Some say golf is a ‘good walk spoiled’. For others, it’s an excuse for a dram of whiskey and a few hours away from ‘the other half’. But for those with more than a passing passion for the sport, a trip abroad with an emphasis on the ol’ club and ball can be a dream holiday indeed. To ensure the excursion is above par, not chunked, you’ll need a little planning and foresight. We’re here to help with that; our 7 IDEAL ways to make the most out of golfing holiday.

GO ALL-INCLUSIVE

Golfing holidays are renowned for hidden costs, add ons and extras. A way to circumnavigate these expenses is by opting for an all inclusive golfing holiday. Such a deal takes the pressure off having to take care of all the finer details, giving you more time to focus on your golf instead of sweating the small stuff. Should you decide to go it alone on the organising front, be particularly aware of the ‘green fee’, which is what a golf course charges punters to play but is usually covered in an all inclusive arrangement, which brings us to our next point…

GET TO GRIPS WITH GREEN FEES AND TEE-TIMES 

Some courses have three or four prices for green fees: weekday, weekend, day ticket and twilight. Weekday green fees are generally cheaper as the demand is higher at weekends. Moreover, twilight times are, again, more affordable because a golfer might not get in a full round before the lights go down. Other things that influence the cost’s fluctuations include the day of the week, weather, existing bookings and group bookings. As such, and even though getting a group of friends to commit can be tough, it’s definitely worth while. Travelling in a large group not only can save you money, it also allows for extra on-course competition and more fun.

When it comes to tee-times, it’s imperative to do your research if you want to get the most bang for your buck on your golfing holiday. The rates of rounds vary from month to month and even at times within that actual month so research, research, research. 

CONSIDER HIRING EVERYTHING 

Transporting your equipment can get seriously pricey; a whole load of luggage excess which can do some serious damage to your bank balance. Instead, leave your golf clubs behind and hire them at your destination, saving you both money and the enormous hassle of transporting them.

If the club doesn’t provide the opportunity to hire clubs, you could take advantage of the many used golf clubs for sale online, buying them at a knock down price and leaving them at your destination for another lucky punter to take on. If you are planning on bringing your own clubs, avoid a surprise at the check-in desk by first researching whether your airline allows golf clubs to be stowed away, brought on board or heaven forbid, neither.

EMERGING GOLF DESTINATIONS

Although a week in the Algarve is the golfing holiday of choice for many, such ubiquity can mean this perennially popular golf resort gets both crowded and costly during the high season. Perhaps you should consider casting your covetous gaze further afield, towards one of the many emerging golf destinations rising in credibility and clout in recent years. Particularly on the rise (and a great holiday aside from the golf) are several South East Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Just make sure you pack a sun hat.

CHECK THE WEATHER 

Speaking of weather, regardless of where you’re going, you should study your destination’s weather patterns before you book. Indeed, a golf holiday in Florida may be ruined in September because you’re likely to encounter heavy rain and an odd hurricane whereas teeing off in the midday heat in the Algarve during the warmer months could be pretty unbearable, too. 

SPEND TIME OFF THE FAIRWAYS 

While a golfing holiday is just that, if you spend all of your time furrowing fairways, then you may as well just be having a few rounds on your local golf course. Instead, embrace the (for want of a better term) apres-golf, and take the opportunity to dive into the local culture and cuisine. Moreover, if your golfing obsession risks driving a wedge between you and your partner, ensure that the place you’ve chosen has plenty of other distractions – shopping, swimming, galleries, you name it – on offer apart from the lure of sport.

START PLAYING EARLY

Though the idea of a leisurely breakfast and getting onto the course mid-morning seems like a wonderful notion – loose, low and lazy – in reality, by this time the course is usually full and you’ll have to wait for every swing and shot. So, as a rule, avoid mid morning tee-times. Instead, ride out the hangover (or avoid it altogether) and hit your first shot bright, early and in relative peace so you can make the most out of your golfing holiday. 

