Travel Archives - Page 27 of 30

Katie Travel

Europe Travel Destinations

I have some travel plans to share with you today! These are the top 5 places in Europe that I am dying to see.

5 extra bonus points if you knew that the title of this post contains the name of a Dr Seuss book!

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Katie Fashion

Travel Wallet – Ted Baker Menicon Case

Hello Lovelies,

I wanted to show you my new favourite thing.

This neon coral Menicon mini Ipad case from Ted Baker is serving its purpose as my new travel wallet.

This isn’t the first time I have used something for other means but the Menicon case is patent making it durable, the perfect size to slip in to your handbag, sturdy enough to keep your passport and documents safe and bright enough for you to fish it out of your travel bag in a hurry.

Inside it is lightly padded and has a thin slip pocket inside. The Menicon’s dimensions are a respectable H15.5cm x W 22.5cm x D 1.5cm

I have previously used leather travel wallets and nylon ones but they are all a bit samey samey so when I spotted this beauty it had to be mine as I am currently using another ipad mini case which is looking worse for wear!

My travel wallet with Mr Tramp’s boring travel wallet from Boots

Not only is it awesome, it was also only £18 in the Ted Baker sale.

What do you keep your travel documents in on your journeys?

Katie Travel

Travel : Bargain Packing Cubes

Hello Lovelies,

I have some bargain packing cubes to tell you all about today!

I recently picked up a 4 pack of packing cubes from Ikea. Available in pink and navy. Each 4 pack is £5.

When you compare that to the market leaders from Eagle Creek which are around the £30+ mark or the Ebay copies for about £10, then the £5 sets from Ikea are just perfect.

The Upptacka set contains 4 polyester zippered bags which come in 4 different sizes including a shoe bag.

If you are not familiar with packing cubes, they are a god send for organising and packing. Not just for travels in your case but they are good for storing your seasonal clothes such as bikinis over winter or hats and scarfs over summer. Safe, secure and neat in one place. With 2 colours available, you can colour coordinate with your partner or children so you know who has what.

In suit cases, you could pack each out fit in to its own cube so you can just grab and go, keep small items together, straighteners and tongs with their unruly cables or keep your dirty washing separate. They are perfect for camping or room sharing as you can just grab your wash bag and your days clothes in the cube and head to the shower without lugging clothes around.

Small – 25cm x 16cm
Medium – 33cm x 25cm
Large – 35cm x 25cm
Shoes – 43cm x 23cm

I always use packing cubes in my travel bags to put my electric cords in as the cubes are slim line and their soft structure means they can accommodate odd shaped items.

I do have some Eagle Creek packing cubes and they are incredibly well made but getting hold of them in the UK for a reasonable price is really hard so I am always on the look out for alternatives without resorting to the poor quality ebay jobbies.

If you travel a lot or are looking to get more organised, these are for you. At £5 you can’t go wrong!

Katie Travel

Travel – My Dream Cruise!

Hello Lovelies,

I mentioned in my last travel post that I am going to Morocco in Spring when in fact that is only half correct. Mother Tramp and I are going abroad as it is her first foreign holiday since Dad passed away. We both have the time booked off work and although we had both been settled on Morocco, I was looking at options around this and thought a cruise might be more special for her. Fred Olsen had a cruise to Spain and Morocco.

Then I just had to go and look around the website further didn’t I?

Petra is at the top of my must visit destinations. It is a UNESCO world heritage site in Jordan, so when I saw that a cruise to Egypt could not only include shore excursions to the Pyramids, Valley of the Kings, 4X4 sand dune adventures AND a trip to Petra that was me sold, right there and then. A cruise was the way forward.

The Embark for Egypt cruise has 11 stops over 24 days and prices start from £1549 for a 2015 sailing. Not only would we visit Egypt, we would start our voyage in Spain, on to Malta and then we’d sail through the Suez canal, a man made engineering wonder of the world, then visit Oman, Jordan and Dubai.

