A hat trick of awards for travelguru.tv

The travelguru.tv team were thrilled to end 2009 by picking up their 3rd award since launch. I had the pleasure of travelling to Girona in the Costa Brava just before Christmas to collect the Premis G! 2009 award for Best Tourism Communication - audio visual category. Presented by the Costa Brava Tourism Board, the award was in recognition of 2 video reports, presented by travelguru David Wickers on Walking and Cycling in Catalonia and A Guide to Girona Province

The awards ceremony took place in the splendid surroundings of a restored Victorian Theatre in the small town of Olot. Following a press conference with local media, the awards ceremony took place complete with red carpet, live music, champagne and canapes. The event is the highlight of the Costa Brava Tourism Board calendar and it was a real honour to be there and accept the award.

Dahabiyya Cruises

Guest blog from travelguru, John Carter

I have just spent a week on "Amber", one of the small dahabiyyas which cruises the Nile, taking a maximum of a dozen passengers to tombs and temples between Aswan and Luxor. It was a delightful experience, in the main, and served, among other things, to convince me that small is, indeed, beautiful when it comes to such excursions. A fleet of 350-plus larger boats is also on that river, running in convoy from one site to another. Far too many vessels carrying far too many passengers (even in tough economic times), so that the aforementioned sites quickly become crowded.
"Amber" runs to a schedule that avoids those other ships, and though it may be a cliche, cruising the way it used to be is really the only way to go. Its leisured approach gives you time to appreciate what you are seeing, to listen to what the experienced guide has to tell you, and relax in excellent company. The service is impeccable, the food very good and the fact that all drinks are included in the price is a welcome bonus. The Egyptian wine is more than passable, though my preference at lunch, especially on returning from a shore excursion, was for the Egyptian beer. A spacious cabin with a comfortable bed, a ferociously efficient shower and very good air conditioning completed the picture.


Any criticism? One gripe I do have, though it is not aimed at "Amber" or her crew. It is that, when one goes ashore, one is pestered by peddlers and stallholders, all selling the same limited range of goods - scarves and guidebooks, jewellery and trinkets. If one doesn't want to buy, their pestering can get out of hand and even verge on the menacing. A lot of people dismiss this as being "..what you have to expect in Egypt..." but it detracts from one's enjoyment of the holiday and demeans the country and its people. I wish the authorities would do something about it.
That apart, I thoroughly recommend the dahabiyya - the Nile's transport of delight.

Watch John's video report on the Dahabiyya experience here

travelgurutv on Twitter

Its the latest social networking tool that's hard to ignore - celebrities, journalists and seemingly well, everyone seems to tuning in to Twitter right now. Including me! (twitter name travelgurutv)

For the uninitiated, its basically gossip online. But the great thing is, its gossip that you can tailor to your own interests - you choose to 'follow' people who you think might have something interesting to say but, if and when you find out that they don't, you simply unfollow them. Nothing personal, just tailoring the information flow. Likewise people do the same to you and before you know it, you're getting great little nuggets of info from a whole host of people all around the world. For those interested in travel its brilliant - from breaking news and travel articles to great website finds and local travel tips. It works best as a two way street - its all about sharing information. Ask a question and almost certainly someone will be willing to give you an answer.

Posts are limited to 140 characters so short and sweet is the order of the day - and what you can't say in a couple of lines can always be expanded on with links to full articles and blog posts.

To find some travel folk to follow, feel free to start with me, (Twitter name: travelgurutv) and my list of follows - look forward to tweeting you soon...

P&O Cruises Ventura

I bet the news desks could barely conceal their delight when they began receiving stories from disgruntled passengers on board P&O Cruises Ventura Christmas cruise. The headline in the Sunday Times was 'Ocean cruise ends in almighty brawl'. Reading between the lines though it sounds more like there were a few rowdy passengers (mainly kids) with no notion of how to behave whether on dry land or at sea. No doubt at the time they caused unpleasant scenes but I bet that the P&O staff have seen it all before and were more than capable of dealing with it - the ultimate sanction being simply to put disruptive passengers ashore which is exactly what happened here.

It seems a bit of a non story to me. The gist of it was that this particular cruise had been heavily discounted and therefore attracted what the Sunday Times describe as 'chavs'. This is quite a big assumption which I am sure must have caused considerable offence to those passengers who are perfectly well behaved but simply know a bargain when they see one!

Irrespective of price, cruising has always been considered an aspirational holiday that appeals to all sectors of the market - just as you can get 'undesirable' types in 5 star luxury resorts, so you can on a cruise ship too. The notion that cruising is only for the upper classes died out long ago.

We recently filmed on P&O Cruises Arcadia - this is a child free ship, so rowdy youths are never going to be an issue. That said, on board there was certainly a complete mix of age groups and social backgrounds. The type of people on any given holiday will of course have a big impact on your enjoyment. For that reason we try and include feedback and comments from people we meet on location so you can judge for yourself.

Of course there are never any guarantees - obnoxious people travel just like anyone else! The point though is that on a large cruise ship, just as in a large resort, it is pretty easy to avoid people. From my experience, what tends to happen is that different 'types' and age groups tend to gravitate towards different activities and styles of venue on board and for the most part, everyone is happy.

What do you think? Have you been on a P&O cruise? Does cheap holiday = 'chavs holiday'?

World Travel Market in London

Been very slack on the blogging front recently as we've been super busy out on location filming new video reports. This week too is a hectic one for anyone in travel as the great and good of the industry gather at Excel in London for the annual World Travel Market extravaganza.


Apart from the acute embarassment of London's public transport and its inability to get the crowds there efficiently (what should have been a 1.5 hour journey took me 4 hours on Monday!) - it is a quite an event and, if it were to be held up as a barometer of how things are in the industry, noone would believe there was any economic crisis! The stands were as lavish as ever, with each country attempting to out do its competitors, celebrities were there in abundance and, as is tradition within the travel trade, generous hospitality in the way of nibbles and beverages was forthcoming.


I always find it exciting to attend the show - if only to remind myself how much of the world is left to explore...

Notes from...Sardinia

Just back from our latest travelguru.tv shoot in Sardinia and, for once, we managed a complete 5 days with no weather issues - clear blue skies and perfect heat. June really is a beautiful month in the Med.

Concentrating on the north of the island, we started out in Alghero then drove across to check out an inland rural hotel (Su Gologone) and finally headed up to the jet set playground that is the Costa Smeralda. Renaldo was in town apparently and there was much discussion as to whether the very swanky Hamliton II yacht docked in Porto Cervo belonged to Lewis.

Sadly we had no celebrity encounters but the whole team, including travelguru Paul Gogarty, were very impressed with the island - so much so that all of us plan to revisit for personal holiday. Its hard not to be seduced by the stunning coastline, crystal clear water and sublime food. What I really loved though was the individuality of all the hotels - no high rises here - each has been carefully planned to blend in with environment and make the most of some truly outstanding settings. Our tour operator partner, Just Sardinia, know the island inside out and have a great selection of properties.

The results of our filming will be up on the site within the next month but in the meantime if you happen to be heading Alghero way - top tip - plan a lunch in the Old Town at the Osteria Macchiavelo. Grab a table outside in the shade with a lovely sea view and try the local speciality spaghetti with lobster - bliss!