itravelnet.com Travel Blog

Featured blogs from the Travel Blog Directory.

backpackerben.co.uk
Backpacking and independent travel blog on Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia & South America including photos, things to do and places to stay.
Backpacking Travel Blog

parosparadise.blogspot.com
Expatriate couple share Greek island experience by offering lodging and information. They provide content and links for Paros, the Cyclades, Greece and the world of living abroad.
Paros Paradise Blog

If you have a travel blog and would like to be in the directory and featured in this weekly post then follow the details here: submit travel blog

Labels: travel-blogs

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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There are countless airline industry and airline fan blogs online, but not much in the way of blogs from the actual airlines.

I am compiling a list of official Airline Blogs and this is the list so far:

AirAsia
blog.airasia.com

American Airlines
aaconversation.blogspot.com (closed)

Delta Air Lines
blog.delta.com

OpenSkies
blog.flyopenskies.com

Southwest
blogsouthwest.com/blogsw

If you are from an airline or know of an official airline blog that isn't on the list please leave a comment.

Labels: airlines

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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OpenSkies is a subsidiary airline of British Airways that has been set up to take advantage of the Open Skies agreement between the US and Europe.

The Open Skies agreement began in March and Air France have fired the first salvo into BA's Heathrow heartland with flights now operating from London to Los Angeles.

With airlines outside of Britain looking to operate flights from Heathrow, BA will compete with Continental European airlines with OpenSkies flights operating from European cities.

As well as operating from Paris, OpenSkies plan to expand services to other European cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan and Rome.

OpenSkies Website

OpenSkies begin flights on June 19 between New York JFK and Paris Orly, and the website is now taking bookings. It is a beautiful looking website for an airline site. It's not cluttered like, say, Ryanair (which looks more like someones Myspace.com page), and it has a soft font in the web 2.0 style. It even has a blog.

Making a booking is simple enough as well, (though how hard could it be seeing they only have two destinations at the moment).

I tried out the booking facility to see how it works and, most importantly, check out the fares. I scrolled through many dates and already the restricted economy fares have sold out.

I found an economy fare for $285 before tax, but that disappeared before I got to the booking stage. I did find two fares for $315.50 each way before tax.







The total fare for New York Paris return was for $745.03.

I then compared this fare with flights on the same date found on comparison site Kayak.com.

For the same airports (JFK - ORY) the OpenSkies flight also shows up (as a British Airways flight). Searching for flights from all New York and Paris airports shows only one cheaper flight (with Air India).





So price wise OpenSkies is competitive. We wait for June for flight reviews.

Labels: airlines, new york, open skies, openskies, paris

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland kicks off on June 7. While our English friends could care less this year (England failed to qualify), it's a good time to be visiting Europe as there is always a party atmosphere on game days.

If you are planning a last minute trip to Vienna, accommodation will be hard to find. Fancamp Vienna has been set up to accommodate the influx of visitors expected.

There are 3000 beds available in Vienna at "an excellent price".

fancamp.eu

Labels: featured-travel-site-2008

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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In the leafy suburbs of Southwest London is a small parish church cemetery that has one of London's most remarkable tombs. The tomb is of Sir Richard Burton and his wife Isabel.


Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 - 1890) was a remarkable man in an age of remarkable men. He is best known as an explorer and linguist (he could speak 29 languages), but he could also be called a translator, writer, poet, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat.


Burton is famous for his pilgrimage in disguise to Mecca. He spoke Arabic and knew the ways of the Islamic world from his time spent in India. Before the trip he was even circumcised to reduce the risk of being discovered as a non believer.

His other notable travels include the exploration of the great lakes of Africa.

As a writer he is best known for his translation of Arabian Nights, whose version is still printed today.

Further Burton biography at wikipedia: Sir Richard Burton



Tomb Details

The tomb is in the shape of a Bedouin tent and has great attention to detail such as the crescent moon trimmings and the illusion of canvas tent walls.







Inside the Tomb

At the back of the tomb is a ladder leading to a glass viewing window, where you can peer in to see the final resting place of Richard and Isabel.







