Travel consultancy

Jordan - Wide expanses of Wadi Rum, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

In the meantime, our friends Jon and Peter turned up for coffee and cakes this afternoon, with Peter asking for suggestions about here they might go on holiday in the coming weeks, to get both good weather and interesting sites.

We looked at Zanzibar, Sicily and Jordan.

We were in Zanzibar in mid-November last year, just catching the start of the south-eastern African rainy season, where we experienced two or three enormous downpours between the warm sunshine... a great combination with a three or four day safari up country in Tanzania.

Sicily has tremendous culture and can expect to be reasonably warm at this time of year, although now it seems to be experiencing along with much of the rest of Europe, very warm weather for the time of year. I'd recommend Palermo and Siracusa.

Finally, Jordan offers the beach life in Aqaba, desert life in Wadi Rum and the spectacle that is Petra.

I'd have liked to have ben able to suggest Marrakech and offer Fiona's riad for a week, but she is there right now, in the process of selling it. A pity, seeing as it was such a lovely place, but better to have your money where you need it.

And, in the meantime, I am wondering if there is money to be made in organising budget itineraries for far off places for other people.