Post on 31-Mar-2016
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HOMEANDAWAY
GREAT HOLIDAY IDEAS FOR EVERYONE BOTH IN THE UK AND OVERSEAS
GREAT
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AWAY
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GOING THIS
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SCOTTISH HIKING
BREAKS:
THE SUMMER FOR
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AN Alexandria man has re-turned home after landing a job in a school onthe other side of the world.James McKenzie jetted off in
2012 to work as an EnglishTeacher in the Nong Bua LamPhu province of Thailand.
The 29-year-old, who has travelled all over the world and
worked in bars in Australia andin a car wash in Bangkok, is
back home after his year longtrip, and is already making
plans for his next adventure.He said: “I’ve always fancied
travelling and it has becomepart of my life now. I’m reallylucky to have been to so many
places such as Australia, NewZealand, a lot of south EastAsia and I fancy travelling to
South America.
“I have been to Thailand before,but it wasn’t anything like thistype of holiday. I lived out of a
backpack for a year and just
went wherever I felt like going.“I decided to go back and trysomething different. I travelled
around the islands at first then
settled into a small town nearthe Cambodian border. “I needed a way to finance
myself whilst I was across there
and I thought it would be great
to teach English to kids in oneof the schools.“I had never thought of doing
anything like this before, it was-n’t until one of my friends i hadmet travelling years ago men-tioned it that I decided to look
into it.“I went across with SINE
Education, who were fantastic.They sorted out everything forme, such as my work permitand application and I had no is-
sues at all.
“It wasn’t that difficult to applyfor, which surprised me, but I
never realised how bad I was at grammar until I took all the
courses to get the job.Jamie worked with kids aged
12-17 teaching them basicgrammar and conversationskills, and he says despite his
TRIP OF A LIFETIME
SCHOOLS OUT: Jamie with the pupils at the school
terrible teaching he thinks theylearned something whilst hewas there. He said: “I am proba-bly the worlds worst teacher. Ihave no discipline what so ever,I let them get away with murder.But at the end of the day alltheir exam results were good soI must have been doing some-thing right.“The funniest thing is one of thepictures I took sums up myskills as a teacher. They weresupposed to be sitting an exam,and I went to take a picture.They all stopped working andlooked up to smile at the cam-era. They all had me wrappedaround their fingers.“I think they only liked me cause
Sine Education provides English conversation coursesfor government and privateschools all over Thailand. The company has a range offun and rewarding courses tomake English as enjoyable foryou to teach as it is for the students to learn.The teaching team is expanding every year, and SineEducation is looking for keenvolunteers for this once in alifetime experience.You do not need to have anyteaching experience to get involved, just the right attitude.Go to www.sineeducation.comto and fill out the online application.
What to do if
you want to get
involved:
I am a big football fan. They are really into the English Premierleague over there but
unfortunately none of them
knew who Dumbarton were butmy mission was to try and recruit them as future players
but that’s a work in progress.Although he’s glad to be home,
and enjoying the luxury of drinking from the tap once againand having his mum do his
washing, Jamie admits that heprobably won’t be around for
long. He added: “I love coming
home to see my family and
friends. It’s great to be looked
after instead of having to liveout a backpack for months onend, but I’m getting itchy feet so
I’ll probably be off again
sometime soon.“I still need to decide if I’m goingto go back to the same school. I
still have a job there if I want itbut I’m just going to roll the dice
and see where I end up. I wouldlove to go to Japan and do similar work but I’ll just need to
wait and see what happens.”
Five Great Things to do in:
EDINBURGH1. Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo put
itself back on the maplast year when they entered a breeding programme for pandas, and welcomed
Tian Tian and Yuang
Guang. There isplenty to see, includ-
ing a penguin marcha a very educational
and entertainingmonkey enclosure and the
only koala exhibitin Scotland. A great
day out for all ageswith lots of activitesfor children and
adults alike.
Edinburgh Dungeons is a tribute to the goryhistory of Scotlandscapital city. Delveinto the tales ofgrave digging and
cannibalism withspecially trained actors to give thefullest and skincrawling experience. Withbrand new rides to
make it even more terrifying, its botheducational and fun.Ideal for a day outwith friends, but isnot advised foryoung children.
2. Edinburgh Dungeons
3. Edinburgh Castle
4.Princes Street
5. Dynamic History Museum
Visit the iconicScottish Landmark andlearn all about thecastle’s history.With amazingviews over
Edinburgh and a number of historymuseums and exhibits, there is
plenty to see forall the family.Visitors can also
see the CrownJewels and theStone of Destiny.An ancient relicthat enthronedkings for
centuries.
The one mile
street is an idealdestination for
the best shopsand restaurantsin Edinburgh.
Many peopletravel to the city
just to shop, andit offers all yourhigh street storesand much more,
including multi- storyHouse of Fraser
and Debenhams
stores. Some ofthe best reataurants arelocated just offthis iconicstretch. ideal for
a girls day out.
Dynamic Earth isan interactive his-tory museum that
is a great day ourfor all ages. With3D and 4D exhibits, it takes
visitors on a journey
through evolutionand the creation of
Earth. Visiotrs canalso come face toface with exticntdinosaurs or take a
trip to the
bottom of theocean. Open allyear round, its agreat day out
whatever theoccassion orweather.
