The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of travelling in the UK, compared with the hassle of taking a holiday abroad. I spent most of this week on the Yorkshire coast, and it was hassle free. It cost me £25 per night in a decent B&B, with breakfast and free internet, and £21 return train fare.

Hassle free British holiday

The beach in Scarborough was fantastic, and you did not have to fight over sun loungers. Not once did I have queue to check-in my luggage or spend time in airport security. I didn’t have to wait 2 hours before my flight and then find that the luggage was sent to Timbuktu by mistake.

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I understand that Kiss flights, who specialise in cheap flights to Greece, Egypt, Turkey and the Canaries and have ceased trading. Kiss flights were ATOL so, arrangements are being made for those affected holidaymakers abroad.

Update from the CAA

The CAA estimates that around 13,000 people are currently overseas – all of them will be able to complete their holidays and return to the UK. Around 60,000 people have forward bookings and should receive a refund. I understand that the company primarily sold ATOL bonded flights.

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Many of you will know that my main project these days is a local guide called My Life in Leeds, and tonight I thought I would do some research and check out a few travel websites to see what content they have for my home city, and I am not impressed.

Forget for a few minutes that I am the owner of the guide – that aside I am extremely passionate about my home city. Would I have written this rant if I wasn’t working on my own Leeds guide? Hell yes. Click on the links below to view the examples.

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Since early 2009, British holidaymakers have applied for entry into the United States as part of the visa waiver program. You complete the ESTA form online; it takes 72 hours to authorise, lasts for two years, and is currently free to enter the United States.

That is all set to change, in that, from the 8 September though it will cost you £9 ($14).

Promoting US tourism

I personally, do not think that it is a lot to pay, but, surprisingly a number of consumers have contacted me lately to rant about their frustration of having to pay for entry into the US. Apparently, most of the fee will go towards promoting US tourism. Hm. Yes, I bet it will.

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Did we know Goldtrail were going bust? Absolutely not. Rock Insurance supply our supplier failure cover; they monitor the financial health and risk of all of our suppliers. If they had deemed Goldtrail to be too much of a risk, we would have been notified to, “turn them off”.

We received no such notification until after Goldtrail announced their administration. Problems? Yes, we’ve had a few… Goldtrail were a perennial problem company from a Travel Agent’s perspective. In 2008 we were selling Goldtrail throughout that winter for 2009 flights.

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