Welcome to …

Adam Jacot de Boinod’s

Wide World of Words - Scotland

raw-gabbit speaking confidentially on a subject of which one is ignorant

maulifuff a woman without energy; a young woman who makes much fuss and accomplishes very little

ramstamphish rough, blunt, unceremonious; forward and noisy

pursy (Scottish dialect) short-breathed and fat

Adam Jacot de Boinod worked on the first series of BBC Television’s QI for Stephen Fry, and is the author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from around the World – Penguin Books, £10.

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Picture Credit: 32136271@N08/28784092822">A Thussel!</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin

Rules of the road … across Europe

AIRPORT PARKING & HOTELS (APH) has produced a guide for UK holidaymakers highlighting the different driving rules and regulations – including maximum speed limits and fines, and equipment and paperwork that drivers must carry – in 20 European countries.

Speed limits on European motorways was found to vary significantly, ranging from 62mph in Cyprus and Latvia to 80mph in Austria, France, and Greece.

Germany imposes no maximum speed limit on motorways, although an 80mph top speed is ‘recommended’ on some autobahns.

Denmark, Finland, and Sweden inflict varying speed limits on all roads, so drivers are urged to pay particular attention to road signs.

All 20 countries surveyed have on-the-spot fines, with countries such as Belgium, Italy, and Poland, requiring drivers to make an immediate cash deposit towards fines. 

Countries such as Cyprus, Greece, and Sweden are not allowed to collect any money from on-the-spot fines and instead ask drivers to pay their fines at a later date. It is advised that drivers carry both cash and/or a payment card when driving abroad, as some countries such as Portugal have portable ATM machines in traffic police vehicles for immediate payment of any driving infraction.

UK and American drivers should also be aware that compulsory car equipment varies according to country. Nine out of the 20 countries researched require drivers to carry a reflective jacket in the car at all times, but France is the only country in Europe that requires drivers to carry a breathalyzer kit inside their vehicle.


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Picture Credit: "Fareskilt 45" by Statens Vegvesen via Wikimedia Commons.

Fact or fiction, the challenge for Nature Watch

A SURVEY by UK holiday property rental company holidaycottages.co.uk suggests that one in seven children believe that they might come across fictional creatures from the Harry Potter series in the British countryside. 

Fourteen percent of the 7-12-year-olds questioned said they believed in dragons and werewolves, creatures commonly spotted at Hogwarts, while 11 percent thought Gilly Weed and Whomping Willow were real plants and trees.

In response, holidaycottages.co.uk is urging families to remedy this and encourage children to explore the country’s wildlife as part of its Nature Watch campaign.

When asked to state whether certain species were real or fictional, almost half of the children surveyed either didn’t know or thought that common native trees and plants, such as Silver Birch, Holly, Bluebell and Honeysuckle, were imaginary species.

The agency’s Nature Watch campaign is designed to encourage families to spend more time in the countryside this spring and summer. In an effort to raise children’s awareness and understanding of wildlife, nature and the importance of protecting their natural habitat, it has developed a free wildlife activity pack that can be download from its website.

It’s also running a competition. Young explorers who share their wildlife picture, photograph or short story have the chance to win a £500 voucher towards their next family holiday. Full details at www.holidaycottages.co.uk/blog/nature-watch.

‘We take great pride in offering holidays to some of the UK’s most beautiful locations and want to encourage the nation’s children to enjoy the great outdoors with Nature Watch,’ said James Morris, director at holidaycottages.co.uk. ‘I come from a generation that spent a great amount of its childhood playing outside, not cooped up in front of a television or computer screen. The fact that a third of today’s 7-12 year-olds don’t know or think that dragonflies, honeybees, and daddy long legs are not real just shows us that we need to get back to that and celebrate our native wildlife more.’

Go Holiday editor David Kernek comments: The company was either extraordinarily unlucky in surveying what turned out to be an exceptionally dim sample of children, or education standards in our schools are far worse than even the pessimists fear. Either way, these findings are terrifying!

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Picture Credit: GoHoliday via Wikimedia Commons.

Rail passengers reap £20 million in savings

PASSENGERS have saved more than £20 million on their rail travel over the last year following the launch of the Two Together railcard.

