Ryanair puts travellers in holding pattern with ‘pay a pound to spend a penny’ plan

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Title – Ryanair puts travellers in holding pattern with ‘pay a pound to spend a penny’ plan
Source – The Times
Date – 28th February 2009

The hidden charges of ‘budget’ airlines are generally well known and although new regulation has been brought in to stop airlines from advertising flights at rock bottom prices and ignoring the taxes, this has not stopped them reducing prices for advertising purposes. Adding on ‘extras’ which they do not need to advertise, but which many travellers would consider an fundamental part of the ‘ticket’ they are buying, is now common practice.

Ryanair are the ‘leaders’ in this practise and this is just the next step of that process. The question is where will it end and how much loose change will passengers need to start carrying before the fuel used to carry that loose change cost more than the additional profit made by Ryanair…

Don’t get me wrong, I welcome cheap airlines, they have revolutionised travel, but they are not without their issues. They need to be more honest with passengers, we understand that £20 to fly from London to Milan (they say Milan, maybe ‘near Milan’ would be more appropriate) is cheap, we would think £21 for the same flight was cheap and as such would accept the extra pound on the fare. However I think most people would rather pay £21 and have a flight with toilets rather than the thought of seeing how long they can hold it in, before 250 people rush off the flight on landing and head for the nearest toilet.

The bigger question for me is this; if I am on a 1 hour flight to continental Europe, I can plan my ‘pit stops’ appropriately. But lets be honest there are occasions when people get it wrong. So imagine the situation, you are trying to save that £1 and think to yourself that you only have to hold it in for another 15 minutes…. No problem… the seatbelt sign comes on as you start the descent, but then the flight is put into a holding pattern, but the seatbelt sign will stay on…. 15 minutes has just become 30 minutes…. Then 45 minutes…. Sound familiar? Now the question is do you get up in contravention of the seatbelt sign and do you approach the airhostess for change for a fiver? The point I make is would people not prefer to pay an additional £1 and not have to think about how many people have not managed to hold it in on the seat you are sitting on?

Ok I know it’s a little over the top, but I am allowed to have a little fun with this after all Michael O’Leary of Ryanair has been having a little fun with us…. The serious point is this. ‘budget airlines’ are a real viable alternative to more traditional means of independent travel in almost every corner of the world. But make sure you read past the home page and factor in all your requirements before you buy; don’t forget, before you book, clear down your ‘cookies’ to get the best price.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Transport Options alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more. Deciding on your means of transport will be determined by price, availability, convenience and personal preferences. We present you with all the alternatives before you decide. There are also considerations of environmental impact that should influence your decision making.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Dengue fever worsens Bolivia

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Title – Dengue fever worsens Bolivia
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 26th February 2009

I have commented on this story already in this blog:

Dengue fever outbreak in Bolivia

This is just to serve as an update as the situation is getting worse rather than better with over 31,000 infections now reported and 18 fatalities.

Travellers to the region should carefully consider changing their plans to avoid those areas worst affected and those already in the area should take additional bite-avoidance measures, be aware of the symptoms and seek urgent medical attention if they experience any of them.

An already over-burdened health service in those affected areas can do without travellers adding to it and as such we recommend additional consideration be given to travelling to the affected regions until the situation stabilises.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Too many travellers arrive home with tropical diseases that are avoidable, many of these can be avoided by taking a few simple steps to prevent infection in the first place.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Miracle as passengers escapes plane disaster / British student shot in Ecuador

Title – Miracle as passengers escapes plane disaster / British student shot in EcuadorSource – London Lite
Date – 25th February 2009

It does sometimes seem that airline accidents come in threes, with the miraculous escape of those on the flight which landed on the Hudson River in New York and the tragic accident in Buffalo this Turkish airlines accident in Holland is the third.

Now I should point out that this is far from an exact science or even a statistical reality, but rather just an observation.

Actually the point of me including this article is not really anything to do with airline safety, because we have little control over this beyond the choice of airline we make and all the airlines involved in these three accidents have perfectly acceptable safety records.

The key for me was simply to point out that despite any loss of life being a tragedy it is amazing how many people survived two out of three of these accidents; we generally assume that the chances of surviving an aircraft accident are minimal. We all remember the miracle of the plane that landed on the Hudson River with no loss of life where the potential for fatalities on the ground and the plane were substantial. In this case in Amsterdam (despite what this early report suggests) nine people sadly died, but notably 125 people survived. It demonstrates the incredible safety record flying has when compared to other means of transport, thanks to technology and the remarkable courage and training of the crews.

