You could take a cruise, but those can work out to be very expensive and many people just don’t like sailing. An alternative is to take a road trip.

People generally associate ‘road trips’ with American teenagers taking a car filled with beer to some place and having a roaring old time. Not so. Well, not always. Road trips can be so much more than that and there are several celebrated routes worldwide that you can choose to follow, or make up your own with a map of your chosen country.

A road trip offers you ultimate freedom. If you want, then book a flight to one city and a flight back from another city at the other end of the country you’ve chosen. Make sure the time in between is long enough for you to drive from one airport to the other with lots and lots of time to wander off, stay longer in some places than others, and generally make up your own schedule.

The most famous road trip route is undoubtedly along Route 66 in America. The actual Route 66 no longer exists on many maps but is still there and there are plenty of pit stops, villages and towns along the way to stop in at. It’s long and straight and starts in Chicago and ends in California. It’s not much in terms of variety, but the endless road with the dusty surroundings and hilly horizon are beautiful (at least for the first 200 miles…!).

A less celebrated but no less fantastic American road trip is along the Pacific Coast Highway, that runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

If you want something a little more varied, then head out along the Causeway Coast in County Antrim (Northern Ireland) where the route winds along the coast from Larne to Dunlace Castle. There are plenty of traditional Irish villages to stop at and of course the main attraction has to be the Giant’s Causeway itself.

Next week we’ll look at some other famous road trip routes for you to try.

But all of this is what makes it an interesting country to visit – one with a culture vastly different from our own. If you’re going to visit South Africa, then make sure you visit Cape Town, where the juxtaposition between rich and poor is most obvious and extreme.

Here you can see slums – shacks where the underclass live, scraping a living by sorting through rubbish heaps for scraps to eat or sell, and where crime is rife. But you can also find high-class hotels and fine dining experiences that tourists and wealthy residents alike enjoy. It is this fine dining that is fuelling a growing equality in the city, since you don’t need education or wealth to be able to make a career in the food industry.

Whilst in Cape Town, a trip to Robben Island is highly recommended – it is a small island that was once home to the prison where Nelson Mandela resided for 19 years and is now a museum where you can see photographs that accurately depict the island’s history as a prison. You can walk along the prison corridors and look at the prison cells, largely untouched since the prison was closed. You can read the sad, desperate messages scrawled on the walls by prisoners of the past. Like the rest of South Africa, the prison was once divided according to race (‘white’ ‘black’ and ‘coloured’).

Away from the island and back on land, you can enjoy Cape Town’s markets, which sell local crafts, local spices and locally-produced foods, or travel a little out of town to some of the world’s finest vineyards.

South Africa is a land of contrasts and is well worth a visit to experience this first-hand.

Whilst that may well be true, there are certain risks that naturally occur when you visit an unfamiliar place, particularly if it has a very different climate or culture to that at home.

Furthermore, whilst in the UK we have stringent health and safety regulations that all companies (such as hotels and tourist attractions) must follow the same cannot always be said of hotels abroad.

Natural risks vary depending on where you’re travelling. If you’re going to a hot country then you’ll need to be mindful of taking measures to avoid things like sunburn, sunstroke and prickly heat. Then there are the multitude of bugs that tend to bite in hot weather – make sure you are properly vaccinated for the country you are visiting (see your GP several weeks in advance as some vaccines must be taken over a long period of time) and take plenty of repellent with you.

If you are planning on doing some hiking in the mountains, or are visiting a country that lies at high altitude, then be aware of the nature of, and treatment for, altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can easily ruin your holiday – the thinner air makes you more tired and you may feel nauseous. Taking steps to prepare yourself for the higher altitude at least six weeks before you travel is essential. If you are going to be at very high altitude (above 8,000ft) then beware of the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness – this can be fatal if not treated, and symptoms include nausea, headaches, dizziness and personality changes.

If you are planning to visit a very cold climate then there is the risk of hypothermia. Taking and wearing appropriate clothing will obviously negate that risk.

