accommodation in Lindau or Bregenz

in order to catch the Ryanair 10:05 flight from Friedrichshafen (FDH) on sun 21st jan - the bus leaves St Anton at 5am ... an alternative would be to get the train towards Friedrichshafen on the saturday afternoon / eve, so that there is a much shorter journey on the sunday morning, and so we wouldn't need to start so early ... Lindau is approx 25km, and Bregenz is 53km from FDH ...

there are direct trains from St Anton to Lindau [dep 16:56 arr 18:26] for 21 eur, stopping at Bregenz [18:15] ... and loads of direct trains to Bregenz itself [dep 17:51 arr 19:15, dep 19:51 arr 21:06, dep 21:51 arr 23:06 etc.] ...

Lindau's accommodation options seem to be rather limited ...

Expedia.co.uk only has one hotel available for the night - Hotel Vis a Vis - costing 65 gbp for a double room for the night ... it's other hotel in Lindau - Hotel Bayerischer Hof - is not showing any availability ...

Octopustravel.co.uk only has a twin or double in the Bayerischer Hof for 124 gpb, or the Reutemann And Seegarten hotel for the same price ...

Venere.com has a double in the Hotel Garni Seerose [9 minute walk from the train station - according to deutsche bahn journey planner] available for a more reasonable 93 eur, and a triple room for 129 eur ...

laterooms.com does not have any hotels available for the night in either city

lastminute.com does not have any hotels available that night in Lindau ...

the tourism office for Lindau doesn't really have any more suggestions ...


the accommodation options in Bregenz appear to be a bit better ...

Expedia.co.uk has a bedroom for 2 persons in the Mercure for 49 gbp, a twin in the Ibis for 45 gbp, Hotel Bodensee for 63 gbp, a twin in Hotel Schwarzler for 77 gbp ... with no availability in Bw Hotel Weisses Kreuz, or Hotel Germania !

Octopustravel.co.uk [also used by ebookers.com] has a twin at the Mercure for 70 gpb, or the Schwarzler for 77 gbp ...

Venere.com doesn't have anything available that night ...

lastminute.com [owned by travelocity] has the Mercure for 45 gbp and the Ibis for 46 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk has a twin in the Hotel Bodensee for 62 gbp, a twin in the Ibis is 45 gbp, and a double/twin in the Mercure is 44 gpb ...

mercure.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 65 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for the same price ...

ibishotel.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 66 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for 51 eur ...


to get to FDH from Bregenz for the 10:05 ryanair flight, there is a train from Bregenz to Lindau [dep 07:48 arr 07:59], connecting to a train directly to the airport [dep 08:06 arr 08:36] costing 8.60 eur ...

dublin - friedrichshafen - london - dublin ...

dep DUB Sat 13 Jan 06:10 [arr FDH 09:25] - 14.99 eur

dep FDH Sun 21 Jan 10:05 [arr STN 10:45] - 26.84 eur

dep STN Sun 21 Jan 15:45 [arr DUB 17:00] - 6.49 gbp [approx 10 eur]

plus 4.5 eur x 3 for luggage ...

total cost 65.50 plus credit/debit card charges - approx 70 eur ...

Tenerife accommodation ... casa rurale ...

after looking for a 6 person Casa Rurale style accommodation over christmas and new year in Tenerife ... we eventually went for Antón Piche [cool location graphic - if a little noisy] ... which is close to the southern airport ...

toprural.com only have a single review - which is in spanish, and seems complimentary ... although it could be written by the owners ... you never know !

niumba.com don't have any comments at all on Anton Piche ...

annual travel insurance - 4th attempt ...

i heard an advert for PeoplesChampion as a place to find cheap travel insurance ... and it does actually seem like a proper new comparison website - most sites promising cheap travel insurance just seem to link to MoneySupermarket - this one seems to use the same display software, but is somewhat different ...

