriate clothing before you visit (this includes no shorts for men!) Bangkok has many parts to it. We stayed in the Sathorn area in a gorgeous 2-bedroom apartment in the Anantara Sathorn. This area is the business district of Bangkok, so while not being entirely central it had great train links to all the sites, including the sky train in walking distance. We spent most of the second day wondering around this fabulous city. Be sure to take a water taxi, it's a very inexpensive way to travel and takes you down the main river. We jumped in the obligatory tuk tuk too - this was a fun way to see the city and if you get a driver/guide as we did, you can actually have a bit of a tour! I would highly recommend Bangkok, the kids loved it – it had just the right amount of crazy along with amazing temples and really good restaurants.

26 October 2018

I really do not know how to put into words how awesome this place is. They collect you from either your hotel in Phuket and surrounding areas or several airports (the list is on their website but please feel free to ask me!) and take you to Elephant Hills early in time for lunch. The food provided is buffet style but delicious, with plenty of choice for even fussy children. The first thing that hit me on arrival at the main camp is how much like a luxury safari camp it resembled. The en suite tents are not really tents at all, but rather permanent structures that happen to have a strong tent like fabric enveloping them! The beds are very comfortable and even in the heat of summer we didn’t feel too hot as the fans were adequate. My biggest fear before coming here were the leeches. Let me tell you, even in the rainy season we didn’t encounter one leech, mosquito or spider! I don’t know how they did it, but I could sleep easy knowing that my blood wasn’t about to be sucked out of me! The itinerary here is packed with amazing adventures. What I didn’t realise is that the first day is the ‘elephant day’. You travel a little while to where they are and spend the day watching, feeding and washing these gorgeous creatures. The elephants are ex working elephants and under no circumstances are you allowed to ride or wash with them – both are very bad for the elephants and Elephant Hills’ ethos is about looking after these magnificent animals. The second day is about the lakeside camp. If your children are over 7 then you can also spend the night at the lakeside camp. Alas, my daughter was a month off her 7th birthday so we had to spend two nights at the land camp. However, we still spent the day at the lakeside camp, travelling in a long boat and then canoeing till our hearts were content. Evenings at Elephant Hills are spent chilling out and watching local children put on a beautiful dance recital. Maybe while supping a cold Chang beer! It really is the perfect place and my children and ourselves will carry the memories of Elephant Hills with us forever. I think every Thailand itinerary should include it as it really is an experience like no other.

24 September 2018

After our three-day city break in KL, we flew to Phuket for a bit of beach and pool time! We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket on Air Asia and actually, they were pretty good. We had booked cases in the hold and had a surprise meal included in the price. The seats were comfy, and it reminded me a lot of EasyJet. On booking this trip, we expected Phuket to be a bit wet in August. After all, we had managed to find a great deal on a two-bedroom pool cabana, surely a bit of rain was worth it? However, we really must have been lucky when it came to weather – it rained for an hour on our first day and that was it! We spent six nights in a luxury pool cabana at the Centara Karon Resort for a fraction of the price of anything we were finding in the ‘drier’ East side – the West Side of Thailand tends to be drier in our winter, while the East side of Thailand is drier in our summer, we went in August! Phuket has changed in the last decade or so since I visited Thailand, and Karon beach has a fair few hotels and many restaurants on its ‘strip’. However, the hotel felt like an oasis away from the bustle of Karon beach even though it was only minutes away. The hotel has three swimming pools and the biggest was a hit with the kids – it was a huge mass of waterslides, jets and a kiddy friendly swim up bar! The animation team at the Centara Karon Resort are excellent and kept the children amused while simultaneously entertaining the adults with aqua aerobics and the usual resort activities. Food at the resort is very good and there are so many restaurants in short walking distance from the resort, that you are spoilt for choice. It is worth noting that there is no reason to go all-inclusive in Thailand and in fact, very few hotels offer it, as the price of meals and drinks is so reasonable. There are many places to see in and around Phuket. Excursions are easily bookable from the hotel or from the shops on the strip. The islands off Phuket can be visited as a day excursion and many of the trips offer an island-hopping experience! On Phuket itself you can visit the big Buddha, a huge statue of the buddha perched on a hill with breath-taking views from viewpoints surrounding the buddha. We spent an enjoyable afternoon exploring and learning about the site. It’s a 20-minute taxi trip from Karon beach and it’s easy to find a driver who will wait for you and take you back again. There is so much to do in Phuket, but you can also quite easily just do nothing but enjoy the splendid food and the beauty of the island.

