If you’re not that wealthy some travel sites like expedia sometimes have good deals if you’re not booking direct with the hotel.

If you are wealthy just tell your secretary to book it.

As traveldaily.co.uk report:

The Hotel Métropole Monte-Carlo has been awarded a fifth star.

Originally opened in August 2004, the property has undergone a large-scale renovation programme.

“We are delighted that the 5-star classification is now applied in the Principality of Monaco,” said the hotel’s General Manager Jean-Claude Messant. “We are extremely proud to gain this recognition, and it is a particular accolade for the team who has contributed to the success of the hotel since its opening.”

For other Monaco hotels visit monacoproperty.net/hotels

The percentage of people who book their holidays and trips away via the internet increases every year, and with ticketless flights, reviews of hotels from previous guests and currency delivered to your home, the impression might be that booking a trip a few days before departure is the norm.

Not for UK tourists, according to research undertaken by leading online travel site Expedia.

In fact, many British people still book their overseas trips months ahead – but then they are the most organised tourists in Europe!

Before the recession, the trend was to book different parts of a holiday with different online travel firms, ensuring each part of the trip was done at the best price – but with some small companies going under Expedia note that more people are booking both flights and hotels at the same time.

And it’s not just the recession that’s caused the shift back to booking with the same company, the recent Icelandic volcano left many travellers stranded while those who had booked with well established tour operators such as Thomson and Thomas Cook were well looked after and alternative ways home organised on their behalf.

And it’s in times like this that tourists realise that cheap isn’t always good – but a resource like Expedia does allow money to be saved while booking all or some parts of a trip with one company.

Take Malta for example. There are plenty of different options for booking holidays in Malta available, and different parts of the trip can be booked seperately – or all with someone like Expedia.

Hotels can be viewed and reviews from people who have stayed there be seen, and a little extra research can be done to see which area might be most suitable. Valletta for history, Mellieha for a good beach for example. Both areas have a wide choice of accommodation and any of the Malta hotels can be booked with the one resource.

Flights are slightly different for the island. In recent years the low cost carriers have started to fly in and out of Malta, and not all of them are represented on travel sites that do the other components of a trip. Search Expedia for example for return flights and it might not bring up Ryanair who were the first budget airline to fly to the island, and provide flights from both Luton and Bournemouth.

So for the cost conscious it might be worth checking their site to see how much their Malta flights are.

But overall booking everything with one company does have its benefits, with hotels, car hire, flights, holidays and travel insurance all possible, and for Malta holidays Expedia is able to offer all these at a good price.

More details about the island are at yourmalta.com and there are other free to use articles

Sir Philip Green has been forced to defend his appointment as a government spending adviser amid claims that his wife is a tax exile.

Billionaire retailer has been recruited by David Cameron to lead a review scrutinising the past three years in order to identify waste.

Sir Philip, 58, is one of Britain’s best known and most successful retailers, and his Arcadia group, which owns Bhs and Topshop, is thought to account for 12 per cent of the UK’s high street clothing market.

He is also known for his colourful lifestyle and friendship with celebrities such as Kate Moss and Simon Cowell.

But the appointment has raised eyebrows in some quarters because of publicity surrounding his tax affairs.

Sir Philip, who left school at 15 to go into business, is a UK resident, who lives in London hotels during the week.

But his business empire is mostly owned in the name of his wife Tina, who lives in the tax haven of Monaco, where Sir Philip spends his weekends. The couple moved there in 1998.

The arrangement is thought to have saved the couple tens of millions of pounds in tax over the years. He famously paid his family a £1.2billion dividend in 2005. Lady Tina was able to receive the dividend tax-free because she is an official resident of Monaco.

Asked about his wife’s tax status he replied: ‘My wife’s not a tax exile – my family do not live in the United Kingdom, it’s somewhat different.’

And questioned over whether Britain would benefit from owners of British businesses paying all their taxes in the country, Sir Philip added: ‘We do pay all our tax in Britain, I think we have paid over the last five years some £300-400 million in taxes on profits that have been made on our company.

