Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 22

I was recently visiting a friend who is hoping to buy a holiday property in the south of France, somewhere in the Midi-Pyrenees or Languedoc region - mainly due to her love of Cathar myth and legend she told me!

By a wonderful twist of fate it turned out that at around the same time France Property Shop requested a paid review of their site here on this blog.

She had looked at a couple of sites that were a bit cluttered and showed bit’s and pieces all over them, but then I showed her a winner in terms of ease of viewing and website usability:

Straight away we loved the great layout with it clear sections and easy-to-use map of France divided into the main regions. It was a major help for me as I don’t know a lot about locations in France, but just move over the large map and they are all clearly highlighted along with the number of properties currently available in that region. So we were off to a great start!

We easily completed the main search fields although the price fields are shown in euros so we had to view our first property then use the built in currency converter (which neatly opens in small new window) to find out our financial limits!

Like Google, it shows the featured properties first, the moves onto the main search results - cheapest first. As expected, each property clicked opens onto the main property details page with standard range of photos and information, but it also has 2 further tabs with an interactive location map on one and local area information on the other - both very useful to the beginner!

It also has a feature where you can find properties close to your preferred port or airport and it shows all the properties (regardless of region or price) within 50 miles of each. A very useful tool for those looking to reduce their commute between locations without wading through properties in different regions.

We also came across a great section on ‘moving tips’ and ‘buyers guides to moving’, etc, all available to read for free - and all of which are very detailed and very informative! Definitely useful enough for my friend to ‘favourite’ some on her pc.

Needless to say, I would recommend this as the best website to start with if you are considering buying a property abroad, or actually moving there permanently. It covers all the basics in a really simple yet attractive format.

My friend certainly recommends it, and in-fact didn’t go to another site after this one. I think she found something she liked…..

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 21

It seems that scrapbooking retreats are popping up all over the States at the moment! They are everywhere you look and just about everyone is talking about them.

Just like scrapbooking itself we use scrapbooking getaway parties to record personal moments, not only for our own benefit, but for others - like nieces and nephews for example - like first bath, first trip to the park, and more popularly for elder relatives to be given as presents - albums of their lives to be looked back over and enjoyed and even added to by future generations.

I thought it was just my friends that got swept away with all this activity but it would appear that everybody has some things to share - whether it specialist themes or some new technology - and they don’t want to keep it to themselves, they want a whole different experience - they want a scrapbooking getaway package to pass on their skills to others and possibly learn others at the same time.

Simply type your home state into Google, like ‘Scrapbooking Getaways MD’ or ‘Scrapbooking Retreats in Colorado’ and just watch a giant list unfold in front of your eyes! You find so many choices that you won’t know where to start! You will find yourself totally spoilt for choice.

Scrapbooking has become so widespread in the states, that businesses are offering local short courses at colleges in Iowa, or even organised scrapbooking weekends in Ohio state for example, I even had someone ask me about scrapbooking in France! Now that would make a great vacation!

Where can you go?

Local hotels and lodges everywhere are advertising ’scrapbooking getaways’ amd running them like the holidays you find for painting and other crafts. I can’t believe I haven’t found out about these sooner!

A scrapbooking retreat will usually offer a few days at a time in a hotel or lodge in town or country and will involve sharing and practising techniques such as the best acid-free adhesives to prevent photograph damage, etc. They will also focus on sharing ideas on layouts and presentation, possibly on combining scrapbooking and poems for example or printing out free scrapbooking sayings and phrases.

It’s even possible to attend scrapbooking sessions which focus on a current theme, like Easter page scrapbooking for example, there was even one I heard of that involved creating some fun scrapbooking video podcasts to share with friends!

You may find yourself working alongside experienced scrapbookers, who can offer not only start-up advice on the getting hold of scrapbooking supplies, but also to help with storeage ideas, or maybe help you organize a scrapbooking room to store all your craft supplies and stickers in! It’s not uncommon for them to offer more specific advice, such as how to use distressing inks in scrapbooking for example, or how to access scrapbooking freeware from a pc, and many many more scrapbooking tips for you get your hands on.

