Gap Adventures offers UK travellers the chance to win 1 of 5 £250 travel vouchers and signed copies of best-seller 1,000 Places to See Before You Die every day for 5 days

London, 8 March, 2010 – New York Times best-selling author Patricia Schultz has been announced as the 10th celebrity judge in an esteemed panel that will select the Top 20 finalists of Gap Adventures’ highly-popular Create Your Own Adventure contest (www.createyourownadventure.com).

But the author of the definitive travel guide 1,000 Places to See Before You Die – who was named one of the 25 most influential women in travel by Forbes Magazine in 2008 – will have extra judging duties to carry out before she helps decide the top finalists. For all entries submitted between 8 March and 13 March, Schultz will select her five choices for ‘Best Adventure to Experience Before You Die’ out of the hundreds of worldwide submissions. The five winners will be awarded a £250 Gap Adventures travel voucher, as well as a signed copy of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die including a personalised message from the author.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to participate in such a dynamic online contest,” Schultz said. “Create Your Own Adventure allows travellers to share the itinerary of their dreams with others and communicate their passion for adventure to the world – I don’t think you could ask for anything more from a travel contest.”

The Create Your Own Adventure contest invites everyone from once-a-year travellers to seasoned globetrotters to submit an itinerary for the tour of their dreams, virtually anywhere in the world, virtually any way they want. Everyone with a winning tour idea can log on to www.createyourownadventure.com and use the customised itinerary engine to build their dream trip. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2010 and the creator of the winning tour will have the opportunity to experience their adventure along with two lucky friends.

“Having Patricia Schultz come aboard as a judge simply is the perfect addition to this panel,” said Gap Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip. “Her commitment to exploring the world in search of authentic travel experiences aligns perfectly with our goals when we first dreamt up this contest. I can’t wait for her to join me and the rest of our travel-loving judges to select the finalists.”

For brides-to-be and their mothers Whatley Manor (01666 822 888 www.whatleymanor.com), the beautifully restored private manor house that nestles in 12 acres of Wiltshire countryside, has devised a series of two full day spa experiences and an overnight Mother & Bride-to-Be Spa packages to help mothers and daughters escape from the preparations and indulge in some exclusive pampering in the luxurious surroundings of its award winning spa Aquarias.

Aquarias spa is the only La Prairie five star ‘Art of Beauty’ centre outside of London. These centres are only found in the most exclusive spas around the world and are a sign of outstanding quality.

With a choice of two full day midweek spa experiences guests can select either a two hour or three and a half hour series of treatments. The two hour series of treatments includes a sixty minute facial and a Jessica mini manicure and mini pedicure per person, plus full use of the spa facilities followed by a light lunch and refreshments and costs £195 per person. Or alternatively the three and a half hour series of treatments comprises a ninety minute facial, choosing from a host of luxurious and signature facials plus a Jessica mini manicure and mini pedicure per person and full use of the spa facilities. This is followed by a light lunch and refreshments served in the spa lounge for £310 per person.

For those that wish to extend the indulgence and treat themselves to an Overnight Mother & Bride-to-Be stay, packages start from at £555, based on two guests sharing a standard room (Midweek only – Sunday to Thursday night), full English breakfast, use of all the spa facilities plus a 60 minute spa treatment and mini manicure and mini pedicure per person and a light lunch and refreshments served in the spa lounge. Prices for a Deluxe room are £595 and for a Suite £655 based on two guests sharing.

For further information and to book call Whatley Manor on 01666 822 888 or visit the website at www.whatleymanor.com.

Airports can be very large these days and people often have to walk a considerable distance with their luggage, frequently pulling a suitcase with one hand and carrying another bag in the other. Conventional cases with their tiny wheels and pull up handles are difficult to manoeuvre, sometimes fall over and are very difficult to lug up stairs. Moving a fully-packed case weighing up to 23kg places a considerable strain on the user. To travel like this assumes a level of fitness which not everyone is blessed with. As we age and still wish to travel, our journeys through airports and stations can become problematical. Even the young and robust aren’t immune to arm and neck strain from the effort of dragging and lifting heavy luggage, and surely everyone would prefer to keep one hand free, instead of having to put something down to accomplish simple tasks like paying for a newspaper or handing over passports or tickets.

Live Luggage realised what people really require from luggage is stability, manoeuvrability, and flexibility. So it designed and engineered a completely new range of suitcases literally from the ground up. After six years, the result is stylish luggage, flexible enough to cope with everything from a day trip to a two or three week holiday, with high-tech innovations to help prevent health problems caused by pulling heavy bags around. Live Luggage invested around two kilos’ worth of weight allowance in the actual case and associated technological breakthroughs, devised a proper handle system on a stable chassis and pioneered powered wheels. 85% of the packed weight in a Live Luggage case rests over the wheels instead of on the user, thanks to the properly-engineered fully injection-moulded handle system (the Anti-Gravity handle). The result – no hassle, no struggling – no health issues such as backache and shoulder problems. Live Luggage PA (power-assisted) cases also have pan-cake motors built in to the large flat wheels, giving power-assistance for going up gradients: intelligently driven with torque sensors and tilt switches, the wheels only power up when a step or gradient is sensed. The weight of the packed case feels like virtually nothing. Safe, rechargeable batteries last for around 1.5 miles on a single charge.

