GO ASK JOAN:From three months in the Canaries to taking a boat to Oz and seeing the Matterhorn JOAN SCALES answers your queries
Three months on La Gomera
We are a couple who plan to spend three months on the Canary Island of La Gomera. We want to travel early January 2012, bring our car and dog. Can you advise best route, ferry and any pet-friendly accommodation websites?
MC, Galway
La Gomera, which is one of the smaller of the Canary Islands, is off the coast of Tenerife. It is quite a journey by car and will take a lot of time to plan. I estimate it will take you six days travelling to get there.
You will be looking at three or four ferry crossings: Ireland to UK or France; Spain to Santa Cruz de Tenerife; and Tenerife to La Gomera. Whether you travel through the UK or France will depend on the frequency of sailings to France in January and the weather.
It may be better to have less time on the sea and consider using the Eurotunnel to Calais, eurotunnel.com.
I like to use aferry.co.uk, as it has the timetables for most ferry routes in Europe. You will have to book each crossing individually. You can also use viamichelin.com for planning the driving routes through France and Spain.
Ferries from Spain to Tenerife are operated by Transmed Acciona (transmediterranea.es), and only operate once a week on Tuesdays in winter returning on Fridays.
There are two car-carrying ferry companies operating to La Gomera: Fred Olsen (fredolsen.es) operates a fast ferry; and Naviera Armas (navieraarmas.com) has a conventional ferry. You can take the car and dog on these ferries.
There are a number of holiday apartments on holiday-rentals.com which allow pets, with prices around the €300-€400 per week range. Have a look also at Apartmentos Bellavista (bellavistagomera.com), and Canaria Sunrises (see canariasunrises.com) where there are a number of rural homes and apartments to rent and dogs are welcome.
There is no quarantine for healthy pets on the Canary Islands once you have the necessary EU Pet Passport, your dog is microchipped and the vet has completed the necessary paperwork.
Boating it to Australia
I would like to investigate the possibility of travelling by ship to Australia or New Zealand sometime in 2012 (my return trip will be by conventional flights). For the sea voyage, can you recommend any reasonable quality cruise lines that sail to that part of the world from a departure point in the UK? I would also be interested in travelling as a passenger on a container or cargo ship – a journey which I understand can take up to 40 days or more.
PB, Wicklow
There is a company in London – Strand Travel (see strandtravelltd.co.uk) – which specialises in finding accommodation on cargo ships on journeys all over the world. It has a trip to Australia and New Zealand which would be what you are looking for.
The voyage takes around 40 day and costs in the region of £4,500 to £5,000 (€5,165 to €5,740). The trip travels via Panama and calls at Papeete in Polynesia and Noumea in New Caledonia. It departs from Tilbury in England.
Another company to have a look at is cruisepeople.co.uk, which can also book trips on cargo ships and cruiseliners.
Cunard’s Queen Mary II will be making a voyage from Southampton to Sydney next January travelling via Cape Town. It will take around 35 days, but if you are travelling on your own the cost of the cruise is quite expensive.
Cabins are priced based on two sharing, so you would effectively be paying double. See cunard.com.
You could also talk to a cruise specialist here, such as Cruiseholidays.ie or E-travel.ie.
Anniversary at the Matterhorn
My wife and I are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year. A while ago she became fascinated by mountains and mountain climbing. To celebrate our 40th I would like to bring her to see the Matterhorn. Where is the best place to go to see it, how to get there and where to stay?
AH, Dublin
The best place to see the Matterhorn is from the resort of Zermatt. It can be reached by train (it is a car-free resort) from Zürich or Geneva airports.
The train takes under four hours from both airports. Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Geneva and Zurich, and Swiss International flies to Zurich (see swiss.com).
The train service in Switzerland is very good and you can check out the timetables and fares on sbb.ch. The journey will involve one change of train.
The Zermatt tourism website is ideal for getting an idea of what is on, getting to the Matterhorn, finding guides and there is also a good selection of accommodation. Hotels can be booked from the website and some also have special packages for two to four-night stays. See zermatt.ch/en.
It may also be worth while to talk to Crystal Holidays in Dublin which operates an extensive programme to Switzerland and Zermatt. A package holiday may work out good value as it would include flights, accommodation and some meals. Tel: 01-4331010 or see crystalholidays.ie.