A beach in Togo Credit: Tourism Concern

Since leading holiday company, First Choice decided to make 100 per cent of its holidays ‘all inclusive’ packages this year, it has grabbed the headlines. An all inclusive holiday is one where flights, accommodation, food, drink and entertainment are paid for in advance of the holiday so that customers can, more or less, leave their wallets at home. Demand for such holidays has been increasing over the last few years (a third of all package holidays booked in the UK are all inclusive now)  and so First Choice says that this switch over is merely a response to customer demand. In spite of the fact that the company has a responsible tourism plan which is crammed as full as an all inclusive buffet. A veritable smorgasbord of sustainability, in fact, which proudly states that, “We in the travel industry often get to meet those who are most affected by the big social and environmental issues of today. So perhaps this gives us a greater chance to create a better world through the way we operate”. So, is the all inclusive holiday the way to a better world?

I pick First Choice merely because it calls itself the ‘The home of the all inclusive’, but of course there are many other companies offering similar packages. First Choice even has an all inclusive calculator on its website, where you can work out just how much you are saving,  compared with staying at the local villager’s apartment, buying fruit and vegetables at his mother’s market stall, eating at his uncle’s restaurant, renting canoes from his neighbour, and buying ice cream from his best mate. Don’t do that, First Choice says, because you can get it all in their resort and at half the cost.

“We are just doing what our clients want us to do’, emphasised First Choice’s representative at a recent debate on the sustainability of all inclusives, as if to suggest, it’s nothing to do with us, we just have a duty to uphold.  So, imagine this. A region such as West Cork in Ireland, the Isle of Wight in England, or the Pembrokeshire in Wales,  is suddenly marketed as THE next destination for, say, Russian tourists. The Russian tourists want casinos, golf courses and all day buffets, all within the resort gates, with no access to local people, except to come and clean the rooms and serve the food. The use of locally produced food is not guaranteed, no one needs to use local cottages, canoes, walking guides, car hire, bikes, markets, tourist offices, gift shops, bakeries, pubs,  etc. Looking at the ‘I want therefore I get’ school of commerce, it’s not hard to imagine what the reaction of the host nations would be.

The ‘pro’ argument for all inclusives is always that local people should be happy because they offer ‘employment’. At a recent conference on responsible tourism, when one international hotel chain which was boasting its ethical practices in the Caribbean, because it was now buying all its jam from an island producer, I challenged them: “Why stop at jam?” I suggested, “Surely there are so many other products you could source locally?” to which the response was, “Have you any idea what that would do to our profit margins? And anyway, we employ hundreds of people here every year, which is more than they had before we arrived.”

Sustainability Manifesto for Lanzarote outside home of island acclaimed artist Cesar Manrique Photo: Catherine Mack

In a BBC television interview last week, where Nick Longman, Distribution Director at First Choice defended the decision to move to a 100 % all inclusive model, he said “Businesses have to be innovative in how they get to customers and I would also suggest they would want to work with our hotels”, adding that First Choice is “developing dine-around programmes, where we may give people the opportunity to go out into the town to eat and drink in bars that we have relationships with”. This suggestion that, for example,  traditional cafés selling cafes con leche and cervezas were just not innovative enough or, indeed, commercially minded, is beyond patronising.

I also asked a representative from the Spanish Tourist Board recently, who was agreeing that all inclusives were not a positive model for the Spanish economy, why they just didn’t go out on a limb and ban them. “We can’t do that, it is a free economy, they can do what they want”.

Until the customer starts to say no, that is. Especially if it is, as suggested, solely customer desire which drives boardroom decisions. Many customers are capable of calculating the real costs of costa del consumerism, especially if they know that only 10% of tourist spend in Turkey makes its way into the local economy due to the all inclusives, for example. Or that in Kenya, 87% of tourists go on all inclusive holidays, and yet over half of local people live on less than $1 a day.  These statistics are from recent research from Tourism Concern, the leading UK charity campaigning against the exploitation of human rights in tourism, which is currently leading a campaign highlighting the destructive impacts of all inclusives in destinations all around the world. Check out their online questionnaire on the subject, to give much appreciated feedback on these issues.

Jost Krippendorf, author of a superb book The Holiday Makers (Butterworth-Heinemann) put it perfectly in his detailed study of the impacts of international tourism:  “Why has the loss of local autonomy – certainly the most negative long-term effect of tourism- been totally ignored? Why does the local population tolerate it?…the determining factor is perhaps the very nature of the process: it creeps in, moving on soft soles and one only becomes fully aware of it when it has reached an advance stage. Tourism is a kind of friendly conquest, which takes place not only with the acquiescence of the conquered, but at their explicit invitation” and that eventually, “foreign infiltration it total”. He concludes that “it is a new and devious form of colonialism, because it creates, in a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-its-mouth way, a new dependence and exploits people and resources”.

The fact is that all inclusive resorts are not always the cheaper option. I used the First Choice all inclusive ‘calculator’ to see just how much a saving they say I would make if I buy an all inclusive holiday in Lanzarote, compared with a self-catering one. For a week in July, with two adults and two children, they offer a deal of £2768 (Sterling) all inclusive, and claim that a similar holiday on a non inclusive basis would cost £4349. Although the calculator is not an exact quote, described as merely an ‘entertaining tool’ , I thought it would be equally entertaining to compare the cost of staying at a wonderful eco-friendly glamping resort which I wrote about earlier in the year, Lanzarote Retreats. Here are the approximate costs for a family of four in Sterling: Flights £800 (quote from 29 April 2012), accommodation, £700, airport transfers £100, day trip to water park £100, day trip to local island £122. Total:  £1822. If I were to add on £946 for food and drink for the week, that would bring me up to the same cost as First Choice’s all inclusive deal, as opposed to the £4349 they were suggesting. And even eating out a couple of times, buying fish from the local fishmonger, shopping at the local markets, buying the finest Lanzarote wine at €10 a bottle,  I can make a grand a week spread a long way and have an wonderful and truly sustainable holiday. So, you can consume and care, without it costing you or your hosts a fortune. But at the end of the day, the real choice is yours.

Lanzarote Retreats, a sustainable and sublime alternative to the all inclusive resort Photo: Catherine Mack

(An edited version of this article was first published in The Southern Star newspaper, Ireland)

Sleeper trains just make people smile - Catherine's boys en route from Paris to Nice on board the Train Bleu sleeper train

When you tell someone you are travelling on a sleeper train, they always have the same reaction. A smile. Despite all the advances in technology and transport, it is still the snail trail which many people crave.

