A Trip News

A media company is marketing a new DVD which it hopes will broaden people¡¯s understanding about England, its culture and its history.
    Entitled “Travel with Kids: England”, the DVD is aimed at families planning to travel to the island nation with an emphasis on education through entertainment.
    Costing around 15 U.S. dollars the video package explores sites such as Stonehenge, the Roman spa town of Bath and towns famous for their writers and poets (more…)

Visitors to a New South Wales zoo were forced to lock themselves indoors yesterday as after a lion escaped its enclosure. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the nine year-old lioness, named Jamelia, managed to break free at Mogo Zoo, near Batemans Bay.
Jamelia was later shot by zoo staff, who described the experience as “traumatic”.

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Across the Atlantic, memories meet DNA, and what ancestors left behind is seen fresh
ABERDEEN - My earliest memory is of oatmeal. Not a crib, not a baby’s toy. A bowl. Behind it, with a busy spoon, was my grandmother, Nanny Liz, who made it clear to me, even in those days, that I was by half a Scot.
Next year will mark Scotland’s first-ever homecoming celebration, along with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, the national poet. Homecoming Scotland will officially kick off Jan. (more…)

Where to go, how to save, what to avoid
Warning of the week: Shrinking transatlantic choice
This time last year, airlines were bragging about all their new routes across the Atlantic, taking advantage of the "open skies" liberalisation between Europe and the US. This winter, that trend will reverse. Air France had made the boldest move, introducing a direct flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles; it ended last month. On 8 January, Northwest Airlines will end its brief link from (more…)

‘My dream trip? Places where they don’t play cricket!’
First holiday memory?
A family trip to Beg-Meil in Brittany. It was in the early days of package holidays and I was very young. I remember two things in particular: being force-fed artichokes, which I found quite disgusting at the time, and haven’t eaten since then; and some old boy raking the gravel outside where we were staying every day at 6 o’clock in the morning.
Best holiday?
Last month, my wife and I went to the (more…)

One of the world’s most famous cruise ships, the Queen Elizabeth 2, briefly ran aground on Tuesday before arriving in its home port for the last time, its owners said.
The 70,000-ton vessel ran onto a sandbank as it approached Southampton on England’s south coast, where it was paying its final call before heading to Dubai where it will become a floating hotel.
Two tugs helped by the rising tide managed to re-float it, and the ship eventually arrived in port 15 minutes behind schedule but still (more…)

The shambolic opening of London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 was a national embarrassment, British MPs said in a report published today.
The House of Commons Transport Committee slammed British Airways and airports operator BAA for serious failings that led to flight cancellations, tens of thousands of lost bags, and long queues when the STG4.3 billion ($A10 billion) complex opened on March 27.
“What should have been an occasion of national pride was in fact an occasion of national embarrassment, (more…)

Irish-based budget airline Ryanair is planning to offer trans-Atlantic flights of 10 euros ($A19) before taxes, to several US cities from Britain and Ireland, media reports said today.
The airline wants to offer services from London’s Stansted and Dublin airports to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary was quoted as saying in an interview with Britain’s News of the World newspaper.
Ryanair Holdings spokeswoman Pauline McAlester said (more…)

British drinkers could soon be nipping down to their local pub for a swift two-thirds of a pint under proposed changes to the law on weights and measures.
Easing the restrictions on glass sizes for draught beer and cider is designed to appeal to people who can’t face a pint, but think a half is too small.
Currently, pubs can only serve pints, half pints and a third of a pint, a measure rarely seen in pubs but popular at beer festivals where drinkers try lots of different ales.
A British (more…)

THE plane that served Chairman Mao Tse-Tung is being sold by its owner in Guangdong province, Xinhua has reported. The 46m-long British-made Trident plane was bought for CNY8 million (US$1.2 million) in 1999 by the Ridong Group, who have since exhibited it at its Ridong Plaza shopping centre.
“We have received many inquiries about the plane,” Ridong company officials said.

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