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£10,000 prize: vote to win a full set of luggage and a luxury 7-night stay in Phuket

We are delighted to announce that A Luxury Travel Blog has been shortlisted for the category ‘Best Travel Influencer’ in awards led by the prestigious technology title ‘WIRED’ and the leading luggage and lifestyle brand ‘TUMI’. The TUMI x WIRED Innovation in Travel Awards celebrate the companies, destinations and services delivering unparalleled experiences in the travel sector. WIRED We are shortlisted along with four others and complemented for our “excellent website and Twitter presence”. It’s also a pleasure to see one of our regular guest bloggers here on A Luxury Travel Blog, Black Tomato, in the running for the ‘Best Specialist Travel Agent/Concierge’ award. By simply voting in the awards, for which there are six different categories to vote on in total, you can be entered into the draw to win a £10,000 prize – a full set of TUMI luggage and a 7-night stay at the luxurious Banyan Tree Phuket, brought to you by Travelbag.co.uk TUMI luggage A tranquil oasis on one of Thailand’s most scenic islands, Banyan Tree Phuket invites
 guests to re-discover luxury with the relaunch of its newly refurbished Banyan Pool Villas. Blending Thai elegance with contemporary design to create a “Sanctuary for the Senses,” it offers the utmost in comfort to sophisticated travellers seeking a unique holiday escape to the Pearl of the Andaman. Banyan Tree Phuket Naturally we would appreciate your support when it comes to voting, but this is certainly not a requirement! You can vote here and, should you wish to share this with your own social networks, the hashtag to use is #TUMIxWIRED Watch this space – the awards are due to be announced at an event in London on 9th December 2015.

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.

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30 Comments

  1. What a fantastic opportunity! Well done a luxury travel blog and black tomato! You guys are my role models. I am obsessed with travel. This is not an understatement! It’s literally 5am here in the UK (6 really as the clocks just went back) and I can’t sleep for thinking about travel. This would be an incredible journey for me and I would love to write about it on my own blog, and of course the very reputable travel bag. I adore Thailand! Please, please consider me for the trip! If I don’t get picked, I sincerely hope that whoever does has an outrageously amazing time!! Thank you!

  2. Thank you, Louise! We don’t get to pick who goes, I’m afraid – as I understand it, the winner is chosen at random from all those who take part in the voting…

    Good luck!

    Paul

  3. Never been but have seen holiday adventures hopefully will be something for the future and this place is on my bucket list mind you I have a big bucket and have always had to holiday on a budget Phukett somthing new to do good luck to all.

  4. Thank you. Some difficult choices for votes but have Voted. Always informative & comprehensive. The prize is exceptional. Never visited Thailand despite encouragement & recommendations from friends. It’s added to my travel wish list & shared on Twitter.

  5. Super duper #TUMIxWIRED I have voted we have never been to Phuket but have travelled extensively over Thailand, we loved the peoples, culture and the awesome scenery this what we did on one 2 week visit

    Great Hotel Super Start To A Super Holiday

    “Sawatdee!” My wife and I stayed at the Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok, for 3 nights, as part of a 3 centre tour of Thailand, It has excellent service, the room was spacious and clean, all the staff were very friendly, Just as we got into our room the phone rang Julie answered it, it was a colleague, of Julies from work who had been staying in Bangkok, she said they were in the reception, so we went down for a drink with them, they gave us loads of good info, The hotel is in an excellent location situated near the Asoke Skytrain station, we which found very easy to find our way around on, we didn’t eat at the hotel, we ate across the road in a little bar/restaurant, everything we had there was good, we also ate in a few other places in the city, we booked a couple of trips from the tour operators in the hotel, as well as doing our own exploring.We would defiantly go back to this hotel.

    Grand Palace

    Bangkok’s most visited historic palace complex was built in 1782 and features many magnificent buildings including Wat Phra Kaeo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains a beautiful Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century, We caught the sky train from Asoke station (E4) where we purchased a day pass for 120 bahts (?2) get on and off the train as you like anywhere in the city, great way to get around, we then changed at Central station called Siam, onto the sky train to Saphan Taskin S6, from there we caught a boat taxi to the grand palace. The complex is open daily from 8.30 a.m. – 3.30 p.m. Admission fee is 125 baht. (This includes an admission ticket to Vimanmek Royal Mansion). Proper attire is essential. Other attractions nearby are the

    *Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha
    *Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn
    * The National Museum

    Chatuchak Market (Weekend market)

    Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok is the mother of all markets, and possibly one of the largest and most famous markets in the entire world. If bargain hunting gives you an buzz rush, then get ready for a head spinning, unbelievable experience. Conquering this massive market is no easy feat, but the reward for taking a lot of patience along the way, together with a bottle of water, you can find pretty much anything you could want here and very cheap, be prepared to barter, as the market is the perfect place for bargain shopping and to put your bartering skills to the test. A friendly smile and approach are your biggest allies in securing the best possible deal for that wanted bargain, have a go its good fun, also why not check out some of the local unusual delicacies too, like bugs, grubs, frogs and scorpions (No Thanks not for me LOL).

