Places I have been to…

Having worked in the travel industry for so long I have been lucky enough to visit a lot of places.

Starting close to home:
France – I worked as a campsite courier in the Vendee Region of France for a season in the early 90’s.This was a fab area, but even back then was expensive as a lowly holiday rep – unfortunately in the camping world gratuities weren’t heard off so I barely earnt enough to cover my expenses, so only stayed a season.

La Rochelle is the main cruise port in this area and has some wonderful seafood restaurants along the beach front and a sealife centre if you are travelling with kids.

I have also holidayed alot in France – especially along the south coast – Cannes, Antibes, Vias & Biarritz to the South West. Oh and several weekends in Paris too

Amsterdam – I have been to Amsterdam with the girls, my boyfriend and work and it is a city that has something for everyone. It is easy to walk around in a day and see all of teh main sights.

Spain – I have holidayed in several parts of Spain, Javea, Duquesa and Puerto Banus. Duquesa is only half an hour from Gibraltar so I have had a full day on the Island, walking miles and getting close to the monkeys – I even had one grab at my bag. I have also attended an abta conference in Barcelona and had a day to sightsee so did an open top bus which you could hop on and off all day. It cost 19 euros (in 2009) and was a great way to see the city and learn about it’s history.

Spain also has 3 islands – Majorca, Ibiza & Menorca – all of which are visited by the cruise lines and all have been visited by myself. Majorca is my favourite holiday destination. It is big enough to explore and has a mixture of resorts and coves. I think it’s a great cruise and stay destination and with more ships now being based out of Palma, cruise and stays will be more popular, especially with families.

Italy – so far I’ve only been lucky enough to snowboard in Italy, but Rome, Venice & Tuscany are on my list of places to see

Eilat – I stayed in Eilat courtesy of Thomson holidays and was taken on excursions to the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem, both of which are amazing. Jerusalem is so different to any European city and so full of history, the Wailing Wall should be on everyones list to see.

Moving further away:
After I’d finished studying I went travelling in the States and Canada and covered off the following – Orlando, Savannah, Memphis, Chicago, Toronto, Niagara Falls, New York, Washington, Virginia, Boston, Bar Harbor, Montreal and Quebec, in that order. I really couldn’t pick a favourite – Quebec stands out as so different with it’s French ancestry and New York has so many areas and places to see that we stayed a week.

I have also visited Florida a number of other times and stayed in Tampa, Daytona, Miami Beach and the Keys. The Florida Keys are another of my favourite places, whist there is not huge amount to do it is great for just chilling and people watching.

On the West Coast I have been to San Diego to see my brother get married, and visited the top spots – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Yeosemite, Las Vegas and The Grand Canyon and alot of the smaller places in between

The Caribbean;
I haven’t really been to the Caribbean much but have managed to see:
The Bahamas – very chilled but very expensive

Cuba – Havana is a real must. You cannot go Cuba and not see this fantastic city. It is literally falling apart as you walk down the street and with the economic situation with the states, it is so set in the past. Having said that, there was a lot of renovation going on back in 2004 when I visited and with Fidel Castro no longer in power more and more changes will be occuring.

Ski resorts – finally I have a passion for snowboarding and try and get to the mountains at least once a year.

I’ve boarded in – Borovets (Bulgaria), Tignes & Val D’Isere, Meribel, Courcheval, Serre Chevalier and Peisey in France, Andorra, Kitzbuhel in Austria and Banff & Lake Louise in Canada.