Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Time out in Thailand: Getting away from it all on a far-out Far Eastern meditation holiday

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Time out in Thailand: Getting away from it all on a far-out Far Eastern meditation holiday

Frankly, I'm either worried or asleep. It's a common affliction for working women - and when it comes to relaxation, I don't have an impressive history. In fact, I don't have a history of it at all.

So when a friend asked me to join an 'all-girls meditation trip to Thailand' it seemed quite outlandish. Meditation? Doesn't that mean sitting cross-legged and just thinking about something other than all the usual stuff?

My husband was keen for me to go, which was a worry in itself, but somehow I committed to leaving my three children for a few days and crossing the world to spend a week with - my friend apart - a bunch of strangers.

When I arrived, I was throbbing with guilt and a sense of impending doom - but then the blissful, absurd, nannyish cosseting began. My room was like a nest in a jungle tree house. It had a slide down to a pool and an outdoor shower room. If I'd leaned over far enough I could have picked green bananas from a tree.

Some villas are privately owned but can be rented. All are 'designer' decorated in teak, bamboo and leather, with Empire-inspired furniture.

The Soneva Kiri resort is on Thailand's fourth largest island, Koh Kood, but feels like a palm-fringed dot on the edge of nowhere. The only sound is the roaring of crickets.

It is an expensively, unobtrusively airbrushed form of desert island. Each villa has a 'Girl or Boy Friday' to bring you anything you need. The food is on a par with the best restaurants in London, and within hours I was acclimatised, padding around on wooden decking, swimming in the infinity pool or lying on vast cushions, meditating, chatting or giant squirrel and gekko spotting.

There was a lot on offer, from sunrise yoga, to waterskiing and fishing trips, but I was so shocked at being able to sleep and read uninterrupted and, as far as I could tell, pass out in the name of meditating, I did little else.

Every day after breakfast we had a group discussion on something to do with meditation. It was intriguing. The group was at different stages - some true believers had been doing it for years, some were novices like me.

It included exhausted mothers, career women, nomadic glamour girls, and those trying to be all three. They bared their souls - failed marriages , troublesome children, office politics and addictions - it came tumbling out in a way that was both truly touching and highly entertaining.

The more I knew about my holiday companions, the fonder I became of them. I found the teacher's voice reassuring and soporific. She guided us on a visual journey on the back of a bird or into a rose garden and afterwards I felt as if I'd had eight hours sleep in 20 minutes.

Big but beautiful: Though Thailand's fourth largest island, Koh Kood has some wonderfully unspoiled shoreline

Then we'd go to the white talcum powdery beach in buggies, swim in turquoise water and have lunch in the outdoor restaurant. There was a sushi and salad buffet, barbecue, homemade pizzas, and lots of coconut drinking.

The Thais have a proverb, which is: 'Life is short, so we must move very slowly.' Very true, but not exactly practical - unless you are lucky enough to be in a tropical treehouse where the only demand on your time is to show up for meditation.

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Tripmart.com is a leading online holiday store, providing full bouquet of travel services globally. Tripmart.com (is a part Tripmart International Limited (TIL)), based in London, United Kingdom (U. K.) with presence in countries such as US, Singapore, Canada and India. Tripmart consists of team of dedicated professionals from travel and related industry with several years of expertise in travel domain.

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The Crafty Traveller: How to grab the best deals on your ferry crossing this summer

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The Crafty Traveller: How to grab the best deals on your ferry crossing this summer

Choose to travel by ferry to Europe this year and it can cost just £58 to take the car, a total of four passengers and all the luggage you can stuff in to the boot. You can pay more just to check in a single bag on a return flight with Ryanair.

During peak school holiday periods, prices to Calais rise to between £70 and £120 return. But even that's a fraction of what a family would have to pay to fly anywhere in Europe at comparable times.

Put simply, if you want to get abroad as affordably as possible this summer, ferries may well be the answer.

Now is also a good time to book – National Ferry Fortnight started yesterday and runs until March 31. Though it's largely a public-relations exercise to generate business, most operators are offering savings if you book during this period.

Never miss a holiday, get best holiday deals, with best flights and best hotel deals with http://www.tripmart.com

For further details, log on to http://www.tripmart.com , you will not like to miss the experience with our holiday packages.

Tripmart provides complete travel solutions for the requirement of business and leisure travelers which includes E-Business, Air, Hotel, Rail, Corporate Travel, Leisure Travel, and Travel Insurance.

Tripmart.com is a member of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Tripcos.

Taking the children long haul (and ignoring the words of doom) on a Seychelles escape

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Taking the children long haul (and ignoring the words of doom) on a Seychelles escape

Don’t do it!’ warned my friend Peter, waving a lengthy breadstick in my face.