    You can get a free map from one of the tourist information kiosks to help plan your adventure through the never-ending maze of crowded, narrow alleys which are, surprisingly, numbered, and easy to navigate

    Patpong Night Market, was a fabulous night out,

    Amari Rincome Hotel

    We stayed Amari Rincome Hotel Chiang Mai for 3 days (second part of 3 centre Thailand tour). We booked a superior room on a room only basis, when we arrived at the check in desk, to our surprize we were upgraded to a newly refurbished deluxe room, which was great, the room was very spacious, clean and very comfortable, the hotel has 2 good size pools one of which has a small bar for snacks, other than the little pool side snack bar we didnt eat at the hotel, as there are lots of places to go close by for breakfast. We went in to the famous Night Bazaar everynight on the hotels shuttle bus, with the oddziees, (Hello Steve and Lizzy, who are TA members) whom we met on our stay at the hotel, we ate at a few restaraunts in and around the market, the Amari Rincome Hotel is centrally located for sightseeing,we booked a few trips from our rep, Chiang Doa cave, Thanon temple, and lots more, as well as exploring ourselves, were we visited a few temples in Chaing Mai, and Doi Suthep Temple,Chaing Mai zoo.

    This is a good hotel we would definatly go back.

    Regent Cha-Am Beach Resort

    We stayed at the Regent Beach Resort Cha-Am for 6 days as the 3rd and final part of our Thailand tour, it was late at night when we arrived after a 3 hour taxi drive from Bangkok, Check in went really smoothly and we were in our room in no time at all, Our room was on the ground floor and was comfortable, spacious, and spotlessly clean as is the whole hotel, had a tv, dvd player, kettle and mini bar, but no safety deposit box, so we had to use the Free ones that are located in reception. Our balcony led onto the gardens, which are very well kept, the hotel has 2 good size pools and a jacuzzi pool, the beach has soft white sand and is very clean. Along the beach in both directions, there are bar/restaurants and massage areas, there are a lot of traders on the beach but they don’t hassle you if you say “no thanks”. Outside in front of the hotel reception there are some shops but many were unoccupied. There’s also a small village, turn left outside the hotel, about 200 yards, and has bars/restaurants and shops and tailors, we tried a few of the restaurants of which were all good, the best breakfast we found was at J&K English Restaraunt the owner John’s English and his wife Kag is Thai, best of both worlds English and Thai food.

    We used the hotel shuttle service to go into Cha-Am and Hua-Hin at night, you can book for that in reception. We did a few trips of our own from the Taxi rank that are near the village, wheres theres a notice board with a price list. We visited the Royal Palace , Phra Nakhon Khiri, in Phetchaburi, monkey mountain and caves,

    Elephant treking, Which was a fabulous day out Where rode an elephant around some hillsides and feilds, then going through a deepish pond the Mahoot got off the elephant and walked ahead of us, not sure who was in control it wasnt me LOL, it did what it wanted, when the mahoot shouted it took us over to him,

    Damnoen Saduak, Floating Market, was another great day out, going down the river, past all the floating stall vendors, it was really crowded the river it was abit of a traffic jam at time but great fun, Clicky Link To see the video we took there, it’s a very colourful place full of hustle and bustle of people going about their lives,we then got out of the boat and then had a walk around the market,

    We also went to Khao San Roi Yot National Park, after ariving at the National Park we went down to the beach, where from the beach and after a long tail boat ride around some Islands, we landed on another beach, we walked up a track through the small forest which led to another rocky path with a 450m steep uphill mountain trek, (it was really hard going), to see the Phra Nakhon cave, where there is the Subterranean sanctuary of King Rama V’s pavilion, the Tham Phraya Nakhon cave chamber which contains a temple, breathtaking, absolutely amazingly beautiful,(see my photos) its well worth the 50 mins up hillwalk slog, we passed many people who gave up. This is a good hotel we would definitely go back.

    We will definitely be going back to Thailand

  6. I have voted, i’d love to go to thailand – one for the bucket list. Fabulous competition good luck everyone

  7. All voted and I agree you do give the best information, I love your twitter posts and thik all your reviews are informative, interesting and incredibly helpful

  8. There’s a bug on the site, you can’t submit the vote!!!! Please fix so I can vote :)

    (Failed to load resource: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
    jquery.ba-bbq.min.js:18 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property ‘msie’ of undefined…..)

  9. Thas fantastic!!!!
    Good Luck Paul, hope you win, you deserve it! I stalk you almost daily on twitter :)
    Fingers crossed i win too! would loveto head back to Thailand :)

  10. Thank you for giving me something interesting and fun to read. I appreciate all the time you put into your blog!

  11. great prize Thailand is amazing and so diverse the people are lovely so friendly and really like talking to you

  12. Thanks for letting us know about this. All done and voted of course for a luxury Travel Blog its such a great Blog alwyas a good read xx

  13. I’ve just missed out on this wonderful competition, however, I’m actually going to Phuket on Sunday for Christmas and the New Year…I’ll certainly check out the hotel offered in the competition…thank you for some great suggestions as to what to do in Phuket…can’t wait for some great photo opportunities of my travels!

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