More Airline Charges

Wallow in nostalgia for a moment.
Do you remember when flying was fun and an adventure?
No, neither do I. It has always been a chore. Just as one thing improves flying, online check-in for example, something comes up to make it more difficult.
It used to be that you could take up to 2 cases per person plus carry on luggage. That used to be enough for most people who were put off by expensive charges for overweight luggage. Then came the no-frills airlines who charged for cases put into the hold. Airlines in the US followed by charging on domestic routes.
Then came charging on second bags checked in when you flew on some North American airlines across the Atlantic. Now, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have both announced plans to charge for second bags as from next month. And some of the prices aren’t cheap.
American Airlines will charge $50 per extra bag if you fly in economy class as does Continental Airlines. Business and first class passengers will face no prices. British Airways will charge £35. Virgin Atlantic were going to charge £90 for long haul routes but is backtracking. US Airways and Delta charge as do United.
We know airlines are losing money and are trying every opportunity to make some. Is this the way to go about doing it?
I for one, agree. If you can’t live out of one bag, maybe you are taking too much. Personally I don’t travel with hold baggage. If I can’t carry it on board, I’m not taking it. I realise that’s unfair on people taking surfboards or skiing equipment and it seems right they should pay.
So in the long run, this attempt to raise money may fail and people will just pack better.

What is a shortbreak?

I ask the question because Visa has announced the result of a small survey (1000 people). A third of those questioned said they preferred shortbreaks rather than the traditional one or two-week breaks. An astonishing 83% claim that they will take between 1 and 5 shortbreaks this year.
Generally you pay more per day for shorter trips rather than longer ones because you get economies of scale. Which means that those 83% are seemingly prepared to pay more money than they might otherwise spend on a one or two week trip.
From this, Visa concludes we have become a nation of spontaneous mini-breakers.
I’m not convinced by this. Could a short break be a day trip? Could it be a trip into a nearby town or city? Could a shortbreak be staying with relatives? Or do people feel so unsure of their jobs that they don’t want to be away from their work for very long? Will this alter when unemployment starts declining or is there a fundamental change here?
Or should we follow the advice of the political pundits and say, don’t read too much into one survey.

Holiday Visits that Don’t Impress

The launch of a new book edited by Bill Bryson, "The Road Less Travelled", which looks at less well known, less visited places has given the SundayTimes to use the book and ask if readers know of others. The five places it says are the most over-rated are Stonehenge, Petra in Jordan, the Colosseum in Rome, Machu Picchu in Peru and Angkor in Cambodia. So far it has had 90 comments on it’s website for and against the choices. And that's a lot more than articles usually get.
Why over-rated?
Take Stonehenge. It says, you can’t get close to it, touch it and you pay an entrance fee. The location is bleak and visitor facilities are limited. All true. When I was younger you could walk around the stones. Now you can see almost as much from the road. Why bother to pay? The book suggests Avebury which is nearby, is larger and more accessible. But that fails to take into account what we believe to be the importance of Stonehenge. It’s role at each solstice. Its very bleakness is an attraction. This is also based on what current thinking tells us about it and, as historians and archaeologists reinterpret what might have happened, attitudes might change.
So what might I suggest?
Niagara Falls on the US/Canadian border has tacky towns dotted around a not very tall waterfall. Bath which is overchoked by traffic and visitors with architecture that can be seen elsewhere. Blackpool or Margate or one of many faded resorts that still exist in the past.
It doesn’t matter what I think. Destinations and attractions appeal for all sorts of different reasons. One person’s likes are another’s dislikes. What the book offers and what the Sunday Times doesn’t are new gems you might not know about.

Why No Museum of Evacuees?

This week is the anniversary of the beginning of WWII.
It is also the anniversary of the children called evacuees. The government had developed a plan whereby all children in areas thought vulnerable to attack by the Germans were to be moved to safer areas and billeted with people other than their relations until it was safe to return. This huge logistic exercise began being carried out this week when almost three and a half million children were moved (ironically codenamed, Operation Pied Piper) by train. Clutching labels, gasmask cases and their luggage, children were moved miles from their homes.
In my mother’s family case, she and her sisters and brother were moved from Folkestone (near where any invasion was thought likely to occur) to Goytre near Abergavenny in South Wales. Other people living in large cities were moved to rural areas or the seaside and stories abound about kids seeing the seaside or cows for the first time.
The Imperial War Museum probably has the largest collection of evacuee material and recorded memories in the country with other local museums having their own contribution. This week as schools return in England and Wales there will probably be school visits planned and today there is a memorial service to be held in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
But there is no museum specifically devoted to this strange time in our history. We have museums devoted to teddy bears, foundlings, toys, brands, prams but nothing specific about this huge uprooting of children from their families. There will be countless stories about how it affected the children. But what of the effect on their parents? What of this decision to unilaterally protect so many millions of children from potential attack? Sometimes it is hard to get children to museums. But to museum about kids of their own age and even younger? About kids who went half way across the country by themselves? About kids some of whom would never see their families again?.
Maybe just as the Imperial War Museum has other branches up and down the country like Duxford and Manchester, it could create a new museum in time for the 75th anniversary in 2014.