13 March 2026

One of the best countries for wildlife and adventure as well as beautiful scenery. Namibia has it all.

16 October 2025

We started our Cambodia trip by flying from Hanoi to Siem Reap. A great city in its own right, but also the base for exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. We stayed at a wonderful hotel called The Avary and it really was well located and one of our favourite hotels on the trip: https://theaviaryhotel.com/ There was even a laundromat nearby and for £3 ish we did a whole load of wash

15 September 2025

Vietnam This was my first visit to Vietnam in nearly 20 years and I was so excited to take the kids this time too. I had booked flights a year in advance so had a great price for economy, but decided at the last minute to check for upgrades at check in, and Qatar had a good deal on, so we treated the kids and ourselves to Business class. I wanted to try out the Q Suite on the LGW to Doh leg and

04 March 2025

We decided to go to Dubai in the depths of UK winter for a short trip to get some vitamin D and we were not disappointed. Dubai was a lovely 24 degrees every day while we were there, which meant we could sit outside and dine in the sun, and even sunbathe without being too worried about getting burnt. It was a delight to get my flip flops out again! We stayed at One&Only Royal Mirage, which is a

28 September 2024

I have just returned from an incredible trip to India's Golden Triangle. Our destination management company in India, TBI hosted 11 of us alongside one of my favourite hotel chains, Oberoi. Oberoi own some of the most beautiful and iconic hotels in India and the rest of the world. We stayed at the The Oberoi, Gurgaon, The Oberoi New Delhi, The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur and The Oberoi Amarvilas

03 September 2024

I've been to Corfu a few times now, and each time it amazes me how beautiful and captivating an island Corfu is! This time we returned with a few friends, and started with a villa, rented through one of our villa partners, Vintage Travel. The villa was situated on the West side, in Chalikounas which is only a 10 to 15 minute drive to one of my favourite areas of Corfu, Messonghi. We loved the v

19 June 2024

This may have been my favourite Gold trip to date! We were hosted by our DMC, Colombus Tours, who many of you know of as we use them as our people on the ground in Sri Lanka for our tailor made trips. I was blown away by their staff, their ethos and how well Bobby and her team looked after us. The hotels that hosted us and our head office and supplier partners also made this amazing trip possib

16 May 2024

We went in April to Bali for the first time as a family. I'd been before, but just after the Kuta bombs and with work, so a very different experience. We started in Ubud, which we absolutely loved. The food was outstanding and the hotel exceeded our expectations. My husband asked for views of the jungle, and that’s what we had from our two bedroom pool villa. We stayed at Jannata Resort & Spa:

16 May 2024

Singapore and Bali We have wanted to travel to Bali as a family for a while and thought to break up the journey it would be nice to go to Singapore in both directions. We started in Singapore and had four nights there. We flew Singapore Airlines, who were great, a bit confusing as we took of at 8, had dinner, a few hours sleep and then lunch before landing at 5pm. Husband looked at the post sle

17 November 2023

I have organized many group trips for clients, but this was the first time I took a group out and went with them. I admit, I was a bit nervous but really enjoyed it! We knew we were in safe hands with our amazing DMC, Obeo - truly the best people on the ground in Iceland. The threat of a volcanic eruption did not mar our trip as we changed the Blue Lagoon to Sky Lagoon and felt very safe in Rey

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

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 day

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 u

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 a

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 go

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

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 cit

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!

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 fel

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

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

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

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 d

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 sur

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 par

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

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 Pr

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

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 sp

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 tha

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

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,

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 i

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,

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’

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 st

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 night

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 th

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

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 i

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 Che

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 t

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

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

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 fa

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 duri

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

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 magn

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

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 an