Compact Guide to Croatia

Advantages: Compact size and waterproof cover
Disadvantages: Disjointed and hard to find information.

...I am the sort of person who enjoys planning for their holiday. I love researching our destination and I devour as much information as I can before I go as I find that if I am knowledgeable about a place I enjoy myself much more. Embarking on a cruise last year was my idea of heaven as it gave me ample opportunity to research lots of different places. One of our ports of call was Dubrovnik and it soon became apparent that this would be a suitable destination for an independent sightseeing tour. I read quite a bit on the internet but decided that taking a guidebook with us was probably a wise move. My local bookshop only had one book covering Croatia so that?s how I came to purchase the Berlitz Pocket Guide at £4.99. Appearance First impressions of this guidebook were very positive. It is, as the name suggest, compact in...

Meggysmum 15.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Croatia Berlitz Pocket Guide

Hotel Villa Patrizi, Rome

Advantages: Good location, good value for money, polite staff
Disadvantages: Small rooms

...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why we chose the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My boyfriend and I decided to take a weekend city break in Rome, we were joined by his parents who travelled seperately. We looked on Expedia for a good deal and we found one with reasonable BA flights and 3 nights stay at Hotel Villa Patrizi. We looked at the information and pictures of the hotel on the internet and it looked good so we decided to book it. Now we have been to the hotel, and looking back at the pictures, they are true to life and do not decieve you in anyway that the hotel looks different to what it does. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ About the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Villa Patrizi is a brand new 4 star hotel located in Rome. As you walk into the hotel there is a pretty sitting area full of beautiful, lively and colourful flowers. If the weather was nicer...

lilyellowfish 04.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Villa Patrizi, Rome

A taste of Italy with James Villas

Advantages: wonderful property
Disadvantages: terrifying access road

...James Villas had a strong advertising campaign over the last 2 years and, after a very happy holiday with them to Mallorca in 2004, we decided to book a week in Tuscany for the end of August 2008. The website is very informative and we decided on our accommodation - Villa Podere Il Renaio in Legoli. A helpful section of the website allows you to check availability and prices for the week you want and weeks either side and so we were sorted. Actually, no! I know flights from Newcastle to Pisa were available with Jet2 (I had checked the prices on Jet2 website) but the James Villas website insisted I could only fly from Manchester, so I had no choice but to make a phone booking. Phoning to book the holiday was easy. There was no queue, I got straight through to a very friendly operator who assured me that she could book Jet2...

travelnovice 18.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

Villa Mallorca - Cala D'or - James Villas

Advantages: package holiday
Disadvantages: Low value for money and bad customer relations

...Initially we wanted to book our package via the internet. However the flights on the site were either extremely unsociable hours (departure 5am etc) or you missed both ends because you arrived past midnight and left the villa around 6am the last day. Finally we rung an agent who seemed to have access to many more flights than we did and got a suitable time. Because this was not an internet option we had to go through him. This started our first problem because on the internet the default option includes the welcome package. As we were arriving at midnight with 3 young children this was necessary. The price he quoted was slightly higher than what we were looking at on the net but there were some differences such as we changed hire car to transfer and different flight times. All that taken together it was reasonable to understand...

tmk1906 10.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

James Villa Holidays

Advantages: Great properties, unique experiences, wonderful holidays.
Disadvantages: None - although might not be suitable for all travelers

...Over the past 3 years we have used James Villa Holidays six times. Our initial experience was in Gale, Algarve; we went on to stay in La Font, Pollença, Mallorca three times; and more recently have stayed at La Boheme in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote and Forteza in Kalami, Crete. Our first taste of James Villas was in a 2 bedroom apartment in Gale, Algarve. The apartment itself was spacious and well maintained, with a large patio, fully equipped kitchen and TV/Satellite unit in the comfortable living room. Although the choice of English-language channels was limited, one doesn?t generally go on holiday to sit in front of the idiot box, and as we understand a modicum of German, the German MTV channel was most entertaining. As is the norm in our experience with James Villas, the supplied literature concerning the accommodation and local area...

maganda1980 08.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

James Villas

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Unfortunately most things.

