On the plus side, business is booming, in November alone I booked over 50 travellers (mostly for holidays in summer 2013) and USA fly drives, Route 66 in particular continues to be number one favourite!  There have been some wonderful TV programmes recently inspiring people to travel, whether it’s been the Great Rail Journeys of Europe, Simon Reeve tripping around the Indian Ocean or the fabulous look back into the archives of decades of David Attenborough inspired travel.

Honeymoons continue to be popular with destinations as varied as Mozambique to Thailand and long haul is still flavour of the month.  Lapland has been busier than ever this festive season with the Northern Lights adding to this winter’s attractions in the snow!

A couple of things that you may not be aware I can book for you (many of you think it’s just luxury and long haul!) …..  I have access to thousands of hotels around Europe including in the UK and can book your city breaks for pleasure or business. There are also a huge range of ‘attractions’, excursions and experiences available all around the world which I can book in addition to your holiday.  These extras also work well as ‘gifts’ that wedding guests can add to honeymoon bookings. Whether it’s a city pass or metro tickets for the weekend, a cookery class, river rafting, helicopter flights or horse riding …. add some more ‘experiences’ to your Travels With Jules!

Emerging destinations popular in the coming year include Papua New Guinea and Burma (most Burma tours are sold out over a year in advance due to limits on hotel rooms), and the aviation world continues to add more routes and the eagerly awaited ‘Dreamliner’ will be gracing the skies from the UK very soon.

I hope to welcome back many returning clients to book with me again in 2013 and help spread the word … read my testimonials to see more stories of people who booked in 2012 and contact me soon to plan your next adventure ….

In March, the rainy season was in full swing in Southern Malawi.  Our already sick sounding van was letting in water front and back, I was sitting holding onto my computer and camera trying to keep them away from the wave of brown sludge that whooshed up through the floor by the gear stick with every pothole.

As we followed the sign to Mvuu Camp we wondered if it was the right way – round the back of a market bicycle repair stand and down a dirt track, well actually it was a brown river.  The road wasn’t even visible, consequently neither were the pot holes! Eventually after half an hour or so of dodging goats, bicycles and drenched villagers, we entered the park gate and arrived at the landing stage for the boat across the river to Mvuu Camp, 5 minutes away.  Ferrying our soggy bags, a trail of staff helped us onto the boat and we chugged over to the camp to a welcome drink!

The next morning the sun was out we were keen to see the river and all its wildlife so joined the boat safari.  The first thing we noticed in the boat was a swallows nest stuck under the roof at the front.  Nothing too unusual in that, we know that many birds build nests in man made structures, but once we were underway along the wide Shire river a loud chirruping and fly past by the parents let us know that we were taking their home for a ride! Apparently this pair have been using the boat ‘caravan’ for some time.  During our trip (and the one the next morning) they flew in and out of the boat for the whole 2 hours of the trip.  Occasionally the parents would fly off and rest on the shore, but always reappeared after 10 minutes or so.  It seems that they could locate their floating home anywhere.

Later that day on the night drive, as we splashed into puddles in the forest tracks, small waves could be seen ahead of us.  On stopping, we could see the tinniest of terrapins all scurrying out of the puddle at the impact of the vehicle into the safety of the surrounding grass. Once sun had gone down in its usual stunning waves of pinks and golds the spot light came out and we saw many hippos in their own ‘pink’ pigmented glory!  A special treat was a very tiny baby hippo, running with his mummy, he couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old.

A strange natural phenomenon that occurs during these high rains is the way that the flooding lakes and rivers cut off chunks of the reedbanks along their sides.  During the few nights we were at Mvuu we witnessed many floating ‘islands’ drifting past the camp, I thought they could have been Trojan horses hiding poachers and kept a very close eye on them!  One of them was so huge, it really looked like a whole ecosystem, it was complete with weaver birds hanging desperately onto their dangling nests as the Papyrus Reeds were pushed along with the current.

A few days later from Mumbo Island up on Lake Malawi we saw what looked like huge dark islands in the distance towards the mainland.  Checking through the binoculars half an hour later they had disappeared!  These ‘papyrus islands’ could have been up to a km long and had just floated away …..

