The most depressing thing about travel stories and advertisements — be they in newspapers or magazines, on radio or on TV — is that they assume that we all want the same thing.
Sure, relaxing on a beach with a colourful drink in hand may be some people’s idea of a good time, but other (misguided, to my mind) people would rather be scaling a rockface, riding the rapids or swimming with sharks.
Which is where the internet comes into its own. I make no excuses for not writing for every kind of traveller: there are plenty of places for adventurous millennials or stuck-in-their-ways baby boomers to go.
The mission here is to provide information about holidays that appeal to, ahem, mature working folk who want a degree of comfort in their travel experience, but don’t want to pay a fortune for it. Solo travellers are particularly welcome.
The emphasis here — and the clue is in the name — is on flying and cruising. But you’ll also find other useful information if you care to wander arounf.
I’m the first to admit that my words are not for everyone — so here are just a few online destinations I recommend to supplement your visits here:
+ For travel news, I visit The Telegraph, a British paper with political opinions I don’t always share, but with excellent travel coverage.
+ One of my favourite travel writers is a friend and former colleague, Winsor Dobbin, who blogs here, with an emphasis on gourmet food and beverages.
+ A new online friend of mine, Emma, writes about cruising with a youthful perspective here.
+ The One Mile at a Time blog is essential reading for those travellers aiming to maximise their frequent-flyer points and credit-card benefits (although it has a strong American bias).
+ And here’s a new one I’ll be watching: two young journalism school graduates are promising a six-month investigative journalism enterprise in St Helena, one of the the world’s most remote and most interesting places.
Yes, there are millions more travel-related destinations on the internet, and a simple Google search will find them. But for the moment I’d be interested to hear some feedback on these sites.
