Travel Industry Journal

Traveling and the Disabled

Pro Travel — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:10:06 +0000

Ticket, passport, wheelchair…
By Clive Gilbert
BBC News

Despite a new European law to prevent airlines from discriminating against disabled people, planning a holiday can be a fraught exercise for a wheelchair user.
A question which simultaneously evokes pangs of excitement and trepidation is “where are we going for our holidays?”

The answer for most families is often a careful balance between their dreams of exotic palm tree-lined beaches and the realities of a holiday budget that may stretch little further than the newly-formed lake that is the British countryside.

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Unfunny, but true

Pro Travel — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:08:47 +0000

Well, it’s been a bizarre and roundly disagreeable week here at Killing Batteries, Minneapolis Edition. To start on a lighter note, I was finally forced to address a, erm, ‘condition’, that presented itself virtually the day after I arrived in the US. Since the US is the only country in the world where I don’t have health insurance at the moment, because pharmaceutical companies have more power than our president, a home remedy was invoked - which seems to be working thankfully - to avoid a gigantic medical bill or a full day in a dodgy free clinic. Unfortunately, the remedy temporarily required me to go cold turkey off caffeine and alcohol. Being a former Hypochondria All Star, I don’t want to go into detail about my condition here in case it all turns out to be psychosomatic, but I’ll tell you that a possible diagnosis of my symptoms rhymes with Benlarged Brostate. The painful irony was going off caffeine was infinitely worse than feeling like I have to pee 24 hours a day.

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ANOTHER REASON NOT TO GO WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:08:52 +0000

Have you heard about British Airways imposing a bag fee. Well it’s true February 2007. Even if you are under the weight limit, but have more than one check in bag, you will be charges through the nose.
This is pasted from the BA website:
Excess baggage charged at a fixed fee Longhaul Shorthaul UK Domestic £120 per bag or £84 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007). £60 per bag or £42 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007). £30 per bag or £21 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007).

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What You Really Need To Pack On Your Next Trip

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:08:40 +0000

Have you ever gone on a summer or winter vacation only to find you used about ¼ of all the stuff you brought? Or packed for a sunny vacation destination only to find that they are having the coldest season on record?

Packing is a tricky and of course is wholly dependent on the locale you are visiting and the activities you plan to do. Your suitcase(s) also play a big part in your packing; make sure they are in good repair and an adequate size for your needs. To help you with your packing challenges, 89DollarTravel.com has provided this ultimate packing checklist to help you pack with ease next time you travel!
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Tuscany’s in the bag

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:08:07 +0000

Friends/LP editors/groupies,

I’m happy to announce that I submitted the last of my Tuscany work for two different LP books (Tuscany and Umbria 5 and Italy 8, both due in stores February 2008) last Tuesday, 10 full days before deadline. Now I don’t wanna brag or anything, but WHO’S YOUR DADDY??? WHO’S YOUR DADDY LP TUSCANY??? NOW BARK LIKE A DOG FOR ME!!!! NOT A SMALL DOG, A BIG DOG!!! AAAWWW YEEEAAAAAH!!! SHA-ZAM!!!

And so on and so forth.

I don’t want diminish the wicked powerful “Heartthrob, Badass Travel Writing Super Hero” mystique I’ve got going here, but I have to admit that Tuscany was about 20 times smoother than Romania and Moldova. No car accidents (though there were several close calls), no perilous blizzards, no repeatedly cheating death, no police harassment, no time spent under the hood of my car wiggling wires and impregnating my clothes with gas fumes and no word-count disasters. Indeed, I had it somewhat easy. Though I wrote plenty of new material, much of the book had only minor updates and both the editors and I agreed that large chunks of the existing text, written by my predecessor (and post-decessor) Miles Roddis, was so damn good that we’d be fools to mess with it.

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Greek commuters to face serious transport problems Tues due to 24 union strike

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:08:52 +0000

ATHENS (Thomson Financial) - The Greek commuting public will face serious transport problems tomorrow due to the 24 hour nation wide strike called by the General Confederation of Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants Union (ADEDY), which may potentially grind the whole country to a halt.

The general strike was called by the unions to demand the return of money invested by social insurance funds in allegedly overpriced bonds, an ongoing case which is still be investigated that has greatly embarrassed the government.

‘We want the money to be returned, and those responsible to be held accountable,’ the unions said in a statement on Monday.

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