Travel for the Over 30s

With the economic downturn many people are looking to get extra value for their vacation dollar. They can’t afford a two-week break, an extended weekend may just have to do. If that’s your situation and you live in North America then Panama may be a country to consider.

Panama is considered an eco-destination with much of the country covered in its Word Heritage listed national parks. Even if you are focused on getting up close and personal with nature I would schedule a day or two in the capital. Panama City dates back over 500 years and the atmospheric “Casco Viejo”,the old city, is certainly worth a look. As of course is the fascinating Panama Canal and Miraflores Locks which are only a short drive from the center of town. With 13,000 ships using the canal annually - you’d be unlucky not to see at least one!

Panama has just as much to offer than its better known neighbor, Costa Rica, but is maybe just that little bit off the beaten track. Not that you have to stay in a cheap hostel, or worse, when you get there - though you can if you must. Hotels in Panama cover the full range of cheap and basic to 5-star and luxurious - for my money for a short-break I’d probably consider staying at one of the best Panama hotels : the 5-star luxury casino hotel, Veneto.

The Veneto is the biggest casino in Panama and therefore home to the anything goes gambling culture of Panama and its related nightlife. This place certainly won’t feel like Vegas - it has a rawer, central American edge to it. Nightlife, girls and serious money on the tables is all part of the scene at the Veneto - possibly not family-friendly but definitely edgy and fun for the rest of us!

For your money you will get rooms and suites that are comfortable and offer the normal facilities for a 5-star property. There is a great pool area to chill out in during the day. At night you have several dining options in-house and many more just down the street. But the real action is centered around the casino which offers everything from poker and blackjack tournaments to craps and roulette table games. If losing money isn’t your thing then check out the ever changing entertainment program - and remember to polish up your salsa skills for the local dance floors.

If you need a bit of “me time” then head to the hotel’s spa which includes everything from facials to pedicure, hot stone message to hydrotherapy.

So for me a short break in Panama can be a great combination - you can do a few days at an upmarket hotel and really chill out but there are certainly enough natural and cultural attractions in the country to keep you entertained. Panama boasts a modern infrastructure which will make North American visitors feel right at home. It is of course a Spanish speaking country, but the currency will be familiar - United States dollars are the official currency.

So if you are looking for a mini-break or something longer grab a cheap airfare deal, book a great Panama hotel and pack your best dancing shoes - and welcome to Panama!

Well you have probably all read multiple times - to get the best deal you have to book and pay weeks, if not months in advance. I’ve done it myself - booked as early as August to get flight home for Christmas.

Today I had an interesting experience - I needed to get my partner a ticket from Perth to New Zealand ASAP due to a family emergency. I went online thinking the worst i.e. up to A$1200 each way. After all last year standard peak fares were in the A$800 one way range for Perth/New Zealand. At 10am I wanted a flight that would get him home by tomorrow - I was prepared to pay.

But I didn’t have to -  I got a flight on the midnight special connecting via Melbourne for a 9am flight to New Zealand - total cost (including the credit card fee) from Qantas? A$595! I could have chosen any of the flights tomorrow that connect to NZ - three or four options.

And over the next week every day had at least one flight combo which was less than A$650- extraordinary. Not good for the airline industry but excellent for anyone who needs a flight in a hurry.

Not sure whether to take the all inclusive bus tour which promises 13 countries in 15 days or the tour that is based in one region from where you take a more in depth look of one part of Europe? Want to catch the highlights of Europe without the hassles of driving on one of the world’s most crowded continents?

Then you need to think again - and maybe think specifically about river cruises. Long before the invention of the internal combustion engine and freeways, rivers were the world’s first super highways. Europe’s great cities all share one thing in common - they are  are built on major waterways - think of Paris and the Seine, London and the Thames, Vienna and the Danube. That’s why river cruising is the ideal way to see Europe.

Compared with planning a European bus tour, river cruising has huge advantages. Rivers are the heart of European cities - you can be guaranteed that your floating hotel will be located central to the action - not hours away in the suburbs. There is no requirement to be packed up and ready for the bus at 6am. Rather than having to choose between a leisurely lunch and sightseeing, you combine both on a river cruise where boats usually feature dining rooms with panoramic views. You aren’t going to spend hours of precious vacation time stuck in traffic - well OK you will probably pass the odd lock - but that’s a lot more interesting than being stuck in a Parisian traffic jam (trust me on this).