The rainy season in Malawi is spectacular, adventurous and full of amazing sights of nature.  A boat safari on the Shire River from Mvuu is a highlight of any trip to Malawi but in the wet season with all the floating islands, breeding birds and stunning photographic opportunities it is a must do.  Contact me to arrange a tailor made adventure of your own (wet or dry!) to Malawi or other parts of Africa.

It’s a buy one get one free price and features some of the most luxurious camps and lodges in Arusha, Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.

Most popular over the last few months as been Route 66 and selfdrive holidays to America continue to offer extremely good value.  A lot of operators had new year sales which saw me making quite a few last minute getaways to sunnier climates for the winter months!  Now we are planning for Easter and the Summer Holidays with some early booking offers still in place til the end of February, so if you have not booked yet for July – August get in touch now!

Destinations which have been added to and expanded on over the last couple of months include the many islands of the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.  Travel With Jules customers have been all around the world over Christmas and January including Tanzania, Brazil, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and quite a lot of you heading north to the Arctic for winter adventures and Northern Lights spotting!

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news, new product and destinations and special offers.  I look forward to helping you pack your bags for a year of travel in 2012

In the first quarter of next year, the best option for guaranteed sun and warmth with no rain is the Caribbean.  Plenty of fabulous villas, luxury hotels, sailing yachts or private islands await you and there are some really good long stay offers around too.  February half term is already looming (thankfully as if it gets here soon, so will Spring!!), and ski holidays are popular at this time.  If you want to take your family to the slopes in February please ask me to have a look at the best options for you, flights are already very busy.  If you like a bit of adventure and activity, keep an eye on the late availability for these group holidays – there are some incredible destinations on offer with some places still available to travel in November or December this year.

And it’s never too early to plan for the next summer!  All major tour operators now have their summer brochures out and the early booking offers will mostly end by Christmas.  Of course, once the turkey is finished and the sale adverts are on TV thoughts turn to booking summer holidays, so get ahead of the crowd and bag the best deals now!  Many of you ask me for large villas and private houses for groups of family and friends.  These are in high demand, especially in Europe, so don’t leave it until the last minute.  If you are planning a honeymoon for the summer, please make sure you book soon – you don’t want to have to settle for second best!

Right, so that’s looking foward – let’s look back for a moment and I’ll give you a round up of website updates and travel news from the month of October 2011.  The press coverage for Travel With Jules was a feature in the trade paper, Travel Weekly, take a read to find my tips for  African safaris and I also had my first advert in the November issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine in the advertorial supporting the launch of the fabulous Frozen Planet programme.  What incredible photography we have seen so far on that series – last weeks footage of penguins stealing rocks from each others nests had me in stitches!  I’d love to go and see the penguins and have lots of holiday options for you if you would also like to do that!  I also had a feature in Pure Weddings magazine, highlighting honeymoons in Kenya, unfortunately published just before the terrible kidnappings out there.  On that note, people increasingly tell me that they don’t want to go to Kenya anymore.  Please, please keep things in context.  Kenya needs tourists, and as a result of this and previous incidents featured in the western press thousands of Kenyans lost their jobs, couldn’t feed their families any more and consequently there were more riots and famines … yes, these things happen (anywhere in the world), and I would never send anybody somewhere that is not safe. But keep it in perspective – Africa is a massive place and these incidents are in tiny isolated areas.  I would still feel safer on the streets of Nairobi than in London and remember – good news never makes the news … thousands of people enjoy African safari holidays every month of the year but you’ll never see a headline that reads ‘Another 1000 people had a fabulous holiday in Kenya’!

So, off my soap box and looking at other things that were on our TV screens last month – I had a huge amount of interest in Route 66 following Billy Connolly’s trip across the states on a bike last month, nice to see travel to the USA so popular again.  Joanna Lumley has shown us the real Greece – have a look at this site for some inspiration about the many options for holidays in Greece - walking, cycling, sailing or just enjoying the fishing villages, tavernas and meeting the locals. Keep watching Frozen Planet for travel and wildlife to the Polar regions – remember though if you want to go ‘this season’ the best time for Antarctica is now (November – February), so don’t delay. Check out my experiences page about Ice Hotels for Arctic igloos and white weddings!

