NEWS: LATEST HOLIDAY IDEAS

Beach Hut Resorts has unveiled the first of twenty one luxury overnight stay beach huts to be located at Dukes Walk, Whitley Bay near Newcastle upon Tyne.

The new concept beach huts will sleep between 2-6 people depending on design and are available to rent from £300 to £400 per week. They feature a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and seating area, and are fully equipped with shower, cooker, microwave, hi-fi, wi-fi, double glazing and full insulation.

Beach Hut Resorts' Alex Miller says the company has secured a number of sites for further development and is currently in negotiations with coastal Councils throughout the UK to develop a chain of day-stay and overnight stay beach hut complexes...

"Unlike the Family Park concept where everything is provided on-site, our guests will help support the local economy by visiting attractions, eating out and using local shops"

Malta Tourism is drawing our attention to the annual Rolex Middle Sea Race, the 600 nautical miles long "Fastnet Race of the Mediterranean", which will set sail on Saturday 23rd October from the stunning Grand Harbour in Malta.

Co-founded by the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in 1968, this 31st edition race, which typically lasts around a week, will again bring sailing enthusiasts, spectators, and admirers to the island.

The course takes the yachts from Grand Harbour, Valletta, along the eastern coast of Sicily past Mt Etna to the Straits of Messina, on to the Aeolian Islands and the active volcano of Stromboli, where the yachts turn west to the Egadi Islands, Marettimo and Favignana, then south towards the island of Lampedusa and back to the finish at Marsamxett Harbour on Malta. (I've skippered a yacht to all those points and it's a terrific sailing area with lots of tricky local conditions, particularly around Etna and the Aeolian islands! Ed)

It's a good time to visit the island and soak up some of the excitement of the race. There are flights from the UK to Malta with Air Malta, Ryanair, BMI Baby & EasyJet.

Newly renovated South Sands Hotel (01548 859 000), now an "ultra chic" 22-bedroom property located on the beach in a horseshoe bay, just outside Salcombe in South Devon, has re-opened.

The hotel has a nautical New England feel to its interiors. The Bedrooms are named after classic boats – J-Class, Dragon (I used to race Dragons so I'll go for that one! - Ed), Yawl, Enterprise and Optimist – and offer tranquil views across the bay. A sumptuous Honeymoon Suite, with twin freestanding slipper baths overlooking the sea, provides added romance for couples.

Five 2-bedroom Beach Suites offer spacious accommodation (for up to six people) and large entertaining areas all have balconies or private terraces and panoramic views across the sea. Beach suite guests can opt for self-catering or dining at the hotel’s restaurant, with menus created by seafood maestro, Mitch Tonks, of the award-winning Seahorse in Dartmouth and Rockfish sister restaurants in Dartmouth and Bristol.

South Sands Beachside Boutique Hotel & Restaurant offers rooms from £120.

Avis UK (0844 581 8181) is extending its 'Home Delivery' service in London enabling customers to get their rental car delivered directly to and collected from their home address.

Nick Mountfield, Head of Marketing at Avis UK, explained: "Having seen a positive response to the service from both existing and new customers in its first few months across other regions of the UK, a roll out to our key London stations was the obvious next step for Avis."

It will initially be available from Avis stations, covering the following areas:

• Earls Court, covering: Chelsea, Kensington, Notting Hill, Chiswick, Brompton, Maida Vale, Brentford and Bayswater
  
  
• Enfield, covering: Chingford, Tottenham, Edmonton and Palmers Green
  
  
• Dartford, covering: Abbey Wood
  
  
• Croydon, covering: Crystal Palace, Streatham and Penge

The Home Delivery service aimed at customers who don't have the time to pick up their hire car, particularly when there isn't a station nearby to them. It costs £10 each way.

Classic Cottages (01326 555 555) has welcomed Meadowgate, the property owned by Kirstie Allsopp, presenter of Channel 4's 'Kirstie’s Homemade Home', on to its books.

The house, which sleeps 14 and is ideal for large groups of family and friends, has been lovingly restored and furnished by Kirstie and is available from 17 September 2010.

Meadowgate enjoys total seclusion within the National Trust-protected Welcombe Valley and is within walking distance of Welcombe Mouth beach on Devon’s north coast. Nearby, the Big Blue Surf School, at Bude, offers lessons to anyone aged eight and above, and other local highlights include the pretty Welcombe and Marshland Valleys Nature Reserve, Gooseham Barton Riding Stables, and the beautiful village of Welcombe itself. All are less than a mile away, and the Old Smithy Inn is just up the road.

A week’s stay costs from £143 pp based on 14 sharing (£2,000 total). Five to six-night shorts breaks cost from £114 pp (£1,600 total) on the same basis.