Launched in March last year, Two Together - www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk - gives two named people a third off rail fares when they travel together. In just a year, more than 215,000 Two Together railcards have been sold and more than three million journeys made with an average annual saving of £127.48 per card.

A third of railcards were bought by people in London and the South-East, while more than a quarter were purchased by passengers in the North-West, North-East, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The longest journey saw two travellers cover the 1,043 miles between Reading and Culrain in the Scottish Highlands, saving an estimated £118.40 on their trip. The most popular destinations included London, Manchester, Edinburgh and York.

David Mapp, commercial director at The Association of Train Operating Companies, said: ‘From Thurso to Penzance, it’s fantastic to know that for anyone travelling as a pair, whether friends, family, or couples, using a Two Together railcard can make it even more cost effective.’

A Two Together railcard costs £30 a year and there is no limit on the number of times it can be used.

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A sign of our times ....

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Up in the air …

Record year for LAX – LOS ANGELES airport set a new record for both domestic and international passenger numbers in 2014. Year-end statistics show LAX airlines served 70,662,212 passengers, six percent higher than the 2013 figure.

More flights to Mexico – AEROMEXICO has announced plans to operate five flights a week between London Heathrow and Mexico City later this year. The carrier will add a fourth weekly service in April and then a fifth service from June. The UK is the third largest tourism inbound market for Mexico.

Manchester airport hits 22 million passengers – THE number of passengers using Manchester Airport annually has hit the 22 million mark. Passenger numbers using the UK’s third-busiest airport have grown 24% since 2010, and have increased by one million since May 2014. The most popular destinations from Manchester are Dubai, Dublin, Tenerife, Amsterdam, and Palma.

LinksAir to start daily Norwich-Cardiff service – A domestic air service between Norwich and Cardiff is to take off in April. Regional airline LinksAir is to operate daily flights on weekdays from April 20. The flight duration of just over one hour using a 19-seat Jetstream 31 turboprop is claimed to cut more than four hours off cross-country rail or road journey times. An onward connection will be offered on an existing route between Cardiff and Anglesey.

American Airlines increases services – AMERICAN AIRLINES is to add six new routes throughout Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The expanded service includes new flights to Belize, Grand Cayman, Guadalajara, Nicaragua, and Monterrey, Mexico. Passengers travelling from the UK to these new destinations can fly from London Heathrow and connect in Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, and Los Angeles.

All-business class to NY – La Compagnie will operate all-business class flights from Luton to Newark New York four times a week from April 24, moving up to six times a week in June. The flights will all have 74 lie-flat seats with in-flight entertainment provided on Samsung tablets. Regular fares will start from £1, 539. Introductory fares start from £1,007 for two or £649 for a single person.

More for Ryanair – RYANAIR flew 1.3 million more passengers in January than in the same month last year.

easyJet make-over – easyJet has unveiled a new livery to mark its 20th anniversary, 17 years after its most recent update. The carrier’s trademark orange has been extended in the new design so its name can be larger, and has also dropped the ‘.com’. The new look will feature on the airline’s 197 ordered aircraft, the first of which joins its fleet in April.

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Picture Credit: "World Map graphic" by Alvin Lee (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

How to see Skye

SKYE SEAPLANES is a new seaplane operation by Loch Lomond Seaplanes – the UK's only commercial seaplane company.

Flights – which runs from April to October – depart from the little airfield of Broadford on the south-east corner of Skye, with a water take-off and landing during the tour. Prices from £89.

www.lochlomondseaplanes.com/loch-lomond-seaplanes-home.html


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StatsInteresting - who is doing well and .....

STANSTED AIRPORT reports a 12 percent increase in passenger numbers in 2014. More than 19.98 million passed through Stansted, making it Britain’s fastest growing airport. 

INBOUND UK tourism numbers up; further growth expected in 2015 - BASED on data from the first 11 months of 2014, more international visitors are heading to Britain than before, with 32.4 million visiting between January and November last year. This is a 7% rise on the same period in 2013, with spend also up 3% to more than £20 billion.

The numbers are set to continue growing this year with visits to reach 35.1 million and spend of £22.2 billion, setting a new record.