I have been lucky enough to experience three overnight train journeys in Europe, each spectacular it its own way. Firstly, the Caledonian Sleeper, which leaves London’s Euston station at around 9pm , the train separating en route as people head to final destinations of Aberdeen, Inverness or, for my most recent expedition, Fort William. When you get on board, there is just enough time to sample a single malt in the lounge bar, sit back and watch the city disperse into suburbs and, finally, into a late summer, rural sunset. Check out my son’s video below of this trip, his first bit of travel journalism.

The clientele on board this train is curiously mixed, with businessmen and women who are still winding up their day of meetings on iphones and laptops, sitting cheek by jowl with hikers and bikers perusing their OS maps. One half of the carriage is an ad for Hugo Boss, the other for Patagonia. We fell into the latter, heading off on a wonderful mum-son canoeing and camping trip along the Great Glen Way with the award winning responsible tourism company Wilderness Scotland.

You have a choice of one or two bed berths, with double berths cheaper, and if you are travelling alone, you may have to share with a stranger of your own sex. They do make an effort to give you your own berth if you are travelling alone, however, with each carriage hosted by a steward who is more than helpful in ensuring you have a comfortable journey. If you are travelling as a family, they will open connecting doors too.

This really is a gem of an experience for children, as they explore the bunks, cleverly concealed sink, fold away table and, most of all, just enjoy the experience of being rocked to sleep, tightly tucked in between crisp, white cotton sheets, waking up to tumbling waterfalls and mist covered Bens. My son, Louis, slept like a baby, whereas I was woken in the middle of the night by the clanking noise of carriages being detached and others being attached. A packet of earplugs would have made the journey perfect.

We arrived at Fort William just before 10am, our steward gently knocking on our door at 9am, with complimentary tea and a hot chocolate for Louis. You can pre-order croissants in London, but we had missed our moment, and so made do with the free shortbread. So, if breakfast is your thing, make sure you book before you berth. Fort William isn’t the most picturesque of towns, and a bit of a shock after all the idyllic country stations we passed through during the last leg of our journey, such as Corrour, which had nothing but a hostel engulfed by heather and hills.  But Fort William is the gateway to Ben Nevis and the Great Glen Way, so it is a busy hub. For a more idyllic end point, I would recommend Pitlochry, where I have disembarked in the past at 6.30am, the mist still concealing this pretty town, as I headed off on a two day cycling break across the Highlands, pedalling from one gorgeous hotel to another. (www.velodays.com). Leading train website, Loco2, also has a great article on how to book one of the bargain berth tickets for The Caledonian Sleeper. Check it out here.

Taking the Caledonian sleeper from London to Fort William from catherine mack on Vimeo.

My first ever sleeper journey was Paris to Madrid about three years ago. The Elipsos trainhotel ‘Francisco de Goya’ leaves Gare D’Austerlitz daily at 19.45, where they take your dinner booking and passports on arrival, the former so you don’t miss out on the superb food on offer, and the latter so that you aren’t disturbed as you sleep it all off across the border in the middle of the night. Being new to sleeper ethos at this time, I remember being a little anxious as I went in search of my cabin which, being tourist class, meant I was not going to be alone: Would my roommates snore? Should I undress in the dark? I was greeted by two jolly Argentinian women with smiles and copious amounts of food to share and realised I was in safe hands.

I had heard that the train food was not to be missed, however, so I went in search of the restaurant car. This was a Narnia moment, stepping from a sleepy world into a fiesta of food and wine, with  everyone from families to besuited businessmen all celebrating what seemed to be, quite simply, the end of the day.  It’s like train theatre, the chef throwing fresh sea bream on the griddle with one hand, while creating an exquisite Greek salad with the other, onlookers cheering as another cork popped. And all for less than a bad sandwich and a coffee on a budget airline.

Lights were out when I returned from the party and my room-mates were asleep but dressed. I threw caution to the wind and donned my pyjamas, brushed my teeth in the tiny sink and, after negotiating the ladder to top bunk, fell into the arms of Morpheus, helped along by the offerings of Bacchus and of course, the rocking skills of Elipsos.

My third sleeper experience was with the whole family, en route from Paris to Nice to go hiking in the Mercantour National Park in the lower Alps. On the Train Bleu you can choose between four and six berth couchettes, and so you might end up in the comfort of strangers for a night, male or female. But you can request women-only berth if you are a solo female traveller. The highlight of this trip was arriving on the Riviera as the sun rises, the train clinging to the shoreline, allowing you to see straight into the world of luxury villas and yachts. Still a bit sleepy and unshowered when we got off in Nice, we dropped our bags in left luggage, and headed straight for a wake up swim in the Mediterranean.

Still smiling? Then check out the best train website in the world, award-winning The Man in Seat 61 (www.seat61.com) , telling you how to devise a rail journey to just about anywhere in the world,  with details on how soft the beds are, what is on the dinner menu,  how best to find a bargain berth, photos and videos, and  links to all the best booking sites. Next on my wishlist is the sleeper train from Rome to Sicily, where they shunt the train onto the ferry (www.trenitalia.com ) and the Riviera Sleeper from London to Penzance in Cornwall.  Other leading websites bursting with train tips and info are greentraveller, Loco2.com and Trains on the Brain.  I have gathered some of their top tips in my article ‘Can international train travel ever be good value?‘. If you are reading this in Ireland, where this article was originally published,  you can also book international rail travel through Irish Rail by phone on 1850 366 222 and let me know how you get on when you tell them you want to get from Laois to Laos by train!

An edited version of this article was first published in The Southern Star newspaper, Ireland. 

Glistening red apples... Copyright: Catherine Mack

Glistening red apples have always been symbolically tempting. Snow White was lured, they got Adam and Eve into big trouble, and in ancient Norse mythology they were seen as providing eternal youth. Whatever their powers, there are thousands of them here, lining the path to our gleaming white yurt, tucked away in a corner of this burgeoning  orchard, like a red carpet to a palace. Camping? Not as we know it, Jim.