BACK TO
NATUREJJ
J
J
Unlike your average beach
holiday, some people prefer
to dig out the waterproofs
hiking boots and head for
the hills.
IT HAS been dubbed “the out-side capital of the UK” - andFort William is putting itself onthe map as the place to be inBritain if you love to be out-doors.The finishing point of the West
Highland Way, the 96 mile trek
from Milngavie, it is known for itshistorical sightseeing, as well ashaving many cycle and
hiking tracks.The quiet town at the end of the
West Highland way has over50,000 visitors a year from all overthe world, who travel to climb the
highest mountain in Scotland -Ben Nevis. The mountain rises
from sea-level to 4,406 feet in a
relatively short distance.
If climbing mountains is not to yourtaste, there are plenty of walks
around the town that let you takein natures surroundings. For ex-
ample, Glencoe Lochan trails areroughly 2.5km in length and is a
great walk for people of all agesthrough ornamental woodland at
the foot of Glen Coe.The pictur-esque and serene lochan and its
wooded shores contrasts with thewild and dramatic mountains of the
glen which are seen across it. Ifmore of a challenge is what youseek, Garbh Bheinn is the ideal
walk being 7km in length. The trekis a rather neglected but still fine
cone-shaped mountain on thesouthern side of Loch Leven. Its
ascent is an unrelenting grind
up the west ridge but the steep-
ness of the slopes above theloch add great depth and drama
to the views.However, the most famous thing
in Fort William is the JacobiteSteam Train journey, which is
considered one of the most sce-
nic train journeys in the world.The train line goes throughsome of the most idyllic sceneryand crosses a viaduct that was
made famous in the Harry Pot-ter films.There are plenty of small bedand breakfasts in the area that
make Fort Willam the idealplace to escape to the countryfor a short break.
DREAM GETAWAY
OR
Lying on a beach or
shopping till you drop?
Whats your ideal
getaway?
EVERYONE has that one holi-day of a lifetime they dreamabout on a rainy day. An escape that caters to every
need you could possibly imagine. Whether its sunbathingin a six star resort in Mexico or
a week of the best restaurants
and shopping in New York -there is not one person in theUk, or the world for that matter,
that does not fantasise about
jetting off whilst at their desk inwork, praying they win big in thelottery.
But is there a place that every-one wants to go? A paradise
that would make everyone feellike they have died and gone toheaven?
Leading travel agent ThomasCook says that people are keen
to plan their dream holiday.
Sarah Snderson, spokespersonfor the comapny said: “We get alot of people in our shops
booking their dream holiday.There has been an increase insales in longer travelling
holidays, such as world trips
backpacking holidays.“We also get a lot of familiescoming to book holidays to
Florida. That seems to be one
of the most popular dream holdays.“Although the more exotic desti-
nations are on the up, such as
Dubai and Mexico, bookings tothe Canaries are incresing withpeople spending more money
on higher star hotels.People save for a lifetime forthe holiday of their dreams. As
they say, every penny counts.
New York. Paris. Mexico. Spain.
Thailand. Tennerife. Florida.
Dubai. Amsterdam. Cyprus.
Greece. Canada. Australia.
TOP 10
HOLIDAYS1. FLORIDA
2. AUSTRALIA
3. DUBAI
4. NEW YORK
5. THAILAND
6. CANADA
7. MEXICO
8. JAMAICA
9. TENNERIFE
10. GRAN CANARIA
WHERE ARE
YOUGOING?
THE Scottish summer is fastapproaching, and holidaybookings are on the rise toescape the winter blues.In recent years, the prospect ofa warm Scottish summer hasdwindled, leaving people desperate for a tropical
getaway.The dream to jet off somewhere
that doesn’t require wooly tightsand waterproofs is everlasting
in peoples minds, and it seemspeople are more determined
this year than ever.Holiday sales jumped up by 10
per cent over Easter comparedto last year, according to Scot-tish travel agent Barrhead
Travel.Favourite destinations are
Spain and the Canary Islandsfor holiday makers, perhaps due
to the year round sunny
weather with an average temperature that ranges from
17 degrees in the winter to 24
degrees in the summer months.Long haul family holidays toFlorida appear to be a top destination with more exotic
resorts such as Egypt andDubai close behind.
Chief Executive of BarrheadTravel, Sharon Munro, thinks
people are determined to getsome sun as the weather just
seems to get worse every year.She said: “While January and
February are always busy forus, this year we noticed anextra spike in the weeks leading
up to Easter for late deals,which we put down to people
wanting to escape the bitterwinter weather. The prolonged
cold snap has meant that many
people have decided that theonly way to guarantee somewarmth and sunshine is to booka break abroad.
“Our top destinations so far thisyear have been the Canaries,particularly Tenerife, followed by
the Spanish Costas and Ma-jorca. Forward bookings for our
own summer holiday pro-gramme to five destinations in
the Mediterranean have also
been very strong.“There’s been a change in holi-day habits in the last few years,with more people looking for all-
inclusive holidays, which aregreat value for money as wellas making it very easy for holi-daymakers to plan their budg-
ets.”
As summer
approaches,
Scottish travel
agents are hard
at work as
holiday sales
increase