If you don’t have the time to attend more than a short course or you can’t travel too far - why not plan your own scrapbooking getaway party for some friends and yourself not too far away. You need to locate a local hotel or lodge that has available conference rooms, then reserve as many rooms as you require and you may even get a group discount!

Choose your own themes like dozibear scrapbooking for the kids, or portrait collage scrapbooking for the more advanced, maybe bringing a laptop and start an online scrapbooking business with your friends. It’s not so difficult if you are so passionate about it!

Have fun!!

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 20

Me and my friend have been planning to go to Costa Rica for the whole of April for some time, and although we had a rough idea of the things we wanted to see and do - the departure date is fast approaching and the only thing we have booked is the flight!

First Things First - We know we will have to stay near the airport on arrival as we touch down at around 8pm local time, and it will take around a half hour or more to clear passport control and customs. We are definitely going to arrange for an airport transfer to the hotel, so we have nothing to worry about after a whole day flying. It likely we will stay there a second night, just to get our bearings. We’ll book the same place the night before we depart as well for the same reason.

Next Thing Next - Well we haven’t decided what’s next yet, but we have narrowed it down to four main locations and we need to start thinking of the best route for them and a timescale of things. So far it looks like this:

Monteverde Region - 10 days

Arenal Volcano Area - 4 days

Peninsula de Nicoya - 4 days

Puntarenas Region - 10 days

That’s around 28 days, plus the 3 in San Jose and we are done!

Planning a Route - Well we are nowhere near done are we? We haven’t yet considered travelling times between these places as San Jose is in the middle of the country; Puntarenas is at the southernmost point and all the others are in the North! This should be fun!

We know the buses are very cheap and run regularly but we have heard that most bus stops are not marked at all - so things could get interesting. We are really excited about using the buses as we will get to see so much more of the country this way, than if we flew or travelled with other non-local tourists.

Must Sees - We have both decided on our ‘must sees’ which will help to select specific locations to visit. Mine includes sloths, giant anteaters, tapirs, armadillos, coatis, morpho butterflies, macaws, an exploding volcano - possibly a minor earthquake too, huge waterfalls, a canopy walk, toucans, manatees, whales, turtles and of course a jaguar!

Yep, that just about covers the wildlife basics for me. There are 69 National Parks and Protected Areas so I should be sure to find everything I’m looking for…………..

Additional Things - I have also still got to buy a few travel essentials before we go, including a new rucksack. I don’t have one anymore and I am sure that I don’t want to travel around Costa Rica with a large solid plastic mango-coloured suitcase! Yes, It has little wheels on it, and keep everything inside safely protected but it’s not very practical for dragging on and off of buses!

I’ll write again when we have made any more progress…….

Vacation Facts:

Location: Costa Rica - Central America

Accommodation: Not known at the moment! Possibly 4 main locations and the first night around San Jose, but unsure of actual accommodation at present time.

Flight Cost: $920/£460 per person, return airfare with Continental - from the UK, via New York.

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 15

I am hoping to book an adventure holiday in Wales for later this year, so I had sent off for some information from the national tourist board from there, mainly regarding accommodation.

I got their pack this morning and it is very descriptive of areas and activities, but there was a leaflet enclosed that was supposed to detail about their new star ratings and accommodation ’styles’.

Star-Ratings - Basically they are now rating the individual accommodations not on cleanliness, attractiveness, or the local knowledge of the owner - because that would just be stupid, apparently.

They are rating them on what facilities you had and how many bedside tables were in each room! This is so much better for the traveller isn’t it!!

Why on earth they think that I am more concerned with how many chairs are available to sit on or how many inches there are between the dresser and the radiator I have no idea. Surely, the facilities are something that vary with every resort anyway - even the 5* resorts probably offer different things - and we know this fact - so we look for them before booking.