The multi-bag zip system of Live Luggage’s Hybrid bag is a breakthrough in functionality designed to cope with airlines’ continued changes of weight and “number of items of hand luggage” policies. Made from tested and proven ballistic lightweight nylon, the Live Luggage Hybrid Bag comprises a capacious main case with a removable laptop bag and a weekend luggage bag, which can be checked in as a single piece of luggage or alternatively zipped off to be carried as either one or two pieces of hand luggage. It’s a very neat way of buying three different bags in one, which can used separately all year round.

Live Luggage cases are stylish designer bags, designed by British engineers and built in Britain so people can travel safely and flexibly anywhere in the world. The Hybrid Bag is available in black with a choice of black, yellow, white, pink or red handles. Two versions are available: The Hybrid PA (power-assisted) Bag, with powered wheels and anti-gravity handle at £395, and the Hybrid AG (anti-gravity handle) Bag, priced at £250.

Live luggage…because the world is not flat

Luxury river cruise operator AMAWaterways is including a complimentary two night, b&b city break in a 5* hotel in Prague with bookings for a 7 night `Castles and Rivers’ cruise of the Main, Rhine and Mosel Rivers.

The cruise, from Nuremberg to Trier, takes in Europe’s most scenic countryside, passing historic cities, timbered towns and through waterways lined with castles and vineyards.

The `stay-and-cruise’ offer also includes transfers to join the ship in Nuremberg and represents a saving of at least £450 per person.

Prices for the 7 night `stay-and-cruise’ start from £1275 per person for departure on 29th October 2010, with departures also on 14th May (£1395), 25h June (£1325) and 16th July (£1325).

The 9 night holiday includes 2 nights b&b accommodation in a 5* hotel in Prague (3 nights on the July departure), transfers, 7 nights cruising on board a luxury river cruise ship, with all meals, free flowing wine with dinner, champagne breakfasts, daily excursions, free use of on board bicycles, free internet access and international taxes, excludes flights.

- Icelandic economic situation puts Iceland as a value destination in the spotlight

Iceland’s leading airline, Icelandair, has seen an increase in UK sales over the past year since the Icelandic economic situation has brought increased attention to the destination.

Travellers are flocking to Iceland due to the favourable currency exchange rate for UK visitors which has also been confirmed by the Lonely Planet World Travel Guide choosing Iceland as the 2010 best value destination for 2010.

“It seems that in the middle of the media interest we have been able to communicate the fact that this is a great time to visit Iceland, because as a traveller you simply get more for your money than ever before”, says Birkir Holm Gudnason, CEO of Icelandair.

Hjorvar Saeberg Hognason, General Manager UK, added, “If you compare what a pound got you on 1st February 2008 to 1st February 2010, you see an increase of 57%, so you can see why UK passengers are heading to Iceland in droves to experience the breathtaking nature and enjoy activities like searching for the northern lights. Whale watching season is just around the corner so we hope to see many travellers heading over to see the whales and amazing birdlife.”

Last week Icelandair added another three percent to its flight schedule, which was already ten percent up from last year, as a reaction to the rising interest in Iceland tourism.

Icelandair is one of Iceland’s longest established companies, connecting the world and Iceland for over 70 years.
For more information on Icelandair and to book flights visit www.icelandair.com

It’s that time again! The new Frankfurt Rhine-Main Guide has arrived, offering a wide range of pertinent information on Frankfurt and its surrounding region. Published by the Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board (TCF) every two years, the new Frankfurt Rhine-Main Guide 2010/2011 has been distributed to travel agencies, tour operators, company travel departments, congress and incentive organisers as well as the trade press in some 86 countries. This time, some 20,000 copies have been printed.

“The Guide has been conceived as a special sales manual, targeting mainly our industry clients”, says Thomas Feda, managing director of the TCF. “It is an indispensable planning aid for travel, conference and congress experts as well as an important marketing instrument for promoting the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region as a first-class business and tourist destination.”

The Guide’s content has been categorised into specific subject areas. It is clearly structured and offers comprehensive information on hotels, conference venues, unusual event locations such as museums and scientific institutions, sightseeing attractions, cultural establishments and traffic and transport connections. The range of information is rounded off by recommendations for fringe programmes, special events, shopping, pubs, bars and restaurants.

