Posted by Guest Author on Thu 12th June 2008 at 08:59 AM, Filed in Travel Tips
So, you checked in your luggage – fully labelled and secure. Enjoyed your flight. Disembarked form the aircraft, gone through customs, looking forward arriving at your destination to have a wash and brush up – plus getting out of the crumpled clothes you traveled in.
What’s this? Everyone else’s luggage but not yours! One of your worst travel nightmare has occurred – you luggage is among the millions of bags that go missing each year! There is a way to help ensure your’s is one in the millions that gets returned. Sign up to the ‘Trace Me’ luggage tracker service. You will be provided with a bar-code- readable tag which you attach to your luggage. This is linked to the database – recording all your details (the system is recognised by 1,960 airports throughout the world). When the tag is scanned an email and SMS message is sent to the registered contact with all the information you need of who to contact with regard to recovering your luggage. The tags cost £12.99 each (or £19.95 for two\) and last for life. See site
Tracemeluggagetracker.com for more information.
If you’ve visited Japan or are Japanese the ‘Yotel’ capsule style hotels may not seem that unusual, but they are a new concept for the UK (already open at Gatwick and Heathrow terminal 4), Netherlands (soon opening in Amsterdam) and potentially New York. They could prove an excellent solution if you have a very early morning flight and live some distance from these airports. The rooms can also be rented for a minimum of four hours and thereafter by the hour which could also provide a haven if you have a number of hours to kill at the airport.
Yotel is the brainchild of Simon Woodroffe (of YO Sushi fame) with rooms not quite as small as their Japanese ‘cousins’. There are two differently sized rooms, both with breathable mattresses, en-suites, flat screen tv’s with 60 tv channels, 80 radio channels and 24 hour room service (ordered via the tv). The standard rooms (or cabins in Yo-speak) have a ‘large single’ bed that it said to accommodate 2 people – possibly adequately if you are both unhealthy size zero. The premium cabins have a couch that converts to a double bed at the touch of a button with under-bed storage for suitcases and about 2ft space around the bed when it is extended.
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Sun 28th October 2007 at 03:03 AM, Filed in Travel Tips
This subject has been the topic of increasing debate, not least because of the DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) issue, but also because many of us (accurately) believe that leg-room has been shrinking while people size (height and width) is acknowledged to be on the increase.
If you are interested in the leg-room subject you are probably an economy class traveler, so this article focuses on that area.
Firstly, what are we talking about when we bandy around the term ‘leg-room’? There are several key measurements to be aware of, but the most important, and accurate; gauge is seat-pitch - which is the measurement between a point on one seat’s headrest and the same point on the headrest in front, commonly expressed in inches. Seat-pitch doesn’t just vary between aircraft, it also varies between long-haul / short haul flights, and different airlines, who may even have different seat configurations for a single aircraft type for reasons good to themselves. If you want to know the exact seat pitch your best bet is to check out the excellent site SeatGuru (which is quite American focussed) who do their best to keep up to date information on each aircraft / airline combination, but don’t cover every airline.
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There are many guide books available that describe in pretty good detail the attractions in the different parks. This article aims to provide first time visitors with a brief guide to some of the things you won’t necessarily find in the guide books, but may help you make the most of your holiday, not just in the Disney parks.
Car Parking
If you are not staying in one of the resort hotels you will probably be driving to the parks. All of the parks make a charge for parking (in September 2007 it was about $10 per car). The car parks are huge and each area is given a memorable character or symbol to help you remember where your hire car is, however, there are likely to be many many cars of the same make/model as yours. We found it useful to sick something to distinguish our car on the aerial. Also, if you have young kids in buggies – don’t get them straight into the buggy after leaving the car as you are likely to have to board a motorised train (or ‘wally trolley’ as our kids called them) to take you to the park entrance. Kids cannot ride in their buggies on the mini trains. I will post another article soon on common ‘scams’ to be wary of when booking a hire car in advance for Orlando. For a few dollars extra some of the parks offer a valet parking service, or even parking in a preferential area that is closer to the park entrance.
Getting Into the Park & Park Tickets
We bought our tickets from a web site in advance before we left the UK. It’s best to make sure you actually get the tickets sent to you direct, and not vouchers that have to be exchanged when you get to Orlando. Sometimes you can get good ‘2 days for 1’, or a child ticket free when you buy an adult one sort of deals, and it is worth shopping around a little bit. The prices don’t seem to vary that much between the different web sites and the prices weren’t vastly different from those on the door at the parks, but it’s one thing less to do when you arrive and just want to get on with the fun. If you have pre-bought actual tickets you don’t have to go to the ticket office or anything – you can just use them straight away. It is definitely worth getting multi-day, multi-park tickets, but do allow for a day or two away from the parks to go shopping or just ‘chill’.
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Sat 7th April 2007 at 10:49 PM, Filed in Travel Tips
When looking for and booking hotels via the internet where should you start?
My best advice is research, research and more research! If you want to be sure of getting a hotel that will meet your requirements, and at the best possible price there are a few simple things you can do.
Firstly do a general Google search on the town / area you want to stay. Once you have found a few hotels that are potentially of interest look them up on ‘http:www.tripadviser.com’. This is a site on which members of the public publish their opinions on hotels in which they have stayed.
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