SIDE-TRIPPING

It's the week before Christmas, and you suddenly feel guilty that you're not spending it back home with family, or you've just realised there's a few public holidays in a row over a weekend next month! We’ve all had that desperate feeling where you know you’ve left it too late to get a good deal. Working in the travel industry, one of the most common questions I get asked is ‘do you have any good last minute deals?’

Here are some suggestions to help you get a decent last minute deal. I realise these ideas may be obvious to some, but you’d be surprised how many people spend over double the regular price just because it’s last minute, when if you get creative perhaps it could be avoided.

For last minute Christmas and New Years:

The festive season is about catching up with loved ones. If like me, you’re living abroad, your end of year trip back home is a whirlwind of seeing family and friends over various brunches, lunches, dinners and parties. So, by the time the holiday is over and you’re heading back to face the hundreds of unanswered work emails, you’re in desperate need of an ‘actual’ holiday.

So rather than paying double the usual price to fly direct and return more exhausted then when you left, grab a map and think about where you’re flying over.

Some ideas for my HK readers:

Vietnam Airlines via Ho Chi Minh to Australia

Spend a few days gorging on delicious food in this historical city

Stay: Caravelle (5*) a heritage hotel http://www.caravellehotel.com/en/default.aspx

After a day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels and a lunch cruise on the Mekong Delta, enjoy some sunset drinks at the rooftop bar of the Caravelle hotel, which was the centre of operations for the international media back in the 60’s during the war…so a great piece of history. Just don’t forget your visa!

Air Pacific via Fiji to Australia

Who wouldn’t want a few days of extra beach time!

Stay: Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort (5*) an eco resort on a private island, win-win http://www.fijiresort.com

Just think, you only need to pack an extra bikini!

Etihad via Abu Dhabi to the UK

Now Etihad have the codeshare flight with Air Seychelles you can enjoy a few days in the UAE, enjoying the exorbanent luxury of Arabic hospitality or perhaps visit on your outbound journey to purchase a few last minute Christmas presents 

Stay: Emirates Palace Hotel (5*) http://www.kempinski.com/en/abudhabi/emirates-palace/overview/ offering glamour and beach

Visit the worlds largest indoor theme park, where lovers of luxury cars and speed can experience the G-force felt by race car drivers at Ferrari World.

Turkish Airlines to the rest of Europe

Their premium economy service is a class above the rest and great value, usually only costing a fraction more than economy direct. With business class meals, wifi on board, 111 degree recline it’s a no brainer! Not to mention, Istanbul is an incredible city to visit with so much interesting history, architectural beauty and the food…!!!

Stay: Hotel Sultania (4*) http://www.hotelsultania.com location right in the old quarter, walking distance from the Blue Mosque, Bazaar and all the action down by the waterfront on the Bosphorous.

Brunei Airlines via Bandar Seri Begawan to/from Australian through to the UK

Say hi to the Probiscus monkeys with their funny-shaped noses, eat some salty and spicy foods at the markets in between visiting the decadant Royal Palace and various mosques. If golf is your thing, then this is the perfect stopover offering a breathtaking sea view championship course.

Stay: Empire Hotel and Country Club (5*) http://www.theempirehotel.com

Depending on the fare type, and the connection time, sometimes the airline will even pay for your night’s stay and include a sightseeing tour for you. What great value!

Philippine Airlines via Manila to Canada

Besides the endless amount of shopping malls (don’t miss the upper levels in Green belt 4 and 5, for some fantastic boutiques selling evening frocks by local designers), there’s some worthwhile daytrips or even overnight retreats just outside Manila.

Stay: Mandarin Oriental or Peninsula (5*) http://www.mandarinoriental.com/manila/ both in need of a refurb, but great location as they are walking distance to Green Belt Mall and not too far from the airport

Drive out for lunch with a view of Taal Volcano

The Farm, San Benito http://www.thefarmatsanbenito.com (approx. 1 hr car transfer from Manila) 

A true sanctuary where the use of mobile phones is restricted to your room and always on silent, delicious vegan food is prepared and you can work out, take yoga classes, detox, have colonics, acupuncture…they even offer flower arranging!

What a great way to recharge before facing the backlog of work emails post-holiday!

So next time you’re booking a long-haul trip last minute, spend the extra money on a a side trip rather than on a direct flight. Use the layover as a perfect opportunity to explore somewhere new.

MARS - ONLY AN OVERNIGHT FLIGHT AWAY

Being completely honest, I came across this place whilst researching on google for hot air balloon rides in Myanmar. This is the picture I stumbled across...

I knew I had to go.

