Category : Fun

Some of us love nothing better than staying at home, holidaying within the British Isles. Others are born travellers, willing to drop everything and head for exotic places whenever the opportunity arises. Some say travel broadens the mind, others say it only broadens the mind if you’re already broad minded. But one thing’s for sure – most of us enjoy travelling to one extent or another… and even if we don’t enjoy the actual travel bit, the process of getting from A to B, we love it once we get there!

Christmas Gifts

Christmas travel gift ideas

Travel industry tradition dictates that as soon as the festive season is over, the telly fills up with travel agency and destination adverts and millions of us start thinking about booking our main holidays. Which means travel-related Christmas gifts are an easy win if you have a travel-obsessed friend or relative. Here are some travel-inspired Christmas gifts that are guaranteed to thrill.

Ryanair travel vouchers

Travel vouchers are brilliant because they leave the ultimate choice to the person you give them to. Take Ryanair, whose travel voucher system lets you buy vouchers worth £25 to £200. They give your loved one the choice of 1600 flights every day, connecting a whopping 183 destinations across 30 European countries. You can buy them online and they’ll be emailed to the recipient, who can redeem them via the Ryanair website.

Virgin experience days flying vouchers

Gravity? Who needs it? Virgin Experiences offer a brilliant range of flying lessons and flight-based treats. You can learn to fly in a light aircraft, a helicopter or even a stunning vintage Tiger Moth, a truly legendary flying machine.

If your family member would rather not drive the craft themselves but prefer sitting back and letting someone else do the hard work, you can book them on a helicopter flight over either London or Portsmouth. Remarkable views, a unique perspective and a magical flying experience await you.

Virgin Experience Days – from virginexperiencedays.co.uk

If you love the idea of flying but feel a bit farty about actually getting airborne, you can still get the full flavour at ground level. How? Via a multi-million pound flight Boeing 737 Flight Simulator. Now that’s what we call a flying lesson gift experience to remember!

Virgin also offers a host more crazy flight-inspired experiences packed with adrenaline.  How about parachuting, skydiving, hot air balloon trips, gliding or flying in a microlight? Not for the faint hearted but huge fun for dedicated adrenaline monsters.

Random fun gift ideas for travellers

The Not On The High Street website lets you shop by personality, which is seriously handy for the jet setter in your life.

How about a classy pair of map location cufflinks, which you can personalise? Or a scratch-off map poster, a personalised travel notebook, a compact mirror with a map printed on the lid or an extremely posh real leather luggage  tag? There’s even a beautiful handmade vintage map lampshade. As we write they have a cool  115 travel related gifts to choose from.

Funkyleisure.co.uk is Britain’s top festival and backpacking shop, home of masses of useful and quirky gifts for youngsters off on their gap year travels during 2015. Everything from backpacker travel card games to travel phone chargers, solar inflatable lights, temporary door locks, body and chest wallets, shewees, eye masks and travelling water purifier kits.

Avios air miles travel cards

How about Airmiles? In 2011 they changed their name to Avios, but they still offer the same thing: when you shop with certian retilers and fly with certain airlines you can collect airmiles and when you’ve collected enough, you can fly somewhere new and exciting for free.

Avios Travel Card – from avios.com

You can collect Avios from household names like Tesco, Shell, BA, Iberia and many more collection partners. Then you can redeem them against flights, Eurostar journeys, cruises, wine clubs and various cool holiday extras including car hire, hotels, travel insurance and leisure experiences. Perhaps you could apply for an airmiles card for someone you love?

Travel books on Amazon

Amazon has a massive collection of beautiful and useful travel books. Take The Travel Book, a journey through every country in the world from Lonely Planet Travel Books. It contains information about 229 countries and destinations plus more than 800 stunning images to inspire the travel-obsessed, even if they’re just keen armchair travellers. The Amazon Kindle store is also full of excellent travel and related ebooks.

The perfect travel gift for 2015, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2015: The Best Trends, Destinations, Journeys & Experiences for the Year Ahead is an exceptional book, packed with the best places to go and things to do all around the world. It draws inspiration from the knowledge and passion of the organisation’s staff, seasoned travel authors and the online community. And every destination featured has been through a strict selection process to win a place in the book.

• The top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2015
• The best travel experiences on the cards for the coming year
• 16 top travel lists to explore
• More than 35 particularly spectacular and thrilling events, detailed month by month

Travel Around the World

If someone you know has always wanted to just drop everything and go… but doesn’t know where to start and how to get it sorted, you might buy them How to Drop Everything And Travel Around The World – How to Do It, Where to Go & Why It’s Cheaper Than You Think. Here are the chapter headings to whet your appetite:

• Are You Ready? Let’s Go On An Adventure!
• Making Up Your Mind to Travel
• Getting Your Sh*t Together Before You Leave
• The Essential Guide to Packing
• Where Are You Going? Let’s See Some Ideas!
• Worldwide Travel Tips: Where to Go, Sleep, And Eat
• Tackling Issues On The Road (Where Would We Be Without Surprises?)
• Staying Sane Abroad
• Let’s Cut To The Chase: How Much Will It Cost Me? (Hint: It’s Cheaper Than You Think)
• What Are You Doing Here? Bon Boyage!
• BONUS CHAPTER from “Productivity NOW! The Ultimate Guide to Get Explosive Results, Maximize Your Productivity & Erase Procrastination Forever!”
• Much, much more!

