Summer Holiday Tips

Booking for a cheap holiday has always been an avoided task for most people. With the purpose of finding a cheap holiday, sometimes the whole task is what’s keeping us spend more money: looking for cheap holidays in print ads of travel agencies only to find out its already been fully booked; visiting a local travel agent and spend most of our times scanning brochures, checking out advertisements on exotic holiday destinations, and so on. All of these actually takes a lot of valuable time from us and does not even guarantee us the lowest prices.

However, this is not the case nowadays. With more advanced and high technologies coming out, communication has been easier. The internet, being one of the major communication media of today, has been flooded by various online travel agents, tour operators, and the likes. Customising your cheap holidays - one that’s perfect for your budget - has been made possible by some online travel agents. Travelers no longer need to visit travel agencies and major airlines for available cheap offers. All they have to do is sit in front of the computer and browse for cheap holiday offers. From cheap flights to hotel accommodation, popular holiday destinations, and even the activities you want to do on your cheap holiday.

With a lot of online travel website available in the internet, you can find various options for your cheap holiday. Surely, there are available ones that will fit your budget. You can find cheaper flights on some major airlines and information on popular international and local holiday destinations with just a click away. You can search for cheap holiday package deals as well that includes great resorts destinations like Thailand, Hawaii, Italy, and many other popular holiday destinations around the world. Also, online travel services have real time booking facilities like accommodation, airport transfer services, car hire, travel insurance, and the likes.

Most professional holiday travel websites have great offers for a cheap holiday anywhere in the world. All you’ve got to do is to find the one that you think is best for you. Do not miss the fun on holidays by grabbing a cheap holiday package deal from one of these websites or online travel agents. Also, look for cheap holiday tips, advices, and some ways on how to find your cheap holidays. By knowing how to find one, it will be easier for you to make a plan for your cheap holiday. Some things matter here - no matter how small or big. From your budget, to your preferred activities or destinations, to the number of people you are with - they all matter. So its important to have a background information on planning your cheap holiday. Some sites also have reviews on particular place or hotel and you can also read some feedback from other travelers.

With the ease and convenience of finding a cheap holiday package, there’s no reason for you to miss the fun on holidays. Almost everything you need to know are all in the internet.



By: Jessica Nielson

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We stood in a candle lit cave, our usually sceptical, rational selves already feeling vaguely challenged by the possibility that supernatural phenomena might, after all, exist. The darkness and coolness was a stark contrast to the dazzling brightness and heat of the midday sun we had left to descend into this underworld of prophecies and priests.

The silence of the grotto was suddenly interrupted by a heavily accented voice, speaking in English. “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.”

Half expecting a beast with 666 stamped on its forehead, we turned to see a bearded man, dressed in the priesthood robes of Greek orthodoxy. He was not looking in our direction and at first it seemed that the biblical quotation had been a soliloquy. But the puzzle of why a Greek would talk to himself in English was solved seconds later, when the first of a party of Americans came into view. As soon as they began to fill the limited space of the cave, we recognised them as being a group of “Christian Tourists” we had seen earlier that day. The spell had been broken; the cave had lost its supernatural feeling, replaced by something as mundane as an evangelical meeting. It was time for us to go back up to the world of dazzling sunlight.

Our visit to the Sacred Grotto of the Revelation, where John the Divine is supposed to have foreseen and written of the Apocalypse, was part of a wonderful day we spent exploring the beautiful island of Patmos.

Patmos is part of the group of Greek Islands known as the Dodecanese. Our holiday base was on the neighbouring, and much larger, island of Samos where we had hopped on a boat to take us across the ten miles or so of the Aegean sea that separates the two islands. A one day visit was all we needed to know that Patmos was our kind of holiday destination.

Above the cave is the Byzantine monastery of Saint John and the wonderful medieval village of Hora. Laying fifteen to twenty minutes walk below Hora is the island’s capital, Skala. This charming little port is the largest settlement on Patmos. Scooters wiz noisily around narrow, street corners where men sit at pavement cafés on rickety chairs playing backgammon games. Pickup trucks, pull up to unload fruit and vegetables without paying any heed to the honking horns of other motorists who shout and gesticulate that their way has been blocked. Yet somehow, in a quintessential, Greek Island way, the noise and bustle blends seamlessly into an atmosphere that is totally laid back and relaxing.

Patmos has other several other pretty villages that are worth exploring but its most attractive feature is its convoluted coastline. A new vista of wonderful beaches appears from around every headland. Some are sandy and some are adorned in pretty white pebbles. Several are fringed by lush vegetation whilst others are found amongst rocky, yet no less attractive, settings. Some have sun beds and parasols but none have overdone this concession to modern tourism.

Many of the beaches are lapped by very calm, shallow seas, ideal for small children to paddle in but the prettiest beach of all, Psili Ammos, is washed with sometimes, huge waves and is surrounded by wild, beautiful scenery. Psili Ammos is one of the most remote beaches on Patmos and is twenty minutes walk from Diakofti, the nearest village over a mountain footpath. If you prefer a less energetic way of reaching Psili Ammos, you can hop aboard one of the regular boats from the main port.

Nearly every Greek island offers glorious holiday destinations. Each one has its own special charm and beauty but even by Greek island standards, Patmos is very special. Our short visit was enough to tell us that we just had to come back and spend a full vacation there. We didn’t need to believe the dreams of Saint John to realise that Patmos is a dream island, just perfect for dreamers like ourselves. But the kind of dreams Patmos inspires are far more likely to be those of an earthly paradise rather than the hellish world of the Apocalypse.



By: Stewart Palmer

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