What budgets reveal about how much we spend.

There have been several occasions in my life when money was tight and I had to literally count the pennies to make ends meet. Two of the things I had to discipline myself to do was work only with cash (the rationale being when it was gone, it was gone!) and record details of every single penny that was spent. What was interesting about those episodes was how easily money got frittered away in small,

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The phrase, 'Lies, damned lies and statistics' is generally attributed to have been coined by Benjamin Disraeli, the famous British Prime Minister. The standard definition of statistics is 'the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample' The bigger the sample, the greater the likelihood of the inferences that are drawn from that sample in

One mans’ meat …

What is your ideal holiday? Is it lazing by a pool with a cold Pina Colada in your hand or is it walking along a deserted palm-fringed beach with warm azure waters lapping at your feet? Or is it trekking the Inca Trail or tracking some wild animal in the South African bush? The fact of the matter is that there is no universal size (or type) that fits all! And that’s one of the

Be careful what you wish for!

At a time when most other retailers are recovering from the madness of Christmas and counting their profits, travel agents start to crank up their staffing levels for their busiest time of year. Traditionally, January (and to a lesser extend February and March) has always been the busiest time of year for people booking their annual sun holiday and although business did take a nosedive during the recession, things appear to be on the ‘up’

Timely Advice

    It’s that time of year again when most people’s minds turn to New Year resolutions, the next credit card statement and of course the inevitable where to go on this year’s holiday and, equally importantly — when to book it? Many people still mistakenly think that if you are flexible in when you can take your annual leave and are also a bit of a gambler then it is always worth your while

Where to go in 2017?

I know that Christmas is just around the corner and your head is more than likely focused on ordering the turkey, cleaning the house from top to bottom and trying to buy that last present or two for those difficult-to-please relatives of yours but let’s be honest — as soon as the whole hullabaloo is over, thoughts invariably turn to ‘Where are we going to go on holidays this year?’ I’m doing you a favour

Don’t miss the boat!

One of the things that we try to do both on our website and through the medium of this blog is to occasionally alert readers to emerging trends so that they can be ahead of the curve when it comes to sampling new travel products or discovering new destinations around the world. This week’s blog is somewhat surprising in that it covers a subject that people assume is extremely popular! You would think that cruising

It’s that time of year again!

The one thing that you can always be sure of at this time of year is that the media and airwaves will feature wall-to-wall editorial content on all things Christmas. From 'How to roast the perfect turkey' or the 'Best way to wrap presents', we, as consumers seem to have an insatiable appetite for all things christmasy (and yes, there is such a word as every one uses it!). So why try to fly in

All roads lead north at this time of year!

With just seven short weeks left before Christmas is upon us, I thought that now might be a good time to extol the virtues of you and your kids going to visit Santa rather than him always having to visit you! As we all know, Santa lives in the North Pole but what some people don’t realise is that because the lines of longitude converge, the nearer they get to the pole, the greater the

Fear is temporary — regret is forever!

Rattlesnake hunting and bareback riding in Idaho; Piranha fishing on the Amazon; White-water rafting in Oregon; scuba diving in Jamaica; fishing for barramundi in Australia; shark-cage diving in South Africa; bungee jumping in Thailand; glacier walking in New Zealand; trekking in Peru; grape stomping in Rioja; cooking in Puglia; tango dancing in Argentina; windsurfing in Fuerteventura; ballooning in Cappadocia; whale watching in the Azores; dog sledding in Finland; zip-lining in Vegas. (more…)

The true cost of that holiday!

One of the biggest mistakes that some people make when budgeting for their holiday is not considering the cost of those miscellaneous expenses on the ground when they arrive at their chosen destination which can often add up to more than the actual cost of the trip itself. Travelers can often get so obsessed with the headline cost of a package that they forget that it is but one component of a much bigger figure.

Moving out of your comfort zone

Last year, as part of a marketing campaign that we mounted in conjunction with our network of affiliated travel agents throughout the country, we had a series of posters designed that married iconic landscapes from around the world with some great inspirational quotes from people as diverse as the Dalai Lama, J.R.R Tolkien and Steve Jobs. One of my favourites was a quote from Susan Sontag which rather wittily said: ‘I haven’t been everyplace but

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!).