‘I’m a UK taxpayer, I work here every week, we employ 45,000 people in the UK and we have got a £500 million payroll.’

Sir Philip suggested a centralised system of buying for Whitehall could benefit the public purse.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We need to get ourselves focused on the big spending, where is the money actually being spent.

‘I think in the past, occasionally having had discussions on this, there is not central procurement. So the thought process of us having an individual buyer in each one of our stores without centralising purchasing, will give you some idea hopefully of the opportunity.

‘But it’s about process as well, so we need to understand the process.’

Sir Philip also said he had ‘no idea’ what savings he could deliver, adding: ‘I don’t know how much I can save because I don’t know what is spent on what – that’s what we’ve got to go and find out.’

Sir Philip, a former Labour supporter, gave his backing to David Cameron shortly before the election.

Announcing the appointment, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said Sir Philip’s view was that ‘efficient operating is different from cost-cutting and removing jobs’.

Sir Philip, who will be supported by a team of civil servants and report to Mr Maude.

Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, said: ‘I will give this efficiency review my very best effort knowing how hugely important it is to the recovery of the country.

‘I want to help focus, motivate and energise to achieve these efficiency savings. It is these actions that will re-start growth in the UK.’

For more information about Monaco including property for sale in Monaco visit monacoproperty.net – they also have a free report available for those wanting an account with one of the banks in Monaco

Prince Albert of Monaco and his fiancee visited the home of the “King of Rock ‘N’ Roll” and sampled some barbecue during a vacation stop in Memphis.

The couple took a tour Thursday of Graceland, the 38-room mansion where Elvis Presley died in 1977 and is buried.

The prince says he always wanted to visit Graceland and calls Elvis an “extraordinary figure.”

He says: “Elvis touched our lives as well and the lives of so many people. We wanted to pay our respects and see what this place was all about.”

For information on the banks in Monaco visit monacoproperty.net

For those thinking of a late summer holiday visit yourmenorca.net for the Menorca weather

For anyone thinking that student life is about cheap beer and second-hand coats, a degree course is offering an immersion into indulgent luxury.

A masters degree is being launched this autumn in luxury retail management at the International University of Monaco.

Instead of draughty flats and sociology, students will learn about private jets, yachts and upmarket brands including Gucci.

This is the latest example of degrees linked to specific areas of retailing.

Earlier this year, Harrods announced an undergraduate degree course in retailing for its own staff, set up in conjunction with Anglia Ruskin University.

Aesthetics of luxury

The course being launched in Monaco, which will be taught in English, could not be further from any Young Ones stereotype of students living on a diet of baked beans and radical politics.

Instead the 35 international students will be following a syllabus looking at essentials such as shoes, jewellery, watches, cars and yachts.

The course has been developed in collaboration with brands including Gucci and Ralph Lauren.

For work experience, there will be the challenge of a “seven-month immersion internship” in a luxury boutique.

But these students will be learning about, rather than enjoying, the world of luxury brands.

And the university says the course has been created in response for the demand for staff who are specialists in the luxury market.

It already runs a masters degree course in luxury goods.

“Gone are the days when it was easy to sell luxury goods based on the allure of the brand alone,” says a spokeswoman for the university.

The postgraduate students will be taught the “history, main trends and competitive dynamics of the retail luxury industry”.

They will learn about running shops and sales teams.

For a more theoretical approach, there will also be a study of “aesthetics, semiotics and artistic appreciation” and “codes, symbols and rituals in luxury retailing”.

The course director, Annalisa Tarquini, says the “management of luxury retail is a critical growth area for international luxury brands, and the need for trained and professional managers is imperative”.

The course will develop the idea that selling luxury goods should offer an “exceptional and inimitable shopping experience in which consumers develop long-lasting and emotional ties with the brand”.