While London is popular for business trips, there are more people holidaying in the country with the figure at 13 million in the 11 months, compared to 12.7 million year-on-year.

‘Inbound tourism continues to be the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry and one of Britain’s most successful export industries, generating jobs and growth across Britain,’ says Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain.

A FREE APP FOR ST. PANCRAS

ST PANCRAS INTERNATIONAL in London is the first UK railway station to launch its own app.

The free app gives users the opportunity to delve into the history of the Grade 1 listed building, get facts about the area, and pick up exclusive news about special retail offers.

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Picture Credit: From Left; "St Pancras station, London (CJ Allen, Steel Highway, 1928)" by Andy Dingley (scanner) - Scan from Allen, Cecil J. (1928) via Wikimedia Commons; "St. Pancras Station" by Andrew Nash from Vienna, Austria via Wikimedia Commons; 

How to put the stress INTO holidays!

HOLIDAYS, in the minds of most of us, are supposed to be about rest and relaxation, right? Right, but almost three quarters of people responding to a UK survey admitted to being stressed by organizing the annual family holiday.

The unreliability of public transport is a key cause of holiday anxiety for almost 19%, with 10% saying that they have almost have missed a flight due to transport problems. About half (47%) of the 2,000 people polled for Holiday Extras also admitted that worries about getting to the airport and possible transport delays push them to allow more time than necessary for the journey.

Getting time off work, organizing visas, booking airport parking, buying travel insurance, and sorting out foreign currency are ‘challenges’ many people leave until the very last minute.

The poll found that 16% left arranging their travel insurance until just before they left and 18% made a late dash to sort their foreign exchange. Fourteen percent of holidaymakers leave it until they get to the airport before buying foreign currency, with almost two thirds of men admitting they never bother to compare exchange rates.

Fifteen percent of those surveyed admitted that they go on holiday without any travel insurance.

Only 26% of travellers are organized ahead of time, with just 20% being savvy enough to book an airport hotel the night before their flight.

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Picture Credit: "Stress" via Shutterstock;

In the footsteps of smugglers

A SMUGGLERS' TRAIL is due to open in the eastern Scottish Borders in the spring. 

It will follow the Berwickshire coastal path that runs from Burnmouth to Cove including the St. Abb's Head National Nature Reserve.

At the heart of the trail is Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth. 

Built in 1753 by one of the most successful smugglers, John Nisbet, the house has secret hiding places such as concealed 'tea chute'.


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Picture Credit: From Top: "St. Abb's Head lighthouse" by Emoscopes (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons; "Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth" by Kim Traynor (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons.

Want to go really, really green?

ETHICAL TRAVELLER, a non-profit California-based organization has published its list of the top ten ethical travel destinations for 2015 … countries which have made significant changes to protect the rights of their citizens and to safeguard the environment. 

They are, in alphabetical order: 

1. Cape Verde … Cape Verde scored highly when it came to assessing citizens' civil and political rights and ranked highly on the Heritage Foundation's Economic Freedom Index, as it offers a wide array of social welfare based programmes.

2. Chile … Chile's government was the first in South America to sign a pledge to introduce carbon taxes by 2018. Out of the ten countries included in the list, Chile scored the most points when it came to protecting the environment.

3. Dominica … Dominica opposes commercial whaling and received high marks for its commitment to animal welfare and innovative plans to invest in clean, renewable, energy sources.

4. Lithuania … Lithuania ranked the highest on the United Nation's Human Development Index. 

An impressive 22% of Lithuania's energy is renewable, so the country is well on their way to achieve its goal of having 23% of their energy coming from renewable sources by 2020. 

5. Mauritius … Mauritius offers a variety of social services and is currently the only African nation to provide income security programmes for citizens over the age of 60. The also plans to plant 200,000 trees by the end of 2014.

6. Palau … The Small Islands Developing States Network, awarded Palau – in the Western Pacific – with an environmental star for its work to preserve both marine and land-based eco-systems.

7. Samoa … The Samoan government has invested $1 million in a project which aims to increase bio-diversity and combat the effects of climate change.

8. Tonga …. The Tongan government has pledged to reduce diesel consumption by 50% by 2020, and has plans to introduce organic farming in 2015. 

