Category: Travel

Worrying about what to do when you arrive at Edinburgh Airport can be stressful unless you take some simple precautions and plan ahead

That stressful feeling is terrible worrying about what to do and where to go when you arrive at Edinburgh. How do you get to the city centre? What part of Edinburgh is your hotel located in? When you first leave the aircraft you simply need to follow the signs to the passport control area, get you luggage and clear customs then you are on your own.

Manchester Airport and London Airports both have more than one terminal building and it can get confusing working out which one you should be at and how to get between them. Edinburgh airport has only one terminal building so at least you do not have to worry about that

If you are lucky enough to being collected by a friend then try to pre-arrange a suitable meeting point prior to your arrival. The airport has designated meeting points in the terminal building however it is probably advisable to get whoever is collecting you to suggest the best place to meet

There is no rail station at Edinburgh Airport however there is a low cost shuttle bus service into the Edinburgh city centre. The shuttle service runs every ten to fifteen minutes. There is also a regular bus service to the city centre as well and is the cheapest option of all. Just look for the coaches displaying the sign Airlink 100 to city centre, the journey time is only twenty five to thirty minutes depending on traffic.

As with all airports there is an airport taxi service and again like all airport taxi services they are not the cheapest. They do however offer convenient and quick journey times and can take you exactly where you want to go.

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House sitter, house minder and home swapping. All now common terms regarding people living in or looking after each others houses. No renting or paying for holiday accommodation

For free holiday accommodation you can do it a number of ways.

Quite simply when you house swap you live in someone else’s house. They live in yours, you both agree on the amount of time you will swap houses for. An agreement is signed by both parties and all involved enjoy free accommodation with all facilities.

House sitting on the other hand is different again. The house sitter will live in your house while you are away. The house sitter is obliged to care for your house as if it were their own. The house sitting includes care of animals, garden maintenance and forwarding of mail if required.

You will save hundreds of dollars not to mention a lot of stress by having a house sitter. House sitting is an excellent way to help save money and have a holiday at the same time. the length of stay may vary from one week up to many months, depending on what the home owner requires.

House sitting on the whole is a free service. Depending on what is involved in looking after a property some house sitters will charge a nominal fee. Any fees are discussed and agreed upon between house sitter and owner beforehand. Agencies who offer a referral service or act as go between for property owners will charge a registration fee.

For a family vacation home swapping could be the answer, a family of four could save thousands of dollars. For others it is still a great way to travel, you can nominate who you want to swap homes with, couple with no kids or seniors or family. Home swaps are happening by the thousands every year . For many this becomes the only way to travel and they never pay for holiday accommodation again.

When it comes to gambling and casinos, no tourist destination is as famous and widely talked about all around the world as Las Vegas. Nicknamed Sin City for all the gambling and other notorious activities that occur in the area, Las Vegas is full of luxury casinos and themed resorts that bring in billions of dollars every year.

If you want to have the full Las Vegas experience, or just want to see Nevada in a different light, you must reserve your accommodations early and plan your vacation even earlier. Outside The Mirage and Caesar’s Palace are places in Nevada that are not related to gambling, such as the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe, the arid Great Basin Desert and the splendid Sierra Nevada.

In a city as spectacular as Nevada, the main problem for the common traveler is costs and lodging can particularly be a burning sensation for your wallet. The glamorous hotels at the Las Vegas Strip are almost out of the equation. Those places will drain your savings as fast as their slot machines. Fortunately, there is a better way to spend your time and money in Nevada called timesharing.

Getting a timeshare is great for those who are financially strapped. It is a cheap alternative to the fancy hotels in Nevada and offers a form of vacation property ownership that is similar to buying stocks. However, instead of stocks, a certain share of time is purchased for a particular property, which can be a hotel unit or condominium. This is a great strategy for those who regularly visit Nevada because a timeshared property provides the partial owner a certain amount of time to use the property in a year. Those who intend to stay in Nevada less frequently can rent out places from timesharing owners instead. Renting is much cheaper and does not require any type of purchase.

Tokyo is now rated by the Michelin guide as the top city in the world for haute cuisine.

What? Is this a mistake? What happened to the haute cuisine lock that Paris has had on this honor for, well, forever?

That is probably what the French are wondering. In its first ever edition devoted to an Asian city, Michelin awarded restaurants in Tokyo a total of 191 stars. That was nearly twice as many as Paris can boast, and more than three times New York’s total.

“Tokyo is becoming the global city with the finest cuisine, the city in the world with the most stars,” said Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret.

I believe that this can be seen as a sign of the times for the 21st century. A good many of the top rankings that the West had assumed would be theirs forever are moving East. Not only do these rankings include the city with the world’s best restaurants but one of the ultimate measures of a nations power and reach, the tallest skyscrapers, have already moved East. Nine out of the ten tallest buildings in the world are now located in Asia.

What will be the tallest building in the world upon completion is now under construction in Dubai, UAE. The Burj Dubai will not only be by far the tallest building in the world but the center for one of the world’s most amazing urban development projects ever build. The development site covers over 500 acres in downtown Dubai.

With the Chinese economy projected to become the largest in the world, replacing the United States economy, within 30 to 40 years the West had best get back on the growth track soon or living standards in the West will start a slow decline with the latest and greatest that the world has to offer to be found in the East and Middle East.

Singapore Airlines A380 Superjumbo double bed suite class has more than a few heads turning. The following video shows all three A380 cabin configurations, economy, business class, and 12 double bed suites.

The economy and business class configurations look to be several notches above what you would find on most airlines. But the double bed suites. Wowie! They just may be a bit over the top.

Singapore Airlines , in the spirit of a rather prudish Singapore, has already taken the unusual step of publicly asking passengers on its new Airbus A380 plane not to engage in any sexual activities. In effect Singapore Airlines has banned the formation of a A380 mile-high club.

“All we ask of customers, wherever they are on our aircraft, is to observe standards that don’t cause offence to other customers and crew,” the airline said in a statement.

“Nothing different applies for our Singapore Airlines Suites customers.”

Singapore Airlines has already ordered 19 of the Airbus A380 aircraft. I expect that as more planes are brought into service the airline will have its hands full enforcing the mile high club ban.

After a bottle or two of champagne there is always the prospect that a few passenger couples will begin to feel a bit too romantic at 35,000 to 40,000 feet above sea level. Perhaps if discovered in the act or even in the nude they will likely plead that they  couldn’t resist the romantic tempting setting. Besides, they can plea that they waited until they were well above one mile high to become extra friendly.

After all, if they are more like seven to eight miles high as well as being high on champagne and the spirit of adventure, they will probably wonder why Singapore Airlines bans doing what comes naturally. And it was a well trained Singapore Airlines flight attendant who placed rose pedals on the bed covers. Isn’t that a little suggestive?