Europe a la Carte BlogEurope a la Carte BlogIf you would like to find out more about the real Europe, read and comment at this blog. We can help you get a better flavour of your European destination. Visit less well know destinations and avoid the tourist traps. Articles
Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh
2007-12-11 20:02:00 I visited the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh yesterday and found it fascinating. The Museum was created in 1955 by the batchelor Andrew Murray, an optician and local councillor. It was the first Museum of Childhood in the world. I’d recommend it for an all-weather family day out. I’ve highlighted some of the exhibits that caught ... More About: Children , Culture
Guest interview - Mark Garwell of DoYouTravel.com
2007-12-11 16:38:00 I read about the launch a new travel social networking site, DoYouTravel.com today. I decided to have a look at the site as it’s free for travel businesses to set up a profile with direct links to their site and to upload classified ads. Mark Garwell one of the creators has very quickly taken part ... More About: Interview , Guest
Special offers on Kuoni Europe holidays
2007-12-09 11:05:00 Kuoni’s best deals on Europe holidays mean that you can have a quality holiday in Europe at the best possible price. Kuoni was founded in 1906 in Switzerland and is renowned for high quality holidays. Their website scored 5 out of 5 stars on the goodwebguide.co.uk. More About: Holidays , Special , Offers , Rope
Destination idea generation tool at alpharooms
2007-12-08 18:09:00 If you’re looking for some ideas on where to spend your short break or holiday. “Alfie” is here to offer you some suggestions. You just need to answer a few quick questions about possible destinations such as desired temperature, length of flight, month of travel and your interests and Alfie comes up with a ... More About: Technology , Travel Tips , Accommodation , Tool , Idea
Idea generation tool at alpharooms.com
2007-12-08 18:09:00 If you’re looking for some ideas on where to spend your short break or holiday. “Alfie” is here to offer you some suggestions. You just need to answer a few quick questions about possible destinations such as desired temperature, length of flight, month of travel and your interests and Alfie comes up with a ... More About: Technology , Accommodation , Tool , Idea , Generation
Pet pester power influences travel plans
2007-12-07 20:40:00 It’s reckoned that the UK domestic travel industry could reap the rewards if it can cater to pet pester power and encourage bookings from owners who’d rather take their beloved pets away with the family. There are 49 million pets in the UK, almost matching the human population. Pet travel in the UK is ... More About: Power , Travel , Accommodation , Plans , Travelodge
Cardiff named as must-see destination
2007-12-07 15:07:00 Cardiff, the Welsh capital, has been named a must-see destination for 2008 by Frommers. Cardiff is the only destination in Western Europe to be featured in the 13 top tips. Cardiff is praised for retaining its ancient Welsh heart as it has been regenerated. It’s also a good base for exploring South ... More About: United Kingdom , Wales , Travel Tips , Destination , Cardiff
Intercontinental hotels can?t find their own cheapest rate
2007-12-07 14:26:00 The Intercontinental Hotel group guarantees that its online booking rates are the lowest publicity available rates so you won’t have to shop around to get the best deal. However when looking for accommodation in the York area for a UK short break between Xmas and New Year I discovered an discrepancy. When I carried ... More About: Hotels , Accommodation , Find , Rate , Conti
Why are incidents of air rage taking off?
2007-12-07 11:17:00 I read today that incidents of air rage are soaring on British flights with an annual increase from 1359 incidents to 2219. The increase may partly attributable to more stringent reporting of incidents but it’s still a cause for concern as the majority of incidents are deemed as significant. The main offenders are ... More About: Air Travel , Rage , Taking
Holiday Inn Express rooms from £39
2007-12-06 23:10:00 Holiday Inn Express have rooms on their “Leisure Saver” offer for only £39 per night including continental buffet breakfast. Family rooms can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids up to the age of 19. I’ve stayed at Holiday Inn Express on several occasions and always found the rooms to be comfortable. There’s a good ... More About: Holiday , United Kingdom , Holiday Inn
Falkirk Travelodge opens 7 December 2007
2007-12-05 22:46:00 Another new Travelodge opens in Falkirk in central Scotland, located just off the M9 motorway. Rooms, which can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 kids, start at £19 per night on the Saver Rate if you book three weeks in advance and from £29 if you book one week in advance. It’s only a ... More About: Architecture , Accommodation , December , December 2007
Poor customer service by online travel companies continues
2007-12-05 14:06:00 Unfortunately there seems to have been little improvement in the standard of customer service offered by online travel companies since I wrote on this topic in February 2007. According to the latest research carried out by Transversal, 60% of email queries go unanswered and when a response is given it takes an average of 58 ... More About: Companies , Travel , Customer Service , Service , Customer
How many sites do you visit to book a holiday?
