manchester

christmas

Give the gift of travel

For an unusual Christmas gift which is likely to be remembered for months, and possibly years, forget the usual gimmicks and gadgets and give a present connected to travel instead.

It could well provide the recipient with an unforgettable experience, either in the UK or in some in some distant land, which they would never otherwise have had - and which they may remember for the rest of their days.

The choice of travel-linked gifts gets wider every Christmas as tour operators, hotel groups, luxury spas, book publishers and many other firms realise the considerable potential for winning new business.

So here's my top 20 list of gifts to help your friends and relations travel around Britain and around the world with a bit more style:

1. Luxury coach holidays are a smash hit with the over-50s. Send grandparents packing with vouchers - for £50, 20, £10 and £5 - from leading operator WA Shearings, redeemable against any holiday or short break in various programmes including Europe and Worldwide, self-drive and special interests.

WA Shearings enquiries: 01942 496 507.

2. Low-cost airline Monarch vouchers to any amount are valid for 12 months to Monarch scheduled destinations in Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Blackpool, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Newquay.

When bookings are made with vouchers, amendments can be made within 24 hours without additional charge.

Monarch enquiries: 08700 406 300.

3. Drive a classic car: The Historic and Classic Car Hirers' Guild has a network of classic car hire firms with vehicles available at a time and date of your choice. You can roam the West Country in an Austin Healey, relive the glory days of James Bond at the wheel of an Aston Martin and explore Yorkshire's Dales in an elegant old Jag.

Enquiries: 0845 070 5174.

4. Soak up the luxury life in Bovey Castle: surrounded by 368 square miles of Dartmoor National Park in Devon, Bovey Castle is the latest luxury hotel from entrepreneur Peter de Savary to offer a perfect escape from the rat race.

Bovey Castle gift certificates range from £100 - for dinner for two in the sumptuous Palm Court Dining room - to £1,100 for two nights' dinner, B&B and choice of four spa treatments for two people.

Enquiries: 01647 445 000.

5. Souvenir of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express: the train's 2006 gift catalogue includes sterling silver bookmark (£27), lapis and silver cufflinks (£150) and solid mahogany photo frames (£120 and £150).

Enquiries: 020 7805 5019.

6. West End theatre break: Holiday Extras new Show and Stay packages in the capital, from £49, include a stalls or dress circle theatre seat, plus overnight B&B at a choice of three and four-star hotels. An extra night's accommodation starts at £35 per person.

Holiday Extras enquiries: 0870 844 4186.

7. A top-class hotel bed: The most comfortable hotel bed I slept in this year - like a fur-lined envelope on one of the capital's coldest nights of the year - was at the luxury Sofitel St James Hotel in the West End.

The upmarket French hotel group Sofitel is selling its MyBed design on www.sofitel.com or on 00800 1763 4835, starting with kingsize mattress and base around £960.

Other hotel groups with the same idea include Westin Turnberry Resort (01655 33100) in Scotland, with heavenly mattresses available at £990 and Sheraton Skyline (020 8759 2535), with Sweet Sleeper king-size mattresses from £999.

8. Book the grandchildren a date with Mickey Mouse in Florida: Attraction Tickets Direct offers Florida theme park tickets for 2006/7 at 2005 prices if purchased by December 31. Five park Orlando Flex Tickets start at £96 per child, and £116 per adult, with no charges for credit card fees and tickets delivered within seven days.

Enquiries: 0845 130 3876.

Closer to home, Keith Prowse Attraction Tickets offers seven day tickets for adults for £47 and £38 for children at Port Aventura during 2006 on Spain's Costa Dorada which opens next year from March 24 to November 1.

Keith Prowse Attraction Tickets, offering over 500 attractions on four continents, is on 08701 232 425.

9. Learn the local lingo: with Britons spending £6bn a year on holiday homes, and several holidays a year, learning new languages is becoming vital for many people years after leaving school.

New All-in-One beginners language courses in French, Spanish and Italian from Berlitz use an all-audio and book-free format to make it easier for people on the move.

The all-inclusive package at £19 99 includes short and easy-to-follow lessons covering popular topics and colloquial expressions. The Deluxe Language Pack, at £39 99, is for those who want to master a new language at their own pace.

Packages available in bookshops, or online at www.berlitzpublishingcom.

10. Budget hotel city break: Travelodge, one of the leading budget hotel brands with 135,000 hotel rooms across the UK, offers gift vouchers from £5 to £20 which are perfect for those who save money on the journey to spend when they get there.

Travelodge gift vouchers: 0870 191 1580.

11. Been there, got the picture? Rekindle memories of a perfect holiday with a present from Works of Art, with prices from £100 and a wide selection of different destinations to choose from.

Works of Art enquiries: 020 7723 5803. An insight into the works of art available is on the website www.worksofart.org.uk.

