Browsing all articles from January, 2012
Jan
17

Top 10 active breaks for solo travellers

All your friends coupled up? Can’t find a single travel chum to get away with from the nine-to-five daily grind? An adventure on your lonesome may in fact be one of the most rewarding trips you’ll ever choose to do.

Single swimmer in Sweden ice pool

Chilling out near Stockholm Image: Helena Wahlman/imagebank.sweden.se

Going it alone may be slightly scary, but it’s guaranteed to be an unforgettable escape for all the right reasons. And operators have realised the demand for single persons is enormous, so today there is a huge amount of choice— and it’s increasing. Make sure you choose a trip where the itinerary and activities have been created especially for solo travellers with single rooms included in the price.

Whether you embrace the luxury of time alone or take comfort in numbers, we’ve rounded up the top 10 active breaks for solo travellers…

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Jan
16

Kiteboarding: Top 10 Destinations in the United States

One of the best aspects of kiteboarding is that it is highly portable. The United States is jam-packed with tons of world-class kiteboarding destinations. If you cherish your job and/or family, don’t start to travel for kiting – it’s hopelessly addictive!

Kiteboarding, kitesurfer in water in California

Kiteboarding in Southern Cali Image: Mark Moore

Secondly, get yourself a kiteboarding travel bag to avoid excess baggage fees. These bags are made by kiteboarding companies but feature the letters “GOLF” on the luggage to take advantage of airline policies that do not charge extra for golf clubs.

One of these bags can hold a few kites, a board and the rest of your gear. When you check in with your flight itinerary, pull out some golf balls and tees with your passport. With a Golf Digest Magazine in your back pocket, you’re golden.

Here’s my ranking of the top 10 kiteboarding destinations in the United States:

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Jan
11

Skiing in Austria : Top 10 ski resorts

With sweeping pistes and technical terrain, full-throttle après and Tyrolean charm, Austria’s diverse ski areas promise some of the most exciting and varied ski-trips that the Alps have to offer. Skiing in Austria you’ll find ten resorts that are up there with the very best in the world.

And the views? Well, see for yourself.

Couple looking at views of Tirol skiing in Austria

Views to ski for! Image © Österreich Werbung/ Wolfgang Zajc

Mayorhofen

Host to the annual Snowbombing festival, this sprawling village is set in the steep-sided Zillertal Valley and offers skiing on two separate plateaux. With a huge variety of terrain, internationally acclaimed snow-park and stacks of non-skiing activities, Mayorhofen is popular with all abilities.

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Jan
10

Scuba Diving Holidays : Don’t Drink and Dive!

If your going to have a drink then don’t get behind the wheel. Equally important should be the message to everyone with a PADI qualification off on scuba diving holidays to lay of the juice before they head below the waves: An obvious message but one that sometimes is not taken seriously.

Scuba Diver near reef

Diving in Egypt leave the booze till later. Image Flickr/Derek Keats

For many, the whole concept of a holiday is to go somewhere hot on the coast and pass the time either in the water or at the bar – looking out the window onto a drizzly, cold, grey European winter, who came blame them.

However, if part of your holiday by the sea involves scuba diving then you have to take responsibility over your condition before you go swimming with the fishes, or you may find yourself down there for good…

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Jan
9

Top 10 Surf Spots in the Canary Islands

Enjoying warmer water and sunnier weather than the UK, the Canary Islands is a great surf holiday destination. The Canaries pick up swell from all directions and their craggy coastlines convert the ocean’s energy into a variety of waves capable of satiating every type of surfer.

Surfing, Surfer, Canary Islands

Serious surf potential: Image Flickr/ El coleccionista de instantes

From heaving lefts to peaky beach breaks to long, peeling right points, these islands provide such a vast array of choices you could surf the entire winter without surfing in the Canary Islands and visiting the same spot wave twice. But, in the interest of fine tuning your holiday plans, the following is a list of the top 10 surf spots in the Canary Islands.

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Jan
6

Skiing and Snowboarding Holidays on a budget

As vacations go, you don’t generally think of skiing or snowboarding as a bargain holiday option. It’s not just the travel and accommodation that you have to fork out for but also the togs and accessories that you will need when you get there.

snowboarding and freestyle snowboarding on holiday

Snowboarding holidays, where fun comes cheap. Image: Flickr/boolve

However, there are always budget ways to enjoy any break and the snowboarding or ski trip is no exception, if you know where to look. There are still some great last minute ski deals online should you decide that you want to escape the rigmarole of a dull January; you can have a week on the slopes for a surprisingly small sum.

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Jan
6

The best ski holiday ever : work a ski season

Anyone who has ever been on a week-long ski holiday knows how hard it is to leave the slopes at the end of the week and get back to reality. Rather than flying down powdery white pistes every morning, you get grey pavements and the slow trudge to work. However, some lucky people get to enjoy the best ski holiday ever, by staying out on the snow for the entire season!


Skiing, freestyle, best skiing holidays

Could you do 6 months of this? Image: © Austrian National Tourist Office/ Wolfgang Zajc

All those chalets, hotels, bars and restaurants need legions of seasonal workers each year.

Being one of them means you get to ski or board every day for a whole season: a prospect that’s hard to resist!

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