If you are having trouble deciding what ski-goodies you really need, then let us enlighten you to three great skiing accessories for the 2012 season.

Bolle Half Pipe Ski Helmet £115.00

With an ultra-thin outer shell the Bolle Half Pip Ski Helmet is a lightweight helmet that won’t weigh you down on the piste. With integrated vents, a front open-close system and a hypoallergenic padded liner, this super-stylish ski helmet controls the airflow so skiers stay cool and sweat is reduced to a minimum.

The K2 Rescue Shovel Plus

Accidents, unfortunately do occur on skiing holidays and it is always advisable to be prepared if an accident does arise on the piste. The K2 Rescue Shovel Plus is not only a sturdy aluminium shovel with a T-handle makeshift rescue sled, but also doubles pairs with K2 Backside or Factory Team skies to create a rescue sled used to pull an injured skier out of the snow.

Not only could the multi-faceted Rescue Shovel Plus help save lives, but it has also been designed to serve as a backhoe and a flat surface to balance a stove on in the snow.

Not bad for a modest $75.

The Wayback $140.00

If you are off on a skiing holiday this year the chances are you may be on the lookout for a new pack. Packs or rucksacks intended for a holiday in the snow need to be rugged, sturdy, waterproof and functional. The Wayback is a ski-friendly pack that features a versatile strap system to carry snowboards, skies and snowshoes with ease.

The Wayback also consists of multiple zippered pockets and compartments so that winter sports enthusiasts can keep all their gear organised. This fleece-lined rucksack has a padded waist belt for optimum comfort.

If you want to improve your holiday snaps then read on, as our five tips for taking great holiday photos may help you in your quest to produce a David Bailey-esque summer holiday album.

1. Use the flash outdoors

Many people solely associate a flash with dimly lit areas and indoor shooting. A flash however should not be confined to ‘light-starved’ settings, and even in bright sunlight, a flash can even out contrasts and fill in the shadows, creating a more ‘masterful’ photograph.

2. Don’t use the flash indoors

Whilst it can be advantageous to use your flash outdoors, it can be equally as beneficial to not use the flash indoors, particularly in well-lit hotel rooms and apartments on holiday where there is plenty of natural daylight. If you are shooting a subject indoors, make sure you are between the subject and the main source of light, namely a door or a window, as including a door or window in the composition will throw off your exposure meter.

3. Capture reflections

From the moon reflecting on the sea to the sunset casting a hazy pink hue on the horizon, your summer holiday is likely to be full of reflections. Keep your eye out for interesting splashes of colour, as capturing reflections often makes great photos.

4. Get up close

Photos that comprise of a subject that dominates the photograph and is impossible to miss often make great photos. If your baby’s face is covered in ice-cream or your partner is snoring away on the beach, remember to get up close, as these pictures are often the best.

5. Shoot first ask questions later

The beauty about digital photography is that, unlike film photography, you can take as many pictures as you want. Take advantage of this ‘infinite’ component of modern digital photography by snapping away as much as you want. The more photographs you have of your holiday, the more it will keep the memory alive.

Prepare your family for their hiking adventure

Preparation, like most things in life, is the secret to a successful hiking holiday. Research the destination and area you will be walking in by searching local maps, park websites, guidebooks and libraries for information about the area.

Involving your children in the research can be a good way to get them involved and rouse up excitement for their holiday – If they need it that is!

Once you have researched the area you can chose the most suitable trails for children.

Also check out how close the nearest restaurants and shops are, as there is nothing worse than arriving at a destination with hungry children only to find there are no shops in a 20 miles radius!

Bring the right gear

If you are hiking with children remember to take clothes and accessories to cater for all types of weather. Remember to pack sunhats and sun cream, as well as rain macs and wellies. Taking insect repellent and cream is also advisable if you are spending long hours in the outdoors with children.

Take plenty of water

Children become dehydrated more quickly than adults, even if they are not doing any walking and are being carried in a backpack! Make sure you take plenty of water on your daily hiking expeditions, and stop regularly to give your children sips of water.

