Audley’s Christmas Quiz 2011 – the answers

Those of you who saw our Christmas Quiz email will no doubt be wondering what the answers were! Sorry for the delay in getting these posted on to our blog.

We received over 1,000 entries to the quiz – thank you so much if you took part. It was all for a bit of fun really, but ten names will be drawn out of the hat to win a copy of Mark Carwardine’s “Ultimate Wildlife Experiences” book published by Wanderlust. We will be contacting the winners shortly.

So here are the questions and the answers. Did you get them all right?

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The very best Father’s Day present

Buy a Galley Cart from an old 747 on Ebay

If you are stuck for Father’s Day gift ideas on the 19th June (or if you have a bit of spare space in your house)  it doesn’t get much more unique than buying him a drinks trolley from an old 747.

 I found this company whilst browsing Ebay today – they sell parts from decommissioned aircraft. Everything from the overhead lockers to the toilet from an A320!!

Now that would make a bit of a talking point at your next dinner party wouldn’t it?

Rebook your Selsdon Travel / Dreamticket.com holiday with Audley

We were sorry to hear today that Selsdon Travel / Dreamticket.com has ceased trading, affecting their clients who have booked  a holiday to the Indian Ocean (Seychelles, Mauritius), Middle East, Far East, Africa and the Caribbean.

We have already received a few calls from their customers looking to re-arrange their trips with Audley. Whilst we are unable to help with the Caribbean (it’s not a destination that Audley offers), we are often able to re-arrange the same or a similar itinerary to most of their destinations.

If you are affected and would like to speak with us for advice, with a view to re-booking your trip, then please do give us a call on 01993 838 500 or contact us online and we will see what we can do to help.

For more details on our range of tailor-made holidays visit our website.

Cosy cottages in the UK

It’s not often we push other travel companies but I came across Sheepskin today. As they’re local (and we don’t compete with them), and offer some wonderful places to stay, I thought we should give them a plug.

They offer self-catering cottages and houses with real character in the UK. Not luxurious, well not always, they are special buildings in special places. I was really taken by ‘Tamar Forge’ in Devon – looks like the perfect place to relax. They also have an Audley approach to doing things and offer much more than just a booking service.

More at http://www.sheepskinlife.com/

RHS Chelsea Flower Show sells out

My diary reminded today me that at the end of this month is the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show (24-28 May).

I think tickets have now completely sold out but if you have been unable to get hold of a ticket this year, there are several other RHS events you could consider. For instance, the Malvern Spring Garden Show (12-15 May) and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (5-10 July). For full details of these and other events, visit the RHS website.

It made me think about all the weird and wonderful flowers you find when on your travels. From the calm perfection of the Japanese gardens to the sight (and in in some cases terrible smell!) of the world’s strangest flowers found in places like South America and Southeast Asia.

To highlight my point, I found this rather nice guide to the top 10 most amazing flowers of the world.

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Rebook your African Safari Club holiday with Audley

African Safari Club cease trading

We were sorry to hear today that African Safari Club has ceased trading affecting their clients who have booked an Africa safari holiday or a trip to Egypt.

We have already received a few calls from their customers looking to re-arrange their trips with Audley.

If you are affected and would like to speak with us for advice, with a view to re-booking your safari to Africa or a trip to Egypt, then please do give us a call on 01993 838 500 or contact us online and we will see what we can do to help.

For more details on our range of tailor-made safaris to Africa visit our website.

For more details on our tailor-made trips to Egypt visit our website.

Make your own Angkor Wat!

Whilst trying to solve a problem with my printer the other day, I stumbled across Canon’s Creative Park website where I discovered 100s of templates for making 3D models out of paper!

There is a lot of choice - from animals to vehicles, but what attracted my eye was the section on architecture. The idea is you print out the building sections onto card, along with detailed instructions (trust me, you will need them!) and with a bit, well a lot, of very careful cutting, folding and glueing, you end up with a rather magnificent model of your favourite building!

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Join the Fish Fight!

Over 3 million people tuned in to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s latest campaign to open our eyes to the truth about the food we eat - this time it’s fish.

His programme highlighted the mislabelling of certain brands of tuna – alledged to be “dolphin friendly” but fished using methods which regularly also catch sharks, turtles and yes, even dolphins, who are all dead by the time they are hauled in from the 3km long nets. The only sustainable way to fish for tuna is using a rod and line.

We also need to change our eating habits, especially our ubiquitous “cod and chips”, by buying lesser known, equally tasty and plentiful fish such as mackerel, dab and gurnard. Mackeral bap anyone?

And in the UK, EU laws require our fishermen to literally dump overboard perfectly good fish accidentally caught up in their nets, to keep below their quotas.  

Love him or hate him, Hugh has a real knack for bringing these issues to light and changing the public’s behaviour. He has done it before with chicken. Support his efforts to change the law forcing our fishermen to dump perfectly good fish overboard by signing his petition.

Rebook your Simply Malaysia / Simply Vietnam / Simply Far East holiday

We were sorry to hear that Oriental Panorama Ltd (trading as Simply Malaysia, Simply Vietnam and Simply Far East) went into liquidation on the 12th January.

We have already received countless calls from their customers looking to re-arrange their trips with Audley.

If you are affected and would like to speak with us for advice, with a view to re-booking your trip, then please do give us a call on 01993 838 100 or contact us online and we will see what we can do to help.

Would you take your young family on a “Crazy Gap Year”?

My Family's Crazy Gap Year

Last night I stumbled across a new series on Channel 4 called “My Family’s Crazy Gap Year“. Each week they feature a family with young children who have decided to take time out to travel and see the world.

This first episode featured the Willmotts who spent an entire year travelling round the world with their three children age 12, 9 and 6. They travelled through Pakistan, the Himalayas (trekking up to base camp), Mongolia where they spent three weeks living and working with a local family, they met the Dalai Lama and even lived with a remote tribe deep in the Papua rainforest.

As a parent of two young children myself, I thought they were pretty brave!  But despite the risks of travel to such remote destinations, the language barriers, the long distances and, at times, difficult conditions, the children seemed mostly upbeat and extremely keen to absorb the experience.

I’m sure there were many moments (probably off-camera) when the children had had enough. I am sure they had their fair share of tantrums, moods and sulks! But the programme left me with a renewed desire to take my children travelling somewhere exotic. To take them out of their comfort zones. To let them have a life-changing experience.

I just wonder if my children would be quite as well behaved!!