Sadly on the same day we picked up on an article highlighting the dangers of travel and living in parts of the world where guns play every day part in communities. Trespassing in the UK is likely to result in at most an angry exchange and a reprimand; in many part of the world the threat to landowners from extreme violence perpetrated by ‘attackers’ means they protect themselves with firearms and the results can be deadly.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety and Transport Options alongside sessions on Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more. Some of the dangers we face when travelling independently are difficult for us to influence, but they should be put into the context of the dangers we face in our everyday lives; others we can manage and resolve to reduce the risks independent travel presents.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Tiger attacks trigger expert plea

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Title – Tiger attacks trigger expert pleaSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 25th February 2009

Shark attacks will always grab the headlines, they tend to occur in locations travellers are familiar with or frequent regularly, but wildlife of all sorts can be very dangerous to travellers. In reality it is always locals who take the brunt of injuries and fatalities as their everyday activities take them into contact and conflict with the many dangerous species; those same animals which independent travellers often fly half way round the world to encounter.

The statistics for fatal Tiger attacks are not easy to find, but attacks on tourists are almost unheard of, that does not mean that independent travellers can be complacent. Between tigers, other big cats, hippos, crocodiles, snakes, bears, stray dogs, scorpions, mosquitoes, ticks, sharks and the many other potentially dangerous animals around the world; there are many precautions to take.

Some you can protect yourself effectively from, others you should avoid by not encroaching on their habitats and others yet you have to mitigate the risk and manage it. The sad fact is that the most dangerous of them all is the human; humans are responsible for more danger than any other to independent travellers.

Humans are substantially more of a threat to the tiger than it is to us and few independent travellers will place themselves in the kind of situation which led to the recent spate of deaths in Sumatra,

Indonesia.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety alongside sessions on Destination Advice, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Transport Options and more. Wild animals are something to be aware of, not something to fear or to make you change your plans. Take local advice and you should be fine. We teach people firstly to quantify the risks (independent travellers are at far more risk from stray dogs and rabies than from tigers) and not to ignore threats, but to manage them.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Currency cards beat sky-high airport rates

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Title – Currency cards beat sky-high airport rates
Source – London Lite
Date – 25th February 2009

One of the key considerations when you are planning independent travel is the best way to take money with you and how to access it when you are travelling.

The balance between cards, cash and travellers cheques should be a starting point. Currencies should be your second consideration; often a combination of local currency and US dollars, Euros and Stirling is required. If you are travelling through many countries this can mean that you end up with far too much cash on parts of your trip and far too little in countries where access to more may be a challenge.

For example when you travel in Papua New Guinea, cash is essential as banks can be few and far between, yet it can be a very dangerous country and you really want to avoid carrying too much cash… then there is the added problem that in some parts of New Guinea cash is pretty worthless as a barter system still largely exists… it can be a real headache.

During the global economic meltdown we are now experiencing, foreign exchange fluctuations have been unprecedented and there are likely to be more to come. Some have been advantageous to UK travellers and the pound has strengthened against the weakest currencies; but unfortunately most have strengthened against the pound.

As an example some independent travellers we advised recently set off for South East Asia on a three month trip last year. The US dollar is widely used in many of the countries they visited. At the start of their trip £1 was worth just under $2, by the time they got back it had lost about 25% of its value and a £1 only bought $1.45; this put a serious dent in their budget. Foreign exchange is not always a subject independent travellers take much interest in while travelling, or at least not until their cards start being rejected…

There are ways of effectively ‘hedging’ against these fluctuations which should be a consideration for independent travellers while this economic turmoil continues and there are increasingly different ways of accessing your money when abroad, which add convenience and protection.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Currency cards are one consideration which offer some level of protection from both currency fluctuations and the more traditional concerns over the safety of your money from theft and fraud. The focus of our workshop is on suitable solutions for your specific travel plans.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Tourists are blitzed by a shop bomber

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Title – Tourists are blitzed by a shop bomberSource – The Sun
Date – 23rd February 2009

Egypt has suffered at the hands of terrorists before, sadly this is far from an isolated incident and is actually turning into a rather predictable annual event.

Egypt relies on its tourist industry; both those visiting the unique archaeological sites, the pyramids, the sphinx and other world heritage sites and the those who flock to the Red Sea to relax, soak up the sun and enjoy world class diving in the purpose built resorts.

With such a reliance on tourism, the Egyptian government makes great efforts to protect the tourists that visit. However, precisely for this reason and the high profile nature of the tourist industry, it has become a regular target for terrorists who have enjoyed some ‘success’.

Unlike some parts of the world where independent travellers unwittingly get caught up in terrorism, in Egypt there can be no doubt that they are the target.

The FCO does not currently advice against travel to Egypt; it should be remembered that 13 million tourists visit Egypt every year, most have an amazing time and experience no problems, but extra care should be taken and sensible travel safety strategies followed, when visiting the country.

