So yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing and what better way to celebrate than to speculate on the possibility of space tourism in the near future! According to examiner.com, space tourism is not that far away with space travel already an option for the extremely rich. This is mainly due to the fact that in February 2009, space travel halved in price. There is also the fact that there are already two companies, RocketShip Tours and Virgin Galactic, which are vying for our custom. RocketShip Tours has also teamed up with Ensemble Travel Group, an organisation of almost 500 travel agencies, to promote space travel. While on July 27th 2009, Virgin Galactic will unveil their Mothership “Eve” at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009. Although I’m sure space travel will be very popular in the future, I’m not sure I will joining them! What with the lack of oxygen and all…..
Archive for the ‘Destinations’ Category
To infinity, and beyond…..
July 21st, 2009Rap Jumping?
April 30th, 2009If you have never heard of Rap Jumping, you are not alone, neither had I! It is described by Tourism Victoria as ‘forward abseiling with a pulse’, so definitely not for the faint-hearted! Essentially you jump off the side of a 25 metre high building and walk, run or Tarzan-swing down the side of it. Rap Jumping takes place in Melbourne on the Urban Central building in the city centre. It was originally started by Peter Mackail, an ex-SAS soldier, in 1989 after developing the technique in the Army. It costs $65 for 3 jumps and is open everyday (weather permitting). Now as much as I would love to have a go, I’m scared of heights so I’ll let you guys try it out first!
Paris, je t’aime
December 26th, 2008In seven days time, according to the French Government Tourist Office, Paris Ile-de-France will be a new place. The region has apparently been given a ‘facelift’ for 2009 which will be advertised through a new marketing campaign based around famous artworks and events. The artistic side of the capital will be the main focus of the advertising with the involvement of the artists Jeff Koons and Patrick Blanc. There will be many new exhibitions to visitors to have a look at, such as a showcase of work by Renoir in the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais and a display dedicated to Kandinsky at the Centre Pompidou. Many places around will also look different, such as the Centquatre which will host exhibitions, art projects and festivals. All in all, it should make for a jolly good time!
Bizarre bans in Italy
August 22nd, 2008If you’re going to Italy any time soon, you had better check if the town you are going to has any strange by-laws! According to Reuters, many towns in Italy have introduced by-laws to improve “public decorum”. However, some of the by-laws have gone a bit too far. In Eraclea, near Venice, you are not allowed to build sandcastles and in Capri it is forbidden to wear a bikini anywhere other than the beach. While in Eboli, you could land a fine of €500 if you’re caught kissing in a car or in Novara no more than two people are allowed to lounge around at night in parks. So my suggestion is don’t do anything until you’re sure you’re allowed to do it!
Have you saved enough for Beijing?
August 9th, 2008According to Sainsbury’s Travel Money, those flying to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games will have to make sure they have enough spending money when they get there! On average, travelers to Beijing will need £1,074 in spending money. However, Sainsbury’s Travel Money estimates that 90% of the money will be spent on hotel bills as prices have increased by around 452% due to the Olympics!! Although the hotel bills may be expensive, in comparison to other major cities across the world, Beijing is fairly cheap. Thankfully I am not one of those going to watch the Olympics in Beijing, so instead I can just watch it on TV for free and save my money! 
New city for Dubai
June 23rd, 2008His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, and vice president and prime minister of the UAE has just unveiled plans for a new super city which he is planning on building in the Dubai desert. The new city will be over 800 million square feet in size with new houses, civic buildings and tourist landmarks. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens will cost over US$60 billion to build and work will be starting shortly. Although I’m that when it opens, thousands of people will flock there to have a look at its decadence, is the project actually feasible? My concern is that they are building the new city in the desert and we all know that there is a serious lack of water in the desert. So, where is the water going to come from? And how environmentally friendly is a new city anyway? And how will the new city affect the old ones? There are too many unanswered questions about this project for me to get too excited about visiting it!
New resort in Egypt
February 19th, 2008An Egyptian billionaire named Ibrahim Kamel is planning on building a new $500 million resort near the World War II battlefield of Al-Alamein. There will be 4,000 hotel rooms, a mall, entertainment complex and a golf course. It is planned to rival the other big Red Sea resort in Egypt and should be completed in 5 years time. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Kamel said “we will soon have the capacity to attract up to 50 million tourists a year”. Maybe it’s just me, but from what I have read this sounds like the large-scale developments in Spain all over again. Also, what will the cost be to the environment in the area? I personally don’t think that Egypt needs anymore resorts, but who am I to stand up against a billionaire!
Skydive over Uluru banned
January 15th, 2008Two skydivers from Australia have been banned from their world record attempt by Parks Australia. Heather Swan and Glenn Singleman wanted to dive from a hot air balloon 12,000 metres above Uluru (more commonly known as Ayers Rock) and then fly for 30 kilometres using special wingsuits. However, Parks Australia, which looks after Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, has denied their request because “disembarking and landing in a Commonwealth reserve is not allowed”. In an interview with ABC, Ms. Swan said that their world record attempt would be good for tourism in the area because “the footage is going to be shown on television screens around the world, so it would be great to have that sort of image going out to international audiences”. In my opinion, if they’re not touching Uluru, what’s the harm in diving from a hot air balloon above it? And it probably would boost tourism!
Vietnamese dolphin tourism
December 20th, 2007First I told you about golf tourism, and now there is dolphin tourism! News coming out of the Vietnam News Agency is that measures are being introduced in Cambodia to protect future dolphin populations. Now before you start thinking that this is some sort of kind hearted gesture, the real reason is that there is a lot of poverty in the mountainous provinces of Crache and StungCheng where Mekong River dolphins live. In order to reduce the levels of poverty in the area and to encourage tourism, the country is protecting the dolphins which attracted 80,000 local tourists and 12,200 foreign tourists last year. The dolphin tours which take place generate $3.12m (£1.56m) for local economies. Although this seems like a good idea, I wonder if Cambodia would have done anything to protect its 100 endangered and rare dolphins in the Mekong River if money was not involved?
Everybody go surfing, surfing Philippines!
October 13th, 2007Yep, you may not quite believe the title but if the Department of Tourism in the Philippines is to be believed, the Philippines is “the most exciting surfing destination in the world”. With its beautiful white coastline, which is twice as long as that of the USA, the Philippines have been slowly making their mark on the world of surfing. I’m not such a great surfer myself, but I the Philippines sound like an ideal surfing destination. It is already considered an amazing place to go scuba diving, so perhaps it will one day be the place for all watersports.
