This article suggests that an increasing number of British families are now taking their summer holiday in the UK. The main factors influencing their decision seems to be that they are trying to save money and also avoid delays and problems at the UK's airports. Whilst people still appear to be booking short haul holidays to places like France, Malta and the Canaries customers seem to be steering clear of long haul destinations.

This weeks Travel Blog follows Jon and Jacky as they travel around for three months on  their honeymoon. Their journey started in May when they visited Vietnam. One of the posts from their time there shows some of the interesting items of sale, such as these snakes and scorpions in a jar (right). They also show some of the more unusual food on offer, such as this elephant ear fish (left) which although ugly is apparently perfectly edible.

Another post finds them in Singapore visiting the Singapore Zoo.  The title of the post "If Carlsberg made zoos" says it all. None of the animals at the zoo are in conventional enclosures giving an altogether more close up experience as you can see by this picture (right) of crocodile feeding time.

The most recent posts find the couple in New Zealand. A few highlights include the ice bar. A bar that is basically an -8 degree room where all the chairs, bar and glasses are made of ice. Another post finds them visiting a glacier and walking around the ice caves and another recent post shows these rather unusual limestone rocks (right).

Despite the fact that prices of holidays seems to be more expensive at the moment due to fuel surcharges, there are still some good deals to be had if you look around. One option that is worth looking at is a holiday apartment rather than a hotel. This website for example has some good deals on Barcelona apartments. The advantage of booking a holiday apartment is that it can often work out cheaper choosing the self catering option. Holiday apartments in Catalonia start from as little as £350 a week based on a 1 bedroom apartment near the city centre and according to this article August is a good time to visit Barcelona as many Spaniards choose to go on vacation so the city is quieter and Spanish apartments are often cheaper at this time of year.

Barcelona like Paris has a discount card that you might want to purchase to save a bit more cash. Not surprisingly it is called the Barcelona Card. It offers free travel on public transport, free offers at museums, leisure facilities, nightclubs, shops and restaurants. You can purchase the card for 2,3,4 or 5 days depending on the length of your stay and it also comes with a handy information guide.

BA will cut capacity on winter flights by up to 5% in an effort to avoid losses. They will reduce the amount of flights on its routes and axe some service between October and March. There will be fewer services on the least cash generative routes with no more than two out of 154 routes being axed. Many airlines are currently cutting capacity due to falling demand and high fuel prices with US carriers leading the way. There are signs that the slowing economy is starting to affect travel with BA seeing a decline of 3.7% or 87,000 fewer passengers in June.

This week's travel blog of the week is 3 Go Global, yet another blog started by someone who decided to pickup sticks and explore the world with their children in tow so they could say "I did that!"

One interesting article I found was about their trip to Bangkok watching an "horrific" display of a mongoose attacking cobras that were dropped into its glass cage (the snakes were later prized from its jaws). However my favourite part was the visit to the Tiger Temple where tigers sit sprawled out unconcerned by the tourists gauping at these larger than life creatures lazing in the sun.

This weeks Travel Blog of the Week is Born to Travel written by Sharon and Scott. The blog follows their various travels around the world with the most recent posts finding them in India. One post charts a bus trip to the town of Keylong where the driver negotiates the precarious mountain road whilst holding an animated conversation with the conductor complete with wild hand movements. It all sounds rather scary and they post a picture (right) of what can happen if you go off the edge. Luckily they arrives at their destination in one piece despite feeling the effects of altitude sickness - lethargy, nausea, and headaches. Another post is about another bus trip. On this one, however, the couple decided to get off as the bus in question had no brakes despite being about to negotiate the same precarious mountain roads. Despite this it appears that the local people, perhaps hardened to the conditions of the road and the transport were happy to stay on the bus and continue their journey. A third post shows something that you could surely only find in India a man powered Ferris Wheel (left). You have to see it to believe it. These are just a few highlights from this great blog, but its well worth checking it out yourself for more great posts.

Exeter International Airport has unveiled expansion plans. Under the plans the airport would expand to include more destinations and would make improvements to taxiways. The plans could increase on site jobs from 1,400 to 3,550 by 2030 with the local economic contribution rising from £105m to £264m over the same period. However, Friends of the Earth have said that plans to increase annual passengers number at the airport are bad for the environment and that any economic benefit would be outweighed by the effects on climate change. The plan is open for consultation for three months.

We apologise for missing last month's travel blog of the week, we have all been very busy with upgrades to the PC2Paper website. This week's travel blog of the week is the rather unusually named Hedgehogs Without Borders. The blog covers Jessica and Tim's 18 month "round-the-world adventure" to places such as Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, England, Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos....

