If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites
Tag Archives: February 2002
Readers comments: best airport nominations – from Padmassana
When he's not tying his body into knots, Padmassana is a bit of a globetrotter on the quiet. Here are his nominations for best and worst airports:
Best:
1 Dubai: great facilities, clean, everything is so cheap and it is the only airport where you see Rolls Royce's and Ferraris inside!
2 Hong Kong: well organised, lots to do if your plane is delayed
3 Zurich: the escalators are constructed in such a way that you can wheel your trolley onto them and the wheels lock into place!
4 Tokyo: clean, well organised, the conveyor belt has traffic lights so not too much luggage is loaded on to it at any one time, so that bags don't fall off!
5 Moscow: the best for entertainment value – you have to guess which gate your plane leaves from and race there! (The Beetle would like to add this also happened to her at San Jose in Costa Rica airport too!)
Padmassana's worst airports included Luxor for bribery (the Beetle also experienced this after a diving holiday in the Red Sea. At Hurgahada the man who x-rayed luggage wanted a tip/bribe, as did the man who checked you in, as did the man who lifted your bags on to the conveyor belt to the storage place prior to the plane arriving), Goa where the conveyor belt chews your luggage, Islamabad where the customs official ate Padmassana's Milka bars, Guilin, in China, where the runway lights were switched off on final approach. Scary!!
Write in and tell us your best airport nominations! Contact the Beetle!
Chernobyl
The United Nations last week identified Chernobyl as being an eco-tourism venue of the future. Wildlife has started to come back to the area after the terrible radioactive contamination. Moose, red deer, beavers and lynx have all been spotted in the woods along with flowers and birds. Would you go?
Not to be Seen Dead In?
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the UK is advising against all travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Yemen until further notice. Reprisals are also feared against Western travellers in other parts of the world including the Chechen Republic, East Timor, Indonesia, Macedonia, Somalia, the West Bank and parts of Albania.
Machu Picchu
According to Alt Wire OmPlace, bad news could come to Machu Picchu. There is a proposal to build a funicular from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu to make the site more accessible and increase the average visitor rate from 2000 to 8000/day. UNESCO and other groups are lobbying to block the construction, which would cut a swath of rainforest down the mountain significantly deteriorating the view. Anyone remember the Celestine Prophecy? Source: omplace.com/