In Memorium





Location

St Mary Magdalen's Roman Catholic Church Mortlake

61 North Worple Way
London SW14 8 PR





Links

The Burton Tomb Restoration Fund

Labels: cemetery, england, london, sir richard burton

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Here are this weeks travel blogs that have been added to the directory. If you have a travel blog and would like to be in the directory and featured in this weekly post then follow the details here: submit travel blog

blogjordan.com
Experience the journey that is Jordan Includes Jordan travel news.
Blog Jordan

discover-indonesia.com
Indonesian tourism places, events, culture, people, hotels and food.
Discover Indonesia

pbcam.blogspot.com
Webcams of Penang Bridge - a look at what the CCTV cameras see on the bridge.
pbcam - Penang Bridge Traffic Check

thetravelbeggar.blogspot.com
The Travel Beggar travel blog. Information on airfare, car rentals, hotels, cruises, adventure travel, travel guides, accessories and travel associations.
The Travel Beggar

Labels: travel-blogs

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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I have blogged about how Australia the movie has potential to be a great branding opportunity for Australia the country. There aren't many other movies named after countries, but there are a number of movies named after cities and towns.

Sometimes the film can become big enough that the city becomes synonymous with the film. Perhaps the greatest example of this is Casablanca.

I would hazard a guess that unless you are a Moroccan or a travel and geography nerd (like myself), most people surveyed would associate Casablanca with the movie before the port city in North Africa.

Here are some other films that have a city or town as the title. I am including fims that only have the name in the title, so no "Escape from New York" or "2 Days in Paris" in this list. Not even Paris, Texas.

Naming a movie after a city usually works best for lesser known places. Elizabethtown the movie put Elizabethtown the small city in Kentucky on the map.

Fargo the movie put the city of Fargo in North Dakota on the map, but not in a nice romantic comedy kind of way. For me when I think of Fargo I think of inappropriate usage of wood chippers.

Sometimes movies are named after big well known cities. Philadelphia is probably the most successful city titled film, winning three Academy Awards.

Some other big name cities as film titles include Chicago, Barcelona, Bangkok and London, though that one isn't about London at all.

For big cities a suburb of the city might work better, like Notting Hill in West London.

Some cities are too big to ever become associated with an eponymously title film - good or bad. Paris opened to less than average reviews, but not even a Rasberry of Battlefield Earth proportions could sully the brand power of Paris.

If it's a film named after a German city, you can be certain that it won't be a cheery number. For example Dresden, Munich and Nuremberg (TV Movie). You don't even have to see the synopsis to know that the plot will somehow involve saturation bombing, Olympic terrorism and war crimes court drama.

German cinema has become more vibrant since the fall of the wall but it might be a while before we see such title as Berlin - a romantic comedy.

If you know of any other notable movies named after a city or town feel free to leave a comment.

Labels: city, film

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Australia is a movie by Baz Luhrmann which is due for release in November 2008. The first official preview has been launched on bigpondvideo.com.

It's hard to judge a movie by its preview, but I hope this movie is great. Not because I'm particularly a Luhrmann fan (though I really enjoyed Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge), or because "Our Nic" Nicole Kidman is due for a big movie. I want this movie to be huge because it has such potential as a branding exercise for Australia.

I can't think of many movies that are named purely after a country with nothing else in the title. The DreamWorks Animated Madagascar is probably the highest profile movie named after a country. Brazil is another one that springs to mind, though it is not set in or about Brazil.

Labels: australia

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Qantas will be the second airline to receive the much delayed Airbus A380 superjumbo. Launch customer Singapore Airlines had their first A380 delivered in October 2007, and have since received four. Qantas will not receive their first A380 until a year later in October 2008.

The exact date hasn't been released, but it has been reported that the debut route will be from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile photos of the Qantas A380 being prepared can be seen in this photo gallery.

Labels: a380, airlines, qantas, travel news

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Low cost bus services in the United States is mostly concentrated in the North East. With so many large cities within close proximity to each other, bus travel in this area is a viable option over flying and the train.

megabus.com started a low cost bus service in the UK and introduced the low cost bus concept to the US in 2006. They have services in the North East (including Toronto), Midwest and the West Coast. Tickets start from $1 dollar.

BoltBus is a low cost bus service operating in the Northeast. Book early enough and you can get a ticket for 1 dollar. Destinations currently served are New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston. BoltBus offer free WiFi on all buses.

Not to be outdone done by these upstarts, Greyhound have started $1 fares on the NYC-Toronto route with a service called Neon.

On top of the low cost bus operators offering fares from $1 there are a number of cheap bus companies that travel the North East corridor, including Chinatown Bus, New Century Travel and Apex Bus.

