Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on Aug 26

Having just returned from Malta, I thought I would pop down some of my favorite bits incase you had ever wondered whether it was worth visiting such a small island.

Well, I loved it, but it has changed a bit since I was last there - mainly in 2 ‘bad’ respects.  It’s a lot dirtier than I remember and there is a lot more ‘touristy’ parts.

However, I still had a great 2 weeks there and would recommend a short trip there for someone who loves architecture and walking around a lot!

1) Valletta. 
A visit to the historic city is recommended to everyone as it is the very essence of what makes Malta Malta! 

The lengthy straight streets and steps running up and down the length of the city are a site worth seeing in themselves.  There are some amazing views across the harbours and up to the elaborate balconies and huge double doors that are ubiquitous in this country.

Suprisingly there are some beautiful parks dotted about the bastions that are ideal for relaxing in while you eat that delicious fresh slice of pizza and read your favorite book to the sound of the horses feet on the streets behind you.

2) Gozo.
A ferry ride to the little sister island will make for a very different day out.

Although a bit of a trek from the main tourist zone (about 2 hours travel time on the bus then ferry) it is well worth the effort.  Not only do you get to see the country as you travel north, but Gozo is so very different.  A world apart.

Set on a different soil, this is much more fertile and is so much less populated.  Buses run for the locals here and the stores seem much more aimed at families and self catering rather than fast-food tourists!  So it is more peaceful…..

There are also some delightful little coves here which we spent many hours in - hiding in a shaded cave overlooking the crystal clears Mediterranean waters where little boats bobbed past.

3) Mdina.
Just a short hop from the new capital to this ancient capital - and it is so much more peaceful.

Even though tourists visit here too, they tend to stick to the 1 main road through to the viewpoint where you can see Mt Etna on a clear day!  All the other streets and the parks outside seem to be waiting for you to sit down and watch the little lizards scoot around the trees!

Just down the road from here are the famous catacombs where you can descend beneath the streets and wander around meters and meters of pathways carved out of the very earth.  St Agatha’s tombs have great frescoes as well.

Worth a visit - but don’t plan for 2 weeks there unless you are sailing there on your own boat!

posted by Travel Cat on Mar 18

I have been to Turkey three times now, and to a different resort each time.  So here is each location and what was better (or worse) about each one - giving you some of my ‘Turkey tips’.

Generally we wanted to see wild Turkey as well as the cities, so we had read up before we booked our latest Turkey vacation, to make sure we experienced both.  All 3 times we got a late deal to Turkey from the UK, paying no more $400/£200 each time for all inclusive.

If you are planning to travel to Turkey yourself, I would definitely look into which tours you are most interested in before you choose your resort as there are many types across Turkey.  These include:

Biblical Tours of Turkey - these are very popular and usually offer taking in Mount Ararat where Noah’s ark was supposed to have landed in the far east of the country, close to the border with Iran.  You would need to check the security situation in the region before going here though.  Also there are the Seven Churches of Revelation dotted across the country. 

The region known as the Anatolia was where the first people to be call ‘Christians’ met together, and the St Peters’ Grotto in present day Antioch is one of the very first places where they held their secret meeting!  Mary Magdalene’s last resting place is also here and Tarsus is believed to be the birthplace of the apostle Paul.

General Turkey Excursions- including caves, snorkeling and dolphin tours.  You can book a trip to Turtle Beach and the rivers where the film The African Queen was filmed.    You go in a canoe to reach this spot if that takes your fancy.  Mud baths are also on offer.

There is a great deal of history in this country, spanning 2 continents and vast eons of history.  The ruins of Troy are here and the modern city of Truva is the closest ‘base’ from Istanbul, as well as the great Gallipoli battlefields - the site of a great Anglo-French battle against the Ottoman Empire also within a short drive of the capital.

A visit to Ephesus on a tour is always popular, and will take you to the best preserved classical city on the eastern Mediterranean.  This marble beauty is the location of the famed ‘Temple of Artemis’ - one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World!

Luxury Turkey Escorted Tour - this will include many great escorted tours of not just Istanbul tours, but out across the great sites of this country.

Istanbul tours are obviously a great place to start, and the sites of this amazing capital include the gemstones at the Topkapi Sarayi, the sacred Sultan Ahmet Camii - the blue mosque, and the Grand Bazaar - where you are sure to get lost amidst the 58 tiny streets and over 1200 shops!

Take a cruise up the Bosphorus (sometimes called the Istanbul Strait) which divides the European side of Turkey - Thrace, from the Asian side - Anatolia.  There are many legends along this river, and the sides are crammed with great Ottoman castles and palaces! 

Istanbul hotels are some of the most splendid I have seen - although there are many more boring accommodations available depending on your budget.  You will get the best if you book through a luxury escorted tour company - and the architecture and views of these locations can make every penny worth spending!