We are met on arrival by Anthony, who co-owns The Really Green Holiday Company with his partner Alison, creating this glamping gem on land they lease from Afton Park Orchard.  He leads us down the red carpet to our yurt, and opens the wooden door into our ongoing storybook world. Because a yurt resembles a theatrical space, with its raised wooden floor, perfectly lit by natural light seeping in through the (covered), transparent hole in the ceiling, its canvas backdrop stretched over a circular frame, almost resembling a model of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre itself.

These yurts have been beautifully furnished with recycled antiques and bric a brac. But most important for glampers, there are beds. Proper beds. An old mahogany frame for us, and a double futon for our two boys. After endless ‘normal’ camping breaks, our two boys, aged seven and ten, can’t resist a bit of bouncing. “They’re real mattresses, Mum!”  Not air, not army, not yoga, and just to add to the five star-ness of it all, there are crisp (and ironed, I notice) white sheets and eiderdowns to make our cocoons exquisitely cosy.

Copyright: Catherine Mack

Although I am a lover of real camping, wild camping even, I must admit that this bit of luxury is like a naughty, but more than nice, treat. Indeed, it feels almost opulent putting a match to the yurt’s preset stove, creating a homely atmosphere which is nigh on impossible in our tent. After leaving us to bask in the gorgeous glow of it all for a while, Anthony then shows us the inner workings of the campsite. Unlike most campsites, there is lots of room between us and our neighbours (although we are close enough for me to spot that they have a four poster bed in their palace). There is a proper solid table and chairs outside the yurt, and a cleverly designed brazier cum barbecue for cooking, or just keeping us warm. There is an ample supply of wood, all from sustainable island sources, and constantly stocked up by Anthony and Alison.

However, glam is quickly upstaged by green, as we continue to explore. There may be sheets and stoves, but if you are looking for shower blocks and sockets, that is where the luxury ends. Like so many places I have already visited on the island, and one of the main reasons I keep coming back for more and more, The Really Green Holiday Company does exactly what it says on the tin. First of all, this is a precious working orchard, with 150 trees to be nurtured, and also, this stunning coastal area of the western end of the island is protected, officially known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Consequently, the orchard is totally off-grid.  No electricity, gas, sewers, or mains water (although there is a little onsite water, just in limited supplies).

The loos are compost, and function with a brilliant barrel system, which is turned regularly to speed up the composting action. Using the loo is far from glam and takes a bit of getting used to, but the kids are totally enthralled as Anthony explains how they work. With steps up to their wooden huts, they remind me of the Granddad in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, who gets carried up into the air while going through the motions in his wooden hut; “Maybe that’s why they called it ‘Chitty’ Mum,“ my younger son announces loudly to the amusement of all the nearby happy campers.

The shower is also pure and simple, powered by solar and, when the sun lets you down, there is a wood burner underneath to get the water sizzling again. The grey water from the shower goes into barrels, then used for watering the trees around us. There are buckets of water to wash hands, using rainwater from butts, and eco-friendly products everywhere to protect the immediate environs.

Copyright: Catherine Mack

The campsite revolves around a communal dome tent, used for cooking and eating when it gets wet. There are some Calor Gas cookers, and flasks full of hot water for a quick coffee to get the sand out of the eyes in the morning. Just as Anthony is showing us the workings of the dome, the clouds over Freshwater open like they haven’t all summer. We all look up as the dome roof lifts into one big arc, a gale force kicking in with wild abandon. Anthony looks at the water seeping in under foot, totally unperturbed. A little more concerned, wondering if our storybook adventure is about to segue into an Oz-like tornado, we excuse ourselves and rush back to the safety of our yurt. With the comfort of the wood burning stove, cuddled up under duvets, we stare up through the now black hole at the clouds swooping in like the wicked witch herself, spookily backlit by the moon.  The canvas is shaking, and the apple tree branches cast shadows everywhere. However, after a few marshmallows toasted over the fire, and hot chocolate heated on the stove, all is good in the land of yurt, soon transformed to a sumptuous land of nod.

Morning comes and, as if following a script, the sun is shining, skies are blue, and the dome tent is still there. Anthony is up a ladder mending a couple of tears, the kettle is on, and people gather round the dome to compare storm survival notes. I couldn’t help thinking of some of the clifftop campers nearby, some of whom must have had to pack up in the middle of the night, and take refuge in cars. Glamping is stormproof, that’s for sure.

After a typically slow start to the day, one of the best things about camping in my view, we stroll down toFreshwaterBay, just a ten minute walk through woodland. The waves are still too high for swimming with the boys, despite clearer skies, and gentle paddling leads to general drenching. We head back to the yurt to dry off and for lunch, and shopping is made easy with the onsite Afton Park Farm Shop. Within a few minutes we  stock up with chicken fillets, mushrooms, crème fraiche and onions, all from local farms. I realise that we are now becoming galloping, glamping gourmets. None of your baked beans here.

Paul and Michaela Heathcote, who own this fab farm shop and orchard, are also rare breed specialists and have de-camped a few favourites from their nearby farm to graze in the field beside the orchard. Even the animals are posh here, I think, such as Mayzie, an Irish moiled calf, one of only 400 females left worldwide, and Matt, a Wensleydale sheep, of which there are only a thousand left worldwide. Don’t get too attached though, as some of their relatives are available in the shop, and you won’t taste a better sausage on the barbeque than theirs. Combined with their new co-venture, whereby their café is transformed into a superb evening restaurant, run by a budding local chef, AftonPark has to be one of the most impressive examples of rural diversification I have come across on my travels.

Superb lunch at Briddlesford Farm Bluebells cafe, isle of Wightmy travels.

We finish our stay at the yurts with just one more bit of magic, taking place, rather aptly, up a tree. But this time, an ancient oak tree. Anthony recommends an outing with Goodleaf, a local recreational treeclimbing company. Over a period of two and a half hours, trained arborist Paul McCathie, teaches us how to use harnesses, carabiners, ropes and knots, as well as climbing and abseiling techniques, and then leads us gently up into the branches of a sixty foot oak. My sons dance like nymphs from branch to branch, while I slowly heave my way feeling more like the giant trying to get back up the beanstalk. When I reach my first big branch I dare to look down at Paul smiling below, breathe in the smell of the branches, and realise that I haven’t contemplated a fear of heights for a second. There is something about the slow pace of climbing this magnificent natural structure, which helps conquer your fears, and its canopy. And in terms of thrills, my kids say it beats any roller coaster ride.

