The same, but different — on Safari in Kenya

Anyone who has ever visited New York will recall the very first time that they walked through downtown Manhattan, taking in all the sights and sounds. It felt like walking through a movie set, didn't it? Not only that but it simultaneously felt very familiar because of all the movies and tv shows in which it has acted as backdrop yet also was very different but it was difficult to put your finger on what

4°37′S 55°27′E — The coordinates of Paradise!

Here's a quick quiz for you and see if you can guess correctly, where I'm talking about?: The inhabitants consume 114.6 litres of beer per annum — second only to the Czech Republic in annual consumption 15% of the population work in tourism 88% of the country is covered in forest. (more…)

I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list!

A brilliant saying if ever there was one and I will be eternally envious of Susan Sontag to whom the quote is attributed. I love it so much that we’ve used it at Travel Centres and Travel Bug, along with some other famous travel-related quotes, to epitomize the pleasure that is travelling. People assume when they hear that you work in the travel industry that you’ve been everywhere but that is rarely true and I’m

There is no sincerer love than the love of food!

At least that’s what George Bernard Shaw claimed and I’m inclined to agree with him. It would also appear that I’m not alone as the people at Oceania Cruises also take their food very seriously indeed. They reputedly spend more on food than any other cruise line and having recently spent a couple of indulgent days aboard Oceania Insignia as it made its way up from Bordeaux to Dublin, I can attest to that claim!

Would you like to win €2,500?

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

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

Out of this world!

There are destinations around the world that are nice — pleasing on the eye and pleasant but nothing exceptional. There are other destinations that are, by any measure beautiful, photogenic and memorable. And then there are those places that are simply out of this world! And when I say out of this world, I mean just that — they look un-earthly or other worldly — and in some cases down right alien! To illustrate the

Anxious. Scared. Terrified — Tales of an adrenaline junkie — Part 3

If you've ever watched the original Jurassic Park movie, there's a scene shortly after the T-Rex has broken through the high voltage fencing and is on the prowl. There is this long, gutteral, low frequency growl which is shown to cause ripples in a pool of water on the road. Now, imagine if you were experiencing that sound for real! I had been on safari in the Kruger for three days and was flying out

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

Anxious. Scared. Terrified — Tales of an adrenaline junkie — Part 1

It would appear, if you believe everything that you read in the media, that travel nowadays is less about the destination and more about what you do when you get there. The word they use is experiential. I can relate to that as it's something that I've been doing for years and will continue to do until I pop my clogs. So what's with the cryptic headline in this week's blog? Well, I was trying

Where’s the nicest place you’ve ever been?

It's a question I get asked all the time, when people find out what I do for a living and genuinely, my stock response up to relatively recently was always: 'The last place I visited'. Whilst this may sound like me trying to avoid the question it wasn't! It was because of a combination of me being unable to single out any one destination for honourable mention and the fact that I love everyplace I

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!).