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Central Florida Wedding Locations 6288 INDIAN MEADOW, ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USA
Phone: 407-876-6433 . . . Fax:  407-876-6007 revtim2@worldnet.att.net

CRUISE SPECIALISTS : Exotic Wedding Cruise Packages, Honeymoon Cruises, Theme Cruises, All areas of the world, Large groups catered for. Ring Patrick or Rosemarie for free quotation. 87 Whittington Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB4 0AE Tel: 020 8561 5597 Fax 020 8561 1252 patrickperkins@ahoy3.fsnet.co.uk (11/01)

Scottish Venues: 
Culloden house  Elegant 18th century country house set in 40 acres of  sweeping lawn and parkland.  Inverness.   info@cullodenhouse.co.uk

Taychreggan Hotel  Uniquely romantic 350 year old drover’s inn.  Set in 40 acres on the shores of Loch Awe and surrounded by breathtaking views of Argyll’s mountains and forest.  info@taychregganhotel.co.uk

English Venues:  Avon & Bristol
Hunstrete House Elegant Georgian country house, award winning dining,
 gardens, 90 acres of rolling hills and parkland near Bath and Bristol. info@hunstretehouse.co.uk

Romantic Places 100 Romantic small hotels, inns and places in the world chosen by travel writers

FINANCE (MORTGAGES & LOANS) MortgageCentral 'for the very best mortgages, loans and conveyancing - broker the current best deals FREE ! - online application service.' 39 Iain Road, Bearsden, Glasgow, G61 4PA Tel: 0141 560 4181 Fax: 0141 560 4181 Mobile: 0781 221 0767 mortgagecentral@ntlworld.com

"Travel related websites" by Lynn Temple http://www.linksitetravel.com
The candlestick maker is already extinct. The butcher and the baker heading that way. The travel agent may be next for the chop.  Booking travel online is becoming easier daily as airlines, hotel chains and tour operators gradually adapt to the new selling medium. I have covered sites in this article where online booking is a feature. Many travel sites offer online brochures, but still require a phone call or visit to the travel agent when it comes to booking.

Air Travel
Many airlines offer online booking facilities. These include Virgin http://www.virgin-atlantic.com, TWA http://www.twa.com, United Airlines http://www.ual.com, Delta http://www.delta-air.com and Continental http://www.continental.com for transatlantic flights. But better deals can be found by going to online flight shops such as ebookers http://www.ebookers.com, deckchair http://www.deckchair.com, Cheapflights http://www.cheapflights.co.uk and Airtickets Direct http://www.airtickets.co.uk.

These all cover the major airlines. For budget European flights, Go http://www.go-fly.com, Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com, Easyjet http://www.easyjet.co.uk and Buzz http://www.buzzaway.com. All offer good deals and cover an ever-expanding range of destinations.

Hotels
There are many web-based hotel-booking agents. The France Hotel Guide http://www.globe-market.com is an excellent site for French hotels. It is easy to use and offers a wide variety of hotels in all categories throughout France. Hotel Denmark http://www.hotel-denmark.com is another good site with links to hotels in other Scandinavian countries.  In both these cases reservations were confirmed within 12 hours. The British Hotel Reservation Centre http://www.bhrc.co.uk has many London hotels on its site but none in the rest of the UK despite claims to the contrary.  Online companies such as Hotel Hotel http://www.hotelhotel.co.uk and 123 Go http://www.123-go.org have online enquiry forms: submit the city you wish to stay in and they will respond with suitable hotels. Room Service http://www.room-service.co.uk has small, family run hotels in Western Europe.

Hotel Chains have adapted enthusiastically to the web. The Hilton http://www.hilton.com chain has special offers online and will email value rates every week on request. Sheraton http://www.sheraton.com for worldwide reservations and Travelodge http://www.travelodge.co.uk for the UK are two more of the many chains offering online booking. Worth a mention also is Intercontinental http://www.interconti.com which has good weekend offers in luxury hotels, such as the Carlton in Cannes.