An article I found interesting was their visit to the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu its usually on top of every adventurers list when visiting Peru. What I liked about their visit was they also decided to scale Wayna Picchu the mountain peak you usually see in the back ground when pictures are taken of Machu Picchu. On top of this peak is an ancient complex of Incan guardhouses which leads to a spectacular view below of the Sacred Valley.

This weeks travel blog of the week is the official blog of the Romow travel directory. The blog has lots of useful tips for travellers. One post entitled how to make the most of your family vacation suggests stocking up at home for some of your vacation needs as its often cheaper. Packing plenty of sunscreen, batteries and first aid supplies will mean you don't need to pay over inflated prices at the airport and in the resort. The post also suggests travelling off season which can save you as much as 50% off high season prices and also enjoy your destination without crowds of other tourists. It also recommends doing your research and comparing prices on car rental and accommodation before booking and looking out for bundle deals which can often offer large discounts.

Another post looks at travel safety and security. It includes advice such as wearing a money belt to protect your paperwork and your travellers checks and also recommends making copies of all of your important documents before you go and storing them separately from the originals. There is plenty of other useful advice on this blog from tips on what to pack to advice on getting the most of your railway journey. Its well worth a look for any traveller.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Less than a Shoestring: Budget Travel Tips for People with no Budget. The blog as the title suggests has a wealth of ideas for people travelling with very little money. One post looks at how to cut costs in London. The author managed to spend five days in London and spent under £100 including flights which is quite impressive. Some tips for keeping costs down include eating only groceries rather than eating out and taking public transport. Other ways to cut costs include visiting things that are free like such as the Tate Modern and the London museums. Another useful post has some tips on how to save for plane tickets, often the biggest expense to consider when you are planning a trip. Tips include selling unwanted items to raise some extra cash and putting aside all your loose change into a flight fund. After a while all those coins can soon can add up.

This week's travel blog of the week is Coomers Family World Adventures. The blog is about a family of three Shawn, Shawn and Jasmine who set about a two year trip around the world. Amongst their destinations are Australia, Belize & Honduras, Canada, Fiji, Guatemala, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the USA.

One interesting article is entitled "Have We Died and Gone To Hell?" Which explains the families trip through the Australian outback and suffering the severe heat which was so intense they had to cancel a trip and spend most of the time indoors with an air conditioning unit. Shawn mentions that in the brief time they were outside even the animals stayed out of sight in the shade.

Last summers storm has meant that bathing water at beaches across the UK is more polluted. As a result the number of beaches with excellent water quality has fallen by 10% on last year. 779 beaches were tested, with 443 getting a good rating compared with 495 last year. The tests were carried out between May and September last year coinciding with the wettest British summer on record. The society has said that heavy rain would have washed sewage and animal waste into the rivers and the sea making the waters more polluted than normal. The tests also found that the number of beaches failing to meet the minimum standard has tripled from 17 to 53. If you want to find out how a beach scored before swimming you can see the results here.

American Airlines will bring in a charge for checked bags from the 15th of June. They will charge $15 for the first checked bag and already have a $25 charge for the second checked bag. It will also raise other fees for service such as reservation help and fees for oversized bags. The changes come because the airlines fuel costs have increased by nearly $3 billion since the start of the year. Other airlines such as United Airlines are also looking at whether to impose a fee on checked luggage. It seems checking in baggage free of charge might soon become a thing of the past.

This weeks travel blogs of the week is The World Is Not Flat.

Usually when we choose a travel blog we like to make sure it has been updated regularly to ensure its current. On this occasion we have chosen a travel blog that is "frozen in time". The main purpose of The World Is Not Flat was to record the 2 years travels of Lee and Sachi LeFever. At the end of their travels they catalogued their experiences into Favourite Overall Countries, Favourite Experiences, Not So Favourite and Favourite Cities.

The blog is vast and covers travels through places such as Japan, New Zealand, China, Russia, Thailand and Portugal with a wealth of photos and articles of their experiences. From scamming tax drivers to how to deal with street hawkers in India.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Sixintheworld, covering the travels of a family of six's year long trips around the world. The reason they decided to do the trip was to build family relationships and teach their kids that they have the power to make a difference in the world through good deeds along the way.

The site is well laid out featuring items such as the family's Itinery, Non Profit deeds and Photo collections. The family is so famous for their travels they have even been featured in national newspapers. 

This weeks travel blog of the week is The Edmeads Family Adventures. The blogs charts the adventures of a family of four as they travel around the world on a year long trip. The unusual thing about this blog is that the family includes two young children of 4 and 7 years old.

The blog starts off showing the preparations for the journey including the vaccinations before  they set off and all the items they need to pack to take with them. One of the more recent posts sees the family visiting the Similan Islands in Thailand. A protected national park the islands have a wealth of interesting wildlife including turtles. The family slept in a camouflaged tent on the beach for the night (pictured left) and the next day were lucky enough to go swimming with turtles, much to the delight of the children.

