We’re off to Malta for Christmas, but one can’t help but think about what we’re going to do this summer. The truth is that with a 4 year old and 2 babies, our options are a little limited. Flights are a bit of a drag, I’m sure we’ll learn all about that on our forthcoming trip to Malta.

But we do have another option. When we knew we had twins on the way, we did invest in a 7 seater, which means we can go on a driving holiday, and thanks to sea transport, well, all of Europe is really still an option for us. I’ve never actually crossed the English Channel on a ferry, but there are a number of ferries to france available to choose from, and with websites like www.ferry-to-france.co.uk its easy to have a look around and find the best deal. And crossing the channel is only the first part of the equation. Once you get to France, you can drive to Germany, Austria, Italy and a selection of other countries. I’ve been to a couple of European countries, but it would be quite fun to visit some others.

So, doesn’t look like I’ll be collecting many Airmiles in the near future, but my driving is going to get lots of practice.

We had a great time at Edinburgh Castle. We managed to get in free thanks to our Manx National Heritage cards (which I must say where the best buy of the year), which allow us access to a number of Heritage sites around the world. The Castle is full of history and Arthur had a whale of a time climbing on canons and exploring all the rooms.

There’s some great scenery around Edinburgh. This is part of the scenery called Arthur’s Seat. The landscape around Edinburgh was shaped millions of years ago by volcanic activity and produce a very rich and varied landscape.

You can’t go to Scotland without trying haggis, tatties and neeps, though I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to be presented in such a fashion. It was great, as was all the food we tried in Edinburgh. There’s an amazing selection of restaurants.

And of course there was the graduation. I don’t have too many photos of that, as you can imagine, but it was a magnificent experience, very rewarding and inspirational. I’ll update the photos when I get the ones on Camille’s camera.

And we had an amazing Edinburgh apartment! As we were 4 adults we got an apartment rather than stay in a hotel and it was magnificent. The apartment was a stone’s throw from the Castle, fully equipped and very atmospheric. The only thing I missed was an Internet connection (maybe I’ll sign up for high speed satellite internet one day). But it was a great place to stay and I will definitely be using ScottishApartment.com again in the future.

Those were just some thumbnails, check out all the photos. One thing I can say for sure. We’ll definitely we returning to Edinburgh.

Now, to tell you the truth I’ve never been on one of these; but it’s been something I’ve been willing to try in the past. I ended up doing some research on the web and came across this 2006 winnebago outlook 24 that fits the sort of thing I would have in mind for taking my home on the road. Actually, I did some browsing on that websites (Altmans) which specialises in that sort of thing. I did actually like their video section which goes into detail about the different types of mobile home you might be interested in and what the difference in features are.

It’s something I plan to do one day, it’s just finding the right time to actually do it that’s the problem! Oh, and making sure I have a good mobile internet connection

I got back to the Isle of Man this morning after a few days in London. It was our wedding anniversary so we spent some time in London, got dinner at Fire and Stone and watched Chicago. We got a pretty good deal from Lastminute.com which is nice. I don’t know if you’ve ever used the site, but it’s not as slick as you’d expect, we did get quite a few errors while placing the order, but did get a great deal at the end of it.

It was pretty warm actually, with temperatures hitting around 29 degrees. Not as hot as Malta, but at least in Malta we had an air conditioner (that brings back memories of playing with an a/c compressor and lots of missing bits). It’s nice to get back to the Isle of Man which is a few degrees cooler and where there’s always a breeze.

Where do you book your holidays?

Where are you going ton holiday this year?

We might do something totally different this year, and the further away from that picture I can think of might be the rowdy city of Las Vegas. I was looking around for more information and came across the Trusted Tours & Attractions website, a company who does sightseeing tours in the area. The page that got my attention was the “Things to do in Las Vegas” page, where I came across a tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam which I wouldn’t mind taking. The website also has some great photos and videos of the area.

One last thing about the website, if you sign up for their newsletter they are currently running a competition where you can win a Handheld GPS. But hurry, the competition ends on the 30th April, so get your entries in!

The visit to Dubai was actually not in our initial plans, however when we were planning the trip, we found out that Arab Emirates, the airline we were using, has some sort of promotion for Dubai holidays whereby you could stop over for 3 days at an extremely cheap rate (could even have been free). Camille had visited Dubai in the past when she had been air crew and had wanted to show me around, so off we went.

Funny how things fall in place sometimes, isn’t it?

My favourite feature? Well, traffic reports and route mapping now seem to be a standard with these type of websites, but where this site really stands out is that it also reports availability of car parks in the area you’re looking at and how many spaces are available! I’ve only seen this information around the Norwich area, but I’m sure other areas will follow. Check it out.

The site also allows you to plan your trip, by creating an online itinerary and adding different destinations to it. You do this as you browse through the site reading about each place. Once you’ve created a perfect holiday you can then share it with other readers, again, more user-generated content.

Finally, the site also allows travelers to create their own travel blog. This can be a great way to capture your experiences in one place, together with pictures and video and anything else you want to add. Your experiences then help inform future travelers and help them plan their travel.

Check it out.