Why we don’t be flying again from January’s Guardian doesn’t go into the environmental impact of flying, but it does make a good case for the joys of other methods of transport.
Category Archives: travel
Really busy day, but exciting news! I have my dates for Turkey, and it looks like after two weeks on site, my lovely friend Min will meet me in Istanbul and we’ll either get a ferry across the Black Sea or catch a train through Bulgaria to Romania.
The Times Online today listed The 100 best travel websites.
A new site, www.noflying.info has gone live. “The site has potential to be a huge success and be highly beneficial to the cause of sustainable travel.” They’re looking for people to contribute content or help with development before the full launch around May 20.
I’ve been typing up some of my travel writing, and it’s inspired me to try and get in contact with hostelworld.com about the Paradise Hotel and Hostel/brothel I accidentally stayed in in Riga. I really should get around to scanning in the ‘massage menus’.
“At the time I couldn’t get the contact form on your website to work but
I’d like to make a complaint about the Paradise Hotel and Hostel.
I had a two night booking for a single room with private bathroom there,
but I only stayed one night as not only were there no single rooms with
private bathrooms available, but somewhat more importantly, the place is
basically a brothel. The only private bathrooms are in the “massage
rooms” and it looks like they prefer to rent them out by the hour.
There’s a 24 hour bar downstairs, with a “free drink with a beautiful
woman” if you bring in their brochure, and a 24 “erotic massage” saloon.”
What is the real price of cheap air travel?
“The arguments against flying are compelling. … A return flight to Australia equals the emissions of three average cars for a year. Fly from London to Edinburgh for the weekend and you produce 193kg of CO2, eight times the 23.8kg you produce by taking the train. Moreover, the pollution is released at an altitude where its effect on climate change is more than double that on the ground.
More frightening is the boom in the number of people flying, fuelled by cheap flights with carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet. In 1970, British airports were used by 32 million people. In 2004, the figure was 216 million. In 2030, according to government forecasts, it will be around 500 million. The trouble is that the people most likely to be aware of these figures, are the ones who probably enjoy popping over to Europe for a weekend. It makes for a large amount of guilt, and a lot of denial. ”
Guardian
This article almost matches the course of my thinking about cheap flights. At first I was off-setting flights by donating to Future Forests to have trees planted, but I’ve come to realise I just can’t justify taking so many short-haul flights.
On the other hand, I hope I’ll be taking longer trips and savour them more, or travel more by train. I love train travel anyway – the trip Min and I are planning to Ukraine, Moldova and Romania is designed around the European rail guide.
So far, Portugal has been just lovely. Porto is really pretty, and I had a weird moment when I realised the reason it looked so familiar was that it reminded me of Macau.
There was an election yesterday so the streets were full of cars driving around and around, horns blaring, huge flags being waved out the windows. Having a potter around Porto then off to Braga today.
As this is my year for working on various projects, Life Hacker is bound to come handy at some stage.
I should probably do a budget but I don’t think I want to know how much I spend on travel. Speaking of, I’m off to Porto tomorrow (Ryanair 1p flights), back late Wednesday.
Poor Jordan. I really really want to go there, and information like this Lonely Planet rave doesn’t help:
“Bible stories, lost cities, Lawrence of Arabia – Jordan has romantic associations up to its eyeballs. It’s a country that ought to be awash with tourists, but the Middle East’s bad reputation has kept them away in droves. Don’t be fooled: Jordan is, on the whole, peaceful.
More than that, it’s one of the most welcoming, hospitable countries in the world. Where else could you leave your belongings on the street for hours at a time, and find them there when you get back? Where else do total strangers with nothing to sell invite you into their homes?”
But on the same page:
“Terrorism Warning
The closures of Western embassies in Amman represent high-level warnings to travellers. Unnecessary travel should be postponed until the security situation relaxes. Western intelligence agencies have suggested terrorists may be in the final stages of planning attacks on foreigners. Sixty people were killed and more than one hundred injured by bombs planted in three Amman hotels in 2005. Travellers to Jordan should be informed at all times and avoid visiting areas known to be frequented by Westerners.”
Spoof signs and Mock Turner prizes from the BBC.
Bratislava was really pretty, especially when covered with snow. The gay bars were full of friendly and cute girls and boys. Saw some impressive dance floor moves – a cross between Solid Gold, liturgical and interpretative dance.
Food was mostly variations on dumplings but they have a range of hot alcoholic drinks that made up for the food and the cold. I avoided the hot punch that featured bacon and lard in favour of grog or fresh apple drinks.
We were diverted to Vienna on the way there because of a snow storm over Bratislava, and had to get a taxi from Austria to Slovakia.
Back-tracking, dinner with a friend on Wednesday night turned into one of those random London nights and we ended up hobnobbing with slebs at the Groucho Club. Mojo’s birthday at Flash Monkey at Cafe de Paris on Thursday was great fun, though I left before the end to go home and pack. Most of the crowd had put a lot of effort into their outfits, and there was a lot of variety. I’ve discovered that I can run for the night bus in a corset, very useful.