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Probably the best kept travel secret is Southern Trains advance fare, bookable on the Internet, of £3 to and from Gatwick Airport. The journey takes only a minute or two more than the Gatwick Express and the trains are just as comfortable. This fare is more than five times cheaper than a one way fare on the Gatwick Express.
Usually, alot of limousine companies in Chicago offering airport transportation, charge more to tourists or visitors from other countries, but I had a great experience with Chicago Limo Service. They charge what their rate is their drivers guide you to really interesting tourist spots.
www.chicago-wedding-limo.com
773-237-5466
3138 N Austin Ave, Chicago, IL 60634
Google map: tinyurl.com/ya3ktcm
Please note, there are problems with the braking systems of the newer S-bahn trains, any line using them does have restricted service - the ring line, S1 and S2 for instance. Also the lines that run through zoo, Friedrichstrasse, Ostbanhof, the trains can be shorter and very crowded and you may have to change train occasionally. Still good service, but just be alert.
There has been a new water taxi service between San Pedro on Ambergris Caye Belize and Chetumal in Mexico since November 2009. One thing that should be noted is that although it only runs on Friday to Monday the exit tax is only 7.50 BZE as opposed to 37.50 at the regular borders.
This offsets the price of $30 USD one way and makes getting from San Pedro to Playa del Carmen or Cancun very easy.
You can leave San Pedro at 7.15 am and be in Cancun by 4.20pm.
Belize Express Water Taxi Association
more information on www.theworldtraveller.net/belize.html
This is a local tour operator which organised a fantastic 24 hour tour of the Mekong Delta on a sampan which had two double beds.
www.vidotour.com
145 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(84-8) 3933 0457
Google map: tinyurl.com/ye4kybb
It's really cheap and easy to stretch your legs or walk about while travelling rather than a coach or car.
Check out www.overlandit.com where you can get a few options for Oz
Luton airport flight arrivals and delays website - I like this - we had the sense to check online before going to pick up our mates at Luton. The snow caused a load of flights to be delayed in and out, rather be at home than waiting in the car park...
www.ukairportinformation.com/arrivals-93-London_Luton_Airport.htm
Food and drink at Bodrum Milas airport is very expensive. Two pints of Efez and two portions of chips cost £13 last summer! Even if you have soft drinks instead, it is still a lot of money if you are travelling with a family. We make sandwiches for the journey now. It saves about £5 per person. You are still stuck with buying drinks as you are not allowed to take liquids over 100ml through security.
Travel services with a difference - Andrew Booth, the founder, aims to bring education to the rural areas via profits from providing great travel services. Very warm local and foreign staff who understand luxury travel well. Great itineraries - well-researched routes allow you to view the temples unhurriedly and without the usual tourist crowds. My friend travelled alone with three kids and they provided a nanny! Thumbs up for making a real difference to travellers and the local communities.
www.asiatravel-cambodia.com
(Best to write to Andrew Booth, andy@asiatravel-cambodia.com)
+855 92 121 059
When returning from Olot to Girona take the Teisa bus which goes via Amer as you really get a feel for the green and luscious beauty of the Garroxta region. As the coach passes through the villages bordering the natural park you can marvel at the volcanoes and the ruined castle perched far above Hostoles.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ychyzwy
Hello, I found this wonderful page about bus schedules on Cuba. It was very useful on my trip to the island a few weeks ago.
As a regular Heathrow user I have often been ‘hijacked’ into paying £3 on the Hotel Hoppa bus to get out of Heathrow onwards to ‘civilisation’ at an overnight hotel on Bath Road. I have watched in dismay as families of 4 are shocked into paying £12 (or £24 if returning to Heathrow for their next flight) to travel the one mile or so to their hotel.
But good news is at hand. I have discovered that any ‘Red Bus’ from the Heathrow Central Bus Station will take passengers onto Bath Road for no charge and the same is true when picking up Heathrow Central buses coming back into the airport from the Bath Road bus stops.
There are a number of hotels only minutes away from the first two bus stops on Bath Road and some with rooms below £50 (Google Search ‘Heathrow Hotels’) and pick one of the 10 or so that are close to the bus stops on Bath Road.
The bad news is, having saved £6 I need £4.50 or more to buy a beer in the hotel but there is a nice old fashioned pub on Bath Road as well if you don’t mind a short walk for a more realistically priced beer.
Google map: tinyurl.com/yjge5kn
www.londontoolkit.com/lhr/hotel_hoppa_bus.htm#free
One of better buses going from Phnom Pehn to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam is Mekong Express. Bus takes about seven hours and costs $12.
www.mekongexpress.com/
Bus Office is on corner of street #102 and Sisowath Quay on riverfront. No central bus station in the city - Mekong Express buses to Ho Chi Minh city leave from Orussey Market.
A relatively short journey that hugs the coastline but offers gorgeous views of the mountains and over the bay, and costs just a few rand. I only took the journey this far (the train terminates at Simon's Town), but I imagine the journey leading up to Kalk's Bay is equally stunning.
If travelling alone make sure to board a coach with other people already on it, and avoid taking the train when it is dark in the evening.
