It takes about four hours to fly to Sophia Airport and the transfer time is around ninety minutes, but the roads and the way drivers behave is certainly unnerving, especially if you are sitting in the front seat of a minibus.

There are a number of hotels and villas providing basic accommodation but the ski schools are excellent and the main hotels have their own. Private ski tuition can be had very cheaply and equipment is cheap to hire. Ski passes can be bought as part of holiday packages, or you can buy one on arrival.

There are various evening entertainments from functions in hotels to ski contests, ski racing by professionals, ice skating, swimming in hotel pools, music, or enjoying a fondue night at a small restaurant.

Borovets also has a ski school for the little ones and tiny tots can be seen in long lines, using ski sticks one day, then a single ski, and finally putting it all together, as well as enjoying snowball fights and riding on sleds.

This is an excellent resort for a budget ski holiday. There are no frills but you will pay less than half what a holiday in the Alps would cost. 

Rolling green landscapes dotted with wildflowers, ancient ruins, breathtaking medieval castles, incredible golf, great shopping, exciting cities, lively pubs, and world-famous Irish hospitality await you.  From the comfort of your private holiday rental you are free to choose the kind of getaway that suits your tastes, away from the crowds at traditional resorts and hotels.

Renting cottages in Ireland is an affordable way to travel, whether you are a party of two or are bringing the whole family along.  For only a few hundred pounds you can book a week’s stay in a quaint country bungalow, a stylish city apartment, a spacious farmhouse, or a comfortable cottage.  You’ll have greater control over your holiday activities and won’t be limited by group tour regulations or traditional hotel offerings.  What a refreshing way to spend your next getaway!

Holiday cottages in Ireland are fully furnished, most with self-catering facilities.  Relax in well-appointed bedrooms and living areas, enjoy convenient parking, nearby shopping and dining, and additional amenities like wireless internet access, private balconies, swimming pools, log fireplaces, and more.  You’ll find cottages in Ireland located in virtually every region, meaning you’ll be able to book accommodation mere steps away from the cities and sites you want to see on your holiday.  Booking direct from the property owner ensures your lodgings will be clean, secure, and in excellent repair.

For a truly one of a kind Irish holiday, consider booking private cottages in Ireland.

The popularity of the Via Lattea ski resorts area was bolstered by the 2006 Winter Olympics, during which many of the ski runs in the area were used for events, including alpine, freestyle and nordic skiing events, as well as the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge. Runs range from beginner to advanced, depending on which of the resorts are chosen. Montgenevre is considered the best place for beginners, while Sestriere is more suited to advanced skiers, and is the highest and most luxurious of the resorts in the area, having received the most attention during the preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Claviere is perfect for intermediate to advanced skiers, with no beginner runs.

All in all, when looked at for a complete ski resort adventure, there is a reason that Via Lattea is considered the best of all the ski resorts dotted around the world.

If you fall into the category of people whose perfect holiday is to get away from it all and just simply relax then a barge cruise is ideal. Travelling at a peaceful four miles an hour you can easily appreciate the green Welsh landscape as it slips past.

Two hundred years ago these canals were the M25 of their day, transporting the product of industry to the world. The Monmouth and Breconshire Canal starts in Newport, near Cardiff and travels 33 miles north, delicately skirting the Brecon Mountains until it reaches the market town of Brecon. It was in this area that much of the industrial revolution was born, in towns like Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, Abergavenny and Blaenavon.

Gone are the days of the noisy blast furnaces, the grimy pitheads and the endless parade of warehouses that fringed the canal. The landscape has been returned to Mother Nature and she has quickly reclaimed it. Cruises travel gently through a gorgeous countryside of old over grown buildings, wooded hills and ancient monuments. Within the shadows of the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons you will rediscover a rural Wales not far from the hustle and bustle of Newport and Cardiff but in a tranquil, other world, a place where nature once more has control.

There are a number of lodge camps dotted around the Kruger National Park, a 18,989 sq km game reserve that offers an ideal opportunity to track the big five game: lions, leopards, elephants, rhino and buffalo. The camps themselves are protected enclaves and have restaurants, swimming pools, Jacuzzis and outdoor boma, an enclosed fire lit eating area in the heart of the bush.

Situated on the eastern border of Gauteng Province, with Zimbabwe to the north and Mozambique on its eastern border, the park is some 60 km wide and stretches over 350 km in length and now forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and Peace Park between South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe covering 35,000 sq km.