This exhilarating treeclimbing experience is undoubtedly the perfect closing chapter to our storybook weekend, which draws to a close much quicker than we want it to. However, as we close the door for our last night under the stars, and lie down to take in the ever-changing night sky drifting over our heads, we vow to come again, and raise our hot chocolates in a mutual toast to glamping happily ever after.

For more details of the yurts at Freshwater Bay, see www.thereallygreenholidaycompany.com, weekend hire from £220. For details of the orchard, farm shop and restaurant, see www.aftonpark.co.uk.

 Five things for glampers to gloat over on the Isle of Wight:

• Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking. Shimmy in off the beach at Freshwater Bay, straight into the waves and around the coast, depending
  

  Catherine and children sea Kayaking in Freshwater Bay Photo: Catherine Mack

  on your ability, confidence, and the weather. With a bit of experience you can take trips to caves, sea stacks, off-shore Napoleonic forts and otherwise inaccessible beaches. Fantastic family half day offers from £45.

• Walk the Coastal Path - With just over 100kms of brilliantly maintained coastal walking paths, this has to be the best way to discover the island. For details of all walking routes, as well as the annual Isle of Wight Walking Festival in May, www.islandbreaks.co.uk have great maps of each route, and, very cool indeed, details of companies which offer a bargain bag collection service to move your bags from one accommodation to another as you head there by foot.
• From field to fork - You will have the perfect glamping experience if you stock up your barbeque with some of the superb range of the island’s local produce by seeking out some of the local farm shops. My favourites include Bluebells at Briddlesford Farm, Wooton, which also has a superb restaurant, Kings Manor Farm, and of course, The Garlic Farm, near Newchurch. Or even more impressive, order in advance to be delivered to your yurt, with inspired local food delivery company, The Real Island Food Company.
• Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park, which successfully combines a fun park and rides to suit all ages, with 35 hectares of
  

  Catherine's husband and son treeclimbing with Goodleaf Copyright: Catherine Mack

  countryside, including nature trails, sculpture parks and falconry displays.

• Goodleaf Tree Climbing - For the best ever trip to the treetops with expert recreational treeclimber Paul McCathie. A two and a half hour climbing experience costs £25 for children and £35 for adults, including equipment, tuition and tea and cakes.  This very green company also offers 5% discount to anyone arriving by public transport, pushbike or foot
• For up to date information on all things cool and green on the Isle of Wight check out my favourite blogs, My Isle of Wight, and Ventnor Blog.This article was first published in Island Visitor Magazine, Summer 2011

Coastal walk Steephill Cove into Ventnor, approaching Ventnor Copyright: Catherine Mack

“The current drought in the UK highlights the need for us all to use less water in our daily lives. This should extend to our holidays, whether we’re visiting Bognor Regis or the Balearics. Generally, there’s a tendency for our water consumption to increase while we’re away”, says Mark Watson, Executive Director of Tourism Concern.

Many of our favourite holiday destinations are in hot and dry regions of the world, where water is scarce due to low rainfall levels. In poorer countries, such as Kenya, The Gambia, India and Bali in Indonesia, lack of infrastructure and poverty means communities often struggle to meet their daily water needs, even if seasonal rains are plentiful.  Tourist high season usually falls during the summer months, which can place additional pressure on water supplies. Meanwhile, neighbouring resorts consume vast quantities of water for guest rooms, landscaped gardens, swimming pools and golf courses. This can lead to the depletion of groundwater resources and place additional strain on public supplies.

While governments and the tourism industry must lead in managing water resources more sustainably, Tourism Concern and Water Wise point out that tourists also have a vital role to play. Their top tips for a water friendly holiday include:

• Take a shower instead of a bath. This uses about a third of the amount of water.
• Opt in to towel and sheet re-use schemes and report dripping taps
• Turn off the water while lathering the soap, brushing teeth or shaving. A running tap uses 6 litres of water a minute.
• Ask your hotel what it’s doing to save water and find out about the water situation in the area where you’re staying

View the full set of tips at Tourism Concern

Tourists can also get involved by taking the online WET Pledge in support of Tourism Concern’s Water Equity in Tourism Campaign.  The campaign aims to ensure that the water rights of communities in tourism destinations are not compromised by tourism development.

Enjoying an outdoor shower at Kingfisher Camp, Herefordshire http://www.canopyandstars.co.uk/find-a-place/grove-farm/kingfisher-camp

For example, research to be published by Tourism Concern next month indicates that in the Indian state of Goa, a popular destination with British holidaymakers, the hotel industry is consuming vast amounts of water from the public supply, while local communities only have limited access.  In the tourist hub of Calangute, some households reportedly only receive piped water for two hours every other day, while aging infrastructure and frequent power cuts mean that even then it can be unreliable.

Meanwhile, the depletion and pollution of groundwater and waterways, caused in large part by the tourism sector, means that some traditional community wells are becoming unusable. This in turn is forcing households to become increasingly dependent upon the erratic public piped supply.

Back in the UK, southern and eastern regions are facing their worst drought for many years. The UK actually has less water per person than Greece, Italy or Spain; London has less rainfall than Istanbul, and Manchester has just half the rainfall of Sydney”, says Jacob Tompkins, Managing Director of Water Wise. “We can all do our bit to use less water and still have a fantastic holiday”, says Tompkins.

Belfast to Derry train Copyright: Mari Ward

People just don’t believe me when I tell them it is often cheaper for me to go back to my home country of Ireland, from London, by train and ferry. But the last time we travelled to Dublin as a family was at Christmas it cost us £258 (for two adults and two kids) including return tickets from our home in London to Euston station.

We usually take the same journey every time, catching the Virgin Trains service leaving London Euston at 9.10am as it is direct to Holyhead, allowing you to relax the whole way and enjoy the coastline of North Wales at the same time. We have about an hour’s wait in Holyhead, catch an early afternoon ferry and are in Dublin Port in the city of centre by 5.30pm, and home to Granny for tea. Any airline equivalent at this Christmas rip off period was  minimum £600 not including transport to and from the airport. SailRail offers consistent prices, and I always book it through Raileasy, although most ferry companies offer the same package. Sailrail makes train and ferry travel affordable, with similar packages to Holland now, and hopefully other destinations will start offering this as an option soon. Still waiting for news on the London to Northern Ireland Sailrail (via Liverpool) to open up, hopefully by the end of this year.