Google map: tinyurl.com/y8opowa
Velo Blue (Blue Bike) is a public bike rental scheme where you can, after pre-registering with your credit or debit card, just turn up at one of over 90 bike stations all over the city of Nice and pick up a bike using your mobile phone to release the padlock. You then just drop it back at any station when your done and you are charged just for the time you use it. I understand there are similar schemes popping up in other city's all over Europe.
Telephone: +33 (0)4 30 00 30 01 (Press option 2 for English)
www.velobleu.org
Online Information in French www.velobleu.org
Online information in English
www.stayintheheartofnice.com/content/view/34/41/
Station locations all over Nice City Centre (map on websites).
This is a peninsula far from for the mainland just 2 kilometers trough a handmade pathway in the middle of estuary. The almost-island is an inhabited mountain named Monte Argentario. Porto Santo Stefano is one of the two small tipical fishing village in the area. You can enjoy looking at the sea from the central square place at Porto Santo Stefano, placed in the middle of the bay and also is the center of town. The streets here are steep. All the houses'windows on the hill look at the sea.
You can enjoy a great pizza and specially all the most-freshly seafood just some minutes after the fishing people carriage it from the boats.
You can have a bath in the sea, sunbathing, having a mineral water bath in the nearest(near to Orbetello), hiking on the mountain, walk round the town, go on a leisure boat trip...or just plan a trip to Siena or Firenze, only and hour and a half far from here.
It is like the paradise, you'll enjoy the historic places like the Spanish fortaleza (castles), the seaside walk, the mountain views, the excellent wines and food, the calm and tranquility, and the sea bathing and of course, the nearest to Firenze and Rome.
You should take some of the numerous, almost every 2 hours, trains from Rome, in direction to Milan or Lucca. You should stop down at Orbetello Station and there rent a car or a taxi. In some minutes, just about 10 kilometers far you will be in an almost unknown italian paradise.
This is a peninsula far from for the mainland just 2 kilometers trough a handmade pathway in the middle of estuary. The almost-island is an inhabited mountain named Monte Argentario. Porto Santo Stefano is one of the two small tipical fishing village in the area. You can enjoy looking at the sea from the central square place at Porto Santo Stefano, placed in the middle of the bay and also is the center of town. The streets here are steep. All the houses'windows on the hill look at the sea.
You can enjoy a great pizza and specially all the most-freshly seafood just some minutes after the fishing people carriage it from the boats.
You can have a bath in the sea, sunbathing, having a mineral water bath in the nearest(near to Orbetello), hiking on the mountain, walk round the town, go on a leisure boat trip...or just plan a trip to Siena or Firenze, only and hour and a half far from here.
It is like the paradise, you'll enjoy the historic places like the Spanish fortaleza (castles), the seaside walk, the mountain views, the excellent wines and food, the calm and tranquility, and the sea bathing and of course, the nearest to Firenze and Rome.
You should take some of the numerous, almost every 2 hours, trains from Rome, in direction to Milan or Lucca. You should stop down at Orbetello Station and there rent a car or a taxi. In some minutes, just about 10 kilometers far you will be in an almost unknown italian paradise.
You'll find that with a family or group it's cheaper to hire a car from Geneva than it is to get a transfer. It'll also allow you to get around the various resorts from Chamonix without using (see: waiting for...) the ski bus. Did you know that Courmayeur is only 30 minutes from Chamonix through the Mont Blanc tunnel!
Just some feed back from the border crossing at Pingxiang(China)/Dong Dang(VN) since there have been conflicting messages out there.
Bought bus tickets from Nanning-Hanoi www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm in Nanning at the south bus station (take number 6 bus from Nanning train station,it's the last stop). It left at 08.30 the following morning and cost 133 RMB. The bus was excellent, had AC and we were given a bottle of water and a can of soup. The bus stopped a couple of meters from the border. We then took a open mini bus (belonging to the bus company) to the Chinese border exit which took about three hours. From the Chinese border exit we took another mini bus to the Vietnamese border. Since we were Norwegian we got a 15 days visa on arrival www.myvietnamvisa.com/ (also for people from Sweden, Denmark and Finland), no problem. When we got out from the passport control a another excellent bus was waiting for us and it went straight to Hanoi taking about four hours. Got another water bottle.
The bus had one stop before getting into Hanoi. Here you can buy food and exchange money with an OK rate.
Don't know if these tickets can be bought at travel agents in Nanning, but it was no problem getting them at the bus station.
The Vienna Card offers 72 hours travel on the city's transport network, including buses, trams, S and U-bahns. It also offers reduced rates on some commercial tour buses and trams, and reduced prices on entry to the city's many museums and galleries. A set of coupons comes with the Vienna Card booklet offering discounts on a range of shops, restaurants and bars. At 18.5 euros, (in 2009, up to March 2010) the Card is very good value for three whole days in Vienna. Don't forget to validate it by punching the card when you first get on the bus, tram or whatever. It is not valid until you do.
The Vienna Card (Wien-Karte) is available online before you travel. Or, when you get there, at your hotel or from Tourist Info, Albertinaplatz (Corner Maysedergasse), Vienna. www.wien.info
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