Start early in the day

The temperatures are obviously lower early in the morning and as a result it is advantageous to start your day’s hiking earlier rather than later. Try to avoid the harsh midday heat, particularly if you are hiking in a hot country. Try and develop some kind of routine on your holiday as children, generally, thrive on routine. Get up at a similar time each day, have a hearty breakfast and then start hiking, before that sun gets too high!

Let your child take the lead

Children love being given responsibility and therefore letting them ‘take the lead’ on the trial will make them feel important and could help to avoid the ‘Dad I want to be carried’ scenario! Obviously do not let your child get too far in front as it is easy to become lost on many hiking trials.

Make walking fun

To keep morale up it is important to make your hiking ventures fun. Play games with your children as you walk, such as ‘I Spy’ and name the wildlife. Talk to your children about the local history and wildlife; let your holiday be an educational one as well as a fun one!

Given this surmise, Vintage Travel felt compelled to inform our readers about an interesting website known as historvius.com.

This unique and intriguing website enables visitors to discover and explore historical sites from around the world at their fingertips.

From world-renowned, UNESCO sites to lost, forgotten and crumbling ruins, Historvius provides valuable information on each historic site, including directions to the site, entry and contact details and comments from other ‘Historvians’ who have visited the site.

What’s more visitors to the website can become interactively involved in its development, as Historvia encourages its users to upload historical sites they have stumbled upon on their travels onto the website.

History enthusiasts can make their mark on the historical site community by uploading as much or as little information as they like about an historical destination which has yet to appear on the website. Uploading historical data does not even require registration and is simple and quick to use.

If you are planning the itinerary for your trip and are wanting it to include a slice of history then Historvia’s map-based database of historical sites will help you map out your itinerary so that it is bursting with history and culture to cater for all the family’s tastes.

This highly original and comprehensive website also includes features about history news, city guides, historical holiday ideas, historical sites fundamentally missed by the travel guides, an Historvius blog which keeps readers updated about the latest news and goings on with the website, and a site guide, which aims to answer all users’ questions.

So what are you waiting for?

Help others enjoy experiencing a historical site you have found by exposing it to a worldwide audience. Or simply have a helping hand at planning your history-bulging holiday itinerary. Either way log on to historvius.com.

Travelling can be a stressful experience in normal situations, let alone with an awkward and bulky golf bag, numerous golf balls and barrage of golf clubs in tow.

There are several steps you can take to make travelling with your golfing repertoire as stress free as possible. Here’s how.

1) Buy yourself a decent golf bag with wheels. A good, sturdy but lightweight case will, not only protect your clubs, but will make wheeling it around the airport and in and out of taxis and hotels easier.

2) Endeavour to only take half of your golf set with you. If you feel you can manage with half a set, it will give you more room in the car and less weight to carry around.

3) Hire a car that has enough room for your golf set. There is nothing worse than arriving at your hire car only to find it does not have sufficient room for your golf accessories. Plan ahead and make sure you book a hire car with plenty of room.

4) Many insurance companies do not cover sporting items such as golf clubs and will not automatically insure you for loss or damage to such items or injuries you may sustain whilst on the golf course. Ensure that your travel insurance includes golf cover, if not, get covered.

5) Many golf resorts abroad will not allow you to play in any footwear other than golf shoes. To be on the safe side, always pack your golf shoes in your suitcase.

6) Many sites also insist on seeing a handicap certificate. It is advisable to either check with the resort whether you will require one or not or just take a handicap certificate with you. They can be obtained from your club handicap secretary for no charge.

With the chaos and disarray air passengers found themselves in this winter, due to the snow, the public’s confidence in airlines is relatively low at present.

(Best budget airline?) Ryanair however, is not usually associated with a high number of cancellations and delays and many passengers describe the airline as being one of the more ‘reliable’.

Travellers will be pleased to learn therefore, that Ryanair has unveiled its summer 2011 route programme, which includes several additional destinations to its network, as well as an increase in the number of flights to its most popular destinations.

One of Ryanair’s new additions for its 2011 summer schedule includes flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Toulon in the south of France. This ancient and picturesque city is typical of the bustle, colour and life associated with Provence. It also puts travellers within easy reach of the beautiful French Riviera and its glamorous cities, such as Marseille and Saint Tropez.

