Tag: Britain Travel

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Visit the Real Zoo That 'We Bought a Zoo' Was Based On

December 23, 2011 at 1:07 PM | by | Comments (0)

Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, and Thomas Haden Church, hits theaters today and is based on the true story of a father who moves his two children to a dilapidated zoo which they restore to its former glory.

The movie is set in the U.S. and was filmed just outside of Los Angeles, but the real-life zoo the story is based on is actually located in Devon, U.K. The Dartmoor Zoo is now the thriving home of dozens of animals including monkeys, reindeer, cheetahs and goats. The zoo also hosts special events, like photography tours, family days, and weddings.

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Three London Christmas Markets That Nod to the German Tradition

December 20, 2011 at 3:32 PM | by | Comments (0)

Christmas markets are an advent of countries like Germany and Austria, but the honored holiday tradition has been adopted by cultures the world over.

In London, there's yuletide market merriment to be found stretching from the Thames to Columbia Road. Sprinkled throughout the city, these shopping fairs feature vendors hawking everything from fresh mulled wine to crafts to handmade jewels, offering ample opportunity to shop for presents and partake of seasonal cheer.

There are only a few days left to peruse the "chalet" stalls for last-minute gifts as you take in the sight of strung lights and sip on hot cocoa. We've highlighted three of the city's best Christmas markets:

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From British Airways Miles to Avios Points: Breaking It Down

November 10, 2011 at 11:27 AM | by | Comments (0)

This month means more than just the beginning of holiday travel season; it also marks the beginning of a new era at British Aiways with the re-branding of their frequent flyer program to "Avios." Say cheers to the former loyalty program managed by AirMiles on November 16th.

Basically, BA Miles used to be managed through AirMiles who has done the re-branding. BA is just using the program as a "currency" to redeem flights and hotels. This shift is to align with the frequent flyer programs of its joint venture partner, Iberia, and mirror other Oneworld partner airline programs. Executive Club is sticking around and its members will be accruing Avios points instead of BA Miles. Don't worry, if you have heaps of points in Executive Club, you won't loose them.

The move to Avios is not just a name change, but the program claims to make earning points and higher status levels, as well as redeeming points for flights and upgrades, far easier. Let's see if they're right.

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After Mind-Blowing Safety Lapse, Ryanair Promises Massive Expansion with Help of 'Cheap' Planes

October 26, 2011 at 4:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

There are two airline industry news stories about Irish LCC Ryanair floating around this week, and we'll leave you to decide the precise degree to which they're related. We're specifying "airline industry" stories, in contrast to just Ryanair stories "in general," to emphasize that these are different from the fake "no frills" PR branding nonsense that Ryanair endlessly pushes into the travel journalism newsstream (e.g. this near self-parody of a CNN story headlined "Ryanair's 5 'cheapest' money-saving schemes"). These are actual news stories, as much as is possible with these guys.

First up, Ryanair's the-customer-is-always-wrong CEO Michael O'Leary just announced a massive expansion of the airline. Ryanair will reportedly purchase over 200 new airplanes from US, Chinese and Russian plane manufacturers, a total that would easily make the airline one of the world's largest. O'Leary is promising that the planes will come at "cheap prices."

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Prop Planes at Ronaldsway Airport

October 14, 2011 at 5:17 PM | by | Comments (0)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

There's thousands and thousands (tens of thousands?) of itty-bitty, obscure airports out there around the world, but after a visit to the Isle of Man's Ronaldsway Airport, we think we've found one of the coolest. If you aren't getting to the Irish Sea island by ferry, then you're landing here and likely in a small prop plane.

Flights come in from London-City, London-Gatwick, Blackpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Manchester and a few others destinations sprinkled about, but may we recommend hopping a Manx2 plane for the most authentic experience? Yep, the Isle of Man has its own airline.

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Castles, More Castles and Some Crazy History

October 13, 2011 at 5:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

Like you need another reason to rent a car and drive around the Isle of Man, but we have to say that the transition between architecture on the island is something else. It's like this: BOOM you're at a castle. BOOM you're on a Victorian promenade. BOOM you're along a harbour with a tide so low the boats stick in the mud. BOOM it's a fishing village. BOOM another castle. BOOM another castle. Yea, it's awesome. And here's the thing, that's only in a couple hours of exploring.

