Well the nights are drawing in for the northern latitudes and many of us are beginning to think about an affordable winter break. In recent years Bulgaria has come to the fore as a winter destination and snow junkies will love a High Peaks Snowshoeing holiday in Bulgaria, a winter trekking holiday on snowshoes! This week-long adventure explores the dramatic snow-clad forests, peaks and valleys of the Rila Mountains. There are daily hikes of four to five hours that take walkers to sights such as the 70m Skakavitza waterfall, which is often frozen solid in the winter. Other hikes take in the historic Rila monastery; Mount Maliovitza; and the celebrated Seven Lakes area.
For full trip details from the Adventure Company, see High Peaks Snowshoeing in Bulgaria.
Anyone wanting a winter adventure suitable for the whole family, should head to the Rhodope Mountains on the Bulgarian Winter Experience. This trip combines cross country skiing, snowshoeing, animal tracking and the wonder of star gazing.
Anyone booking a Summer 2010 holiday with Co-operative Travel now, will be able to take advantage of the very best early booking savings. Early booking offers which include free child places, low deposits and early discounts on brochured holidays.
They tell me that these deals will not be around for long and the best hotels, top quality villas, stunning self-catering apartments and amiable Greek pensions are quickly booked by discerning travellers with an eye for a bargain. So get in quick and take a look at the 2010 holiday offers now.
Looking for an affordable adventure in 2009? For many years, the Activity Holidays Guide has been offering inspiration for great escapes and now we have teamed up with leading adventure company G.A.P Adventures.
With more than 1250 small group adventures around the world to choose from, your bound to find an affordable adventure holiday bargain that won't break the bank. Typical of their adventures have been an Egyptian Civilization tour from £209, an Adventure in Nepal from £299 or Roaming Thailand from £300.
Visit G.A.P Adventures to look at their extensive range of trips and if you cannot find the exact adventure holiday that you are looking for, try their Custom Tours service. All the best adventures start with a single dream and the motto is "If you can dream it, we can take you there". An expert Adventure Specialists team is on hand to help you arrange worldwide travel for between 1 and 7 passengers with a minimum 4-day stay, even six months! Groups of eight or more are looked after by the groups department.
Custom Tours can be almost anything you want; you can even specify the accommodation style, basic, standard, comfort and for those with the budget, superior.
G.A.P Adventures are truly the Great Adventure People; more than 85,000 travellers, from 18 to 80, book with them each year, so if its an adventure holiday bargain your after, make sure that you visit their site now and check out their award-winning trips focusing on cultural experiences, active adventure and wildlife encounters. Did I mention, no compulsory single supplement on any adventure? Better start dreaming. Plus they have some last minute bargains that are the real deal.
There's something for everyone, take a look at this very small sample.
Holiday travel companies are slashing prices in an effort to maintain market share during 2009, which means that there are some hot holiday deals to be had.
Many people are realising that they can save money by taking their vacation closer to home and making use of local amenities such as national parks or facilities such as the UK's National Trust properties and gardens; magnificent gardens that have been bequeathed for the enjoyment of the nation.
Remember also that package companies have often built up good relationships with accommodation and transport providers, so combined with their bulk buying power, can be in an excellent position to negotiate some really good deals that they are able to pass on.
Typical of the trend to offering holiday makers more for their money are the cruise providers, who are now selling cruises for unprecedented low prices. There are some ground-breaking expeditions on offer, that will take you far away from the usual tourist tracks, allow you to explore seldom visited islands and be at one with remarkable wildlife.
Cater Allen Private Bank has commisioned a survey and found that nowdays, the majority of British tourists prefer activity holidays. We could have told them that, you only have to look at the way our site visitor numbers have grown over the last five years.
Only 20% of British holidaymakers opt for lounging on a beach, while 26% indulge in some form of walking when on holiday. It seems that 1 in 8 Brits are also pretty keen on scuba diving and there are a lot of British boarders who will shortly be heading for the slopes.
Cater Allen found further evidence that Britons are changing their holiday habits, and moving away from the traditional European beach holiday when respondents stated that they wanted to go on holiday primarily for adventure.
The Mount 7 flying site in Golden, BC, Canada, has hosted hang gliding and paragliding pilots from all over the world. Mount 7 and the Columbia Valley have become justly famous amongst the flying community for incredible thermal conditions and excellent cross-country opportunities.
rwgreen12 posted this great video of hangliding and paragliding at Mount 7 and I reckoned that it makes a nice end of week video.
But there is much more to enjoy in the Rocky Mountains and Golden BC, which straddles the junction of the Columbia and Kicking Horse Rivers, is now a central hub for numerous mountain activities. Kicking Horse Mountain Resort features incredible verticals for skiers in the winter and mind-blowing downhill trails for mountain bikers in the summer. A gondola operates all year so there is easy access to the summit.
Dan(M7action) has posted this video of himself and a few pals having a little fun and demonstrating an alternative way of getting down the mountain.
Kicking Horse River flows through downtown Golden and is described as an unforgetable white water ride but that can be the subject of another end of week video. Don't want you guys overdosing on adrenalin.
Take a look at our article on Paragliding holidays for the joys of getting a bird's eye view. Even someone that has never flown before can enjoy a tandem flight with an experienced pilot.
Chris Haslam reports in the TimesOnline that under a new scheme for tour operators, if your summer holiday is rained off, you might soon be entitled to a full refund, including any flight costs.
US company WeatherBill is behind the scheme, which is sceduled to begin in summer 2009. Read the full article, which includes comment on the weather woes that have affected many of the European holiday destination this year.