More information about Monaco property is available at monacoproperty.net and includes information about the Monaco banks

As The Independent in the UK report:

As I floated through the open hatchway into the engine room, it was almost as if the scene had been frozen in time. The ship’s charts were still in the rack and the phone was on the hook, but seaweed waved gracefully around the wreck, now home to octopus and fireworms.

On the seabed lay some Royal Navy china, smashed into pieces when the Lady Davinia, formerly HMS Greetham, was sunk. As I picked up one piece for a closer look, I was amused to discover it had been made in the Wedgwood factory just 15 minutes from where I grew up. Now 64 years later, it was half-buried in the sand, waiting to be rediscovered.

Just 15 metres above me, the busy cafés of Sliema, on Malta’s east coast near the capital Valletta, were full of tourists relaxing in the sunshine.

The Mediterranean island, along with neighbouring Gozo, was last year voted the best diving destination in Europe by readers of Diver magazine in America, thanks to its clear, warm waters, and more than 30 underwater sites, with reefs, fish, caves and lagoons as well as the numerous wrecks. There’s also a long diving season (from Easter through to November), and plenty of English-speaking instructors, so it’s ideal for beginners from the UK.

It was all a long way from the swimming pool in Waterloo, London, where I’d started my dive training with the London Hellfins Scuba Diving Club. Although you can do the complete course in Malta, I wanted to get the theory lessons and pool training needed for the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) qualification done in the rainy UK, rather than being cooped up in a classroom while the sun shone outside.

The chlorine-scented pool that I’d practised in seemed a world away as I headed to my hotel, the Maritim Antonine Hotel & Spa in Mellieha, in the north of Malta.

Mellieha Malta

While the UK froze, the sun was shining on the small hillside town, dominated by its huge baroque church, which is still the focal point of life on the island – although, for younger Maltese, it often seems to be a meeting point to start a night out.

Mellieha is also home to one of the island’s best restaurants: Giuseppi’s Wine Bar. Despite the uninspiring name – and its less-than-obvious entrance on St Helen Street – the seafood and local fish on the menu are spectacular, thanks to local chef Michael Diacono.

Over some Maltese wine, it was time for a quick introduction to the island by dive instructor Dave, who moved here three years ago from Lowestoft, enticed by the laid-back way of life, the year-round sunshine, and the fantastic choice of dive sites. He revealed it’s the wrecks that make Maltese diving so special. And according to Dave, even on the rare occasions when there’s bad weather in Malta, or when the wind makes the sea too rough for diving in one place, there is always a more sheltered option to try less than an hour’s drive away.

The next morning, I shoehorned myself into a short pink wetsuit and some fetching black Neoprene boots as Dave led me into the calm waters of Qawra Bay, just along the coast from Mellieha, for my first ocean dive.

Things got off to a slow start when it turned out I was too light to sink, but, after a brief pause to fill my pockets with lead, I headed slowly down past shelves of seagrass towards the reef – while trying to keep an eye on my oxygen and my dive buddy, look out for landmarks to guide myself, stay balanced without shooting down to the seabed or up to the surface too fast, and still find the time to enjoy the scenery.

Once I’d worked out how to balance these various factors, I relaxed. After spotting a flying gurnard with its stunning iridescent blue markings hidden in the sand, I started to forget the strangeness of being completely surrounded by water.

The sea around Malta is home to grouper, rainbow wrasse and parrot fish, not to mention eels and more elusive barracudas and seahorses. Whether I dived one of the many wrecks or among the rock reefs and soft corals, there was plenty of underwater company, with shoals of brightly coloured fish darting over to investigate this curious bubble-blowing intruder.

With each dive I had more tests to pass, but also more exciting sites to explore. On Manoel Island, a spit of land opposite the capital Valletta, we strode off the sea wall to investigate a bombed barge, the Water Lighter X127.

Valletta Malta

Also known as the Carolita, she was sunk during the Second World War (probably after being mistaken for a submarine), and I could still make out the gaping hole left by the bomb that had finished her off.

