AS I write, we are just into November, and most people’s thoughts are turning to Christmas, which is now only a few weeks away. For those who want to escape to warmer climes, time is running out to book anything. Gone are the days of cheap last-minute availability. A week all-inclusive in the Canaries over Christmas will cost something in the region of £1,200 in a four-star hotel. Travel further afield to the Red Sea and you’ll get five-star for similar money, but choose carefully as the standards are less consistent, especially in the popular resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
AS I write, we are just into November, and most people’s thoughts are turning to Christmas, which is now only a few weeks away. For those who want to escape to warmer climes, time is running out to book anything. Gone are the days of cheap last-minute availability. A week all-inclusive in the Canaries over Christmas will cost something in the region of £1,200 in a four-star hotel. Travel further afield to the Red Sea and you’ll get five-star for similar money, but choose carefully as the standards are less consistent, especially in the popular resort of Sharm El Sheikh. Better to fly down to Hurghada, for El Gouna and Makadi Bay. Here, the hotels are generally of better quality and less over-run by Russians, who have mostly taken over from the Germans as the tourists you’d least like to spend your holiday with. Planning to get away in January is probably going to yield much better choices, if you can take the time off, because you don’t fall foul of the festive season price hikes. When the whole of the UK is shivering in the cold, you could be spending a couple of weeks in the Caribbean for less money than you’d imagine. How about a 4-star all-inclusive hotel in Cuba or Mexico for under £1,200? Or a two-week tour of India, visiting the Taj Mahal, Ranthambore National Park for the tigers and a trip to Shimla by authentic Victorian steam train? All this for less than £1,700 a head. Here at Baileys Travel, we do say that everything starts with a conversation. Planning your next trip, whether it be a weekend in London, a week on the Costa del Sol, a cruise down the Rhine or a tailor-made road trip around America, is generally more successful the more time you spend planning. Decide in haste, regret at leisure, my mother used to say. She also used to say you shouldn’t put things off for too long or you might never do them at all. So, take a leaf out of her book and plan your adventures before time and opportunity runs out. Resolutions for 2015?