Recent developments in the Eurostar service and cheap flight deals mean that it is becoming easier to travel to the continent. This means it is becoming a viable option for commuters to live in France but still work in London. For people who are interested in doing just that www.francepropertyshop.com offers a guide to French property. It includes a search facility so you can search by region, price and the number of bedrooms you require. It also allows you to find properties near to your chosen ferry port or airport. For people who are thinking of making the move to France, but are not sure where to start there is an also a lot of advice from people highlighting their experiences and tips to make it all a bit easier. This is certainly a useful resource and worth looking at whether you are thinking of buying or selling a property in France.

Network rail have been fined a record £14 million because of engineering work overruns. The fine was imposed after an investigation by the Office of Rail Regulation who also ordered Network Rail to provide a clear plan of how it intends to complete the outstanding work. Network Rail has already announced that the West Coast Main Line will face closures at Easter as work continues. The line may also have to close at some weekends because the work is running late. Engineering overruns caused disruption on the West Coast Main Line at the New Year as well as Liverpool Street Station and Shields Junction near Glasgow over the festive period.

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.

First Great Western is in danger of losing its franchise because of poor service standards. Transport secretary Ruth Kelly has ordered FGW to buy more carriages, increase passenger compensation payments and hire more staff. If these demands are not met the franchise will be terminated. First Great Western was voted the worst service in Britain last month and has misled passengers by underreporting the number of cancellations last year. Instead of fining the franchise Ruth Kelly has instead imposed an improved package on it which includes compensation for customers affected by punctuality problems.

Aberdeen Airport has been named the industry’s most improved by the Airports Council International (ACI). The title goes to the airport that has managed the biggest improvement in overall customer satisfaction. The quality survey was based on data from 200,000 questionnaires which were completed by passengers in 2007.

The world’s first commercial aircraft to be powered partly by biofuel took off from Heathrow on Monday. The Virgin Atlantic 747 flew from London to Amsterdam using a 20% biofuel mix of coconut and babassu oil in on of its four fuel tanks. Sir Richard Branson said the flight was the first step towards using biofuels on commercial flights. However, climate change experts have criticised the flight as a publicity stunt. Kenneth Richter, Friends of the Earth aviation campaigner, said: "Biofuels are a major distraction in the fight against climate change.

British Airways passengers could face severe disruption at Easter unless talks to avert strike action by pilots are successful. BA and the British Airline Pilots Association have agreed to take their dispute to a mediator after 3,000 BA pilots voted for strike action. The action could take place anytime over the next 28 days as long as pilots give at least seven days notice. If strike actions were to go ahead it could affect 100,000 BA passengers a day.

PC2Paper are proud to present our latest offering, the PC2Paper Printer. It quite simply makes sending letters from your PC as easy as printing to your desktop printer. We have released the printer as a beta to allow customers to test the service and offer their feedback.

Once installed the PC2Paper Printer will appear on your PC as a normal printer.

If you want to send a real letter from the Internet, you can do so directly from your desktop PC. Open up your favourite word processing program, type a letter and select print to send your letter.

 

Selecting print will bring up the following dialogue box that will enable you to enter the receivers address and select your postage options.

To get started on the beta version of the PC2Paper Printer click here

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) plans to change flights paths in and out of major UK airports to try and reduce the impact on urban regions. The proposals aim to reduce by 20% the number of people that are affected by departing aircraft flying below 4,000ft. The plans will mean a reduction in the number of flights. It will also mean that some rural areas will experience higher noise levels. Several towns including Southend, Sudbury, Hitchin, Hatfield, Princes Risborough and Royston that currently have high levels of noise should see a reduction. The plans will affect Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and London City and are the first overhaul of routes for several decades. The new routes will be brought in around spring 2009.