14 September 2018

I have just returned from our summer holiday to Kuala Lumpur and Thailand. I had always wanted to go to an elephant sanctuary so planned the entire holiday around a visit to Elephant Hills, an amazing sanctuary situated in Khao Sok National Park in the South of Thailand. More about Elephant Hills in a later blog – I could talk about this amazing experience all day but so not to bore you in one go, I will do a blog on each location separately! We started our adventure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s fabulous capital. After a long but comfortable flight on Emirates (a great airline with kids I’ve discovered) we took a taxi to our hotel. The journey took around 45 minutes to our hotel in the Bukit Bintang area of central KL. We stayed at the Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur, a large but friendly hotel located close to many shops and restaurants. Our room on the 19th floor had amazing views and two separate bedrooms, ideal for families or for people who like a little extra space! Kuala Lumpur surprised me, I am not sure what I expected but I did not anticipate the explosion of colour and lights that we encountered! We stayed close to an area which can best be described as Times Square multiplied by ten. Giant screens advertising soft drinks, sports events, giant teddy bears etc loom over the intersections, while stalls on the streets sold skewers of food and durian to the masses. We found an amazing street with several tables set out on the pavement and restaurants seemingly sharing these tables. We ordered probably the best Malaysian food I’ve ever tasted which even the kids liked! The cost of everything was also a shock, Kuala Lumpur appears to be far cheaper than other major Asian cities, such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Our hotel was a haven and so peaceful considering the central location. The pool on the 6th floor was beautiful and surrounded by foliage as well as the KL skyline. We visited the Petronas towers during our stay in KL – it is pricy at £50 for a family of four (the only expensive thing we encountered in the city) but worth it as the views are breath-taking. Half the fun was getting to the towers as we discovered an under-cover walkway which took us from close to our hotel for a mile or so to the Petronas towers, giving us fantastic respite from the heat. We also visited the Batu Caves – this is a must and I found it one of the highlights of my stay in KL. It is a temple complex consisting of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. The huge statue of Murugan, located outside the caves is the first thing you see before climbing the many stairs into the cave. A word of warning, if you cannot walk well then it may not be the best place to visit as there are many stairs and uneven surfaces. However, you can still admire the statue and the outside of the caves. There is a train that takes you to the caves from KL and the station is very close to the entrance. However, the trains are very infrequent, and taxis are very cheap, so I would advise jumping in a taxi both directions as they pass frequently. All in all, I would recommend Kuala Lumpur as a stopover destination. It’s very good value, has amazing food, good for kids and crazy in a good way!

10 August 2018

I have just returned from one of the most relaxing and enjoyable trips I have been on, sailing on Emerald Radiance on the Douro river. On landing in Porto, we were met by the very courteous and prompt Raphael. There is no getting lost as every flight is met and fellow cruise passengers are transferred together to the ship. Suitcases are taken care of and you do not see them again till allowed in your room at 3pm. In the meantime, we had lunch onboard, wondered around the beautiful city of Porto and had a glass (or maybe) two of very delicious local wine on board the ship. Day one is very relaxing as they allow you to get used to cruise pace before a welcome dinner and an evening sunset cruise. Watching the sun go down over Porto from a deck chair on the top deck was awesome and dare I say that word again – relaxing! On day two we set sail early to Pinhao passing through the first two of many locks on the Douro. The locks are engineering marvels and actually quite fascinating. The bigger ones take roughly half an hour to pass through and we watched as the water rose to allow us to navigate them. The narrow locks are the reason the Douro boats are a specific size and width, sometimes we passed so close we could touch the walls of the dam. In the evening we were invited to a gala dinner and really the only formal-ish night of the cruise. The meal was delicious and pretty much summed up the standard of the food, really good quality, great choice and plentiful. We stayed overnight in Pinhao which gave us opportunity to explore this little town the next day. I decided to take part in an organized walking tour to the Roeda wine estate. This was a great and informative trip in which I learnt a lot about Portuguese vines and visited the Croft winery. Drinking port at 10:30 am was a first but, if needs must! The ship sailed soon after lunch and made its way to Vega de Terron in Spain. If you tire of sitting on the beautiful deck and passing the stunning scenery of the Douro (and more locks) the ship puts on workshops and demonstrations for guests to partake in. These vary from workshops on how to make cork goods to cocktail making classes, so something for everyone! On day four we took part in the only Spanish excursion on the trip – a trip to the gorgeous city of Salamanca, a place I’ve always wanted to visit. This tour had the only long transfer of the trip (two hours each way) but the air-conditioned, comfortable buses made it feel a lot closer. We were given a guided tour for around an hour and a half and then had some free time to explore the beautiful walled city. Salamanca is a very charming place with a huge student population and a fondness for frogs in skulls, something I really couldn’t work out! We ended the excursion by having a private music rendition by the local 'Tuna' - a group of student musicians from Salamanca dressed in old fashioned attire with magnificent voices. The next day took us back into Portuguese waters and we were offered several tours out of Regua. In the morning, we were able to either kayak the Sabor river or take a trip to the Coa valley (where cave men drawings were found dating back thousands of years). A highlight of the day was a trip to a local wine estate for a sumptuous dinner accompanied by some of the nicest wine I’ve tasted. As you can see, wine features regularly in this trip! The second to last day was jam packed as almost a farewell to this fabulous route. We were taken to the Mateus Palace for a tour (and you guessed it, more port tasting) before having a delicious barbeque lunch and ending the day with a farewell gala dinner. The last day was spent in Porto – there are options for a guided walk around the city or free time to enjoy Porto on your own as we did. You will not regret a river cruise, especially on the Douro valley. We took home full bellies, a thirst for port and lots of memories from this beautiful location.

