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City Breaks

Heaven does exist — and it’s located in Tuscany!

I'm Irish and I've lived in Ireland all my life and I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather spend the rest of my days — despite the weather, the politicians, the cute hoorism, the naked nepotism at every turn and a hundred or more other things that irritate me and cause my blood pressure to go stratospheric! We've got a great little country and our food  is second to none. We

The culinary landscape around the world is changing!

When we think of culinary excellence, we tend to think of places like New York, Barcelona, London, San Sebastian or Lyon. Countries like France, Spain and Italy have been — with much justification it must be said — lauded for centuries as representing the epitome of culinary art. In more recent years however, the centre of gravity has begun to move away from these traditional gastronomic capitals as tastes change; new processes have come into
safeness

Where should I go on my next holiday?

There are all sorts of reasons why people choose the destinations that they do. For some it’s simply price, for other’s weather is their primary concern. Some choose destinations based on their proximity whilst other travellers choose places based on their ‘safeness’. It is therefore interesting to note the results of the latest biannual report from the World Economic Forum which rates countries around the world based on a wide ranging set of metrics that

Istanbul — The city with multiple personalities!

People often assume that just because you work in the travel business, you must have been everywhere. I wish! Don't get me wrong. I have travelled extensively for sure over the course of my 40 years in the industry but what tends to happen is that you end up visiting the same destinations quite a lot — particularly if they feature heavily in the markets that you trade in — and much less so for

Beijing — City of contrasts

I have recently returned from my second trip to Beijing in less than three months. So what is it like to visit the third most populous city in the world? Well, the first impression is that it looks remarkably modern and western in the sense that the entire city (at least from what I saw and I criss-crossed it many, many times) is composed of large, wide boulevards containing dual carriageways with smaller, local access

Finding the best fare between point A and point B — how complicated can it be?

          The wonderful thing about technology is that it insulates us from reality a lot of the time. It makes complicated things appear simple. It takes the drudgery out of completing certain repetitive tasks. Unfortunately, it also causes us to underestimate such complexity and not fully appreciate what we're up against. Take travel for example, or more specifically, finding a fare — the optimum fare — between two points. Did you

How travel decisions can sometimes be based on incomplete information

Trip Advisor is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The global review site started out life above a Pizza shop called Kosta's in Needham, Massachusetts in February, 2000. It is a great site without question and I must admit that I have started contributing to it in recent times as I realised, belatedly, that I had a lot to contribute given the amount of travelling I do (and have done). What prompted me to write

Will South America be the next big thing in travel?

Whether we like to admit it or not, language plays a big role in how people decide where to travel in the world. English-speaking people tend, as a rule, to confine themselves to travelling to destinations where English is the principal language or is at least widely spoken and understood. It is perhaps for this reason alone, that more people don't travel to South America. It's certainly not any further to travel to than say

A great location in London

With the Euro now only buying you 75 pence sterling (as of 02/02/'15), London has become even more expensive than it normally is so all the more reason to choose your accommodation carefully — particularly if staying in town for a couple of days. As with all large cities, choosing your location carefully is extremely important if you don't wish to spend half your time getting from A to B and whilst the term 'central'

Get it in writing

I recently paid a return visit to Hong Kong, having last visited there way back in 1989. One of the things that I noticed straight away since my last visit was the degree to which English had diminished as a language that many locals had competency in. Now whether that is due to the fact that Hong Kong reverted back to Chinese ownership in 1997 after some 150 years of British rule I don't know

Now that’s what I call value!

On a recent trip to China, I have to say that I was hugely impressed by the subway system in Beijing. Not only was it clean, safe and efficient but it was also exceptionally good value for money. The subway is the oldest metro system in mainland China — the first line having opened as recently as 1969, and it has grown to 18 lines, 319 stations and 527 km of track in operation, making it the second longest

Where is the most visited place on Earth? The asnwer may surprise you!

We all know that the most visited place in Ireland is the Guinness Storehouse with just a shade over one million visitors per year. To put that figure into perspective, even the world-famous Blarney Stone receives just 329,00 visitors per annum. But what about the most visited tourist attraction in the world? Any guesses? A lot of potential candidates come immediately to mind such as the White House in Washington, The Vatican in Rome or

The art of getting a quote that is both competitive in price and relevant to your needs starts with gathering all the right information about what you want to do (or think you want to do!).

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