Up close and cuddly!

People travel for all sorts of reasons — a change of scenery, to rest and recuperate, to experience a new culture or to see new sights. Indeed, if you were to sit down and compile a list of all the reasons why people travel, you would probably end up with hundreds. One of the most enthralling reasons that people travel is to experience animals in their natural habitat. The most obvious example of such an

Are you a tourist or a traveller?

There are numerous references online as to what differentiates a tourist from a traveller and one of the best that I’ve come across is the one that states, ‘One blends in whereas the other sticks out!’ Does that describe you? Do you like to stick within your comfort zone or do you occasionally venture outside it? Do you try to immerse yourself in a local culture or are you happy to remain aloof from it

Is anywhere safe anymore?

After the tragic events that took place last week in Barcelona, Cambrils and Turku, that surely must be a question that more and more people are asking themselves nowadays. We live in an increasingly dangerous world it would appear but according to academics such as Stephen Pinker in his 2011 bestseller ‘The Better Angels of our Nature’ the statistics would suggest otherwise. Indeed, if you look at the accompanying graphic to this week’s blog you’ll

Anxious. Scared. Terrified — Tales of an adrenaline junkie — Part 2

When most of your day is spent sitting in front of a computer, it is inevitable that you will want to 'live a little' whenever you get the opportunity — particularly when you're abroad. I've always been up for doing everything at least once and so having previously undertaken a parachute jump, tried my hand at culling rattlesnakes and even shot the rapids, it was inevitable that i would eventually get around to doing a

Are you a tourist or a traveller?

Why do you travel? Is it to have new experiences or meet new people? Is it out of curiosity? Is it for bragging rights? Is it literally just for a change of scenery or a change of pace perhaps? If you were to conduct a poll of 100 people chosen randomly, chances are that you could get a 100 different answers — such is the diversity of reasons that motivates people to leave the comfort

Going for a walk?

Most people love walking. I know I do and I make a point of getting out for a brisk one every day — come hail or shine! Indeed, from what I can see, walking-based holidays are becoming increasingly popular particularly those routes that combine a bit of history and religion along the way such as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela or the Via Francigena. For years, countries like Austria and Switzerland proved extremely popular

Driving on the left is not the minority sport that you think it is!

Irish holidaymakers are used to the fact that they have to negotiate the strange phenomenon of driving on the wrong side of the road when they usually go abroad since most of the near continent are right-hand drive, as is north and most of Central and South America. Like all things in life, it's an experience that you get used to in time with the result that one easily switches mode when the need arises and you need

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!).