PeoplesChampion also has a very useful feature of showing Personal Accident Cover in the main comparison screen [instead of burying it in the policy detail like Money Supermarket and others - making it very time consuming to select based on this criteria] ...

the maximum Personal Accident Cover appears to be 50k gbp - with Marks and Spencers and Norwich Union providing this level ...

car hire - tenerife - 9 days ...

changed the dates - now looking for a car from 10:30 on fri 24th dec ... to 18:00 on mon 1st jan ... preferrably from TFN ...

Alamo does not have any vehicles at TFN or TFS ...

Budget does not have any locations in tenerife ...

NationalCar does not have any cars available from TFN or TFS ...

Thrifty does not have any locations in tenerife ...

Carjet.com has an Opel Corsa sized vehicle for 139 gbp - all extra drivers are free, and there is a zero insurance excess ... this company won the Best Car Hire company in the 2006 Guardian newspaper Travel Awards ...

CarHire3000 has an Opel Corsa sized vehicle for 137 gbp - it is unclear what the excess would be, or how much they charge for extra drivers ...

TravelSupermarket has CarHire3000 as its cheapest ...

HolidayAutos europe [owned by lastminute.com] has a Fiesta size vehicle available for 110 gbp - with 1 free additional drivers [further drivers costing 10 eur per day], and damage excess waiver [unclear what the excess would change from or to] costing 23 gbp, totalling 133 gbp ... this company has had some bad press recently ...

SIXT holiday cars has a Polo sized vehicle available for 240 eur [approx 160 gbp] - apparently including one free additional driver, but unclear what the excess is ...

Hertz has a Peugot 107 sized vehicle for 164 gbp - each additional drive 60 eur [40 gbp] ...

Avis has a Polo sized vehicle for 180 gbp plus 66 eur [approx 44 gbp] ...

Europcar has a Fiat Punto sized vehicle for 197 gbp ...

Easycar doesn't have any of their cheaper cars left - they have a Ford Focus sized vehicle for 214 gbp ...

car hire - tenerife - 11 days ...

looking for a car from 10:30 on fri 22nd dec ... to 18:00 on mon 1st jan ... preferrably from TFN ...

Carjet.com does not have any cars at TFN or TFS ...

Budget does not have any locations in tenerife ...

NationalCar does not have any cars available from TFN or TFS ...

HolidayAutos [owned by lastminute.com] has a Fiesta size vehicle available for 132 gbp - with 1 free additional drivers [further drivers costing 10 eur per day], and damage excess waiver [unclear what the excess would change from or to] costing 27.50 gbp ...

SIXT has a Polo sized vehicle available for 294 eur [approx 199 gbp] - apparently including one free additional driver, but unclear what the excess is ...

Hertz has a Peugot 107 sized vehicle for 200 gbp - each additional drive 60 eur [40 gbp] ...

Avis has a Polo sized vehicle for 220 gbp plus 66 eur [approx 44 gbp] ...

Europcar has a compact car for the bargain price of 350 gbp ...

london - tenerife ... charter flights ...

looking for flights departing around sat 23rd dec, and returning around mon 1st jan ... charterflights.co.uk lists the following flights ...


Gatwick to Tenerife, Spain
219 gbp
Sun 24 Dec 2006 LGW to TFS 0925 1340
Sun 31 Dec 2006 TFS to LGW 1440 1855


Gatwick to Tenerife, Spain
239 gbp
Sun 24 Dec 2006 LGW to TFS 1430 1850
Sun 31 Dec 2006 TFS to LGW 1700 2115

ski week in january ...

looking for a week's skiing in january - departing sat 13 jan, returning sun 21 jan ... considering St Anton am Arlberg since it is easy to get to and has lots of self bookable B&B accommodation - so don't need to take a package ...

flights with Ryanair (FR) from London Stansted (STN) to Friedrichshafen (FDH) departing at 14:40 [arr 17:15] is 19.99 gbp [07:05 departure is an extra 10 quid] ... and return flight departing at 10:05 [arr 10:45] is 1 penny [21:40 departure is an extra 70 quid] ... giving a total price of around 50 quid ...

there is a weekend airport bus transfer to St Anton (stopping at Bludenz, Zurs and Lech) which departs FDH at 17:45 [or 10:15 for the early flight] and the return connection departs St Anton at an eye-watering 05:50 [or 17:30 for the late flight] for the price of 57 eur ...

