Arrivals
Will Hyde
Frogs need friends
You thought it was Year of the Rat? The Chinese are wrong, according to the
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (www.eaza.net),
which has dedicated the next 12 months to the frog. Up to 6,000 species
could be wiped out by climate change, they believe. Geodyssey (www.geodyssey.co.uk)
will make a contribution to the project, whose patron is Sir David
Attenborough, for every booking made with them to Costa Rica.
Get your kicks
If you're a fan of all things rugby (the Six Nations tournament kicks off
today) and skiing, combine your two passions by hitting Chamonix's slopes
tomorrow. Collineige (01276 24262, www.collineige.com)
is hosting former England greats Austin Healey, Will Greenwood and Mike
Catt, right, there next week. You can ski the Vallée Blanche with them, and
there's a question-and-answer session with the gents on Tuesday. Transfers
from Geneva and half-board accommodation from £645pp for a week, excluding
flights.
The Debrief
Those in Wales have long prided themselves on having the longest place name
in the world - you know the gogogoch one that was on Blue Peter once. But
the Kiwis may have stolen their thunder with
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu. The translation
is “the hilltop where Tamatea, conquerer of mountains, traveller over land
and sea, played his flute to his beloved”. I can't see the Welsh taking this
lying down.
Site of the Week
www.travelguru.tv
Could this be a nail in the coffin of brochures? Launched last month, the
website offers “broadcast quality” travel programmes to help you to choose a
holiday. Those offering advice include John Carter, one of the pioneers of
BBC Holiday.
Travel in brief
Tom Chesshyre
Jetsetters miss out on British holidays
Flying is “unbelievably tedious” and people are missing out on great holidays
in Britain by jetting abroad so much, according to one of Britain's leading
travel writers. Nicholas Crane who is speaking at the Times Destinations
show in London today, said he has not taken a holiday flight for ten years:
“It's much more fun taking the train or cycling.” He decided to fly less
because of his carbon footprint. “It was perfectly clear that the population
was living beyond its means,” he said. “I wouldn't like to preach about
this. I think it's up to everybody to make their own decision [about
flying].”
Details: Destinations (0870 1660434, www.destinationsshow.com)
is at Earls Court, southwest London, until tomorrow.
Flight of fancy
Seats are still available on the first Singapore Airlines superjumbo to take
off from the UK, departing from Heathrow to Singapore on March 18.
Passengers will receive certificates and “A380 souvenirs”. The on-board menu
is by Gordon Ramsay. Return flights as we went to press were from £675.
Details: www.singaporeair.com
Cheap in London
The Youth Hostel Association is opening a hostel in the West End of London on
Wednesday with 300 beds, a café-bar and free wireless internet access. The
seventh YHA hostel in the capital is in a formerly derelict office block
near Oxford Circus. All 59 rooms are en suite and sleep four, six or eight
people - from £18.95 a night.
Details: 0870 7706144, www.yha.org.uk
Eat my shorts
The Simpson family will be the stars of the show at a rollercoaster devoted to
the television series opening at Univeral in Orlando, Florida, in April.
Universal says there will be “thrill rides, dark rides and ‘live shows' that
make up a new fantasy amusement park dreamt up by the show's cantankerous
Krusty the Clown”.
Details: www.universalorlando.co.uk
More war
The ferry company Norfolkline has issued a free Exploring Wartime History
guide to First and Second World War sites in France and Belgium.
Details: 0870 8701020, www.norfolkline.com
Ski safe
One snowboarder in three suffers an injury compared with 17 per cent of
skiers, according to Debenhams Travel Insurance.
Hot chocolate
As the African Nations Cup continues in Ghana, the country's Minister of
Tourism and Diasporan Relations has started a campaign to attract visitors
to its cocoa processing plants. Ghana hopes to develop chocolate tourism,
emulating initiatives in Belgium.
Fiji fun
A website started up by the Fiji Visitors Bureau has a “Romance Me” section,
which promises to make “every single type of romantic fantasy come true”.
Details: www.fijime.com
Pricey rooms
Rates at hotels in Aberdeen rose by 17 per cent last year, more than in any
other city in the UK, according to a survey by PKF, a hotel consultancy.
Rooms in Aberdeen were sold at an average of £76.90 a night. The national
average was £72.30, with rooms in London, the most expensive, at £128.01.
Great Scots
VisitScotland has published free guides on adventure holidays covering
paragliding, “sled dog racing” and ice climbing. The tourist board says that
Scotland is now the adventure capital of Europe.
Details: 0845 2255121, www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Making a meal of it
The Ho-la Diner in Taiwan is hoping that the Chinese year of the rat, which
begins on Thursday, will help sales of one of its signature dishes: rats.
And from The Sunday Times...
MR CHERTOFF WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Travellers wishing to vent their spleen against the dead-eyed automatons of
the US Transport Security Administration can now post complaints and
suggestions on the agency’s “Evolution of Security” blog. And they promise
they’ll read and even act on suggestions. Passenger advocates aren’t so
sure. “This will just make it easier for them to receive complaints for them
to ignore in the name of national security,” said David Stempler, president
of the Air Travelers Association. Suck it and see at www.tsa.gov/blog.
SWEETS FOR YOUR SUITE
Buy a box of chocs in New York and you could win a Willy Wonka-style night in
a hotel suite made entirely of chocolate. The room, created by the Belgian
chocolatier Godiva, is in Manhattan’s Bryant Park Hotel (www.bryantparkhotel.com)
and features fittings, furniture and works of art fashioned from the stuff.
The golden ticket to a night of chocoholic indulgence is hidden in a £14 box
available only in America.
GLASTONBURY 2008
Registration for this year’s Glastonbury festival opened on Friday, with
applicants required to upload passport-sized pictures of themselves in order
to thwart touts. Neil Diamond headlines this year’s event, but registration
for the festival, from June 27 to 29, doesn’t guarantee tickets. These go on
sale on April 6, and are available only to those who have registered. You
have until March 14 to comply, at www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk.
SPEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
David Beckham has unveiled plans for a luxury hotel complex with a world-class
soccer academy in the country that needs it least: Brazil. The Cabo Sao
Roque resort (www. cabosaoroque.com)
will comprise three luxury hotels and 1,350 private houses in 3,000 acres on
Brazil’s east coast, built around the David Beckham World of Sport, a
championship golf course, an international tennis academy and the Rubens
Barrichello Driving Experience. The phased project will be complete by 2016.
PISTE-OFF MOOSE ON THE LOOSE
An angry moose has started attacking skiers in a US mountain resort. The
animal has so far charged skiers, a piste-basher and two snowmobiles at
Whitefish Mountain, prompting worried authorities to establish a loose moose
patrol. Skiers are being advised to stay within patrolled areas.
FAST-TRACK SECURITY
Leeds Bradford airport has found a novel way of helping passengers beat the
queues it is responsible for. It is selling fast-track security passes at £5
a go. There’s no reduction for children, and the service, which started on
Tuesday, can currently only be booked online at www.lbia.co.uk.
Asked if it thought it was setting a dangerous precedent, the airport said
it wouldn’t like to comment, adding: “We’re not charging for security, just
for a quicker way through.”
