Travel

Every year, leading valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance values the brands of thousands of the world’s biggest companies. Britain’s 150 most valuable brands are featured in the 2017 Brand Finance UK 150.
·         Britain’s most valuable brands decline by an average of 6%
·         Devaluation of the pound in the wake of Brexit is the primary cause
·         Sudden loss of value exposes iconic brands to foreign takeovers
·         Shell, Britain’s most valuable brand, has weathered the trend and is up 16%

Oh yes, we are one step closer to the personal flying car. This all electric personal flying vehicle is being made by a US company backed by one of the Google founder Larry Page. It has been tested over a lake north of San Francisco and while it only has a short range it looks pretty fantastic.
It is battery powered and the design is modelled on a drone, with eight blades powering the lift. It actually brings to mind a jetski that can fly for short periods, paired with something Luke Skywalker might have cobbled together as a boy on Tatooine.

Famed for its enviable Mediterranean climate, watersports and its myriad festivals, the Region of Murcia, in southern Spain, is also a haven for history buffs and culture vultures.
The Costa Cálida, Región de Murcia is an ideal leisure and sport destination for travelers. The area offers year-round sunshine with an average temperature of 19.4°c and 315 days of sunshine per year.

5 Reasons to visit Zambia
Over the years I’ve heard guests confuse Zambia with Zimbabwe and Zaire. A guest actually said to me last year: “I’m so happy to be here in Zaire, I’ve always wanted to come,” and I’ve even been asked: “So whereabouts in South Africa is Zambia?”

If Tonka Toys made cars, this is what it would like look like. Rugged and tough, with bright vivid colours and clearly great fun to play with! Something of a travel car for the adventurous.
 

Andy Murray is one of the great British sporting heroes and a brilliant example of grit, determination and skill. Like most sporting heroes he receives a huge amount of praise when things go well and, unfortunately, a large amount of flack when they don’t. He represents excellence in a sport that many see as the ultimate individual British sporting achievement.

From the New York Times and Huffington Post to Vogue and Luxury Travel Magazine, everyone is talking about transformative travel as being the travel trend of 2017.
Transformative travel “has similar elements of experiential travel, but taken a step further — it’s travel motivated and defined by a shift in perspective, self-reflection and development, and a deeper communion with nature and culture.”

Whilst the Shandrani Resort and Spa provides everything you need, Mauritius is a beautiful island so I would recommend tearing yourself away from the gorgeous beaches, pools, water sports and chocolate moose and taking in some of the sites. The hotel will prepare a wonderful little hamper for you so you can pause and picnic whenever you feel like it.

Mauritius is celebrated for its water sports and one of the very best places to go is the Shandrani Resort and Spa. They have catamarans, kayaks and windsurfs aplenty, all included in the resort and the boat crew are the best we have ever come across in any of our travels. In fact they win our Excellence Award for the best boat house service on a resort. First of all, there were quite a few of them, so you were never kept waiting, someone was always ready to help and they enjoyed looking after you and getting you out on the water.

I have dreamed of going to Mauritius for many years, I even have friends who live on the nearby island of Reunion and one of my favourite school teachers was from Mauritius, it was her in fact who spent many of her free afternoons trying to improve my French many years ago. So I set off for Mauritius with IX Magazine to find out why the island enjoys such massive popularity with British, French, Italian, South African and Chinese tourists.