The information provided in the 214-page sales manual is also available on the TCF’s Internet presentation (www.frankfurt-tourismus.de), where it is updated regularly. Furthermore, all of the TCF’s service offers may be booked online at any time. The online hotel navigator lists over 150 accommodation establishments of every category and price range. The Frankfurt Convention Bureau, meanwhile, offers event organisers a choice of some 220 conference venues, event locations and congress hotels, making it easy to find the right venue for every type of event.

To obtain your copy of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Guide 2010/2011, simply fax or e-mail your order to the Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board, Kaiserstr. 56, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Fax: +49 (0) 69 / 21 23 78 80, E-mail: info@infofrankfurt.de or tourismus@infofrankfurt.de.

When it comes to air travel it seems that, although we complain about hidden charges, the budget airlines are gradually educating travellers to accept such charges for services that were once part of the headline flight price, according to new research released by BDRC Continental.

Budget airline travellers stressed more than anything else that they would like to see fewer hidden charges added to their ticket, yet budget airlines are still managing to convince customers that paying extra for an ever-widening range of services is acceptable.

Carried out in January, the survey asked travellers what extra charges are acceptable once they had paid for the flight. And the results suggest that some customers are prepared to pay for almost anything. 66% now think it acceptable to be charged for an extra item of hand luggage, 61% consider it appropriate to ask people to dig a little deeper in their pockets for priority boarding and 53% would accept the principle of additional charges for seat reservations.

There are now also significant numbers who feel it is acceptable to be charged for the privilege of being checked in by a member of staff (25%), to check in a bag at all (18%) and to pay for a ticket via a credit (26%) or debit card (15%) -see below.

When purchasing airline tickets extras are often charged separately. Which of these do you think are acceptable to charge for as extras on your ticket price?

66% An extra item of hand luggage
61% Priority boarding
53% A seat reservation charge
50% Surcharge on people over a certain weight
29% A carbon off-setting charge
27% Assistance to aircraft if have mobility problems
26% Paying for ticket on a credit card charge
25% To be checked in via a member of staff
18% To check in a bag
15% Paying for ticket on a debit card

Source: BDRC Continental (Q19) Base: All 20-64 year old online users (1005)

Steve Mills, Director of the Tourism, Travel and Leisure Team at BDRC Continental says: “Who would have thought five years ago that a quarter of us would now find it acceptable to pay extra just to be checked in? We all like to moan about these charges for ‘extras’, but the fact is those of us looking for bargain flights still look at the headline flight price when choosing an airline and neither have the time nor inclination to work out the final amount you end up being charged. The fact that this ‘unbundling’ of flight charges seems to be increasingly accepted by the public suggests that this practice is only likely to become more commonplace.”

So, how do these additional charges add up?

An extra item of hand luggage From £6.50 to £70 each way
Priority boarding From £4 to £16
A seat reservation charge From £4.50 to £10
A carbon off-setting charge Depending on flight distance – (e.g. flight from LGW to Alicante = £3.12 per passenger)
Paying for ticket on a credit card charge From 2.5% of transaction to £10
To be checked in via a member of staff From £6 to £80
To check in a bag From £8 to £15
Paying for ticket on a debit card From £2.95 to £10

So, in essence, a traveller could be paying in the region of an extra £284.12 on top of the ticket price – not such a budget conscious option after all.

We don’t even generally like travelling on budget airlines, with the survey finding that 49% of those with an opinion of budget airlines had not enjoyed their experience, compared with only 23% among scheduled airline travellers. However, further lowering prices seems to trump all quality measures when it comes to aspects that the public would like to see improved – for both budget and scheduled airlines.

Spend the longest day of the year- 21 June- onboard Royal Caribbean International’s (www.royalcaribbean.co.uk 0844 493 2061) Adventure of the Seas from just £760 per person for a five-night Western Mediterranean cruise (based on two people sharing an inside cabin).

Boasting 15 decks of activity including an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, miniature golf course, shopping street and a huge range of restaurants and bars, Adventure of the Seas has plenty to keep guests entertained for all 17 hours of daylight on the longest day of the year, as well as the remaining seven evening hours.

Price includes return flights from London Heathrow to Barcelona, transfers and a five-night cruise departing Barcelona (Spain) and calling at Cannes (Montecarlo, France), Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy), Aiaccio (Corsica) and Malaga (Spain) before returning to Barcelona; meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees.

Price is based on 21 June 2010 departure.

For more information or to book see www.royalcaribbean.co.uk, call 0844 493 2061 or talk to your travel agent.

World Travel Market’s visitor satisfaction levels have increased dramatically cementing WTM’s position as the premier global event for the travel industry, independent research reveals.

Visitors to WTM 2009 rated the exhibition as better than other industry events, including ITB Berlin, in a range of categories with WTM being particularly strong for meeting and networking and keeping up to date with the latest trends.