Less ‘natural’ risks posed by a holiday abroad may come from your hotel or places you visit. There may be trip or slip hazards that are not flagged up with warning signs or roped off to prevent access. In the UK we have become rather accustomed to seeing such warning signs and have perhaps stopped looking for obvious hazards for ourselves, becoming a bit reliant on companies bringing them to our attention.

Switch your hazard-radar back on and look out for things that you might fall over. And take care if you choose the buffet… all manner of tummy bugs have been born in all-you-can-eat buffet trolleys. You may be safer eating somewhere locally that prepares its food fresh

Ontario is located in eastern Canada, just above Niagara Falls in the US. It is more than a million square kilometres in area, which is pretty huge, and as with most of Canada the scenery and sheer size of the province combined with the relatively sparse number of inhabitants (12 million in all – consider that the UK has 60 million inhabitants in a country a fraction of the size and you will get an idea of the immensity of the province) makes for an awe-inspiring visit.

Most of the population lives in the south of the province in the cities like Ontario. The rest live in the wilderness of the province in rural villages or in isolated homes.
The landscape of the province is very green, with plenty of orchards, vineyards, forests and lakes. It’s a great place to visit to experience the great outdoors, or to experience great entertainment, museums, art galleries and theatres in the big cities like Toronto. Toronto is actually the province’s capital city.

If you’re visiting Ontario, you’ll want to visit Niagara Falls, which are located on the Niagara River between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and sit on the border between Canada and the US. You’ll also probably want to see the CN Tower in Toronto as it’s one of Canada’s more famous landmarks and is the world’s tallest free-standing tower.

If you’re visiting with a young family, be sure to see the Toronto Zoo, and the Ontario Science Centre, plus make sure you visit the theme park, Canada’s Wonderland.
This part of Canada speaks mainly English, though French is commonly spoken too.

Visit Ontario at any time of the year – for example, in
Spring you can go hiking; in Summer you can visit the beaches; in the Autumn you can visit the vineyards; in Winter there are plenty of snow-related activities to enjoy!

However, it was actually so named by a Scottish nobleman called Sir William Alexander, to whom King James granted the land in the 17th Century – Sir William thought that the green hills and icy seas were reminiscent of his native Scotland and named it accordingly.

It is a beautiful part of Canada, with nearly five thousand miles of coastline to explore including the province’s capital, Halifax or Peggy’s Cove, an utterly charming fishing village. As with other areas of Canada, parts of Nova Scotia are protected by UNESCO’s World Heritage Site status.

As you might expect from an area surrounded by the sea, the main thing on the menu in any Nova Scotian restaurant is fish or seafood and if you visit you really have to try their renowned Digby scallops or lobster.

If you visit, you’ll want to explore the countryside and get plenty of that fresh air, whether you’re out exploring the coastline and looking at lighthouses or visiting fishing villages, or hiking along Cape Breton Island’s national park. If you visit Cape Breton, take advantage of one of the kayaking trips available to get close to the whales – it’s an amazing experience.

Or head out to Halifax for all the things you would normally want to do in a city for amazing food and entertainment. Whilst in Halifax, head out to the harbour and visit the McNabs Island – a small expanse of forest to hike around or explore by small boat. You can even camp out there if you want to experience camping in the wilderness that’s not actually too far from civilisation!

Most of the action and organised activities take place in and around Halifax but there are plenty of places to explore and enjoy throughout the rest of the province.

The weather in this part of Canada is cold but highly changeable so pack and wear lots of layers (and an umbrella).

Cruises can be done on a budget, through a low-cost cruise line, but most cruises are rather expensive. But however much you’ve paid for the cruise, costs on board can go through the roof if you’re not careful.

You may have booked an all-inclusive holiday, in which case you shouldn’t need to worry about what you do during your trip since it will already have been paid for. Your meals and drinks on board will have been paid for in advance, as will any particular excursions you have opted to take before setting sail.

However, there may be additional costs – such as extra excursions you really want to go on once you’ve heard the spiel by the on board expert or concierge, or meals and drinks on shore, or optional extras like visiting the spa on the ship. You’ll also find it hard to resist buying souvenirs or trying local specialties from markets and towns you might visit during excursions onto land. Cruise lines have lowered their costs in the hope of attracting more customers, but many things that would once have been included as ‘standard’ in an all-inclusive deal are now ‘optional extras’ to be paid for on top of the basic price of the cruise.