14 May 2018

My husband and I recently spent a few days in Venice and then Lake Garda to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Neither of us had visited Venice before but as it features in so many films we thought we had a rough idea of what to expect. How little did we know! Venice is a place unlike no other. Some aspects are slightly familiar due to various James Bond films and other movies. However, we didn’t realise how beautiful it really is and how much it relies on its waterways. Venice really does seem like it hasn’t changed in years and has a mysterious air about it (some say a slightly pongy air in the summer – alas we were there during a cold spell in May so cannot comment!) You really cannot take enough photos of the beautiful canals and beautiful buildings on every corner. We also treated ourselves to a Gondola ride – it’s a fixed price of around 80 euros and you are taken around various canals for around 20 minutes. Our Gondolier also gave us a running commentary of who lived in which building so we felt we got some info for our money at least! It’s also very relaxing and although expensive, quite a pleasant way to see the city. After spending so much on a Gondola, we didn’t take a water taxi but instead took many of the frequent water buses that stop at the water bus stops around the island. The number one water bus in particular gives glorious views of the city while transporting you on the grand canal. A great way to get around, save money and see Venice from the main canal. Restaurants are expensive in Venice but not ridiculously priced considering Venice’s watery isolation. As long as you avoid St Mark’s square for food and drink you will find prices similar to Rome or another major city. After two nights exploring Venice we moved on to Lake Garda for a further two nights. The trains in Italy are fantastic and we found it very easy to take a train from Venice to Garda. The train took around an hour and a half and from Garda station it was another 20 minutes or so to Sirmione, our destination on Lake Garda. Sirmione is a stunning spa town, situated on a peninsular on Lake Garda. Sirmione’s spa status dates back to Roman times and there are Roman ruins of what once was a spa used in that period. Sirmione also has a fabulous castle in its centre, dating back to the 13th century and cobbled streets throughout with many outdoor cafes and restaurants, making it a very pleasant location to stay in on the shores of the lake. We had another two nights here, eating, relaxing and taking excursions on the lake. The food in Sirmione is fantastic, pizza, fish, prosecco, spritz and ice cream featuring frequently and excellently on every menu. I could have probably stayed another week in Sirmione as I felt like there was a lot more to see on the lake and surrounding towns. However, we had to return to the UK– with a belly full of food and some great memories!

13 April 2018

I have just returned from a four-night break to Split. Having never travelled to Croatia before, we decided on Split over perhaps the more popular Dubrovnik simply because the departure times were more convenient from Gatwick! However, what a surprise Split was! We arrived to splendid sunshine and decided to leave our bags and head straight out to enjoy some sun before dusk. Something I hadn’t realised before visiting Split was that at least half of the town is dominated by the Diocletian’s Palace, an ancient palace built for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD. The palace is huge and has many restaurants, hotels and cafes within its walls. My son, Max loved it as he felt transported to Roman times (albeit with modern touches – such as electricity and very modern shop fronts) and is about study the Romans at school. The food in Split won over the kids too – Max and Alexa declaring it the best food they’ve ever had. The cuisine is a mixture of Italian and Greek with a bit of Eastern European mixed in – lots of pizzas, olives, stews and a local feta type cheese featuring on many menus. Beer lovers will also be very happy as cheap beers a plenty with many different types on offer, in fact beer was cheaper than water or soft drinks in many restaurants! As we were in Split for a few days, we decided to explore a little of the surrounding area. We spent half a day at the nearby Roman ruins of Salona, close to the modern-day town of Solin. These ruins were spectacular and spread over a large area which the kids loved exploring. Access to the start of the ruins are free with a small charge to go further into the old amphitheatre area. We found the whole experience fascinating as there were very few tourists and we could get close to the ruins. A top tip is that they have Uber in Croatia – we downloaded the app and had cars come to take us from Split to Salona and beyond for very little money and very quickly. We also decided to spend a day at one of the nearby islands. We chose Brac over Hvar because of the distance. Ferries are frequent to both places but Brac is only 50 minutes away as opposed to around two hours to Hvar. The ferry terminal is easy to find in Split as it’s directly in front of the Diocletian’s palace and the Riva area and clearly visible from the promenade. We bought tickets from the terminal and were on our way within half an hour. The ferry itself was a fun experience with amazing views from the deck – time passed quickly and before we knew it we were in Brac. We decided to stay in Supetar, the main port area and found a fascinating cultural walk recommended to us by the tourist office. It’s a great town, perhaps over shadowed by more popular Bol but if you are planning a day trip to Brac and you don’t have too long to stay like us, you will find plenty to do in Supetar. I think to sum up this holiday – the only bad thing was that we didn’t have longer. There is so much to see in Split and the surrounding areas that we could have easily spent weeks here. The food is amazing, the town and the surrounding areas beautiful and the weather fabulous, even during the Easter holidays. Not far from Split is Krka National Park, Plitvice lakes, many beaches and islands which we said we will return to see one day on a longer holiday! Watch this space!