St Anton ski pass - this week falls into the low season ... so a 7 day pass would cost 204 eur, or an 8 day pass [if taking the late flight on sunday] would cost 226 eur ...

using Intersport equipment hire prices - 7 days for VIP skis costs 151 eur and boot hire costs 57 eur ...

B&B accommodation should cost around 30 eur per night ... slightly cheaper if it's a bit away from the centre ... totalling approx 240 eur ...

all of which comes to 50 gpb plus 710 eur [approx 475 gbp] = 525 gbp ...

Dublin - Tenerife

Aer Lingus (EI) flies to Tenerife South (TFS) ... whilst Ryanair (FR) flies to Tenerife North (TFN) ...

EI's departure on sat 23rd dec is showing as full ... leaving their fri 22nd dec as available - for a mere 309 eur single excluding taxes and charges, or mon 18th dec for 80 eur ...

for the return, EI have mon 1st jan for 245 eur excluding taxes and charges, fri 5th jan [dep 12:50 arr 17:10] and sat 6th jan [dep 18:10 arr 22:30], both for 309 eur ...

so a return flight departing on fri 22nd dec and returning on fri 5th jan comes to 662 eur including taxes ...


FR's prices look much better, although their flights depart at a sleep-depriving 06:00 [arr 10:20], they fly on mon, wed, fri and sun ... with mon 18th dec costing 1 cent, wed 20th dec 14.99 eur, and fri 22nd dec 59.99 eur - all excluding taxes and charges ...

for the return [dep 10:45 arr 15:05] mon 1st jan would be 69.99 eur, wed 3rd or fri 5th or sun 7th jan would each be 109.99, whilst mon 8th jan is 69.99 eur, and each flight after that drops to 1 cent - all excluding taxes and charges ...

so a return flight departing on wed 20th dec and returning on wed 3rd jan comes to 161.50 eur including taxes ...

Belfast to Tenerife

looking to depart between wed 20th and fri 22nd December ... for two weeks ...

Belfast International airport website shows a departure on tuesdays with Airtours [tue 19th appears to be available, but not the return 2 weeks later] ... and on fridays with Falcon Holidays [flight only redirects to First Choice - which doesn't have availability], Airtours [which doesn't have availability on this date either], or Direct Holidays - which looks suspiciously similar to the Airtours website, which does have availability for departure on fri 22nd Dec at 08:00 [arr TFS 12:30], and returning on fri 5th Jan at 13:30 [arr BFS 18:05] ... for a whopping 429 gbp per person !

Belfast International also has scheduled flights with Jet.com on thursdays and sundays to TFS ... and they have availability departing Thu 21st Dec at 13:45 [arr 18:00] and returning on thu 4th Jan at 08:00 [arr 12:15] ... for a painful 403 gbp ...

London - Tamworth ... for the Snowdome

thinking of travelling to Tamworth to try out the Snowdome on Saturday 2nd Dec ...

thetrainline.com gives a return price of 36.30 gbp with a journey time of just over 2 hours ... if you play around with the timings, you can get singles from london - birmingham and for 10 gbp, and the return from birmingham to tamworth for 5.40 gbp, totalling 25.40 gbp ... saving 10.90 gbp !

however, using the viamichelin.com website it estimates that the journeytime (despite a bit of a complicated routing for a couple of pickups) would also take around 2 hours ... and the petrol cost would be 20 quid each way ...

so the moral of the story - even with 2 pax, it's cheper to drive by at least 10 gbp (32gbp if you take the preferred routings) ... and if there are 3 pax, the saving would be between 36.20 and 68.60 gbp ...

travel by train aint cheap !


for the record ... the train details are listed below ...