This blog has many more interesting posts, illustrated with great pictures and is certainly proof that travelling the world with kids is not only possible but also an enjoyable experience for all.

This weeks travel blog of the week is The Perrin Post written by Wendy Perrin. This blog is particularly useful because it deals with several issues that have been in the news recently, such as what to do when your flight is delayed or when you are stranded at the airport. 

One useful post entitled top ten things to do when you are stranded at an airport has useful advice on how to amuse children if your flight is delayed. It includes suggestions such as using cots and blankets to make a fort and building towers out of packs of Starburst Fruit Chews. Another useful post includes advice on what you are entitled to if you are bumped from your flight and another post has ten ways to keep your children occupied on a plane without toys. It includes games such as "what shape is that cloud" and a "find the city" game which you can play using the air route map, as well as other advice to buy a drink for the other passengers within earshot. Its all very useful and should make travelling with children a little bit easier.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Claire takes on the world, an amusing and feature rich blog of Claire's worldly travels.

What I enjoyed about Claire's blog is that out of the many blogs I have seen Claire had actually been to the Amazon. After 8 months in South America she had finally arranged a 3 day trip to the Amazon where they attempted to cross a river sitting on a wooden raft. While half way through the water Claire yelled to her friend "Jenny, where's your camera?"

Jenny replied "Claire, it's not the time for pictures!" and then suddenly realised when checking her money belt that her camera and mp3 player were covered in water!

When they finally reached the Amazon, of which Claire likens to looking like a forest in Ireland, Jenny referred to the experience as "We're getting to meet the entire cast of A Bugs Life today".

You can read the rest of Claire's adventures here

This weeks travel blog of the week is steveislost.com. The blog is written by Steven Kazuo Nakano and charts his travels over the last couple of years. After selling off all of his stuff including his prized car back in 2005 Steve has already been to Argentina, Chile, Egypt, Israel, Peru and Venezuela, just to name a few places. The most recent entries find him in India where he purchases a motor bike in order to see more of the country. Steve talks about the complexities of dealing with the local police and paperwork issues and the fact that the best way to deal with them is just not to stop at the checkpoints.

One of the more humorous posts from his time in India also mentions what Steve describes as "the number two worst room I stayed in". Whilst this is not surprising, after reading the post you probably like me will be left wondering what the worst room he has stayed in was like, perhaps Steve can enlighten us here? Firstly he says the room was very close to a pig sty which gave it a beautiful spring smell, but the wildlife inside the room was slightly more irritating. One thing is for sure his post will certainly have you scratching as you read about the population of bed bugs he shared the room with. You can see what he calls his first nights catch pictured left. He says of the room and the number of bedbugs:
"I have stayed in places before where I have seen a few, but not a major infestation like this. At the joining of the wall to the ceiling was thousands of little droppings where they pooped. After the first night I finally realized where they were coming from and could see them sticking their heads out of the cracks waiting for me to go to sleep" and he resorts to staying awake most of the night as the bugs come out to feed. It sounds lovely. On a more cheerful note he also posts this cute picture of a family of monkeys . ahhh.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Family Travel. The blog is run by away.com and features  regular authors Steve Jermanok and Christine Loomis and other guest authors.  It aims to offer practical advice and tips for those planning a trip with the family.

One article written by Nathan Borchelt looks at the Copper  Mountain ski resort in Colorado which Nathan says is an ideal resort for the whole family. The reason he says this is that the resort has a large area which is dedicated to beginners but also has more challenging intermediate and expert runs which are situated well away from those who are just learning the ropes. The resort also holds classes for two age groups children aged 3 to 5 and another for children aged 5 and over, as well as having seasonal youth programs also separated by age group. It certainly looks like a great family destination.

Another useful article written by guest blogger Jennifer Michaels and entitled packing tips from the expert  looks at how to organise your packing and still stay within the airlines baggage allowance. Tips include things lie using a board to fold shirts and shorts and rolling bathing suits and underwear into cubes to save much needed space. Other tips include renting large items of baby equipment once you reach your destination and giving each child their own carry on kit for the plane journey with their special toys and some snacks included. This article is definitely worth a read before you travel.

Today's Travel Blog of the week is Boedus Travel, its one of my favourite types of travel blogs - one with a lot of pictures. One of my favourite articles on this blog is that depicting a photo album of Yemen, it has some amazing pictures of this beautiful country and its people.

Another article in a similar vain is Ethiopia Photo Raid an article where the author prefers to show his experience of this African country in photos and like the Yemen article the photos are truly stunning.

This weeks Travel Blog of the Week  is The Brel Chronicles written by Brendan and Mel (Brel). The blog charts their travels over a 10 month period and although it is still relatively new with the first post in January of this year, it already contains a number of interesting articles.