‘For God’s sake don’t do it! It’s not worth the agony. We took our three-year-old to Jamaica, and at 3am every morning he woke up screaming.

'I ended up sitting in the bathroom, playing trains in an empty bath, waiting for the breakfast buffet to open at 7am. He doesn’t remember a thing about that holiday, whereas I remember every rotten moment.’ He took a long, tense glug of wine.

Long-haul is for grown-ups, Imogen. Don’t involve the children.’

So it was with Peter’s rather slurred words of warning ringing in my ears that my husband Kenton and I, plus two children – Allegra, six, and two-year-old Rafe – turned up at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 to board an 11½-hour flight to the Seychelles.

Not only were we about to attempt long-haul, but we were also going to do it at Christmas, possibly the busiest and most stressful time of year.

I was ready for a cognac drip and a deep-tissue massage – and not at all up for nearly 12 hours of intensive childcare, while my husband kicked back in the cosy confines of Club.

That’s right. He’d upgraded himself, and only himself, and elected to travel smug class. So there we were. Passports poised, presents packed, children about to combust with excitement...and the ink gently drying on the divorce papers.

Never miss a holiday, get best holiday deals, with best flights and best hotel deals with http://www.tripmart.com

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Tripmart provides complete travel solutions for the requirement of business and leisure travelers which includes E-Business, Air, Hotel, Rail, Corporate Travel, Leisure Travel, and Travel Insurance.

Tripmart.com is a member of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Tripcos.

Inspired by the kids: Over-50s travellers take recommendations from the next generation

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Inspired by the kids: Over-50s travellers take recommendations from the next generation

When it comes to choosing their holidays, a new generation of over-50s travellers are spreading their wings and exploring countries recommended by their children.

A new report has found that older holidaymakers are turning their backs on Spain, the Canaries and Portugal after hearing about the experiences of younger relatives who have travelled the globe.

Four out of ten over-50s are now going on holidays to destinations they never dreamt of going to when they were young and one in ten has visited a country after their children returned home raving about it.

Keeping up with the young ones: Older travellers are increasingly taking holiday inspiration from their children

Backpackers paradise Thailand is among the locations which parents are visiting in the wake of their childrens' travels.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: 'Getting older no longer means relaxing and taking it easy as it seems the older generation is more adventurous than ever.

'Parents and grandparents are now listening to experiences of their children or grandchildren after returning from their holidays and dream of doing the same thing.

'But rather than sitting back and soaking up the stories through their young relatives, over 50s are now booking similar trips themselves so they have their own adventurous tales to tell.

When it comes to choosing their holidays, a new generation of over-50s travellers are spreading their wings and exploring countries recommended by their children.

A new report has found that older holidaymakers are turning their backs on Spain, the Canaries and Portugal after hearing about the experiences of younger relatives who have travelled the globe.

Keeping up with the young ones: Older travellers are increasingly taking holiday inspiration from their children

Backpackers paradise Thailand is among the locations which parents are visiting in the wake of their childrens' travels.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: 'Getting older no longer means relaxing and taking it easy as it seems the older generation is more adventurous than ever.

'Parents and grandparents are now listening to experiences of their children or grandchildren after returning from their holidays and dream of doing the same thing.

'But rather than sitting back and soaking up the stories through their young relatives, over 50s are now booking similar trips themselves so they have their own adventurous tales to tell.

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'We've seen a rise in the number of over 50s booking trips to far-flung destinations once their children have left home and an increase in long duration holidays, with some booking 21 and 42 night packages.

'It seems that travelling the world is no longer reserved for school leavers or college students.'

And older travelles are not just sticking to two-week jaunts, more than 50 per cent are planning to travel the world once they retire.

Researchers also found that 44 per cent of over-50s are jealous of the travelling younger people do these days.

Almost one in ten even admitted to booking a holiday to a particular destination to appear younger or more adventurous than they really are.

The study found that 40 per cent of over 50s opted for an adventure-filled break, taking part in every excursion and activity they can squeeze into their trip.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook added: 'Since we offered the first round the world trip 140 years ago this year, we have made the idea of going away to locations not previously thought of and for a long period of time a lot cheaper for customers, which goes some way to explaining why we're seeing this trend occurring.'

The top 10 destinations for over-50s according to the survey are:

1. Australia

2. Canada

3. New Zealand

4. USA

5. Caribbean

6. Italy

7. Seychelles

8. Ireland

9. Florida

10. Maldives

Never miss a holiday, get best holiday deals, with best flights and best hotel deals with http://www.tripmart.com

For further details, log on to http://www.tripmart.com , you will not like to miss the experience with our holiday packages.

