Posted by admin on July 17, 2008 under Europe Accommodation | 
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Ryanair are offering flights from the UK to Ireland for only ВЈ2 return if you book by midnight on Friday 18 July 2008. However as I highlighted previously Ryanair do charge card handling fees, even on free flights. It’s now ВЈ4 for a credit or debit card for each flight but if you have an Electron card then there is no charge.
by dllisbona
The offer is available for flights from 1 September 2008 to 31 October 2008 with certain blackout dates. You can only fly on Mondays after 12:00, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursday before 12:00 and Saturday after 12:00.
I did a quick availability check and found several flights from Edinburgh to Dublin during the first two weeks in September for ВЈ10 return, including the ВЈ8 card handling charges.
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by dllisbona
The offer is available for flights from 1 September 2008 to 31 October 2008 with certain blackout dates. You can only fly on Mondays after 12:00, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursday before 12:00 and Saturday after 12:00.
I did a quick availability check and found several flights from Edinburgh to Dublin during the first two weeks in September for ВЈ10 return, including the ВЈ8 card handling charges.
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Posted by admin on under Europe Accommodation |
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Cheryl Swaby is the founder of the Buddies4travel site which matches solo women travellers who would prefer to travel in the company of a female buddy with similar interests, destination preferences and budget.
1 What is the aim of your business?
The aim of Buddies4travel.co.uk is to promote safer travel 4 women by providng a like minded Buddy to travel with.
2 What prompted you to set up your own business?
During my travels to Lake Garda, Italy, I met several lone women who said they would travel more often if they had someone to go with. Often friends or relatives cannot make the dates, don’t like the chosen travel destination, unable to afford or are unsuitable buddies as they may prefer to stay all day on the beach when in fact an exciting adventure was required of the holiday. During my Lake Garda holiday I organised the ladies to meet up for sightseeing tours and evening meals . We even saved money sharing taxis together. That’s when the idea for Buddies4travel came up.
3 What’s been the hardest aspect of running your own business?
Juggling loads of things at once can be the hardest .
4 What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you running your business?
After a full spread feature of a national Sunday supplement, I received and email from a man who wanted to be my Buddy.The email message was nice until i read his surname..”Sutcliffe” isn’t that the name of that Jack the Ripper who is now behind bars? I think somebody was having a laugh that day.
5 What would you have done differently with hindsight?
I would have changed my first “webdesigner” a lot sooner instead of waiting weeks and weeks and no work being done on my website.
My comments - I think that there is demand for a service like this. Some women are quite happy to travel solo, whereas others would prefer female companionship. I travel quite bit on my own and it’s the evenings that can be lonely sometimes. I don’t like eating out on my own in the evening. I know that travelling solo can be more expensive especially with whopping single room supplements.
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Posted by admin on under Europe Accommodation |
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Picture this: you are reclining in a spacious, comfortable chair, deciding if you remember enough German from school to make an effort to read the newspaper that was handed out to you at departure. The stewardess comes up to you, and asks what you would like to drink. You ask for a hot chocolate, but then change your mind to a cappuccino-maybe the caffeine buzz will get your German going-and she smiles and walks briskly down the aisle to fill your order. Meanwhile, you turn to gaze out your enormous, plasma TV-sized window at the rolling meadows of the Austrian countryside. Your drink has arrived and you pull down your tray from the back of the seat in front of you and relax as your favorite Hugh Grant movie starts to play on the TV screens that have been lowered from the ceiling. When it’s over, you will probably get out your laptop and use the free wi-fi to find a good German-English dictionary. What could be better than this leisurely travel? How about knowing that you paid only 20 pounds for a roundtrip ticket?
by m-louis
No, you’re not on an airplane, you are on a Student Agency bus from Prague to Vienna, but that doesn’t mean you had to dig out your faded uni ID and pull a hat down over your head.At this Prague-based budget travel agency, 10 to 20 percent discounts are given to students under the age of 26, but anyone can travel at the full price, which is usually already incredibly low. Though the website has limited sections in English (flights, but not bus deals, are available in English), you can call the Prague office at +420.800.100.300 or if you are already in Prague, visit them at JeДЌnГЎ 37, 120 00, Prague 2, to speak with their enthusiastic and helpful travel agents. Student Agency travels to many popular Western and Central European destinations by bus (yes, even a 24-hour, 25 pound journey to London from Prague), and to a huge variety of international locations by air. The flight deals are not always competitive in comparison to low budget airlines, and usually fill up very quickly, especially around the holidays, so plan ahead.
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Posted by admin on June 22, 2008 under Europe Accommodation |
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I’ve decided to take the plunge and feature content from other travel bloggers on a regular basis on the Europe a la Carte blog. It’s a difficult step for me to take as I written my own content for my European travel site for the last 6 years. However I believe to take the blog to the next level, I can’t realistically write all the content myself.
I advertised for Europe travel bloggers on the Performancing site and have had a good response. It’s really important that the relationship between the Europe a la Carte blog and the contributing authors is mutually beneficial. I’m looking for quality content for the blog and the authors are looking for exposure for their writing and some financial reward. The contributing authors’ posts need to fit in with the Europe a la Carte blog strap line of “authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget” but also reflect the personality and talents of the various authors.
