Sir Richard Branson’s ski lodge in the winter wonderland of Verbier has a few dates open from 4-11 February, 7-11 March and 18-26 March 2018.

The Lodge is a fabulous 9 bedroom retreat situated high in the Swiss Alps in Verbier – a skiing and snowboarding paradise.  It comes complete with staff including three gourmet chefs catering to your every need and dietary requirements.  All meals and drinks (including champagne) are included.

After an exhilarating day on the slopes, you can take a dip in the heated indoor pool or enjoy one of the two Jacuzzis. You can also have a game of pool or snuggle up with a glass of wine and watch a film.

I also have a fabulous recipe to share with you courtesy of  head chef Hugh – his mouth-watering Toblerone Brownies

Hugh, the Head chef has shared his recipe for The Lodge’s famous afternoon delight. Ingredients: 360g sugar, 3 eggs, 1 vanilla pod (seeds scraped out), 110g flour, 120g cocoa powder, 130g chopped Toblerone, 360g butter

• Pre-heat the oven to 175°C • Whisk the sugar, vanilla and eggs until light and pale • Sift together the flour and cocoa then fold in 1/3 of the flour and cocoa into the sugar/egg mix until fully incorporated • Then fold in 1/3 of the butter until fully incorporated – Repeat both steps until you have folded in all the flour and butter • Add the chopped Toblerone and mix • Cook in a 20cm baking tin for 30 minutes • To test the brownie lightly press the centre and there should be a little resistance • Leave to cool on a wire rack & serve

Enjoy!

The cost for the four night stay is £2550.00 per person excluding flights based on 2 people sharing a fabulous room.

Call now to book 01279 871188.

Happy New Year to one and all!

I had the good fortune to see in 2018 in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.  What an amazing country this is.  We stayed in Hotel Holt which is described as “an hotel within an art gallery” – fabulous artwork everywhere.

Hotel Holt is located only a few minutes walk from the city centre of Reykjavik with its majestic cathedral and quaint shops, restaurants and bars.

There were many highlights of this 4 night break – one being a trip to the world’s largest man made ice cave.  Several years ago, a team of Icelandic entrepreneurs dreamed of tourists not just exploring the surface of Iceland’s glaciers, but actually getting inside one. Four years and $2.5 million later, Iceland’s first man-made ice cave opened to visitors in June 2015.

The journey across the snowy surface of the glacier is undertaken in a 20 ton customised monster truck named “The Ice Explorer”,  which was acquired from NATO by Arngrimur Hermannsson. who is also one of the guides.  It was originally used by NATO as a cruise missile launcher. 

I have recently returned from a truly amazing trip to Malta, often described as the “Jewel of the Mediterranean”.  I was invited to take part in a travel agency educational visit, which involved visiting several hotels on the island from the small and inexpensive Sunseeker apartments in Bugibba to the beautiful 5 star Phoenicia hotel in the capital Valletta.

We visited the beautiful island of Gozo by ferry which takes around 25 minutes.  The Cornucopia is a delightful farmhouse style hotel with loads of character and stunning views.  It is situated in the village of Xaghra (pronounced Shara) and not only offers guest rooms but self-catering bungalows too.  There is a swimming pool set in beautiful gardens, free wi-fi throughout, excellent restaurant and bar and the service is second to none.

While on Gozo, a visit to the Citadel is a must and Dwejra, with its dramatic coastal formations, where part of Game of Thrones was filmed.

Back on Malta, a visit to St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta is a must – words cannot describe the beauty of this amazing structure.  The painting depicting the beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio is the most famous work in the church and the largest painted by Caravaggio.  It is also the only painting that the artist actually signed.

If you want to spend some time on the beach relaxing, you can do this too.

I loved everything about Malta – the friendliness of the people, the cleanliness, the climate and….the fact it is only a 3 hour flight from London.

If you would like to spend a few days (or longer) in Malta, please do call and I will be more than happy to arrange this for you.

Have you ever been on a train from Adelaide through the outback of Australia and up to Darwin?  I have and it is a truly wonderful and memorable experience.

The train is called “The Ghan” after the camel drivers who worked in the outback of Australia in the late 19th and 20th centuries.  It’s a fascinating journey and takes in Alice Springs and Katherine.  The Ghan is 774 metres in length and has 30 carriages including crew quarters, restaurant cars and bars.  The guest rooms are very comfortable aboard the Ghan and most have en-suite with toiletries provided.  The Ghan is All Inclusive and the food and service truly excellent.  Lovely Australian wines are provided with meals and you can also enjoy your favourite tipple before and after meals.

Another wonderful trip is aboard the Indian Pacific and this train travels between Sydney and Perth – a fabulous way to traverse this mighty continent.  With 3 nights spent aboard – again, the guest cabins are comfortable and the food and service second to none.  Enjoy a lamb dinner in the outback and marvel at the Southern Cross.  With no pollution, the stars appear so close, you feel you could reach up and pluck one from the sky.

The Indian Pacific trundles alongside part of the Nullarbor Plain which is semi-arid and four times the size of Belgium.  If you are lucky you will spot kangaroos and wallabies from the panoramic windows on the Indian Pacific.

These are only two of the wonderful experiences available to you when visiting the vast continent of Australia. 

I have visited Australia several times and would love to assist with planning YOUR holiday to Australia.  Do call on 01279 871188.

By Bahnfrend – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

I have just returned from an amazing holiday on the beautiful island of Grenada, otherwise known as “The Spice Island”.  The beaches are beautiful, the rainforest with its cute monkeys, so interesting, the spectacular water falls, the rum distillery, the nutmeg factory etc. etc.  The list of things to do on Grenada is endless.

