Overview: At a total travel time of about four hours from Manchester, Dublin’s another capital of culture on the doorstep – and you don’t have to be getting married in the morning to try it out for size. 

Stayed at: The Morgan 10 Fleet st, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Superstylish. The picture above is the slipper bath within a hugh bedroom. Good location for sightseeing, great cocktails – try the Champagne with raspberry and Schnapps for the ultimate girly style in the city tipple.

Ate at: The unassuming 101Talbot where the food was good although the ambience was busy, busy and FXB in the heart of trendy Temple Bar. This steak and seafood restaurant is just feet from the heaving main street entertainment and proved to be bustling but sophisticated with a menu of ethically sourced produce and an interesting specials board.

Travelled with; Stena Line which operates the fastcraft from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire. And it is fast – less than two hours. A very comfortable crossing, complimentary refreshments in the pre-booked lounge plus internet access.

Visited: Hugh Lane Gallery with its important city collection and the Irish Museum of Modern Art with its extensive gardens and sculpture such as the amusing elephant above.

Must-see: The Julian Opie walking installations – also pictured above. See video via the link below for an idea but they’re even better close-up.

Can do without: Cheesey commentary on the bus tours. Good tours but groaningly bad everyone’s-an-Irish-comedian jokes.

Full review: Published in the print editions of the Manchester Evening News on Saturday, September 6.

Trip funded by: Stena Line provided the travel, The Morgan the accommodation. Food and trips, self-funded.

Got more to add about Dublin? Feel free add links and/or comments below.

I shall be off to a (hopefully) sunny Cornwall shortly to savour the delights of the town put on the map by Mr Stein and, of course, the late Chalky the dog.

Obviously food being a big draw to the area, it will be no surprise to any of my regular blog readers that the premise of the trip is to look at what’s on offer for galloping gourmets ( I know, tough job!).

While much of the foodie activity will be featured on my other blog, I’ll also produce a travelogue for this blog and a print feature which will be published in the Manchester Evening News at some later point.

As I detailed yesterday (see Travel page), I’m looking to do travel writing a little differently from now on, so would be interested in hearing from anyone who has anything to add about the area I’ll be writing about.

Have you visited the town yourself? Reported on it? What’s is like to live there? Visited for a holiday?

Any information or suggestions gratefully received in the comments or feel free to cast a vote in the poll .

This weekend’s trip to Cornwall is being funding by Air Southwest, Avis and Richardson Hotels.

I spent a good part of yesterday sorting out issues to do travel writing. That’s because I’m off work at present and had a piece to submit as well as preparing for another commission this weekend.

Travel writing  is an activity undertaken in time off. Nothing unusual about that – so is most of the blogging and a lot of other journalistic activity I, and I know many other, regional hacks undertake.

But as I finished writing up and downloading the pictures of a recent trip to Dublin, I started wondering how aware readers are about how these, often glossy, pieces of journalism come to be in their daily newspapers.

Paid for by the hosting holiday company (cost would obviously make the activity otherwise prohibitive), it could be seen as a semi-commercial activity. In itself perhaps not so much a problem, but do we always make that distinction crystal clear?

And it’s completely different to most other consumer reviewing. Take restaurant criticism for instance. I, along with just about every reviewer I can think of, visit the venue “blind” i.e. pay for meals and never reveal our identities.

But with travel, the trips are often laid on for groups from a variety of publications who see the same sights, have the same great experiences and are hosted by companies who know exactly who they are and whose job it is to impress.

Compare that experience to a “wisdom of the crowd” travel site where those participating have forked out their own hard-earned cash for what could be their only holiday of that year.

OK, we like to think we bring something more than simply an opinion of value for money or rating of faclities to the table. We can point to  the fine old tradition of travel literature where a reader need never leave their armchair to enjoy a global journey to back us in our endeavours.

Perhaps motoring journalism is one area which compares due to the heavy costs involved – although in that case a long-established genre of highly critical test drives is evident. Have you ever seen a bad holiday review?

I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on this subject? Plus how do you tackle the issue of funding in your writing? Do let me know.

* As posted yesterday on the newly created travel page of this blog (top right), I’m going to attempt to do things slightly differently on here from now on in the hope of bringing some Web2.0 value to the experience. Thoughts on that also, as ever, appreciated.

This feature was first published in the print editions of the Manchester Evening news in May 2007. I have replicated it here for the sake of my archive. See travel page (top right).

“Hello family” greets our tour leader Mohammad – he might look all of 25 and have the style of a young Lionel Ritchie but his openly affectionate greeting seems to be infectious and it’s not long before the group of mostly over 50s, normally reserved, British travellers are soon comfortably shouting back to Mohammed’s enthusiastic gesturing.

I look around me at this new “family” to which I belong. There’s the woman who will celebrate her 91st birthday on board later in the week, there’s an elderly gentleman travelling alone, groups of retired couples setting out to fulfil life-long ambitions of travel to far-off lands and just one young child.