Tourists of Toulon are spoilt of things to do and see. A contemporary art museum, naval museum, the 18 fountains of the city, the Saint Francois de Paul Church and the Palais de Congres, are just a few of the many wonderful highlights Toulon offers, both old and new.

Toulon is also a haven for music lovers, as the city is home to many music festivals, particularly in the summer months, including a dance festival at Chateauvallon.

Ryanair’s new route will bring all the pleasures of this great French city closer to travellers this summer. Talking about its extended routes, Stephen McNamara from Ryainair said:

“Ryanair is delighted to launch an extended Liverpool summer 2011 schedule which offers passengers 41 routes, including a new destination to Toulon and increased frequencies on six popular sunshine routes.”

In addition to the Toulon schedule, the budget airline has also announced it will begin additional services from Robin Hood Doncaster Airport to Tenerife and Faro this summer.

Understanding a local menu can prove fairly difficult, even if you consider yourself ‘competent’ in the language.

Words describing dishes and food have a tendency to not have been entered into the dictionary, making a puzzled tourist’s task of translating a menu, pretty nigh impossible.

In the towns and villages of Provence, tourists are faced with two dilemmas – trying to dissect and understand a menu before they give their order to the waiter, but first choosing which, of the many delightfully quirky yet wonderful ‘off the beaten track’ restaurants, to eat in.

Maussane-les-Alpilles in the Valley of Baux

Serving traditional Provencal cuisine at Maussane-les-Alpilles in the Valley of Baux, the restaurant Avi Prouvencau, with its rustic charm and rustic dishes, is a wise dining choice if you are in the area. Its ‘Pieds et Paquets – lambs feet and tripe packages – is a particularly delicious dish, if you are not squeamish about eating such components of an animal.

Chez Freddy Plage de l’Estaque

‘Panisses’ are literally chick-pea flour fries and are a regular feature of dishes in Provence. Chez Freddy Plage de l’Estaque is a small but delightful kiosk on the beach promenade in Estaque and has a reputation of serving the best panisses in the whole of Provence.

Lou Fassum in Grasse

‘Fassum’ is stuffed cabbage, is truly French and truly tasty. As its name suggests ‘Lou Fassum’ in Grasse, is a fantastic restaurant to sample this delicious local dish. Described as being “absolutely divine” and “typically Grassiose”, with its views stretching over to the Esterel and the ocean, Lou Fassum’s position and ambience is as inspiring as its food.

Foougassettes Venturini in Grasse

If your taste buds crave ‘sweeter’ tastes, then sampling the fougassettes and Echaudes – dessert breads – at Foougassettes Venturini in Grasse, has to be high on your priorities during your holiday in the south of France.

Authentic French delicacies and a devotion to customer care are at the heart of Fougassettes Venturini, and with their products being described as the “purest spirit of tradition”, a visit is imperative.

The Tuscan landscape in winter time

Winters are usually cold in Tuscany, and being a mountainous region, its beautiful jagged peaks are normally cased in snow during the winter months. Although Tuscan winters can be cold, they are also blessed with plenty of sunshine, and snow drenched mountains set against a cloudless blue sky, never fails to evoke exhilarating feelings of elation.

Because Tuscany is preferred as a summer destination, its cities’ and towns’ beautiful cobbled streets are free of the ubiquitous tour coaches and the amount of tourists visiting Tuscany during the winter is a fraction compared to more popular times of the year.  Consequently the region’s many romantic restaurants are rarely fully booked, visiting its many interesting museums is much more relaxed and it’s historically and culturally inspiring cities are free from crowds.

Visitors come to Tuscany for many reasons. Sampling fine Tuscan wine and dining on delicious authentic Tuscan cuisine are just two. But discovering and exploring the region’s fine art that has been described as being possibly the “greatest repository of art in the world,” is high on the agenda for many tourists of Tuscany. From influences of the Romans to the Renaissance, Tuscany boasts some of the most extraordinary architecture, paintings and sculptures in the world.

Being the most important holiday of the year in Tuscany, Christmas is a particularly atmospheric and colourful time to visit the region. Every city, village and town is meticulously decorated with blinking lights lining the churches, shops and streets. One especially exceptional Christmas event in Tuscany is “Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarkt”, a German-style Christmas market held in the Piazza Santa Croce on December 16. Other particularly visually stunning Christmas markets is the Montepulciano market held between December 15 until January 6, and the Christmas market in Greve in Chianti, held from December 14 until December 22.

