So I was not entirely surprise – but cautiously thrilled – to learn that the airline is now flying direct to two destinations that I’m looking forward to visiting. Firstly Marrakech, which is one I’ve been to a few times – but always through London which often meant the journey took over 8 hours. Also though, to Croatia.

And for those of you interested in Croatia I can thoroughly recommend this site:

http://www.croatiatraveller.com/index.htm

which has plenty of interesting information on getting good value out of this destination, as well as using ferries and buses to get around the country. It’s stuffed with adverts, but actually the site itself is really helpful. Think I’m going to commit a carbon sin and buy a £50 return flight to Zadar. Wish me luck!#

Bored with business class? Have lots of time and money? Well, I’ve got an idea for you!

Seabourn is a cruise company that caters for the top end of the market in smaller, more intimate cruise ships. Actually, it prefers to call them ‘yachts’, and to refer to the experience as yachting. With a typical crew of 160 to assist 280 passengers, you know you’re going to get looked after. All cruises include seriously high-end dining, with free wine, champagne and spirits.

Their ships also have a unique self-lowering harbour which is used for watersports. Pretty nifty!

Anyway, I’ve been hankering for one of these trips for quite a while now, so when I found this trip on the VacationsToGo site, I nearly wet myself. 60 nights onboard one of these Seabourn yachts, starting in Rome and going all the way to Singapore, via Dubai, India, Thailand etc.

Just remember to factor in the detox bill from the Betty Ford clinic after all that indulging!

One week starts from around £147 per person, including flights from regional airports and staying in a four star hotel near the sea in Malta.

Choice Holidays who are offering these deals are taking advantage of Ryan Air flights, and combining them with their own hotel purchasing power to give people good deals. And I’m absolutely for it! If someone else has the headache of booking Ryan Air flights for you, then it’s not a bad idea to take advantage of it.

I’m not sure whether Choice have managed to negotiate anything with the airlines themselves. It’s not uncommon for travel agents to buy up large numbers of seats at a reduced fare, and then bundle them with hotel deals and mark them up. Since Ryan Air’s business strategy is so different from many other airlines, I’d be interested to know if that’s what’s going on.

However they manage to do it, it’s got to be a pretty good deal. Just remember to check out the TripAdvisor website before you book! Oh, and check on Kayak to make sure you’re not getting ripped off. At these prices though, that’s unlikely.

Choice Holidays > Malta deals

I’m always watching the rather brilliant icelolly.com website for good deals – even if I have absolutely no intention of travelling. The deals they offer are somewhat staggering, although a quick flick over to tripadvisor reveals that many of the cheapest deals are in sub-standard hotels. Having said that, for cheap trips to Spain, you can do a lot worse than to check out this website first.

I found this rather tempting trip for only £60 per person, including return flights from Edinburgh and three nights’ hotel accomodation. Difficult to imagine a cheaper deal than that (bearing in mind that the flight alone would usually cost twice that).

http://ow.ly/1FmIk

This particular one is at the hotel Merce which gets a 73% thumbs up on Tripadvisor (pretty rare for a hotel in this category). Your £60 won’t cover the transfer from the airport to the hotel which is around 70km. Hiring a car would be a great way to see this fantastic part of Spain – much of which is overlooked by most tourists. However, it’s likely that your car hire would cost almost the same as the package. But then at £60, who cares?

Just to drum the point home about TripAdvisor, the next option up is the rather smarter looking Hotel Flamingo. It’s just £6 more for the trip and going by the photos the hotel looks immeasurably better. However a glance at the reviews on Trip Advisor show that it’s probably one to avoid, with 37 out of 86 travellers rating the hotel as “Terrible”. Not so good.

Think of India.

One other tip for those thinking of India as a holiday destination. Although airfares have come down considerably in the last couple of years with the increased competition, you can get an absolute steal by looking for trips to Goa around November. If you’re prepared to hop on a plane tomorrow, you can get a return flight to Goa from London or Manchester for under £200. More about that nearer the time…

Economy can be terribly uncomfortable – particularly on very long journeys. With that in mind, Air New Zealand (which runs some of the longest flights in the world) has launched a new product in their 777-300 aircraft. The way it works is to offer a couple the chance to buy three seats instead of two. The row then folds out and creates a mini bed. Not exactly the lap of luxury, but still a lot more comfortable than sitting up.

There’s also another neat feature that I’m excited to try out — ordering drinks from your seat-back TV. Just scroll through popular drinks, press the one you want and one of the lovely Air NZ cabin crew will deliver it to you on a little tray. How marvellous! Travelay approves!

This post falls into that category of “wishful thinking”, but if I did suddenly come into money then I can imagine a worse way to go around the world than in business class. Naturally, my preference would be for a flightless option, but if I did have to fly then this would be the way to go!

I found a site that does offer business fares, although they are basically glorified return flights to Australia. You can stop off in Asia on the way there, and in South/North America on the way back – which makes it a truly round-the-world experience.