The hazards in Egypt are not limited to terrorist attacks, travel can also be dangerous and Egypt has high rates of road accident fatalities (see blog entry

Belgians die in Egypt coach crash). This is unlikely to be the last attack on tourists in Egypt and independent travellers must be aware of the potential risks to tourists in the country and manage the risks effectively.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety alongside sessions on Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. The only way to completely eliminate the risks involved in travel to Egypt is not to travel. However nowhere else in the world can you match the magnificence of the pyramids; travel always has to be a personal choice and a balancing act.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us our Facebook Page and our Facebook Group. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Never mind the crocs, the pubs are running dry

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Title – Never mind the crocs, the pubs are running drySource – The Times
Date – 5th February 2009

It is a disaster of massive proportions, this season has seen floods for much of Queensland and many of the Pacific Islands have also suffered badly at the hands of an especially tough cyclone season.

Fiji, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the region have been badly affected with millions of dollars worth of devastation and many deaths. Only today reports coming out of the Solomon Islands of flooding, displaced populations and destruction are adding to the burden the area is under.

As if that is not bad enough South Australia has been suffering from its most destructive and most deadly bush fires with over 150 deaths already reported and many more yet unaccounted for. The weather really has played a tough hand to Australians and other in the region over the last few years, with drought and flooding causing crop failures and land erosion on a grand scale.

The tourist brochures paint a pretty picture for travellers, as do the guide books, they are after all selling a product and who wants to see their holiday destination under 4 foot of water. It is down to the individual to do the research and make sure the time of year they are going suits their requirements, that recent events will not adversely affect their plans and that they factor in any risks that natural cycles bring.

Many places round the world give the impression of 362 days of sunshine, few can deliver. Rainy seasons, Monsoon Seasons, Dry Seasons, Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn; all affect activities we might want to take part in, how the landscape looks, what fauna and flora will be about and how safe it is to travel. Most importantly it will affect the enjoyment of our trip.

Obtaining Destination Advice such as political situation, climate, infrastructure, Ethical Considerations and general Travel Safety issues before you go, will go some way to allowing you to plan your trip more effectively. Once you arrive the locals will be able to tell where to avoid local problems like rogue crocodiles or which pubs have beer left. If however Australian pubs run dry, that will be the time to leave before serious social unrest, wild cat strikes and the fall of society follows… Just kidding Australia… I know you’ll never let that happen… the pubs running dry that is…

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Destination Advice alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Transport Options and more. The Crocodiles in Australia are something to be aware of, not something to fear or to make you change your plans. Take local advice and you should be fine. We teach people not to ignore threats, but to manage them.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

This is your pilot slurring…

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Title – This is your pilot slurring…
Source – The Independent
Date – 4th February 2009

What comment can I make on this story? How can I find a purpose or a lesson we can learn from it?

Maybe the only thing it makes us really aware of is the rise and fall of standards both in companies and countries. It reminds us that things change quickly and having access to the latest information is key to

Safe Travel.

During the cold war information was not always easy to come by and was closely controlled in a propaganda war. With the fall of the Berlin wall came the fall in economic fortunes of many of the eastern bloc counties, the ‘new’ Russia included.

For a decade Russia struggled economically, infrastructure crumbled, public servants went unpaid and the gloss came off the former Soviet grandeur. Along with this there was much talk of Aeroflot failing to maintain its fleet and sadly even if they didn’t quite match the image that many painted of planes falling from the sky, there were too many accidents involving Aeroflot aircraft for it to be a coincidence.

But as countries fall so new ones rise and for the past decade Russia has rebuilt itself, helped by the high oil and gas prices it now relies so heavily on and through strong (many think too ‘strong’) leadership has become a rich and powerful nation once again. More obvious is that a ‘super-class’ of oligarchs have arisen as the ‘mega-rich’ who control many of the key industries in Russia. This includes Aeroflot and it has benefitted from renewed investment and rebuilt in some people’s eyes its reputation to some degree.

It would be flippant of me to compare this incident to the current economic downturn, which with such low oil prices is hurting Russia more than most. This may be well be a one off; a PR disaster; a bad joke; an over reported incident; but in a country that as times get tougher seems to be turning inwards in some respects, such a press freedom and openness, any information is worth consideration.

If we take it as a one-off, then it is an example of how we should stand up (literally and figuratively), when the alarm bells start ringing and follow our instincts. Don’t be a sheep and follow the crowd for fear of what it will look like, stand up, in this case get off and then watch how many people thank you for taking the lead as they follow.

