Aruba, A Vacation And Travel Experience With The Dutch
Aruba renders a vacation experience as uncommon as the island itself! If your vision of paradise consists of
powder-white beaches and incredibly clear azure waters,
Aruba is your paradise. This island of unusual landscapes,
friendly residents, balmy breezes and tropical rhythms is
an idyllic destination for anyone who loves the sun and
surf. Its magnificent coast is one of the Caribbean’s most
beautiful stretches of beach. Read more »

The sixth arrondissement of central Paris is located on the
Left Bank of the Seine River. Its area slightly exceeds a
square mile (over 2 square kilometers) with a population of
45,000 and slightly fewer jobs. Like its neighbour, the 5th
arrondissement, the 6th is often known as the Quartier
Latin although it’s been a long time since
many have spoken Latin in either district. Its best-known
part is the famous Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which in the
years following World War II was the intellectual center of
the world; home to philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre
and Simone de Beauvoir. Later on we’ll talk about the
district’s world-famous cafes that they frequented. Read more »

The beautiful Balearic island of Menorca, Spain has some of
the most idyllic, unspoilt beaches in all of Spain. They
are with out a doubt the islands greatest attraction.
Stunning secluded coves, surrounded by wild pine trees and
azure waters lapping at the sand. Menorca has more beaches
than all the other Balearic Island put together and makes
an ideal villa holiday destination. Read more »

Advice on Renting Holiday Accommodation Online
Holiday villas and apartments have become a popular
alternative to Hotels and B&Bs for tourists going on
holiday. Advantages include greater privacy, the
opportunity to cater for oneself, a more homely feel, more
space and better value for money for groups and families. Read more »

Touring Paris - The Seventh Arrondissement
The seventh arrondissement is located on the Left Bank of
the Seine River. It is home to several major government
institutions and some very important tourist attractions.
This district occupies about 1.6 square miles (slightly
over 4 square kilometers) and has a population of almost 57
thousand people while hosting over 76 thousand jobs. Read more »

If you are fans of the US Chat Show Queen Oprah, then you will want to check out her latest literary recommendation - especially if you are travelling to the United States this year to take advantage of the Dollar exchange rate. The book she is recommending for you to read is called A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. If you are flying out of Heathrow Terminal Five, you will probably be able to read the whole book before you manage to get on to your booked flight - only joking!

The New Forest in Hampshire offers miles and miles of walks in heathland and wooded areas, with the chance to see tall trees such as Redwood and Sequoia. This is a great place for a short break with your dog, where he can roam with you in safety. The New Forest Ponies are literally everywhere, but they are not worries by dogs scampering around their feet. Main centres to stay in the New Forest include :

Lyndhurst - busy small town with some good shops, but the main road cuts through the centre. Be prepared for traffic noise if you stay in a place on the main thoroughfare. The Lyndhurst Park Hotel set back from the Southampton Road but is within walking distance of shops and bars and the company accepts dogs in all its hotels. Call 0808 144 9494 for more information. Nearby is the smaller Knightwood Lodge hotel. This hotel is set behind a field where you are sure to see wild ponies grazing. It has a pool and spa, dogs are accepted in two self catering cottages that form part of the hotel complex. Call 023 8058 2052. www.knightwoodlodge.co.uk. Read more »

Pay a premium for your cruise and you can avoid crowds and extra bills with an all-inclusive cruise. One of the more tedious aspects of a Mediterranean cruise can be the need to carry your cruise card with you at all times to settle bar bills. Contrast this to a Silversea all-inclusive cruise, where you can sashay up to the bar and order a glass of Champagne. Your bubbling glass appears on the bar, nothing unusual in that, you might think. But there is: on this cruise ship nobody is going to ask to see your cruise card; no slip of paper to sign. The barman simply turns away to serve someone else.

One of the things I hate about cruising (along with net curtains that block the sea view on an outside cabin), is to have waiters hovering while I hunt for my cruise card – the slip of plastic, like a credit card, that doubles as on-board cash and ID. You show it to order a drink, which arrives with a bill to sign.

To order another, you have to repeat the whole process – so, by the end of the cruise, you have had to produce the plastic countless times and have irritating slips of paper tucked in pockets, books, shoes and other places that seemed handy at the time.
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But that was not going to happen on this Silversea cruise, because drinks were included. The luxury of this was brought home to me not with that glass of champagne, although that was pretty good, but one evening when I was sharing a dinner table with five people I had just met and the wine waiter arrived.

It could have been an embarrassing moment. Would they offer me a drink, in which case I would have felt the need to reciprocate – and at five to one I would have been heavily outnumbered – or should we do the unsociable but less complicated thing and each buy our own?

On an all-inclusive cruise, it was not a problem. There were no embarrassed glances, no mumbled responses while we worked out what to do. Just another round of wine for all. It felt so civilised.

And that is exactly why these five people were on board. One couple from Australia had cruised with Silversea before and had been sufficiently impressed to bring a friend all the way from Down Under to the Mediterranean for a second go; the others were two friends from the United States who had always wanted to cruise but didn’t fancy sharing a big ship with hundreds of others.

Our ship, Silver Whisper, held just 382 passengers, so it was easy to mix and mingle with those who wanted to do so. Read more »

Luxury vacations with the chance of observing wild animals may be easy to find in Africa now, but few safari camps offer a true sense of wilderness. Here are ten retreats that score highly on every count. Among the dozens of luxury safaris in Africa, it’s refreshing to find a few that still focus on the thing we’re supposed to go to the bush for: the wilderness.

Away from the continent’s chaotic cities and the most populous game parks, these are camps that really are in the wild: often geographically spectacular, surrounded by forests, grasslands and rivers, and inhabited by animals totally unused to man. The people who run these camps are usually as extraordinary as their surroundings: men and women whose lifeblood is the wilderness, and who enjoy nothing more than showing guests the plantlife and animals that thrive there. Read more »