Example routes, dates and prices at: http://www.rtwflights.com/Qantas4.aspx

For a slightly more flexible and luxurious approach, there’s a 5 stop business class fare that lets you go almost anywhere. Unfortunately it’s around £5500. But hey! If you’ve got the money…

Example Routes:

• London – San Francisco or New York or Boston or Washington or Chicago or Miami or Orlando surface Los Angeles – Auckland – Christchurch – Sydney – Hong Kong – London (New Zealand fare)
• London – Hong Kong – Sydney – Christchurch – Auckland – San Francisco surface Los Angeles or New York or Boston or Chicago or Miami or or Washington or Orlando – UK (New Zealand fare)
• London – Hong Kong – Sydney surface Cairns – Auckland – Vancouver surface Los Angeles or New York or Boston or Chicago or Miami or Orlando – UK (New Zealand fare)
• Manchester – Los Angeles – Fiji – Auckland – Christchurch – Sydney – Hong Kong – Manchester (New Zealand fare +£210)
• London – Hong Kong – Sydney surface Brisbane or Cairns or Melbourne or Adelaide – Christchurch – Auckland – San Francisco or Los Angeles or New York or Boston or Chicago or Miami or Orlando – UK- London (New Zealand fare)
• London – Los Angeles – Tahiti – Auckland – Christchurch – Sydney – Hong Kong – London (New Zealand fare +£110)
• Manchester – Hong Kong – Sydney – Christchurch – Auckland – San Francisco – Manchester (New Zealand fare +£100)

• Scotland – Hong Kong – Sydney – Christchurch – Auckland – San Francisco – Edinburgh (New Zealand fare +£100)
• Belfast – Hong Kong – Sydney – Christchurch – Auckland – San Francisco – Belfast (New Zealand fare +£100)
• London – San Francisco – Auckland – Sydney – Hong Kong – London (New Zealand fare)
• London – Hong Kong – Auckland – Melbourne – Auckland – Los Angeles – London (New Zealand fare)

I’m not retired yet, but if I was then I can imagine worse ways of spending the winter than to be on a mild island in the middle of the Mediterranean. For most tourists, Malta is a scorching summer destination, but if you’re prepared to travel out of season there are some staggering deals to be had.

Typically, if you commit to two weeks or more in a hotel your room can cost as little as £15/night. Most hotels also include heated swimming pools and access to local facilities. It might not be hot enough to lounge on the beach, but it’s a pleasant 20 degrees, and a lot nicer than snow-blotted Britain!

Run a search for Malta extended stay hotels to get some ideas, and also have a look on Kayak. The other thing worth doing is ringing up the hotel directly, telling them that you want to stay for a longish time and see what deal they’ll offer you. It will usually be cheaper than the websites.

Airlines are also conspiring to make Malta a much cheaper destination than it was previously, with several budget carriers flying there (including Ryan Air) as well as the country’s national airline, Air Malta. You can find return flights from London in winter for as little as £50.

Now that the QEII is out of service (currently residing in Dubai, but still awaiting its final fate), the most traditional journey would be a trip on the QMII. Cunard allows you to book that trip on their website, but you’re likely to pay much more than booking through an agent. Virgin cruises has just released their fares:

http://www.virginholidayscruises.co.uk/cruise-deals/cunard-queen-mary-2-transatlantic-cruises-20100204.php

There are of course more economic ways to travel between Southampton and New York, but few as glamorous. Personally though, I think I’d rather take a slightly longer cruise that takes in more countries. Some of the bigger lines’ repositioning cruises take in a slightly more interesting itinerary and are far cheaper – but then it’s not for everyone!

Still though, even at around £1,000 it’s equivilant to the business class fare. If you’ve got time, I say – why not?

Japan is becoming more popular as a destination, but very few people think of it as a child-friendly place for a holiday. The truth is though, Japan is very child-friendly indeed and apart from some practical issues such as reading baby food labels, there’s no reason why you can’t take a child to Japan.

I read this fascinating article on Hubpages of a young family who’ve just come back. Read it!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Tokyo-with-a-toddler

I’ve recently become rather obsessed with the idea of visiting my friend Yolande in South Africa, but flying there and back seems like a bit of a drag. Since I’m embarking on a world tour next year, I am going to try to fly as little as possible so this could be a good option when I need to return to Europe.

The ship MSC Sinfonia sails from Cape Town to Genoa which takes around 18 days. Because it’s a repositioning cruise (the ship returns to Europe for the summer months), it’s very low cost. Even with a flight to South Africa thrown in, and one back from Italy included the price can be as low as £890. Compare that to my two weeks’ rent or business class air ticket. Buying the cruise only will bring the price down further.

http://www.iglucruise.com/msc-sinfonia/3rd-april-2010_c46027

The only other alternative I can think of to get back from South Africa without flying would be to hitch a ride on a freighter which will set you back around $70-100 per night, so a lot more expensive and without the dining choice of a cruise liner. But then some people prefer to travel by freighter; your cabin is bigger and you don’t have to put up with annoying cruise passengers!