Ffestiniog Travel blog

The best time to visit Australia is over Christmas and New Year AND it helps that the Ashes are in full swing too! So our tailor made tour bloggers, the Woodroffe’s, timed it perfectly to experience both! Here they share their experience of a warm Christmas and discovering the sights and fabulous flavours of Sydney.

As our ‘tailor made’ travellers, the Woodroffes, continue their journey down NZ’s east coast they visit Wellington before encountering the beauty of the South Island coastline and even manage a heritage rail ride up a steep gorge with some interesting viaducts en route.

As Christina and Robert Woodroffe continue their 67-day tailor made tour they embark on a cruise from New Zealand to Australia, which they arranged independently, but if their experience appeals to you Ffestiniog Travel can plan and organise everything for you. Here is the first instalment featuring their Celebrity Solstice cruise highlights as they embark from Auckland and experience amazing places along the New Zealand coastline.

In part 2 of Robert and Christina Woodroffe’s travelogue of their 3-month tailor made Ffestiniog Travel tour of South East Asia and Australasia they arrive in Singapore and share some interesting facts and thoughts on this small, pristine country while enjoying its hospitality!

As one couple embark on an extensive tailor made rail holiday to South East Asia they decide to take us with them by writing about their journey…

Ffestiniog Travel’s Tailor Made rail holidays can often prove challenging for our travel consultants as they try to fulfil the dream journeys of customers. One couple, Robert and Christina Woodroffe recently embarked on a mammoth 67day rail holiday through Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo and are keen to share their experience with us by publishing their travelogue style blog. Here’s their first instalment – a luxurious start on the Eastern & Orient Express.

The Harz Mountains in Germany is a beautiful area to visit but what makes it even more appealing as a rail holiday destination is its narrow gauge railway which travels through stunning landscapes. Harz expert Dan May never tires of steaming through the Harz Mountains and in this blog he shares his experience of leading a tour to the region.

The marvel of human invention is never more wondrous than when it harmoniously blends with nature and when technology enables you to view the beauty of this landscape at first hand it is a marriage made in heaven. Gordon Rushton describes how a Welsh national park, two preserved railways and a special steam train are the perfect paradigm of nature, man and machine working together.

From my experience a trip to Romania promises to be something quite special. Having led several tours to the country I can categorically state that it is a wonderful destination. Ffestiniog Travel has had the privilege of working in close partnership with owner managed local operator Ramona of “My Romania” which gives added value to all FT’s Romanian operations. This association has enabled FT to become one of the UK’s leading tour operators to Romania. A day-to-day itinerary doesn’t do justice to a tour like Romania so I have written a first-hand account of the ‘Romania at Harvest Time’ tour which took place in September 2013 and I hope it provides a flavour of why Romania is a must-see destination.

When preparing an escorted tour it is important to consider all eventualities before departure and ensure travellers are fully briefed on the culture and idiosyncrasies of their foreign destination. As the September 2013 departure date for Ffestiniog Travel’s rail tour of Japan draws near FT tour leader Bob Cable shares his personal observations of this Far East country. Those considering visiting Japan in the future, particularly those travelling around the country by rail, may find the following helpful.

Having run 14 escorted rail tours to India, Ffestiniog Travel have become experts on the dos and don'ts of travelling around the Sub-Continent. Seasoned FT tour leader Bob Cable gives his useful, first hand top tips for an enjoyable holiday in India with Ffestiniog Travel and in general, covering such issues as food, health, hygiene, luggage and security.

Our research trip to Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, June 2013

It probably comes as no surprise to the reader to learn that, once we have decided to explore the possibility of a tour to a new destination, we have to do our homework and, where appropriate, our fieldwork too. What is perhaps unusual is that we have decided to write it up, bad bits as well, for everybody to read. We aren’t trying to put you off, of course! Far from it – we hope that, like us, you will get a lot of enjoyment out of being a pioneer to an area which, thus far, has seen virtually no tourism of any kind. That, perhaps, is the point – we want all customers who sign up for this tour to know exactly what it was like for us so that they can make up their own minds whether it is also right for them.

It is important to stress from the outset that, although Kosovo is a “new” country with KFOR peacekeeping troops still very much in evidence, we felt completely safe at all times. Crime is low in all the countries visited and we kept well out of the way of those areas which border Serbia and where tensions are still occasionally reported. In fact, the nearest we got to becoming the victims of crime was the usual occupational hazard of being ripped off by taxi drivers.