Beer capital Prague ban sees late-night pub crawls stumble to an end!
Best in Britain: The UK's top 72 attractions for 2024!
ANYONE want a coffee? Go grab one cos’ it’s a good read this month. Everyone’s talking about travel and it’s been making headlines. At the end of the summer holidays travel agents have all met up for a jolly, sorry, typo there, a conference, as Abta, held its annual travel forum in Costa Navarino, on the west coast of Greece. Wish we were there! It’s the pinnacle of the year for those who sell us holidays. And whatever the question, travel was the answer. So, what’s on the horizon: adventure trends, new vocabulary such as, coolcation, where travellers choose cooler climates, and hotels creating bigger rooms to accommodate large family holidays that also offer survival courses and culture tours. We’ve always said when travel is the mantra, prepare for adventure. Let’s get into this month’s headlines.
Holidaymaker gonna holiday!
Your time is up: Prague is banning organised night-time pub crawls which are rowdy, and basically bringing the neighbourhood down. Deputy mayor Jiri Pospisil said he wanted a different class of visitor to the Czech capital, not boozers on stag and hen dos. Once signed off, pub crawls will be banned from 10pm to 6am. And police will be around to enforce the ban. It made the Guardian.
Why is drinking in Prague so popular? Czech beer is a source of national pride with the pale draught lager Pilsen believed to have inspired two thirds of all the world’s beer. It is one of the top reasons people travel to Prague. There are breweries and cosy pubs across the city, even floating bars on the river Vltava and beer gardens along its banks. Another reason is cos’ it’s cheaper innit. A pint in Prague costs around £2 whereas it’ll set you back £7 in London. Basically, Prague is to beer what Bordeaux is to wine.
What else is there? A golden age came to Prague when it became the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire during the 14th century. The ambition was to create the most beautiful city in the world and they certainly did – with the stunning Vltava river flowing down the middle, splitting the city in two. Much of it today is a Unesco World Heritage Site. As you walk around, it feels like you’re digging around an old chest from the Middle Ages finding monuments, towers, ornate lampposts, and statues. Prague’s most iconic landmarks are St. Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge – best seen close up but also from Letná Park. Discover more.
Have you seen our pictures: Our fantastic travel photos, which capture some of our favourite destinations around the world, are now available for sale on Alamy. Woohoo!
Out the window: For years there has been so much talk about the new EU border checks post-Brexit, including fingerprinting and biometric photos. The Entry/Exit System (EES) was due to come in on Tuesday 10th November but due to a lack of tech infrastructure and fears of passengers being left on planes as queues build up in terminals, it’s been shelved. So, when might it happen? That’s not clear. So let’s forget about it for now.
Where to land: South Africa has been named the best value spot for British travellers this winter. Boffins at the Post Office Travel Money department have crunched the numbers and found low local prices and a weak rand means costs for Britons have dropped by 12 per cent since this time last year. Looking at the cost of 10 typical items including coffee, wine and a three-course dinner the total for Cape Town came to £55.59. Hoi An, Vietnam, came in second place for value and Tokyo third. The most expensive city was Sydney, Australia, where the 10 items cost £165. Another from the Independent.
Wondering where to go this weekend? Visit Britain has revealed its top 72 attractions based on Welcome, Quality Food and Drink, Hidden Gem, Best Told Story and Gold for overall excellence. Winners include galleries, museums, historic houses and gardens. Those offering the best Welcome are the 1620s House & Garden at Donington le Heath, Coalville, Leicestershire, Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve, Suffolk, Hall Hill Farm, Durham, the Shepherd Neame Visitor Centre in Faversham, Kent, the Corinium Museum, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, the Museum of Cannock Chase, Cannock, Staffordshire, Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham, South Yorkshire and Hamptonne Country Life Museum, St Lawrence, Jersey. Here are all 72 winners.
