America

You've probably got a mental picture of California. Maybe it's rows of palm trees against a perfect, azure sky. Maybe it's the Hollywood sign, Mullholland Drive twisting into the night above a million twinkling lights, the mansions of Beverly Hills. Maybe it's the Golden Gate Bridge, the precipitous streets of San Francisco, the vast, glittering Pacific Ocean. These things are all California icons, and you should definitely go and see them, but there's a lot more in between that you miss while cruising at 35,000 feet. California is huge and varied: dramatic mountains, sun-baked vineyards, blissful beaches. To really get to know the Golden State, you need to be in a car. Forget internal flights with their dull check-ins and romance-free shuttle buses, and get behind the wheel. Here are three great road trips that we suggest.

Despite being in the Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona is far from barren. It’s home to around 5 million cacti, and while you’ll want to avoid the fuzzy jumping cholla, which attaches itself to you at the slightest touch, the majestic saguaros can grow up to 40ft and live for 250 years.  Join a sunrise hike up Camelback Mountain outside Scottsdale, which takes about three hours. As well as taking in the incredible vistas at the 2,700ft-high summit, there’s an almost needle-less saguaro you can hug on your way down.

As the leaves start to fall in New England, there’s no better time to visit the region’s largest city, which effortlessly combines a rich historical heritage with a forward-thinking spirit.  Boston has a long history of luring European travellers to the East Coast, and today one of America’s oldest cities remains one of the most rewarding urban destinations in the USA. Home to the most robust academic heritage in the country, Boston has always been an innovator, with gloriously forward-thinking culinary and cultural scene.

San Francisco is a city with an abundance of historic charms. The Golden Gate Bridge, steep streets lined with colourful Victorian-era homes and the city’s iconic cable cars are a powerful reminder that you’re in one of the most culturally important cities in the USA.

Foodie focus

In addition to this city’s rich heritage, the Northern Californian metropolis continues to innovate and inspire, with a pioneering farm-to-table restaurant scene, legendary covered food market and all-compassing eco vibe.

Offering golden-age glamour next to golden sands, vibrant culture and cuisine, all overlooked by dramatic canyons, Los Angeles has no shortage of oft-filmed assets to recommend it. But there’s one in particular that always gives it an edge over anywhere. Los Angeles offers a rich melting pot of cultures bubbling up with surprises, the cosy climate also makes the region’s golden beaches, breathtaking hills and sumptuous surf seriously tempting. Can you take it all in during one short break? You better believe it...

New England looms large in the imagination of many travellers to America’s east coast. It bringing to mind pristine Ivy League college towns, the preppy sailing clubs of fashion photo shoots, shucked oysters from quaint shacks, awe-inspiring mountains and auburn-hued forest. Yet it’s possible to combine all the majesty of the mountains and idyllic beaches with breaks to two of America’s most captivating cities: New York and Boston.  Why settle for one city, when you can see New York and Boston in one visit?

Your first destination has to be the state road 741, where you’ll wind through Floridian fields and forests to the eerie beauty of Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve. You can get some surreal snaps here, then head back north to the sunny city of Stuart to capture the nearby woodland at sunset. And don’t miss out on the brilliant blue water of The Florida Keys while you’re in town – an amazing sight to behold, dotted with small islands and bursting with marine life.

Sliced bread. The electric guitar. Non-iron shirts. History is littered with examples of well established ideas that, at a stroke, were tweaked and elevated to a higher plane even when it didn’t seem necessary. The Californian road trip is already iconic. Its promise of louche adventure and itinerant escapism on vanishing point highways and winding coastal routes has long since been immortalised in popular culture and is as quintessentially American as the stars and stripes.

Tired of going to same place each and every Christmas?  Well we have found five destinations that you might like and enjoy. Whether you want to be in Europe, the States or down South, one of these will fit  your budget.  You can sleep in a hotel with a difference with the opportunity to see the Northern Lights or join an expedition down in Antarctica to learn more about penguin and do some Whale watching.

A visit to New York doesn't have to be a long one.  A weekend break to the Big Apple is feasible and good way of exploring it bite size chunks.  So, armed with your to-do list: perhaps with activities like to eat a pretzel in Central Park, wander the art-lined walls of the Metropolitan Museum, stroll wide-eyed along Broadway, catch a world-class show, shop the big brands of Fifth Avenue and the vintage boutiques of Williams-burg and go up a very high building.