27 January 2018

I don't even know where to start with this fabulous country. I had the most amazing week visiting some of the Dominican Republic's amazing properties and beaches - oh and maybe sampling a little of the country's famous rum too! The familiarisation trip was run by the Dominican Republic tourist board as well as British Airways. I can't lie, being upgraded to Club for the flight out was a good starting point. British Airways Club to the Caribbean is probably not as plush as on some of their business routes but it's still very nice. There is a choice of meals on board as well as a full flat bed and large screen with a good choice of TV and films. It did help the eight hours or so to Punta Cana go by very quickly. On arrival in Punta Cana we were met and taken through customs quickly to our home for the next two nights. The Paradisus Palma Real is a stunning huge hotel with something for everyone. There are several restaurant choices included in the all-inclusive rate and our first meal at the Mediterranean was a stunning introduction to the hotel. This was probably my favourite hotel of the trip but there were many contenders! Day two was filled with site inspections in Punta Cana. We saw some of the more luxurious hotels such as Zoetry and Excellence Punta Cana, as well as the 'fun' brands such as Breathless. The more I saw the more I realised there really is something for everyone in this country. Day three took us to La Romana and Casa De Campo. La Romana is an area with a beautiful stretch of beach. Think white sand and blue sea and you are in the right place. Casa De Campo is a totally different experience. A luxury golf resort with an amazing beach. We stayed in villas that came with our own butler and maid. Everyone gets a golf buggy to explore the resort - we definitely had a lot of fun driving those around! At the beach we saw some of the most stunning sunsets I've ever seen. Coupled with a sun downer it really felt like paradise. On day four we experienced Santa Domingo. A really under looked colonial city, it had charm I hadn't seen in many other places. We stayed in a boutique hotel and saw many others - it felt like Santa Domingo could easily be incorporated into an itinerary as a city break, before or after the beaches elsewhere in the country. We had lunch at a gorgeous restaurant before embarking on various adventures around the city - the Trikke city tour, Kah Kow experience and folk music dancing among others! No trip to Dom Rep can be complete without visiting a Rum factory and that we did. We sampled the purest rum at Barceló Rum distillery before embarking on a happy hour sailing tour. The last two days led us back to Punta Cana and many more beautiful hotel inspections. We ended this amazing trip staying at Hard Rock Punta Cana, a fabulous hotel and a jewel in the Hard Rock Chain. Great for families and potential rock stars! We ended our trip with a visit to Coco Bongos - an institution in Cancun and now in Punta Cana too. An exciting mix of show and night club, I'd say make time for it if possible in your trip to Punta Cana! All in all - how can I sum up this country? I had no idea how diverse, beautiful and fun the Dominican Republic could be. There really is something for everyone here - the forgotten jewel of the Caribbean.

19 September 2017

Avid readers of my blogs may notice that I've written about La Herradura before. We are lucky enough to have a family apartment there so go quite often and the kids adore it there (and so do I)! However, to make our summer holiday this year a bit different we decided to two centre our holiday by spending 10 nights in La Herradura and 3 nights in an all-inclusive near Estepona. The 10 nights in La Herradura passed in a pleasant whirlwind of eating, drinking, relaxing, swimming and reading a lot of books. We did also visit a few places. Marina del Este is a beautiful little harbour close to La Herradura with a lot of very expensive yachts and some lovely restaurants overlooking them. A nice place to while away a couple of hours drinking sangria and eating delicious Andalucían food. At weekends Marina Del Este comes alive and people visit into the harbour to drink and eat while listening to live music in one of the many open-air restaurants. The kids particularly liked the fish that are plentiful and very hungry in the marina, perfect for feeding leftover bread to! Motril is another fantastic town not too far from where we were staying in La Herradura. It's a white washed town with many pedestrian streets winding their way up the hillside. It's very pretty and we found some fantastic little cafes with amazing views. Definitely worth a visit. Cerro Gordo is a restaurant we had been recommended and we spent a fantastic afternoon here eating and looking at the spectacular views over the Sierra Nevada and sea beyond. Worth it for the view alone! Now onto part two of the trip - Iberostar Costa Del Sol. We only spent four days at this hotel and enjoyed our time there. However, for longer trips you may be a little bored as it's a bit small. Saying that, the kids club was really well run especially for the under 7s and the staff ridiculously helpful and friendly. They couldn't do enough and their energy was tireless. A special mention should also be made for the food, I don't think I've ever had such good buffet food at an all-inclusive. We were initially disappointed that the all-inclusive price did not include the a la carte restaurant on the beach. However, we soon realised the buffet was incredible and varied. Drinks were also good. If you like San Miguel then this is the local beer on tap. Cocktails are made to order and are varied and it is waiter service at the buffet or you can serve yourself beer and soft drinks. All in all a good hotel choice but maybe not for too long - I can thoroughly recommend hiring a car in this region as there is so much to see in Andalucía and beyond.