Labels: bus, usa

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Here are this weeks travel blogs that have been added to the directory. If you have a travel blog and would like to be in the directory and featured in this weekly post then follow the details here: submit travel blog

travelerfolio.com
A personal travel blog with photos and experiences in Europe, USA, China, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and other fascinating places. It's my passion to travel, so I blog.
Travelerfolio

simpliflying.com
SimpliFlying, a blog about airline branding. How airlines manage their brands, what they're doing right, and what they can do better, for us, consumers.
Airline Branding Insights

thai-eyes.com
Thailand Blog about Thai lifestyle, culture, travel, fashion, buddhism, thaifood, thaipop, nature....Lots of information and fun.
Thai-Eyes Thailand Blog

streetparis.com
A virtual stroll in the streets of Paris France.
Street Paris

nztramping.com
NZ Tramping is dedicated to New Zealand, its magnificent nature, tourism in New Zealand and anything else that has to do with this great country.
NZ Tramping

specialba.blogspot.com
Special blog about Buenos Aires, Argentina. Incoming services in Buenos Aires, transfers, tours, hoteles, estancias, apartments and more.
Special Buenos Aires

minnemom.com
Traveling with young children: ideas, reviews of sites, traveling on a budget, and more.
Travels with Children

mustbethatgirl.blogspot.com
A personal e-magazine of a Cebuana Blogger. Chronicles of Cebu lifestyle.
Cebu Blog

Labels: travel-blogs

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Yves Rossy is a former Swiss military pilot who shot to fame as "Fusionman", the first man ever to successfully fly with wings. Rossy built a light weight jet-powered wing that he straps on his back, jumps out of a plane and then flies around the Swiss Alps.

Check out this video of one of his previous flights.



( View Fusionman video here if above link doesn't work.)

The Swiss Jet Man has created a new jet-powered wing, which can reach speeds of up to 300kmh and gives him ten minutes of flying time. Here is a photo gallery of his latest outing.

jet-man.com

Labels: jet-man, switzerland

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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A Eurail or Interrail pass is often the first thought when it comes to getting around Europe with a travel pass. While a bus pass may not get you to as many places as the train, it's a far more economical option and thus a worthy consideration with the current value of the Euro.

Here are some bus pass options for travel in Europe.

Europe Wide

For pan-European bus passes there are two major choices: Eurolines and Busabout.

Eurolines is a network of bus companies across Europe that operate international services under the Eurolines brand. A Eurolines Pass offers unlimited coach travel to 45 cities across Europe. Passes are valid for 15 or 30 days travel.

Busabout is a hop-on hop-off style network that caters for backpackers. The Busabout network covers the most popular cities across western and central Europe.

Eurolines and Busabout have their distinct differences so it is a matter of weighing up what is important for you before deciding which is the right pass. Here are some advantages of the two passes.

Eurolines:
- It's the cheapest bus pass available.
- Available all year.
- Travel with locals.
- More city stops available.

Busabout:
- Travel with fellow backpackers.
- It is hop-on hop-off, but they can arrange hostels bookings and pick up and drop off at the hostel, saving the hassle of finding accommodation.

If you are planning to travel within one country there are some bus passes available from national bus lines. You will need to work out if you will do enough travel to make the pass worthwhile.

U.K

Travel across Britain with a Brit Xplorer pass from National Express. There are passes available for 7, 14 and 28 days.

For travel in Scotland Explorer Pass from Citylink has 3,5 and 8 day passes.


Ireland

Ireland's national bus company Bus Éireann has a list of Tourist Travel Passes that are valid for travel in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (with Ulsterbus).

France

A backpacker style hop-on hop-off bus service for the south-west of France.
Ze Bus

Switzerland

Switzerland is so well connected with trains that bus travel is mostly used for the smaller places. Post Bus offer a 4-Pass tour that loops Meiringen - Grimsel Pass - Nufenen Pass - Gotthardpass - Andermatt - Sustenpass - Meiringen.

Turkey

Fez Travel is a tour company that offer a hop-on hop-off service to the most popular spots in Turkey.
Fez Travel

Labels: bus, europe

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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The abundant supply of low cost airlines in Europe has created the situation whereby flying can work out cheaper than getting the bus to some places.

To counter the competition from the airlines, low cost bus services have started up across Europe. Traditional bus companies have also answered the call, offering cheap bus fares in the same manner that low cost airlines sell tickets.

Here are some low cost bus deals for travel in Europe.

U.K

It's no surprise that the leading country of low cost airlines in Europe should also lead the charge for low cost buses.

Megabus offer bus tickets across Britain starting at £1, plus a 50p booking fee. The booking facility works like an airline booking service, so the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket. Megabus is operated by Stagecoach, who also operate a train franchise in the UK, so as a bonus you can also book £1 tickets on their train services as well.