Your passport is ready, bags packed and you’re excited to get going on a new adventure. All systems go! Or is it? Quick reminder; have you planned for how you’re going to see the world if you’re travelling with glasses? Silly question maybe, but if you lose or break your specs, you won’t be seeing much of anything at all – with clarity, anyway – so it’s essential to prepare for any scenario. Because how many times have you misplaced, stepped on, dropped overboard or left behind your glasses while away? If you’re like us, it’s a lot. And hopefully after reading this, never again. Here are 6 IDEAL tips for travelling with glasses.

KNOW YOUR EYE PRESCRIPTION

You could be the most prepared traveller around, with military precision assigned to passport safety, booking times, airport transfers and the rest, but even with plenty of smart planning, there’s still the possibility of losing or breaking your glasses in a foreign country with limited access to an optometrist. At this point, you need to know the finer details of your eye prescription, so it’s a good idea to have a physical copy with you, as well as one online or in the cloud so you can refer to it from anywhere. It never hurt to be cautious on occasions like this.

HAVE A BACK-UP PAIR OF GLASSES ONLINE

Though you’ve followed our previous advice and made your prescription easily accessible, it can still be difficult and time-consuming to find a new pair of glasses abroad — especially if your day is jam-packed, you’re travelling around, or just have better things to do. And let’s face it, almost any itinerary item counts as ‘better’ than searching for new specs.

So, your next step is to know exactly where to order cheap prescription glasses from, in case of emergency. Using an online optician, you can choose your frame, select the type of lense you require, add your prescription details, then pay online and they can be dispatched between three and five working days to anywhere in the world. Super convenient; just squint for a couple of days and you’re good to go.

TAKE AN EXTRA PAIR

Accidents happen, even more so when you’re living outside of your usual routine and in unfamiliar surroundings. You’ll start out being super careful with your glasses – overly so, even – but before you know it, you’ve put them down somewhere without realising or left them in the hotel for the maid to sweep away with last night’s debris. Not to worry, if you have a spare pair, that is. Consider making ultra light folding glasses your back up, as they are ideal for travelling and most fold into pocket size compact carry cases manageably.

INVEST IN A HARD CASE

Losing your glasses isn’t the only likely reason you’ll need a spare pair. When running through the airport (missed flight anyone?) or in another instance of needing to be speedy, we tend to stuff glasses into our bag without thinking, along with everything else. As a result, it’s not uncommon to end up with a broken frame or scratched lens. Mitigate this risk by investing in a stylish hard case which you cherish, to encourage you to use it every time your glasses aren’t on your face. That way, you can continue to throw the case in your bag when you’re in a rush and your glasses are well-protected.

PACK AN EYEGLASS REPAIR KIT

Wear and tear on your glasses will happen no matter where you are, but if it’s something simple, you may be able to fix it yourself on the road. This is where a simple repair kit comes in. These include an assortment of tiny screws, different size screwdrivers and a lens cleaning cloth (which you can use on your camera too) so if the frame is feeling loose or a screw has popped out, you can handle it quickly and with minimal fuss.

CONSIDER PRESCRIPTION SUNGLASSES

While you’re enjoying your holiday, you don’t need to compromise on fashion when the sun comes out — yes, we’re looking at you, the one who wears their sunglasses on top of glasses. It’s not a good look guys. Instead, pick a sunglasses style of your choice, which can be fitted with a custom-made lens to include both your prescription and a custom-made lens with 100% UV protection. The perfect solution to look stylish and to keep your eyes safe.

Ah, the city break. Beloved of Brits, threatened by Brexit but bound to keep going whatever the colour of our passports. Because you can’t keep a good holiday down, so regardless of a falling pound and potential new visa requirements, it’s likely that short jaunts on the continent will continue, with enthusiasm, simply in a new shape and different place in the future. With time short and currency rates unpredictable, a little in-the-know advice is crucial to a great time when so much is at stake. The good news is, we’ve got it; our 6 IDEAL hacks for getting the most out of a city break.

PLAN WITH PRECISION

Time is of the essence when you’re on a city break. Indeed every moment, minute and memory is precious and you don’t want to waste them sitting in your hotel lobby, googling what to do and where to go. Try to draw up a pretty thorough itinerary before you leave, and while it shouldn’t be set in stone, it’ll help structure your trip so you can make the most of every single second.

