Tropical Sky’s Commercial Director Steve Garley is a regular visitor to Tobago and rates Coco Reef as the Caribbean island’s finest luxury hotel. He asks, what exactly is it that makes the resort so special?

Is it its superb location - close to the airport but far enough away so that there is no noise nuisance? The journey can even be made in the resort’s white Rolls Royce. On arrival, when you walk through the reception you see the most splendid sandy beach with a man-made reef to protect it and provide a home to a host of fish that even the most amateur snorkeller cannot miss.
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Tropical Sky have just been informed that XL Airways will stop flying to the Caribbean from early November, 2008. They currently fly from London Gatwick to St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, Tobago and St Kitts and have been an important source of well-priced seats for Tropical Sky and other operators for some time.

It was already known that the Barbados and St Lucia routes would have their last departures on November 4 but the announcement that the other routes would also stop was a bolt out of the blue and hoteliers, tourist boards and tour operators alike have all been taken by surprise.
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Writer, presenter, performer, comedian and self-confessed ‘chubby glamourpuss’ Amy Lamé recently recounted in the Times Online her experience of fulfilling a lifelong dream to observe the magnificent polar bear in its natural habitat.

Amy flew out with our sister company Canadian Sky to the wilds of northern Manitoba in central Canada to embark on a great polar bear adventure. Polar bears are best viewed in the months of October and November during their migration period.
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A new eco resort lies off the coast of Borneo on Gaya Island – just 15 minutes by speedboat from the well-known destination of Kota Kinabalu. We were there for Gayana Eco Resort’s initial ‘soft’ opening before it was launched to the public in earnest.

We asked how many guests were there with us. “Just you and the Queen of Malaysia,” came the reply, “but unfortunately she cancelled this morning- so it is just you.” We had the complete resort to ourselves and it was looking spic and span, just for us, or perhaps for the Queen.
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After countless trips to Bangkok and the Thai Islands, I fancied visiting somewhere in South East Asia that was a little less explored and a little more unusual, so I hot-footed it over to Saigon, in Vietnam.

Officially known as Ho Chi Minh City, this is the bustling principal business city of Vietnam, home to several million motorcycles and few rules of traffic engagement which makes for interesting driving conditions! Luckily I planned to do my exploring on foot! I stayed at the four-star Duxton Hotel for three nights and it was the perfect base to explore Saigon. The front desk was so helpful giving me maps, tips about crossing the road and what street food to eat – which in my opinion was all of it!
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