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# Tuesday, 22 July 2008

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.

posted on Tuesday, 22 July 2008 09:09:01 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Monday, 21 July 2008

Qantas Airways have announced that they will cut 1,500 jobs worldwide and abandon plans to create 1,200 new jobs. The move has come as the company tries to deal with high fuel costs. The losses will include closing call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London with the loss of 99 jobs. Around 1,300 jobs will be lost in Australia with the rest overseas. The airline is also scrapping plans to increase its capacity by 8% in the 12 months to mid 2009 as they are not expecting any growth in that period.

posted on Monday, 21 July 2008 08:33:44 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Sunday, 20 July 2008
2334392-Anyone-fancy-a-jar-0

blogoftheweek_thumbThis 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 th2334396-Elephant-ear-fish-0ese 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.

2492582-Feeding-time-at-the-zoo-0Another 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.

2557888-Monkeys-on-ice-0 The most recent posts find the couple in New Zealand. A few highlights include the ice bar. A2591023-Pancake-rocks-0 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).

posted on Sunday, 20 July 2008 17:39:18 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Saturday, 19 July 2008

This article suggests that landing slots at Heathrow are so valuable that it can take companies years and millions of pounds to get just one aircraft into the airport. Heathrow is constrained in the number of flights that it can accommodate meaning an airline wanting to set up operations there can pay up to £30 million for take off and landing times. As a result the landing rights are sometimes more valuable than the airline themselves. The companies must continue using the slots otherwise they will lose them. This means that many airlines will continue flying even if its planes are virtually empty.

posted on Saturday, 19 July 2008 11:53:52 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 18 July 2008

The cost of sending a text message back home whilst in Europe could come down by as much as 70%. Currently sending a text message from Spain would cost around 40p but under new rules it could cost as little as 9p. The cuts have been proposed by the EU Telecoms commissioner who has accused mobile operators of failing to offer customers a fair deal. From October she will introduce new legal rules that will put a cap on charges. Her proposals first need to be approved by ministers of the EU member states before they become law.

posted on Friday, 18 July 2008 08:58:45 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 17 July 2008

Ryanair has announced cut backs of the number of winter flights from Stanstead. It plans to reduce the number of flights by 14 per cent meaning the number of weekly flights will be cut from 1,850 to just 1,600. The plan is part of an effort to try and reduce losses and comes after a similar announcement from BA.

posted on Thursday, 17 July 2008 17:20:41 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback

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.

posted on Thursday, 17 July 2008 10:32:29 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback

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.

posted on Thursday, 17 July 2008 09:06:59 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 16 July 2008

If you were hoping to get tickets for next years T in the park festival then you may already be too late. The first batch of tickets sold out in less than 10 hours as music fans rushed to snap them up. For those you missed them there will be another chance to get a ticket when the line up is announced early next year.

posted on Wednesday, 16 July 2008 14:55:15 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Tuesday, 15 July 2008

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.

posted on Tuesday, 15 July 2008 23:24:39 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback

When booking a holiday you might want to check the small print to see what is says about fuel surcharges. This article highlights a case where a couple were hit with a surcharge of £892 a few months before they were due to set off on a cruise holiday. In their case the extra charge was simply too much to afford and they had no choice but to cancel the holiday. Unfortunately because the charges amounted to £8 less than 10% of the total holiday cost they were not entitled to a refund of the £900 deposit they had paid for the £9,000 holiday.

posted on Tuesday, 15 July 2008 09:23:10 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback