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Last-minute holidays have a lot to be said for them. They can be incredibly exciting and they can also offer great value for money for people who are happy to be a little bit flexible. Here are some top tips for booking a last-minute holiday abroad:
• Be flexible. Last-minute holidays are all about going wherever is available. If you have a very set idea of where you would like to visit, this might not be the option for you.

• Look for packages. Booking different bits of a last-minute holiday separately can all get very complicated. Look for packages that include a flight and a hotel and possibly even transport to the airport.

• Book as late as possible. Many people don’t dare to book just a few days before they travel. It can be beneficial though, as hotels will drop their prices dramatically. Try it out – it can be very exciting.

Luckily for English speakers, this is the most common language to be spoken in lots of countries. This means that it can be very easy to get away with not learning any other language before you travel. However, there are also many benefits to learning even just a few simple phrases.

People may not speak a good enough level of English to answer your more complex questions. It’s important to remember that many countries educate children in English, but it is not their first language. This means that you may well experience language barriers when trying to communicate.

People may actually be more willing to help you if you know a few words of their language. The fact that you have learnt some of the languages will often be really appreciated and locals will be much more friendly towards you. It may also be very helpful when asking simple questions, like the location of a museum or a landmark.

Barbados is a lovely place to visit, with most visits being trouble-free, but there have been incidents of violent crime including armed robbery and sexual assaults.

You should maintain at least the same level of personal security awareness as you would in the UK and make sure your accommodation is secure. This also applies if you are staying on a yacht. Be vigilant at all times. Take care when walking alone off the busy main roads and avoid isolated areas, including beaches, particularly after dark.

Please ensure that you only use licensed taxis and take particular care at late night street parties, especially during the festival season. Don’t carry large amounts of cash or jewellery. If possible, leave valuables and travel documents in a safety deposit box or hotel safe. You should check that the hotel safe is securely fixed before using it to store your items.

The local police have advised residents and visitors against wearing visible gold jewellery due to a spate of robberies particularly in Bridgetown and other popular tourist areas.

British passport holders arriving to Thailand by air or land can enter for 30 days without a visa – this is known as a visa exemption. It’s possible to extend your stay beyond the 30 days granted by the visa exemption by an additional 30 days from the expiry date of the original visa. To extend your visa you’ll need to apply at an immigration office.

If you plan to stay in the country for longer than 30 days, or you intend to work, you must get a visa before you travel. If you have entered Thailand on a visa, it’s possible to apply for an extension of stay but you must do this before your permission to stay expires.

If you overstay, you’ll be fined approximately 500 baht per day up to a maximum of 20,000 baht. You also risk being held in detention, fined, deported at your own expense and black-listed from re-entering Thailand. The Thai authorities have stated that they will always enforce detention for overstays of more than 42 days. Since March 2016, you’ll be banned from re-entering Thailand if you overstay your visa. Please check with the Thai Immigration Authority for more details.

Malaysia is a country which goes from one extreme to another. On the one side, many people still live in bamboo houses; on the other side the downtown of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, can easily compete with Manhattan! Bizarre to think, but true. Rich Malaysians eat oysters in French restaurants, whereas their poor compatriots have only rice and noodles to feed their families. No matter what part of Malaysia you are going to visit, you meet poverty and luxury, the past and the present, the third and the first worlds mixed together. Malaysia consists of two separate parts, West and East Malaysia, separated by the South China Sea. The Western part is more developed, the capital and big cities are situated there. The West part is perfect for seaside vacations, nature trekking and diving. There’s a lot to see in Malaysia and we really do recommend you visit this beautiful country.

There are so many things that can go wrong during the period of booking a holiday and going away and it can be hard to know where to turn if you have a problem but the citizen’s advice bureau, a government-led initiative, have come up with a help sheet online that can help with almost any holiday related problem.

They offer free impartial advice for how to complain about a holiday company or holiday club, they also give advice on what you should do if the holiday company you have booked through go bust and you lose your holiday booking (and money) as a result.

Health advice is also offered with an easy guide of what to do in case of an emergency along with advice on how to cancel your holiday or make necessary changes to your holiday at the least cost to you.

Millions of people have a phobia about spiders, but in the UK we are lucky as the common house spiders and ones you may see running about are not usually harmful to us. Spiders can bite and if you get bitten by a spider in the UK it is rare, but you could have a reaction to the bite. Usually, this is very easily treated and you will not require urgent medical attention.
If you chose to holiday in Australis you should be aware of the many types of spiders that can cause serious illness if you are bitten and sometimes even prove fatal. One of the common spiders in Australia is the Black Widow spider. These spiders are considered dangerous because of the neurotoxin latrotoxin, which causes the condition latrodectism that they pass on when you are bitten by one. They tend to lurk in such places as the toilet bowl or letterboxes meaning that you must be very vigilant and make sure that you check places first before sitting or putting your hand in.

There are two sports, if you can call them that, that have always fascinated intrigued many people. Those sports are hiking and climbing. Many have never quite understood how to try them, how to learn them or just if they would appea.

Instead of normal travel destinations these holidays demand very specific locations. Instead of looking for amazing cultural locations you’re looking for the highest peaks, instead of looking at sandy beaches you’re looking at the most dangerous cliff faces to test yourself. Instead of the relaxation and tans of the typical holiday; you’re looking for the cold, the heights and the challenge. Climbing and hiking, it seems, are not so much sports but more ways of life; changing our clothes, our ambitions and even our holidays.

No matter what holiday you go on, a camera is one thing you’ll definitely be taking. This is especially the case if you’re going on a Safari! There are some things you need to know though, especially if you want to come back with some amazing photographs, the kind you see in magazines and brochures.

Firstly, it’s important to understand that the people who take those photos, have the equipment to do so. If you just have a small compact camera, you’re going to miss out on a lot of great shots because you’re too far away. Zoom is everything on a safari because the guides are not going to let you too close to the animals. Of course an SLR camera with a telephoto zoom lens will cost thousands of pounds, but that’s the gear you need for professional quality photos.

There are exactly 981 UNESCO World Heritage Sites across the world. We strongly suggest you visit as many as you can! These WHS are deemed to be of special cultural or physical significance by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

We have 28 of them in the UK including the world renowned Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire which are famous for groups of megaliths. These two sites consist of circles of menhirs. These prehistoric stone circles astronomical significance is still being explored to this day. If you’re looking to visit somewhere a bit more exotic and further afield we suggest you take some time out in beautiful Tanzania.