The park provides a wonderful natural environment to observe many of Africa’s wild animals in their own habitat, following centuries old trails, drinking at water holes or relaxing under the massive baobab trees. There are over 15,000 elephants, 17,700 zebras, 1,500 lions and 1,000 leopards that all call this beautiful scrub landscape home.

The Kruger National Park has nine entrance gates that are within easy reach of Pretoria and Johannesburg from the O.R. Tambo International Airport.

Picture courtesy of Rod Inh00d

For example Yorkshire Corporate and Shooting Services is a company that arrange exciting team building days for those wishing to break out of the office for a day or two and experience true freedom and adventure in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Their corporate away days include clay pigeon shooting, 4×4 off-roading, archery and even a chocolate fondue team event.

Picture your colleagues competing in an archery event in the wilds of Yorkshire, breathing the fresh air and cheering each other on. When this is compared with sitting indoors, each of your colleagues engaged separately with work at their desk, it’s obvious which one will be more beneficial. Of course work needs to be done, but providing a break from that work in the form of an outdoor adventure will kick start productivity in the work place and hugely increase your team’s morale.

Yorkshire corporate events such as these really help to promote a feeling of teamwork among your work peers and it encourages them to trust and respect each other. Leisure and fun should be a part of everybody’s life because they have such benefits for the body and mind. Engaging in corporate entertainment of this kind will help to sharpen your workforce and maximise their potential.

This has resulted in businesses having to work harder than ever to create and maintain good working relationships and a strong bond between employees. A recent study found that up to 80% of organisations in the UK spend money regularly on corporate away days and teambuilding games and exercises.

Teams who participate in these team bonding tasks see a noticeable improvement in performance, the same study revealed. The importance of committed teams who pull together has been recognised by companies and teambuilding exercises prove to be the easiest way of achieving a united and bonded team.

Across the UK a large selection of different activities are available, all designed to encourage team bonding and working together. Included in this are rock climbing, hiking, camping, mountain biking and adventure ropes. Completing these tasks outside of the office environment breaks people’s link with minor worries and the hierarchy of the office so that different level staff can get to know each other.

Arranging a company away day can be a basis for teambuilding and developing leadership skills, bringing people together who usually work in different branches but most importantly building the unity of the company integrating new staff and increasing motivation.

Team building is by no means a new concept. For years employers have devised ways for their employees to get to know each other better in order that they can learn to work together more efficiently. As well as employee efficiency, team building is extremely important for improving morale. Any employer will much prefer a team of workers who are enthusiastic and get along with each other rather than a group of individuals who don’t quite fit together. When employees enjoy their work, they will be a more productive and useful work-force.

The words ‘team building’ used to conjure up images of sulky office workers forced to bond with each other by engaging in silly games, but this has been radically revolutionised now that adventure days have arrived on the scene. Now, instead of grudgingly shaking the hand of your colleague in an awkward effort to get to know them, you could be helping them across a crevasse in England’s rugged countryside, and this is surely a vast improvement.

However, confidence can ebb due to any number of factors, some in the workplace. New management, being passed over for promotion – there are any number of confidence issues that can affect an employee. And, due to the high stress web of interpersonal relationships that exist in any office, what strikes one employee can affect others. Thus, a drop in overall confidence can occur without warning, weakening the bonds between employees, and between employees and management.

When employee confidence ebbs, the best bet for getting it back up to acceptable levels is to schedule a corporate away day or activity day. And the best way to go about that is to book time at any one of the UK’s many adventure centres. Confidence can be revived through even the simplest outdoor activity, and the more arduous pursuits, such as mountain biking, rock climbing, and backpacking are proven to increase the confidence levels of their participants exponentially.

Teambuilding games are another form of confidence booster, especially in the form of win-win games. Win-win games, as one could expect, are games in which each participant wins. The games are designed solely to boost the confidence and initiative of each player and make them sure of themselves once more.

Group dynamic games, or teambuilding games, are experiential education exercises. They help build relationships within a group, as well as teach individuals how a group dynamic functions. For this reason, they are especially useful to corporate interests, due to the high value most businesses place on teamwork, communication and initiative among their employees.

Ice-breaker games are particularly useful in this regard. They emphasize employees’ relaxation around one another and instil a social camaraderie among the members of the group. These are important qualities for creating a cohesive unit out of a group of diverse individuals.

An adventure centre is the most common site of for teambuilding games, as it can provide numerous outlets for both indoor and outdoor pursuits. Adventure courses are designed with such group dynamic games in mind in many cases, with adventure activities such as kayaking, rock climbing and adventure ropes that play into the teambuilding aspects that corporate away days are centred on.