Avoid travel nightmares this Christmas with advice from www.aph.com

Winter's arrived...

It doesn’t matter where you’re going, what the season is, whether there’ll be snow and skis or sand and sea, there are certain basic rules it’s worth heeding. Along with the early skiers, many sunshine-starved families who opted for a UK ‘raincation’ during the summer will be heading for more reliable climates this Christmas break.

As a result, UK airports promise to be busy despite the economic woes. Airport Parking and Hotels (APH), the long-stay airport parking expert is offering travellers a selection of top tips to make sure they have a fuss-free, festive break.

The family-friendly top tips include the following:

• Check that your passports are still valid – for some countries it must be valid for six months after the date of travel, and remember, children’s passports do not last 10 years like adults.

• Make sure you have travel insurance and if travelling in the EU then obtain and take your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

• Make copies of important documents and take one copy and leave one copy with a close friend or relative, or subscribe to and load them onto the ‘APH Online Safe’ in case bags get stolen or lost.

• Shop around for the best rates on foreign currency or purchase a pre-paid currency card – don’t wait until you get to the airport to buy your currency.

• Heading for the sun at this time of year means you may be travelling to more exotic destinations so check which inoculations are necessary for that country.

• Pack a foreign plug adapter.

• Charge iPod and camera batteries the night before departing

• Check that suitcase weight and dimensions conform to your airline’s rules.

• Check-in online, 24 hours before flying to avoid check-in fees at the airport.

• Print out flight e-tickets.

• Reserve seats on the plane.

• Cancel the milk and papers and make sure your central heating is on the ‘frost protection’ setting.

• If you have a very early start, consider an airport hotel the night before. This year Hotel and Parking packages are even better value and offer great peace of mind.

• If not, set a back up alarm clock to make sure you wake up for early departures.

• Make sure your car is prepared for the journey to the airport – for example, check tyres, battery and screen washer fluid.

• Double check the booking if you have arranged a taxi to take you to the airport and be sure you have a contact number if they fail to show up at the agreed time.
  

  The Mediterranean is beautiful at any time of year - but don't forget to copy your travel documents

APH offers parking at all major UK airports, ports and Eurotunnel terminals plus airport hotels packaged with parking, airport lounges, travel insurance, car hire and holiday taxis. APH is also a carbon-balanced company and has, through the World Land Trust, helped purchase more than 1,000 acres of Belize rainforest.

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

COUNTRY GUIDE: SPAIN

A stall at Barcelona fruit market

Of all the countries that are favourites with Britons seeking a home abroad, Spain regularly features at, or near the top of the list. Year in, year out, since the early 1970s, millions of people have flocked to Spain on holiday to enjoy one of the most enviable lifestyles. And of those millions, hundred of thousands have chosen to buy homes on the Iberian Peninsula.

The reasons? Spain is a modern democracy with a fabulous climate; a transport system that is second to none; great cuisine and wine; wonderful golf developments that feature beautifully designed apartments and houses and above all, some of the kindest people in Europe.

Fact File:

Currency: Euro

Time: GMT +1

note: Spain is divided into two time zones because of the location of the Canary Islands

Population: 42 million Business hours:

Shops: Mon-Fri  09:00 – 20:00

Offices: Mon-Fri  09:00 – 17:00

Banks: Mon-Fri   08:30 – 15:00

Internet country code: .es

Languages: Castilian Spanish (official language): 74%, Catalan: 17%, Galician: 7%, Basque: 2%

Coastline: 4,900 km

Climate: Temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along the coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast

Featured region – Costa del Sol:

This area occupies about 161 kilometres of the Mediterranean coastline that corresponds to the province of Malaga.

Sheltered from the north winds by a mountain range that in some parts comes down to meet the sea, the coast is a succession of extensive beaches, coves almost hidden between cliffs and marinas. Towns like Malaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Marbella, Mijas and Estepona are important centres for tourism, shopping, culture and business. Casinos, concerts, museums, fiestas, theatres, water parks and theme parks are just some of the leisure activities on offer. At night the coast comes alive with restaurants, bars, discos and nightclubs.

The Costa del Sol’s setting is ideal for sports lovers and especially golfers. This is the predominant sport and the Costa del Sol is a Mecca for thousands of enthusiasts. There are wall to wall courses to be found over a relatively small area – in places like Marbella, Malaga, Estepona, Guadiaro, San Pedro de Alcántara, Alhaurín de la Torre, Artola, Mijas and Puerto Banús.

Getting to Spain

According to www.travelsupermarket.com there many non-stop flights into Southern Spain as follows:
· Malaga – the major gateway with multiple daily non-stop flights year round from up to 20 UK airports with Easyjet, Ryanair, Monarch, British Airways, Aer Lingus, bmibaby, jet2, Flyglobespan and flybe

· Granada – non-stop flights with Ryanair from Stansted, Liverpool and East Midlands – frequencies vary but operate year round

· Almeria – non-stop flights with Monarch from Birmingham and Manchester with Monarch, Easyjet from Gatwick, Ryanair from Stansted, bmibaby from East Midlands and jet2 from Leeds. Most services on this route are summer only

· PLUS Gibraltar – non-stop daily flights with Easyjet from Gatwick, British Airways from Heathrow and Monarch from Luton and Manchester

Flight times to Southern Spain are two and a half to three hours

Prices are from as little as £5 one ways when seat sales are on with carriers such as Ryanair. Average prices are around £80 to £150 return.  See http://www.travelsupermarket.com

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Staying in a Greek paradise

The view from our back window

We were sitting with friends having dinner at a restaurant in Loggos on the small Greek island of Paxos. Our table was about four feet from the water’s edge, we’d just been to a fabulous concert which was part of the annual Paxos Music Festival and it was at that moment that I realised why so many Brits are still wanting to move abroad. I’ve written about overseas property and travel for many years but never before have I felt so reluctant to return to the UK.