to get to the snowdome for 1.30pm (and depart around 4.45pm)

dep 11:03 arr 13:08
dep 17:03 arr 19:34

cost 36.30


to get to the snowdome for 3.30pm (and depart around 6.30pm)

dep 13:03 arr 15:08
dep 18:47 arr 21:35

cost 36.30


2 x £10 singles london to birmingham, plus £5.40 for birmingham to tamworth return = 25.40

to get to the snowdome for 3.30pm (and depart around 6.30pm)
dep 13:03 arr 14:36 dep 14:49 arr 15:08
dep 19:03 arr 19:27 dep 20:00 arr 22:32

Lanzarote / Tenerife - casa rurale acommodation ...

trying to decide where to stay on either lanzarote or tenerife [haven't decided where to go yet] over christmas ... discovered the http://www.innsofcanaryislands.com/hotels.aspx website, which has one in southern tenerife that looks promising ...

and found http://www.ecoturismocanarias.com/canarias/uk/islas.asp which has a few interesting places in southern tenerife, but doesn't cover lanzarote ...

the bradt guidebook to the canary islands mentions that lanzarote doesn't have as much rural accommodation as the other islands ... although the toprural website has a good few places ...

Tenerife / Lanzarote - getting there from LIS

with the flight from MPM arriving into LIS on fri 22nd dec at 19:50 ... there are no connecting flights to get to tenerife - the last flight departs at 20:25 ...

the previous TAP flight from MPM arrives into LIS on thu 21st dec at 06:00 so there are plenty of flights ... although none are nonstop, with most taking around 5 hours, with some taking considerably longer ... opodo has prices from around 200 gbp for a return flight ...

there are no flights to Arrecife from LIS to connect with the 19:50 arrival on fri 22nd dec ...

there are quite a few flights to Arrecife from LIS on thu 21st dec ... opodo again has prices for a return flight for around 200 gbp for the indirect flights taking well over 5 hours ...

Tenerife / Lanzarote - getting there from DUB / BFS / NOC / LON

charterflights.co.uk is showing a flight from BFS to Tenerife on fri 22nd dec [dep 12:45 arr 17:05 ; dep 07:30 arr11:45] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on the same day for 479 gbp

aer lingus flies from DUB to Tenerife on fri 22nd and sat 23rd dec, with retun flights on fri 29th and sat 30th dec [other weeks the flights seem to be on different days of the week] ... with any combination of these return flights costing 350 gbp ... or retuning on mon 1st jan would be 399 gbp for the retun flight ...

the same website shows a departure from BFS to Arrecife, Lanzarote (ACE) on thu 21st dec [dep 13:40 arr 1750 ; dep 08:30 arr 12:40] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on sat 23rd dec [dep 13:15 arr 17:20 ; dep 08:00 arr 11:55] for 449 gbp and another on sun 24th dec [dep 06:00 arr 10:05 ; dep 11:05 arr 15:15] for the same price ... and one from NOC on thu 21st dec [dep 15:10 arr 19:15 ; dep 10:00 arr 14:10] for 519 gbp

aer lingus seems to have an erratic schedule to ACE ... their last flight before christmas leaves on wed 20th dec, with a return flight on sat 30th dec ... the return costing 340 gbp ... but by returning on tue 2nd jan, the price drops to 280 gbp ...

loads of departures from london to Tenerife on the fri 22nd dec [none on sat 23rd dec], including a monarch flight at 18:45 for around 230 gbp ...

also loads of departure from london to Arrecife on sat 24th from around 300 gbp ... or thu 21st dec from around 230 gbp [none on fri 22nd or sat 23rd dec] ...

Lanzarote vs Tenerife

looking at the weather for lanzarote over the last few years ... it seems slightly colder than the weather for southern tenerife around christmas ...

i read that the canaries tended to get hotter to the east ??