I have always loved monkeys so was interested to see their pictures from Costa Rica where they have come across Howler Monkeys, Capuchin Monkeys and Squirrel Monkeys all of which are really really cute. Much of the couples time in Costa Rica was also spent stalking the local bird population with Mel spotting an impressive 75 bird species including toucans, trogons, kingfishers and parrots.

They have also set up a foundation that is designed to try and give something back to the communities they visit. It is called The Brel Drop in the Ocean Foundation and the idea is that they will select a cause in each country that they visit and try offer what help they can, whether it is donating money or some of their time by volunteering on a local project. So far they have helped address the problem of stray cats in Placencia by helping  to reduce the population with a neutering program. They also have plans to contribute to an organisation that provides monkey bridges to help Titi monkeys avoid being electrocuted by electric wires. This blog is certainly off to a promising start despite being only three months old, I am looking forward to reading more of this great content over the coming months.

This weeks Travel Blog of the Week  is Location Independent Living. Ever grown tired of the usual rat race? Working 9 to 5, five days a week to earn a salary to pay off your mortgage and eventually retire on a good enough pension and live the good life? Well this blog was started by people who didn't want to live that sort of life, they wanted to live a good life now and from anywhere in the world.  So they sold all of their worldly possessions to travel the world and set up a location-independent business. This blog is here to help anyone else who wants to live this kind of live, it is also quick to add the caveat "without being a millionaire". To me this ensures people do not mistake this site as a get rich quick scheme but as a new way of living.

An article I found interesting had the rather humorous title "How To Travel The World Working With Your Other Half And Not Split Up (Or Kill Each Other)". It covers the challenges facing couples who choose a Location Independent Lifestyle. One example it gives is the insecurity you might feel not being in your home town or close to friends to talk to instead of having to talk to your partner all the time. One solution it gives is to make new friends and to make use of online social networks to talk with friends.

A scheme to help cut the cost of ferry journeys to and from the Western Isles has been announced by the Scottish Government. It currently costs £140 for the return car ferry from the mainland to Stornoway with local people saying this cost holds back tourism and development. The new scheme which will run as a pilot will cost £22 million to operate over three years but could see the cost of journey cut by a third. The routes chosen for the trial are Stornoway to Ullapool, the routes between Uig on Skye, Tarbert on Harris and Lochmaddy in North Uist and the routes linking Oban, South Uist, Coll Barra and Tiree.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Honeymoon Around the World written by Steve and Christy. It follows their progress as they take time out from their jobs for an extended honeymoon travelling around the world. Their journey starts in June 2007 with their wedding in Mexico and then heads to Iceland, Europe including Ireland, England and Italy and then onto Africa before heading to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and eventually New Zealand.

There is a lot of interesting content on this blog but for  me a few posts stood out. The first from their time in Thailand is about the interesting food available at the street markets. One vendor was selling an interesting mix of fried bugs including meal worms, grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches. Steve and Christy were brave enough to sample the fried grasshopper (pictured left) with Steve describing it as a "a fried mass of legs of body".
 

Another post also on the subject of unusual food highlights the options available at a local  market in Laos. Here, Steve finds an appetising selection of fried rats and fried bats. Although Steve was not planning on purchasing anything a fellow tourist offered him a bat. Apparently you do not need to add sauce to enjoy a fried bat (pictured right), you simply eat it as it is. The verdict was that it tasted like chicken. Despite trying the bat Steve stayed away from the other delicacies preferring not to sample the fried rat or surprisingly the coagulated cow blood. I can't imagine why it all sounds very tasty.

This weeks travel blog of the week is China Travel. The blog covers the travels of Tom Carter who has spent 2 years backpacking in China. Focusing more on the the things you probably wouldn't see if you went on a packaged holiday.

One of the most amusing articles on the blog is titled Chinese Youth Hostels. As a veteran backpacker, hostels are essential for Tom. He quite comically recalls an extended stay in a laid back hostel in Chengdu over 7 days. Encountering several Australians, Europeans and Americans who had also got pulled into the laid back life style of the hostel. Tom likens the hostel environment to that of a Reality TV Series 'Backpackers Behaving Badly', his stay is filled with occurrences of dorm mates arriving back drunk passing out in the early hours of the morning after going out partying each night.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Riding the Spine. The blog charts the progress of Jacob, Goat and Sean and their three year trip cycling the Continental Divide. They began their trip in July 2006 and are currently in Nicaragua. One of my favourite articles charts an incident where Sean has a run in with the local police. Whilst looking for a place to camp for the night, he had ended up on private property and venturing out for some groceries Sean came across the landlord who called the police. Three policeman quickly arrived armed with automatic rifles and after searching him they proceeded to ask lots of questions. Sean tried to make the Spanish speaking officer understand that he gone out