Now is the best time to take small children on holiday. If you have toddlers and are not yet tied to school terms, it makes sense to travel before the big rush in July (avoiding the Whitsun half-term week). Not only will you have a better choice of holiday but it will also be cheaper, quieter and you’ll avoid the searing heat of the peak summer months. Numerous operators cater for families with babies and toddlers and most start their childcare services (clubs, nurseries and babysitting) this month.
So what sort of holiday is best suited to families with young children? One of the cheapest options is a week’s break on a French campsite, which will cost from £350 (large tent) to £700 (mobile home), including ferry crossing, in May or June. These holidays are far from luxurious, but the advantages include pools and play equipment plus parent and toddler clubs with supervised activities.
However, if you prefer the idea of reasonably priced childcare, giving you time to relax by the pool, you’re better off opting for a package with a major tour operator. Sessions are usually limited to no more than a couple of hours a day, and you’ll have to pay extra (typically £25-60 per week) on top of the basic holiday price. Budget on £700-£1,200 for a family of four, including flights, for a week’s self-catering before the schools break up in July.
More: telegraph.co.uk
Related Travel Information
Pleasant Holidays and the Sheraton Maui are offering reduced room rates in Garden View and Ocean View accommodations at the Sheraton Maui for all new bookings traveling November 28 through May 31, 2003. Partial Ocean View accommodations at the special rate will also be available for booking through May starting January 1, 2003.
Additional benefits are a fifth night free and daily buffet breakfast for all.
Blackout dates during holidays periods are November 23 –28, December 24 – January 7, and April 8-18, 2003.
Five-night, land-only holidays start at $749 per person, double occupancy, reflecting a savings of $550 per room. Included in
Qatar Airways Holidays has opened an outlet in Kuwait. The office will sell package tours offered by the holiday division of Qatar Airways. It already has offices in Doha and Bahrain and plans to open more centres in other Gulf states.
Tourists from Northern Ireland and the east of England are the most likely to have a holiday romance, a new survey claimed today.
The UK-wide survey by Teletext Holidays also revealed the Welsh were the most successful at turning a holiday romp into a romance.
Nearly half (49%) of all holiday flings lasted less than a week and almost a fifth lasted just one night.
A women`s top holiday fling was with a sports instructor, while men prefer local waitresses or air stewardesses.
Australia was the best place to find sexy locals and Portugal the worst, the poll of 1,529 UK adults found.
The survey
Emirates Holidays, the tour operating arm of Emirates Airline and one of the largest wholesale tour operators in the Middle East, declared a revenue of Dhs 355 million (US$97 million) for the financial year ended 31st March 2004 - an increase of 23 per cent over the previous year.
Around 100,000 tourists travelled with Emirates Holidays over the past twelve months, with the top destinations proving to be the U.A.E, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Mauritius, the Maldives, Singapore, Lebanon and India. The six destinations growing fastest in popularity were Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The past
An Oceanside family is asking for help in finding a 28-year-old woman who moved to Texas to live with a man she met over the Internet.
Cynthia Razon started on online relationship with 18-year-old Robert Guerrero in December 2004, according to her family. In August, Razon moved in with him in his Sweetwater, Texas home.
Razon called her mother two weeks ago and said the relationship had soured and that she was going to cash more than $1,000 in checks and move back to Oceanside.
That was the last time Razon's family had heard from her.
Her family said