Travel on the Paris Metro and you will find a network inundated with names of people -some famous (Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Franklin D. Roosevelt), some not (Etienne Marcel, Richard Lenoir, Louise Michel) – and a huge number of Saints: Michel, Sulpice, Placide, Ambroise… to quote but a few. This got me thinking about Travel [...]
Can the Olympics pay for your holiday?
Guest blog by Chris Wright, Managing Director at GIC The Villa Collection and Sunvil: Summer 2012 brings with it the long anticipated Olympic Games. But even at the beginning of the bidding process, back at the start of the millennium when the country was more prosperous, the nation was divided as to whether the Games [...]
Return of the milk bar?
The Besen Retail Blog recently announced the return of the milk bar, picking up on two new openings in New York City. But did milk bars ever go away? And what exactly constitutes one? This much we know: milk bars first originated in Australia in the early 1930s, and then quickly spread to New Zealand, [...]
God’s Own Country
This is a blog from our Tumblr site, Bustling Markets, which takes a light-hearted look at classic travel-writing phrases: In an email conversation last week, the travel journalist Sarah Barrell told me that the Waterberg Mountains region of South Africa, up by the Botswanan border, was referred to as ‘God’s Own Country’ by its locals. [...]
How to eat and dress like a Sicilian
The latest crazes coming out of Sicily, including fashion, food and agriturismo guesthouses – converted farmhouses that still produce their own wine, olive oil, cheese and bread…
No-surcharge Sunvil
Europe will be cheaper this year than last – particularly in Greece, Portugal and Italy – but still surcharges persist. Not at Sunvil Holidays, though, as this guest blog by its Managing Director, Noel Josephides, explains.
‘Niche Blogs’
In a recent chat with Steve Keenan, ex-Travel Editor of The Sunday Times Online and now co-founder of digital consultancy firm Travel Perspective, I discussed niche blogs – talking specifically about a press trip wherein the tourist board had invited a vintage-fashion blogger, a street-food blogger, and so on… This is a growing trend inside [...]
How Times Have Changed…
Interesting to note that, in times gone by (but not that long ago), staff at Sunvil Holidays and GIC The Villa Collection would have spent much of last weekend (7/8 January) replenishing the tapes in a bank of answering machines. Traditionally the busiest weekend of the year for holiday enquiries, this flurry of activity would [...]
New Year, New You? Pick up paints, pastels and put pen to paper in Tuscany
Perhaps you haven’t painted since school or have always wanted to write a novel? Whether rediscovering an old hobby or looking to try something new for 2012, The Watermill at Posara’s ever-growing programme of painting and writing courses will offer something suitable, with a number of new courses lined up for 2012. This year’s painting [...]
The delights of travel on two wheels
With Christmas calorific overload just days away now, our thoughts may soon be turning to ways of shedding those unwanted pounds in the New Year. Here, Travel PR’s Stephanie Reed reflects on seeing the world on two wheels – a top tip for healthy holidays and a great way to beat the bulge in 2012! [...]