And then there’s a few of us “youngsters” – people in our thirties and 40s who are not accustomed to being the the youngest in any other gathering these days. What a strange family we are with Mohammed at the head of our clan. “Let’s attack it” he enthuses as we set off for our excursions into the dusty heat of the Ancient temples.

The cruise offers ten excursions within the price of the break which attempt to unravel the mysteries of ancient Egypt.

Well organised and accompanied by tour guides who have studied Egyptology, the visits to the famous temples of Luxor, Edfu and Karnak are soon brought to life. The enormity of the work entailed in creating such magnificent buildings, carvings and sculptures is both awe-inspiring and thought provoking and as we gaze upon the complicated scenes created all those millenia ago it’s impossible not to wonder about that ancient civilization, the families that lives and worked then and the messages they carefully prepared in the lasting medium of granite and plaster .

Weary from the heat and beauty of the temples we eventually become “templed out” and head back to our floating  base.

With just 112 berths, the Star of Luxor is a small ship – don’t expect the non-stop restaurants, beauty parlours and gyms of the floating cities now circulating the globe – this is a much cosier affair.

The cabins are comfortable with  a basic en-suite shower room for each, the dining room serves up a good selection of hearty food choices.

All the guests eat in one sitting for a breakfast, lunch and evening meal which is mostly buffet-based with a full salad selection and hot dishes of beef, chicken or fish with vegetable dishes and the occasional Egyptian dish being served before a selection of desserts and pastries.

There are also several themed dinners with some dressing up in traditional dress and the staff occasionally breaking out into a cheerful musical accompaniment. 

But travellers should also note that running repairs to the ship seem to be carried out on a ongoing basis so our final day in Luxor did have the feel of a working shipyard as staff busily got the vessel ship-shape for the guests that were to follow us.

At the end of each day’s sightseeing, for those with some energy left, there’s some entertainment in the bar area with Mohammed leading the family in some group fun and games.

But, as an alternative, what could be better than sharing a drink with your loved one under the starry skies as the boats slips ever onwards through the darkness of Northern Africa?
 
As is fitting for a family affair, nothing is too much trouble for the staff on board and even the mundane cabin tidying is given a friendly twist with some rather unexpected bedding origami.

Returning on the first day to find a crocodile fashioned out of a quilt cover and toiletries with water bottle caps for eyes was unexpected enough, but everyday proved to be a revelation.

There was a quilt lotus flower, a boat, a snake and even a contemporary take on the idea with a soft sculpture of a man on the telephone with a toilet paper face and pyjama hair. Blue Peter has nothing on this Eygptian ship’s crew!

The days on board soon fell into a steady rhythm. There’s the sailing steadily along the wide expanse of water, sitting on the sun deck literally watching the world go by, marvelling at the craggy outcrops of sandy dessert appearing over the green, lush riverside settlements. It’s a landscape which is calming in its minimalist monotony -  a sort of spot the difference in each slowly unravelling freeze frame; one donkey and man in field, two donkeys, two men toiling in field, one donkey alone. It certainly beats red lorry, yellow lorry for in transit entertainment.

There’s the children, wild and shouting, diving into the river showing off their acrobatic skills and waving excitedly at the passing trade of 202 white, square cruise ships that  ply their trade in this area.

As they play and their mothers wash clothes in the river and their fathers toil in the fields with donkey carts, it’s a juxtaposition of lifestyles which can feel uncomfortable at times. There are many sights which British visitors could find difficult – there’s the armed guards employed on every corner for the safety of visitors, the broken-down horses pulling western tourists in traps around Edfu and the sheer-grinding physical work of people of all ages toiling in this inhospitable climate attempting to turn small plots of desert land into bounty.

But there is also beauty and grandeur in this far-off land and anyone familiar with the film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile will not only enjoy the scenery but could also take the opportunity to relive the glamour of that era with a visit to the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan where she wrote the famous Poirot novel.

Among the many remarkable sights and sounds this trip afford, the highlight of the cruise has to be the the visits to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

Joyously colourful

Here the ancient tombs were built, cut into the mountainside with none of the external show of the Pyramids in order to avoid (mainly unsuccessfully) drawing the attention of grave robbers, but once inside, the beauty of the craftsmanship, the detailed planning and the remarkable symmetry and sheer joyous colourfulness of these storage spaces for the after-life will inspire even the most jaded traveller.

It’s hot, it’s dusty and there’s the usual gauntlet of street hawkers to get past, but this piece of wonder firmly places those issues into the pettiness of our modern day disposable society.

While we deciphered the messages in his tomb and later admired the mummy of the great Egyptian ruler, Ramses, at Luxor Museum it’s amazing to realise that he did succeed in the quest for immortality to a place where the worldy goods would also travel – it’s just that the Ancient Egyptians couldn’t possibly have counted on that journey being into a 21st century cruise ship itinerary.

* I travelled with African Safari Club which had just introduced flights from Manchester.
The cruise includes ten excursions but also offers others at an additional price including the Pyramids and a hot air balloon trip.
Cruises start from £399 per person.