The next day we explored the Lady Davinia. I got kitted up on the quayside, much to the amusement of a couple of local fishermen as I waddled to the shore weighed down with tank, lead and unwieldy flippers before vanishing under the waves. And when I emerged from the dive, my fifth, I was a certified Ocean Diver.

After swimming alongside them during the day, it felt almost rude to tuck into fish every evening. But specialities such as octopus carpaccio at harbourside restaurants around the island were too mouth-watering to miss.

Peppino’s in St Julian’s Bay, near Sliema, has tempted celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Madonna and Daniel Craig in the past, while they filmed in Malta (which has doubled as places such as Troy and Lebanon on film).

Meanwhile, in St Paul’s Bay, a short drive from Mellieha, Tarragon Restaurant has already started winning local awards for its modern twist on Malta’s classic favourites, such as black tiger prawns in champagne tempura.

For such a tiny island, there’s plenty to see on dry land. And as I could only safely dive for a couple of hours every day, I did plenty of exploring – when I could drag myself away from the Malta hotels rooftop pool and the hot stone massages of its underground spa.

All roads lead to Valletta, around a half-hour drive from Mellieha. The fortified city, a grid of cobbled streets and steep steps, was built in the 16th century by the Knights of St John – otherwise known as the Knights Hospitaller.

Given the island as their base by a 16th-century king of Spain, and charged with protecting it against the Ottomans, they then built the new walled capital as a fortress to keep out the Turks.

The city is a Unesco World Heritage site, and walking through the streets takes you through centuries of history. Many of the façades of the auberges, the knights’ grand former palaces, are unchanged, and you can visit the Grand Master’s Palace, home to the Maltese government.

Most memorable for me, though, was the former capital of Mdina, the walled fortress in the centre of the island. Unlike Valletta’s wide, planned streets, the twisting alleyways date from around the time of the Arab occupation of the island in the ninth century.

The city is closed to all but residents’ cars. As I ambled to the bastion walls, past the Nunnery of St Benedict and the 700-year-old palazzos and casas of the Maltese nobility, nothing broke the quiet except the echoing clop of horse and carriage.

All too soon, though, it was time for my last dip: at Cirkewwa, in the island’s far north. One of the best beginner sites, the water here is astonishingly clear, and, although I couldn’t stray below 20 metres, the seabed at 36 metres looked temptingly close. One of the string of small underwater caves contained a statue of the Virgin Mary, and there was a natural stone arch in the rocks to swim through.

For information on diving Malta holidays visit yourmalta.com – they also have airlines with details of flights to Malta.

It’s the excuse we all needed to indulge in that well-earned break – scientists say holidays can help us live longer.

A new study has linked travel with increased happiness and better health suggesting trips could even be prescribed in the future as a way to beat depression.

The Australian research identified how travel can affect three different elements of happiness, meaning the joy of a holiday extends well beyond those days spent lazing on the beach and could help prolong our lives.

Dr Sebastian Filep, an expert in travel and wellbeing at Victoria University, found that motivations for travel, experiences at the destination and the post-holiday reflection all contributed to the pleasure of a jaunt abroad.

The first caused positive emotions in the traveller, the second gave them a sense of purpose and the third a sense of involvement – all key ingredients of happiness.

The in-depth analysis was undertaken with 60 different travellers and a further 200 backpackers for a chapter in a forthcoming book, Tourists, Tourism and the Good Life.

The results conclude that travelling really does make people happier, which improves our health and helps us live longer.

The full process from booking and organising the break to remembering the trip and looking at holiday snaps helps people feel better about their lives.

‘I see an opportunity for a greater connection between tourism and health where holidays become a more important factor in leading a healthy lifestyle,’ said Dr Filep.

‘We know from studies in the US that experiencing positive emotions reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease, or that optimists live longer than pessimists.

‘So happiness is good for overall physical and mental health and holidays are a good vehicle for experiencing happiness.’

Dr Filep even went as far as to say that: ‘Holidays may possibly lead to people living longer, as holidays make people happy.’

Although he is not advocating prescribing trips over anti-depressants, he did think they could play a part in the treatment of depression.

