Showing posts with label special holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label special holidays. Show all posts

Are you a once-in-a-lifetime traveller or a creature of habit?

Are you a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ traveller? That is, every country you visit you consider it to be a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience and treat it as such? Do you go to a place thinking you may never get back there again so everything you do is a special adventure? Do you go with the idea that you won’t even dream of returning because there are simply too many other amazing places to explore in the world? Maybe it's more of a financial imperative? Or, do you travel thinking you are definitely going to return some day, so you take it easy, kick back, and don’t put too much pressure on the trip? And in doing so, you find you appreciate the place and the little experiences and everyday moments more? Indeed, if this is a place you end up liking a lot, you won’t have a problem returning the next year, and the next, and perhaps the one after that… so that by the time you’re 80 you could be leaning over to the diners at the next table one night to boast “my husband/wife and I have been coming here every summer for the last 30 years”, as a very contented woman told us one evening in Capri as her beloved husband sliced a ripe juicy peach for her after their meal – a habit that seemed so matter-of-fact, he’d probably been doing it for 30 years… So, which traveller are you? Do have one travel preference over another? Or do you mix it up with destinations you treat as once-in-a-lifetime experiences and favorite holiday spots you return to every year? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The price of luxury?

It's often said that if you have to ask how much you can't afford it. I don't agree. Luxury travel shouldn't only be for the rich. Everyone deserves to be spoilt and pampered. Especially if it's a special holiday, a honeymoon, anniversary, or birthday for instance. Or simply because you've been working really hard and deserve a decent break. One of the reasons Dubai has become such a hot destination is because it has taken its tradition of Arab hospitality to the extreme. The city treats its visitors like Sheikhs and they respond by behaving like them (as my co-writer Terry often says). If you have to save for that hard-earned holiday and are planning a trip where you intend on spending money like it's going out of style, then you want to know it's going to be worth it, that you're going to be guaranteed a great time, and that it's going to be memorable. Which is a very good reason for travel writers to do thorough first-hand research (as I am here, testing out Al Maha's Bedouin Suite infinity pool for you) and to be more responsible when it comes to giving advice. I simply wouldn't send you to some of the properties 'reviewed' in the various glamping stories I cited in previous posts. So where would I send you?