...Have been reading other reviews with interest. Wow. We must have been unlucky. The reviews are so good and in so much detail that they almost could have been written by James Villa holidays (joke) My wife, 3 children and mother and father in law and myself of course took a 2 week holiday to Majorca in August last year. The list of problems we had was unbelievable. James Villas holidays were not prepared to fix our problems. Even though we had spent £3,648.27 (this was without flights). We telephoned them for the 1st three days complaining. We even sent them a solicitors letter on the 3rd day and they still refused to accept that there were problems. When we did complain we even telephoned head office in the Uk in Maidstone in Kent. The staff were rude and sarcastic. They told us to complain when we get back home. Not much good...

durston 09.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

Are the new Villa the old Forest?

Advantages: Martin O`Niell
Disadvantages: Losing O`Niell

...clubs. There's a bucket load of young talent in there and at one point had five players in Capellos provisional England squad. I admire O'Neill sticking with Carson after his England woes, even though Villa went 17 games without a clean sheet just after the Croatia debacle. Villa have stylishly taken points off the big four this year, one of the reasons why the top three didn't get near 90 points. Their memorable 4-4 draw nearly broke Chelsea 4 year unbeaten home league record. O'Neill wanted to be the man to break that record, risking defeat in the process. You have to like that. He beat them 2-0 at Villa Park, Chelsea's last defeat in this years Premiership. Laursen from Milan was a really shrewd buy and I think they will also miss the reliant and retiring Olli Melborg. John Carew was also a smart move by O'Neill, an experienced forward...

thedevilinme 17.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Aston Villa

Villa Olivo, Bardolino

Advantages: Can't think of any.
Disadvantages: The Owners

...Date of holiday 1st - 15th July 2006 Let me first explain what type of holiday my family and I like, then I will explain the accommodation and lastly I will tell you of our experience of the Villa Olivo in Bardolino Italy (Lake Garda) We are a family of 2 adults and three boys aged 9, 12 and 14. Our holidays are very simple, we go to an apartment, relax, enjoy the food, swim in the pool and soak up the sun, and that is it. (Sounds boring, but after a long hard working year it is just what the doctor ordered). That is what we wanted from this holiday as well. The Villa Olivo consists of two types of accommodation: self-catering and a hotel which offers bed and breakfast. Those in the apartments could avail of the breakfast at a cost of 8 euros per person. (But after seeing what was being bought in the local Lidl for breakfast...

mark1961 24.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Villa Olivo, Bardolino

James Villas lack of customer care.

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Cost us over nearly a £1000-00 just to book with them

...For the best two years we have enjoyed Villa Holidays which we had booked through travel agencies. This year we decided to book direct and decided to use James Villas who we were under the impression were the best. How wrong we were. We were notified by email on Tuesday 11th August 2009 at 3-00p.m that the villa we were due to stay in was no longer available and the alternative villa that James Villas offered was miles from anywhere but with a bar 100 metres away, not what you really want on a family holiday with two children! As we were due to go on holiday on Saturday 15th August 2009 (yes in 3 days time) we were frantic that James Villas sort this situation out. After approximately twenty phone calls to James Villas ?customer relations? to see if they had managed to sort an alternative villa and with each phone call I was told they...

BENSONS1 21.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

Aston Villa's Holte Army and our own general

Advantages: A club with Incredible History
Disadvantages: At the moment - None!

...Aston Villa's Holte Army - with our very own general! I've been an Aston Villa supporter now for many years. I remember the 1982 European Cup final that we won with pride and that is without a doubt our greatest achievement in the modern game. However, Aston Villa comes with a proud and very unique history in English Football, not least the formation of the Football league in 1888, which was the brain child of the Director of Aston Villa, William McGregor. McGregor was a Scotsman who moved down to the area and joined up with Villa in around 1878. By the end of McGregor's association with Aston Villa he had seen them win the League 6 times and the FA Cup 4 times. A fact that famously led McGregor to say: "For brilliance and, at the same time, for consistency of achievement, for activity in philanthropic enterprise...

runetune 27.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Aston Villa