I have never been on a cruise before and I was amazed to see that on board the Balmoral, the Fred Olsen cruise liner for the Egypt adventure, has a swimming pool, spa, library, shops and lots of entertainment options!

It has everything we are both looking for in one combined holiday. Sun, Sea, relaxation and sight seeing! I wish I had explored cruises before now.

You can find all details of the cruise HERE along with some excellent, highly tempting last minute cruise deals

Now, all I have to do is get over my fear of boats and convince Mother Tramp to raid her piggy bank – wish me luck!

* Post written in conjunction with Fred Olsen Cruises. All words and thoughts are my own.

Katie Travel

Travel Planning – Part 3 – My 2014 plans

Well after discussing how to get organised during your planning and my top websites to use as tools, I thought it was only fair to tell you about my holiday plans this year and how I booked them.

For our main holiday this year, Mr Tramp and I are going to New York in December flying with British Airways from Newcastle to JFK and staying in a 4* Marriott property. With 7 nights of our total stay completely free thanks to loyalty points.

I am always checking flights and routes we are likely to travel so I have a pretty rough idea of how much flights usually cost so when I am beginning to plan my travels, I know if a good deal crops up. It means I never have to wait for sales, I can jump on a bargain when I see it. On average flights with BA, my carrier of choice range from £1100 to £1300 return for 2 people to JFK via London Heathrow. The airport codings are NCL – LHR – JFK for anyone that likes to play the 3 letter game.

I booked the flights in March for a bargainous sum of £900 which are at least £200 cheaper than usual. We could have flown from Manchester for a similar price with a US Airways but by the time we factored in diesel costs + parking + more importantly time, it wasn’t worth it so when this deal cropped up for Newcastle we snatched it up.

Because we had saved the money on the flight, I chose to reserve our seats on the LHR to JFK leg and return. I paid extra for this but we thought it was worth it as we are quite specific for our flight requirements so it’s no big deal. I am a British Airways Executive Club member with a household account so I will be collecting the miles from this trip on both of our flights. I checked the seats our via Seat Guru before I booked them. I didn’t pay to reserve the seats from NCL to LHR because it’s only a short flight and you can usually always guarantee to be seated together.

British Airways is my carrier of choice because it serves a vast majority of the destinations we are interested in, with Newcastle acting as a feeder airport for Heathrow. We use BA because we know it will be a guaranteed level of service and quality. We know there will be meals, drinks, entertainment and attentive service. Of course this is the same as most other airlines but we stick with BA to maximise our point building. Every few journeys, we rack up enough miles for a European city break for free. You can’t complain with free!

Like I mentioned in my last post, we also use BA because I can convert my Tesco points in to BA Avios miles and use their Gate 365 shopping portal to earn extra points from my online shopping!

As I am a proud points hoarder, the hotel is paid for by Marriott loyalty points. The hotel we chose would have cost us £1,400 for 7 nights. That is expensive! As a Marriott member we have the added luxury of an automatic room upgrade at check in and the benefit of hotel lounge access which provides a complimentary breakfast, cocktail hour, tea time nibbles and drinks. As most American hotels provide Room Only, anything that can be had for free for breakfast saves time and money as you don’t need to find anything.

At the airport itself, we will be enjoying the BA lounge in London Heathrow for the short time between our connecting flights, which means we will be able to have a little bit of peace and quiet, a coffee and a comfy seat before our 7hr flight over to New York. In Heathrow Terminal 5, there are no other paid-for lounges. If your air ticket does not include lounge access (Business Class upwards) then collecting air miles to get status is a great way to get access as a frequent economy flyer can move up the loyalty club ranks to reap the benefits.

So there you go, a little insight in to our main travel plans for this year. Mr T is also in the middle of planning our holidays next year – I am going to Morocco and then we are both going on another road trip through America….. that is going to take a whole load of planning!

If this post and the previous one has taught you anything about planning your own travels away, that is to join loyalty schemes. You never know what you will get free!

There is currently a British Airways fare sale on until July 8th – Hurry!