Monthly Archives: October 2013

Dreaming of a Christmas Holiday

It was only recently that I realised that virtually every year of my adult life I had wanted to take a holiday over the Christmas period but in an epic fail had never actually managed to leave the country! As the so called festive period approached I always found that I felt somewhat less than festive and was dreading the inevitability of so much that happens at Christmas. Continue reading

Help My Hotel Is On Fire

If you travel regularly the occasional drama will befall you and it always seems to be in the most unlikely places. When I was relaxing in my hotel in Germany after a busy day at the nearby theme park the last thing I expected was to be evacuated from my room. This could be why my reactions weren’t quite as quick as they might have been.  Continue reading

Memories of Diana

During her life Princess Diana was one of the best loved and most influential people on the planet. 16 years after her tragic death there is still a great fascination with the popular Princess. She was a fashion icon and a celebrated champion of good causes and today her clothes still remain a major attraction and a means to raise valuable funds. Continue reading

A Visit To Blarney Castle

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I was in the middle of a lengthy business trip to Ireland travelling around the country to make sales calls. Business travel can be a lonely experience especially when you are in a foreign country. After a week of moving from place to place and seeing very little of what Ireland had to offer the weekend had arrived and not being able to work I needed something to occupy my time. I was in the Cork area and made a brief search online for possible places to visit and discovered that I was just a few minutes from Blarney Castle. I knew nothing about this place other than that there was a stone you should kiss to receive the gift of eloquence. Continue reading

Concorde

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Looking at today’s news headlines I was reminded that it is exactly ten years since Concorde last graced our skies and the campaign to get her flying again is still raging. Many people were extremely angry about the way this iconic plane was retired and are still fighting for a resurrection. I would certainly love to see a triumphal return but I really don’t think it is going to happen. Continue reading

Adventures on the Tioga Road

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Yosemite National Park attracts millions of visitors each year and is surely one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Sadly, though, most tourists confine themselves to Yosemite Valley and the immediate surrounds and so miss some of the park’s greatest wonders. If you are touring the region it is well worth venturing beyond the valley floor to explore the Tioga Road, a pass which runs west to east across the centre of the park.

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My Idea of Hell

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I love travelling and have an earnest desire to see as many places as possible before I pop my clogs. I also embrace many different destinations and types of holiday but there is one form of international travel that I simply can’t stand the thought of and that is a cruise! Cruising is more popular than ever but not in my household. To me a cruise ship is a floating prison and you won’t catch me booking a trip any time soon. Continue reading

The Plane that Left Without its Passengers

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Every passenger’s worst nightmare is missing their flight but you generally think that everything is alright once you have walked through the gate and are proceeding down the corridor to the plane. It now appears that even then you might contrive to miss your flight as 29 EasyJet passengers discovered this week. I know low cost airlines are targeted by the press, often unjustly, but sometimes they really don’t help themselves! Continue reading

Plastic Red Busses and Beefeater Teddies

When travelling abroad I have often marvelled at other tourist’s propensity for buying tacky souvenirs of their trips. Plastic Eiffel Towers and Coliseum ashtrays are a bit of a cliché but must retain some level of popularity as the streets are always full of places to buy them. Why anyone would want these things I cannot imagine as they are not indicative of the nations or the beauty of the buildings and serve no useful purpose whatsoever. Sadly things are not much better in England as I discovered this very weekend when I ventured out for the afternoon to a tourist hotspot. Continue reading

Useful Accessories for Fun In The Sun

Whatever kind of holiday you enjoy you will probably be travelling with a few gadgets and valuables. Nobody goes anywhere these days without their mobile phone and many will have e-readers, tablets and cameras too. You will always have keys of some description with you and then there is your wallet. It is all too easy to find yourself in a situation when you don’t know what to do with your possessions or find that they could get damaged but there are some nifty accessories which can really help and which won’t take up too much valuable room in your luggage. Continue reading