Trust me, this is not a joke. A Czech travel agency is offering trips to Prague for your favourite teddy bear or other stuffed toy.
For the equivalent of £78 ($122), the agency will take pictures of the toy tourists at Prague’s major sights and put them on a CD so that you, the owner, can ‘boast to friends or on Facebook’.
The man behind it, Tomio Okamura, said:
“It is not a joke. We are four owners [including] me – the vice president of the Czech National Association of Travel Agencies – also Miss Dana Bérová, who is a former minister. So it’s proof that it’s a very serious business.”
But the sightseeing is just the half of it. For an extra £52 ($81), the toys can have massage or aromatherapy sessions. Mr Okamura again:
“Yes, we will make massage on the mat next to Charles Bridge, with Prague Castle in the background. So we will put teddy bear on the mat, put candles around him and take photos. So then his owner can say that his bear had a massage in Prague.”
Of course, the tour organisers need to know in advance if the guest is vegetarian because lunch is included …
Look, I can’t go on with this, it’s too ridiculous. If you have a teddy that’s shown an interest in broadening his horizons, go to www.sendyourdarling.com.
by Andy Moreton
Why send your teddy when you can go yourself? Here at Luxique, we describe the Czech capital as ‘a fairyland of pinnacles, towers and fabulously ornate castles and palaces.’ And we have a selection of 23 of the best luxury hotels in Prague.
The Alpine ski season has begun earlier than usual thanks to unseasonably heavy snowfalls.
Last weekend, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of the year. There were significant snowfalls across Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland – some up to 20 inches deep. The Austrian resort of Kitzbühel had earlier set an 80-year record by opening on October 24th.
Ski tour operators welcomed the early snow, saying it had helped stimulate sharp increases in bookings, which would go some way to countering the effects of the economic downturn.
Betony Garner, of Ski Club of Great Britain, said:
“The crucial thing is that the temperature has been staying low so the snow is settling – some resorts are blanketed like it’s the middle of winter.”
Many Alpine resorts had been becoming increasingly nervous about the unseasonably warm weather of late, which saw temperatures as high as 18C (65F), fearing a repeat of the dire season of 2006/7.
by Andy Moreton
Heading for the piste? Check out Luxique’s selection of luxury Alpine hotels in France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria.
Some while ago, I reported on a hotel survey about favourite aromas. Second in the list, behind ‘The Sea’, was the smell of freshly-cut grass, which people said reminded them of summers past.
Now I read that researchers have discovered that a chemical, released by a mown lawn, can act on a part of the brain, making people feel happy and relaxed. It could even prevent mental decline in old age.
The Australian scientists behind the seven-year study have now developed a perfume called Serenascent, which has the ‘pleasant aroma of a freshly-cut lawn or a walk through a lush forest’.
It’s due to go into production soon and will sell for about £4 ($6.50) a bottle. Nick Lavidis, a neuroscientist at the University of Queensland said: “It can be used as a room spray or a personal spray on bed linen, a handkerchief or clothing.” Or I suppose, if you were really evil you could seriously annoy someone suffering from hay fever.
Lavidis said he first had the idea for Serenascent on a memorable trip to Yosemite National Park in California more than 20 years ago. “Three days in the park felt like a three-month holiday,” he said. “I didn’t realise it the time but it was the actual combination of feel-good chemicals released by the pine trees, the lush vegetation and the cut grass that made me feel so relaxed.”
by Andy Moreton
A hundred years ago, the Venice Lido was one of Europe’s most glamorous playgrounds for movie stars and royalty, and there’s now going to be a bold attempt to recapture its glory days.
The Lido is an 11-mile strip of land dividing the Venice lagoon from the Adriatic. It comes alive once a year in September for the Film Festival, when it’s besieged by actors, journalists and paparazzi, but for the rest of the year it all goes quiet.
“The Lido has slowly turned residential and gone to sleep, covered in dust,” said Giovanni Gusso, President of the Lido’s municipal council.
Now, hundreds of millions of euros of private funding are being lined up to restore the area’s Art Deco and Art Nouveau gems. In addition, government money is being spent on a new terminal for the city’s vaporetti (water buses).
But (there always seems to be a ‘but’ in these planning developments) one aspect is meeting disapproval – and it concerns the plans to demolish a group of beach huts. These are not just any old huts – they were famously depicted in the iconic closing scene of Visconti’s 1971 film Death In Venice, starring Dirk Bogarde.
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition protesting at the plans to demolish those and the turn-of-the-century Bagni Alberoni pavilion at the south end of the Lido.
