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Travel doctor: where to go for a post-university holiday?
My friend and I would like to go away for two weeks from June 15 as a post-university holiday. We have a maximum of £1,500 each to spend and would like to go somewhere we can combine culture, wildlife and some time on the beach. Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Galapagos appeal, but we would…
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Travellers turning back from life on the open road
The carefree life of a gypsy moving unhindered from place to place is a thing of the past, according to official figures, with two thirds now living in a house. The first official census of travellers found that only one in four lives in a caravan or other mobile home. Experts said that public order legislation…
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The 20 best river cruises
From new ships in Burma to historic-style steamboats in the States and private visits in Venice to rumba on the Rhine 1. Luxury in Burma Burma is the cruising hotspot of the moment and a new name on the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers this year is Sanctuary Retreats whose new luxury all-suite vessel, Sanctuary Ananda, is…
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Get sailing in National Ferry Fortnight
The annual event encourages travellers to experience the advantages of starting a short break or holiday by boat The Channel Tunnel is now rated an unqualified success, no-frills airlines are finally attempting to become passenger-friendly but British ferries, those workhorses plying across the English Channel, the North Sea, the Irish Sea and beyond, are attracting…
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See Sicily by slow train
The author of Chocolat visited Venice and Rome on her way to Modica, home of the island’s oldest chocolate shop Robert Louis Stevenson put it best: to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. Certainly, for a writer more familiar with flights of fancy than budget airlines and package tours, the idea of…
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Travellers expect to be able to tweak their itinerary on the move
THE new Ryanair is not just about smiling desk staff. In its latest efforts to charm customers and make up ground on rival easyJet, Ryanair has launched a series of initiatives to make it easier for customers to book flights and other services. They include a more responsive website designed for tablets and smartphones. It’s…
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How I lost thousands to a crooked travel agent
ORGANISING a trip to the Cork Jazz Festival with friends seemed straightforward for Tim Kelleher, but when he called the hotel he had booked it had no record of his reservation for 23 guests. He learnt that the £6,600 handed to a travel agent a month earlier for flights and accommodation had never been used…