03 July 2017

I have just returned from a lovely mini break on Azura. The cruise was a 2 night cruise from Southampton to Guernsey and back. I decided it would be a fantastic sampler of this ship and a lovely way to travel to Guernsey with a few friends! We sailed on Friday and arrived at Southampton around midday. Check in was painless and we were onboard in half an hour or so. What I really loved was the fact that my holiday started as soon as we were on board. No faffing around in airports, we boarded the ship and went straight to the restaurant for lunch! Azura is a very family friendly ship but as the cruise was only two nights long not many families appeared to be onboard. Azura entered service in 2010 and the ship was quite modern but with the P&O trademark décor. There were around 3000 passengers onboard and 1250 crew but it did not seem crowded. As the weather was pretty good (not quite the heat wave of the previous week!) we spent most of the Friday enjoying the sunshine with a pimms or two! Dinner was good and we went to the main waiter service restaurant both nights. One thing we discovered is that there is a whole menu for vegetarians available but you must order from it 24 hours in advance, otherwise the selection is poor on the main menu. Entertainment was good with a Madness tribute band on the first night and an 80s dance troop on the second night. As well as this there were many bars to choose from with entertainment ranging from live bands to karaoke! After a good nights sleep we arrived in St Peter's Port, Guernsey. This is a charming place with beautiful cobbled streets, natural swimming pools and great tax free savings among other things. They accept mainland pounds but do also take Guernsey pounds. I could have easily spent longer at Guernsey and visited the surrounding smaller islands but alas we only had a day! All in all, I had a great time onboard the Azura. Next time I would love a longer cruise to have a few sea days to do nothing but relax!

10 June 2017

I’ve just returned from an awe inspiring trip to Qatar with the Qatar Tourism Authority. We flew on Qatar Airlines, now one of my favourite airlines. The seat back TV is almost as big as the top of the chair in front and the choice of films, programs and music is plentiful. One other thing I had not seen before is that instead of shutters, the windows have dimmer switches. This is meant to reduce jetlag apparently! Also unlike most of Qatar, the national airline does serve complimentary alcohol as well as the usual soft drinks. After a fairly short 7 hours flight we landed in Hamad International airport, Doha. The airport is quite new, having only moved and re-opened in its new location in 2014. It has recently joined the top tier of global airports becoming the sixth airport in the world to receive the ‘5-Star Airport’ designation by Skytrax and looks the part, being quite an attractive airport. Once out of the air conditioned airport you notice the heat – Qatar in May is close to 40 degrees! First impressions of Doha were that it appears to be a spectacular mix of Arabic traditional landscape mixed with outstanding architecture. Because most of the buildings are relatively new, many of them were built recently by architects that seemingly had free rein to build fantastic designs. The contrast of these modern buildings with the desert and sea is breathtaking. I stayed at the Intercontinental Doha, a fabulous, modern beachfront hotel with its own private beach, several swimming pools and eight restaurants and bars. My room was extremely comfortable with a beautiful bathroom featuring both bath and shower cubicle. I also visited many other hotels – including Intercontinental Doha the City, Four Seasons Doha (which features the world’s largest Nobu!), Sheraton Grand Doha (the oldest hotel out of the lot, having been built in 1979), the Crowne Plaza and even a hotel that hasn’t quite opened yet but will be spectacular - The Centara Grand Hotel Doha. Apart from visits to hotels, we also visited many sites in and around Qatar. We visited Zubarah Fort situated around 1 ½ hours from Doha. It is a very interesting fort and has a little museum attached which describes what happened over the years, however the distance makes it a long way to go just to see the fort. We also visited the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, located on one end of the seven kilometers long Corniche. This is housed in a beautiful building designed by I.M.Pei, the designer of The Louvre in Paris among many other buildings. He designed the building so it appears to have two eyes looking at you as you approach. The artifacts within the museum are interesting and represent Islamic art from three continents over 1400 years. One evening we went on a traditional Dhow boat and had a delicious meal onboard while watching the beautiful buildings (including the Museum of Islamic Art) as we sailed. In Qatar, the boat owners like to decorate their dhows with brightly coloured lights of which we had plenty! The next day we went sand dune bashing in 4x4s. Admittedly I was a little apprehensive about doing this as I’m the opposite of a speed freak but I’ll admit, I loved it! Our driver chatted about everything under the sun and with no warning would take his car over the top of huge sand dunes and then bomb it down the other side. Sometimes we felt like we were driving off the side of the dunes! The car ride concluded with a magnificent view of the inland sea at the Saudi border. However leaving the car to view this inland sea meant we experienced the searing desert heat and sand that could have easily cooked an egg, let alone our toes! The last thing we visited in Qatar was the souk. I have been to a few souks in various countries and the Doha version was very similar to the others. Some lovely products were available to buy including various fabrics, key rings, nuts, spices and of course dates! I did really enjoy my trip to Qatar and would say it would be perfect for someone wanting to visit a destination quite similar to Dubai. It would be a great option for some early season sun as temperatures do rise quite sharply the closer you get to summer. It would be ridiculously hot in our summer (we were assured the stadiums would be fully air conditioned for the world cup!) Definitely an up and coming destination.