Compared to ocean cruising, river cruising comes up trumps for anyone who suffers from seasickness- no waves, no getting your “sea legs” required on river boats.  Its also great for singles or those just looking at connecting with others in the group - boats have to fit through the canals and locks of Europe so normally carry only between 100-300 passengers. Tours tend to be all-inclusive including “shore excursions” - which are often walking tours right from the dock. One thing that you won’t want to leave behind are good walking shoes - forget the on-board gym - try walking a few miles on cobblestones - excellent for your legs and cardio-vascular health!

With the collapse of communism European river cruising has expanded east. River cruising is a supremely practical way to visit Russia and Ukraine without having to deal with the notoriously poor quality of local restaurants and hotels. Both St Petersburg and Moscow are river cities - conveniently located about a week’s cruising apart. The truly adventurous can extend their tour all the way to the Crimea and the Black Sea.

A river cruise boat are not the huge floating palaces of their ocean-going counterparts. They do not have the space to offer climbing walls, full-size auditoriums, 21 different restaurant and multiple swimming pools. Instead the focus is on the countries that you are cruising through. Most ships offer a single dining room with free seating and an informal dress code. There is invariably an open deck for the best view and also normally a library and several other lounges. There will also be guest speakers talking about the local countries and cultures that you are traveling through. Ships will often sail at night to ensure that you have the best opportunity to explore ports during the day either with a tour or just by yourself.

The best part of river cruising has to be that you have unpack once scenario. I’ve never met anyone who enjoys the constant packing and unpacking of a typical tour - so on a river cruise you get to do it exactly once. Suites are comfortable and most newer boats offer balconies and opening windows. There is no such thing as an inside cabin on a river boat - they are just too narrow!

I do have one major problem with choosing an European river cruise though - which one to try first - I have the impression they could become extremely addictive!

This comes under the strange but true banner. I live in Australia - its the middle of winter, there is a bumper ski season happening in eastern Australia and New Zealand, and there are some nice airfare deals to the local ski slopes - well not that local to Perth - but within 8 hour’s flying time.

This post is not about Australian and New Zealand ski resorts. Instead I opened this weekend’s local newspaper to be bombarded with a “feature” - as they love to call advertorials in mainstream media - on skiing in the French Alps - weird enough when you consider that it is high summer in France at the moment.

But it got weirder - this was about life coaching on the ski fields. No not in a quaint village located near the fields, actually while skiing - you go skiing with your life coach - and solve all your personal problems.  I don’t know about you but my day-to-day problems of issues with procrastination and inability to care enough about my fashion sense - aren’t the same as the one’s I have on the ski slope - which is all about my inability to ski around trees, not into them and unsurpassed rage at the ability of the average European 5-year old to out-ski me. However if you think the two go together check out Pollen Brook’s website - though I can’t find the specific package mentioned re life coaching and skiing - maybe they are just trying it out on the Australian market first?

It gets cold in Australia - a point lost on many overseas visitors. In Perth its warm enough to swim in the ocean from November to April but today it will be the coldest night of the year 2C - after a maximum of 14C OK its not Canadian cold but its not weather to wander around in shorts and sandles - unless you are a British tourist of course!

In fact the ski season is great this year in Australia with Thredbo, NSW and the Victorian snow coverage -  not a feature of every ski season in Australia despite the best efforts of the ski industry’s spin department.

Mind you if you have the right gear i.e. warm clothes - this is a fantastic time to visit the outback - few snakes and the best star  gazing conditions because of the clear cold air.

4WDing is a lot easier too when the ground is cool its a lot firmer than in the summer. Just remember your hats and gloves! And if you do hit rain remember you will be stuck for a few days!

Lanzarote is one of the Spanish owned Canary Islands. Located around 100 miles off the coast of West Africa and much favoured by sun starved Northern Europeans. Who flock here in their millions. Helping to earn the Archipelago something of a reputation as a cheap and cheerful package holiday destination.

But these seven volcanic islands are not all birds of a feather. As each boasts a unique identity – with Lanzarote in particular boasting a series of breathtaking visitor attractions that are every bit as impressive as the island’s great beaches and year round climate.

This is all thanks to the work of an island born artist called César Manrique.

