Travel - Where to Go When

Posted by Hugh Taylor Sep 14, 2007

When the postman delivered Dorling Kindersley’s new guide to World Travel yesterday morning I knew it was a mistake to open the package. Mistake number two was deciding to have another coffee and leaf through a few of the pages. Several hours later I was still reading when I should have been in my office writing.

It's a splendid production full of the vibrant colourful images that separate DK guides from all the rest. It’s also jam packed with practical information concerning visas and passports, security, health issues, insurance, money, mobile phones, getting around, internet travel and travel photography.

The meat of the book, which the publishers describe as ‘the ultimate holiday planner’, is the features on the ‘world’s most spectacular places’.

There are 130 of them, each featuring one of six holiday themes from Festivals and Culture, Natural World and Activity Breaks to Family Getaways, Luxury and Romance and Unforgettable Journeys.

The book is arranged in a month by month format so you can search for the perfect destination to fit with your holiday dates or find the best time to visit your chosen destination.

The Middle East is well represented with features on Petra in Jordan, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Istanbul and the Lycian Coast in Turkey and Cruising on the River Nile and visiting the Red Sea in Egypt.

It was written by a team of travel experts of whom a significant number are suite101 Feature Writers including Evelyn Kanter, Mari Nicholson, Rebecca Ford and me.

My contribution is not on the Middle East but my home territory, the West of Scotland. I’m well pleased with it and I’m sure the good people at VisitScotland will be too.