A couple of my other favourites include Bargain Berths on the Caledonian Sleeper from London to the Scottish Highlands. Blogger Simon Varwell is the font of information on how to bag one of these elusive tickets – definitely worth a read. The other is the underrated Train des Pignes which goes from Nice into the Alpes, terminating at Dignes les Bains. A tiny metre gauge train which rattles its way through mountain villages, this is a tourist route, but we took it up to Entrevaux to start a hiking holiday across the Mercantour, with a donkey to carry our bags from auberge to auberge. Catch it at the Chemins de Fer de Provence station iin Nice,  €18 adults, €9 children, one way.

I have asked a few of my favourite train brains to give their top tips on getting bargains when choosing to travel abroad by train, as listed below. Some of them suggest the same things, but all have great points, so many thanks to all of them for taking the time to contribute and spread the train.

Jools Stone, freelance journalist and top rail travel blogger
Follow Jools on Twitter,  facebook or on his blog 

• As with booking UK train tickets, the best deals are often found on the national operator’s own site, instead of one of the third
  

  Jules Stone en route from Montreal to Quebec See http://www.trainsonthebrain.com/2011/03/25/via-rail-review-whats-train-travel-in-canada-like/

  parties. Germany’s www.bahn.de usually has great deals and if you can book up a few months in advance, you can get tickets for €49 from the UK or €39 within Europe. Their system covers journeys across most of Europe and the site is easy to navigate. For some reason you have to put in passenger ages or it won’t let you proceed and view prices, but this little quirk aside, it works pretty well.

• Sleepers services vary in comfort and price but offer you a good way to save both time, by speeding you through the night to the heart of your destination, and money on lacklustre hotels. There are some good deals to be had. For example, the recently launched, and rather swish looking Thello night train can whisk you from Paris to Milan, Verona or Venice from as little as €35 in a shared couchette.

• If you’re considering using night trains while InterRailing you’ll need to buy sleeper supplements. In most countries east of Germany these can often be found for €20 or less. If you want to get to Scandinavia, a part of Europe not usually associated with budget travel, the Berlin Express is one night train worth looking at. This runs from April to November, zipping you cross the Øresundsbron Bridge from Berlin to Malmo, a short hop to Stockholm. Sleeper supplements start at €19.

• RailDude is a handy site which lists practically all of the sleeper supplement prices. Of course it’s always worth doing the maths before you book your InterRail pass, especially if you’re heading east. Add up the costs of the single journeys you’re planning to take, as sometimes it can work out cheaper than the pass, though there’s a lot to be said for the flexibility the pass gives you of course.

Richard Hammond, Chief Executive and founder Greentraveller Limited, www.greentraveller.co.uk. Follow Richard on Twitter and Facebook

• Split ticketing would be my top tip. For example, always book London to Paris/Brussels/Lille then separately book the onward portion of the trip, from Paris/Brussels/Lille to the final destination.
• The direct train to Avignon is from £109 return, which is pretty good value. See our Greentraveller video of this fantastic rail journey

Amanda Monroe, Media Relations Manager RailEurope ( www.raileurope.co.uk/)
Follow her on Twitter and Facebook

• The further in advance you can book international rail travel, the better bargains you can get. Eurostar services can be booked 120 days in advance, and most other European services 90 days in advance. Most operators work on a yield managed system and so the cheapest fares are available the earlier you book. If you leave making your booking until a week or two before departure you’ll find you’ll pay much more for your tickets than if you book as soon as the tickets go on sale.

• If you’re planning lots of rail journeys during one trip, it’s worth looking into rail passes. InterRail passes come in Global or single country versions and can offer great value, particularly if you’re booking close to the date of travel when point to point tickets will be more expensive. It’s always a good idea to check the cost of point to point versus pass plus seat reservation costs before booking.
• Seat reservations also work on a sliding scale, so again, the earlier you book these the lower cost they will be.
• Children under 4 travel free on most European trains and, in some cases, children under 6 travel for free. This tends to be in northern European countries such as Belgium, Germany and Denmark (scroll down to table below for more details of this and general discounts for kids).

Mark Smith, The Man in Seat 61, on the Glacier Express with his son. Copyright: Mark Smith

Mark Smith, founder of award winning train website www.seat61.com
Follow Mark on Twitter and Facebook.

• The Dutch Flyer, London (or any station on Greater Anglia) to Amsterdam (or any Dutch station) from £39 plus cabin cost (single cabin £30, double cabin £43  per cabin).  Can save expensive accommodation costs in London or Amsterdam too!  
  
• 
  
•  DB’s (Deutsche Bahn) ‘London Spezials’ cost  from €49 from London to anywhere in Germany.  Limited availability, but I have certainly returned from Berlin to London for €49  myself!   Book at www.bahn.de, which will also book sleeper trains from Paris to Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, or from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, Prague, Warsaw or Zurich, from €59  with couchette, €99  with a bed in a 2-bed sleeper, or journeys such as Berlin-Prague from €29, Amsterdam to Berlin from €29.
•  At the French Railways English language website www.tgv-europe.com, Paris-Geneva/Basel/Zurich starts at €25;  Paris to Turin or Milan start at €25;  Paris to Barcelona from € 72 with sleeper;  Paris to Amsterdam from €35.
• And for ever-popular Italy, book at www.trenitalia.com looking for a cheap ‘Mini’ fare.  Rome to Florence from €19

• The trick is really to book direct with the operator, using the right website for that route.  The rule of thumb is to start with the train operator for the country in which an international train starts, e.g. tgv-europe.com for France, trenitalia.com for Italy, bahn.de for Germany, oebb.at  for Austria, and so on.  Although the first exceptions have appeared:  The Paris-Venice ‘Thello’ train needs to be booked at www.thello.com or www.trenitalia.com in either direction, and the Paris-Milan TGVs need to be booked at www.tgv-europe.com in either direction.