Irish Ferries (08717 300 400) is highlighting its Go As You Please self-drive touring holidays this summer, staying in some of Ireland's best B&Bs.

A package of return ferry crossings from Holyhead to Dublin, or Pembroke to Rosslare, for a car and two passengers (as much luggage as you like) and including seven nights' bed and breakfast costs £766, or £383 per person.

There are hundreds of carefully-vetted farmhouses and town and country homes to choose from. In August, Irish Ferries recommends booking at least the first nights' accommodation in advance "but after that, a morning phone call to secure that evening's room is usually sufficient".

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida is highlighting a number of new visitor experiences this summer...

• Star Trek Live!
  A new interactive stage show, Star Trek Live! combines science with entertainment to teach and encourage scientific literacy. Based on the popular tv series, the show takes audiences on a 30-minute journey with fun special effects, audience interaction and an exploration of real space-age technology. In the show, the audience portrays new Starfleet cadets assembled for the first day at the Starfleet Academy led by its best and brightest. The new cadets will have to learn quickly the intricacies of living and working in space, modern space travel and the latest in communication and technology.
  
  
• Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted
  The 10,000 foot exhibit immerses visitors into an environment of discovery and exploration beyond our home planet. Visitors are inspired to be a part of the NASA mission through live theatre, interactive experiences and large scale multimedia presentations, displaying what the future of space travel may look like and emphasizing that space exploration is not just about the hardware, but about the people behind the technology that make it all possible.
  
  The main show, Explorers Wanted, runs twice an hour, transforming the exhibit into a live theatre environment. New destinations for space travel are introduced as space pioneers of tomorrow are invited to embark on new missions and embrace the challenges of future space exploration.
  
  
• Hubble 3D IMAX Film
  Float beside space-walking astronauts and experience the powerful story of the Hubble Space Telescope during the new IMAX film Hubble 3D. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Hubble 3D offers an inspiring and unique look into the Hubble Space Telescope’s legacy and highlights its profound impact on the way we view the universe and ourselves. Featuring footage from the final Hubble repair mission, audiences will experience a space shuttle launch sequence, intricate spacewalks and a magnificent tour of the cosmos.
  
  
• Science On a Sphere® at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame®
  Science On a Sphere is a global display that takes visitors on a three-dimensional journey around the world and throughout the solar system via dynamic, animated images of the atmosphere, oceans and planets. Imagine looking at Earth from space, witnessing a season of hurricanes moving across the Atlantic, watching commercial air traffic movements all across the planet, and examining changes in sea currents and temperatures across the globe. The images are displayed onto the surface of a six-foot in diameter suspended sphere in a darkened room, and visitors can walk around the entire globe for view of the Earth and planets as if they were viewed from space.
  
  
• Family Astronaut Training Experience® (Family ATX®)
  Family ATX offers a half-day program for adults and children ages 7 through 14 years to reach for the stars in an out-of-this-world bonding experience. Designed to spark the imagination of children who may someday be future astronauts.
  
  Family members will be immersed in astronaut training, riding space simulators, building and launching their own rockets, and meeting a real NASA astronaut. The experience culminates as participants train and work together to perform a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station in a full scale orbiter mock-up and fully outfitted mission control.
  
  Unlike the other experiences above, which are included in the admission price, participation in ATX needs to be booked in advance. The cost is $145 (approx £95) per participant.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is open daily except December 25 and certain launch days. Admission includes the Shuttle Launch Experience, Kennedy Space Center Tour, 3D IMAX® space films, Astronaut Encounter, all exhibits, and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame®, featuring historic spacecraft, simulator rides and the world's largest collection of personal astronaut memorabilia. Admission is $41 (approx £27) + tax for adults and $31 (approx £20) + tax for children ages 3-11.

Quicksilver, the group that specialises in Great Barrier Reef cruises and experiences, has added a rare chance to scuba dive on the reef at night.

The Night Dive, designed for small groups of adventure-seeking certified divers is operated from their dive vessel Silverswift from cairns. It is Cairns only night dive excursion, departing at 5.30pm to the Outer Reef and returning at 11.15pm. It will initially operate each Thursday, subject to weather conditions and be conducted from Great Adventures’ Norman Reef platform.

Quicksilver Group Managing Director, Tony Baker said: "Divers will participate in two fully guided night dives. The Night Dive will fill the market gap for certified divers (and observers) who would like to do a night dive, but are unable do a liveaboard trip due to time constraints or budget."

Non-diving companions can also join in the excitement. While not being able to participate in dive activities, they can take in the sunset on the outer reef, view the diving activities from the underwater observatory and enjoy dinner on the Great Barrier Reef.

Aurora Expeditions have launched their High Arctic 2011 brochure featuring voyages to Spitsbergen, Greenland and Iceland.