That they tried to explain off what some perceived as a drunk pilot as a mild stroke or suggest that the pilot has little to do except press a button is absurd. Ask Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the pilot nicknamed ‘the Hero of the Hudson’ if he could have performed his remarkable feat when drunk or after a mild stroke?

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Transport Options alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Flying is one of the safest transport options we can make, but there are still some checks we should make to protect us from the rogues out there who cut corners and compromise safety.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Dengue fever outbreak in Bolivia

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Title – Dengue fever outbreak in BoliviaSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd February 2009

South America has truly suffered at the hands of Dengue Fever over the past few years, with serious outbreaks in Paraguay, Brazil and now Bolivia.

It is a disease that can, when an outbreak takes hold, devastate whole communities and has is several cases over the last few years almost reached epidemic levels. Governments have had to react by sending in the army to help set up temporary hospitals to help treat all those affected.

The problem of course is that Dengue Fever is spread by mosquitoes who carry the virus from one carrier to the next; so as the number of infected animals and humans grows so do the number of mosquitoes who act as carriers. The only way to prevent the spread getting more serious is to eradicate the mosquitoes, educate local populations and provide them with the means to protect themselves.

Travellers tend to under-estimate the threat from Dengue Fever or be ignorant of it altogether. What most do not realise is the devastating and potentially life threatening affect of the fever not to mention the associated pain (see

My Dance with Dengue). Add to this the burden they place on the health services of those countries that are affected and it becomes obvious why they should take every precaution to protect themselves.

I have urged travellers before in this blog to be aware of Dengue Fever, to be aware that the mosquitoes which transmit Dengue are generally more active during the day rather than at dusk or during the night as might be expected. So make sure if you are in an area affected by Dengue Fever (and that is much of the tropical world) that you protect yourself from mosquito bites day and night; cover up; use repellents and insecticides; sleep under a permithrine impregnated net; avoid complacency or the ‘I don’t get bitten defence’; use tried and tested products and avoid untested holistic methods; consider your location and stay away from areas with stagnant pools where mosquitoes breed; and if you know an areas is suffering from a sever outbreak such as the Santa Cruz area of Bolivia is at the moment, think about re-routing or at least double up or triple up on your bite prevention.

There are currently no prophylactic drugs available for Dengue Fever and there is no known cure. Swift diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms can reduce the worst of the side effects and with supportive medical treatment it is not often fatal. However one of the four strains of Dengue (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever), is more dangerous than the others and catching Dengue more than once does seem to raise the dangers considerably. One thing is for certain, catching Dengue Fever will ruin a trip or a substantial part of a trip and it is never good for your body to have to go through the strain that Dengue puts on it.

Bite avoidance is certainly the wisest choice.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Too many travellers arrive home with tropical diseases that are avoidable, many of these can be avoided by taking a few simple steps to prevent infection in the first place.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

India couple’s kiss ‘not obscene’

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Title – India couple’s kiss ‘not obscene’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd February 2009

I add these types of stories into this blog for good reason; if we can understand how countries expect their own citizens to behave, to meet the ‘moral code’ of the country, then we can learn how to behave when we visit.

Many will argue that foreign tourists would not face a similar sanction for similar ‘offences’ and they may well be right, but they are missing the point somewhat.

The boundaries of behaviour when we travel, should not only be dictated by the law of the country we visit, certainly we must always follow local laws, but we must also be aware of differences in culture and acceptable practices. In India, as in much of South and South East Asia and the Middle East, people frown upon public signs of affection such as kissing and in some cases even holding hands. In the strictest countries such public demonstrations of affection are not only frowned upon, but illegal and can carry heavy sanction; especially when participants are not married.

In this case the judge seems to have taken a ‘sensible’ stance and thrown the case out, but the fact is these were Indian Nationals in their own country. When we visit new countries we must always remember we are guests and have no right to dictate behavioural standards or transfer our morals and values onto others; we have to conform with the standards expected in that country and if we don’t like them, we shouldn’t visit. We always work by the principle that travel to another country is a privilege not a right.

What we find acceptable is wholly unacceptable in other countries and what is unacceptable here is acceptable in other countries. For example how would we feel if a group of Afghani tourist took their horses onto Richmond park and started playing Buzkashi, which can very loosely be compared to polo, but where the ball is substituted with a headless goats carcass? For most of us that would be completely unacceptable, but in Afghanistan it is the national sport. It may be a silly analogy, but you get the idea;

Cultural Awareness is very important when you travel.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Cultural Awareness as well as Ethical and Responsible Travel alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Health, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Travellers have in the past often fallen foul of local laws and customs (Briton faces jail for sex on Dubai beach / Kiss warning to Malaysia tourists) and there is no substitute for doing your research before you set off.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.