02 May 2017

I have travelled a fair bit but I think Rome may be the most beautiful as well as the most extraordinary city I’ve been to. Even the kids were entranced by the combination of Roman ruins, medieval architecture and monuments seemingly on every road we walked down. It is a fantastic walking city - we managed to get the kids to walk miles fortified by ice creams, delicious Italian food and their imaginations. My son in particular was fascinated by the Roman architecture and ruins – the Coliseum being a favourite! We had four days, but could have perhaps done with another day. However if you do want to see the sights quickly, an open tour bus would be a great option. We took the pedestrian route and did the sights at a kids pace instead! Be sure to take a good pair of shoes and be prepared to eat a lot of delicious ice cream, do a lot of walking and let your imagination take you back to the Roman times!

03 April 2017

I've just returned from a short break to Berlin and what a fabulous city it is! We managed to squeeze in a lot into our two night stay, arriving by lunchtime on Friday and departing after lunch on Sunday. Which was good as the food being so delicious, we needed to fit as many meals as possible into our stay! We stayed at the Mecure Checkpoint Charlie which as it sounds, is very close to Checkpoint Charlie. It was a wonderful hotel and had an excellent location to explore from. There is no clearly defined centre as such in Berlin and we were positioned well to explore the many areas of the city. Essential places to see include the Reichstag building with its glass dome. Tours are free to this historic building and the views are amazing from the top of the dome. Designed by Norman Foster, the Dome was built on top of the Reichtag building and has made it a prominent landmark of the city. Do be sure to book the tour, though - you can do this online but should do it around a week before you plan to go, otherwise, there is a booking booth where you can book any slots that are left at least a day in advance. Other places to visit are: Holocaust Memorial, a haunting set of stones that commemorate the millions of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. The many museums (DDR museum, Berlin wall memorial, Jewish museum, Topography of Terror museum, Neues museum to name but a few) are also worth seeing as well as the East Side gallery, An open air gallery created from the Berlin Wall. No trip to Berlin is complete without the food and drink the city can offer - try the many types of wurst (we saw Veganwurst for the non meat eaters!) and a stein glass or two of beer.

01 February 2017

I returned from a wonderful weekend in Amsterdam recently. Starting with one of the shortest flights I’ve ever taken and the most efficient train journey from Schiphol airport to Centraal station, it felt like it took no time at all to reach this fabulous location! We spent two days mainly walking and eating. I rediscovered my passion for chips and satay sauce and even converted my husband to this delicacy – far better than just ketchup! Amsterdam is a very walkable city and as we stayed near Dam Square, everything was within easy reach. However, if you get bored of walking, there are many trams - and bicycles to rent on every corner if you’re feeling energetic! The Van Gogh museum is a must for art-lovers and the Anne Frank house is also very memorable. All in all, Amsterdam is an ideal city break destination.

29 September 2016

I recently spent a long weekend in this fabulous city – and what a hidden gem Verona is! If you like cobbled streets, Shakespeare (Verona inspired many of his plays), beautiful houses and delicious Italian food you’ll love this wonderful place. As an added bonus, wonderful Lake Garda is close enough to visit in a day. We spent our days walking around the city and as it’s quite small you can see most of it in a few days and have time to spend a day on the lakes as we did. A must is a visit to the Arena, a Roman Amphitheatre which dates back to AD30 and still hosts concerts and opera today. You can also see a lot of tributes to Romeo and Juliet and the house which is supposedly the inspiration behind the play! Our day trip to Lake Garda was fantastic - we went to a town called Sirmione and could have easily spent a week here and then another month exploring the other towns around the lake. A day was not long enough really but gave us a great taster of the beautiful spa town. I fell in love with Verona and its surroundings and will be back.

