October 23, 2018

#TravelTuesday: October 2018 travel inspiration

Happy #TravelTuesday! If you didn’t know that it is a thing, now you know!

#TravelTuesday is a fun international hashtag to celebrate all things travel. People share travel tips and photos of their travels. In that same spirit, we are sharing some travel inspiration with you courtesy of our partner Club Med.

We love working with Club Med and we love its resorts (known as villages). Our team recently enjoyed the most wonderful time at Club Med Bintan Island in Indonesia. We swam, we ran, we SUPed, we played golf on one of the world’s best golf courses, we relaxed, we partied, we explored the open seas and sampled some of the best fish in Indonesia, and we were mesmerised by the beauty of Bintan. Josh even wrote this heartfelt blog about our time in Bintan.

This resort is certainly one of the most picturesque places I have ever stayed at. I mean, look at this:


The best place for #TravelTuesday (and travel erryday) inspiration is the Club Med blog. What I love about the blog is that it includes some handy #traveltips, some great travel inspo, and wonderful photos of both sun and snow resorts. It also speaks to people wanting different types of holidays.

Travel tips

There is a blog on how to still have a good holiday amidst all the fluctuations of our Rand. Read tips on what to look out for when booking a holiday (so that you don’t over spend) and how to ensure that you can make your Rand go as far as it can even when converting to international currencies like the Euro.

I like the handy tips tips shared on planning a family holiday. The planning can get tricky as there are many interests you need to take into account. Nothing will ruin a holiday faster than having nothing to do that fits your interests or having to keep someone else busy instead of enjoying your holiday. This blog includes some great suggestions to make sure that every member of the family is entertained and has a good time: this includes children as young as 3 years old. It also includes some accommodation options to suit your style: family bungalow or interconnecting rooms.

A family holiday in the Dominican Republic

Weddings are also a time when we could use some handy tips. There’s so much to organise and then there’s still the honeymoon. Sometimes the best way to go is a destination wedding. Whether you want to book a honeymoon or a destination wedding, the resort you book at should be able to help you. For interesting trends in the wedding market as well as information on popular resorts that South Africans like to go to for weddings check out this blog.

Luxury holiday

Hmmm. The thought of a luxury holiday has my head spinning. Staying at a five-star resort with all the comforts you can imagine sounds incredible. This blog profiles the exclusive collection resorts which are Club Med’s five-trident (five-star) resorts namely, Club Med La Plantation d’Albion in Mauritius and Club Med Cefalú in Sicily.

I can just see myself sitting at this table in Cefalú, enjoying a signature Italian meal as the wind blows across my face…

Mesmerising views in Cefalú, Sicily

Skiing

This blog is about learning a new skill: skiing. According to Dr Josef Niebauer – a professor of sports medicine and cardiology and director of the Institute for Molecular Sports and Rehabilitation Medicine at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria – “Alpine skiing is a mix of endurance and resistance training…It has positive effects on the heart and circulation, as well as peripheral muscles—predominately the legs.”

Also included in the piece are various other benefits of skiing besides the opportunity to marvel at snow, mountains, and Mother Nature.

I have not been skiing myself but the CN&CO team (before my time here) enjoyed some time at Club Med Val Thorens Sensations in 2017 and had the best time. This blog includes some of what the team members had to say about their time away.

“It just goes to show that some of the most special moments collected are the ones spent travelling.” – Gianluca

“I can’t really pinpoint my highlight because there were just so many! Lying in the snow and being in the French Alps with with awesome people. Learning to snowboard, and that incredible feeling when you get it. Snowboarding down a blue slope (after day one by mistake) into La Folie Douce, for one of the coolest day/snow parties up in the slopes.” – Kurt

Having fun at Club Med Val Thorens Sensation

If, like me, you have not been skiing before then you need a crash course in speaking ski. That’s where the “Speak ski like a pro” blog is most helpful. Did you know that the ski slopes are colour coded according to difficulty? (I’m sure Kurt’s comment above now makes more sense) Or did you know that “carving” is a technique for turning? I like that the piece clearly explains the terms without making you feel like you should know this stuff already. Of course, some terms will be familiar to you so it’s not like you know nothing about skiing.

There is also some straight up ski inspiration…in amazing photos on this aptly titled blog “Ski inspiration“. The blog features the  Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon resort in France, the Val Thorens Sensations which is also in France, and the Saint-Moritz Roi Soleil in Switzerland.

If you prefer your ski advice in simple steps, check out this blog by Rob in which he shares 12 tips on how to do a ski holiday.

Digital Detox

Perhaps, one of my favourite of the most recent Club Med blogs is this one on where to go for a digital detox. It resonates with me because I know how connected I am most of the time and I look around at how many of us are always connected. I also love the idea of going somewhere to relax and reconnect with the more natural things. I love tech and what amazing things it helps us to do (my job is one of these things); I also love being able to just connect with people, myself, and nature in a more human way.

I love the range of places suggested in the blog; the Bahamas, Morocco, Japan, and the French Alps. These are wonderful places filled with cultural experiences and many aren’t as “typical” some other places.

Views and experiences like this will have you astounded in Morocco:

Club Med Yasmina in Morocco

I’m not just writing this because I love Club Med; check out the Club Med blog for some legit (and useful) travel inspiration.