I don’t want a lovely beautifully presented traditional farm house bedroom ruined by the owner having to cram in 2 further bedside tables and 3 more chairs with another lamp for good measure just to keep their 3* rating. I’m only spending 1 night there anyway - I don’t need tables: I need a bed, a shower and a cup of tea in the morning!

Accommodation Types - They have even made it more difficult to actually find a property in the first place! We all know that Bed&Breakfast’s are generally cheaper than Hotels, and a farmhouse property will be more peaceful than one in town, and it’s all very simple.

However, they think they are helping out now by splitting hotels and B&B’s into - I cannot believe it - 11 different category types:

Small Hotel
Country House Hotel
Town House Hotel
Metro Hotel
Budget Hotel
Guest Accommodation
Guest House
Bed & Breakfast
Farmhouse
Restaurant With Rooms
Inn

The only thing the Farmhouse has to be is actually a farm to be classed as such, and there is nothing technically different in summary between the guest accommodation and guest house apart from guest houses TEND to have more than 3 rooms - but then B&B’s can have 3 rooms according to their descriptions too.

We all know that Bed and Breakfasts can either be a room in someones house where you have to walk through their kitchen or use their bathroom for example, others you have your own bathroom, but basically you are living in their house. In better B&B’s you have your own entrance, own lounge and en-suite facilities - why haven’t they split those up into different categories - it would make my life easier - I really don’t like using their own bathroom, but sometimes it just doesn’t tell you in their descriptions.

But no, they are splitting hairs here - I mean according to their descriptions, Small Hotels have less than 20 rooms and don’t offer dinner, (but I have stayed in B&B’s with up to 20 rooms that don’t offer dinner either). Anyway, a Metro Hotel seems to be just a Small Hotel in a town, but then the Small Hotels description does not say that they are not found in towns!

It’s all very confusing!!!!

I can’t believe someone was paid to come up with this as an ‘easy’ way to find somewhere to stay, but then not made their categories all to different after all. It’s a shame because it could have been really useful if done correctly without ambiguity.

I haven’t looked on their website to see how you search either - but if you have all those accommodation types and you can only select one or two at a time, then finding the right place for you could take ages!

I wish someone would create a search facility that offered you the choice to just select those features that you definitely didn’t want rather than all the ones you might want - it would certainly be easier in this case…. Not everyone cares THAT much about where they stay as long as it’s in their budget range and close to their destination.

How about just a cost scale search - well, sometimes you just need a place to stay near ‘A’ and you don’t care if it’s fancy or they don’t have a trouser press, you just need a pillow to sleep on. You could type in ‘between £25-£40 per night near ‘A’ please - what have you got in any accommodation type?’

That’s what I would call ‘easy’.

Personal recommendations:
One place I would definitely recommend you stay in for the Centre of Alternative Technology, with really friendly staff, beautifully converted barn and little terrace view would be: Marchlyn Cottage on 01654 702018 (no email)

One place I would recommend you stay in Betws-y-coed for the majestic house, voluptuous period features and a central location for activities would be: www.TanDinas.4T.com or email anntandinas@hotmail.com

One place I would definitely NOT recommend near Snowdonia for you stay in due to the difficulty in finding it in the first place and the rudeness of staff when you get there would be: Marie Briggs and clydfan@carmel37.freeserve.co.uk

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 13

Hello there, just a question really.

I was checking out some of the most searched phrases for travel blogs and this one came up:

Sample Hotel Reservation Letter

Around 100 people a day search for this phrase, but what exactly are they after? Are they after a template for a letter TO a hotel to reserve a room, like a confirmation letter? Or are they actually hotel owners wondering how to confirm a reservation through the post for their clients?

Are you one of the people who search for this phrase? If so, let me know what you were after and I can probably help you out.

Cat