So look forward to some great new content on the Europe a la Carte blog to inform, inspire and entertain you if you want to see more of the real Europe beyond the usual tourist attractions.
photo by dullhunk
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Posted by admin on June 20, 2007 under Europe Accommodation |
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Stagecoach are running a two week trial of hovercraft service from 16 - 28 July 2007, between Portobello in Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy in Fife. The service will run hourly Monday to Saturday unti 18.00. Journey time is only 20 minutes. Fares are ВЈ9.50 return or ВЈ4.50 for an off peak return and include a shuttle bus to Edinburgh city centre or Ocean Terminal.
I think it sounds like a great idea for commuters as the 20 minute journey time is much quicker than driving round to the congested Forth Road Bridge. It will also be a pleasant day trip. I plan to do the crossing one day.
Technorati Tags: hovercraft. Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy
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Posted by admin on under Europe Accommodation |
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Stagecoach are running a two week trial of hovercraft service from 16 - 28 July 2007, between Portobello in Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy in Fife. The service will run hourly Monday to Saturday unti 18.00. Journey time is only 20 minutes. Fares are ВЈ9.50 return or ВЈ4.50 for an off peak return and include a shuttle bus to Edinburgh city centre or Ocean Terminal.
I think it sounds like a great idea for commuters as the 20 minute journey time is much quicker than driving round to the congested Forth Road Bridge. It will also be a pleasant day trip. I plan to do the crossing one day.
Technorati Tags: hovercraft. Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy
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Posted by admin on June 19, 2007 under Europe Accommodation |
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I just had to get out my camera and photograph the ladies toilets at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh. It’s a riot of colour and a great change from many dismal public facilities.
Regular readers of my blog will know I have a bee in my bonnet about lack of and the awful state of public toilets in the UK. So it’s a refreshing change to be able to make postive comments.
Technorati Tags: public toilets
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Posted by admin on under Europe Accommodation |
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Newhaven Harbour is now a departure point for boat trips or “seafaris” to the Firth of Forth. You must book for all trips by phoning 0131 331 4857. There’s a one hour seafari to spot wildlife seals. puffins and guillemots or two hour trips to the island of Inchcolm where you can visit the Abbey.
The Newhaven Museum located in the Fish Market building is closed for renovation at present. It’s free to park by the harbour and there’s a bus stop. There are views up the Forth Estuary towards the bridges and over the Fife. There are several pubs and restaurants so you could have a day out in the area.
Technorati Tags: Newhaven Harbour, Edinburgh, Inchcolm Island
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Posted by admin on June 17, 2007 under Europe Accommodation |
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Kent and Michel run the Belverdere B&B in the Alta Val Chisone Piemonte, an ideal location for cycling and skiing holidays. They have achieved the dream of escaping from the rat race to run their business in this beautiful region of Italy.
1 What is the aim of your business?
The aim of our business is to offer a welcoming and comfortable place to stay for guests and to enable us to live our lives in a more sustainable way in a healthy environment as well as allowing us to enjoy a simpler life. Running a B&B enables us to combine all of this and gives us more flexibility and family time than a “normal” job.
2 What prompted you to start your own business?
We both worked in and around London. For a long time we looked into what we could do to run our own business so that we could be in control of our own lives. It was actually a skiing holiday that helped to point us in the right direction. We decided that we should try and combine the things we enjoyed and to help others enjoy the same. Unfortunately the UK is not the ideal place to set up a skiing and cycling business.
3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?
We have not found anything particularly hard as such. Living in a foreign culture has its difficulties, especially language, legal system and culture but for us that is all part of the challenge. All this is far outweighed by the beautiful environment that we are now lucky to live in. We did endless research before coming to Italy and did not have an idealised view of “La Dolce Vita”. We are also relaxed and flexible enough to deal with any problems that came our way. The attitude of some Italian organisations can be very frustrating and very inward looking and the red tape is endless. This is especially true of the local tourist board.
4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?
There have been many things have made us laugh but these are usually caused by the language difference or more specifically by the expressions that do not translate literally. Such as “Coda di rospo” which translates as “Toad’s tail” on a menu. This sounded disgusting /impossible as toads do not have tails. We later found out that it was a deep sea fish and highly sought after!
5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?
With hind sight the only thing we would have done differently would have been to make the move earlier in our lives.
My comments - Sounds to be like you were pretty sensible and realistic not to think that everything would be just perfect when you made the move. I think that if you are your work entails things that you really enjoy, you don’t have to commute and you live in a beautiful area then it is a foundation for a much more relaxed and contented lifestyle. Your last answer about wishing you had made move earlier, is reinforcing my feelings that I really must give up my day job soon to concentrate on the travel business.
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Posted by admin on June 16, 2007 under Europe Accommodation |
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You may not be aware that when you hire a car which cliams to quote you an “all inclusive price” that in fact if the hire car is stolen or damaged then you will be required to pay an excess of several hundred pounds.
Photo by IaRuth
There are 2 ways to avoid paying this excess. If you hire a car in Europe several times during a one year period, you can purchase an annual insurance policy for around ВЈ50, which covers the excess. If you will only hire a car a for couple of weeks, you can pay an additional amount to the car hire company, which means the excess will be refunded to you. For example with AutoEurope.com the additional charge per week for a supermini varies between ВЈ4 - ВЈ10. The additional amount payable depends on the class and size of car that you hire and the country of hire.
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