GO ASK JOAN:From visiting war graves in Greece to a weekend in Istanbul and a tour of Cambodia and Vietnam JOAN SCALESanswers your queries
Visiting war grave in Greece
Next year, we (a family group) are planning to visit the grave of a relative who died in the First World War and is buried near Thessaloniki, Greece. Rather than arrange flights and accommodation separately, we might get better value on a week’s package holiday from the UK to a holiday resort in the vicinity, and then take public transport/hire a car to visit Karasouli Military Cemetery (where our relative is buried). Where do we find a holiday resort suitable for the family? Please help us find a cost-effective way of making this trip while the more senior members of our family are able to make the journey? – MK, Dublin
Thessaloniki has been growing in popularity in recent years and that makes access easier for you. It is famous for its beaches. Taking a package holiday is a good option and there are a number of tour operators in the UK which offer holidays there.
Most of the resorts are centred around Halkidiki, the three peninsulas that jut into the Aegean Sea. In particular, the peninsula of Kassandra has a variety of resorts. At the top end the Sani Beach Resort and Spa is very nice with a mix of accommodation from hotel to self-catering.
Thomson Holidays will offer holidays in Halkidiki next September and it will cost around £570pps (€669) for a week with flights from London and accommodation, thomsonholidays.co.uk.British Airways Holidays (ba.com) also has packages to Thessaloniki and prices range from £500pps (€587) on schedule flights with hotel accommodation.
When exploring your options there are air services via Budapest with Malev Hungarian Airlines, via Zurich with Swiss and via Athens with Aer Lingus and Olympic or Aegean Air. Ryanair operated a service to Thessaloniki via Charleroi this summer. If you book early you could get flights for around €200-€250.
You can see details of Karasouli Cemetery on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, cwgc.org.
Vietnam for a retired couple
We are a retired couple considering a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia next year. Some advice, please, on the best time to travel and some recommended conducted tours? – MM, Meath
March to April and October to December are good times to visit Vietnam and Cambodia.
In March next year there will be a guided tour by GTI Ireland ( gti-ireland.com) which will cover the riches of Vietnam and Cambodia. It's a 14-day trip and will visit Saigon, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, Cu Chi tunnels, Cao Dal Great Temple, and a Mekong Delta cruise.
There will be other places of interest, too, and some free time for exploring.
The price, around €2,800, includes flights, hotel accommodation, some lunches and dinners, and guided tours. This is an escorted trip.
If you make your own way to Vietnam and Cambodia, you could do this trip for a bit less but it will involve a lot of planning.
You can join guided tours in the various places either by booking on arrival or seeing what is on offer with companies like Explore.com and Intrepidtravel.com.
Weekend away in Istanbul or Reykjavik
My husband has turned 40 and we want to mark it with a weekend break. We were thinking, as our interests lie in architecture, music and food, to go somewhere accessible yet exotic. Maybe Istanbul or Reykjavik? We have researched online but never found flights and hotels for a weekend from Dublin to Istanbul. Can you direct us? We can only manage three nights away. Are there such things as cheap weekends to Istanbul/Reykjavik without too many flight changes? – ER, Dublin
You just missed the ideal trip to Reykjavik over the recent midterm weekend which had direct flights from Dublin. This trip usually operates a few times a year and is organised by Wallace Travel Group (wtg.ie).
Turkish Airlines has a direct flight from Dublin to Istanbul with fares around €339 including taxes.
But, if you book though a travel agent, you will get a better deal with hotel included. I have seen packages with Ebookers.ieand Abbeytravel.iefor around €400. Hotels included are mainly of three and four-star quality and centrally located.
You can find weekends in Istanbul for less than €400 if you are prepared to travel via another airport. See gohop.iefor routings that include going via Amsterdam or Paris.
Flexible fare with many stops
Can I buy a flexible, economy class airline ticket with multiple stops? In the 1980s, my company bought tickets through Aer Lingus in Dublin based on mileage to the furthest point (Los Angeles) with many stops along the way in the US and Canada using various airlines. There was even the possibility to break a sector: for example, Dallas-LA adjusted at the airport on the day to Dallas-Denver-LA at no extra cost. Similar flexibility was also available within Europe. – ML, Dublin
The only thing that comes close to what you describe is a round-the-world ticket, which does allow for flexibility. There is no similar ticket for shorter trips in the US or Europe. But, if you are travelling to America, some of the US carriers allow some flexibility on multi-city tickets. Depending on the rules for each sector and the class it is booked in, it’s possible to make changes, sometimes for a fee, sometimes not.
E-mail questions, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com