2007-12-05 13:26:00 According to research by Google, UK consumers are spending an average of one month, visiting 22 websites before booking their holiday. Consumers spend time comparing products from competing websites and are likely to make 4 visits to the website of the tour operator with which they finally book. It’s tough out here for travel companies to ... More About: Holiday , United Kingdom , Book , Sites , Visit
Top spa trends for 2008
2007-12-05 12:19:00 SpaFinder, named best website for spa travel by Forbes.com and US Today, have been looking into their crystal ball to predict the spa trends for 2008 . More travellers are looking for “healthy holidays”, where they can combine spa treatment with activities such as yoga or walking. There’s a move towards more High Street locations of ... More About: Trends
Fuerteventura - great Wintersun destination
2007-12-05 11:30:00 We spent the last week of November 2007 on DIY holiday in Fuerteventra. We like going on a Winter sun holiday at this time to get some sunshine in the middle of the dark UK nights. Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands and you can expect temperatures to average the low 20 degrees ... More About: Spain , Great , Destination , Wintersun , Winters
Great British Heritage Pass
2007-12-05 10:32:00 If you plan to visit castles, gardens and monuments during your trip to the UK, the Great British Heritage Pass saves you money and time. Overseas visitors to the UK can buy the pass online. The pass gives you free entry to a wast array of heritage properties owned by the National Trust, Historic ... More About: England , Culture , Scotland , Architecture , United Kingdom
New Travelodge opens in Edinburgh on 14 December 2007
2007-12-04 13:21:00 The lastest addition to the Travelodge family opens in Haymarket, close to Edinburgh city centre on 14 December 2007. It’s a good location close to Haymarket rail station and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. I couldn’t find any information about parking on the Travelodge site but I’m pretty certain that you’ll have to pay ... More About: Scotland , Accommodation
HotelsCombined best performing travel meta search engine
2007-12-03 22:07:00 One of my newest accommodation partners, Hotelscombined, have come top in a comparative study of 5 travel meta search engines carried out by 4Hoteliers, the hospitality and travel news website. This result doesn’t surprise me as I’ve found Hotelscombined to give a wider choice of accommodation when I carried out my own very brief comparison with ... More About: Travel , Search , Search Engine , Accommodation , Engine
Free nights at Prague hotels
2007-12-03 21:41:00 Alpharooms have a selection of free night offers at hotels in Prague for specific dates during the period January to April 2008. In Prague by Ben Harris-Roxas The 3 star Hotel Tyl is offering 3 nights for the price of 2 between 2 January - 20 March 2008 and 4 nights for the price of ... More About: Children , Hotels , Czech Republic , Free , Accommodation
Explosive growth of Travelrepublic.co.uk
2007-12-03 18:38:00 Travelrepublic.co.uk, an online travel agency, has been named No 1 in the UK Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table with an impressive 284% increase in annual sales. Travelmole reports that this is the first occasion on which a travel company has topped the league of fastest growing privately owned UK companies. I must ... More About: United Kingdom , Growth
Review of Morasol Atlantico Aparthotel, Costa Calma, Fuerteventura
2007-12-02 16:35:00 Good - spacious, clean apartments with seaview terrace or balcony, good value for money. Bad - Quality and choice at buffet meals inconsistent, English hardly spoken in hotel as predominantly German guests. We stayed for 7 nights at the Morasol Atlantico Aparthotel in November 2007 at a cost of £276 for 2 guests in a one bedroom apartment on half board. It was good value for money as the apartment was a good size with a huge sun terrace. Although the kitchen facilities were limited with only 2 electric rings, a coffee maker, a toaster and a fridge. There was a sea view but this was partly obscured by the building opposite. It took less than 5 minutes to walk down to the beautiful beach, one of the best beaches that we visited on the island. The hotel was totally geared towards German guests, with the staff and other guests assuming that everyone was German. All the hotel notices were in German. Personally I didn’t really have a problem with this but if you like to spend... More About: Review , Costa
