I love travelling and take as many trips as my time and budget will allow. It isn’t only my budget that causes issues, however, it is also my feet! I adore adventure sports, hiking and exploring new cities but my feet are problematic causing my footwear to be a make or break feature of any holiday. Not only do I have to take a selection of shoes that would rival Imelda Marcos, said shoes must be carefully chosen to ensure that I can last the course. Continue reading
It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of a holiday and to forget that things can and do go wrong. I learnt at an early age how important travel insurance can be and in later life I never left home without adequate cover. Even the healthiest people and the best laid plans can fall prey to disaster and usually just when you don’t expect it. Continue reading
I must have been a nightmare for my parents. Ok I did my homework, worked hard at school, largely went to bed when I was told and I was always polite but I also had a sense of adventure which ran me into plenty of trouble. Little wonder that the adult me has the travel bug and the thrill seeking urge. The signs were there from the start and my fun and games wreaked havoc with the family home. Continue reading
Life with small children is difficult at the best of times but can only get harder when travelling is involved. You only have to watch parents at airports or in the car hire offices to realise the hoops they have to jump through and the volume of equipment that they must carry with them. I always wince when I see these families stumbling along with screaming kids and I don’t want to imagine what their views are of paying to put luggage in the hold. Continue reading
I have a pathological hatred of queuing and so whenever I find myself unreasonably held up I inevitably start looking for something on which to focus my attention. In supermarkets this is usually the contents of other people’s trolleys and at airports it tends to be other travellers’ luggage. This is actually a matter of some interest as it is truly incredible just how much many people see fit to take away with them. Continue reading
I recently read an article about what hotel guests love and hate about the establishments they stay in. It started me thinking about the hotels I have visited and I realised that it generally wasn’t the most expensive or prestigious properties that had impressed me the most. I understand that the higher prices of the more expensive hotels may have raised my expectations and caused me to be more critical but even considering this fact my best memories are largely of some cheaper stays. Continue reading
My father recently found a holiday journal that my late mother had written several years ago. Seeing my mother’s work reminded me that there was a time when a diary and a photo album were the only ways to document your travels. The entries truly spoke of my mother’s great love of her favourite destination, Switzerland, and I realised that our modern ways of recording our travels can be a poor substitute for a well written journal. Continue reading
I have always suffered a bad case or paranoia when on holiday. I am one of those annoying people that stops to check that they have their passport every few minutes. I have moments when I am suddenly seized by panic if I can’t recall where I have put it and I have always thought that losing that treasured document would be my worst nightmare. Continue reading
Many of the best prices for holidays that you see advertised are based on four people sharing a room. I have to say that such a level of overcrowding had never appealed to me despite the fact that I love a bargain and so I was shocked to find myself agreeing to such a trip. It was my friend’s birthday and he wanted to spend four days at Disneyland Paris. None of us had money to burn and so we opted for the cheapest deal and I was left wondering if we were facing disaster. Continue reading
If you are an independent traveller or you would like to be, one of the issues that jumps up to bite you is car hire. OK you are not going to expect it to be cheap. Nobody is going to gift you a car but that doesn’t excuse the morass of extra charges and complications that you are invariably presented with when you try to book. The press are happy to slate Ryanair on an almost daily basis for their lack of transparency but in my experience that airline has got nothing on car hire firms when it comes to causing confusion. Continue reading