Cape Verde Islands - crime or hassle ?

i had a look at the Bradt guidebook to the cape verde islands ... and it looks like the crime/hassle level might be a bit too high for some of the less robust member of our group ...

annual travel insurance - 3rd attempt ...

had a look at HSBC travel insurance ... they have a healthy 50k gbp payment for total loss of a limb [no mention what happens if you only lose part of it] ... but the list of activities [page 15 of the booklet, page 17 in the pdf file] that they cover is laughable ... no offence to Rounders players, but it's not exactly top of my list of activies that i want covered !

annual travel insurance - 2nd attempt ...

in my continuing quest for travel insurance with decent personal accident benefits [a lost arm is worth more than 5k gbp], and covering a decent range of activities [my holidays include more than lying on a beach] ... i came across dog-tag ...

trouble is that whilst they specialise in covering lots of different sports/activities, their maximum personal accident payment is only 25k gbp ... not sure that would be enough to convert a house for disabled use, and buy wheelchairs for the rest of my life ... in the worst case scenario !

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - charter flights - 2nd attempt ...

spoke with Destination Portugal / Witney Travel Ltd ... and they say that the MAN to SID charter is full [where as Cape Verde / Eastgate Travel and teletickettravel say it is available] ... whilst unlike the others, they do have availability [she tried and was given 4 seats] on the LGW to SID charter [departs 09:45 arr 14:40 ; dep 15:40 arr 22:30] ... with a price of 486 gbp

they also quoted me prices including accomodation

• Vondel - 3 star - 735 gbp
• Moribezo - 4 star - 997 gbp

knock - manchester ... to connect with charter to SID ...

another option to get to MAN would be to fly from kNOCk airport [recently rebranded as Ireland West for whatever reason] ... bmibaby fly the route once a day ... the flight out on wed 20th dec is at 14:20 [44 cents], with the return flight on fri 29 dec at 12:30 [68.49 eur plus charges] apparently having just 3 seats left ... don't often look at the bmibaby website - hadn't seen that "remaining seats" feature before ...

the return flight including charges comes to 107.04 eur - considerably more expensive than flying out of DUB ...

dublin - manchester ... to connect with charter to SID ...

with the charter scheduled to depart MAN at 09:45 [and with service not yet having started for the winter, potentially subject to change] on thu 21st dec ... the first flight out of DUB to connect would be 06:30 with either Aer Lingus (EI) or Ryanair (FR) - getting into MAN around 7:30 ... which is probably cutting it too fine ...

that means travelling over the night before ... the last FR flight is at 18:10 [for just 99 cents plus charges], where as the last EI flight is at 20:30 for a very reasonable 1 euro !

the return flight from SID arrives into MAN at 00:45 on fri 29th dec ... so another overnight stay ... EI have flights dep MAN at 08:00 [29 eur], 13:20 [29 eur], 19:10 [15 eur] and 21:50 [5 eur] ... whilst FR have flights at 07:55 [12.99 eur], 13:40 [12.99 eur], 19:30 [9.99 eur] and 22:35 [5.99 eur] ... all prices are excl charges ...

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 4th attempt

for a laugh, thought i might as well try using my bmi diamond club frequent flyer points ...

unsurprisingly there is no availability on the LON-LIS-SID sectors on 21/22/23 or 24th december ... they do have availability on the return leg, but only in business class - which would cost me 30,000 ...

they do have availability on the LIS-SID sector for the 22nd december [dep 21:50 arr 00:45] - only 2 seats ... with availability on the SID-LIS leg on 30th and 31st december, as well as 1st january [dep 01:55 arr 06:35, or possibly the Sat flight dep 11:55 arr 16:35] - the return in business class [no economy available] would be 45,000 miles

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 3rd attempt

decided to call TACV in Lisbon, and ask about prices and availability ... very pleasant woman spoke a bit of english, and told me that a return for one week would be 559.66 eur ...

sounded great, until i asked about dates "oh no, completely full" ... the latest date in december when they have availability is 8th - not much good for a christmas trip !

