New Orleans
New Orleans
I visited New Orleans known the locals as the ‘Crescent city’ or ‘Big Easy’ at the end of January with 3 friends, this was during the Mardi Gras period which runs from 6th January each year until Fat Tuesday which is always the day before Ash Wednesday (so changes each year!). On the Saturday night I was able to enjoy one of the Mardi Gras parades that are on selected days during the build up to the big event itself. The parade was huge and went on for over 3 hours, it was a sci-fi parade and great to experience.
New Orleans is such a fabulous city with a great vibe, if offers lots of live music, located on the Mississippi river and has lots of history to offer. It is home to one of the largest WWII museums in the world. You can take a tour out to the Plantation Homes for black slave history, the city has a lot of Spanish architecture and French colonial buildings. I visited the Whitney Plantation, this is located hours’ drive out of the city by coach, it was very sad to see and interesting at the same time.
During my 5 nights stay I visited the famous French Quarter - home to Bourbon Street, here is the real hub of the city with bar after bar offering all types of live music from morning until night. Frenchmen is where the locals hang out and here you will find jazz bands galore. This area is compact, and you can easily walk around this area, it has many restaurants from fast food to fine dining it offers something to suit everyone’s budget.
Another highlight of my trip was taking the steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi river for an afternoon jazz cruise in the sunshine. Here I just sat back and watched the world go by while listening to the band playing in the background.
For any sports enthusiasts it is home to the Smoothie King area and Superbowl area, I had the pleasure of attending a basketball game while I was there and this was fantastic to experience even if you’re not a fan like me, it was a night of fun and entertainment!
Home to many swamps I did an excursion 40 mins out of town to the beautiful Bayou, here you can board a hovercraft or river boat and head out to see the wildlife of the area including herons, birds, racoons and alligators (depending on the time of the year). This was another great morning.
There are trams (street cars) that operate in and around New Orleans, I took the old tram line – St Charles Avenue Line out towards the Garden District where you get a real feel for the community, many interesting, mansions/houses can be seen along the route. It cost 3 euros per day to use all the public transport around the city. On the same day we took the included ferry across the river to Algiers Point, this is a key part of the black slave trade history and is like going back in time and is home to a typical English pub if you fancied a pint!
I did the hop on hop off bus tour and guided walking tours of the French Quarter and Garden District which were great and informative.
The city is great to explore at leisure as a city break or in conjunction with one of the many cruises that operate from here to Mexico and Caribbean Islands. I absolutely loved this city and I feel it has something to offer everyone! I hope to visit again one day with my family.
I flew direct from London Heathrow with British Airways in economy class, the outbound flight took 10 hour 40 mins and on the return I was lucky to book business class which was amazing and the flight home took 8 hours.
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In the Easter holidays my husband and I jetted off to explore Brazil with my 2 teenager children, what an amazing country it is, we loved every minute. Our adventure started in Rio de Janeiro, taking in the sights of Christ de Redeemer, watched sunset up Sugar Loaf mountain, Fifa- street favella tour, Maracana stadium and enjoyed relaxing on Copacabana beach. The next stop was the amazing Iguazu Falls, with over 270 falls, spreading over the border of Brazil and Argentina - it was incredible. We explore both the Argentina and Brazil side and got soaked on the boat trip into the falls ! We stayed in Foz De Iguazu for 3 nights, the boys enjoyed a round of golf and the girls enjoyed relaxing by the pool. We headed over the border into Paraguay for a quick shopping trip before continuing our journey to Santos ( Sao Paulo beach resort ). The home of Pele, my football crazy family headed to Santos stadium and Pele museum before exploring the old town on a vintage tram. From here we boarded our cruise ship for a 7 night sailing along the coast of Brazil, we headed 1000 miles north, visiting the picturesque resort of Buzios - with its cobbled streets, turquoise water and lovely beaches. Salvador was the next stop, home to where it all began in Brazil, circa 1500's the first part of Brazil that was discovered by the Portuguese. This colourful town has a huge Afro-Brazil vibe and it is vibrant, full of energy and packed with history. Our cruise then sailed to the North Beaches of Brazil where we enjoyed a day on a paradise beach just north of Maceio before heading back to Santos with a couple of sea days for us to relax and enjoy the ship. On disembarking the cruise we had a full day before our late evening flight home so we took a private tour of Sao Paulo's city, taking in Bat Man alley - with it's colourful street art, visited the Monumento as Bandeiras, Ibirapurea Park and views of the city from the Museum of Art roof top. Travelling to Brazil from Manchester the flights operate via Lisbon with Tap air it is 3 hours to Lisbon then 10 hours from there. Brazil is the only Portuguese speaking country in South America and English is not widely spoken ( google translate became our best friend ). The country is so diverse, the people extremely happy, friendly and always dancing !! We loved every minute of this trip and it was a great way to celebrate my son's 18th Birthday. One for the memory bank !