Flying in from Istanbul into Kayseri Airport, we drove through dessert landscape for over an hour, until we reached the foothills of the mars-like terrain. A destination like Kapadokya (aka Cappadocia) has such breathtaking landscape making it so memorable on it's own, but staying in cave accommodation certainly adds to this experience. 

Cappadocia Cave Resort and Spa (5*) ~ approx EUR400 / night for a Deluxe Suite room with breakfast
http://www.ccr-hotels.com/en
I love staying in accommodation that reminds you as soon as you wake up, where you are. Whether you're at a beach destination and you wake up to the sound of waves lapping at your door, or in a historical city staying in a heritage hotel with original stone walls…when you wake up in a cool, quiet cave you know you're somewhere special.

The good:
- the caves naturally maintain a comfortable temperate, so if you visit in the summer time like I did, they're invitingly cool and in the winter time cosy and warm
- the staff were so friendly and helpful with arranging a private car and English-speaking guide for the duration of our stay (notably, a young lady named Selen Türk, assisted us through the whole booking process before we arrived and during our stay)
- great location; walking distance from the main 'castle'
- the hotel's outdoor restaurant offers fantastic views at sunset 

- free wifi in the room (not very stable or fast, but did the job)
- spacious suite rooms with an indoor jacuzzi, separate living room area and private balcony

- the spa menu is extensive with a steam room, sauna room, salt room, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, and most importantly a traditional Turkish Hamman where you lie on the heated marble slab to sweat before being scrubbed down by the tellak (masseur) 

Room for improvement
The shower drainage in our room was quite bad, almost flooded (perhaps older drainage systems and poorly designed shower doors that leaked). The general bathroom set up was quite cramped and hard to move around.

My tip 
Do not book the dinner with the Turkish dance evening show. We should have known better! The dancing itself was a lot of fun to watch, but the food was awful. One of those tourist traps where busloads of people pile into a room to watch some traditional dancing and are served food cooked hours ago in big vats and reheated. Tasteless and terrible. However, the dancing and free-flow local red wine did make up for it. 

Some of the dancing styles definitely had influences or perhaps influenced other types of dancing. The belly dancing with beautiful colourful fabrics sensually and almost hypnotically moving, reminded me of forms of traditional Indian dancing, and the men's dancing, arms-linked all in a row almost seemed Greek or even like an Irish jig.

Me getting involved :P

Cappadocia, in the ancient persian language Katpatuka, means 'land of the good-breed horses'. 60 millions years ago, the two volcanoes Erciyes and Hasan alongside the Göllü mountain erupted depositing ash and basalt. Over time different climate conditions and the natural wind, rain and erosions sculpted these ashes leaving these interesting peaks, cones and obelisks which the locals call "Fairy Chimneys".

Don't miss the Derinkuyu underground city in Neveshir, which housed up to 20,000 people and their livestock. Thought to have been used by early Christians hiding from Roman persecution and even earlier civilisations to escape the freezing winters, this intricate network of tunnels, rooms, and an incredibly clever ventilation system is a wonderful piece of history but certainly not for the claustrophobic.

I'm only 5"3 and had to almost crouch in half to shuffle through some of the tunnels that went down 200m below the ground!

For the foodies, there was a fantastic little cafe near our hotel were a very helpful local who was also dining there (and luckily for us spoke good English) helped us order a few of her favourite local dishes. One to note was the manta, like a ravioli with minced meat and a yoghurt garlic sauce.

The best meal was in the neighbouring Goreme. The pide bread was freshly baked from the oven, the lamb testi kebab, stewed in the clay pot was juicy and tender, and the baklava deliciously sweet. I can't remember the restaurant name but it's on the main street in Goreme and has an undercover but outdoor patio seating at the front of the restaurant.

You can't come all the way to Cappadocia and not see this incredible landscape from the sky. At 4am a coach full of other bleary-eyed tourists turned up at our hotel. We drove about 15 minutes to the main registration area where we were divided into smaller groups  whilst nursing a hot cup of coffee and pastry. Being in the middle of the dessert, at night time it gets quite chilly. So even if you go in the summer months, wear something warm for the balloon ride as it'a also quite windy 3000 ft above the ground. With around 100 balloons up in the sky every morning during the summer months, there are a large number of balloon company's. We booked http://www.kapadokyaballoons.com due to their safety record and price. You can pay extra for a longer 90-min ride or your own private balloon / less people. We had 10 people in our basket for a 60-min ride which was ideal.

Our pilot, Deniz Akasoy, was professional, friendly and extremely skilled weaving between the cone structures jutting out of the ground, then taking us sky high above all the other balloons, and finishing with a perfect bump-free landing.

 

A toast with bubbles was a nice finishing touch.

This is one of those destinations that you need to see for yourself. No photo, no travel show, no travel blog can really put into words how spectacular this scenery is.