Marmaris - this popular resort in south west Turkey was once just a tiny fishing village - but the location is so beautiful, that it has become a victim of it’s own success.  In peak season the tiny town can fill with nearly 400,000 tourists - both local and foreign! 

As a result, this beach resort in an amazing natural harbour has some of the best shops and night clubs in the whole country.  You can still do fishing trips but it mainly is a tourist ’sunshine’ resort, with nothing much to do but sunbathe and admire the scenery.

Marmaris Fethiye cruises are a popular day trip.  This ruined town is still beautiful with boat trips taking you to 12 different Islands where you can swim at every location - and of course the many Lycian sarcophagi dotted around the place.

Marmaris Hotels are a-plenty and The BlueBays Hotel where we stayed was 4* and lived up to that with all free Saunas Gym and hot tubs.   Food was well displayed and very good choices to cater for everyone.   Rooms were up to a good standard and cleaned every day.  But there are obviously many to chose from at all * ratings.

Oludeniz -is another great beach resort and has one of the most photographed stretches of beach in the Med!  It is a National Nature Reserve so the building regulations are much stronger than in Maramis - allowing you to enjoy the natural beauty!

You can arrange Oludeniz yacht cruises to view the ’Blue Lagoon’ from both sides, and there is even paragliding available to get a birds eye view of the great landscape and clear seas!!! 

And Finally:
Turkey has been named as joint holder of the European Capital Of Culture for 2010 and much of Istanbul is now recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Now is certainly a time to visit!
.

posted by Travel Cat on Oct 1

Just a quick note to everyone in the UK to explain why the vacations this summer have been a bit pricey!

I was visiting my travel agent every week waiting for something to come up for around the £600 or less mark for a long-haul 2 week vacation - but nothing came. She thought they were holding off due to the bad weather this year - so she said come back after the August Bank Holiday. I did, but the prices were still higher than I wanted, and there weren’t many of them to chose from either.

I now know why.

Travel ‘giants’ Thomas Cook and TUI recently announced that they have been taking advantage of other travel companies going bust, by keeping their prices artificially high. They were using their well earned stability in the market to pick up all the travellers who still wanted that summer vacation, and were prepared to pay a little more than usual.

Apparently this has been very successful, what with less flights (Thomas Cook have nearly 25% less holidays on sale this season) and less companies offering them in the first place (with XL and Zoom going bust). Also, holiday selling prices have increased a staggering 18% in the past 7 weeks - according to the London Lite (29/09/08). No wonder I couldn’t find anything worth paying for.

So, it may be that cheap package holidays are becoming a thing of the past - for now.

However, I think that over the next year when things are predicted to get even tighter - for example my electricity bill has gone up another 30% this month - people will stop paying those prices. How many people even now really want to pay more that £600 each for 2 weeks in the sun?

The only people with that sort of money are all the London bankers - oh, hang on a minute - aren’t they all out of a job now!

.

posted by Travel Cat on Sep 25

Destination Venezuela

One of the 9 countries bordering on gigantic Brazil, Venezuela sits to the north. It rests on the shores of the Caribbean Sea and has a whole host of pristine beaches,strands of coral reef and isolated tropical islands to it’s name.

To the east you find the Orinoco Delta weaving it’s way across the land into the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west you can find the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, which can be seen for miles around. Finally, the mighty Amazon sits to the south of this diverse destination and offers a whole host of tropical rain-forest and amazing wildlife to explore - including the highest waterfall in the world: Angel Falls.

Lets take a quick glance at what each of these locations has to offer the visitor.

The Caribbean:
There are several groups of islands in the Caribbean sea that are worth visiting and are inhabited. Of course there are many more islands that are uninhabited and are great for snorkeling and diving but there are too many to discuss here.

Archipielago Los Roques- This chain of small coral reef islands around 160km north of the mainland - about 40 of which are large enough for names - where as the other 250 or so are just rocks or sandbars. This area is a real paradise for divers and snorkelers and the infrastructure makes getting around very easy. The whole region is a National Park, so you will be charged an entry fee when visiting here.

Dos Mosquises Sur - This inhabited island is home to the Marine Biological Station which rears turtles from the surrounding area to be released locally. There are therefore some restrictions about activities in these waters.

Isla de Margarita- This large island is a vacation spot for package tours and is very popular with Canadians and Europeans. The island has some amazing white sandy beaches and 2 national parks. It is also a duty-free shopping zone so is very popular with Venezuelan vacationers too.