On the website I’ve expanded on quite a few of the original pages with more experiences added for Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and Thailand. Several more Caribbean destinations have been added including St Vincent, Turks & Caicos and Grenada. An adventure in Chile, a Galapagos Cruise and Easter Island have been added to Latin America. With tourism developing in Central Africa, particularly to see Lowland Gorillas, new destinations on the site include Central African Republic, Gabon and Republic of Congo (not DRC!). Sierra Leone is another interesting African destination with classical bush and beach on offer.

Last week I was on the Personal Travel Advisors stand at the Conde Naste Luxury Travel Fair and spoke to lots of people about their plans for their next holidays, let me help you with your holiday plans, leave the stress behind and let me worry about the research and the details, sit back and relax and let your Personal Travel Advisor do the work for you!  This week, it’s the main event of the year in the travel trade calendar – the World Travel Market in London.  I’m off there now to meet old friends and make new ones and pick up some more inspiration and product knowledge to pass on to you all for exciting new holidays!

So, that’s my update for now – keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook for my news as it happens and additions to the website and I look forward to hearing from you and helping turn your travel dreams into reality.

So …. on the destinations page, continents have been filling up, I think I’ve now got over half of all countries in the world featured (didn’t realise there were so many!!).  Eastern Europe has had a lot of work put into it with Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania all featuring, some with suggested experienced attached and many European cities have been included in city breaks and festive markets. Some fabulous new ideas for things to do in Europe under the experiences section include the Al Vecchio Cookery School, a gorgeous traditional Italian guest house and restaurant where visitors can learn the art of pasta making and go truffle hunting.  Also in Europe why not stay in one of the Paradors in Spain?  These character properties add another dimension to a holiday in this foodie country.  Also in Italy is the Classic Tuscany Tour which takes in Florence and the Chianti winelands. Cycling in Poland, the Glacier Express in Switzerland and Wildlife in Romania are also new trips to the site.  Information on Cyprus has been updated and some suggestions of luxury spa hotels there added.

River cruises in Europe are also featured on both the cruises page and the city breaks as many of the festive markets are accessed by river late in the year.  On the subject of Cruises special offers on Nile Cruises are set to continue with some departures offering a second person half price, a fabulous chance to see the historic sites of Egypt!

Also in North Africa, Tunisia has joined the destinations with a featured Sahara Desert Trek and there has been a lot of interest in group adventure tours to Morocco – there are a few places left this side of Christmas so please contact me, specifically on the Atlas Panorama one week group tour.

Over in Asia, some amazing experiences have been added including a school group adventure to Borneo and more information is now listed on the schools and special interest holidays.  The Himalayas now feature highly with Tibet adding to the range of experiences in conjunction with neighbouring Nepal.  Great for adventurous trekking holidays! In India the fabulous colonial rail experience of the Palace on Wheels is a new experience.

In the Americas, work has started on expanding The Caribbean, please bear with me on this as there are a lot of countries still to be added, but if I’ve not got round to your favourite it doesn’t mean I can’t sell it!!  Barbados and Bahamas have been updated and new islands to the pages include Puerto Rico, Aruba, Anguilla and Antigua.  In Central America there is a gorgeous wildlife trip to tropical Costa Rica in the portfolio.

On TV we have followed Billy Connolly across The States on his wacky bike on Route 66.  This has resulted in high demand through the website for self drive holidays in America!  Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon now have their own pages too and there is a feature for White Station Ranch. South America has not been forgotten and will be next on the list for ‘finishing off’ on the site with more destinations and experiences in the pipeline.   A page has been added on Penguins, given that these endearing creatures are the focal point of any Antarctic cruise or expedition and I’m often asked ‘where in the world’ can you see them!

Luxury, long haul destinations are a speciality of mine and I attended a Luxury Training Day, run by Co-op Personal Travel Advisors in London in September.  Presenting to us were several luxury suppliers and operators including Emirates who introduced us to their fabulous new ‘double decker’ airbus and it’s suites, bars and showers on board!  There are some great long haul offers with Emirates, particularly good for honeymooners.  The section on Spas and Wellbeing has been expanded with Maradiva Villas added on Mauritius and other links in place.

Some new types of holidays have been added, namely Villa Holidays, Escorted Tours and Solo Holidays.  Recognising the market for single travellers, I have dedicated a page to helping you find the right options for holidays independently or in a group.  Villas cover a range of cottages, gites, houses and spas as I am ever increasingly seeing an interest in this market, particularly properties that cater for big families or groups of friends.  Speaking of villas … check out the amazing half price luxury villas that are still available for October Half Term!