In short, Tuscany’s bright, sunny, ‘fresh’ days, lack of crowds, world-class art and sensational Christmas markets, means this time of the year is an especially colourful, beautiful and atmospheric time to visit the central province of Italy – A true winter wonderland!

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Sunburst over the Acropolis

According to the Culture and Tourism Minister, Pavlos Geroulanos, many of Greek’s major historical sites, monuments and museums, lack basic tourist needs such as car parks, toilets and vending facilities. Although despite the so-called neglect of ‘basic services’, tourism accounts for more than 15 percent of Greece’s economy, and the nation’s world-famous historical monuments are at the forefront of Greece’s staunch tourist industry. Vintage Travel takes a look at some of the best historical landmarks Greece has to offer, regardless of their ‘neglect’ of public services.

The Temple of Knossos, Crete

Having been inhabited since the seventh millennium BC, the island of Crete contains some of the most ancient and famous historical monuments in the whole of Greece. But perhaps the most spectacular is the Temple of Knossos, which was the site of the legendary Minotaur and the mythological labyrinth and was the capital of Minoan culture.

Epidaurus Theatre

Whilst Greece may be intent on improving its popular tourist sites’ services in an attempt to boost tourism, it does not have to worry about renovating the Epidaurus Theatre, which is one of the best preserved monuments in the whole of Greece. Visits to the 2,500-year-old theatre remain a popular daytrip from Athens, particularly during the Hellenic Festival, when shows are performed on the theatre.

The Acropolis

No piece of writing dedicated to Greek historical sites could be complete without a mention of the Acropolis. With literally dozens of structures located within the Acropolis, such as the Propylaia, the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena, the Acropolis in Athens remains one of the most historically and culturally significant site in the  world, regardless to whether its public toilets need a repaint.

Olympia

Since its days hosting cultural festivals and sports competitions in ancient Greece, not only has the Olympic Games become the most important event of the sporting calendar, but Olympia has become a sanctuary of ancient Greece and a rare and eternally enduring popular tourist hotspot.

Delphi

Being one of the most popular archaeological sites of Greece, Delphi remains a ‘must-see’ on every traveller enthused by witnessing some of Greece’s highly unique, influential and inspiring ancient history, list.

Make sure you get to see Ronda's exquisite bull ring

Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting, a historical feat, which the town, with its devotion to the pastime, is obviously extremely proud of. Despite its relatively small size, in the early 21^st century, Ronda overtook Cordoba in being Andalucia’s top three tourist locations, behind only Granada and Sevilla.

With its dramatic panoramic views of the Sierra de Ronda mountains, the yawning yet beautiful El Tajo gorge and the eighteenth century ‘Puente Nuevo’ – New Bridge’ – that bestrides 100 meter abysses below, it is easy to gauge why Ronda became one of Andalucia’s ‘top three’ tourist destinations.

The famous Ronda Canyon is deffinately worth visiting

Ronda’s blatant natural beauty, momentous history and commitment to keeping one of Spain’s most archetypal traditions alive, means the town remains a tourist hotspot. In the summer months, Ronda’s attractive streets are brimming with people of all nationalities, giving the town a unique blend of tradition and sophistication.

In the winter, whilst Ronda is not overwhelmed by a consistent whirr of new arrivals, it remains a lively and vibrant town, with its warm and friendly atmosphere never ceasing. Although climatically, Ronda’s winters can be extremely cold. Whilst it is located just 100 kilometres from Malaga and the Costa del Sol, Ronda is situated at almost 2,500 feet and all roads to the ancient Spanish town twist, traverse and ascend, taking enthusiastic travellers through the beautiful but bitterly cold Sierras de las Nieves – Sierras of the Snow.

If you are planning on heading to the province of Malaga, regardless of the time of year, a visit to the fascinating town of Ronda is imperative. Although with a significantly less number of people sightseeing its many marvels, winter is perhaps a preferable time to visit Ronda. That’s if the Sierra de las Nieves permit it!

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