SafariQuip for the finest tried and tested travel & adventure gear

Being properly equipped is half the battle. If you want to buy top quality travel related gifts from a company run by people who are totally passionate about travel and adore adventures, SafariQuip have been selling the finest equipment to fellow travellers and outdoor enthusiasts since the 1980s.

Rolling in cash? Buy a plane…

For all we know you’re loaded, rolling in it, on the rich list. If so, why not buy a plane and take control of your own travelling life? Cessna has a great choice of beautiful, reliable flying machines, everything from their famously luxurious Citation business jets to Caravan turboprops and single engine light aircraft.  As they say on-site:

“For more than eight decades, we have been innovating aircraft engineering to lead the world of aviation. Continuing that tradition of pioneering in aviation technology, we are driven by ingenuity. We have been reinventing the way you fly for more than 85 years. Our aeronautical engineers have imagined hundreds of original aircraft concepts into clean sheet designs advancing to the latest computer-enhanced technology and flight-simulation tools and, finally, to prototype. Because it takes years for a new aircraft to reach its maiden flight, we are always designing for tomorrow’s world.”

Here’s wishing you a splendid Christmas

Whatever you buy, wherever you go, whatever you do, here’s wishing all our lovely customers a very happy festive season and a thrillingly adventurous 2015.

Guy Fawkes: Is this the Great British Anti-Hero?

Tonight’s the night when the people of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand commemorate (nay, celebrate) the failed attempt by Guy Fawkes and his cohorts to assassinate King James I.

Not having attended school in this country, I always believed Bonfire Night celebrated the actual attempt at destroying the House of Lords and murdering the king, not the infamous Gunpowder Plot’s failure.  I’m not sure what this may say about your humble author; that’s for psychologists to determine once they’ve captured me…but I digress…

People choose to celebrate Mr Fawkes’ and company’s doomed murder plot in different ways.  Some ceremonially burn effigies of Guy on huge flaming pyres in the night, while children have been known to request a “penny for the guy” in order to fund the purchase of fireworks (this is a rare practice these days, as most people tend to view it as ‘begging’).

Speaking of huge flaming pyres, Lewes in East Sussex really knows how to do a bonfire right:

In addition to having bonfire parties, no Guy Fawkes Night is complete without a fireworks display.  This ranges from lighting off a few bottle rockets in the back garden, to full-on pyrotechnic pageants presented by local councils.

Just check out this display from last year’s celebrations in London:

No matter where or how you choose to celebrate the survival of King James I and the subsequent torture and execution of Mr Fawkes, remember to stay safe tonight.  In other words, make sure that’s an effigy you’re throwing on the flames and not your drunk uncle Dave.

Manchester Airport, along with BBC Radio Manchester, are looking for photos of the “people and places of Greater Manchester” to feature on permanent display in Terminal 1, and they want the public to decide which images are best.

The chosen images will be enlarged to a floor-to-ceiling size and form part of the new Arrivals Experience in Terminal 1.

Terminal 1 will soon host public's choice of photos depicting "the people and places of Manchester"

If you’re interested in taking part, you can submit as many photographs as you want, and they can be current or historical in nature, but you’ll have to hurry because you only have until this Friday, the 19th of March to enter the contest.

All entries must be submitted to Manchester Airport’s Flickr group, where you can also find more details.

And if you’re looking for the cheapest Manchester Airport parking around, be sure to pay gosimply.com a visit.  You might not get your photo displayed in the airport terminal, but the money you’ll save will make you feel like a winner anyway.

This week, the Birmingham NEC will once again play host to the world-famous DFS Crufts dog show, hosted by the UK Kennel Club. Close to 28,000 dogs will be showcased over the four-day event, with the winners in seven pedigree categories going on to compete for the illustrious Best In Show honour.

But where’s the “Dogs Who Look Like Their Owners” category?

Dog lovers from around the world flock to the UK each year, either as spectators or entrants in the Crufts competition, to enjoy the pomp and spectacle. But some of us here at gosimply HQ think it would be even more enjoyable if the powers-that-be created a category for dogs who look like their owners.

Sure, keep recognising the best of the best in the dog world, but why not give some love to those folks who (sometimes inexplicably) resemble their pooches? There are definitely some potential award-winners in this video clip:

So if you’ll be visiting the Crufts event this week, see if you can put a bug in someone’s ear and get the ball rolling on this worthy new category. Let us know how you get on.

And remember, if you’re local to the Birmingham area and planning a trip, check us out for the best deals on Birmingham Airport Parking.  You’ll find we have our own award-winners in APH Birmingham and Meteor Meet and Greet Parking, along with five other car park options and loads of customer reviews.