The independent research of 2,058 visitors to WTM 2009, by Fusion Communications, also reveals increased levels of satisfaction compared to WTM 2008. An impressive eight out of ten visitors in 2009 came away feeling completely satisfied or very satisfied.

Overall, WTM 2009 met or exceeded the expectations of 94% of visitors.
The research also reveals WTM remains an extremely important place to do business with a massive 91% stating the event is imperative for their business and an impressive 97% of visitors likely to return in 2010.
Furthermore, 85% of visitors feel attending WTM gives them a competitive advantage over their rivals.

International media, which increased by 12% to 2,839 for WTM 2009, are in agreement with visitors with a massive 86% rating WTM as the best event or among the best events in the travel industry, including four out of ten stating WTM is the best event.

World Travel Market Exhibition Director Simon Press said: “It’s great to see that visitors are delighted with the experience of World Travel Market 2009 and view the exhibition as the best in the industry.

“WTM 2010 is expanding with a new floorplan, seminar content and networking functions offering greater opportunities.

“The findings from the independent research firmly cements World Travel Market’s position as the premier global event for the travel industry.”

The Great Adventure People use expertise to foresee what travellers really want

The Great Adventure People say after 20 years in the business they are perfectly placed to predict the future of adventure travel.

The company has launched a number of initiatives to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2010.

The latest is its 10 tips for the ultimate travel experience.

“It’s a fun idea but what lies behind it is a serious understanding of the future of adventure travel and what adventure travellers are really looking for,” says Bruce Poon Tip, founder of Gap Adventures. “What we have created is our blueprint for twenty more years of the best service in the business.”

Poon Tip says travellers like to do a bit of everything nowadays. They have their ideal itineraries in mind and his company’s job is to give people what they want.

Gap Adventures has also launched the exciting new competition, ‘Create Your Own Adventure’ (www.createyourownadventure.com) which invites travellers to submit their dream itinerary for the chance to win a place for themselves and two friends. The winning entry will then be featured in the 2011 brochures as the signature trip for the 20th Anniversary.

“This is an excellent way for travellers to express their perfect, once-in-a-lifetime trip and for one lucky winner, the dream will become a reality,” says Poon Tip.

Gap Adventures top ten tips for the next 20 years are:

1 Once in a lifetime trips
We will see less travellers going on package holidays and more embarking on life-changing adventures. They want memories and experiences they can boast about.

2 Embrace the bizarre
Travellers don’t want to see the ordinary any more. They will travel to new destinations and take part in new activities to really see and experience the weird and wonderful.

3 Do The Right Thing: Give Back
From our customers, we have learnt that people love the feeling of giving back to the communities they have visited. Volunteering holidays are more affordable and accessible than ever and over the next 20 years these will soar in popularity.

4 Love Changing Lives
People love to better themselves so combining a personal accomplishment with travel is the ideal situation. The next 20 years will see travellers booking trips to do something they’ve always wanted to do in order to better their lives. This can be anything from visiting that lifetime dream destination or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to learning to cook in South America or even rehabilitating wild animals.

5 The staycation was a passing craze
Travellers are bored of home and are realising that holidaying in the UK isn’t always cheaper. They will now want to spread their wings and get their kicks further afield.

6 Working sucks – travelling doesn’t
Many people who have lost their jobs over the past few years have turned the situation on its head and used their time wisely. They have eloped to see the world. By 2030 more people will choose to take some time out in search of thrills and experiences.

7 Edgy destinations are on the up
Travellers obviously want to be safe when they visit new countries but with so many new destinations opening up to global tourism, the world has never seemed bigger. People are also becoming more travel savvy and with this comes curiosity. Travellers will begin to venture to new locations that were once viewed as risky, Columbia, Burkina-Faso and Bhutan being prime examples.

8 A whole new world
Travellers want so much from a trip now and want to see places that are a world away from what they’re used to. People crave extremes and as a result will travel to the ends of the earth to do so. The next 20 years will see destinations such as Antarctica and Spitsbergen growing in popularity.

9 Create Happiness and Community
What is the point of travelling to a whole new country and not experiencing how the locals live? People are craving more meaningful adventures now and want a chance to interact with the local people, traditions and customs. By 2030, more travellers will be staying in basic, locally-owned accommodation or with local families in villages. They will experience all types of accommodation – from gurs to igloos.

10 One trip, more countries
In today’s society everyone is time poor. Not all people can spare weeks on end to travel. That is why it is becoming increasingly common to cram as much as they can into the time they have. Over the next 20 years, we will see a rise in people who crave a diverse itinerary, with one itinerary taking in two or three countries as we are seeing in the 2,000 plus itineraries which have been created through www,createyourownadventure.com.