https://www.easyjet.com/en Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

To ski or not to ski

14th December 202314th December 2023 funtime65

To ski or not to ski that is the question for those of us who like to slide away for a winter break.

Whether it is snowglobler in the mind… sorry we’ve started early on the Christmas sherry.

But with the ski jacket back on for the frozen north of Britain that is Scotland thoughts turn to whether to give it another outing on the piste.

Forgetting, of course, the fallings and throws of outrageous fortune (sorry, I’ll stop now) on the slopes.

EasyJet does it

Rock me Amadeus: With Mozart in Salzburg

Of course there is as always a choice with EasyJet flagging up their budget ski holidays and winter ski breaks.

The important thing, as always, is that we give ourselves a treat and a getaway.

The airline is teasing us with £27.99 one way.

While they’re indulging those who aren’t interested in skiing – or those other skiers would prefer for their own safety weren’t on the slopes.

With city breaks around Europe from £149pp.

Of course on closer inspection it’s even better than that.

We were drawn to the Austrian jewel that is Salzburg within easy train reach to the ski hub that is Soll.

With EasyJet offering a trip out to Mozart’s birth city from London Gatwick for what we’re calling a Magic Flight, for £17.99 one way.

Czech out Prague

Now there is never a bad time to take in one of Europe’s great cultural and fun cities, party-loving Prague.

And EasyJet will put you up in the Hotel Majestic Plaza close to the city centre for £300 for you and your significant other.

With the only slopes you’ll need to negotiate are the climbs up and down to the Castle Area.

And the steps up the Astronomical Clock or down the steps to their nuclear bunkers.

And don’t worry if you see what looks like babies climbing the TV tower… it’s just David Cerny’s arts masterpiece.

You, of course, will be able to take a lift up to the restaurant at the top and look down on them.

Remember now to toast each other or whoever you are with and EasyJet whatever you do.

Whether it’s to ski or not to ski or you take a city break… you deserve a great break.

Asia, Countries, Europe

Flew Monday

16th January 202316th January 2023 funtime65

And hats off to the Travel PR whizzkid who rebranded January 16 as Blue Monday and help build Flew Monday.

And that’s really the gist of it as we all instinctively dig out the travel brochures when we’re feeling cold and miserable.

While Fiftysomethings might all identify Blue Monday with swaying in their university student union to New Order.

The modern iteration dates back to 2005.

The perfect formula

When Sky Travel dug up psychologist Dr. Cliff Arnall to trot out a formula.

Pointing to the third Monday in January as the gloomiest of the year… and ergo when we should all book a holiday

And, of course, we’re all happy to oblige.

Now we’d be happy to give our old friends at EasyJet ‘Flew Monday’.

But they naturally like to push their orange livery.

EasyJet is offering savings of up to £300 off package holidays.

And for those booking on Blue Monday you could win back the cost of your package holiday up to a maximum of £2,500.

Jordan’s jumping

EasyJet helpfully pick out three sample fave destinations, all of which are up there for us too.

They are offering the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in Aqaba in Jordan.

On the Red Sea for March 14-18 from £640pp, flying out of London Gatwick.

From where you’ll get out on the great sea and maybe snorkel between the fishes swimming through a sunken submarine.

Crowning Croatia

If Game of Thrones is more your thing then you could spend five nights in Dubrovnik rather than bus it like your Bandanaman.

Fly out of London Gatwick on March 26 and stay at the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace from £440pp.

Magic Majorca

And if Majorca is where the magic is for you.

Then five nights out of London Gatwick at the Sentido Fido Punto Dal Mar between March 14 and 18 from £360pp.

The Big Orange Sale ends on 31st January.

You can also now book flights for summer ’23 from £34.99 one-way.

All of which makes it more Flew Monday than Blue Monday.

America, Countries, UK

To-all-o-me from Railtown Yosemite

24th February 202224th February 2022 funtime65

I see the train a comin’, a comin’ down the track.. no, not Johnny Cash but an invitation to-all-o-me from Railtown Yosemite.

