Long haul travel specialist celebrates 60 years

Bales Worldwide celebrates 60 years of travel this year. To mark this milestone in true style, the long haul travel specialist’s chairman and founder, Molly Bales will join her clients for a series of specially designed birthday trips to Costa Rica, India, Jordan and Egypt.

Each holiday will offer a spectacular way to celebrate this birthday from a dinner dance in Rajasthan’s sand dunes, to a candle lit cocktail party at Little Petra in Jordon. Birthday trips are priced from £1160 per person for an eight day visit to Jordon.

Bales Worldwide was originally set up by a former RAF navigator, George Bales (Molly’s late husband), as an air broking company in 1947, which flew much-needed fruit from Spain, Italy, France and Holland to Covent Garden dealers. George soon switched apple and oranges for British holidaymakers when he started taking group tours to Egypt and beyond. The company is still owned and run by the Bales family and is the oldest and most established family owned independent tour operator in the UK today.

India of the Maharajahs is a 16 day holiday to Rajasthan, India, including a magical celebratory evening at Jaisalmer where guests will trek by camel into the heart of the dunes for a spectacular evening of dinner and dancing under the stars. The trip includes highlights such as Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodpur, Luni and Udaipur. Much of the accommodation has been arranged in former royal residences now run as heritage hotels such as Khimsar Fort and Fort Rajwada. This special trip departs the UK on the 14th October and is priced from £2185 per person.

Natural Wonders of Costa Rica is a 10 day journey around one of Central America’s best kept secrets. The holiday includes a journey through the rainforest to Tortuguero National Park, sailing in rubber zodiacs on the Penas Blancas River to view monkeys, sloths, iguanas and crocodiles and a day’s exploration of the Monteverde Cloudforest.

The unique ‘birthday’ experience will involve joining together with students from the La Fortuna High School to plant 60 trees, as part of Costa Rica’s challenge to preserve the planet. The holiday departs on 8 November 2007 and is priced at £1563 per person.

The Treasures of Jordon is an eight day holiday which combines three days in Petra with a chance to relax and pamper at the Movenpick Resort and Dead Sea Spa. The highlight of this special birthday departure is a cocktail party at Little Petra. Guests will be lead through the candle lit ‘siq’ by a piper where they will reach the monument and enjoy cocktails whilst a folklore troupe entertains.

The trip also includes a visit to the Crusader castle of Shobak and a stop at the Dead Sea Panorama Complex with breathtaking views of the Jordon Valley, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem in the distance. The holiday departs on 6 October 2007 and is priced at £1160 per person.

Nostalgic Nile is a unique Nile cruise on board the Amber ‘dahabiyya’ on the 7th November 2007. The dahabiyyas revive the elegant days of the early 19th century when aristocrats and sophisticated travellers cruised the Nile on their private wooden crafted sailing vessels.

The 12 day holiday includes three days in Cairo staying at the Mena House Oberoi Hotel, before embarking on the Amber at Luxor for a leisurely seven day cruise to Aswan. The vessel stops at private moorings, away from the larger towns, as well as calling in at little visited Nile islands. The holiday is priced at £2245 per person and will include a special birthday cocktail party at sunset on deck.

For reservations and more information, look online at Balesworldwide.com/birthday