Jaunted

Winter Travel / Travel News / Britain Travel / Britain / Europe Travel / Europe / London / London Travel / Emirates / LHR / Travel Delays / → All Tags

With Europe Frozen Over, Lots and Lots of Travelers (and Airlines) Complaining

American travelers delayed for two days in the Midwest will be feeling lucky that they're not in Europe. Half the continent—and pretty much all of Britain—is frozen over, with many travelers expected to not get home until after Christmas. Travel reports are being brought to you by the letters H and O, the number 2, and the words "chaos," "misery" and "havoc."

But beneath all the articles about the weather itself, there's this other theme developing, where travelers are endlessly griping at British airport authorities over the weather. The Associated Press ran the headline "Anger rises as travel havoc snarls Britain, Europe," and relayed quotes from snarky politicians about how airports should have shovels or something.

Emirates had an entire article published in local media expressing their shock and disappointment that, when LHR is physically covered with ice, airplanes aren't allowed to land there. Who knew?

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Religious Travel / Holy Travel / Spain Travel / Spain / Israel Travel / Israel / Europe Travel / Europe / → All Tags

Christian Theme Park to Open in Spain, Complete with 'Live Resurrections'

Europeans are fond of complaining that American imports are ruining their culture, and usually we're like "shut up, we need our Chipotle." In this very specific case, though, they might have a point. Europe's first Christian theme park—modeled after the ones in the American South and South America—is now set to open in Mallorca, Spain. Inexplicably.

We of course usually recommend a different religious travel solution. If if you want to see what the Holy Land looks like, our reasoning goes, you should actually take a trip to the Holy Land and see it. From the United States that might be prohibitive with the cost, but a flight from Spain to Israel on one of Europe's billion LCC's is fairly affordable. When you factor in the Euro/Shekel exchange rate you're almost saving money. We understand there are pluses and minuses—in Israel you can only walk on the "Jesus trail" while in religious theme parks you can actually meet Jesus—but we kind of prefer our way. Even if there are no "live resurrections," as this theme park promises.

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Airline Strikes / Airline Industry / British Airways / Virgin America / US Airways / Europe Travel / Europe / Airline News / → All Tags

'Season of Strikes' About to Hit American and European Airlines

Following up on the weekend strikes in London and Paris, the phrase that the Associated Press is going with this mornning is "season of strikes in Europe." Put bluntly: there's not enough money to go around, and workers aren't going to go to their jobs unless they get more of it. It's not just Greece, although of course it's Greece too. Spain and the Czech Republic are hosed as well, and when you add them to the UK, France, and Italy you start to run out of countries that aren't going broke.

Now this is normally where we'd tell you that bad times overseas equal good travel opportunities from here. The problem is that you actually have to be able to get to those places, and a wave of airline strikes is about to start making that dicey. Virgin Atlantic just narrowly averted a strike, but they're pretty much the only ones. British Airways workers apparently have decided to walk out again, because that's who they are and that's what they do. Meanwhile roughly the entire country of India is facing labor-driven transportation disruptions.

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Google Maps / Google / Europe Travel / Europe / Germany Travel / Germany / Technology / Travel News / → All Tags

Google Street View Comes to Germany, but Much Will Be Blurry

You can use Google Maps Street View to find the world's most picturesque street. Or to virtually wander around the San Diego Zoo. Or to plan a bike ride through Boulder. What you can't do is use it to view any part of Germany, since privacy watchdogs have been holding up Mountain Views's expansion into the country. There are currently 23 countries with Street View-enabled cities, and exactly none of them are German. All of that is going to change in the coming months, now that the search giant has met the German government's demands for privacy protections. Twenty German cities are slated for addition by the end of the year.

Under the deal, Google will blur out faces and license plates automatically. Homes will of course be included by default, but Google has agreed to blur them out too if owners submit a simple request. Even a fax will work. Reports say that 10,000 Germans have already submitted their requests, which is a huge number of people who don't want pictures of their front yard on the internet.

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Europe Travel / Europe / Tourism / Politics / Greece Travel / Money / Political Travel / → All Tags

Should You Plan a Europe Trip Now That the Euro Makes It Almost Affordable?

This morning brings further confirmation of last week's story about how Greek turmoil is opening up absurd tourism opportunities, as hotels in Athens are talking about losing 1 in 10 of their guests, and cutting prices accordingly.

Far more broadly, Europe's economic problems have sent the Euro tumbling against the dollar, and a continued slide is more likely than not. We put up a broad overview of how Greece's problems interact with the Eurozone earlier this year, but now things are quickly coming to a head.

So, should you go to Europe now or what? Find out, after the jump

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Credit Cards / Europe / Technology / France / Travel News / Paris / → All Tags

Did You Want To Use Your Credit Card In Europe? Sorry.

As if the cratering dollar wasn't enough of a problem for US tourists, the New York Times reports that even trying to use American credit cards in Europe is getting difficult. The problem is in the so-called chip-and-PIN verification technology that much of the world is adopting as an alternative to magnetic strip cards. Instead of swiping your card you're supposed punch in a personal ID that needs to match the one encoded on the chip. Only problem: US credit cards mostly don't have those chips.

The writeup manages to convey the issue with all the cosmopolitan awareness we've come to expect from the NYT Travel section. They relate the story of a passive-aggressive couple in Paris who—having had their cards rejected by bike kiosks—just walked around sullenly telling no one in particular how would awesome if they could ride a bike. Obnoxious. But that doesn't make the problem any less real:

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Culture / Museums / Europe / European Travel / White Night Travel / → All Tags

Sleepless White Nights Hit Europe

The end of summer is upon us, but that's no reason to stop partying: A bunch of European cities--plus Toronto--are about to start a round of all-night parties they call White Nights.