Stefano Bartoli, the owner of the Bagni Alberoni bathing establishment, said:
“If these plans go ahead, we will have to close, it’s that simple. It won’t be possible to stay open. And if we close, lots of jobs will be lost and the local community will die – so, too, will a little piece of history.”
by Andy Moreton
Luxique can offer the best available rates at the pick of the luxury hotels in Venice – including the elegant and tranquil Albergo Quattro Fontane on the Lido.
The British tend to have a stereotyped view of Germans when it comes to poolside holidays – they’re the ones who rise at dawn to lay claim to the sun-loungers in the best spots.
But this early morning ritual of ‘the draping of the towel’ may be a thing of the past as the travel firm Thomas Cook is giving some German guests the option of pre-booking their sun beds when they choose their next Mediterranean holiday package.
Nine hotels in places such as Turkey, Egypt and the Canary Islands have signed up to the scheme, which Thomas Cook hopes will end the perceived ‘beach towel wars’ between holidaymakers. For 3 euros (£2.50 / $4) a day, the client can pay in advance for a sun lounger and umbrella.
At the moment, the scheme applies only to some winter holidays booked in Germany, but it could be extended if it proves popular.
A spokesman for Thomas Cook, which is German-owned, said: “With this we’re relieving our clients of early morning stress.”
Predictably, this story has attracted many comments on message boards, with several saying that the British are as bad as the Germans, if not worse, when it comes to the dawn raids on sun beds.
One writer puts forward the view that hotels should provide enough poolside loungers and shade for 98 per cent of the total number of guests their hotel can accommodate. Another said that on holiday in Tenerife some years ago, a pool attendant collected any towels left on sun beds that had been unoccupied for one hour. They had to be collected from the hotel’s poolside office.
by Andy Moreton
There are any number of niggling setbacks that can befall you as you stagger out of the airport and hail a taxi to take you to your hotel. Having difficulty with the language, for example, or not holding enough local currency.
But for Samantha Lazzaris, from Bristol in the west of England, it was a whole lot worse than that – she was in the wrong country.
She’d booked a trip to Costa Rica in Central America, but after a mix-up with flights, she found herself about 1,300 miles away in Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean. It was the cab driver who broke the unfortunate news.
Miss Lazzaris had to pay £800 for three extra flights to get to her chosen destination. She blames her tour company, saying it used the booking code SJU for San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, instead of SJO for San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.
The company is investigating.
by Andy Moreton
If you accidentally find yourself in Puerto Rico – or it’s your intended destination - Luxique can offer the best rates at one of three top-class luxury Puerto Rico hotels.
The island nation of Fiji has begun a drive to boost its visitor numbers.
There’s a new logo and additional funding to try to achieve a ten per cent increase in tourist arrivals this year from 545,000 to 600,000.
The Minister for Tourism, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said the additional funding would enable Tourism Fiji to develop a higher profile in several key emerging markets offering huge potential, including China, India and Russia.
“The increased funding will also allow Tourism Fiji to step up its efforts in attracting niche market, special interest and sustainable tourism business,” said Mr Sayed-Khaiyum. “These include backpackers, conference business, sports tourism, diving and the key romantic travel market - weddings and honeymoons.”
The travel website www.myfiji.com says: “Fiji embodies everything the romance of the South Seas is supposed to – with laidback maritime charm, a warm, tropical climate, friendly people, exotic fruit and vegetables, and strange yet harmless creatures.”
Luxique can offer a choice of two award-winning luxury resorts in Fiji – the Outrigger On The Lagoon, situated in a 40-acre garden on the island of Viti Levu, and Royal Davui, an exclusive adults-only sanctuary in Fiji’s spectacular Beqa Lagoon.
by Andy Moreton
It’s a universally acknowledged truth that the holiday business is largely immune to economic downturns.
That once-a-year, hard-earned, stress-busting break is the very last thing that families will sacrifice in a recession, so holiday companies are currently pushing hard for bookings.
Here in the UK, they’re concentrating on two main themes. First, after a year that saw the collapse of XL, Zoom, Silverjet and a number of other travel businesses, the stress is on consumer protection. Secondly, they’re pointing out that holidays in 2009 – despite the slump in the value of Sterling – are still very affordable.
The same goes for hotels. As I said in a previous article, the customer is king and the savvy customer will not hesitate to negotiate.
The Observer newspaper claimed on Sunday that luxury hotels in London were slashing their rates to such an extent that ‘it can now be cheaper to stay in a five-star hotel than a Travelodge’ (a no-frills budget chain). It quoted The Landmark (a Leading Hotel of The World) as cutting its rates from £550 ($796) a night to £140 ($203).
by Andy Moreton
Luxique has a comprehensive selection of the very best luxury London hotels – including The Landmark - as well as a guide to getting the most from your stay.