It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the layout of the city and use an app which doesn’t require wifi so you can easily find your way around. There’s nothing worse than wasting time, looking for a coffee shop just so you can use their wifi to find somewhere that’s only five minutes down the road.

CHOOSE YOUR AREA & ACCOMMODATION WISELY

One of the biggest mistakes made on a smash, grab and brag kinda holiday is succumbing to the urge to do too much. The ‘we don’t have long, let’s cram it all in’ mentality can be often be counterintuitive. Because a city break shouldn’t be about being constantly on the move, in public transport and a rush. Instead, it should be about getting to know a place as efficiently as possible, and adapting to the local’s way of doing things in a way which allows you a little glimpse of a different way of living. This is why choosing your accommodation wisely is vital; you’ll want to be within walking distance of places which hold unique interest to you.

It’s often prudent to hone in on one area for your stay and focus all of your energy there. If it’s a weekend in the big smoke, perhaps you want to explore the bright lights of the West End’s world famous theatre district. Or maybe the breweries and beards of trendy Hoxton and Shoreditch is more your vibe? Wherever your interests lie, consider a serviced apartment in London as a gateway into a more local way of living. In choosing this kind of accommodation, you can base yourself in a neighbourhood and engage with a community more organically than you would from a big, multi-national hotel. From Serviced Apartments in Hyde Park to Southbank, there are so many great places to stay just waiting to be discovered.

EXPLORE THE FOOD CULTURE

One of the best ways to really understand a city is through its food. There’s so much to be garnered through tracing back the historical and cultural influences a place and its people have had on its dishes. So with precision and focus still in mind, it’s sensible to focus your city break on just one theme, as it were, and food is perhaps the most all-encompassing route to engagement with a place. So, get amongst the markets and eat as the locals do and notice where they congregate; soon you might find yourself making friends with people with invaluable, in-the-know tips. The worst that’ll happen is a really good feed. 

Common ground is so often found with strangers over food. So, take every opportunity when a conversation is struck up with a taxi driver, hotel receptionist, adjacent drinker or shopkeeper to ask for the best insider insight about where to eat local food. At the very least, you’ll unearth somewhere perhaps not in the guidebooks on your foodie holiday. At best, new friendships will be forged. Lovely stuff.

TAKE A TOUR

We don’t mean one of those tours following a flag waving fella with a megaphone. Nope, we’re talking a rather more personalised, one on one experience, which allows you to curate the tour to your own preferences. When done right, there is perhaps no more succinct path to getting under the skin of a city quickly. Of course, each country will offer different deals, packages and levels of nuance, but as a general rule of thumb, a smaller group (and best as private) will be the most informative. A more compact arrangement allows for a more nimble sashay through the city and allows your esoteric tastes to be catered for without appearing selfish. In such a situation, don’t be afraid to state exactly what you want to see, eat, hear or do.

ENGAGE ON FOOT

If you’ve organised your accommodation with location in mind, then it can be really fulfilling and educational (not to mention healthy) to try to do the whole city break on foot alone. Because let’s be honest, who ever found a hidden gem from the vantage point of the tube or in a tax? But with your feet on terra firma, and your eyes looking ahead of you rather than at a screen, you’re sure to see so much more and engage with places and people not recommended in the guide books. You could even plan your own self-guided walking tour, pencilling in personalised pit stops to suit your eating, drinking and shopping needs.

AVOID THE COUNTDOWN

On the last day of a city break, most of us get caught up in a countdown of sorts; of ticking off the hours until we have to leave for the airport. There’s nothing worse than worrying away the morning, afternoon or whatever little time you have left on your city break, allowing the take off to take over your thoughts and plans. There are ways and means to lessen this dark cloud hanging over your final day; consider packing your bags the night before you have to leave, arranging your transport to the airport in advance, and then set an alarm and forget about it for the day.

