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Well, hardly time to unpack and wash the smalls and its off again, with friends from work, to Stratford-upon-Avon for three days. I have been to Stratford before, but the memory was quite hazy, so everything came as a nice surprise. I knew to expect the old half-timbered houses and lots of Shakespeare, but it exceeded expectations. It really is a beautiful, well preserved, picturesque town. Lots of our American cousins there of course, thats OK, but why are they so loud? They seem to have no idea of how they come across, the image that they convey. Don't get me wrong, the Americans I have met have been lovely individuals, but abroad they often seem like demanding children. Anyway, enough. If you plan to visit several of the Shakepeare houses its best to buy a ticket that give you entry to them all, it works out much cheaper. If you don't manage to visit them all, save the ticket for your next visit (or give it to a friend) because it lasts for ever. We loved Shakespeare's

Well, another wonderful trip to Dublin . We had the luck of the Irish, good weather, not a drop of rain. The Gresham hotel is still a grand old lady, friendly staff,a good breakfast, comfy beds. http://www.gresham-hotels.com/ . (A horrible view of the inner courtyard, pretty dire, but, as it turned out, a blessing in disguise. It meant that the room was very quiet, thank goodness, if we had been at the front of the hotel the traffic in O'Connell street would have kept us awake for sure.) We had a very busy four days. Apart from the usual trips to the shops, lunch on the green at Trinity , coffee at Bewleys etc. we went to the Gaiety theatre to see a performance of The Rat Pack. http://www.gaietytheatre.ie/ . They were all brilliant, especially "Frank Sinatra", he looked like him, had the mannerisms, and sang like him, great! Some of the women in the audience, who were old enough to know better, were in ecstasy, practically throwing their knickers, (personally, we

Where are we off to next? I think you can guess! DUBLIN!!! Yes, at the beginning of September Sue and I are off on what is becoming an annual trip to sample the delights of Dublin again. I've lost count now of the number of times I've been to Eire's capital, but it doesn't matter, you can never tire of Dublin. This was an unexpected trip courtesy of Ryanair's latest special offer. http://www.ryanair.com/ . We grabbed it quick! Because the airfare was so cheap we are forsaking Trinity College this time, and treating ourselves to The Gresham Hotel in O'Connell Street. www.gresham-hotels.com/ . The Gresham Hotel is a Dublin institution and is known throughout the world. It claims to be the oldest hotel in Ireland and was built in 1817. Beyond our budget normally, but my friend got us a good deal, so off we go to see if it lives up to it's reputation. One of the nicest ways of getting around in on the Dart railway, which snakes around Dublin Bay. http://www.i

Slovenia seems to go in for "Wellness" breaks a lot. These are thermal spas where you can take the healing waters, bathe in them, and there also seems to be lots of medical treatments at the centres. Other services usually offered are beauty treatments galore. We sampled two on our last trip. The first was to Ptuj Thermal Spa - http://www.terme-putj.si/ , you will need to click on the UK flag to get the English version of both sites. This was our favourite of the two. The waters were really warm, there were lots of jacuzzi type pools to sit in, scented saunas, and beefy masseurs to iron out every kink. Ours was just a day visit, but you can book accommodation in the hotel as well. The other spa was the one at Zrece, difficult to find, turn left from the main road, up the hill, keep going until you see it on your right. http://www.terme-zrece.si/ . This was smaller, the waters weren't as warm, and things didn't seem as organised. Having said that, there were many mor

We have just returned from a holiday in Slovenia. What a fantastic country! Hot sunshine, towering mountains, pretty villages, friendly people, good food. What more could you ask for? This our second holiday in Slovenia, the first one was to Lake Bled, followed by Piran, on the coast. This time we flew into Maribor, (near the Austrian border) with Ryanair for 2p, yes that's right 2p, no taxes or anything extra! http://www.ryanair.com/ We stayed in the Pohorje mountain area, at Aparthotel Pohorje, which was a 20 minute drive up the mountain. http://www.aparthotel-pohorje.com/ . A lovely place, I would recommend it to anyone. I think it is mainly a ski hotel during the winter, it was very quiet when we were there. However, the apartment was fine, lovely comfy beds. We also booked half-board at the hotel, and the food was fantastic. It said in our guide book that it was the best place to eat in the area, and they were right. Compliments to the chef! The staff were also very friendly

Hurrah!! We spent two weeks at Disney in Orlando and survived!!! Not only that but we had a good time! Off we went, the entire family, all ten of us, via Virgin Atlantic to Orlando only to find we had brought British weather with us. The first few days were cold, raining, thunder & lightening storms and had a tornado watch in our area. But, hey, we're English, we don't let little things like that put us off. We put our macs on and set forth for the parks. Gatorland & Epcot were first, we thought we would get the least exciting ones over with first. The kids thought they were good, they love anything to do with animals. There followed in quick succession, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Sea World, Animal Kingdom, Islands Of Adventure, MGM, Discovery Cove, Kennedy Space Centre, and most weirdly, a visit to the Cassadaga Spiritualist village. Our youngest traveller had his fifth birthday while we were there and we had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and

Yippee!!! Just over a week to our next holiday. The entire family, 10 of us, are going to Orlando and Disneyland at Easter. I am praying there are no strikes at Gatwick or I might kill someone! Nine hours on the plane will be a bit of a challenge too, the youngest is only four and has never flown before. I'm so excited I feel like a big kid too! Two weeks sunshine, breakfast at Cinderella's castle and a five year olds birthday party at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh, what more could you ask? I will report back later! Our American cousins are so enthusiastic too, they really make the holiday more enjoyable (we went five years ago for the first time). The exchange rate is good at the moment too, so there will be lots of shopping to look forward to. Bring it on man!!

This was our first trip to Las Vegas, indeed our first trip to the US of A! In March 2000 we paid a millenium visit to Sin City. We arrived over Vegas at night and the view of the lights sparkling in the desert was amazing. After enduring immigration we piled into a stretch limo heading for our hotel, the Luxor. www.luxor.com .The driver took us down the strip on a little sightseeing tour, we couldn't believe we had arrived after planning it for so long. Then we rolled into the Luxor and our jaws fell open! What an amazing place! The decor is spectacular, over the top of course, but that is what Vegas is all about. The rooms were huge, even the lift was different, going sideways! I don't think we will ever get the sound of the slot machines out of our heads. We set off the next day to explore the strip, it didn't look very far, wrong!! We must have walked miles and had to keep popping into a casino to cool off. From then on we took a taxi or monorail, much better. I can