We stayed at Mount Cinnamon Hotel which is at one end of Grand Anse beach and owned by Peter de Savary.  Grand Anse is the best beach on the island.  Our accommodation was lovely – a spacious one bedroom apartment with two bathrooms overlooking the pool and only a few minutes walk through the hotel’s lovely gardens to the beach and Savvy’s Beach Bar.  The food was superb and the members of staff, lovely people who just cannot do enough for their guests.  Breakfast is included in the rate, but the suites and one and two bedroom apartments are completely geared to self-catering, if this is what you prefer to do.

Along the same stretch of beach lies Spice Island, which is a beautiful 5 star deluxe hotel – some of the rooms have pools, which are small swimming pools (bigger than plunge pools).  A bit further along the beach is Coyaba Beach Hotel – this is a very good 3 star hotel set in beautiful gardens with direct access onto the sand on Grand Anse Beach.

I also visited the Calabash Hotel – a lovely 4.5 star hotel with a beautiful pool and the rooms were also of a very high standard.

I cannot recommend Grenada highly enough and will be very happy to chat to you about my holiday and make some suggestions. If this is of interest to you,  Please do give me a call.

Savvys Beach bar on Grand Anse beach.

Wednesday 1 June 2016 sees the grand opening in Switzerland of the longest and deepest train tunnel in the world. The tunnel extends for 57 kilometres to a depth of up to 2300 meters below the Gotthard massif – a mountain range in the Swiss Alps. This flagship project for efficient and sustainable transportation on the north-south axis will permit high-speed travel through the Alps in only 17 minutes. The new flat-track route will not only cut travel time through the Gotthard, but also facilitate transit travel for longer and heavier trains. After 17 years of challenging building work, constructor AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd will hand over the completed tunnel to the Swiss Federal Railways on time and on budget. Switzerland’s internationally acclaimed public transport system – already the densest in the world – has perfected another pioneering first. What an accolade to the construction company!

A great way to discover Switzerland.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel enters into regular operation on 11 December 2016. The shorter travel times will bring neighbouring countries, regions and cities closer together. The dual-track tunnel will enable passengers from near and far to spend more time discovering the many delights of Switzerland north and south of the Gotthard.

A martini is just a martini. Unless it’s made with the delectable Jamaican fruit, soursop. And then it’s heaven on earth.

Find out for yourself at The Cliff, a five-month-old resort in Negril, Jamaica where bartender Ryan “RayRay” Hammond will whip you up the fruity libation faster than you can say, “Make mine a double.”

The tropical martini is, of course, best enjoyed under an umbrella-shaded chaise on the resort’s slice of ironshore coast, which offers a front-row seat for Negril’s daily sunset spectacle. However, RayRay was generous enough to share his special recipe, under one condition: That you make a plan to swing by The Cliff and taste his version for yourself.

No problem, RayRay. As they say in Jamaica: “Soon come.”

The Cliff’s Soursop Martini

Ingredients

1 shot vodka

2 ounces soursop juice

squeeze of fresh lime

Method

Put all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice, and shake vigorously. Pour into a chilled martini glass, and enjoy.

If you want to experience Ray Ray’s special Soursop Martini, call Your Personal Travel Organiser and I will be happy to organise this wonderful trip for you!

Quickly becoming an extremely popular rail holiday this is a magnificent 8 night holiday into the land of the midnight sun visiting Stockholm, Bodø, Trondheim and Oslo along the way.

The Arctic Circle Train – Stockholm to Narvik This train leaves Stockholm in the early evening, heading north passing through the cities of Uppsala, Sundsvall and Umeå before heading inland and crossing the Arctic Circle into the land of the midnight sun with dense forests, wide rushing rivers and some beautiful coastal scenery, especially around the High Coast. The stretch between Boden and Narvik is the route of the famous Iron Ore train. Kiruna is home to the world’s largest underground mine and these mighty trains are regularly seen transporting their heavy cargo to the ports of Narvik or Luleå. Spectacular Arctic scenery and the famous gateway to the mountains, Lapporten, as you cross the international border at Riksgränsen from Sweden to Norway.

The Northern Railway – Bodø to Trondheim Arguably the most famous train in Scandinavia with truly amazing coastal and mountain scenery as you cross the Arctic Circle. This is geographically the narrowest part of Norway and mountains rise out of the sea in this region. Snow-capped mountains, enclosed bays, 44 stations, 293 bridges and 154 tunnels all feature along the longest rail route (729km) in the Norwegian network. Simply magical!

The Dovre Railway – Trondheim to Oslo This is a journey through scenic national parks, deep mountain valleys and features Gudbrandsdalen valley and the mighty Dovrefjell mountain range with the track rising to 1000m above sea level and the mountains towering above. You will also pass Mjøsa, Norway’s largest lake and many wooden station buildings worthy of a quick photo when the train stops. A diverse journey from the ancient capital to current capital city with a vast expanse of beautiful scenery in the middle.

Departures – May, June, July, August

To book this amazing holiday call us today!

There are some strange phenomenons going on around the world and this just caught my eye.

A seemingly drastic dip in the Indian Ocean creates this illusion of an underwater waterfall close to Mauritius.

The reason for the island’s famous waterfall illusion has to do with local sand and silt deposits that flow through the area and fluctuate the color of the water so that it appears like a waterfall heading to who knows where.

Amazing – isn’t it!

If you would like to visit the wonderful island of Mauritius, call your Personal Travel Organiser and I will be happy to assist you.