Send real letters from the Internet to anywhere in the world.
# Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Boris Johnson has said that Heathrow is a “planning error” and that instead of expanding the airport with a third runway and a possible sixth terminal we should instead consider phasing it out. Boris Johnson is calling on the government to look at plans which would build a new airport on artificial islands on the Thames estuary. This would mean planes could take off and land without disturbing the 2 million people who currently live under the flightpath. He says that if a airport was built away from residential areas that planes would be able to fly around the clock instead of facing the restrictions that they do currently. Mark Willingale, partner of Bluebase, the architectural practice behind the Thames Reach plans, said: “It’s a terrific opportunity. You’ve got a combination of 116,000 new homes in the Thames Gateway with new roads and rails to serve them, the location is ideal for an airport. We just wish the government had the vision to see it .”

posted on Tuesday, 12 February 2008 12:14:22 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Monday, 11 February 2008
Ryanair has been ordered to pay £5,000 to a group of men they wrongly identified as terrorists. The group of black musicians were on their way to London from a festival in Sardinia when a fellow passenger thought their behaviour was suspicious. The passenger saw the men laughing and joking in the departure lounge but became suspicious when he saw them sitting separately on the plane. Two families had refused to fly if the men remained on the plane, promoting the Captain to remove them. The men were removed by armed police carrying guns. Despite the fact they were then given the all clear at security the Captain would not let the men back on the plane because the other passengers were anxious. The group of men were stranded in Sardinia overnight as a result of the incident and missed spending New Year’s Eve with their families.

posted on Monday, 11 February 2008 13:26:33 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Sunday, 10 February 2008

blogoftheweek_thumb 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 to get some groceries but feared the worse when they ordered him into the police car. The police then proceeded to drive him to the grocery store before helping him pick out the groceries and even feeling each piece of fruit to check for ripeness. They then drove him back to the campsite.

Another article from their time in Mexico highlights the abundance of scorpions. Jacob describes finding scorpions under his mattress every night before being stung by one. He was left with a painful and numb arm and still had a numb finger several days later. These are just a few articles from this blog but there is a wealth of interesting stories here.

posted on Sunday, 10 February 2008 21:55:32 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Saturday, 09 February 2008
Airbus has said that it expects passenger traffic to grow at an average of 4.9% a year. This would mean a trebling of global passenger traffic over the next twenty years. The company forecasts that 24,300 passenger and freight aircraft will be ordered between now and 2026 and expects demand to be greatest in Asia Pacific.

posted on Saturday, 09 February 2008 16:43:30 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 08 February 2008
Union leaders have announced that workers will be balloted on strike action. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said its members will vote from 15 February to 11 March. The Rail Maritime and Transport Union has not yet set a date when its workers will vote.

posted on Friday, 08 February 2008 10:13:12 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 07 February 2008
BA has become the latest sponsor of the 2012 Olympics paying around £40 million for marketing rights. They will also fly British athletes to this years Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Other major sponsors of the Olympics include Lloyds TSB, EDF and Adidas.

posted on Thursday, 07 February 2008 12:41:14 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
Manchester Airport has closed one its runways to allow maintenance work to be carried out. The airports usual traffic will use the remaining runway whilst the work is carried out. There are not expected to be any delays to flights from the airport. The second runway will reopen on 29th February.

posted on Thursday, 07 February 2008 12:39:47 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
It is likely that tube workers will stage a series of strikes. The two main unions have given London Underground 48 hours to agree to a list of nine demands. If they do not aggress staff will be balloted today. The demands cover a number of issues and it is unlikely that an agreement will be met. One of the issues includes a ban on agency workers and sub contractor working on underground lines. If they go ahead the strikes will take place next month.

posted on Thursday, 07 February 2008 12:37:57 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 06 February 2008
A new high speed train has been launched in France. The train which is called the AGV will replace the TGV. The new trains will travel at a top speed of 224mph compared to 186mph, the top speed of the TGV. This would mean that the journey on Eurostar from London to Paris would now take only 1h42 minutes compared to the current 2h15 minute journey. Eurostar whilst interested in the new train have no plans to replace its current fleet of trains for the next ten years, so those who are looking forward to getting to France in less than two hours will have a to wait quite some time.

posted on Wednesday, 06 February 2008 15:31:05 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Tuesday, 05 February 2008
Ryanair have said that profits could fall by around 50% next year. The warning has come as a result of higher oil prices combined with poor consumer demand and the weaker pound. Shares in the company fell by more than 10% after the warning. Despite the warning Michael O’Leary the Ryanair boss said the company had managed a "creditable performance in very adverse market conditions", and said he still expects profits for the current year to be ahead by around 17.5% to €470m”.

posted on Tuesday, 05 February 2008 18:40:01 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback