As happy a time Christmas is, by January, there’s not better feeling than putting your feet up and taking a deep breath of relief knowing that you’ve got 300 odd days until the next round of festive cheer. But seeing as you’ve been buying gifts and treating others around you, why not reward yourself with a New Year’s getaway? Abandon the cold weather, rainy days (and maybe even snow) and fly of to somewhere with abit of winter sun. There’s many places worth going on late deals in January - Luxor would be my personal choice offering great value for money aswell as the nice weather! Other destinations I would suggest include Cairo for a slightly busier sightseeing trip. Going away in the New Year may initially seem expensive, but you can actually find some great deals - Stay for 7 nights in Luxor 3* from just £309! Or see the amazing Pyramids in Cairo 4* for 4 nights from £599 Dubai or Abu Dhabi for either a beach or city break are also great options - Stay for 5 nights in Dubai 3* fr...

Unfortunately not, there aren’t any direct flights to Bangkok from Manchester. Direct services to Bangkok are only from Heathrow with Thai Airways, British Airways, Qantas and Eva Air. There are a few easy indirect options for example with Emirates, which is a world class airline and would fly direct from Manchester to Dubai and then you would change aircraft for an onward direct flight to Bangkok. You can even fly on the new double decker A380 aircraft on the Manchester / Dubai leg, which I loved when I flew on the A380. You can do a similar thing with the likes of Etihad Airways, which would go via Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways which would go via Doha. There are also options with Air France or KLM going via Paris or Amsterdam. Escape Worldwide - Home of Long Haul Holidays http://www.escapeworldwide.co.uk

Mark's currently sitting in a bar in Vietnam, so it seems like there's no better time to ask him about the beverages he's been 'testing out' there... The cost of beer in Vietnam depends on what you drink and where you drink it, but overall the simple answer is - beer is very cheap in Vietnam! Hotels are obviously the most expensive place to drink beer in Vietnam, but even here things do vary dramatically. Business-orientated hotels in the main centres are the most expensive, with a bottle of Heineken or similar at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Saigon being 110,000 Dong (£3.65), although in their rooftop Bar add an extra £1 (worth it for the view!) At the other end of things, you can easily get a beer at 12,000 Dong - a mere 40p! In many local bars (and for local read tourist bars, but outside of the larger hotels), a bottle of local beer such as Saigon or Larue will cost 12,000 to 15,000 (40p - 50p), or up to a whopping 30,000 Dong (£1) in a pricier venue. That’...

Kuala Lumpur is one of the Far East’s most exciting cities, but with loads to see and do it’s important to plan your trip to make the most of your time here. DAY 1 Start your visit to Kuala Lumpur by boarding the frequent hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus that takes in all of the city’s main attractions. There are stops on Bukit Bintang if you’re staying in this part of the city, and throughout the Golden Triangle and KLCC areas too. Head to the older parts of KL to start with - get off at stop 8 in the Chinatown district, and walk through to stop 9 at Central Market. Stroll through colourful Chinatown before arriving at Central Market, which has been refurbished from a traditional market to a centre for traditional handicrafts. Hop back on the bus and continue past the National Palace, through the Lake Garden and on to the National Mosque. AFTERNOON Grab a bite to eat at the KL Tower before taking the lift to the top, for spectacular views across the city. Although a little shorter tha...

There are one or two All Inclusive hotels in Thailand , but to be honest the food and drink is so cheap out there you wouldn't want to be staying in your hotel! Last time I was out there I visited three of the beach resorts - Phuket , Krabi and Phi Phi - and I think the most I paid for a meal was £25 and that was the most amazing lobster I've ever had in Phuket. Even the more remote beach hotels have a couple of beach restaurants close by, and if you are in one of the more touristy areas, such as Ao Nang in Krabi, you will be spoilt for choice. You will be able to get a really good meal for about £5 or £6, or just some chicken satay for £1 or so. The bottles of beer are enormous! Singha, Tiger and Chang beer are all very common, as are Happy Hours, so make the most of them! Happy Hour quite often runs from 4 in the afternoon until about 9 in the evening, and the offers tend to be 2 or 1. Given the full price is about £2 for a large bottle, you might not need to be there after...

I did a safari in Kenya last year and what I did was to fly from Nairobi straight into the Masai Mara by light aircraft , I then spent 3 nights at a camp before flying back to Nairobi. I found this worked really well as the light aircraft was a FAB way of seeing the Masai Mara from the air and it only took about an hour and a half to get from Nairobi, Also it landed close to the camp so didn’t have to go too far to get to the camp, though on saying that the drive to the camp was amazing, littered with giraffe and zebra. Whilst at the camp I did a couple of game drives a day, which I have to say were simply amazing. I saw the big five plus tons of other animals. I was pretty amazed when we came across a herd of elephant; I counted 20 with a couple of babies, which were so sweet. There is some much to see on the Masai Mara and the local driver/guide, David, was simply fantastic and it was really interesting hearing how he grew up on the Masai Mara. OK you don’t get to see the full dive...