Anila Babla, Digital Marketing Manager www.loco2.co.uk
Follow Anila on Twitter as well as on Facebook

• Any Dutch station – You can travel from London through to any station in Holland for the same price, this is detailed more here. The good thing is you can stop en route in Brussels for a day and not pay any more.
• London Spezial- Deutsche Bahn’s London Spezial fare lets you travel from London to any German station from €49 one way.
• Trenitalia mini-fares – the Italian rail network is now using a system more like the UK where if you book in advance you can profit from very cheap fares, what they call MiniFares. True they are non-exchangeable and refundable and only standard class but are unbeaten on price.
• Renfe Turistas fares – Renfe, in Spain, has a 2nd class of tickets called Turista which offer 40-60% discounts on journeys. It’s hard to give an estimate on price because the network is pretty big, but this is worth researching though!
  

  Catherine on the Train des Pignes between Nice and Dignes Les Bains

One of the yurts by the lake at Mount Druid, Westmeath. Photo: Catherine Mack

‘The Hundred Acre Wood’  is Winnie the Pooh’s home, my younger son reminds me as we start to explore the pathways leading through the 200,000 trees planted by the owners of this extraordinary 100 acre farm in Castletown Geoghegan, County Westmeath. Although Pooh, Tigger and Roo are nowhere to be seen, there are streams and bridges to throw Pooh sticks from, endless spots for Owl to hang out but, happily, nowhere for Eyeore to feel gloomy. In fact, he would be positively jumping for joy if he could take part in the yurt hunt here, with ten of these magnificent Mongolian tents carefully concealed around its 100 acres.

The landscaping here is about as perfect as the famous map of AA Milne’s fantasy world, except this is a reality and certainly not just to be enjoyed by children. Boutique Camping was opened just over a year ago, by owners Adrian and Deirdre Murphy, although they have been developing their dream landscape, called Mount Druid (and yes, it does have a mount with a druid) for the last five years, and the many broadleaf trees which thrive all around us providing evidence of this long term planning. With carefully thought out pathways which follow the natural undulations of their hills and the recently opened up streams and lakes which were concealed underground until the Murphys went a digging, this is definitely not a case of someone just making a quick dash to jump on board an eco bandwagon.

I am a fan of yurts anyway, but have never seen anything as extensive as this in Ireland, and with so much land to explore, everyone has space to themselves. And space was just what the doctor ordered after a week of Christmas cabin fever. ‘Why on earth would you go camping in December?’ one of the curious villagers asked me at the gorgeous local pub, Claffeys, two minutes’ walk away from the farm, and just one of three lovely pubs in this village. I explain that it has a large central, wood burning stove, warm beds raised off the floor, enough insulation to cope with a Mongolian snowstorm, and that it feels lovely waking up in the ‘fresh air’ with a toasty body and a chilly nose peeking out over the top of the winter tog duvets. The only problem, I add, is working out who gets up first to stick some wood or turf on the fire to warm us up in the morning. ‘But where do you make the breakfast?’ he asks, and I reassure him that there is a beautifully restored barn for the use of all guests, with giant stove, comfy sofas, a large communal dining table and cooking facilities.

The communal barn Photo: Catherine Mack

The only thing missing in the yurt  is a kettle, as it would be lovely to stick one on the stove to get your day off to an even cosier start, so bring a camping one with you if you are a ‘tea before you can move a muscle’ sort of a person, like me. And if you travel with a hot water jar, then you’d have something to fill it from, without having to embarrass yourself in the communal barn. Not speaking from experience of course. They also like you to bring towels, although all bed linen is provided.

And then there is the sauna, which would have shed a whole new light on Christopher Robin’s day if he’d have had one, I’m sure. Our kids, who are always banned from such luxuries in leisure centres, were in their element, going from their early morning cycle around the land, on kindly provided high quality mountain bikes, to the sauna. It also gave them a good excuse to use the shower in the barn, rather than running from the yurt to the shower in a ‘shed’ which are scattered in various locations convenient to each accommodation. Albeit fine quality, eco wooden sheds.

I spared my new pal in the pub the details of the compost loos, though, as I thought this might just finish him off altogether, and as he and a few of his welcoming friends, who had joined the chat by now, were full of admiration for what the Murphys had achieved, I didn’t want them to think that we were all just a bunch of hippies hiding up on the hill with the druids. The Murphys live on site, and so are always around to make sure we are warm and comfortable, Adrian popping over to the barn with a freshly made loaf and some of their farm eggs, their boys inviting ours for a game of football, and their daughter keen to show us the recently converted self-catering house. This is a clever addition to their accommodation portfolio, created with the same flair for contemporary design  which the Murphys have applied to their own fine house, once a grey Presbytery, now a magnificent home to six kids, dogs, cats and a stream of visitors enquiring about this and that. The self-catering house, known as Kindalin, was the old school master’s home, and has been refurbished with a green oak frame, has an open plan design, mezzanine walkways and three bedrooms. And a telly, for those people who find it difficult to let the screens go completely. There is a yurt just nearby so if you have friends who want to do the indoors thing, while you do the out, then this is ideal. Or bring the grandparents, who won’t get the ‘yurk’ idea, as my mother in law insists on calling it. And if you have a very special birthday or anniversary coming up, rent out the whole place, putting families in yurts, and feed the gang in the barn or Kindalin. The Murphys are happy to help with catering if there is a crowd in.

Just one of many friendly faces at Mount Druid. Photo: Catherine Mack

We did not explore any further than the Hundred Acres or the village during our brief stay, but there is already pressure to return from our kids, and so I note that for a summer week there is plenty to do in the area, with Lough Ennell on the doorstep, where you can rent a boat and go fishing (www.lilliputboathire.com), the Mullingar Cycle Hub which consists of several looped cycles around the Lough and others nearby (www.irishtrails.ie), walking or cycling along the Royal Canal which goes through nearby Mullingar (www.iwai.ie), or day long summer camps with kayaking, orienteering and gorge walking at the nearby Lilliput Adventure Centre from as little as €30 per day. Oh, and because the Murphy’s don’t do things by halves, they also have a Green Village Music and Arts Festival on 29 September 2012, and they are still basking in the success of its 2011 inauguration. In fact, I think the Murphys, with their dynamic, life loving energy, combined with sustainable awareness must have gathered a little of Winnie the Pooh’s wisdom along their way in life. Among many famous quotes, he said, ‘A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.’ And this pretty much sums up Mount Druid. Thoughtful and making a difference. As my friend from the pub said just before he downed his last, ‘Adrian saved that land from being developed into a housing estate, you know. He just couldn’t stand back and let that happen here’. To which I raised my new Year’s pint, and toasted a year of Pooh-like positivity the likes of which lie on the top of a Westmeath hill.

