The Spanish island of Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. Tenerife is said to have the lowest temperature ‘difference’ between summer and winter for anywhere in the world. Even with the occasional rain there is no specific ‘rainy season’ making Tenerife the perfect year round destination for families.

Teide National Park
The extinct volcano of Mount Teide is accessible either by foot or by cable car that will carry you almost to the very summit. From the peak, on a clear day, you will be treated to breathtaking views of the other Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. At a staggering 3.718 metres tall, Mount Teide is the highest mountain in the whole of Spain and is the Canary Island’s most visited tourist attraction.

Diving
The sea around Tenerife drops to dramatic depths, with caves and ocean wildlife that have made the island one of the best places in the world for diving where sightings of stingrays, tuna and barracuda are amongst the natural wonders to be seen. Most of the dive operators offer courses from beginner to expert, and are concentrated on the west coast in Los Gigantes, Playa San Juan and Las Galletas.

Family attractions
Loro Parque is one of the most popular places for a family day out with hundreds of parrots, an aquarium, sea lion and dolphin shows and the world’s largest Penguinarium. To cool down, take your family to the AquaPark near Playa de las Americas which has dolphin shows along with an amazing range of waters rides, pools, slides and sunbathing areas.

Shopping
Tenerife’s capital city Santa Cruz is the shopping mecca of the island and home to all the best Spanish shops. Aside from the shops, it is a quaint port town with charming character and well worth spending the day there. Just remember to wear comfortable shoes!

Dolphin boat trip
Take a boat trip whale and dolphin watching. Go from Puerto Colon with Catamaran Eden in search of dolphins and pilot whales. You may get a chance to do some snorkelling in a secluded bay.

Guimar Pyramids
The Valley of Guimar in the south of the island is where the six mysterious step pyramids – similar to those found in Mexico and Peru – were discovered. The Guimar Pyramids are built from angular blocks quarried from lava flows.

Beaches
Tenerife’s finest beaches can be found around the major tourist resorts of Playa de las Americas, Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje on the south coast. Several of these have been awarded the European Blue Flag in recognition of the cleanliness of their sand and sea.

Family travel insurance essential!
If you want to really enjoy your family winter sun holiday in Tenerife, don’t forget to take out your cheap family travel insurance as soon as you book your trip.

I’ve just returned home to Sussex after spending eight wonderful days touring the Mississippi delta. Visiting many of the places that I’ve been singing about in blues tunes for over thirty years.

Although I’ve visited the United States in the past I’d never had the opportunity to visit Mississippi. Anyone who knows anything about blues music will know that the Mississippi Delta is where it all comes from.

The tour started off in Memphis which is packed with some fantastic antique stores and some exceptional music stores. I could resist spending nearly a whole day playing a whole load of National Resonator guitars originating from the 1930s. I imagined all the old blues players who would have once played these iconic instruments.

The tour took me and my fellow blues-fiends to Clarksdale where we visited the world famous Delta Blues Museum. We took a drive down the famous Highway 61 to the infamous Hopson plantation. This is where many ultimately famous blues musicians once worked picking cotton.

We visited Cleveland and then on to Greenville and Leland and then stopped at Indianola which is the hometown of legendary blues musician B.B.King.

It was a truly exceptional, magical and spiritual trip for me. My love for blues music has been deepened with a better appreciation of the land from which this fantastic music was born.

Believe it or not the air that you breathe has a lot to do with how relaxed or not relaxed you are as a person and going on one of these so called walking holidays can really help you out with this.

Basically most people will go to a higher place when they are out on a walking holiday and as everyone will know that the higher you are the cleaner the air is so walking up those mountains may feel like it’s a bit bad on the lungs but in fact it is really just giving them a good clean out for you which if your like me is well needed. I will say that if you are a smoker you will struggle with this, I am not but one of my friends I went with is a heavy smoker and the first couple of days were very harsh on him.

This of course is just one of the reasons, and there are so many other reasons too.

It’s bad enough when it happens to your car but what would you do if you were at the controls of an aircraft? If you’re a driver you will have probably experienced a stone thrown up by a truck or a bus hitting your windscreen. With any luck it does no damage, but it could crack or shatter your windscreen and result in a nasty accident.

Last week a Saab 2000 aircraft on a flight from Aberdeen airport experienced a cracked windscreen just 10 minutes into the flight. The captain reported the crack in the multi layered, toughened glass windscreen and the aircraft was directed to return to the airport. A full emergency was called and police, fire and ambulance crews were scrambled to the airport to meet the aircraft on its return.

The 38 passengers were transferred to an alternative aircraft t take them to their destination at Scatsta in Shetland.

Note: Always pre-book your Aberdeen Airport parking for the greatest savings.

Walt Disney World’s fastest, most exciting thrill ride isn’t in a theme park. It’s the Richard Petty Driving Experience where you can get behind the wheel or ride shotgun in a real NASCAR race car. Join Lou Mongello as he rides along in one of WDW’s lost overlooked attractions

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Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World