Rail Travel
What do Richard Branson and my 21 year old son have in common? Neither of them likes Sunday mornings. While trying to book a ticket on Virgin trains http://www.virgintrains.co.uk for a Sunday morning journey from Lancaster to London I discovered that the first train of the day is at 15.05. Sunday daytrips to the capital from the North are ruled out! I booked a ticket through thetrainline.com  http: file://www.thetrainline.com - you can also find out times and reserve seats for any train operator in the UK mainland.  It is easy to use and the tickets arrived the next day. For rail travel in the UK this site is all you need as few individual operating companies have online booking facilities, or if they do, it is usually via the trainline.com. Eurostar http://www.eurostar.com can be booked online but requires registration.European rail companies have yet to offer online booking for UK residents but sites such as European Rail http://www.europeanrail.com and Eurorail  http://www.eurorail.com are useful for timetables and fares.

Last Minute
Many hotel chains offer good deals if you can travel at short notice. LateRooms  http://www.laterooms.com has good package deals as well as UK hotel rooms for the following week. It is possible to register for a regular newsletter giving bargains.  Their  'Holiday Helper' will find you the ideal break once you have submitted your requirements.  Global hotel rooms are soon to be added to the site. Open World http://www.openworld.co.uk is a worldwide luxury hotel search engine offering good deals.  Webflyer.com http://www.webflyer.com is a roundup of last minute deals, supposedly to save the trouble of scrolling through them all.  At the moment, however, it is limited to a small number of hotel chains .QXL http://www.qxl.com operates an online auction system for last minute holidays and flights if you are prepared to undergo the tedium of bidding.  Lastminute.com http://www.lastminute.com has numerous offers throughout the world.

Destination Guides
Many well-known travel guides have a web presence although the information they provide is sometimes limited compared to the original books. This is true for example in the case of Rough Guides http://www.roughguides.co.uk and Timeout http://www.timeout.com. Fodor's http://www.fodors.com covers numerous destinations in detail and also provides an online talking phrasebook in German, Spanish, Italian and French. Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.co.uk offers downloadable city guides, although this service is limited at the moment.  The Association Of National Tourism http://www.antor.com has links to UK representatives of Tourist offices worldwide. These sites offer much information about the countries and UK tour operators operating there. This site also links to some tourist boards.

Self Catering
European self-catering is not easy to book online although many companies accept email reservations. There are, however a number of UK companies who offer online booking facilities. Cumbrian Cottages http://www.cumbrian-cottages.co.uk, Lakelovers http://www.lakelovers.co.uk and Red Rose Cottages http://www.redrosecottages.co.uk cover the North West.
In Scotland, Discover Scotland  http://www.discoverscotland.net and Houses in Scotland http://www.scothols.co.uk offer possibilities.
In Wales, Wales Cottage Holidays http://www.wales-holidays.co.uk have many properties on offer. Town and Country Cottages http://www.ukcottages.co.uk covers Somerset, the Cotswolds the Wye Valley and Herefordshire and Recommended Cottages http://www.recommended-cottages.co.uk cover the whole UK. Those in search of something a little different might like to try Footprint Adventures http://www.footprint-adventures.co.uk, which offers Wildlife holidays worldwide. This is a good, informative site. Travelbag Adventures http://www.travelbag-adventures.co.uk specialises in small group holidays off the beaten track. The Ecodive site http://www.diveguideint.com/ecodive provides an international diving guide with links to tour operators.
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Lynn Temple worked for many years in Music Education until she discovered the web! She now works with her husband Peter a financial writer and web guru. Together they form Peter Temple Associates. They both enjoy travelling.  All the sites mentioned here can be reached at http://www.linksitetravel.com Lynn can be contacted at lynn@ptassoc.u-net.com.
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Related http://www.Free Pint.co.uk/ "Travel and Tourism Resources on the Web" article in Free Pint No.19 http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/230799.htm

Passport Information
If you haven't got your passport sorted yet, get onto this gov.UK site.

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Timeless Weddings Company  - It's all about putting you in touch with the Timeless romance of Africa...there are so many individuals that dream of the perfect wedding or honeymoon in an exotic location. Tel: +44(0)1962 795153. E-mail: Karen@timelessweddingscompany.com

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