Now this: Families are taking more adventure trips instead of lie-on-the-beach holidays. According to travel agent Kuoni demand for activity holidays in Africa and Southeast Asia rose 60 per cent during school half-terms. Abta’s chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “Our latest data show that one in five (22 per cent) families went on an adventure holiday in the past 12 months, which is above the national average. Adventure trips encapsulate a wide variety of experiences, from hiking the Inca Trail in Peru to river rafting in Montenegro – usually involving physical or challenging activities and a high level of cultural immersion.” More deets in the Independent.
Big plans: Britons are taking more holidays than ever – almost four this year, according Abta’s 2024 Holiday Habits report. The official figure was 3.9 each. And Spain remains our holiday hero with one in three of us (31 per cent) holidaying there this year. As for the rest of the world, France came second and Italy third. Look in the Mirror for more.
Purple reign: Prince fans can book an Airbnb stay at the Purple Rain house in Minneapolis, north USA, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film. The late Prince bought the house in 2015 – and the rooms are said to be filled with artefacts and surprises. There are 25 one-night stays at $7 (£5.34) each. The Guardian has more.
Not fare: The £2 bus fare could soon jump to £3 for some of the most scenic routes in the country. The £2 cap saw passenger numbers rise especially on the Coastliner 840 in North Yorkshire – voted the UK’s most scenic route. The trip lasting 3.5hrs crosses the moorlands from Leeds, through York and on to Whitby’s harbour. There’s also the Stagecoach’s 555 that runs through the Lake District. This 3hr+ journey could rise to £11 if the bus subsidy is scrapped. Let’s see what happens on Wednesday 30th October.
And now for coaches: Shopping, concerts, football matches and days out to the seaside, coaches can take you anywhere and everywhere. This month we learned that passengers spend £8.3 billion in local economies. According to the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) £5.4 billion comes from British travellers, £610 million from international travellers. They calculate that a bus route makes the local area £1 million. The bottom line is, take a coach! It made BBC Breakfast news.
Culture war: Italy’s Spanish Steps are actually French. Confused? So is everyone else. But a bigger problem is that no one agrees who owns them – and now they are at the centre of an international row. So, short history lesson. The Spanish Steps are in Rome, they are called the Spanish Steps by English speakers cos’ they can’t say Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti (Steps of the Holy Trinity of the Hill) although in fairness they are near the Spanish Embassy. But, more importantly they were paid for with French francs when built in 1723. So who does own them? Now a French auditor included the 135 steps in a report of their €200 million assets in Rome. This angered Italy tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, who said: “What would France be without Italy? They cannot do without our luxury, our works, our beauty. But now they exaggerate. They even want to take the Spanish Steps of Trinità dei Monti.” But what is outrageous is that if you sit on them it’ll cost you €250 fine. That’s a bit steep! The Sunday Times has more.
Err: So, deep in the Highlands in Loch Ness will be a mass skinny dip as part of the new Loch and Land Festival this month. For those who are brave enough to take the plunge, you need to get up to Inverness on Sunday 3rd November for sunrise. Let’s hope it doesn’t frighten wee Nessie.
Travelodge not included: Michelin stars are being given to hotels now, although they’re called keys. The Michelin Guide has created its own tick-box exercise that scores hotels on service, design, experience and character. Much like its restaurant star system, one key means “very special”, two keys is “exceptional” and three is “extraordinary”. The list of 123 hotels in the UK and Ireland that earned keys was announced. Those in London with three keys included Claridge’s, The Savoy, Raffles at the OWO and The Peninsula London. The list goes on online…
Hit or miss? Buckingham Palace has been crowned the most beautiful building in the UK in a poll by Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland. It’s a total miss for us. Buckingham Palace – hi Charlie – doesn’t even have turrets and life there is clearly no fairytale. It might be surrounded by parkland but Westminster Palace is the winner for us. But, back to the list, St Paul’s cathedral came second, Tower of London third, York Minster fourth and Westminster Abbey fifth. The top 30 is on MailOnline.