My wife and have both travelled quite a bit over the years but this time we were spending 10 days on Paxos. The house we stayed in was perched on the jetty. The property faces out to sea at the back and in towards the harbour at the front. It was a bit like being on a ship on the one day when we had a thunderstorm. Lightning cracked and banged around the small town, thunder rumbled and crashed and the rain was torrential and we loved it.

I’ve never seen the sky become so dark at about 10am and yet, an hour later, the whole lot had moved out to sea, the sky had become that wonderful blue of a faded denim shirt, the streets dried quickly and the town came back to life. Seats were placed outside the bars once more, boats started heading out to sea and everything returned to normal.

Crusty bread

At the end of the jetty where it joined the land stood the bakery. At about 8.10am, two men would struggle along the harbour carrying an enormous basket of freshly baked bread. Another man would balance large trays of pastries on each shoulder as he hurried into the shop.

The view from our front window

Leave it more than three quarters of an hour and the chances were that there wouldn’t be much bread left but what a pleasure it was to stroll along, join the queue a few minutes after its arrival, inhale the aroma of freshly baked, crusty bread and then to hurry home clutching a really hot country loaf.

My Greek is almost non-existent but I struggled through a few words wherever we went and as long as I was prepared to make a fool of myself, there’d be mutual laughter and smiles all round.

What made me realise why so many Britons want to leave the UK and start again abroad was the sense of community you find in places around the Mediterranean. It’s something we seem to have forgotten in this country. After a few days, the lady who cleaned the streets in Loggos began to smile at us when we said, “Kalimera – good morning.” “Yassou, hello,” she’d call back as she went on her way.

Breakfast arriving at the bakery

If we passed Ana, who worked in the bar where we went each evening after dinner for a late night Metaxa, in the street in the morning she’d grin and ask if we wanted a drink that early in the day.

A local aperitif

Three days running we took the ferry with friends to Anti Paxos, the small island to the south of Paxos. As we went ashore at Vrika beach, the first tree shaded taverna we came to was run by Sotiris. You could argue that as the owner of a restaurant, it was good business to recognise regular customers, but on the other hand, he didn’t have to spoil us with a free carafe of wine, ice cream and a local aperitif because we’d have gone there anyway.

In other words, we’d begun to be recognised as individuals after such a short time. Where we live in south-west London, I’ve passed shops and restaurants hundreds of times over the years and it would amaze me if anybody greeted me (or even remembered me) in the same way.

It was being made to feel quietly welcome on Paxos that I enjoyed so much and I have to admit that I felt like a badly behaved child being forced to go back to school.

Sotiris, Anti Paxos taverna owner

Getting there

If you are interested in finding out more about Paxos, the best way is to go there and see for yourself. I’d suggest contacting Chris Griffiths of www.travelalacarte.co.uk whose offices are located on the port at Loggos. Of course, you’ll have to pass the restaurant where we had dinner and you may drop in to the bar run by Ana and have a Metaxa. You may even find yourself regretting the fact that you booked a return ticket.

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

News Update

An Almeria development

Almanzora Group has completed holiday homes ready for occupation in the Harbour Lights waterfront development in Villaricos, one of the most sought-after locations on the Almeria coast in south-east Spain.

Villaricos is a traditional fishing village located on the coast between the Almanzora River and the Sierra Almagrera. It was once a Phoenician port and, in the nineteenth century, a silver mining boom town.

Today its two harbours are busy with fishing boats and, following new developments to accommodate an expanding local population, Villaricos has around 19 restaurants, cafés and bars. Most are Spanish and the village has retained its very Spanish character.

“Current market conditions mean that prices are at their lowest for six years with the price of a two-bedroom apartment at Harbour Lights at €147,500, a discount of almost one-third (30 per cent) off the list price,” says the firm’s sales and marketing manager Bridget Rosser. “Would-be owners who buy now will be put on a fast-track to completion to ensure that they are able to enjoy using their new holiday home this summer.”

Traditional small Spanish town

Currently available at Harbour Lights, the waterfront development overlooking the Esperanza harbour and a five-minute walk from the sandy Villaricos beach – are two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments and townhouses.

Designed in a style which reflects many aspects of traditional small Spanish town and village architecture, they are built in private and secure gated communities, around courtyards and a swimming pool, as well as around formal Spanish plazas, with orange trees, water features and quiet seating areas.

Villaricos is easy to reach thanks to three international airports. There are flights from the UK to Almeria Airport, around 40 minutes away from Harbour Lights by road, Alicante Airport (less than two hours away) and Murcia Airport (80 minutes by car). Airlines currently flying to the region include Ryanair, easyJet, Monarch, Jet2, Jetair Fly and Thomas Cook.

For more information call The Almanzora Group on 01242 680299 or visit the website:www.almanzora.com