9. Uruguay … Tourists who visit the Colonia del Sacramento – one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and a World Heritage Site – can tour the town by electric car. The government also has plans to introduce electric taxis and buses in 2015.

10. Vanuatu … Vanuatu, which comprises more than 80 islands, has passed multiple land reform acts designed to protect the rights and welfare of its indigenous citizens.

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Picture Credit - From Top: "Mindelo portogrande - Cape Verde" via Wikimedia Commons; "EP rinkimai 2014 - Vilnius, Lithuania" by ViršuLF - Own work via Wikimedia Commons; "Lefaga, Return to Paradise beach, south coast Upolu Island, Samoa, 2009" by Stephen Glauser uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Teinesavaii via Wikimedia Commons

10 things you’ve always wanted to know about Bermuda, but …

... were too idle to ask …

1. Founded in 1612, St. George Town – a UNESCO World Heritage site – is the oldest inhabited English town in the Americas.

 2. There are no neon signs

3. Visitors are not permitted to hire cars

4. Bermuda has more golf courses per square mile than any other nation

5. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy, and Winston Churchill, have played golf there

6. The ocean around Bermuda are great for snorkelers; water is clear down to 150ft

7. There are 100 tennis courts on the island

8. Temperatures average 80F from April to October and 70F from November to March.

9. The island is in the North Atlantic ocean, not the Caribbean

10. Bermuda is 21 square miles, surrounded by 200 square-miles of coral reef

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Picture Credit: From Top: "Bermuda Flag" by Version 1: Made by Caleb Moore via Wikimedia Commons; "SPITTAL POND NATURE RESERVE, BERMUDA" by JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons  ; "Bermuda-Harbour and Town of St George" by Aodhdubh at en.wikipedia from Wikimedia Commons

EU wastes millions on under-used regional airports, says report

MILLIONS of pounds of European Union (EU) money has been wasted on under-used and over-sized regional airports, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors. £200 million has been spent on infrastructure deemed ‘unnecessarily large’.

The report called it ‘poor value for money’, as it revealed that many of the aviation hubs were built in sparsely populated areas where there were not enough passengers to keep them afloat, The Times reported.

An airport in Kastoria, northern Greece, cost more than £6 million to run but brought in less than £140,000 between 2005 and 2012. 

Another in Córdoba, southern Spain, was predicted to cater for 179,000 passengers but handled less than 7,000 last year. 

Fewer than 10% of the 306,000 passengers expected at Crotone, in southern Italy, materialized. 

The EU has given Poland almost £80 million since 2007 to build three “ghost” airports in sparsely populated areas that that do not merit hubs.

The audit showed that only half of the 20 airports, which were given £530 million, deserved EU funding.

Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance in the UK, said: ‘Even by the unique standards of EU spending, this is a shocking waste of hard-pressed taxpayers’ money.’


Go Holiday editor David Kernek comments: The EU wastes money? What’s new?

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Ryanair cockpits go paperless

RYANAIR has introduced Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) for pilots across its fleet of 300 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. It means pilots using iPads instead of traditional flight manuals.

The airline plans to remove paper from the flight deck, eliminating 33lbs of manuals from each cockpit. With 550,000 flights annually, that will eliminate more than 10 million pages of paper documentation.

Ryanair’s Group Director of Operations, Michael Hickey said: ‘With a rapidly growing operation across 71 European bases, the logistical challenges of delivering information to crew are instantly simplified with the introduction of the iPad as an EFB.’

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Success for Ryanair, and a birthday for easyJet

ACCORDING to the World Travel Market’s 2014 industry report, Ryanair is arguably the most successful – and the most controversial – of all the no-frills airlines. CEO Michael O’Leary’s brash nature is replicated in Ryanair’s culture as the airline aims to strip out all unnecessary costs to increase profits and offer cheaper fares to customers.

But this culture has given the airline a poor reputation among customers, with barely a week going by without allegations of unsatisfactory treatment of its passengers.

O’Leary has been quoted saying that passengers who forget their boarding passes should be fined €60 (£47) for being ‘stupid’ and: ‘People say the customer is always right, but you know what, they’re not. Sometimes they are wrong and they need to be told so.’ He also said: ‘One thing we have looked at is maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door, so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny.’