Cash back on your travel spending
2007-11-22 12:40:00 If you’d like to earn cashback on your travel and holiday spending then you should look at the cash back offers available with eCashBack. There’s 2.5% cash back on your spend with Ebookers and Expedia, 3.5% with Alpharooms, 1% with Eurostar and P&O Ferries . There are also cash back offers with many other online retailers such ... More About: Travel , Air Travel , Travel Tips , Accommodation
Find the cheapest hotel with Hotelscombined
2007-11-21 15:19:00 I recently used the Hotel sComb ined site to find cheap accommodation in Edinburgh. The site came up with a pretty good deal of £24 for a single ensuite room in central Edinburgh at the Osbourne Hotel. Hotelscombined is completely independent and isn’t paid to promote a specific hotel or site. They search for the cheapest price ... More About: Accommodation , Find
Fascinating graveyards Stirling, Scotland
2007-11-21 14:48:00 I really like visiting graveyards and there is a large graveyard on the way up to Stirling Castle. View to Stirling Castle There are two distinct graveyards beside the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling. The “Old Kirkyard” has some headstones dating from as far back as 1579. The rows of headstones face east ... More About: Culture , Scotland , Architecture
Restuarant Review - Duncans in Perth
2007-11-21 12:43:00 I had lunch at Duncan’s in Perth with a friend this week. They offer a two course lunch for £10. Duncan’s pride themselves on “fresh food sourced locally and cooked with respect”. They appear to change the lunch menu monthly. I had the market fish which was sea bass served with ... More About: Scotland , Restaurants , United Kingdom , Review
Travelodge - you let me down
2007-11-21 12:06:00 As a fan of Travelodge , I was very disappointed by the room in which I stayed at the Stirling Travelodge earlier this week. The bathroom ceiling of room 26 was mouldy and covered in brown spots. Bathroom ceiling of room 26, Stirling Travelodge Now I have to admit that I checked in late after a long ... More About: Scotland , Accommodation
Tax office scores higher customer satisfaction than airline
2007-11-21 11:36:00 Isn’t it amazing that a recent opinion poll highlights that US consumers are more satisfied with the customer service delivered by the IRS than by airlines. The IRS scored 63%. 1% higher than the lowest scoring cable and satellite TV companies and 2% lower than the IRS. How can the tax office, grabbing the tax ... More About: Office , Air Travel , Customer , Satisfaction , Higher
Top insider tips for travel bloggers
2007-11-17 14:18:00 If you’d like to read tips from top travel industry bloggers, you can download the free pdf file of “Tips from the T-List eBook” at the Highland Business Reseach site. The T-List stands for tourism and travel blogs, an initiative to promote the diverse array of travel blogs. It’s fascinating to read this collection of ... More About: Travel , Bloggers , Insider
Kayak.co.uk - a damp squib?
2007-11-16 20:25:00 I’ve heard quite a bit about the UK launch of Kaya k , initially from my husband when he was searching for a second hand kayak to purchase. He found it rather frustrating that this travel site kept appearing. It does seem a bit of a strange name but I’ve read pretty good things about ... More About: United Kingdom , Accommodation
Win a free 2 night stay in Edinburgh
More articles from this author:2007-11-16 14:58:00 If you like to win 2 nights free accommodation in Edinburgh , the Scottish capital recently voted the best UK short break destination then enter the Scottish Apartments competition. Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the UK. I know I’m biased being Scottish. If you do visit don’t just stick to the well ... More About: Scotland , Free , Night , Competitions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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