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

Searching for the Sparkly Stuff

The Discovery Channel series Gold Rush and Gold Divers are proving to be immensely popular and that is no big surprise as the prospect of striking it rich is so alluring. Whilst most people probably don’t fancy taking themselves off to Alaska for half of the year to mine for gold it is possible for anyone to do a little prospecting in America and not just for gold. Continue reading

Chilling Out At The Ice Hotel

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If you’re looking for a holiday with a difference, forget about the luxury hotels in the Caribbean or a villa on your own private island. Scandinavia is big news at the moment with TV dramas like The Killing attracting record viewing figures for a foreign language television series, and although most tourists heading north for their holidays stick to the summer months, the best time to go is in winter, when you have the opportunity to visit one of the incredible ice hotels that are created each autumn. Continue reading

Good and Bad In Las Vegas

I like to travel light for my holidays. As I am generally hiking in the mountains or riding roller coasters at theme parks I have never seen the sense in dragging a massive amount of luggage around and so I rarely holiday with many, if any, smart clothes. This is generally not a problem as most establishments in tourist destinations don’t seem to care about your appearance but occasionally you stumble across some narrow minded people who decide to look down on you from a very great height. When I enter a hotel or restaurant I think I have a right to expect some decent service as I spend my hard earned cash but some places simply aren’t that nice. Continue reading

A quieter pace of life in Cornwall

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Cornwall is one of England’s most beautiful counties and has been a destination of choice for holidaymakers for many years due to its climate and spectacular scenery. Increasingly though it’s not just the holidaymakers and the retired people who are moving to Cornwall in search of a quieter way of life, it’s young professionals and families with children who are realising that the internet and other technologies mean that they can work just as efficiently in Cornwall as anywhere else in the UK. Continue reading