For more information on the yurts and self-catering at Mount Druid, see www.boutiquecamping.ie. Yurts from
€80 per night for a midweek two night stay, otherwise €100 per night.

This article was first published in The Southern Star, Ireland

Catherine and Barney outside The Forge, made famous by Seamus Heaney

It’s not often many tourists find themselves  travelling through Magherafelt in Northern Ireland, but I was researching Seamus Heaney’s homelands for another article recently, when I found myself staying for a night at Laurel Villa, an elegant, Victorian house in the heart of this south Derry market town.

My stay evolved as one of Heaney’s poems might, starting with a modest, friendly welcome, an unveiling of rich, quality content, some laughs, some tears, beautiful images and then, ultimately, a feeling of sheer satisfaction and pleasure. All in 24 hours in Magherafelt. Fine tourism businesses which hold our cultural heritage in high esteem are few and far between, especially ones which pull it off with such commitment to the literary art form as do its owners, Geraldine and Eugene Kielt. I arrived mid-morning and, after a welcome of home-made scones and coffee, Eugene and I headed off for a guided tour of Heaney country.

It was hard to get me out the door, however, as I explored this houseful of cultural gems, such as 10 signed, limited edition linen scrolls with a Heaney poem on each, a glass cabinet with first edition literary pamphlets, portraits of poets and writers, and books everywhere. It does not feel in any way like a shrine, however, more like an intimate literary museum, where you can sit with a cup of tea or glass of wine and chat in unhushed tones about Ireland’s greats.

Which is why it is hard to get out the door, but out you must go, as Eugene is a Blue Badge guide specialising in Heaney’s country, and he took me on one of the best guided tours I have ever done, full of such unexpected joys it would ruin it to share them all. First stop was an old forge at Hill Head. Not just any forge, of course, but The Forge from Heaney’s famous poem. There, waiting to greet us was Barney Devlin, the now octogenarian son of the blacksmith brought so brilliantly to life by Heaney.

Unlike the fearsome blacksmith behind the “door into the dark”, his son is a jovial, witty character, who had me striking his anvil, regaled me with stories of the Forge Players who rehearsed here, and voiced his passion for educating young people through the spoken word. Just before we left, Devlin casually picked up a book of Heaney’s poems and read The Forge aloud in an unassuming, gentle way, as if it would have been rude not to. Hearing Heaney’s words aloud, as Devlin held my hand with a strong grip and slipped some old horse shoe nails into it for luck, was a moment never to be forgotten.

Heaney's words resound

My tour continued along the same emotional vein, with stops outside Mossbawn farm, where Heaney was born, then on to the wet grasslands of Lough Beg, where we walked through sun strewn woodland to the lough shore. This is now an important bird reserve, managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. As the Whooper swans whooped and the sun started to set, no background could be any more sympathetic as Eugene began his reading of Heaney’s The Strand at Lough Beg.  And so to Anahorish, Toomebridge and finally Bellaghy, where Heaney lived as a teenager and where you can see a stunning life-size bronze sculpture by David Annand called The Turfman , inspired by the Nobel Laureate’s poem, Digging.

There are four en suite bedrooms at Laurel Villa: the Kavanagh Room, the McNiece Room, the Longley Room and the Heaney Room. Beautifully decorated, warm and comfy, with art and poetry in every one, you can take your pick of which might best feed your soul. With hospitality such as this, and knowledge and passion to back it up, I am not surprised that Heaney gave a poetry reading here not so long ago. He always has a great instinct for the real thing when he sees it.

This article was first published in The Irish Times April 2011

Laurel Villa Townhouse

Press Release

For immediate release 10 February 2012

On St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, a new travel app, Ireland Green Travel, written by award winning travel writer, Catherine Mack, shows the world some of Ireland’s truly green gems, not just the emeralds.

Just as everything turns green for the world wide celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day on 17 March, a new travel app on the market, Ireland Green Travel, helps tourists see all of Ireland’s ever growing number of truly green gems, not just the emeralds.  The Ireland Green Travel app, currently available for iPod and iPad, and Android, has been written by award winning Irish travel writer, Catherine Mack, who specialises in green and responsible tourism.  Featuring over 120 entries of green accommodation, activities, transport options and local food experts, this guide will have you hiking, biking, canoeing and sleeping in some of Ireland’s lesser known green spots – lakeside lodges, yurt camps, island retreats, eco-castles, grand houses, yoga retreats and community-run hostels. Each accommodation entry has details on how to get there without a car and Ireland Green Travel app has a handy up to date Slow Travel guide for visitors who want to get to and from Ireland without flying,  with information on local rail and bus services, as well as how to bring your bike on them.

“Ireland has been feeling the pinch recently, to say the least”, says Catherine,”but St Patricks Day is always a welcome opportunity for those of us at home or abroad to cheer ourselves up with what we love most about the country.This app aims to celebrate businesses which have committed to sustainability in tourism, and which offer a passion for preserving the country they love to share with visitors, not only on St Patrick’s Day, but for generations to come”.

• Price £1.79, $2.99. Published by Sutro Media.

-Ends-

 

On their return home to Europe the couple – parents of teenage girls, both with demanding jobs decided that they would like to invest in bringing this vision to fruition. It’s very much a work of love for them as they only gets to spend about two weeks in Bali a year given their jobs and family commitments. Gert spends one day of every weekend working by email and Skype supporting the Gede and the team in Bali.  Irene commented that when she gets frustrated by the time her husband spends on this away from his family, she consoles herself by thinking of the twenty five plus families in Bali whose lives have been transformed by the employment provided by this project.

Munduk Moding Plantation is a working Coffee plantation with four luxury villas and two suites, designed in keeping with the local area by award-winning Bali architect, Popo Danes. From our suite we had a spectacular view – with Java visible in the distance. It also has one of the most stunningly located infinity pools I have ever seen.

We loved this place. From the big four poster bed in our suite we had a glorious view of the sky… we felt as if we were in heaven. The nature is stunning, with coffee, cloves and vanilla growing all around the grounds of the plantation. There are opportunities to do amazing things with the local community – like attend the celebration at a neighbouring family’s house where a three month old baby put its feet on the ground for the first time. The staff will also arrange for you to have a consultation with the local healer or Shaman.