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Tripmart.com is a member of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Tripcos.

Al-fresco cooking and wood-burning hot-tubs on a glam family camping escape

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Al-fresco cooking and wood-burning hot-tubs on a glam family camping escape

Inside every grown man is a small boy with a box of matches burning to get out.

And on a luxury camping weekend away, that boy is not only given the chance of a lifetime – he actually has to start several fires a day if he wants his wife and children to eat and get in the hot-tub.

That, at least, is what I discover within minutes of arriving at the idyllic Layer Marney Tower country estate in rural Essex, where six spacious family encampments have been established at suitably private intervals among the trees.

The main tent – with a solid wood floor, three sleeping areas, and a large living room with a long dining table – as well as a second children’s play and research tent, and a shower cabin, are already fully set up, saving us from hours of camp-building (and providing a rather plusher camping experience than I had been expecting).

But there is still plenty to explain. Most of it fire-related.

As my wife Janet and children Imogen, six, Tom, three, and Barnaby, one, begin exploring our picturesque camp, holiday rep Christine Witney explains: ‘This is the wood-burning stove in your tent…this is the outside wood-burning stove…and this is the wood-fired hot tub.’

A blizzard of details on how to light, fuel, and safely use these various fires for cooking food, boiling a giant kettle for washing up and warming a huge volume of bathing water, then ensue, before Christine gestures to an ash-covered area on a small clearing in the woodland.

‘And this,’ she said, ‘is where you can make an open fire.’

As if three potential fires already was not enough.

At first it seems a little daunting, four pairs of eyes look at me expectantly, I am meant to be Chief Provider after all. But despite some scouting experience I have trouble remembering how exactly to use kindling keep a fire going, I curse my cosy urban lifestyle and central heating for leaving me ill-prepared.

But within minutes of arriving, daughter Imogen has already found the setting perfect enough to declare: ‘This is my best holiday EVER.’

Never miss a holiday, get best holiday deals, with best flights and best hotel deals with http://www.tripmart.com

For further details, log on to http://www.tripmart.com , you will not like to miss the experience with our holiday packages.

Tripmart provides complete travel solutions for the requirement of business and leisure travelers which includes E-Business, Air, Hotel, Rail, Corporate Travel, Leisure Travel, and Travel Insurance.

Tripmart.com is a member of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Tripcos.

Hello Hanoi: History, horror and heavenly spa treatments on a journey into Vietnam

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Hello Hanoi: History, horror and heavenly spa treatments on a journey into Vietnam

Vietnam is tricky to pin down. It is exotic, but austere in some parts and playful in others. And it is impossible to ignore the war that has left an indelible mark on American history.

People say that it is like Thailand twenty years ago. And that you should go now, because it’s easier than ever, thanks to Vietnam Airlines' new direct routes to Hanoi and Saigon, which knock the journey down to 12 hours and save the faff of changing in Bangkok.

This long slim country has a coastline groaning with inviting sandy stretches and tropical islands off the south west and southern tip, catering for budget travellers to luxury seekers and superstars. Brangelina are fans - their adopted son Pax was born in Vietnam.

War tourism is part of the experience, and Americans make up the greatest proportion of western tourists. But the country has been re-built, the trees re-planted and the Vietnamese look to the future, not the past.

Whenever I ask locals how they feel towards their American visitors and ex-pats, the answer is the same. They welcome them.

They are hardly likely to say anything different, but moving on is part of the culture.

And it is particularly celebrated over Chinese Lunar New Year, when I am here. This takes place in January or February (depending on the moon), and it is as light-filled and glittery as our Christmas.

Families get together, bury arguments, remember their ancestors, thank their teachers and give out ‘lucky’ brand new 1000 dong notes to children. I bring two crisp notes back to London, hoping to secure my fortune.

In Hanoi, North Vietnam, where my trip begins, the foggy city is chilly, grey and just a little oppressive - but brightened by sprays of peach blossom and kumquat trees.

There is plenty to see – and not nearly enough time to take it all in. Walking solemnly past Ho Chi Minh’s body, in a glass box guarded by four uniformed men, is strange. Visiting the Hanoi Hilton prison, where communists and then GIs were interned, is horrifying.

Senator John McCain’s jump suit, kit and parachute are on show. He was shot down flying a Skyhawk in 1967 and imprisoned in Vietnam until 1973.

There are pictures of GIs eating thanksgiving dinner, playing pool or cards, smiling. When I speak to a former POW, who was held here for nearly 6 years, he tells me these photographs were set ups.