Cesar successfully campaigned against uncontrolled tourist development on Lanzarote. Securing a ban on high rise buildings and ad hoardings – while designing and constructing tourist attractions that effortlessly fuse art with nature. Transforming collapsed lava tubes and volcanic bubbles into concert spaces art galleries and nightclubs.

Cesar single-handedly saved Lanzarote from over-development - what I pleasant change from the usual story of over-development in Spain!

Not every country has freedom of the press - in fact even so-called western democracies are restricting the use of the Internet more and more the rise - of defamation cases against bloggers in the US is a particularly nasty trend - even the threat of legal action will make many inexperienced bloggers take down their post.

So what does that mean if you are travelling to places such as Cuba, Vietnam or Egypt - all of which are popular tourist destinations which also make the the CPJ list of the 10 worst places to be a blogger? It means that even as a tourist you should be careful.

I first visited Vietnam long before the Internet and the word was that you saved your critical letters and postcards for posting in Thailand once you left the country. Today the place is full of cheap Internet cafes - but if you were posting about serious political stuff on a well-established blog I would be careful - even if the authorities don’t catch up with you do you really want them to be hassling the innocent cafe owner who has to live there? Personally I would write the material on my own netbook but I would wait until I left to post it.

Photo Credit

 If anyone is heading to the UK or out of the UK and need some airport parking then you need to check out this cool little site: Go Simply: Airport Parking

The site also includes some near airport hotels mainly in Europe and the UK as well as world-wide airport lounges but their focus seems to be UK airport’s notoriously expensive  parking: for exampleEdinburgh airport parking  starts from around £25!

That said a site like this will let you make the most of a bad deal if you HAVE to take a car to an airport (the much better deal would be to take the train - Manchester is one of my favourite UK airports cause the long-distance train is right there under the air terminal!)

I like this site though- its clean, fast to load and has lots of user-reviews which are always very handy - remember price is one thing but you need to have a reliable service if you are going to need a pick up/drop down service to actually get you to the terminal on time.

Oh and triple check your airport too - its very easy to end up at the wrong one in the UK - rule of thumb the cheaper the air ticket the further away the airport is likely to be!

Ever wanted to inhale your drink, rather than drink it?Me neither but its the latest fad in London at the “Breathable Bar“. Patrons in the “breathable bar” have to done a sexy head to foot protection suit before entering the bar where they can breath in a gin and tonic.

Apparently its legit and safe: it won’t explode and it won’t harm you. It won’t get you too drunk either because you get kicked out after an hour - apparently inhaling alcohol gets it to the bloodstream faster than merely drinking it.

The bar in Soho uses industrial technology to create a vapour of Hendrick’s Gin and tonic- what a very English experience.

Visitors are charged £5 (US$7)  for entry to the Alcoholic Architecture bar - but hurry its only open for a week!

Snorkeling  with whale sharks is nothing at all like cage diving. Whale sharks are the biggest of all sharks, the biggest fish in the sea, and are plankton feeders, harmless to humans. They grow up to 7m long and migrate up Australia’s west coast. From Exmouth you can take a day tour to swim with the whale sharks.

In a similar manner to what spotting tours the boats use spotter planes to find the whale sharks who swim only a metre or two below the surface. While they are finding the fish the guests get to practice their snorkeling - this is not a trip for beginners and its compulsory to snorkel first off just to make sure that your gear is OK and you are not going to panic being in deep water.

The whale sharks come so close into Exmouth because the continental shelf drops off very close to shore at this part of the coast line. When a whale shark is spotted the idea is to jump in after the dive master and sprint snorkle to keep up with the group -€“ this is harder than it sounds in  1 to 2 metre swell its surprisingly difficult to see others in the water. The boat isn’t allowed within 250 metres of the animal so the last bit is up to you. Unlike all the frantic bubbles and splashing from the humans on the surface the whale shark doesn’t even seem to be making an effort its hard to judge that they are moving fast as with only the blue of the deep ocean below it.

The whale shark season in Exmouth runs from March to July. Its the end of the summer at the water temperature was 28C the same out with the whale sharks as on the beach. You will however need sun protection.  An all day tour costs around A$360 including all gear, pick up from accommodation, lunch.

The photos are from the on-board professional photographer I was too busy swimming hard to take take any pictures.