The new programme features an action packed diving option on selected voyages, plus a completely new voyage, the 'Iceland & Greenland Explorer' focusing on Greenland's stunning south east coast. Divers will delight in a realm of huge kelp forests alive with crabs, sea butterflies, sea hedgehogs, jellyfish and arctic fish. Those who would prefer to stay above the sea can opt for the ever popular sea kayaking, available on most voyages.

Aurora Expeditions is a founding member of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, dedicated to leading expeditions that respect the environment and local cultures, and only operates tours for small, low-impact groups keen to experience the Arctic.

Aurora’s Polar Pioneer is a small ice strengthened ship carrying a maximum of 54 passengers. It has the flexibility to reach places closed to larger vessels.

More info at www.facebook.com/auroraexpeditions.

This year, Germany is celebrating the historic occasion on 7 December 1835 when the Adler locomotive first chugged its way along 7.5 kilometres of track from Nuremberg to Fürth. 175 years on, numerous high-profile events are being held throughout Germany to commemorate the event.

Nuremberg is the main venue for the railway anniversary celebrations. The city in northern Bavaria has a number of events including exhibitions on a huge range of railway-related topics, one-off trips in a faithful replica of the Adler and many other historical trains, and themed guided tours.

One highlight is the Planet Eisenbahn (Planet Rail) exhibition, which runs from 7 July 2010 to 27 February 2011 at the Deutsche Bahn Museum in Nuremberg and tells the story of the world's railways. Who financed the construction of the rail networks in America and Asia? Who pioneered high-speed train travel in France and Japan? And what does the future hold for railways? The Deutsche Bahn Museum will also be home to the 'Adler, Rocket & Co.' exhibition from 6 August to 31 October 2010. Trailblazing locomotives from all over Europe will be on display.

The anniversary is also being celebrated in other German cities. In June this year, Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) embarked on a commemorative national tour. Until the beginning of November, the tour will be stopping at 16 major train stations across the country and inviting people to join in the celebrations for one whole Sunday. Hamburg, Aachen, Osnabrück and Berlin are among the main venues. But in all regions, Germany's railway heritage is being brought to life in new and exciting ways until the end of the year.

Beyond the anniversary celebrations, however, there is still plenty on offer for enthusiasts at year-round museums and exhibitions. The Eisenbahnwelten (Railway Worlds), for example, in the resort of Rathen in eastern Germany has a fine display of LGB model railways for all ages to enjoy. Most of the landscapes through which the miniature trains run are typical of those around Dresden and the Saxon Switzerland mountains. The 25 to 30 trains in constant operation have to climb around 4.2 metres in total.

For all holidaymakers in Hamburg, a visit to the Wunderland Miniature World is a must. Since opening in the year 2000, the model railway exhibition has established itself as a favourite among tourists. Currently, some 830 model trains whizz around on 12 kilometres of track in an area covering 1,150 square metres. The whole operation is controlled by a total of 40 computers, while 185 members of staff ensure that everything runs smoothly. The trains pass by miniature versions of Hamburg's main attractions and take visitors on a scaled-down journey of discovery around the continents.

CityJet's new new summer route from London City Airport to the elegant resort town of Deauville in Normandy, got underway last week.

Deauville is a stylish Normandy resort town that offers a cultural city break opportunity as well as easy access to the region’s extensive beaches, historical villages and world class heritage sites such as Honfleur, Mont St. Michel, the Bayeux tapestry and the Normandy beaches. Deauville is also home to a selection of luxurious hotels, spas, and golf courses as well as a famous racecourse. It also has a glamorous Film Festival every September.

The airline is operating four flights a week (Mon, Thu, Fri & Sun) to Deauville until 27 September 2010. Prices start from £59 one way, including all taxes

Announcing the new route back in April, CityJet's Geoffrey O'Byrne White claimed they are "the first to offer flights to this attractive destination"... so we won't draw too much attention to Air Atlantique's scheduled service from London City Airport to Deauville in 2003, nor Love Air flying there from Biggin Hill back in the 90s!

Star Clippers (0845 200 6145) is now offering honeymoon guests the opportunity for a sunset marriage blessing on the upper deck of the company's four-masted Star Clipper or Star Flyer and the five-masted Royal Clipper, conducted by the captain and attended by uniformed crew.

The blessing can be arranged on Star Clipper voyages in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Central America and the romance starts when honeymoon guests are welcomed on board with champagne and fruit basket in their cabin.

Star Clippers say they have no plans to extend the service to the full 'marriage' service, that other cruise lines offer.

A three night Mediterranean sailing costs from £550 per person, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, entertainment and all port calls, excludes port taxes. A seven night sailing costs from £1160 per person. Prices are based on two sharing and exclude flights.