‘I see holidays as part of the overall treatment for making people happy because we now have research evidence that demonstrates a clear link between holidays and happiness,’ he said.

‘Happiness is the opposite of depression. If thinking about a holiday, going on a holiday and remembering a holiday plays a role in making people happy, than I certainly think prescribing holidays or travel could help beat depression.’

For more details about Lanzarote holidays visit yourlanzarote.net – included is a Lanzarote map

October through to might mean looking forward to Christmas for the vast majority of the population, but it’s an important time for skiers, as the 2011 season draws nearer.

And for those considering ski holidays Andorra is a great destination, with first class slopes and an infrastructure to match.

There are different areas to ski in Andorra, and they are:

Arinsal and Pal – now a single resort linked by cable car. One ski pass allows skiers to venture onto either set of slopes. In effect, wherever you are staying at the resort, you can ski from your backyard right onto the slopes. Snowboarders will also feel quite comfortable whether they are beginners or experienced.

Pas de la Casa is also close by but tends to be more crowded. However, it does offer very good value if that is the major criteria in selecting a resort.

With its numerous cafes, restaurants, happy hours and discos, Pas de la Casa tends to attract the livelier young adult crowd. Travel offers often feature the resort for a cheap ski holiday, and there are regular buses to and from the capital la Vella for those who want to do some duty free shopping during their trip.

Perhaps the best known resort is Soldeu. It has a mix of accommodation but has the best hotel for skiers, the Sports Hermitage, and first class ski slopes. An excellent mix.

It’s also perfectly possible to have a twin centre trip, with both Andorra and French ski holidays. Some areas good in France include:

Nestled atop a magnificent glacier on Mt. Bellecote is the world-class ski area of La Plagne. Surrounded by the majestic Vanoise Massif Mountains in the Graian Alps, La Plagne resort beckons the avid skier. It is spread over an altitude of 1250 to 3250 meters. The result is a variety of terrains and altitudes appealing to beginners and French ski holiday experts alike.

The resort was built in 1961 with the hope of attracting tourism dollars. It was largely conceived in the interest of four small mountain villages. The fledgling towns were dying and hoped to capitalize on the gorgeous natural beauty of the area and appeal to people who like a French ski holiday.

Today’s La Plagne is comprised of many different and distinctive villages. All are linked to one another by ski lifts and trails for those who prefer cross-country skiing. The villages continue to expand, giving it a competitive edge when it comes to tourism revenue.

Even the non-skier will find something to love about La Plagne. Non-skiers may choose from over 50 pubs and restaurants ranging from casual to fine dining. After dark visitors can hit one of the resort’s many night clubs for an evening of dancing and partying. Numerous daytime activities entertain and engage those who choose not to ski as well. Winter sport activities include ice skating, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing.

La Grave is a commune in southeastern France and the location of La Meije. Three summits comprise La Meije with the highest summit being 3,984 m. Mountain climbers and rock climbers challenge themselves to reach the highest summit of La Meije. The very first successful climb was by Emmanuel Boileau de Castelneu and Pierre Gaspard and his son on August 16, 1877. Glacier climbing or ice climbing is a very popular sport in La Grave as well. One hundred to 300 metre climbing routes offer a variety of difficulty.

Much of the La Grave la Meije ski area is glacier and considered dangerous. Guided skiing is recommended. Extreme skiers find a great deal of fascination and appeal in La Grave la Meije due to the enormous vertical drops and extreme ski conditions. The largest vertical descent can be extended to 2,300 m when skiers go past the resort to the road.

Located in the Belleville Valley, Les Menuires resort hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics. It is part of the largest ski area in the world, Les Trois Valleys.

The Three Valleys are comprised of several resorts that host millions of skiers per year – Thomson Ski for example include it in their brochures. Les Menuires has 62 ski trails, advanced and beginner slopes and 39 lifts. The resort’s 48 restaurants offer foods ranging from fast food to fine cuisine.

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