Abu Dhabi's 'Desert Islands' is due to open for tourists this October. It consists of eight islands and an onshore gate just off the coast of Jebel Dhanna, a 250 kilometre drive from Abu Dhabi city.
Guests will be able to enjoy a number of adventure activities including 4x4 guided tours of the Arabian Wildlife Park, hiking trails, mountain biking and snorkelling; the waters and coral reefs around the resort are notably rich in marine life.
October 24, 2007, is Take Back Your Time Day; although it is essentially a U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens the health of their people, communities and environment, we believe that it is relevant to all societies influenced by American business culture.
Joe Robinson, one of the founders of the 'Take Back Your Time' organisation, says, "This is not about slacking, not about being lazy, vacations are as important to your health as checking your cholesterol or getting exercise. They're the antidote to runaway stress. Research shows that an annual vacation can cut the risk of death from heart disease in women by half and in men by about a third. Vacations can also cure burnout, the last stage of chronic stress, but it takes two weeks for the process of re-gathering crashed emotional resources to occur."
The motto of this blog is 'Making life a holiday with interesting vacation and adventure ideas'. The concept being to enjoy a lifestyle whereby, like the surfers, you live the dream. If surfing is not your scene but you love to paint, carry a sketchbook with you, and use it. If you love to run and you have to work for a living, run to work. But most of all, make sure that you get quality relaxation time. It is said that an hour a day can keep the doctor away.
Business also gets a big dividend from vacations. "Three week vacations have proven to be a boost to productivity and profits at enlightened American firms with that policy. Performance goes up when people come back from a vacation," said Robinson. "In the knowledge economy, the source of true productivity is a refreshed and energized mind."
It appears that Recycle Now, the UK's recycling champions, are urging everyone to cut down on their use of travel brochures. They point out that nowadays it is easy to use sites such as the Activity Holidays Guide to source a holiday and it is easier than ever to book on line.
With 180 million travel brochures being distributed in the UK each year and most of them ending up in landfill, they urge holidaymakers to recycle those old brochures. Problem is that I suspect many of the brochures are not all that eco-friendly. As you might expect, we only really use the Internet in my household, but in the past we have fed old brochures to the worms (we have a garden wormery) but they didn't show a lot of interest in the hard, glossy, finish that makes most travel brochures so attractive.
Latest consumer research from Mintel looking at changing trends in the leisure marketplace, indicates that Britain is becoming a nation of cycling enthusiasts. During 2006, biking-mad Brits went on an exhausting 450,000 two wheeled holidays, with some operators experiencing as much as a third increase in bookings on 2005 figures.
"The growth of independent travel is creating a new breed of holidaymaker, who is resourceful, adventurous and hungry for a taste of authenticity away from the crowds. Cycling is a great way to explore the hidden secrets of a region, enjoy intimate contact with local culture and an opportunity for travellers to feel good about benefiting local economies," comments Richard Cope, Senior Travel Consultant at Mintel.
Mintel believes that the greatest future scope for the cycling holidays market lies in combining biking with mainstream holidays. Operators could re-brand more holidays as "cycling-plus" trips, offering cycling interspersed with other experiences such as R&R, spa, walking, boating and other hobbies. "Whilst Britons cycle less than many other Europeans, we take more frequent holidays and cycling breaks have enormous potential. These do not have to be the preserve of cycling clubs and the Tour de France-emulating hardcore. Cycling holidays will also appeal to families, sightseers, and those simply seeking relaxation and escape from the crowds," explains Richard Cope.
Mintel has provided key insight into leading global trends for over 35 years. More information is available on their web site
It seems that California and New York remain the destination of choice for U.S. tourists seeking food and wine related travel themes. Culinary activities participated in while traveling include cooking classes, dining out for a unique and memorable experience, visiting farmers markets, gourmet food shopping and attending food festivals. Wine activities included participating in winery tours, driving a wine trail, tasting locally made wines and attending wine festivals. Within the past three years, 17% of American leisure travelers (27 million travelers), engaged in culinary or wine-related activities while traveling; based on a new report from the Travel Industry Association (TIA), in partnership with Gourmet and the International Culinary Tourism Association.
The top 3 destinations for food-related travel were California (14%), Florida (10%) and New York (7%). While Florida barely makes a showing in the poll for wine-related travel, the top 2 destinations are again California out in front with 31% followed by New York with 10%. However, I bet Florida would fair better in a comparison of wine consumption!
Biosphere Expeditions are planning another expedition to the mountains of Oman, where they will monitor the Arabian leopard and its prey.
Oman is the land of the Queen of Sheba and Sinbad the sailor, it is a land of varied landscape and remarkable wildlife; we have several tour operators offering vacations in Oman.
For the fourth year in a row Italy placed first in 2006, as the single most popular destination for package tours booked through members of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA),with Rome ranked as the top city. California and the National Parks were cited as the hottest destinations for those seeking domestic package vacations. In another survey aimed specifically at those with a special interest in photography, conducted jointly by USTOA and Popular Photography & Imaging magazine (Pop Photo), most photo buffs wanted to go to Hawaii, followed closely by Alaska, and Australia. Members have recommended the best places to shoot at these destinations as:
Haleakala National Park on Hawaii’s Maui Island, Denali National Park in Alaska, and the Australian Outback or Tasmania.
In another survey aimed specifically at those with a special interest in photography, conducted jointly by USTOA and Popular Photography & Imaging magazine (Pop Photo), most photo buffs wanted to go to Hawaii, followed closely by Alaska, and Australia. Members have recommended the best places to shoot at these destinations as:
