Aiming to visit a country such as Cuba and make it to a cigar factory in Havana, is not perhaps up there witth thrill seeking and adrenaline rushing travel. In terms of a cultural experience and holiday or vacation to remember though, heading to Cuba is a wonderful option.

There are still certain restrictions and the best way can often be to head to Cuba as part of a package tour. I asm not a

Cuba and Havana travel

great fan of package tours but at the time of writing, and being based in England, by far the easiest way to visit Cuba is with a company such as First Choice Holidays or Virgin Holidays.

As well as a tour of a cigar factory, there are some quite stunning beaches, excellent Cuban food and some very vibrant and catchy music, including Jazz Cubano. You can learn more about Traveling to Cuba

In tough economic times and in the heart of winter, a few hours or even a long weekends holiday mixed with a few days of sauna and massage is a great travel idea. There are many excellent spa facilities  worldwide and in a city such as Amsterdam, Holland the saunas in their own rights can often be very classy.

One of my favourite’s in Amsterdam is Art Deco sauna based near to the city centre and located specificaly at Herengracht 115. A great way to combine a relaxation or wellness trip is to:

• Do some tours in the daytime. Visit the Amstel museum or one of the excellent museums.
• Enjoy 2 or 3 hours in a venue such as Art Deco sauna in Amsterdam.
• Then head to one of the excellent bars ot restuarants locally.

Saunas in Amsterdam.

In a venue such as Art decon sauna you can also combine a massage or floatation tank session. Relaxation is number 11 for 1000 travel ideas!

NYC is a very popular place and it deserves a place in this top 1000 Travel Ideas. NYC is a wonderful place any time of year but in winter time and specifically at Christmas time there is a wonderful atmosphere in this city.

It is cold in NYC December time but ice-skating at the Rockafella Center or in Central Park add to the possibities and what a place to shop for Xmas presents? Some ideas for places to shop include:

• Macy’s
• Bronx Market
• The Strand Bookshop
• J&R Music
• The length of Broadway has literally undreds of shops. Just walk up and down Broadway.

 If you have never been to NYC – why not? If you do go to NYC accommodation in NYC

NYC Cafes

If you are anything like me and love Sport and Travel then why not combine the two? A few years my wife and I went to Euro 2004 for the European Football Championships (soccer for any American readers) and although my wife had no interest in the football, she jumped at the chance of going to Lisbon, Portugal.

If you can organise for friends also to go, then any people who want to travel to the interesting locations where sport may take you, do not necessarily have to go to the sport.

It depends a lot of course on what country you are from and what sports you are more likely to be interested in but events such as the football World Cup (there is only one as American Football is only played in the States), the Olympics and sports such as cricket make for great holidays abroad.

2012 World Cup

If you are interested in driving and want to do something unusual and visit quite very interesting towns and cities over the course of a 1 to 2 weeks, then driving the famous Route 66 in the U.S. is one holiday which can be a whole load of fun.

Route 66 has become famous worldwide and the whole route goes from Chicago, illinois (near the Great lakes, and towards the East of the U.S.) to Santa Monica, California (on the West coast). Route 66 has been depicted in many movies and its popularity in the 30s was with migrants using the road to go West.

The road is a drive of roughly 2,500 miles (about 4000Km) and goes the states:

• Oaklahoma
• Kansas
• Missouri
• Illinois
• California
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Texas.

The road as such does not exist on many new maps because a new road system was introduced. There has been a revival though of Route 66, a road included in one of John Steinbeck’s books. Route 66 is an amazing
experience because of the such different towns and cities it takes you through and riving from Illinois, heading to California on the mother of all road trips is exciting.

For accommodation if you just want familiarity you could try somewhere such as Days Inn and for car you can always do a car delivery so you only pay gasoline (petrol).