If you wear your ‘foodie’ badge with any sense of pride, then you’ll know the feeling. You’re deep into a dark alley, phone leading you by the hand, stomach by the heart. You’re peering into domestic yet foreign scenes, grandmas flipping greens, meat on hooks and bellies hanging on tenters, wondering if this is that place. Because without doubt, the intrepid are rewarded when travelling, not only with a meal of deliciousness and dignity, but also with an insight into what makes a new and unfamiliar culture tick. 

Man, are we here for those moments. Not the sea, nor the sand. Certainly not the selfies or the sepia toned sunsets. But always, resoundingly and resolutely; the eating. That doesn’t mean that we go full gung ho and eat absolutely anything. Because if you’re to enjoy your trip and its treats to its fullest, something like food poisoning needs to be avoided at all costs. This is what we do; our 5 IDEAL food safety tips to keep you healthy while travelling.

WHAT TO AVOID

A common cause of simple dietary or digestion related issues in far flung lands is tap water. Clean drinking water from the tap, even on the continent, is scarce, let alone if you’re on the other side of the world. So, play it on the safe side and always drink the bottled stuff (preferably from a filter dispenser and from a reusable bottle). There are other precautions you can take regarding the old h2o, such as avoiding salads which may have been washed in tap water, and steering clear of ice.

That said, most of the ice you’ll encounter abroad is clean and you’ll be able to consume drinks containing it – after all  most street restaurants and vendors will not risk their reputation by serving dirty ice. Oh and ingesting a little, such as when brushing your teeth, won’t harm either.

Also take extra care when diving into the buffet; these are more prone to bacteria, are likely to have been handled by a large number of people and have probably been sitting out in the heat for longer than they should have. If you become unwell, be sure to create a food journal of everything you’ve eaten for the past few days. While you may initially think the reason for your upset stomach is due to some dodgy food, it could be another more serious issue – for example, telling the difference between food poisoning vs appendicitis can be difficult.

GET YOUR VACCINATIONS DONE

Having your travel vaccinations all in order is another way to prevent any serious infections from ruining your once-in-a-lifetime adventure. We recommend seeing your GP at least eight weeks before traveling to ensure you get all of the appropriate vaccinations well in advance – some take a while to fully develop their resistance. If your GP is busy – and let’s face it, with the current funding cuts to the NHS from our woeful government, they often are – then you can get the same service by visiting a specific holiday/vaccination organisation.

While you’ve got your doctor’s ear, it might also be a good idea to go over your allergies and discuss what foods and situations you should be avoiding. Better to be safe than sorry when so far away from home, after all.

COOK YOUR FOOD THOROUGHLY

Airbnb has made every traveller feel at home in any part of the world, and with the rise in popularity of such accommodation, so many have started to take advantage of their kitchens when abroad. This is great news; there’s nothing better than getting stuck into a local market and its regional, seasonal ingredients. But the best mantra for the traveller keen to cook is described succinctly by many an explorer who came before us – cook it, wash it, peel it or forget it. In other words, take a little extra care with eating raw items of fruit and veg straight from the market without any kind of treatment from your end.

DRINK ALCOHOL RESPONSIBLY

Every country has its own drinking culture, tolerance for drunken behaviour and expectations of how visitors should behave. One of the ways you can be kindest to your gut during a trip abroad is to consume alcohol with a modicum of mindfulness. We’re not saying you have to abstain for the duration of your trip, but excessive boozing combined with an unfamiliar cuisine can often lead to a bad belly blighting your trip. Better to enjoy in moderation and responsibly, we think.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Is there anything better in the world than pulling up a stool in a foreign land, somewhere which looks a little rough around the edges but is full of hungry locals, and seeing what you’re served? To us; heaven.

But you can have too much of a good thing, make no mistake, and even we wouldn’t have every meal at street level; our stomachs simply wouldn’t take it. So, shake things up and keep them interesting by enjoying a rich and varied sampling of what your destination has to offer. Try the highly regarded restaurants, grandma’s home cooking spot, the street food meccas and markets, and more. Variety is the spice of life. It’s also kinder to your belly.