A trip to visit Santa

Ever thought of taking the kids to visit Father Christmas at his home?? That's exactly what Kate Lavender did, and she kindly sent us this review of her trip. Happy Christmas!!

http://www.savalen.no/

We flew into Oslo and then rented a minibus as we were a party of eight and it made sense but you can take a bus or a train up to the resort. The flight is 2 hours but the transfer is 5 hours – which sounds long but the advantage is that even the most cynical child believes we have travelled far enough to find Santa.

The resort is delightfully simple. There is a variety of accommodation on offer – anything from hotel rooms to apartments of varying sizes – we stayed in one, which easily accommodated the eight of us. It was warm and comfortable without being over the top. Best of all it was on “ Santa Street” with his own house just down the road. The whole resort is quite compact so small children don’t find it exhausting to get around.

We went dogsledding. That was amazing – we helped get the very excited dogs into harnesses. The dogs are used to doing 6-day races covering 1000kms so this little 4k route was nothing for them – however they did have some fairly heavy people to pull! We ended up doing two laps, each having a go at driving, and it was brilliant – they could go at quite a speed and there were quite a few bumps, which left us all screaming with laughter.

One of the things the resort had was a sort of skate sledge so someone could sit on it, someone could stand behind holding onto the handle and skate the sledge along as needed. The boys loved that and always wanted to go “skating”!

You can do a skiing – there is a lovely nursery slope with a carpet lift and beginners mingles with sledgers quite happily. It is a great way for young children to get a taste of skiing, as it is all very low key and unpressurised unlike the Alps.

We also did a moonlit sleigh ride pulled by horses. It was really magical as we all snuggled under blankets and watched the stars as we glided across the snow. There were lots of stars too as there is of course no light pollution to get in the way. The horses were adorable with thick, curly coats – and so strong – there was no change of pace as they started to pull us up some pretty steep hills!

Then there was a trip to Santa’s house. It was amazing. We saw the toy-making machine where he takes wood from Christmas trees, turns that into toy dough, which in turn becomes toys that are painted and wrapped. Brilliant. He wrote your names in the good book and asked you what you wanted.

The resort had a lovely spa complex including a gorgeous pool – in the day time it looks over the lake (which was frozen) and at night they turn on “star effect” lights to create a very mellow atmosphere – there is even a pool bar.

The hotel is very nice and food is good. There are no real shops in resort so we bought supplies in the nearest town but you could have all your meals in the hotel and not bother.

Overall this was a fantastic way to see Santa and the boys (aged 5 and three quarters) enjoyed every single minute, as did we.

Highlights of Syria and the Lebanon, by Janet Syder

Fancy something a bit more exotic than a week in Majorca? Follow the advice of GTC customer Janet Syder, and take a trip to Syria and the Lebanon!


Baalbek, Lebanon. The most fantastic Roman ruin in the Middle East (my opinion!). Suggest you stay the night there in Baalbek. Treat yourself and stay at The Palmyra Hotel. Its wonderfully old world and you wouldn't believe who else had stayed in the hotel before you. If you can, stay in the new annex, just 30 meters down the road. The hotel is opposite the ruins and if you are lucky enough that the night you are there the lights are on the ruins (they have power cuts so lights are not always on) its just beautiful. The huge majority of tour groups visit the site as a day trip from Beirut, so the site gets busy from about 10.30am - 2.30pm then its lovely and quiet again and you can virtually have it to yourself until 5-6pm when it closes for the day.

Aleppo Citadel, Syria (below). I love Aleppo, its a wonderful city and the citadel is still so complete and to think its built on a natural hill is amazing. Stay in the Ramses Hotel, its within easy walking distance of the Citadel and over the road from the famous Baron Hotel (where you have to go for a sundowner). Suggest you eat at the Qasr Al Wali the food is unbelievably good, you will be truly wowed. From Aleppo visit the Dead City of Serjilla and St Simeons.

Palmyra, Syria. (3rd photo) Take a torch. Walk up the Arab Castle for sunrise over the site. The walk is not as far as it looks but the view is awesome. Suggest you eat in the Garden type restaurant opposite the Museum (can't remember what its called, but its outdoors). The staff are really, really helpful and can help with bus timetables etc. The food is what you would expect in Syria, fantastic, fresh and addictive. Loads to see in Palmyra, but would suggest all the obvious sites but also the Tomb of the Brothers as its so different from the other funerary temples.

Damascus, Syria. The photo below is of the Street Called Straight in Damascus. Its been a trading street since the Biblical times. Its bussling, you can buy anything and the atmosphere has to be soaked up, take your time. Make sure you have an ice cream from the famous ice cream shop in the covered part of the street (can't remember what its called, but its always stuffed full of people in the evenings, you can't miss it). Stay in the City Hotel, its a great location for the Museum which is an absolute must, it brings all the other sights in Syria to life as it has most of their best finds. Try to go in the afternoon as most tour groups tend to go in the morning. The City Hotel is also a fantastic location for the Tourist Souq. I think the Tourist Souq actually has the best range of jewellery, scarves and handicrafts if you are buying gifts and the prices are excellent too. Its well worth a look even if you arent buying. The silver prices are honest as they weigh everything (to be honest, we never felt like we were being ripped off with prices even in the main souq). Eat in the Jabri House restaurant. Again, fantastic food, the best mezze, fresh, plentiful and really tasty.

Joy and Joff cycling the Americas

Remember Joy and Joff, the lovely couple who are cycling the Americas in aid of a charity supporting those with Duchennes syndrome? Well, here is their latest update! Happy Christmas to both of them from everyone here at GTC :O)

This is to let you know that it is now 7 months since we left home, and whilst we have not cycled 7000 miles yet, we thought we should remind you of our progress.....So: we have cycled 6601 miles and some of the significant numbers in the last month are listed below:-

430 miles sailed across the Sea of Cortez85 degree water temp!
55 foot sailing boat called Sea Dream has become the next mode of travel!
48 hrs of food poisoning.
41 children in the orphanage we have been helping at.
39 miniature T shirts ironed by Joff at the Orphanage in 2 hrs.
36 hrs of feeling sea sick.
17 nights spent in the same bed.
14 Dolphins swam on the bow of the yacht for 30 mins.Wow!
12am - The start of Joff's night watch!
9 Spanish lessons.... 'sin embargo, nosotros hablamos un poco Espanol.....'
7 hrs time difference with the UK.
4 foot waves have been fantastic for boogie boarding!
32 inch long bright orange and green Iguana seen on the footpath in 'the village'
1 scorpion seen at close quarters.....
100's seen squashed on the road!....and 100's of tarantulas on the road - also squashed.

and still NO punctures!

Photos of all our experiences can be seen at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/cycletheamericas/
and our lastest stories at :http://www.cycletheamericas.org/blog/?page_id=230
enjoy the run up to Christmas....much love
JOY and JOFF