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 2nd attempt

since it is the LIS-SID-LIS legs that are adding the huge cost [800 gbp], i thought that i would try booking singles - sometimes that turns out cheaper ...

using the TAP website, the LIS-SID sector comes in at 1088.88 eur [approx 740 gpb] ... and they can't even quote for the return sector as a single ... scratch that, just tried again, and they have - 52500 cve [approx 330 gbp] ... and just in case a return ex-SAL might be cheaper, i tried that ... but it comes in at 69100 cve [approx 430 gbp]

ah well, worth a try

annual travel insurance ...

my annual travel insurance is up for renewal, and i thought that i'd look again at the different options ... i currently use Trailfinders ...

it may seem a bit odd, but the main thing i look for is how much will it pay out if i lose a limb, or an eye ... i'm not interested in death payouts, and they all seem to have huge medical expenses limits. most of the main comparison sites such as the FT don't list "Personal Accident" in their table of comparitive values, so you have to go into each one to check the details ...

the standard payout seems to be around 25k or 30k gbp ... but i discovered that the Marks and Spencers policies have a 50k limit ... which sounds much better ... however the list of "Hazardous Sports and Activities" - page 19 of the policy, seems a bit excessive ...

Lanzarote - hot enough in mid winter ?

was having difficulty finding decent weather stats for Lanzarote [most seem to be from holiday website, who i suspect inflate them] ... but this ones seems legitimate ... still not sure if it is hot enough for a warm christmas ?

http://uk.weather.com/weather/climatology/SPXX0239.htm?dayofyear=354

Madeira weather ... too cold for christmas ?

i found these temperature averages for Madeira ... 16 or 17 degress Celcius looks a bit too cold for winter sun ...

http://www.eurometeo.com/english/climate/city_LPMA/clima_select/meteo_Madeira

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - charter flights ...

the only charter flights i can find are with Atraeus, who fly from Gatwick directly to SID (Sal airport) on a Thursday, and from Manchester via Banjul and on to SID, also on a Thursday

using Astraues' partner site Teletickettravel, there wasn't any availability showing for the Gatwick flight, so I phoned up the Cape Verde Travel in Hull - who told me that there are only a few seats left, and they are only being sold for two week trips. btw, Cape Verde Travel's telephone number is 01964 532679 - in case you don't want to use their 0845 number.

the flight from Manchester [dep MAN 09:15 arriving SID 14:35 ; return flight dep SID 15:35 arriving MAN 00:45] is showing on Teletickettravel as being available for 430 gbp - which is starting to look like the best option ... but travel on a Thursday morning is not the most convenient - would prefer to travel on Saturday 23rd ...

another travel agent offering cape verde holidays is Witney Travel Ltd ...

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled ...

got a bit of a shock looking at the flight prices

with TAP the price ex Gatwick via LISbon to SID [Sal airport] outbound on 23rd Dec and returning on 30the Dec is a jaw dropping 1,070 gbp and that is choosing the cheapest dates around this time, and price is the same ex LHR ...

the price for the LIS-SID leg is the crippling part - 800 quid !

using Amadeus to look at the scheduled flights - the only ones to SID are TAP/TACV and none of the flights to Praia (RAI), via continental europe, seem to go on a Saturday [which would be my preferred day of travel]

none of the main travel websites seem to use Cape Verde Airlines (TACV), so they are relying on TAP, and the TACV website itself seems only interested in US travellers ... so don't know how i can get online prices for TACV ?

the connections in Lisbon are:

LIS-RAI Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri - TACV
LIS-SID (Sal Airport) - M/T/W/T/F/S/S - TAP
and Wed/Sat/Sun - TACV

christmas options

have been looking into the following possible destinations

• Mauritius - bit too far from London for a week's holiday, and flights look expensive [over 800 gbp]
• Seychelles - again, too far for just a week, and similarly expensive
• Egypt - bit too unstable for some people
• Madeira - probably not warm enough
• Canary Islands - possibly not warm enough
• Cape Verde Islands - bit difficult to get to

dreaming of a hot christmas ...

looking for a destination to spend christmas ...

requirements:

• First world standards
• No more than about 5 hours flying time from London / Dublin
• No more than about 18 hours flying time from Maputo / Johannesburg
• Warm / hot weather
• Feels foreign - not looking for Ibiza style trip !
• Accommodation for 6 adults