Unusual holiday travel tips

John Williamson from our supplier, Zavkhan shares his unusual holiday travel tips for Mongolia: “To visit a genuine, nomadic family and experience their incredible traditional hospitality will be the pinnacle of your trip to Mongolia. They will offer you salty, milky tea, which doesn’t sound too appetising, but is actually quite pleasant, and they’ll offer you preserved milk products like yoghurt and dried cheeses. There’s a whole myriad of cultural dos and don’ts, but a few to get you started are: you don’t hesitate on the threshold of a ger because that questions their hospitality, instead you walk straight in; men walk round to the left and women to the right; the most respected members of the party sit at the head of the ger – having a local guide and translator with you is invaluable because it’ll save you doing anything wrong and accidentally causing offence and it will help you understand the intricacies of their fascinating way of life.”

Laura Greenman, founder of Magnetic North Travel, which leads unusual Northern Lights holidays: "Our Northern Lights guides in Norway have started to favour places a little further afield from Tromso now as the roads near to this small city have become quite congested at times. Although harder to get to, Alta can be a superb spot to see the Lights. Also, we are seeing a change in Northern Lights visitors – they want to stay longer now and discover more of the country, get involved in other adventures such as dog sledding and horse riding. More people are seeking an autumnal aurora experience too, which is great for the local economy as the tourism season is stretching. Travelling at this time gives you a wonderful chance to enjoy the changing Arctic scenery in transition too as the ice freezes, the first snows arrive and the wildlife slowly hunkers down for winter".

Catherine Mack, guide author at Responsible Travel and big fan of not so grotty Lanzarote: “Staying at the eco yurt resort in Lanzarote opened up a whole new world to me, one that was green and so not grotty. Inspired by the work of sustainability pioneer Cesar Manrique, who sought to keep this volcanic island free from overdevelopment and pollution, the owners of this finca are not only fun, family orientated and funky, but also feisty in their mission to keep this beautiful island as responsible as possible.”