Tickets are still available for the 2008 festival and the weather is predicted to be settled. Taking place on the 27 -29th June 2008 and an annual event, Glastonbury is one of the largest Music Festivals in the world. With roughly 150,000 each year and hundreds of performers, this years line up is scheduled to include:

• Editors
• Kate Nash
• Amy Winehouse
• Manu Chao
• Leonard Cohen
• Neil Diamond
• The Hoosiers
• Pete Doherty
• Dizzee Rascal

The line-up is huge and in addition to musicians, there are the other tents including the comedy tent, circus tent and theatre tent. If you have never been to a Glastonbury Music Festival in the past this year is your chance, with tickets still surprisingly available.

Tickets are not cheap but at £155 for 3 days entertainment where you can see dozens of fanmouse musicians, you cannot go wrong. If I myself had not already accidently already booked that weekend for a trip to France, I’d be going to Glastonbury again this year.

View photos of Glastonbury Music Festival.

Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea is the location of the annual Mud Festival and it is one of the more unusual weekends I have spent travelling, yet one I recommend. Daecheon beach area in Boryeong in South Korea is the location for this event and the mud in thsi area is said to have a healing effect.

This festival has been going on since 1998 and now it is an annual event which attracts as many foreigners as it does Koreans. Many of the foreigners you will see are normally Western teachers and people who decide to join in can enjoy a bit of mud wrestling, shopping for mud products (including mnud soap), mud massages, walking in the shallow sea waters or eating in one of the local restaurants.

This is a fairly small event on a world wide schedule but one worth popping down to visitif you are already in South Korea on business, workign or travelling in. Photos of the Boryeong Mud Festival can be seen online. You can also learn more about Festivals in South Korea here.

Combining a love of chocolate and travel can be a great way to spend a holiday or vacation and so our 5th travel idea from 1000 is to attend a Chocolate Tour trip. Many people love to visit NYC and the NYC Chocolate Tour group are one such tour who organise a trip around some of the finest chocolate shops in Manhatten, in addition to chocolate tasting and making locations.

There are also a number of chocolate making workshops and many excellent ones, especially in countries including Switzerland, Belgium and in the UK. Sites such as Chocolate Cioccolata list a number of Chocolate tours and trip syou might want to consider.

Some of the most popular Chocolate holidays tend in fact to be to Chocoate factories and these include Hersheys in the USA and Cadburys in England.

If you really want to try something different then why not consider a trip to the jungle. A holiday or vacation in the jungle’s of Borneo or in part of South America can certainly be a fun and thrilling way to take a break with a difference.

There are quite a fee companies who specialise in Jungle holidays  and many of these trips are group orientated and with a guide, so you will also meet some interesting peope and get to experience the jungle. You might be better off

Jungle holidays

going on an organised trip into the jungle for safety reasons.

A similar type trip you might be interested in are trips to the rainforest to explore a different and thrilling vacation. There is always the idea that such trips are part of sustainable tourism but trips to the jungle perhaps open the way for mass tourism so it is for you to decide if the jungle is your cup of tea.

It might seem like an unlikely possibility but it very possible to ski down the active Etna Volcano in Sicily, Italy. Between the months of February and April each year, depending on how the winter has gone, you can ski down the side of the Etna Volcano which has ski lifts and runs set up for this very purpose. The lifts have been damaged a few times in the last few years with the lava damaging part of the ski lifts, in summer eruptions, but the lifts are always repaired and at the time of writing, skiing is possible.

 When you ski down the Etna the v

Skiing down the Etna in Sicily

iew is amazing because you can see the coastline on a clear day, as you ski down the Etna. The skiing is limited in terms of number of runs and the skiing does not compare to skiing in a proper ski resort but this is a good experience. If you combine this with a trip to one of the Aelion Islands (such as Vulcano or Stromboli) you can have a fantastic trip in Sicily skiing. The North slope skiing goes from 1800 to 2300m whilst the South slope is slightly higher. You can get lessons and rent ski equipment at the slopes.

There are ski lifts on both slopes, with the northern one ascending from 1800-2300 metres and the southern one from 1900-2600 metres. There are also hotels and ample facilities on both sides, including instruction and rentals.

You can contact the Etna Tourism board directly via apt@apt.catania.it whilst you can find out about Flights to Sicily here.