In October and in the press recently, Travel With Jules had a honeymoon feature on Kenya in the Suffolk Archant Press publication Pure Weddings, there is a mention a foodie trip in the November issue of Sunday Times Travel Magazine and there will be an advertorial in the new edition of BBC Wildlife magazine, which features a supplement on David Attenborough’s new series on the ‘frozen world’.  Best of all was a six page feature on Jules in the trade paper Travel Weekly (page 49) giving advice on what to look for when planning an African Safari and which destinations are best for what type of holiday.  Locally, a feature is again printed in Cheeky Boo magazine on family friendly travel, popular at the moment are holidays to see Santa in Lapland, Festive Markets and winter sports and ski trips.

I have set up a blog page but not had time to do anything on it yet, so please bear with me and I’ll let you all know when it’s functioning properly!  In the meantime, do follow Travel With Jules on Facebook and Twitter where all new offers and updates are regularly posted.

Thank you all for your support so far – the launch of the website has been a great success and it continues to grow and attract interest every week – spread the word, this is the only independent travel agency offering a wide range of wildlife, adventure, luxury and long haul holidays available 24/7 that is not biased to any particular operator.  Hopefully you will enjoy browsing the pages of this very different travel agent’s website!  Whatever you want to do, wherever in the world – get in touch and I’ll plan your next adventure.

Favourite destinations this summer have seen the Greek islands and Sardinia featuring highly and many requests have come in for holidays to Australia and New Zealand with many of you opting to escape down under in the coming winter – I don’t blame you! One of the most asked for natural wonders sights has been the Northern Lights and a few of you have already booked with me to see this amazing sight this winter.

The first month of my new website has proved hugely successful, all our work on SEO and content has quickly been found by search engines and enquiries have been received from all over the world for travel all over the world, thank you! It’s always difficult when starting out to hit the right target market and more pages are being added all the time with new destinations and suggested things to see and do, so keep checking regularly for holiday inspiration. I have been contacted by various publications and news groups who have found my website, so I will post on Twitter and Facebook whenever Travel With Jules hits the press!

Recently added destinations on the site include Burma, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan in Asia, Gambia, Cape Verde and Senegal in West Africa and European and Arctic destinations of Greenland, Germany, Hungary and Russia. New tours and itineraries now featured include Nile Cruises, Everest Base Camp, Route 66, Finland’s Wildlife, the Trans-Siberian train, Orient-Express and a cruise around the coast of Britain. Types of holidays proving popular include self-drives, city breaks and cruises and family travel has been highlighted with ideas for October half term and winter breaks.

Over the summer there have been some great travel documentaries on the TV such as Rick Stein’s travels around foodie Spain and the awesome ‘Oceans Giants’ programmes, following whales and dolphins around the world. I have put together a page featuring some of these TV destinations, so if you are inspired by anything you see from your sofa, get in touch to find out how you can go there yourself!

Some changes in the last month to the set up of this site include the addition of a search engine and categorising the ever growing list of experiences! You will also see now that on the experience pages not only do you have the option to enquire and book, but a reminder that if that page is not quite what you were looking for, please don’t go away – get in touch as everything can be tailored to exactly what you want.

The site is constantly evolving as the business grows, please do let me know if there is something you are looking for that you cannot find here or if you think something needs changing, feedback is always welcomed!

I really wanted to give you travel inspiration and ideas for your holidays with this new site; giving you the option to browse holidays by destination, type of holiday, or an aspect of the natural world you’re interested in.

As you browse, you’ll also be recommended particular experiences. These handpicked experiences will hopefully excite you into booking your tickets and packing your luggage! If you can’t find what you want on here, get in touch, everything can be tailored to suit your requirements.

Not booked anything but ready to go? My new website displays plenty of late deals and special offers – perfect for all you last minute decision makers!

If you’ve not used a Personal Travel Advisor before, you may have some concerns – and that’s perfectly understandable. If you’re wondering what my credentials are to arrange your perfect holiday, you can read more about me here. I’ve also listed some testimonials from people who have used my services.

And if all this gets you in the mood for booking a holiday, you can send me an enquiry here or give me a call on 01728 748209.

I look forward to speaking to you!