Blogtastic — The rise and rise of the travel blog!

With each year that passes and as more and more people enjoy the delights of international travel, it is inevitable that more and more travel blogs get written. Some blogs — like this one for instance — are an incidental activity to something else that is being done — in my case, running a travel consortium and trying to maximise the level of commerce being generated on behalf of key supplier partners. In many other

All aboard for all-inclusive!

People develop misconceptions about things for all sorts of reasons — both rational and irrational — and yours truly is no exception. For most of my travelling life, I have always opted for self-catering apartments whenever I was going on family holidays, reasoning that (1) I had the facility to make myself a cup of tea at any time of the day or night that I chose and believe me, I'm a BIG tea drinker,
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
dunmore east

Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

Ever notice how you look forward to travelling abroad but as you get nearer to your eventual return date home, you begin to look forward to that too? I certainly do but then again, I happen to live in what I believe to be the prettiest village in Ireland — Dunmore East, Co. Waterford! Don’t get me wrong; I love travelling and still get a thrill out of the feeling of expectation leading up to

Why familiarity sometimes breeds contempt!

If you look up any dictionary meaning of cliché, it reads something along the lines of '... a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought ...' I think that that is a rather harsh interpretation myself. Clichés become clichés simply because they're true and represent the most succinct and accurate way of describing a particular concept. The above title is a particular case in point. I recently had a

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

Orange is the new orange

It's that time of year again when intending travellers or betrothed couples start the time-consuming and frustrating process of deciding where to spend their next long haul holiday or hopefully — their one and only honeymoon! There are many contenders out there and all have their pluses! The USA, The Caribbean, Mexico, South Africa, The Seychelles and Mauritius usually appear high on most peoples wish lists but it is Thailand that often comes up trumps,

Where’s the best tourist destination in the world?

When people find out that I'm in the travel industry, one of the most common questions that I tend to get asked is 'where is the best place you've ever been?' It's an impossible question to answer in many respects — not least because every destination has its own charm and unique selling points but also because you can't very well compare apples with pears. Add to that, the fact that such exercises are ultimately

A rising tide raises all boats …

We all know that tides are the result of the daily tug of war that goes on between the earth and the moon and occur twice every day across most of the world. In some places — most notably the Mediterranean — the fluctuation between low and high tides is minimal, whereas in others, the difference can be huge. I had always been lead to believe that the greatest tidal differences in the world were

You’ll have a cordial time here alright!

Rarely does one come across a resort property that ticks most or all of the boxes. Some hotels may be located right on the beach but consequently suffer from the noise generated by late night revelers. Or it might have all the facilities known to modern man but you'd need a kings ransom to settle the bill at the end of your holiday. Worse still are those properties (and believe me, there are many), where

A little piece of paradise on our doorstep!

The word 'paradise' is an extremely overused and abused term to describe all sorts of places that appear to tick a lot of boxes and so its meaning has become debased somewhat over the years but which i think still applies to someplace like Mogan, a small fishing village located about 72 kilometres from Las Palmas in the canarian island of Gran Canaria, just a few miles beyond the popular resorts of Maspalomas and Playa

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!).