Fed up with paying singles supplements and dining alone? Don’t want to sign up for tacky singles hol
idays or advertise for a travelling companion? Do want un-limited choices regarding where and when to go and discover where locals go and avoid tourist traps? Oh, and possibly travelling on a budget?
The concept of couchsurfing could be the solution for you. It’s a non profit-making organisation / project funded by those who join up and make a donation for doing so. The amount donated is up to the individual, especially because of the disparities between different countries economies. Once you are signed up you can offer your couch (or spare room / camping bed / even floor) as somewhere for others to stay, and of course surf to find other peoples couches for you to stay on. Of course this isn’t for everyone, but there is a definite group of people to whom it appeals. So far they have over a million members in 232 countries and more signing up every day. It has to be said that the majority of members / hosts are young (85% are between ages 18 and 34).
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Fancy holidaying in Dubai this summer but worried about the cost of taking the kids?
Then you might want to take up this Emirates airlines offer if you can travel before 20th September 2009:
• Free flight to Dubai for one child under 16 (when traveling with both parents)
• Free accommodation and meals for two children (again when traveling with both parents)
• Free entry to 9 of Dubai’s top children’s attractions:
o Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo (Dubai Mall) with over 33,000 aquatic animals
o Dubai (Olympic sized) Ice Rink
o Magic Planet – with rides, bumper cars, soft play area and video games
o SEGA Republic Indoor Theme Park – the middle east’s largest Sega park
o Ski Dubai – complete with chair lifts, button lifts and toboggan run (the largest indoor snow park in the world)
o The Lost Chambers (Atlantis Hotel – the Palm) – explores the story of how the citizens of Atlantis might have lived with a maze of underwater halls and tunnels
o The Montgomerie Dubai – golfing destination
o Wild Wadi Water Park – with 30 rides and slides
• Discounts for some shops in the Dubai Mall
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I soon as I heard about Tiger Temple in Thailand I felt compelled to write an article. Of course we should do what we can to ensure Tiger survival as a species, but I am not convinced that this place is the answer.
It’s potentially a great concept – but unfortunately one that I am not sure is working. Called the ‘Tiger Temple’ and run by Buddhist monks with the intention of creating an island sanctuary where tigers can roam free and visitors can interact with them…..hum, how is that meant to work with the strongest and most ferocious of cats if they haven’t been sedated? Well, rumour has it they are.
The place started as a forest sanctuary for numerous different types of animals in 1994, and they received their first tiger (found and passed on by villagers) in 1999, and more have been handed over since - the sanctuary claim generally from poaching situations where the parents of young tigers have been killed. Critics claim that many of the tigers have been illegally imported from Laos and that they have an illegal breeding program.The tiger population there has grown to an astonishing 38 tigers (as at December 2008), and it is believed that since 2007 some 21 cubs have been born there, so they know of no other existence and would no doubt have trouble if released into the wild.
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Fri 28th November 2008 at 10:15 AM, Filed in Travel News
The now infamous Atlantis hotel on the Palm in Dubai are offering a deal if you book before 18th December.
The deal is return flights from the UK on Emirates, airports transfers and 3 nights with a 4th night free (breakfast included) from a price of £899 per person - based on 2 sharing a Deluxe Room. You have to travel by 31st Mat 2009 to take advantage of this opening offer. Furthermore, kids can stay free if sleeping in your room. May a thought for a Valentines get away?? To take advantage of this offer call 0808 234 31782. However, rumours abound that hotel bookings in Dubai are 40% down on the previous year due to credit crunch and discounts can be haggled in many hotels - so maybe offers like this are going to become commonplace over the next few months.
For more details on the hotel see previous article - Atlantic Hotel Article
For cheap hire car see Discounted Hire Car Article
Can there be a reader who hasn’t heard of the infamous chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay? Well, how many of you knew that he can now add hotelier to his cv?
Overlooking Regents Park (at the northern end, in Camden), Ramsay Holdings riginally bought the previously derelict pub for another eaterie, but decided that the building could be turned into something more. The York and Albany London (not to be confused with the New York hotel) has only just opened (21st September 2008) after an estimated £4million spend, but will it be a success?
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