When a man is tired of London …

The full quote is ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford’ and it was written by Samuel Johnson (aka Dr Johnson), who was the author of the ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ which was published in 1755. Johnson was also a renowned poet, essayist, literary critic, biographer, editor and philanthropist. London is, according to the Globalisation and World Rankings Research

Sheer beauty — and the statistics that sit behind it!

Earlier this year whilst en route to Australia, I decided to stopover in Abu Dhabi. I had visited its Emirati neighbour, Dubai, on a number of previous occasions over the years but as I had never been to Abu Dhabi, thought that this was the perfect opportunity to do so — not least because I was flying with Etihad Airlines. Whilst the purpose of the stopover was simply to break the long journey, I felt

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

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

All legacy carriers are created equal — right? Wrong!

What is a legacy carrier anyway, I hear you ask? The term 'legacy' is used to differentiate the old style (usually national) airline carriers from those that espouse the low cost model. Legacy carriers traditionally charge more but also offer more for those consumers who are willing to pay for a better service or for things considered as 'extras' with carriers such as Ryanair. Some airlines (Aer Lingus for example) sit somewhere between the two

Been to the movies lately?

If you have then you can't help but notice that Istanbul is turning up as a movie backdrop everywhere you look. Just last week, I went to see Taken 2 which unfortunately wasn't a patch on it's predecessor — Taken, starring Liam Neeson. The real star of the show though was Istanbul which looked magnificent. It also plays a major role in the latest release in the Bond franchise called Skyfall and by all accounts,

Five Great Destinations for Foodies

If you're anything like me then you love your food. Indeed they say that the world is basically divided into two types of people: those that eat to live and those that live to eat. I most definitely fall into the latter camp and have the waistline to prove it! Food also happens to be one of the highlights of any trip abroad so I am often surprised that more people don't base their travel arrangements around this fact.

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!).