Whilst it would be a shame to miss out on these experiences, you also don’t want to return from an already-expensive holiday to find a very depleted bank account or enormous credit card bill waiting for you.
So how do you keep your costs down but still enjoy your holiday?

Do your research beforehand – exactly what is the cruise line offering as standard within the price and what will cost extra? Bizarrely, many cruise line all-inclusive deals will include alcoholic drinks but you’ll have to pay for soft drinks. Beware other things on board like arcades where any children in your party will want to spend hours (and pounds) playing games.

With that information in mind, set a reasonable budget (perhaps have two amounts in mind – what you would be happy to pay, and what you could afford if you really want to spoil yourselves) and stick to it on board. Avoid putting things on your credit card and pay in cash for anything over and above what you have within the all-inclusive deal.

Newfoundland and Labrador make up one province but are really two separate entities: Newfoundland is an island and is where the provincial capital of St John’s lies, whilst Labrador is basically largely uninhabited wilderness to the north.
Most of the population of this province live in towns around the outside edge of Newfoundland: the middle of the island is mostly peaty forest areas dotted with lakes.
Much of Canada is wild and uninhabited or spacious and vast, but Newfoundland and Labrador province really is known as ‘The Edge of the Earth’. So why would you want to visit?

Well, for one thing there’s an awful lot of history here. Back in the 1100s Beothuck Indians were resident here and you can still find signs of their inhabitation; a little later on, Basque settlers lived here in the 1500s making lamp oil out of whale blubber and again there is no shortage of information about that period in any of the local museums. To get a real feel for the remote history of the province, you could visit L’Anse aux Meadows, which was once home to Eric the Red and Vikings back in 998AD – it’s protected as a UNESCO heritage site (which it has in common with a great deal of Canada).

Or you can enjoy the coastline, watching sea birds and sea life including whales, or exploring coves and historic fishing villages. Humpback whales are plentiful in these waters and there are enormous bird colonies to watch.
If you decide to visit Newfoundland and Labrador, then here are some places you don’t want to miss:

1. St. John’s and Signal Hill
The provincial capital, which spans from the harbour up to Signal Hill, filled with quaint wooden houses. It’s known as the ‘Gateway to Canada’ as it’s the starting point of the Trans-Canadian Highway.

2. Corner Brook
This is a mountain on the west coast which offers spectacular views and nearby the area’s pulp and paper industry is thriving. Nearby, Marble Mountain is a downhill ski resort that offers skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and an annual Winter Carnival. People travel from all over to see the autumn foliage in this area. In summer, there are plenty of water sports to attract visitors, including kayaking and salmon fishing.

3. Stephenville
This town, on the west coast of Newfoundland, is great for cycling (along its abandoned train routes) and walking along the Caribou and Appalachian Trails through the Long Range Mountains.

In Manitoba you can enjoy a walk along huge beaches with soft, white sand and very few other people, or go rambling through fields and boreal forests (including clear rivers and the biggest fresh-water lake in southern Canada).

The number of lakes and marshes in Manitoba means that around 300 species of birds live in this area, including cranes, pelicans, loons, eagles and woodpeckers, and the mammalian population is similarly diverse – black bears, lynx, wolves, cougars and white-tailed deer roam freely in the forests.

What many people comment about when they’ve visited Manitoba is just how big the sky looks. That may sound strange, since surely the sky is the same size wherever you are in the world, but the perspective of this vast landscape with relatively few manmade structures to blight it make the vista simply breath-taking and the sky, well, huge.

If you’re thinking of travelling to Manitoba, here are some highlights you don’t want to miss:

1. Churchill
This is where to come if you want to see polar bears. There are excursions readily available in specially built vehicles that allow you to get up close to the polar bears (the best time to visit to see them is in October and November).

2. Winnipeg
This is the city to come to for music festivals and art. There are plenty of museums to give you an insight into the city’s and province’s history, and there are also nature reserves to explore.

