Route 66: Driving one of the most famous roads - 8

If you are interested in driving and want to do something unusual and visit quite very interesting towns and cities over the course of a 1 to 2 weeks, then driving the famous Route 66 in the U.S. is one holiday which can be a whole load of fun.

Route 66 has become famous worldwide and the whole route goes from Chicago, illinois (near the Great lakes, and towards the East of the U.S.) to Santa Monica, California (on the West coast). Route 66 has been depicted in many movies and its popularity in the 30s was with migrants using the road to go West.

The road is a drive of roughly 2,500 miles (about 4000Km) and goes the states:

• Oaklahoma
• Kansas
• Missouri
• Illinois
• California
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Texas.

The road as such does not exist on many new maps because a new road system was introduced. There has been a revival though of Route 66, a road included in one of John Steinbeck’s books. Route 66 is an amazing
experience because of the such different towns and cities it takes you through and riving from Illinois, heading to California on the mother of all road trips is exciting.

For accommodation if you just want familiarity you could try somewhere such as Days Inn and for car you can always do a car delivery so you only pay gasoline (petrol).

Glastonbury Music Festival - 7

Tickets are still available for the 2008 festival and the weather is predicted to be settled. Taking place on the 27 -29th June 2008 and an annual event, Glastonbury is one of the largest Music Festivals in the world. With roughly 150,000 each year and hundreds of performers, this years line up is scheduled to include:

• Editors
• Kate Nash
• Amy Winehouse
• Manu Chao
• Leonard Cohen
• Neil Diamond
• The Hoosiers
• Pete Doherty
• Dizzee Rascal

The line-up is huge and in addition to musicians, there are the other tents including the comedy tent, circus tent and theatre tent. If you have never been to a Glastonbury Music Festival in the past this year is your chance, with tickets still surprisingly available.

Tickets are not cheap but at £155 for 3 days entertainment where you can see dozens of fanmouse musicians, you cannot go wrong. If I myself had not already accidently already booked that weekend for a trip to France, I’d be going to Glastonbury again this year.

View photos of Glastonbury Music Festival.

A weekend at a Mud Festival - 6

Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea is the location of the annual Mud Festival and it is one of the more unusual weekends I have spent travelling, yet one I recommend. Daecheon beach area in Boryeong in South Korea is the location for this event and the mud in thsi area is said to have a healing effect.

This festival has been going on since 1998 and now it is an annual event which attracts as many foreigners as it does Koreans. Many of the foreigners you will see are normally Western teachers and people who decide to join in can enjoy a bit of mud wrestling, shopping for mud products (including mnud soap), mud massages, walking in the shallow sea waters or eating in one of the local restaurants.

This is a fairly small event on a world wide schedule but one worth popping down to visitif you are already in South Korea on business, workign or travelling in. Photos of the Boryeong Mud Festival can be seen online. You can also learn more about Festivals in South Korea here.

 

Chocolate Holidays - 5

Combining a love of chocolate and travel can be a great way to spend a holiday or vacation and so our 5th travel idea from 1000 is to attend a Chocolate Tour trip. Many people love to visit NYC and the NYC Chocolate Tour group are one such tour who organise a trip around some of the finest chocolate shops in Manhatten, in addition to chocolate tasting and making locations.

There are also a number of chocolate making workshops and many excellent ones, especially in countries including Switzerland, Belgium and in the UK. Sites such as Chocolate Cioccolata list a number of Chocolate tours and trip syou might want to consider.

Some of the most popular Chocolate holidays tend in fact to be to Chocoate factories and these include Hersheys in the USA and Cadburys in England.

A holiday in a Jungle - 4

If you really want to try something different then why not consider a trip to the jungle. A holiday or vacation in the jungle’s of Borneo or in part of South America can certainly be a fun and thrilling way to take a break with a difference.

There are quite a fee companies who specialise in Jungle holidays  and many of these trips are group orientated and with a guide, so you will also meet some interesting peope and get to experience the jungle. You might be better off going on an organised trip into the jungle for safety reasons.

A similar type trip you might be interested in are trips to the rainforest to explore a different and thrilling vacation. There is always the idea that such trips are part of sustainable tourism but trips to the jungle perhaps open the way for mass tourism so it is for you to decide if the jungle is your cup of tea.

Skiing down a volcano - 3

It might seem like an unlikely possibility but it very possible to ski down the active Etna Volcano in Sicily, Italy. Between the months of February and April each year, depending on how the winter has gone, you can ski down the side of the Etna Volcano which has ski lifts and runs set up for this very purpose. The lifts have been damaged a few times in the last few years with the lava damaging part of the ski lifts, in summer eruptions, but the lifts are always repaired and at the time of writing, skiing is possible.

 When you ski down the Etna the view is amazing because you can see the coastline on a clear day, as you ski down the Etna. The skiing is limited in terms of number of runs and the skiing does not compare to skiing in a proper ski resort but this is a good experience. If you combine this with a trip to one of the Aelion Islands (such as Vulcano or Stromboli) you can have a fantastic trip in Sicily skiing. The North slope skiing goes from 1800 to 2300m whilst the South slope is slightly higher. You can get lessons and rent ski equipment at the slopes.

There are ski lifts on both slopes, with the northern one ascending from 1800-2300 metres and the southern one from 1900-2600 metres. There are also hotels and ample facilities on both sides, including instruction and rentals.

You can contact the Etna Tourism board directly via apt@apt.catania.it whilst you can find out about Flights to Sicily here.

Holidaying in the buff -2

The second in the list of 1000 unusual and different travel ideas is to holiday without your clothes. There is no need to re-read the first sentence because you read correctly the first time! Naturism is one of the fastest growing forms of tourism and naturist cruises, naturist flights and naturism travel have all become more widely reported in recent years, in newspaper travel sections. 

Our second holiday with a difference for this reason is to take a week’s holiday at the worlds largest naturism resort, Cap D’agde in the South of France. Cap d’Agde at the peak of summer has tens of thousands of peopel enjoying a holiday or vacation in the buff and this self-contained naturist resort has everything. You can go nude everywhere within the resort and that includes to the resort:

• Supermarkets
• Restaurants and bars (although you need a towel to place on the chair for health reasons)
• 1 mile plus long sandy beach
• Post office
• For a haircut
• and much more.

You can learn more about getting to Cap D’agde. For a vacation with a definite difference and one where you may see your neighbour blush, why not consider Cap d’Agde. The French coast is a great location in the summer and the weather normally very pleasant. Coming next for idea number 3 of 1000 unsual travel ideas, we look at chocolate holidays and chocolate weekends away.

Hot air ballooning in Barcelona - 1

We start off out list of 1000 unsusual and fun holiday and vacation ideas with Hot air ballooning in Barcelona. Hot air ballooning on itself is an activity which can be a lot of fun, but add on that being in Barcelona on a nice spring day and with tickets to a Barcelona football game in the evening and hot air ballooning in Barcelona can be a great long weekend away.

A few companies organise hot air balloon trips in barcelona once of which is worth considering is BCN-Adventure.com. They are specialists in Corporate travel and trips in Barcelona and they also provide airport transfer, accommodation and other services.

Welcome to the Guide to 1000 unusual travel idea.

Over the coming days, months and years I’ll go through 1000 great ideas for holidays and vacations with a difference. Idea will include trips such as chocolate making weekends, naturism camping, skiing down volcanoes, team building in Barcelona and many more ideas.

This blog is going to be a lot of fun to write and your ideas are also very much welcome. Talk to you soon. Paul.