Competition from Megabus stimulated the national bus service National Express into action. They offer the £5 Funfare to many destinations in Britain. Like Megabus, the earlier you book the better chance of a £5 fare.

Citylink in Scotland have fares starting from £1 for the Glasgow - Edinburgh route.

In London getting to airport can sometimes cost more than the flight. It only made sense then that the easy group (of easyJet) introduced easyBus. They have service from central London to Luton, Stansted and Gatwick Airports.



Ireland

Eurolines go from London to Cork or Dublin from £15.

Continental Europe

Eurolines can take you from London to Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris from £15. That is especially a good deal when you consider that you travel from central locations, saving you the cost of airport transfers.

Getting the bus from London to the Continent also means you get a ferry ride in the ticket. Sail across the English Channel instead of flying over it and you get to see the White Cliffs of Dover, as well as adding another experience to your European trip.

For Eurolines deals for the rest of Europe check the promo fares from the Eurolines operators in each European country.

Touring in Germany have a special fare for the service running from Hamburg to Mannheim. The route is for Hamburg - Frankfurt - Heidelberg - Mannheim. Tickets from 9 euros for early bookings.

Orangeways is a low cost bus company from Budapest with a network covering Eastern Europe. Destinations include Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Krakow, Cluj Napoca, Bécs, Vienna, Zagreb and Ljubljana.

Sample prices include Budapest - Prague from €15 and Budapest - Ljubljana from €8.

Labels: bus, europe

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Here are this weeks travel blogs that have been added to the directory.


flyingcritic.com
A frequently updated blog about airline and travel news, travel tips and tricks, reviews, daily travel photos, and more.
The Flying Critic

vietnamtravelnotes.com
Vietnam travel information, articles, tours, resources and travel tips. Vietnam Travel Notes - Let the journey begin.
Vietnam Travel Notes

tour-dubai.blogspot.com
Read about the best hotels in Dubai, cheap airfares and about the best places to dine and stay in Dubai.
Dubai Travel Guide

soekershofwalkabout.blogspot.com
Developments in and around and the latest news about Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa.
Soekershof: The Blog

karansguesthouse.wordpress.com
Some details about jaipur of interest to a tourist.
A few details about Jaipur

interknitional.blogspot.com
I love to knit and travel and have been an exPat overseas for 20 years, so my blog combines all of these. I talk about trips we've taken and yarn stores I find in those places and the knitting I'm doing.
InterKNITional

carefreetrip.com
Get the latest destination information, travel news, advise, specials, deals and last minute ideas.
Carefreetrip.com :: Travel Blog

tunafishicecream.blogspot.com
One man's vaguely humorous account of how he went from a fat, lazy, wiseass couch potato to Thai Jungle Guide.
Taste the Tuna Fish Ice Cream

backpackerben.co.uk
Backpacking and independent travel blog on Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia & South America including photos, things to do and places to stay.
Backpacking Travel Blog

blog.oyvind.info
A travel blog about me (Øyvind), my girlfriend and our backpacker tour around the world. Including backpacker packing and planning tips.
World tour 2009


If you have a travel blog and would like to be in the directory and featured in this weekly post then follow the details here: submit travel blog

Labels: travel-blogs

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Australia and US

When booking international flights from Australia it is not uncommon to see the ridiculous situation of flights to London being cheaper than flights to Los Angeles.

This currently stands because only two airlines, Qantas and United, are allowed to operate direct flights between the US and Australia.

This is set to change with the Open Skies Accord that was agreed between Australia and the US. V Australia will commence flights between the two nations in December, which has already prompted fare reductions from Qantas.

Australia and Europe

The next frontier is for an open skies agreement between Australia and the EU. Talks have already begun for an Open-sky pact with the EU.

There are currently no European airlines operating flights to Australia. No Continental European I should say. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic still fly to Sydney. The obvious cultural ties keeping British long haul services active. Austrian Airlines was the last Continental European airline to fly to Australia, ceasing operations in 2007.

Further reading on the Flight of the European airlines.

I recently saw a reminder of European airline presence in Australia with a JAT Yugoslav model aeroplane, like you used to see in travel agents, at a second hand shop.


An open skies agreement may not bring back the European airlines to Australian skies anyway. The big Asian and Middle Eastern airlines are better suited to operating between the two lands, and the European airlines only need to fly to an Asian hub and partner with an alliance airline from there.

An open skies agreement between Australia and the EU would benefit Qantas, who plan to operate Jetstar services to Athens and Rome.