Emotional baggage: A very bossy airport boss in New Zealand has ordered a “max hug time 3 minutes” and “for fonder farewells please use the car park.” Dan De Bono, who runs the regional airport Dunedin on the South Island, says too much hugging is causing traffic jams and he just wants to keep everyone outside the terminal moving. It didn’t land well on Twitter with some saying: “OMG, that’s not enough – hugging is a human right!” But others said: “OMG, I have a plane to catch, three minutes is far too long.” The Guardian has the story. No doubt the hugging hokey cokey is coming to an airport near you!
In the meantime: Paddington Bear was issued a British passport by the Home Office. Does he not have a Peruvian one? Anyway, no one understood why, but producer Rob Silva, from the Paddington films asked, and wallop he got one! He said: “You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.” However, they changed his name. He’s no longer Paddington Bear, but Paddington Brown. The Guardian reported on this important breaking news. There was no mention if he had to take the citizenship test?
What’s the password: We’re all attached to our phones, more so when we go abroad. Ahead of the school October half-term break Virgin Media O2 is warning travellers not to log on to a random wifi when away as unsecured networks can mean hackers stealing your info. They say the hotel wifi should be fine but not unfamiliar networks you might find listed. Gareth Lister at the mob company, said: “Just as you would with personal interactions, apply the principle of ‘stranger danger’ when thinking about who and what you connect your phone to.”
Plane nuts: We all got the new information that eating nuts on planes is just fine – it doesn’t affect those who have nut allergies. The research from the Civil Aviation Authority found there was no evidence that airborne transmission of nut particles could be carried through the aircraft’s ventilation system. But the CAA recommends that those with allergies wipe down their seat and table and called on airlines to allow them to board first so they can have a good clean before takeoff. When we first read this we thought “well, that’s great news for everyone,” but of course, this whole matter won’t reassure those with a nut allergy after passengers have had severe allergic reactions on board flights. What about them? There was no answer to that.
Changing places: Ryanair has threatened Dublin airport with moving more of its flights to Belfast International if it does not lift its 32-million-passenger cap (roughly 200k flights a year) which dates back to 2007 over planning regs. Ryanair has already moved 50,000 seats (around 300 flights) for the rest of the year and added more flights from Stansted to Krakow and Alicante (for Benidorm no doubt). breakingnews.ie has more. The Irish Independent has more.
Not just for NY: The brand new £340 million Grand Central Station has opened in Belfast. As the largest travel hub on the island of Ireland, it has eight platforms and will run a regular service from Belfast to Dublin. The BBC has more.
Liquid assets: The National Gallery in London has announced it is banning visitors from bringing in liquids after a spate of activists throwing soup at iconic artworks… and hammers. But they aren’t banning those. The Telegraph has more.
Missing out: Millions of grandparents are sacrificing taking a holiday to save their money for their grandchildren, according to Ambassador Cruise Line. Their survey revealed that one in seven have foregone a trip so they can support young family members. PA Media has the sad news.
Wild adventure: We leave at 6.30am without breakfast, only hot water bottles and blankets – heading out as the sun rises into Kruger National Park. Thousands of animals roam this wide space, an area roughly the size of Scotland. While the park is home to 147 species, the main draw is the Big Five – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Picking our way through the bush, it’s difficult to spot anything. There are rustles and strange sounds in the long grass but we can’t see any animals. Soon enough, we gasp and nudge each other, our guide sights a leopard through the trees. Next we find a large herd of elephants. Then baboons and impalas. By the afternoon we spot a skipping baby rhino with its mother. We get closer here.
Not appy: The Mail on Sunday has discovered that booking hotels with Booking.com is cheaper if you use their app on your phone rather than on their website using a laptop. They found booking direct on the website was 16 per cent higher than using the app. Booking.com spokesman said: “Our accommodation partners offer mobile-only rates as a way to appeal to customers.”