White Nights--or the sexier sounding French version Nuit Blanche--are celebrations with open-all-night museums, circus troop performances and opera, jazz and rock concerts that go 'til morning. A group of cities have now banded together to get a bit of a White Nights Circuit going, so if you've got some free time in the next month, check out these White Nights:

• Rome: September 8


• Madrid: September 22


• Brussels and Toronto: September 29


• Paris and Valletta, Malta: October 6

So if you're into partying all night or just getting ultra-cultural in Europe, start adjusting your sleep pattern now.

Related Stories:
· Outbreak of Insomnia is Spreading [NYT]
· White Night in Paris [Jaunted]
· Long on Culture, Short on Sleep [Jaunted]

[Photo: c-reel.com]

Trains / Britain / France / Europe / Eurostar / → All Tags

Newsflash: Trains Arrive On Time!

In the ongoing war between budget airlines and good ol' train travel, the Eurostar train line is busily pumping out its own good PR. Eurostar trains generally travel between London and Paris, with a few trips to Brussels, Euro Disney and the south of France. They reckon they're fast, convenient, and recently, punctual.

Yep, punctuality is the big Eurostar news of the week. Between May 7 and May 13, 98.5% of trains arrived on time (or early!). And the big news: on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, 100% of the Eurostar trains were punctual. Eurostar is quick to point out that performance like this "easily outstrips airlines." Add to that the assumption that the carbon footprint is smaller and it almost seems logical to take the train. Except when you see an airfare for just a couple of pounds.

[Photo: lazytom]

Related Stories:
· Eurostar Records Best Ever Punctuality [Flightmapping]
· One or One and a Half Tickets, Sir? [Jaunted]

Eurovision / Music / Europe / → All Tags

Is Eurovision A Big Neighbors Scam?

Greetings to all who spent last night watching the usual odd servings of how-could-they-ever-think-they'd-win finalists in the Eurovision Song Contest. From Germany's jazzed up Roger Cicero explaining how women rule the world to Ukraine's weirdly-dressed-up song, "Dancing Lasha Tumbai," which curiously was the favorite to win.

When it came down to judging time--Europeans can call or text to vote for anyone except for their own nation--it was even more apparent than normal that the more neighbors you have, the more votes you get. Even when a tiny country gives you a top vote, you get the same number of points as if the whole of Germany or France vote for you. Poor old England got nearly no votes (their entry's quality was questionable too, but that goes for nearly all of them), and former eastern bloc countries with plenty of small neighbors did well. And the winner? A (we personally think) not particularly stunning song from Serbian singer Marija. Media explosions about votes from neighbors has reached higher levels than ever this year, so maybe a new voting system is on the cards for Eurovision 2008 in Belgrade.

[Photo: flickrwegian]

Related Stories:
· Eurovision: Need Good Neighbours [Times UK]
· Eurovision Song-O-Mat Rocks Our World [Jaunted]

Europe / Travel Media / Slovakia / Bulgaria / Slovenia / → All Tags

Times Plugs Eastern Europe Hard

The UK Times went crazy this weekend talking up a few eastern European cities. The biggest wrap went to Slovak capital Bratislava, citing great value for money and fewer crowds than Prague as good reasons to go. All in all, not a bad overview, especially as they plug our favorite hot chocolate destination, Čokoláda.

Slovenian capital Ljubljana also grabbed a headline: the reviewer uses the Interesting Site Per Yard measure and rated Ljubljana very highly (if still somewhat unpronounceable). The value is probably not quite as good here given that Slovenia changed to Euro currency at the start of the year (Slovakia won't until 2009).

Finally, so-called un-cool Bulgaria also rates a mention. A stay at Bourgas and nearby beaches actually sounds pretty cool, especially when they start talking wine-tasting and cheap Bulgarian reds.

[Photo: Friends Friends Friend]

Related Stories:
· Slow Slovak Summer Elates Chocoholics [Jaunted]
· Why I Like Un-Cool Bulgaria [Times UK]
· Chill With the Bratislava Pack [Times UK]
· A Jam-Packed Weekend in Ljubljana [Times UK]

Maps / Europe / WiFi / Free WiFi / → All Tags

Map24 Adds WiFi Locating Feature

Map24, the map site that isn't Google Maps, has just added a new filter to its North American, Australian, and European maps. The hotspots "channel" lets you locate WiFi networks around your destination of choice. The function seems to work best in Europe so far, and even there it isn't perfect. We tested it out on Vienna, and it wouldn't hone in on Phil, our favorite WiFi utopia. So, take note: not all private WiFi providers, such as cafes and coffee shops, are listed. There's an option to list free hotspots only, but we suspect this does not take into account (or does not always properly process) cafes where the coffee will cost you but the connection is essentially free. Perfect? No, but it'll definitely help you when you're in a rush. Map24 also offers free mobile software for PDAs.

Related Stories:
· Map24 [Official Site]
· Find wireless hotspots before you travel [Computeractive]

Blogs / Europe / Travel Deals / Budget Travel / → All Tags

EuroCheapo Blog

EuroCheapo has just launched a blog to cater to your insatiable cheapskate needs in Europe. The newborn blog already contains some handy tips on airport transportation and a few tips on airfare sales. As was previously reported here, SkyEurope has added Vienna as a destination. (That's Vienna proper, as opposed to the "Vienna" that's actually an hour away in Bratislava, Slovakia.) EuroCheapo reminds us that the route has just launched, but it seems those 19 Euro fares were snapped up fast. Much like an ice cream shop opening in winter, this isn't exactly EuroCheapo's time. But if you're still holding out hope for a summer trip on the cheap, it's not a bad place to continue your tip gathering.

Related Stories:
· EuroCheapo Blog [Official Site]