Beach

Queen Elizabeth, together with some of the Royal family, had gone on a series of cruise holidays recently. Now that the vacation is over, business now back as usual.

The Queen was personally greeted by the Prince Charles when she arrived. The Prince of Wales was on holiday in Caithness and then went to meet his family who just arrived at the Scrabster harbor following an eleven-day trip aboard the Hebridean Princess.

Part of the entourage was the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children. The group then attended a lunch hosted at the Castle of Mey.

Also enjoying this special cruise holiday were the Duke of York, daughters Eugenie and Beatrice, Vice-Admiral Timothy Laurence.

The 49-passenger vessel sailed from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis on July 23, 2010 and the trip was a memorable one for everyone since they managed to spend significant time with each other.

It is rare that we get to use a camera (a video or still for that matter) during heavy activities such as scuba diving and sky diving. However, the launch of the ATC9K All-Terrain Video Camera by Oregon Scientific sets all those doubts aside. The new product is an HD video recorder that is very durable that it can be used in any type of environment.

In the press release, Oregon Scientific said that the camera is easy to use and is shock-resistant. This can be strapped on to a helmet, snowboard, surfboard, handle bars and even in scuba diving equipment because of its waterproof feature.
The company added that the camera can shoot up to sixty frames per second at a 1080 full HD video. In terms of still shots, the photos are of high quality due to the 5-megapixel quality. There’s an LCD screen placed on the camera which makes it easier to do playback of recently shot scenes, so you can watch all your adventures when you’re back safely on steady land!

The Malta Tourism Authority identified more than 200 unlicensed holiday villas. This was revealed on a report posted by online site di-ve. Majority of these holiday villas are located in Gozo.

The authority’s Quality Assurance Directorate has carried out the initiative to identify these villas. They used several factors to identify which ones are registered. Part of their investigation process is to contact those in-charge of those properties to inquire about specific details and premise addresses.

There are holiday premises that have domestic licenses which means it can only be rented out to Malta residents only.

Since January this year, more than 250 unlicensed holiday villas have been identified in Gozo alone and the authorities are now pushing efforts to have these properties licensed. Basically, the owners have been told that they will face legal actions if they don’t act on their directives as soon as possible.

Caravan holidays are more affordable than going on trips abroad. However, you can get more discounts and savings just doing a little research and a little bit of planning as well, and not just pack your swimwear and head there.

Experts said that caravan holiday-goers can save up more by going through trips by avoiding peak times like school holidays. However, this is not an indication that parents should get their kids off school to go on a break because this may be more expensive due to the fines they have to settle with the school.

In these types of situations, the best option is to plan way ahead of time in order to get discounts and reasonable rates.

Experts believe that the peak times will be between July and August. The half part of May can still be a reasonable time to go on a holiday because discounts are still offered by then.

A research conducted by Visit England revealed that UK holidays will see another boom this year as local residents prefer to spend quality time within the country rather than going on trips abroad.

Last year, there was an increase of eighteen percent in the number of holidays done on home soil. More than 90 percent of these vacationers have stated that they will do the same this year.

Visit England CEO James Berresford said that it is not a surprise that more people have gone local when it comes to vacations because there are so much to be seen in the country. He added that there are a lot of cities hosting festivals which attracts a lot of visitors both here in abroad.

Berresford is confident that the recently released “Robin Hood” film will once again bring interest in the country where the movie was shot.

Several thousands of British Airway customers are going to experience a lot of inconveniences since there will be a lot of cancelled flights that will happen in the next days following the four-day strikes made by union cabin crew.

Union leader Tony Woodley is nowhere to be found as he and his wife reportedly spent their holidays at lush holiday villas in Cyprus despite the ruckus. The union joint general secretary Derek Simpson became the official representative.

Woodley did not attend negotiations with the British Airway officials last month because he was in Cuba and celebrating the 51st anniversary of the revolution that catapulted Fidel Castro to power.

These moves have infuriated the BA officials because it seemed that the union leader is not taking this matter seriously. However, a spokesman for the union said that the trip was planned a long time ago.

The concept of singles holidays has always been about people who are not in a relationship having fun during a vacation – go to beaches with stunning swimwear, meeting new friends, or a possible partner in life. However, this has changed in the past years as even those who are in a relationship who just wants to spend time by themselves can avail of the singles holidays.

In UK, the Tour for Singles packages have gained momentum with travels to historical towns and cities such as Anglesey, Cardigan, Caernarfon and Cheltenham being offered to interested travelers.

Travel company Solitair has taken advantage of the growing interest in local travel by offering several singles holidays packages to UK travelers. Several Tour for Singles events are being organized for the vacationers.

What’s good about this package, according to the travel company officials, is that it’s affordable and budget-friendly. They’re expecting a boom in interest in the coming months.

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In New Zealand, An official from a landlords association believes that investment figures on holiday rentals are a “overinflated,” saying that instead of the $200 billion that was initially reported, it may about fifty percent of that.

Andrew King, vice-president of the Property Investors Federation, said that the contention of Tax Working Group’s that there was too much money invested in property is a definitely “overinflated.”

This seemed to concur with the research presented by Auckland University’s Retirement Policy and Research Center which states that the actual amount invested on holiday rentals and properties are in the range of $60 to $80 billion.

The mistake seemed to have stemmed from the census figures in 2006 where there was an error in the number of houses owned by residents.

The confirmation of this error is yet to be made by the party who released the report.

Thousands of holiday homes are said to be uninsured which means these structures are placed in big financial risks should something unexpected happens. This was revealed by Saga home insurance.

According to the insurance company, about ten percent of the owners have never availed of the holiday home insurance, twenty percent that have such policies were unable to review the conditions of the policy and others have never even reviewed the policies.

Holiday homes tend to be uninhabited for quite some time. Saga home insurance stated that these properties are in danger of being robbed by burglars or the structure may encounter problems such as burst pipes and if these pipes are not attended to immediately, this could be a very expensive ordeal.

The company encourages the owners to avail of insurance for their holiday homes because there are more advantages from availing such.

Going on a romantic holiday expedition on a budget, then you may want to check in at the newest budget hotel that opened recently in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Edinburgh Cameron Toll is owned by budget hotel chain Travelodge and it opened recently at 43 Craigmillar Park at Cameron Toll.

To commemorate the opening of this establishment, the hotel is offering 10,000 rooms at budget-friendly rates of £19 to £29. The offer spans in all of Travelodge’s ten hotels across the Scottish city. The promotion stands throughout the year. Interested parties are invited to go to the hotel chain’s website to book their romantic holiday vacations in advance.

The offer is not only given to couples out there. According to Travelodge officials, families can avail of the discounts and that they can book larger rooms to accommodate the entire family. Children under the age of 16 may have special rates during check ins and the breakfast buffets are budget-friendly for everyone as well.