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March 19, 2013

Looking for the hottest place in town? Check out your nearest friendly volcano!

Volcanoes. They are Nature at her most dramatic and terrifying and they occupy a special place in our collective psyche. The jury is still out in some quarters as to whether the demise of the dinosaurs was due to an asteroid impact or a cataclysmic eruption of a giant volcano that brought about the prehistoric equivalent of a nuclear winter some 50 million odd years ago. In any event, volcanoes are things of beauty and

January 28, 2013

Shop ’til You Drop!

I know! We've only just gotten over Christmas and I'm on about shopping already when I should be talking about travel. The problem is of course that travel and shopping are tied at the hip. One of the most popular activities that travelers engage in (and look forward to) when on holiday is shopping — whether that be for local handcrafts or for modern consumer items and up-to-date fashion accessories. There is also this myth that we westerners have

January 3, 2013

Move out of your comfort zone in 2013

Carrying on from last weeks' blog in which I suggested that you combine one of the most typical new year resolutions (getting more exercise!) with that of choosing a destination ideal for walking or trekking, I would like to suggest that even if you don't want to get that energetic in 2013 that you at least take the opportunity to move a little bit outside of your comfort zone this year. This doesn't have to

October 22, 2012

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

October 15, 2012

Looking for a bit of sun and heat?

I think that we are universally agreed that this year's summer was one of the worst on record and with the long range weather forecast for the next eight years not particularly encouraging, perhaps it's time that we had a conversation about the 10 hottest places around the world that we should consider for that next holiday. By some measures, Bangkok is actually considered the hottest big city on earth. The average temperature for the

September 17, 2012

So you think you know your amusement parks?

Ask anyone to name a few famous amusement parks and they'll likely come up with names like Disneyland Paris, Port Aventura, Alton Towers and Universal Studios. If they've been to St. louis or Southern California, they might even list slightly less well known attractions such as Six Flags or Knotts' Berry Farm. So, what are the chances that any one of you can guess which amusement park has won this year's Golden Ticket Award? Any of

June 11, 2012

The Travel Agent Renaissance

Has the travellers' love affair with the Internet finally peaked? Has it eventually dawned on consumers that all the best deals aren't necessarily found online? Judging by a growing number of articles that have begun to appear in various mainstream publications both in Ireland and abroad over the course of the past 12 months, the answer would appear to be a resounding yes! And we're not talking about small, regional titles here. August publications such

May 15, 2012

Day 3 in Puglia

Everyone knows that Italy is rich in its antiquities but many assume that most of these are concentrated in locations such as Rome, Florence, Venice and so on — legacies of the vast wealth of these former city states. It may surprise you to know therefore that Southern Italy (and Puglia in particular) enjoys its own superabundance of exquisite buildings and sublime architecture and nowhere is that more apparent than in the gem that is

April 24, 2012

Get ready to experience the ‘hidden’ Italy

Some of you may already be familiar with Italian destinations such as Rome, Venice, Florence, Sicily or the Amalfi coast but how many of you have ever visited Puglia in the far south? Probably not that many, I suspect. Puglia is, like most of the rest of the Italian mainland, a veritable treasure trove of antiquities, impossibly beautiful churches mimicking every conceivable architectural form and boasting cuisine to rival anything that one could reasonable expect to find in even

How the role of the humble travel agent has changed in recent years.

Before the arrival of the Internet, everyone used travel agents to book their travel arrangements because agents were able to access information that was not generally accessible to your average traveller. The Internet changed all that and empowered consumers by enabling them to research and find all sorts of interesting 'goodies' online. This democratisation of travel created the illusion in the minds of many consumers that they no longer needed travel agents and that they

Summer has arrived!

I'm not talking literally of course — just figuratively — and wearing my travel agent hat! Easter has always traditionally represented the start of the summer season as this is when tour operator summer charter programmes begin and winter charter series end. It is also then an appropriate time to remind people of the kinds of things that they need to think of/prepare for, before setting out on their overseas travels. What follows is a

Move out of your comfort zone

The world is a big place. We know that we're stating the obvious here but it's worth mentioning if only because we find that most people tend to return to the same places year after year. Nothing wrong with that at all, particularly if those places are ticking all the boxes in terms of cost, convenience, friendliness, value for money, accessibility etc. It's a shame though that more people don't push the proverbial boat out

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