Looking away: This story is on repeat from last year with Greenpeace naming and shaming the UK yet again for having the highest number (10.8%) of private jets flying to European holiday hotspots. France came second (10.7%) followed by Italy (8.9%). And where are the filthy rich, one per cent going? Their top three destinations are Nice (2,642 flights), Geneva (1,953 flights) and Palma de Mallorca (1,140 flights). Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Georgia Whittaker said: “This absurd level of private luxury for the few is helping to create a public disaster for the many. We can’t go on like this.” Here’s the full report.
Snow season: Six Alpine ski resorts could be without snow in decades due to rising temperatures. The UN weather agency WMO forecast snow cover will rise to 1,500 metres above sea level – currently it’s 850 metres. It warns lower resorts such as Courchevel and Meribel would have to use artificial snow, which would require lots of energy.
Round the bar cruise: Shipmates on board the most talked about cruise liner have made it to France, when they should be in the Caribbean. The beleaguered Villa Vie Residences Odyssey is on a three-and-a-half-year voyage around the world. But, for four months, it has been anchored in Northern Ireland for repair work. It finally set sail. But then… it stopped again, due to paperwork issues. Hmmm? Then, news came it was off to Scotland to refuel but it sailed off to France. What is happening? It’s a mystery. Whatever the issue, it’s better everything is ship shape before crossing the choppy Atlantic. Chalkmarks has done that and it takes guts, which we didn’t have as we chucked them up every single day for seven days. It was our biggest test yet! Read on. Bon voyage! Reuters has tried to keep up.
Have you seen our pictures: Our fantastic travel photos, which capture some of our favourite destinations around the world, are now available for sale on Alamy. Woohoo!
Bordeaux: This French city is a must-visit for wine lovers. This is where for breakfast you have oysters and Champagne. A croissant and coffee is for amateurs. Then take a trip to Cite du Vin. And for lunch? Don’t miss a trip to the village of Saint-Émilion famous for its chateaux. Book a bike tour with Wine Pilgrim for a sommelier’s perspective. For the rest of your time, challenge yourself to taste the different grapes: the Left Bank v the Right Bank. Cabernet Sauvignon v Merlot. Hic!
Comedown: No one loves an airport at the best of times but for drivers leaving their cars in long-stay car parks, the headache is greater. Many meet-and-greet services at Gatwick and Heathrow Airport are a long way off offering the standard of a professional valet. According to investigators at Which? magazine parking staff like to nab loose change and sweets from the glove compartment, and even go for high-speed spins. Damage was also common with one car receiving a smashed windscreen. Which? says parking with some operators is risky as they don’t have appropriate insurance and recommends avoiding them altogether. See the Which? report.
There’s no travel news without Simon Calder: He’s always updating us on cancelled flights, the latest visa requirements and what’s new to discover somewhere on the planet. He’s also the champion of the package holidaymaker speaking up when they have been poorly treated by airlines and can’t get a refund. Not only does he write, he’s a podcaster, answers travellers’ questions on Instagram, and he’s always ready to go live on the telly. Plus, he always seems to be away. It’s a travel-filled life. Today there is an army of travel writers, bloggers and influencers in his wake trying to be a mover and shaker just like him. How does he do it all? He was WFC (working from a cruise ship) on board the Cunard’s Queen Anne talking to TravMed to share some secrets.
Travel chat: From the water, Simon said travel journalism “was in a pickle” with great demand for content but less money in traditional media to pay for good copy – but building trust and inspiring people was important. He then rattled through the big travel issues of the day, including reducing carbon emissions (he wants more people to be aware of their travel impact and how can we move around more efficiently), over-tourism (he thinks UK cities charging a £1 tourism tax should raise it to £20), travelling off-season (by making travellers an offer they can’t refuse).
The rest is history: After all that, he talked about what had inspired him to travel when he was a young child growing up in Crawley, West Sussex. The first was a trip to the Lake District, Cumbria, and the second visiting Brighton, East Sussex, … and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, you cannot deny that the man has travelled far and wide, with plans this year go to Nepal, Missouri, and the Europe’s Christmas markets. But when will he write his memoirs so we can all read about it?
Traveller gonna travel!
