Mendoza - The vineyard of Argentina

Mendoza is the perfect holiday destination with plenty of cheap shopping deals, a great nightlife and some top class restaurants and cafes. Oh and it just happens to be the world renown capital of Argentina’s wine industry. Here you can cuddle up with a vintage or taste the latest gold medal winning wines, and all at ridiculously cheap prices. Most of the restaurants and cafes will serve the best the local region has to offer and you will find yourself making as much room in you suitcase as possible for more bottles to take for the trip home. While you are here you can’t just stop at one or two Vineyard tours, and should instead go on a “Vineyard crawl” and drench yourself in the wine industry (and its tasty products!). The city itself is full of beautiful Plazas and parks which is surprising since the city is also in a desert region. But the city and outlying vineyards have a huge artificial irrigation system which you can see running down the path and roadsides. Also as a final note, if you aim to arrive in February you are likely to time your trip with the Harvest Festival which is great excuse to enjoy even more of the beautiful wine!

Utila - Island Magic

Diving, diving, and more diving. If this sounds like a dream situation to you, then you have to come to the little island of Utila just off Honduras. Every diving enthusiast I know raves on about this place, and rightly so. The island is a small and isolated place in the Bay Islands and everything to do with the island is very cheap. As a side effect of this, it has the cheapest rates for diver certification in the Caribbean. And why is the diving so good there? Well, how many other places do you get the chance to see a Whale Shark on regular occasions? Also the corals are rich with life and the coasts are beautiful and sparsely populated. There isn’t much choice on the island for different activities or places to go, but what is there is a treat. Bando Beach is the main beach, and if you get tired of the water you can always visit the Iguana Research Centre and learn more about this amazing reptile. There is a huge selection of cheap delicious seafood, and accommodation is cheap. About the only thing that will burn a hole in your pocket is using technology like the internet or making an international phone. The prices for these can be extortionate!