26 May 2016

I spent four days in Lisbon to celebrate my (special!) birthday. Lisbon is simply wonderful - we spent four days eating, drinking and walking around this beautiful city. The city is stunning and the mixture of cultures is evident on the beautiful wall facades and architecture. You can spend many hours walking and discovering but beware, Lisbon is very hilly - however, there are numerous options for when you get tired. There are tuk tuks and taxis on most streets, trams and funiculars. Even lifts that are built into some hills that can take you up to other street levels. It's a pretty amazing thing to experience! All in all, I would recommend Lisbon in a heart beat for a holiday or city break. It's a fun, vibrant, cultural city with amazing food and things to see!

27 April 2016

New York New York - what an amazing place! We went for a three night (four if you include the flight home) mini break to this fabulous city, declared 'the best city EVER!' by my six and four year old children. We flew on Virgin Atlantic - great service and an excellent choice of films. Star Wars was showing so the kids were very happy! We stayed at The Court - St Giles hotel in Midtown. A fabulous location and we even had a view of the Empire State building from our room. A plus side to jet-lag was that we managed to wake up to some spectacular sunrises behind the Empire State building and also have an early start on all the sights! 4:30am has never been so pleasant! The four days passed in a wonderful haze of amazing food, long walks and a lot of fun. I would highly recommend Katz's Deli for meat and general deliciousness and Ellen's Stardust for a food experience like no other. All the waiters and waitresses sing in rotation and the kids were entranced. They particularly loved it when our waitress started singing while handing them their drinks! All in all, I cannot fault New York for a city break - if you want to go somewhere fast paced but strangely relaxing at the same time, fun but the perfect mix of parks, food, sights and amazingness - come here. Take the kids as I promise you, they will open your eyes to New York like you've never seen it before.

04 January 2016

I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Argentina, a country close to my heart as most of my family live there. We spent most of the time in Buenos Aires – a vibrant and exciting city with everything you could want from a cosmopolitan capital and more. If you like steak, red wine, culture, shopping and cafes you can’t go wrong with Buenos Aires (it didn’t hurt that the currency devalued during my visit and overnight prices were halved!) What surprised me this time though was how child friendly the city is too – people just love kids and couldn't do enough to accommodate us. My four year old daughter and her three and one year old cousins were treated like royalty and never a nuisance (even tantrums were cooed at!) We stayed in Palermo Hollywood. A fantastic corner of the city that has abundant bars and restaurants. I can wholeheartedly recommend Palermo - whether you stay in Palermo Hollywood, Palermo Soho or Palermo Viejo, each one of these locations has character and is a wonderful choice if you want to discover beautiful boutique hotels but also be where the locals are. After a week of 30 + temperatures (in December – I’m not complaining!), we moved to the coast, around four hours away in a beautiful beach town called Villa Gesell. Our beach cabin was nestled on one side by sand dunes and the other by sea... a pretty idyllic place to spend Christmas which we naturally celebrated with a barbecue and a few hours sunbathing!

06 September 2015

I have just returned from a fantastic holiday in this beautiful country. Jet lag aside (coming back is far worse!), I am feeling relaxed and invigorated after spending two weeks in the sun. We spent our fortnight in two hotels - 7 days at the Jolly Beach and 6 days at the Verandah resort. I have to admit, I did prefer the Verandah but that didn't mean the Jolly Beach is a definitely no no. It does have it's charms. Jolly Beach itself is one of the most beautiful stretches of beach I have ever seen. Miles of white sand and the most azure sea I have ever seen. Also seemingly unaffected by the seaweed problem that has plagued the Caribbean recently. The resort itself is a little tired but food and entertainment is good. I would recommend going to Lydia's - a fantastic beach restaurant on site. It is included in the price but needs to be pre booked the day before and does an amazing Sunday BBQ, complete with steel band! The resort also proved themselves well in a crisis as we found ourselves on the receiving end of both Tropical storms Danny and Erika. Downsides of the Jolly beach are that the kids club was pretty depressing, the resort like I mentioned was a bit dated and not really cared for and drinks weren't very nice or exciting. Upsides are the beach is really spectacular, great pre bookable restaurants, fun evening entertainment and excellent value for money. The Verandah is a different resort altogether. Little villas which are either Waterview, Waterfront or Hillside. I would say our Waterview villa was all I could ask for in a holiday accommodation. Kids are separated by a partition and have their own sofa bed, each villa has a veranda at the front and an outdoor seating area at the back. The food was spectacular and the two beaches stunning as are the pool areas. All spirits are premium, and even though I'm not a huge spirit drinker, I did enjoy having a port with my cheese after dinner and the odd Baileys! Little touches like buckets and spades for the kids on the beach and an amazing kids club with a fabulous climbing frame that my kids adored. The resort even had a mini golf course which my six year old loved. There are many excursions and things to do and see in Antigua. A Sunday trip to Shirley Heights is a must to listen to the Caribbean music and to take it the views. You can visit Stingray City - you get to feed the Stingrays if you're brave enough and you can do many tours around (by catamaran) and within (by jeep) the country. All in all, a superb holiday. Even in Hurricane season!