3. Beluga whales
If you don’t get chance to come out in October and November to see the polar bears, then come in the summer months to see the beluga whales. They feed in the Hudson Bay (close to Churchill) and there are plenty of tour boats that will take you to see them – or you can even go snorkelling to see them even closer.

4. Northern lights
The aurora borealis is spectacular if you are lucky enough to see it. Difficult to predict when it will appear, it is one of those natural sights that you should try hard not to miss seeing. The best time of year to visit to see them is in January and February. Churchill even has a giant glass domed building to sit inside and see them (and still stay warm!).

5. Riding Mountain National Park
This is to be found at the Manitoba Escarpment and comprises trails winding some 300km through forest and valleys. This is the best place to spot the local wildlife.

Manitoba is a beautiful destination and well-worth a trip.

British Columbia, routinely referred to as BC, is a great place to visit if you’re into nature – because there is LOTS of nature.
Approximately 12% of the province is made up of National Parks, conservation areas, protected ecological reserves, and parks for playing in. That’s a lot of space for walking and hiking and finding some of the province’s abundant wildlife.

BC has more living creatures than any other part of Canada. The province has a startling number of species of all different types – around 450 species of fish (saltwater and freshwater), nearly 500 species of birds, 18 species of reptiles, 22 species of amphibian and 142 species of animals.

If you’re not walking and taking photos of local wildlife, you might want to try your hand at a round of golf in any one of the province’s approximately 200 golf courses, or make the most of any of the province’s 30 ski resorts (including the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Whistler).

Then there is the water. The province has around 2,200 lakes, 27,000km of coastline and 37 river systems – more than enough, in short, to let you enjoy a whole range of water sports from boating and fishing to white-water rafting and scuba diving. There are also plenty of other activities to try in the great outdoors: caving, panning for gold, hang-gliding, hot air ballooning,, rock climbing and whale watching. You certainly won’t be bored!

If you’re ready for refreshment after all that adventure, you’ll find a wealth of good-quality cuisine to enjoy, from caribou to salmon and plenty of New Country award-winning wine.

Two of the top destinations in BC you might want to centre your stay around are Kelowna and Vancouver. Kelowna is where Canadians go on their holidays. Plenty of water for boating, golf courses and warm weather in Summer. Vancouver, meanwhile, is where to go if you want good nightlife combined with easy access to some fabulous experiences like skiing at Whistler, whale-watching, and enjoying the great outdoors.

BC is the place to be if you want action and adventure and to see Canada at its wildest and best.

Largely overlooked, Alberta actually has a lot of really great tourist attractions . Here are just a few.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
They like their descriptive titles in Alberta, which reflect their rather quirky sense of humour. This particular attraction is a museum near Fort Macleod that focuses on Native American culture It’s built into a cliff that used to be used by Native Americans as a trap for catching buffalo, which were herded until they stampeded over the edge of the cliff.

Writing-on-Stone National Park
Another of those aptly-named attractions, this park is situated close to the border with Montana. It has – though you’ve probably guessed – writing (in the form of petroglyphs, which are images representing words) carved into stone. These petroglyphs were created by the Blackfoot Native Americans and date back to around 7,000B.C.

Jasper Provincial Park
This is situated in the Canadian Rockies but can be accessed easily enough by train, bus or car. There is plenty of indigenous wildlife to discover when trekking through the park, and nearby there are bus tours of ice fields, where you can witness glaciers that are over 3,000 years old.

Dinosaur Provincial Park
You’re probably getting the idea by now that Alberta has been around for a long time. It is utterly seeped in history on a scale that makes the UK look positively newborn. This park is, as it sounds, a park where you can go camping and scratch around to find fossils and actual dinosaur bones if you’re lucky.

Edmonton
This is the State Capital and it’s here that you’ll find the best museums as well as entertainment and civilization. It’s spread out, though, so it’s worth hiring a car if you want to explore the whole city. Calgary is the largest city and is also well worth a visit.

Drumheller
Back to the dim and distant past again, Drumheller is a great place to explore the Alberta Badlands, where glacial erosion has created Canadian Grand Canyons positively teeming with dinosaur remains.

Alberta is indeed the place to visit if you want to experience some serious history!