www.savilerow-style.com |
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FOR MEN WHO KNOW BEST |
• Forget the beach belles - holidays are for working
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The happy indulgence of a slothful holiday, spent lounging in the sun, reading, eating, drinking and watching the girls on the beach is under threat. You have to be up and doing now, with ‘active’ being the holiday buzz word of the season.
Skyros Holidays is one of many to tempt young, single males with packages that offer bushcraft and survival skills, trips back to nature, abseiling, canoeing and trapeze classes, as well as the more usual wind-surfing and sailing lessons, at locations in Greece, Thailand, Cuba and now Cambodia.
Or for horse lovers, what about working on the 'Klondike' ranch, Wyoming, checking cattle, mending fences, angling, as arranged by Ranch Riders? And Crystal offer what they term ‘energising’ holidays that range from bike tours in the Alps to white water rafting, paragliding and Mediterranean diving to soccer training programmes with professional coaches in Madrid and Milan,
See how to survive the activity at www.skyros.com, horse whispering and other treats on www.ranchrider.com and Crystals experiences www.crystalholidays.co.uk
The young lady above wears a bikini by Melissa Odabash, available from a host of others on the www.figleaves.com site.
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• Cigars and whisky for male bonding
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Men disinclined to work their socks off in their leisure time (as above ) and longing for a spot of hedonistic holidaying will be pleased to know that the Mancation Holiday is gathering force.
This new term, dreamt up by some marketing guy with his finger on the pulse, covers a development to provide holidays for men. As opposed to the above macho-energetic  variety, these provide all the indulgent fringe benefits of a girly outing but cater for male interests.
A good example is the Mancation Package offered by Sivory Punta Cana, the newest resort in the Dominican Republic. A bottle of Chivas Regal in the room and a box of Leon Jimanez cigars sets the scene for a stay in a tropical paradise with spa and golf on hand, plus all the usual luxury facilities and the additional indulgence of a cigar bar and a particularly well stocked vintage wine cellar. Just the spot for a boys get-together.
The resort is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, opened at the end of 2005, is situated on its own beach and offers just 55 guest suites. Go to sivorypuntacana.com for a variety of packages, and there are plenty of flight options to the Dominican Republic.
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Taking the strain on visas |
Likely to prove highly popular is a new visa service just launched at The Holiday and Travel Show.
As anyone who has recently had to acquire a visa for a range of destinations will know, the process can be a complicated and time-consuming one. So the prospect of being able to off-load the hassle onto someone capable of handling it all is a very welcome one.
The service comes from TLCS Global Visa Services, who have been providing visa management expertise for business users for the last ten years and handle over 6,000 visa applications a month. They have now set up The Visa Company to cater for all other travellers, completing all the forms, collecting and delivering visas.
How much will it cost? Well, there is a flat rate fee of £35 plus VAT, in addition to the actual cost of the visa, that is subject to variation in certain circumstances. To learn what these are and more about the service go to www.thevisacompany.com
ANOTHER useful service is the Resorthoppa transfer operation, now being expanded to cover Turkey and the Greek Islands.
This joins the established transfers run between Spain and the Canary Islands, to which North Tenerife is now being added, and a summer shuttle service between New York and Mexico, following a successful winter service.
The company operates from over 250 gateways world-wide,, providing reliable, low-cost transfers. Its Greek Islands transfers from the mainland, for example, to Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Kos and Corfu, start from just £11.50 return, timed to coincide with the main UK flight arrivals. Details and bookings on www.resorthoppa.com
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::Business takes to the train:: |
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IN THE current climate, the fact that a Eurostar journey between London and Paris generates ten times less carbon dioxide than flying is a powerful promotional fact that is clearly attracting travellers.
7.5 million passengers chose to let the train take the strain for travelling to Paris and Brussels in 2006, an increase of 5.4per cent over the preceding year – and significantly that included business travellers, chalking up a rise of 17per cent on 2006.
This means that it is not only environmental considerations but reliability and comfort factors that are drawing business passengers. Eurostar estimates that 1000 business customers a week have permanently switched from flying to the train.
With pressure on to curb cheap flights and on-going concerns over security and the delays it engenders, more and more people will be rediscovering the pleasure of train travel, especially with the increasing numbers of high-speed lines around the world. There is even a revival of steam! See Gifts for latest on locomotives.
Or go by Sea?
A REVIVAL of ships too. To the Queen Elizabeth 2 has been added the Queen Mary and later this year there will be the Queen Victoria. And cruising has lost its stigma of a staid holiday for the aged - the young have discovered shipboard romance!
So for that next trip across the Atlantic, why not try one of these fantastic ships. There's no better way to arrive in New York and Cunard have some attractive offers available. See www.cunard.com or a range of cruise specialist agents for special deals. |
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