27 September 2011

Last June, I was lucky enough to travel to Sri Lanka with Emirates and four other Travel Agents. I have so many clients asking about Sri Lanka that I decided it was time I went to see it for myself. I wasn’t disappointed. We flew out business class on the Airbus A380 which was fantastic! I have been in many lounges at London Heathrow and the Emirates lounge is one of the best. They have large area of very comfortable seating with floor to ceiling windows offering great views of the planes taking off and landing. There are a good selection of delicious drinks and a small but tasty food selection. On board it gets even better, with enormous 22 inch seat back TV’s, a vast selection of programmes on demand, very comfy seats in your own little pod (you can choose to sit two together in the middle or separated by a large table, or next to the window on your own). You have your own mini-bar, a multitude of chair positions, large wireless control pad which controls everything from the chair to the entertainment, great noise-cancelling headphones and a superb amenity kit. If that’s not enough, there’s also a brilliant bar at the back of the plane serving drinks and canapés where you can stretch your legs, talk business or meet other passengers. Changing planes in the new part of Dubai Airport (dedicated to Emirates) is amazing. Bright and airy with lots of areas to relax, eat and shop. So on to the amazing country of Sri Lanka. We were met by a fantastic guide called UL from Jetwing Tours, who pointed out all sorts of fascinating things en route. He seemed to know everything! We stayed in some beautiful hotels. My favourites being the Jetwing Blue at Negombo Beach, the independent boutique hotel Kandy House, with fantastic food and gorgeous individual rooms and the Jetwing Vil Uyana near the rock fortress of Sigiriya, which is incredibly romantic. It’s definitely a couples place. It’s built on marshlands and you have your own luxurious thatched bungalow, with an open plan bathroom, complete with waterfall shower, enormous bath, DVD and TV and well stocked mini-bar. The sights of Sri Lanka are amazing, from the great work they do at the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela to the breath-taking Sigiriya Rock Fortress, built on a 370m hardened magma plug, inhabited from the 5th century BC and built into a complex city fortress in 477AD. Then there are the Dambulla Cave Temples dating back to 1st century BC, and reported to be the most impressive cave temple in Asia. I was also struck not only by the diversity of religions there, but considering recent events, how integrated they are with each other. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists all mixing together in the streets and the religious sights, seemingly very harmonious and relaxed. If you are ever considering going there, please give me a call.

08 June 2011

I've just come back from the Gold Travel Counsellors Trip to Dubai and what an amazing experience! We stayed in the Westin near The Palm, which has a number of lovely meandering pools, lots of places to sunbathe next to the pool, on the grass or on the beach, and a beautiful warm water swim up bar. The food is absolutely outstanding! They have anything you could possibly want either for breakfast, lunch or dinner; including the traditional breakfast of crunchy, crispy bacon, eggs anyway you like it - beautifully cooked. Any kind of deliciously hot baked bread you can dream of, fruits galore - watermelon, cantaloupe melon, kiwi presse, strawberries and of course all succulently ripe, low fat yoghurts. Even sushi, cakes to die for....and liquid nitrogen cooled sorbets! Every time I turned around there was something else I hadn’t seen before. Then of course you have the large, extremely comfortable rooms with their signature "heavenly" beds that you are in danger of never getting out of, and luxurious bathrooms with top of the range products. And what to do? There are so many activities, Aquaventure waterpark at Atlantis, Wild Wadi water park, next to the Jumeirah Beach hotel, dolphin swimming, jet-boating, skiing, desert safari or just relaxing on the beach, by the pool or having spa treatments. Other beautiful hotels include the amazing Jumeirah Beach Hotel, with its great facilities for families, calm Mina a Salam - an adults hotel and the rest of the Madinat Jumeirah including the villas and Al Qasr, Westin Meridien and many more.