The Handpicked Blog » Travel

Gilroy & Camm

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:42:27 +0000

I was thrilled to go to the London launch of East African safari company Gilroy & Camm last night. This is a safari company with a difference…instead of planning your trip with a sweet – but let’s face it, slightly useless – sales person in the UK, you get access to people who are there, on the ground in Tanzania, and who understand how the whole place works. They will really understand what you want and can tailor-make a trip that is as magical as you could dream of. Unfortunately I didn’t win the prize of an 8 day flying safari trip for two worth £15,000 (‘unfortunately’ doesn’t quite sum up my disappointment actually)…I already had the whole thing planned in my head…elegant khaki and wafty white for the evening, a leather journal to jot down my musings and my Sandstorm luggage… won’t work quite as well on the alternative holiday to W. Wales…harrumph.

Find out more about the incredible safaris organised by Gilroy & Camm at www.gilroyandcamm.com

The Handpicked Collection have lots of other great travel gifts.

Ila Wordlock

Heather King — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:21:15 +0000

Our latest and greatest product from Ila Security comes in the form of the Ila Wordlock. If you have ordered one of these in the past few weeks (as they have been up on our website) you will have had to have been patient with us. The good news is that we get them into stock tomorrow! So anyone who has ordered one and not received it yet hopefully will get it by the end of the week or the beginning of next.

It’s a very clever contraption and we can’t believe we didn’t come up with it ourselves. Instead of a fiddly number to remember with your padlock or a tiny key that you can lose, choose a four letter word and spell it out to unlock your Wordlock.

A Good British Summer

Heather King — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:46:05 +0000

I think the whole population of Britain is feeling that we are very overdue a good summer. The last two have been mediocre to poor. Mainly due to lack of funds but also to a new found patriotism and soaring hope of lovely weather in our beautiful isle, I have planned myself a truly travelled British summer. And what better way to do this than with a jolly good festival or three? What do you bring to a festival? I’ve been on the hunt for the best and most useful things…

Festival Sleeping Bag – Handpicked Collection.

Handpicked’s beautival Sleeping Bag is perfect for festivaling. There’s nothing more important than a good nights sleep after dancing away and (fingers crossed) a long day outside in the sunshine.

Funky Picnic Blanket with Carry Strap – Handpicked Collection

A key piece of equipment for any outdoor activity really. This one is especially good for picking up and flinging over you shoulder to take to the main stage for lunch.

Flower Flask – Handpicked Collection

One thing that is unbelievably expense at festivals is food and drink. So unfairly when the weather is really hot, merchants can and will charge £3 for a bottle of water so coming prepared with a sturdy flask is not bad idea at all.

Jumbo Bag – Handpicked Collection

I wouldn’t recommend using this to get there (a big rucksack is best, especially once you’ve arrived and have to a further hour of wandering to find somewhere to camp) but this is definitely a good one to take for shopping runs. These bags are virtually indestructible, carry an enormous amount of stuff and fold up to no space at all.

Handpicked’s Pick of the Festivals

First is Radio 1’s Big Weekend (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 May in Bangor) – this is a free event and you can apply here. Or click here to see who is playing. Last year 350 000 people applied online and there are only 20 000 tickets so our hopes aren’t that high…

Who we’re excited to see at the Big Weekend:

Ellie Goulding

Paramore

Florence

Biffy Clyro

Bombay Bicycle Club

Not to worry though, Latitude Festival is less than a mere two months away (Thursday 15 to Monday 19 July in Beccles) – click here to buy tickets and here to see the line up.

Who we’re excited to see at Latitude 2010:

Jonsi

Dirty Projectors

The Maccabees

Empire of the Sun

Florence and the Machine

Vampire Weekend

The next weekend is Secret Garden Party (Thursday 22 to Monday 28 July in Huntingdon) – click here to buy tickets and see the line up at SeeTickets.

To see the Secret Garden website click here. It’s new and really quite cool.

Who we’re excited to see:

Marina and the Diamonds

Pearl and the Puppets

Kate Walsh

Mercury Rev

Volcanoes, Travelling, Rounders and Pimm’s

Heather King — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:22:22 +0000

Despite the Icelandic Volcanic Ash floating miles above our heads like a sci-fi Doctor Who episode, here in London we’ve been blessed with a beautiful weekend filled with rounders in the park, barbecues and a fair amount of Pimm’s. Everyone knows someone who is marooned somewhere (now aptly labelled VAV – Victim of Volcanic Ash). Some are luckier than others, Handpicked Board member James, is stuck in New York but a friend of Managing Director Natasha is supposed to be getting married in France this weekend.

We’ve got hoards of suggestions for the weary traveller. Try an Abahna Mini Bag filled with little bottles of 100ml foam, 100ml lotion and 90g soap, perfect for hand luggage liquid limits.

A Travel Wrap or clever Five Way Poncho make airport halls much cosier if you’ve been stranded.

In our new catalogue (due to land on doormats at the beginning of May) we’ve dedicated a whole three pages to our new Travel Section including lots of essential new products that we’ve already decided we can’t live without. We’ve also asked our Creative Director Amanda, to share her bestest Travel Tips. She’s definitely the person to ask – she has been writing and reviewing all aspects of travel in lots of exciting far flung places for publications such as Red, Brides and House & Garden.