The staff couldn’t have been more friendly or attentive to our needs. Food is great (all coffee served is grown on the plantation (you can go and watch it being roasted and ground by hand and help if you wish). Order the Balinese reistaffel and have it served by candlelight in the pavilion under the stars. All visitors are brought on a complimentary tour of the plantation, and for a small fee staff will accompany you on treks to visit nearby waterfalls and villages. They also have horses and bicycles available for exploring the stunning countryside.There is lots to do for a three to five day visit, but it is not the best place to use as a base for sightseeing around Bali – it may be in the centre, but it’s reached by narrow windy roads which I for one would not wish to be going up and down every day. We met several people with children staying there – and the families were having a ball.

The room with a view Photo: Jean Callanan

The development on the plantation continues – this year they planted five hundred trees and have been donating seedlings to every household so that every villager will be able to plant five trees. Two more villas are due to become available this year. We loved this place and will be back. We spent three days here which we felt wasn’t enough – next time it will be longer”.

We spent three days as part of a Munduk Moding Plantation 15 days visit to Bali where we also stayed in Lovina (in the Damai Lovina. www.damai.com – beautifully located, but we found the dinners extremely expensive), and Ubud (in the Kajane Ubud www.kajane.com; great location and lovely staff – if you are booking a shared  bungalow make sure you specify the upstairs as the downstairs ones can be rather dark.)

Maasai villagers reading about their achievements in The Observer Photo: Tribal Voice Communications

‘Responsible tourism? Ha! Does that mean not dropping your litter as you walk through the rainforest?’ was the scathing reaction of a friend when I told her that I was taking on an Msc in Responsible Tourism Management six years ago. I tried somewhat pathetically to defend my tiny corner. Then, “I am so tired all of this f***king eco shit” one award winning travel writer said loudly in my direction a few years later at the ABTA convention, to a round of back patting and communal cackling from his peers. By then, I had learned to smile politely and walk on. But oh, how they laughed.

So, six years later, with one Masters degree, a modest pile of published work, three books, one app and an award, I am simply bemused to see they are still laughing.  Just this week  on Twitter, in an albeit humourous banter between fellow travel Tweeps, I posted something about Responsible Tourism Week, an online iniative happening 13-17 February 2012.  So why was I surprised to see the ensuant piss taking? “Apparently it’s Responsible Tourism Week soon. Personally I quite fancy an Irresponsible Tourism Week. Anyone else?!” one travel writer teased. “Isn’t every week an irresponsible tourism week?” another retorted. I retweeted and replied, “Speak for yourselves”  *still smiling*

However,  what surprises me most is that six years later, after a plethora of responsible tourism conferences, conventions and codes of practice, so many travel writers, not just travellers, still think it is amusing that our industry is ‘responsible’  for so much damage. As one Tweep put it, the term responsible “feels at odd with fun”. They still dismiss the responsible tourism movement as a bit of a whim, a green geeksville. A posse of party poopers even. They still don’t get the fact that the responsible tourism movement is about water inequity, human rights abuses, irrational use of natural resources, waste, pollution, commercialising culture, and so much more.  And why do they not know? Because so many of the responsible tourism issues and destination developments are debated in academic circles, at government or UN level or around the board tables of small, committed tour operators and agencies. And there is always one empty chair at these debates. That of the media. There will always be travel writers for whom a commission will come before a ‘cause’, of course, but there are so many who are still just simply in the dark where responsible tourism, ecotourism, green or sustainable tourism issues , call it what you will, are concerned.

Ireland Green Travel app by Catherine Mack

The reason ’responsible tourism’ evolved as a term, is because, long before I started my studies,  many forward thinking individuals from around the globe recognised that we all have to take responsibility for the tourism industry. That is to say,  tour operators, tranport providers,  accommodation owners, tourists, governments, service providers, activity companies  and of course, the media. I completed my Masters degree with detailed research into  the UK travel media, and how responsible they were in their travel journalism. The research results were, not surprisingly, a bit grim. Some shone, however, and stood out as getting what sustainability in travel really meant. One editor commissioned me to write my first piece, as a result of my meeting with him to discuss the research, and so my writing career began. I remember thinking that if I could get all the editors around a table to debate the issues, with a view to spreading a social responsibility among travel writers, I would put myself out of a job, being a ‘specialist’ in this area. But that idea was never jumped upon, funnily enough, and then when I hear the jibes and jests emerge once again,  I realise that I still  have a few years’ work ahead of me

In the meantime, the challenge for me is to make a ‘responsible’  holiday sound fun, exciting or interesting enough to persuade a tourist to go on it, without making them feel they are sacrificing anything for the sake of being  more ‘responsible’. And then if both the readers and the editors can see that I am not the party pooper they presume me to be, I can start to throw in a few of the more urgent, if not life threatening issues which arise from irresponsible tourism in certain destinations.

 In response to the latest Tweet from a colleague on this subject this week, “Do punters give a toss?”, the business case for responsible tourism is already well documented. The rise of the ethical consumer is considerable, a growth trend which is surviving the global economic crisis. I guess what I give a toss about is getting the chance to write an article for a mainstream outlet about a small fishing village on County Mayo’s most remote coast, where a young group of fishermen are working to conserve their marine environment and community by creating an exemplary and exciting tourism business to keep them in their region.  A good article in a reputable media outlet could have them booked out for a season, allow them to get a loan for a new boat, and stop them emigrating from the area.

Spotting dolphins on the way home from a fishing trip in County Mayo Photo: www.dulra.ie

Or when I get to highlight the exploitation of the Maasai through reckless oversights on the parts of foreign-owned safari lodges, and promote their hard won sustainable enterprise which helps to provide schools and clean water. This beats any press junket, Facebook following or Klout rating. Or when I get even a handful of the 90% of visitors who travel by car around our National Parks to leave them at home, by showing them how to get their by train, and kayak, coasteer, walk or cycle when they get there, that is a good day’s work. And when one tiny Alpine business which has been fighting to stop the pollution caused by skiing in their region almost single handedly for the last ten years, gets put on the Sunday supplement map, then this is cooler than any award. One thing it isn’t is boring. And fun? Well, each to their own, but I am about to go ice skating across Sweden’s frozen lakes with exemplary responsible tourism company Nature Travels, which is fan  f***king eco-stastic in my book.  So, laugh away, and I will try to keep smiling. And then I will calmly keep on ‘worthying’.