The Orinoco Delta:
This river basin is second only to the Amazon Basin in size and at it’s widest, the river is over 20km wide. It then splits into around 40 main channels that spread out across the delta and empty in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is easy to arrange a boat tour of the delta from most surrounding towns and even from some more distant destinations, such as the Isla de Margarita. Along the river banks you will find a whole host of wildlife species, including spider monkeys, caiman, hummingbirds and toucan to name a few. And in the water you are sure to find pirahna, but also pink river dolphins if you are out at dusk……

Many tour companies will arrange for you to stay overnight in an old oil prospectors cabins or local stilted houses on the river itself the very places that gave this country it’s name - Little Venice. Take some serious insect repellant though if you are out in the rainy season!

The Andes Mountains:
The very tip of this huge mountain chain splits into 2 and creeps into the western corner of Venezuela and can be snow-covered all year round. Many of the highest peaks are around 5000m and most towns between 2500m and 3500m. Hiking is risky at any time due to the changeable weather, but August to October really are the worst months here.

Merida state is nestled in-between the 2 ridges and does have an excellent infrastructure for travel and touring, however; neighbouring states can still offer some amazing landscapes and are probably less touristy - although you may have to be a bit more flexible with your arrangements.

Remember that the altitude here can easy reach over 3000m, so it is possible that you will need to take a few days to acclimatise yourself, otherwise you may find yourself feeling terrible the whole time possibly with some serious headaches and other unpleasant (and possibly fatal) side effects.

The Amazon Jungle and Angel Falls:
The Venezuelan Amazon is only small - just a 5th of the country’s size, but never-the-less it is a beautiful place to visit. It is predominately thick forest filled with networks of streams and rivers criss-crossing the land. Many indigenous tribes live here, and around 20 different languages are used.

Puerto Ayacucho is the main town on the Orinoco River and with a landing strip, but the infrastructure is poor and private guides are the only option here if you want to explore. Flora and fauna abound here, with birds, insects and reptiles fitting in every niche. Mammals such as the giant river otter and the ocelot do live here, but are rarely seen - but monkeys may be more frequently seen.

Salto Angel - or Angel Falls is the most visited tourist destination in the country - and I know why. When I flew here recently, the views from the ‘plane were amazing. We flew low over the tops of the giant outcrops of the ‘tepuis’ - the flat-topped mountains. Rather than the mountains coming up out of the ground, these 1000m high plateaus are what is left of the original ground when all the rest fell away!!

I though that was a great site until the ground fell away from under our plane in an instant and we tilted to the left over the falls. All I could see was the continuous drop of this amazing waterfall all the way to the ground below me!!!!! All that water, falling away into the depths of the jungle below leaving a rainbow behind as evidence of it’s beauty!

This is certainly a place to return to, over and over again. And I will.

.

posted by Travel Cat on Sep 15

If you travel without travel insurance these days - you must be mad…….

Everyone who has been keeping an eye on the travel news lately, must be more than aware of the changing face of the industry.

What Can Go Wrong? 
This season, prices seem to be staying unusually high - even last minute deals aren’t that cheap.   Destinations are disappearing from brochures as flights are re-routed or cancelled altogether.  Freak weather is pummelling coastlines and scaring off holiday makers.  Airline companies are going bust across the globe due to the unstoppable rise in oil prices.

You need to be covered if you are going away, in-case you are affected by one of these many problems - which could affect you at any time after you make the booking until you are safely back home.  And for those people who like to book their vacations in advance - that could be well over a year of waiting.

What’s The Best Cover?
As with anything you purchase, you need to find the policy that suits YOUR needs - and your needs only.  Don’t settle for a policy or company that worked for your friends and their family.  Why?

Well, there are different types of insurance depending on your age, your health, where you are going, what you plan to do there and how many of you there are for starters.  So always look around for what YOU need and what they offer.

What Do I Need?
One great way is to go to a travel insurance comparison site that shows the breakdown of the policies - and one that has clear explanations of each clause - for example www.money.co.uk and hit the Insurance tab and select travel insurance from the list.

Select any of the options you require - the destinations you require, whether it’s ’annual’ or ’single trip’ you are after, etc. Then hit ‘Go’.  It will then bring up all the policies it has found for you or your family with general headings of Medical Cover, Cancellation Cover and Baggage Cover - plus the overall cost of each policy.  You then skim down the list looking for the amount of cover for each category and tick the box to their left.

When you have selected 2 or 3 that you are interested in, click COMPARE and it will bring up those policies in much more detail.  Every single detail of the policy is followed by a question mark logo which explains a little about what it is asking for - helping you to see what is being covered - and what could be available to you on another policy.

Spend your time investigating all the options and making a list of the type of things you are hoping for with your policy and then you are more than prepared to make an informed decision about what cover you want and what cover you can’t do without.  It is also possible this way for you to also make sure you are not paying a large amount for a clause that you do actually not need.

That way you will know that everything you had planned cover for is insured and you can enjoy your vacation - even if it is at the end of 2009.

.