Cindy and Julie recently travelled to Budapest for a cruise conference and enjoyed a 2 night stay on board Ama waterways river cruise boat AmaMora. This beautiful luxury river boat has 70 cabins, it is decorated throughout in lovely pastel pink colours. On the first evening they were invited to the fine dining restaurant at the back of the ship called Chef's table, this was a 7 course meal paired with a wine for each course, it was an incredible experience, it is included free of charge for each guest on board at least once per their cruise. They enjoyed a walking tour through Budapest's Jewish quarter in the afternoon and in the evening the boat sailed down the Danube past the stunning Parliament building. Day 2 - cruise conference day, they joined our cruise partners for a full day of product knowledge and networking. They had presentations from Virgin Voyages, Ambassador Cruises, Princess Cruises, Riviera Travel, Scenic / Emerald Cruises, Explora Journeys, Oceania Cruises, Azamara, NCL, Star Clippers, Cunard and Royal Caribbean Cruises. When you stay on board a river boat they are able to dock in the city centre. It is a great way to experience may different cities and stunning landscape in one holiday. Ideal for those wanting to see lot's of different places while only unpacking once. A river cruise holiday can be as relaxing or as busy as you choose. Cindy had never been on a river boat before and absolutely loved it.
When planning a trip to Vietnam recently it took me a while to decide what to see and what to leave out as it is such a large country with different climates, sights to see and places to visit I did not want to dilute my time by rushing from place to place.. but after being there I now know that wherever you go it is a wonderful experience and you get a feel for the country and it's culture wherever you go. We started In Hanoi, a wonderful city buzzing with life and history, one place not to miss. Highlights for me was Train Street where the passenger train runs through the narrow, bustling streets regularly and the cafes along the route subtly move their chairs and tables out of the way to accommodate the train then back again for their customers to sit and watch the city life around them unfold. The street vendors making meals in every alley and doorway with fresh ingredients and the tiniest chairs for their customers to enjoy their meals. The rooftop bars overlooking this city but most of all the smiling, happy people. We then had an overnight in Halong Bay sailing around its stunning limestone karsts, emerald waters, and rich biodiversity. The boat was beautiful and the service fabulous. A quick stop but worth seeing. We took advantage of taxis /bike transport via an app called Grab, we used local airports for flights between places and the trains are excellent. The country is geared up for people travelling and is done cheaply and efficiently with regular services. Very user friendly. We next visited pretty Hoi An, an ancient town with a river running through, fabulous buildings, shops and restaurants in stunning wooden buildings but we stayed at the beach a 10 minute ride away so here we had the best of both worlds. The town is famous for its Lanterns which are pretty and in abundance. The weather in the North was cooler but still warm enough to wander round in Summer clothes but we then headed for some serious sun and complete relaxation to the beautiful Mui Ne beach in the South where we chilled and caught our breath for a few days. We enjoyed catching our thoughts and thinking what we had already seen and done. Our final stop was Ho Chi Minh the former Saigon. I thought this would be my least favourite place as it was busier, a soul less city, more cosmopolitan and not very authentic but I was very wrong, I loved it! It is fabulous, the old and new combined. Still tons of culture alongside their history, beautiful French architecture, war memorial, the Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong are a must. I could go on...and probably will if you want to call in to chat over a trip to Vietnam. There were so many highs and after travelling through Asia on several occasions I would say Vietnam was a wonderful experience that I thoroughly recommend.
Meloneras is one of my go to recommendations to clients who are looking for a change from Costa Adeje in Tenerife. In my opinion it is a much smaller version, still with a great selection of 4* and 5* hotels with the restaurants, bars and shops to cater for this clientele. Due to it's location on the island, on a cloud free night, you will get a stunning sunset which gets everyone walking along the front to stop and take photos. If it's somewhere you think you might like to give a go, give me a call and i will happily discuss the different range and style of hotels on offer to find one to suit you.