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Tracking Down Rare Money, Rare Stamps and Good Coffee

October 12, 2011 at 5:09 PM | by | Comments (0)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

The Isle of Man is not a particularly warm place. It may be an island, but keep in mind that it's an island in the Irish Sea, with a population more used to drizzle and wind than sun and gentle breezes. We went in the summer and still froze our butts off in certain areas (like the top of Mount Snaefell and The Ayres).

That said, the Isle of Man does know how to make itself special enough to warrant visit after visit, and that's by producing its own currency, its own stamps, and some unexpectedly damn fine coffee.

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Driving a Mountain Race Circuit Without Speed Limits

October 12, 2011 at 10:14 AM | by | Comments (0)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

Step off the jet catamaran ferry from Liverpool onto the pier in Isle of Man's capital of Douglas, and you'll immediately figure out why so many people enjoy venturing out to this island and especially with their cars and motorcycles: it's home to one of the most prestigious street race circuits in the world, a mountain course celebrated each year with a motorcycle race called the TT (Tourist Trophy).

The Isle of Man TT happens in late May or early June each year, and though our visit fell with about ten more months to go until the next one, TT souvenirs and flags were everywhere. The famous Manx roads—"Manx" is the word for anything Isle of Man-ish—are a year-round attraction, and you know we weren't leaving without some time spent on the race-striped curves and speed limitless roads. That's right—there's no speed limit in some parts of the island!

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Setting Sail on the Steam-Packet Ferry

October 10, 2011 at 5:05 PM | by | Comment (1)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

We'd been in London too long. It was time for a sidetrip, and with Liverpool only two hours away by train and the Isle of Man only another two hours by ferry from there, the mini-adventure was a no-brainer. If we were actually close enough with time enough to make it to the Isle of Man, then by all means we were going to go.

Some hotel price comparisons later, we decided on a holiday package from the ferry company Steam-Packet (the only ferry company between Liverpool and Isle of Man), for 109 GBP ($170) per person for two nights' hotel and roundtrip ferry tickets. Not bad! If you're thinking of going anytime soon, the price has dropped to 99 GBP and here's the link.

Anyways, all aboard!

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Kristen Stewart Gets Tough on the Set of 'Snow White & The Huntsman' in Wales

October 4, 2011 at 1:43 PM | by | Comment (1)

Kristen Stewart may be used to be playing the damsel in distress in the Twilight movies but in her new film, she's the one in control.

Kristen has spent the past couple of weeks filming intense battle scenes, complete with suits of armor and horseback chases, on Marloes Sands Beach, Wales for her upcoming movie, Snow White and the Huntsman. The movie isn't exactly the Snow White we remember from the Disney days. Instead, in this grown up version, the Huntsman is ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed but winds up becoming her mentor in her quest to vanquish the evil queen.

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Ryanair Publicity Stunts Now Just Getting Lazy, Probably Sexist

September 8, 2011 at 2:56 PM | by | Comment (1)

Listen. We're not exactly prudes when it comes to the significant overlap between the world of travel and the world of boobs. In the course of a few months last year we covered very extreme flight attendant nakedness on three different continents, spanning calendars and ads from Australia to Russia to Spain.

We—proudly, with absolutely no shame—had a Naughtiest Flight Attendants 2010 Jaunty. We maintain different sections so we can differentiate between Nude Travel and Naked Travel and Sex Travel, because, hey, those are all different things and we know you demand precision on these issues.

So we can't really get offended by latest Ryanair ad, which pushes cheap tickets to the Bavarian beer festival. The picture is fine—it's just a fraulein showing a hint of cleavage—but the cheap attempt at controversy comes from putting her picture under "See The Frauleins With The Big Jugs." Our problem is that the ad just kind of sucks.

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Creepy Airport Facial Recognition Automatically Detects Lying

September 7, 2011 at 4:10 PM | by | Comments (0)

How creepy this story gets depends on how long you keep reading. Facial recognition software is already pretty much here to stay. Scientists and engineers have made such huge strides that computers can scan your face and call up your Facebook profile. That means they've created not only the hardware to "look" at your face and read its key features, but also that they know how to efficiently translate those features and store them in a database.

Now programmers have taken the next step and figured out not only how to detect faces, but how to automatically detect emotions on those faces. And since the world is what it is, that technology is already on its way to an airport security system near you.

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