12. Superb atlas: if the Gulf Stream really is switching off Britain's "winter warmer", you'll need to know where you are with climate change and global warming, and the subject is well-covered in the magnificent Universal Atlas of the World, published by Philips with the Royal Geographical Society.

Says David Gaylard, Philip's director of cartography: "Although climate has always been subject to some element of change, we are obviously going through a particular period of marked change and we have to educate ourselves as to what we are doing to the world as a species, and modify our behaviour accordingly."

This book, which probably knocks The Times Atlas off its perch as the very best available, is great for travellers too: enlarged maps of holiday-destination islands including the Balearics, Azores, Greek Islands, Canaries, Hawaii, Bali, Bermuda, Phuket, Tahiti, Seychelles and Greater and Lesser Antilles.

There are also detailed street maps of 100 major cities, large scale maps of each state in the USA and new mapping coverage of Scandinavia, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.

Philip's Universal Atlas of the World, a 560-page large format hardback, costs £90. ISBN: 0540087440.

13. Vouchers with top quality tour operators will slash the price of a 2006 holiday.

CV Travel (0870 062 3427) lists some of the finest villas across Europe, and its vouchers are worth up top £500. Greek Islands Club (020 8232 9780) has superb properties too, while Kirker (0870 112 333) specialises in organising every detail of an upmarket city break.

Other vouchers are available from Tropical Locations (020 7229 9199); On the Go Tours (020 7371 1113) to a range of exciting destinations including Egypt, India, Turkey, China and Russia by the Trans-Siberian; and UK short break specialist Superbreak, with vouchers up to £100 on holidays from pop concerts to spa/golf breaks.

14. Rohan - the famous manufacturer of upmarket travel clothes to suit all climates has launched a new footwear collection, with city and explorer travel designs from £60 a pair and adventure travel shoes from £80.

Meanwhile the famous Rohan trousers or "Bags" continue to be a bestseller, nearly a quarter of a century after they were launched in 1981. At £49 a pair, they are designed to be comfortable in any climate.

Rohan collection available on mail order (0870 601 2244) or visit www.rohan.co.uk.

15. Private jet flight to soccer spectacular - if Dad is a soccer fan, why not book him onto return flights on a private jet and category A seat for the Champions' League final in Paris on May 17, 2006? After the match, there's a chance to meet the players at the Hotel Le Bristol.

Just think of all Dad's done for you - and then write out a cheque for £2,190 to Jefferson Private Jet Holidays (0870 850 8181). Of course, he might prefer a new sprinkler system for the garden.

16. WEXAS - membership of this Traveller's Club costs just £59 per year, and membership perks for serious and regular travellers, including a price guarantee on air fares, and an opportunity to use the VIP airport lounge at 22 UK airports for long-haul travellers who have booked tickets through WEXAS.

Gold membership - at £130 a year - offers a personal concierge service, which can even look after your pet while you're away. WEXAS enquiries: 020 7838 5980.

17. Give a classy souvenir from Nine Zero, a trendy new boutique hotel in the heart of the US city of Boston which prides itself on cutting edge technology, superb service and fine food.

Just about anything in the place is available online for sale - and general manager Jim Horsman told me on a visit to London that one set of bar stools in the restaurant lasted a mere 24 hours before a guest snapped them up.

As a souvenir, Horsman left me with a lightweight Nine Zero shoulder bag - which is also available online, of course.

For a full range of items available, visit www.ninezero.com.

18. Get the doggie kitted up: Cotswold Outdoor's doggie backpack (£80) which allows Fido to carry his own lunch when you go walkies for a picnic. Other useful gadgets in the Cotswold range include the K9Flat Coat (60) designed to help your dog swim and a collapsible Quencer water-bowl for doggies who are travelling regularly.

Cotswold Outdoor enquiries: 0870 442 7755 or visit www.cotswoldoutdoor.com.

19. See the best of England: for anybody who intends to ramble through the UK keeping as far away from the motorways as possible, their planning should probably start with Hugh Palmer's new guide to "The Most Beautiful Country Towns of England".

From Alnwick and Ambleside in the North, and southwards to Ludlow, Stamford, Lymington and Totnes, Palmer has selected historic gems, small ports which once harboured fishing and trading fleets, famous centres of religious activity and even the odd spa or two.

The Most Beautiful Towns of England, by Hugh Palmer, is published at Thames & Hudson and costs £24.95.

20. Coach ticket to Europe - for youngsters keen to roam, the Eurolines coach pass from £115 covers 40 cities across the Continent, and can be bought for 15 or 30-day trips to provide unlimited travel from Oslo in the North to the Mediterranean, and from Bucharest to Dublin.

Anxious parents are reassured by the thought that hapless kids who run out of cash will be dumped safely back at Victoria Coach Station in one piece.

Eurolines enquiries: 0870 5143 219.