Local Knowledge

There is nothing like local knowledge to help you get the most out of your holiday and there are plenty of guide books and guide web sites that can help you... One such has been compiled by a friend of mine. The site is entitled Colins Wales and covers every inch of the South Wales coast line featuring all beaches and local attractions. Each page imparts knowledge about the locality that will help you to know what to expect, or whether it is the sort of place you want to visit.
The content of this site has been built up over years of travelling throughout the area on a daily basis and forms a valuable resource for anyone visiting South Wales. There is no commercial side to this website and that makes it all the more appealing, it's just honest opinion and information to help the prospective traveller.
Guide books are an excellent way to form a plan of how you will spend your holiday, but with the world wide web at our fingertips chock full of free information, it's beginning to be difficult to justify the costs of a decent guide book.

Home Exchange Scheme

House exchange schemes are a great way to get around the world without having to worry about finding (and paying for..) accommodation. I browsed the 'net today and came up with this website:
Geenee.com have homes available for 'borrowing' from all around the world. I browsed around the site (currently free to join) and found some lovely properties. Some retired people are open to exchanging their home at anytime, some others have specific dates that they want exchanges. For instance I found a local householder open to offers around Christmas time and has specified Australia as a preferred destination.
There seems to be all sorts of homes included, admittedly some of them DID look a bit like show-homes, but others had that 'lived-in' look.
If you are considering this as an option, then I suppose like anything there are 'up' sides and 'down' sides, but I am guessing that when you've done it a couple of times, you would soon get into the swing of it.
Once you can get over the inconvenience of having strangers in your house whilst you are on holiday, no doubt having all the home comforts when you are away from home (especially if you are taking kids), and a real local insight into the place you are visiting more than compensates...

Airline Route Maps

I was recently offered the chance to stay in France with friends in a 'Gite' for a week, it just remained for me to find cheap flights for the family... easier said than done... A few years ago, cheap flights were available for all sorts of destinations (I flew to Edinburgh for £1 once), but the cheap flights have got a little more expensive and a little more difficult to find. If you know your destination, then you need to find out which airlines fly to the nearest airport(s), and which airports you can fly from.
You can do this by trawling the internet for flight details from each airport, or recently I have discovered the Budget Airline Route Map. This site has a fantastic European Map with all destination airports marked as red dots, hover over a destination and the airports that fly to this destination show up as yellow... This is a great way of quickly working out the most efficient route to take, you could even work out inter-connecting routes very quickly with this system.
Clicking on an airport takes you to a page dedicated to that specific airport, giving links to the companies that fly there, and a list of the airports you can fly from.
Next time I need to plan a European holiday, I will start with the Low Cost Airline Guide...

Visiting London

Probably more than 90% of people that visit mainland UK will come to London at some point. London has a magic that goes beyond the fact that it is simply our capital city, it is considered a centre for all sorts of things including fashion, retail, food and tourism.

London has the sights that visitors really want to see, not least of which is Buckingham Palace which has a constant stream of visitors peering through the railings. The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and more recently the London Eye have been on the 'most visited' list along with various museums and galleries.

There are however, plenty of drawbacks, not least of which is the expense of staying there. London is the single most expensive place to buy or rent a property in the UK, has the most expensive shops and the most expensive restaurants and hotels. You will pay a lot more in London for almost anything that you care to mention. London is also the most congested and populated city in the UK and probably one of the most congested in Europe. If you plan to travel to London, I would recommend using public transport/tube trains and taxis for getting around, only picking up a hire car if you plan to drive outside the confines of the city.
None of the drawbacks should put you off visiting, it is worth the hassle just to be in London and savour the spirit of the place.

Airport Security

Security updates – with the stepping-up of airport security and changes to threat levels, travellers may not be entirely sure what security measures are now operating. For up-to-date information, the UK Department of Transport has a resource here…
In brief, the one bag hand-luggage restriction was lifted at many airports in January 2008. Since the revelation of a plot to use innocent looking liquids to create an explosion, there are still some recommendations in place namely:

1. Where possible, put all liquid items in your hold baggage. This includes water and other drinks, creams, sprays, pastes and gels.
2. Liquids, gels and aerosols are only allowed in individual containers of 100ml. All containers must fit comfortably in one, transparent, bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm.

Contact your airline for up to date information relevant to your travel plans.
Some interesting side-issues here are that if you take baby food onto a plane, you may be asked to taste it before you are allowed to take it with you (that's enough to put me off flying, or at least my in-flight meal!), similarly if you take nappy (daiper) cream with you, you can be asked to apply it to your own skin.
You can check alcohol into the hold baggage and any duty free you buy in the departure lounge can be taken with you on board. But do remember that the liquids restrictions apply at all EU airports and a growing number of other airports across the world, so you might need to pack duty free in the hold baggage for your return journey.
Happy traveling

Gozo - The Isle of Calypso

In the past there has been a helicopter service between Malta and Gozo, and a bridge has been mooted and construction was even under way until the strength of the protests (from Gozitans) became so strong that the project was abandoned. Nowadays the ferry is the main route between Malta and it's smaller greener sister island Gozo.

Gozo earns it's nickname 'Isle of Calypso' since it is considered by many to be the geographical location of 'Ogygia' the mythological island controlled by the nymph Calypso from Homer's Odyssey. In the myth, Odysseus was detained on Ogygia as as a prisoner by Calypso for seven years.
The island itself boasts many interesting sights and an interesting contrast to the hustle and bustle of it's neighbour Malta.

The capital city of Victoria (Rabat) is well worth a visit for it's architecture and views of the surrounding countryside, not to be confused with Malta's own 'Rabat' (the word means 'fortress' hence both towns are similar in that they are walled).

Gozo's main claim to fame lies in the Ggantija temples which are believed to be not only the oldest religious structures, but actually the world's oldest free-standing structures, even pre-dating Stonehenge and the pyramids. Sadly I have not (yet) visited this site so I do not (yet) have any pictures to share with you...

Travel Advice

According to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office, these are some of the things to consider before setting off on a trip:

1. Check with travel advice services for the country you are visiting
2. Find contact details for Embassies near to where you will be staying
3. Get adequate insurance
4. Check whether you will need vaccinations
5. Make sure you have Visas if required and check validation of your passport (some countries require 6 months after your date of travel…)
6. Tell people at home where you are going and keep in contact
7. Get a good travel guide
8. Check your license validation if you intend to drive (take copies of your licence and passport)
9. Take enough money in various forms or emergencies

All good advice before you set off…especially the safety aspects if you will be moving around, and the issues around paperwork such as passport validity, visas and travel insurance.

Booking your travel

The world-wide web is the perfect place to go looking for information about your next holiday, through the power of search engines, you can find out everything you need for the perfect holiday. In years gone by, this was the sole domain of the travel agent, but now the travel world has completely opened up. Not only can you search for information about your destination, you can arrange your flights, car hire and accommodation either with large travel companies or much smaller concerns and individuals through the long reach of the internet.

Most hotels and guest houses will either have their own website or be listed on an accommodation service website, just browsing for your destination should get you any number of links to hotels, motels and bed & breakfast accommodation. Many hotel-booking sites also include customer reviews of the services offered which can give you an insight to what you can expect from a specific hotel. Please note that these reviews are only a guide as some travellers may feel aggrieved with a bad experience and unintentionally exaggerate their displeasure. I would not personally lay great store by one individual bad review, but if all the bad comments are telling the same story, then one should certainly take note.