This reputation and the CEO’s comments about its customers began to have an impact on Ryanair’s financial results. It led to a change of heart by O’Leary, with the launch of its Always Getting Better campaign, which includes allocated seating, free second carry-on bags, and more user-friendly website.

*easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, celebrates its 19th birthday this year. Its inaugural flight in 1995 carried 120 passengers from London Luton to Glasgow, for £29 one-way. It’s now the UK’s largest airline by passenger numbers.

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Travel insurance … read the small print!

A TYPICAL British traveller will go abroad with more than £1,000 worth of electronic equipment but, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, of the UK tourists who do have insurance, only 12 per cent of them read all of their travel insurance documentation carefully. To help consumers stay wired-up to the latest information, Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) has compiled a comprehensive guide highlighting the different policies available for travel and gadget insurance. It can be found in the Know Before You Go section at www.aph.com/gadgets.

The guide compares costs and conditions across 14 insurance companies including Barclays, Debenhams, and Gadget Buddy, highlighting the policy type, what is included in the policy, the cost of excess charges when travelling in Europe and worldwide.

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Cheers!! .. to beer

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE is proud of its beer and brewing heritage, and early next year there will be a guide to pubs across both city and county. 

From England's oldest pub* Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, to a pub with a canal inside, pubs in caves, and pubs serving the best craft beer and real ale from around the county, beer lovers are spoilt for choice.

In Nottingham, take a tour of the Architectural Ale Trail, which highlights some of the most interesting heritage pubs on a self-guided walking tour of the city.

*Go Holiday editor David Kernek comments: Can there be a town or city in England which does not have England’s oldest pub?

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Picture Credit: From Top: 'Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem' by Necrothesp from Wikimedia Commons; "Robin Hood Memorial". Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

More travel sans insurance

ALMOST a quarter UK travellers go abroad uninsured, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). The trend is being driven by younger travellers with more than a third of 16-24-year olds and 36% of 25-34-year olds saying they did not take out insurance, citing the cost of premiums as the main reason.

ABTA argues this is a false economy with comprehensive annual policies available for as little as £60 and the potential for medical costs to run into thousands of pounds.

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How to sunbathe in style

GOT £27,600 to spare and in serious need of an “incomparable sunbathing experience”? 

Then the Remmus sunbed could be for you. 

Designed in Finland, its ultra high-end features include:

• A 360-degree auto-rotating function, so users are always facing the sun.

• A water spray system to help keep sunbathers cool.

• A backrest that can be adjusted electronically.

• A button which, when pressed, fetches a waiter … assuming you employ a waiter.

• A charging portal for smartphones.

• Bluetooth speakers.

• A cooler box for drinks.

• A locker for storing valuables.

• LED lights for night-time lounging.

• A built-in table and sun-shade.

• A mattress made with a breathable padding.

Go to www.remmus.fi if you really, really must have one. 

Oh, that £27,600 doesn’t include Value Added Tax.

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Picture Credit: remmus.fi

Did you know that ...........

Holidays ‘unaffordable’ ..........

TWENTY PERCENT of Britons have not taken a holiday in the past 12 months – up from 17 percent in 2013 and 10 percent in 2010, according to a survey by the Association of British Travel Agents. The reason? They couldn’t afford them.

Holiday reading …

WOMEN tend to read more books than men on holiday, and almost a quarter (24%) 

will read four or more books in a two-week break – many more than their male 

counterparts – a Teletext/Random House survey has found.

The most popular genre read while on holiday was crime/thriller (40%), which far surpassed other novel types; romance came in at a far-off second. Almost a third (30%) of people now use e-books on holiday, but traditional paperbacks were still the most popular.

Tourism plan for abandoned tube stations ......

MORE than a dozen abandoned London tube stations could be turned into museums, art galleries, nightclubs, and shopping centres. Transport for London is inviting companies to transform its closed stations to venues useful for the capital’s tourism industry.

The stations have been closed over the years because of low passenger numbers and re-routing. Aldwych station – which was used to protect the National Gallery’s collection during the First World War, and then British Museum artifacts during WW2 – is one of them.

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Picture Credit: From Top -  "Santa with child " By Jacob Windham from Mobile, USA  via Wikimedia Commons