09 March 2015

I was fortunate enough to be invited overnight on the majestic Britannia, the newest and biggest ship in the P&O fleet. We embarked in Southampton, and immediately what strikes you as you approach the dock is the sheer size of the ship. With its huge Union flag on the front (apparently the biggest in the world!) which identifies it as part of the P&O fleet and 16 floors, it is definitely a magnificent sight. Inside the design is elegant but beautiful. The centre piece of the main (huge) atrium is a chandelier type sculpture they have named a Star Burst, inspired by the days when ships navigated by the stars. It is a proud piece of art for a magnificent space. The main selling point of this ship for some will be the food. They have some of the nation’s favourite chefs on many of the cruises and food designed by them on all departures. I was lucky enough to meet James Martin and Eric Lanlard – they assured us that calories on boats don’t count so I made the most of that fact and enjoyed my meals on board immensely! The ship has around 16 floors and countless things to do. There are cookery clubs, kids clubs, gourmet restaurants, cafes, patisserie and charcuteries, pools, a spa... too much to mention. You won't be bored I promise and this is in addition to all the spectacular places Britannia will take you.

09 March 2015

As a family we LOVE La Herradura. If you asked me why, I would tell you about the location of this beautiful bay on the Costa Tropical but with some hesitance. I don't want everyone knowing about it! We are fortunate enough to have family with a flat there and so many a school holiday has been spent happily relaxing in this fabulous hidden gem of a town. However, there are several hotels and places to stay here and if the quiet town of La Herradura is not to your taste there are several beautiful seaside towns nearby with hotels and accommodation. I would recommend the nearby towns of Almuñécar, Motril, and Nerja. All wonderful and coastal with typical Andalusian cuisine that even my fussy 5 year old eats with glee! There is also an abundant history in the area, there are prehistoric paintings in Nerja, Roman ruins and Moorish architecture - Almuñécar served as the entry point to Iberia - and much more. Most famous of all perhaps is the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex located near Granada itself. Now I've told you about this hidden gem, I expect you to keep it quiet. My kids would never forgive me if La Herradura ran out of ice cream!

21 January 2015

When I told people I was off to Hong Kong for four days, most reactions were that I was mad to go all that way for such a short time. Fresh off the flight today I can tell you it's the perfect destination for a long weekend break. Flying direct on Virgin Atlantic was great. We flew Premium Economy and I have to say it's worth the extra money in my opinion. We had extra leg room, a wider seat and a separate smaller cabin with our own dedicated staff. The meal was delicious too, but I think the standard of food would have been equally good in Economy. Kids TV had a big thumbs up by my 5 year old but to be honest he slept most of the way, comfy in his extra large seat! We stayed at the Kowloon Harbour Grand, a fabulous hotel situated on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. The hotel has Courtyard view and Harbour view rooms. The views from the rooftop swimming pool, dining area, lobby and Harbour view rooms are spectacular - my son in particular was fascinated by watching the coming and goings of the boats between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island! A trip on the Star Ferry is a must during your stay. The ferry costs roughly 30p for a one way ticket and the crossing takes around 10 minutes. The crossing however is an adventure in itself and a great way to see the shoreline. Hong Kong Island has lots to see and we spent a happy day just wondering the roads and seeing where we ended up - eating delicious food on the way to fortify ourselves! You can dine in many different restaurants and for those who miss home, there are many restaurants that you will recognise from the UK - Pizza Express, Pizza Hut and all the usual fast food restaurants. However if you prefer Chinese food, the choice is endless. Hong Kong has so many delicious looking places to eat at - we had to eat several meals a day! Dim Sum and noodle soups are very popular. We visited the Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, taking the outside escalators and then the Peak Tram (a Funicular type tram) which takes you to the top. There is an option to buy a ticket which gives entry to the 360 degree viewing platform at the top too. The views are stunning from the top and there are several walks you can take to give you different views of the city.. A great trip for those to escape the bustle of the city for a little while is to one of the many monasteries and temples We visited the Ten Thousand Buddha monastery, located in Sha Tin, a short train journey from Kowloon main station. For those who wish to stay longer, it is also a great destination. There are many places you can visit if you have the time. Mainline China is a short train ride away but you will need to pre arrange a visa. In Hong Kong itself there is Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park Hong Kong and many many beautiful temples. Also I could have probably happily spent a few days just shopping and eating!