Labels: airlines, australia, europe, usa

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Many cities in Europe are spelt differently in English to how they are actually spelt. For example Firenze in Italian is Florence in English.

First time visitors to Europe may not be aware of different spellings for city names. Some name changes are obvious enough as only a small change is made. Roma becomes Rome for example, or an umlaut or accent is dropped, so Zürich becomes Zurich.

Some aren't so obvious though. You might be Eurailing through Germany on your way to Cologne, not realising that you should have got off at Köln.

It is not just English that changes names to suit. Most languages will spell a city in their own way to make it sound phonetically correct to them. For example London can be spelt around Europe as:

Londen (Dutch)
Londra (Albanian, Italian, Maltese, Romanian, Romansh, Turkish)
Londres (Catalan, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Ladino)
Londona (Latvian)
Londonas (Lithuanian)
Londyn (Polish)
Londýn (Czech, Slovak)
Lontoo (Finnish)
Lundúnir (Icelandic)

Here is a list of some European cities in the original and English spelling.

Antwerpen Baile Ath Cliath Bâle Béal Feirste Beograd Bruxelles Bucuresti Caerdydd Casnewydd Den Haag Dunkerque Firenze Genève Genova Göteborg Ieper København Köln Lisboa Luzern Milano München Napoli Nürnberg Oporto Oświeçim Plzen Praha Roma Sevilla Torino Venezia Warszawa Wien Zürich

Antwerp Dublin Basel Belfast Belgrade Brussels Bucharest Cardiff Newport The Hague Dunkirk Florence Geneva Genoa Gothenburg Ypres Copenhagen Cologne Lisbon Lucerne Milan Munich Naples Nuremberg Porto Auschwitz Pilsen Prague Rome Seville Turin Venice Warsaw Vienna Zurich

Labels: europe, language

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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I'm starting a new feature where every friday I will list travel blogs that have been added to the travel blog directory.

Here are this weeks blogs, with a description from the author.

conradwoodring.com
This blog is a record of my life in Turkey as an American. I focus mostly on my interactions with Turkish culture and the divide between east and west.
An American Life in Istanbul

greatwall.se/blog/
The purpose of this blog is to describe my trips to the Great Wall and hopefully this can be an inspiration for other Great Wall enthusiasts and tourists with a general interest in the Great Wall.
Great Wall Blog

sah.i.ph
This site is about my travels and photographs I have taken. The journeys I have taken in my life and the lessons I have learned.
Photography, Travel and Life

homeexchangetravel.blogs.com
Covers all topics related to home exchange vacations - tips and advice, answers to common questions, stories by experienced home exchangers and special home swap offers.
Travel the Home Exchange Way


If you have a travel blog and would like to be in the directory and featured in this weekly post then follow the details here: submit travel blog.

Labels: travel-blogs

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Anyone who reads blogs or news sites will have by now have seen this icon , but not everyone is aware of what it does. It means that the page you are reading has an RSS feed. So just what is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a convenient way to bookmark websites that has content updated regularly, such as blogs or news sites.

For example you will notice that this site has a feed option at the top of the page.

Subscribe in a Reader

When you click the text or icon you are taken to the feed page which shows the latest content, and you are given the option to subscribe to the page. You can unsubscribe at any time, and you can check for updates as often or as little as you like.

RSS is a great way to bookmark sites because you are alerted whenever there is new content. You can follow hundreds of websites, and only have to check sites that have been updated.

How to use RSS

Whenever you see this icon , it means that the page you are reading has an RSS feed. Sometimes you will see this icon or even this icon . Don't worry, they all do the same thing, though has become the accepted icon for RSS feeds.

There are different types of readers that you can use to subscribe to feeds.

- Online Readers -

There are plenty of online feedreaders out there, including Google Reader, My Yahoo and Bloglines.

Online readers are good if you are on the road without your computer and you still want to be able access your favourites. You also have the option of sharing your favourites for public viewing, like here: bloglines.com/public/itravelnet.


- Desktop Readers -

Desktop readers were popular before feedreaders became built into web browsers. A popular desktop download is FeedDemon.

- Browser Reader -

If you are using a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, feedreaders are now built into the browser. If you are using an older version of IE or Firefox then you will need to download an updated version.

The browser will automatically detect if the page you are viewing has a feed and will show the icon.

Start Reading

So, now that you are versed in the ways of RSS, it's time to start subscribing to feeds. You can start by subscribing to this site .

Labels: rss, site-news

Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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