Trains, of course, have always been much more than fuel-powered metal tubes transporting us from A to B.

And in the UK, they’re not even that, but more of that later.

United Tracks of America

In America trains grew the country and the navvies who hammered the tracks into the ground put those sounds to song.

The Railroad and its place in popular culture are celebrated in Railtown, Yosemite.

That’s in Tuolumne County (and that’s pronounced to-all-o-me).

Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in California takes you back (as its title suggests) in time.

And for those of us who are good with dates you’ll have noticed that makes this year its 125th anniversary.

Back to the future

That Railtown 1897 is still running its steam and diesel-trains, its roundhouse, machine shop and movie paraphernalia is down to the volunteers.

When the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to close it to save a few dimes.

And this the home of High Noon, The Virginian, Back to the Future II and Little House on the Prairie among others.

Now the accounting skills in la famille Murty went elsewhere but it strikes me that the $5 and $3 for kids admission fee probably doesn’t cover the costs.

And that Railroad 1897’s steam funnels are being fuelled through financial donations.

Fiver fever

$5 you say… well here in Britain we could take a leaf out of Railroad 1897’s book.

And yes clearly those prices are not realistic for a national transport hub.

But why does it cost from £187.70 for a return this weekend?

And particularly when Scotrail pitches it at from £40!

UK OK

And you’ll get an air return for £136.96 with EasyJet, considerably quicker and more comfortable.

And don’t get me started on on-peak and off-peak which we swallowed whole when they were introduced as Savers by Thatcher in the Eighties.

No, no, no…

But if you want to absorb yourself in the spirit of the Real Railroad yes there are volunteers and Steam Train lines across the UK.

Which is a great place to start.

The Big Country

Sign of the times: If you’re back in the 19th century

But if you want to get out to the Big Country, the Oo Es of Eh then follow my path.

I’ve alighted in Golden, Colorado (only ever used by Casey Jones and crew) at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

And I’m asking the peak-capped uniformed guard the way to-all-o-me from Railtown Yosemite.

Countries, Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable Air Travel

1st November 2021 funtime65

It’s worth remembering as the world leaders arrive in Glasgow for COP26 that they have flown here which is what we’re talking about here in Holidos and Dont’s of Sustainable Air Travel.

And so is all the virtue signalling and grandstanding over air travel just a distraction from the question we should be asking…

Why are governments not acting to clean up our skies and instead blaming it on our air carriers?

And why is more not being done to improve the operational aspects around airports.

So that we can improve queuing, runway congestion and airplanes hovering around airports because they cannot land?

Pointing fingers

Scapegoating a sector which knows better than anyone that we need to transition to zero carbon flying is not healthy.

Nor should we ignore the fact that the skies are vital arteries in feeding the very developing world which world leaders claim to be their every waking concern.

Think about it?

Air travel is the catalyst for improving the livelihoods of families and the foreign exchange earnings of many developing states and developing countries.

All of which came out at WTM, the World Travel Market conference which kicked off in London today…

An important counterpoint to what is going on a couple of hundred of miles up here in Glasgow.

Trust the science

And we will get off the ground: And soon

Well, as we’ve become used to hearing over these last couple of years… let’s trust the science.

The latest research reveals that international aviation is responsible for 3.5% of anthropogenic climate forcing, less than Russia more than Japan.

In March 2020, the respected German consultancy Roland Berger forecast that if other industries decarbonise in line with current projections, aviation could account for up to 24% of global emissions by 2050.

Unless there is a significant technological shift.

There is an ongoing debate about carbon offsetting and Sustainable Aviation Fuel from biofuels and waste.

And these are favoured solutions because they facilitate business as usual and do not require a technological shift.

In January, the Fuelling Flight Project, which includes easyJet, IAG, Air France and KLM, pointed out the ‘risk of massive capital investments in things that increase emissions compared to fossil fuels and/or that become stranded assets.’

They called for higher sustainability requirements to be set by the European Commission.

The options

And get back in the air: With our favourite cabin crew

And so to the options.

Electric is the buzzword and the airline industry is actively working on battery-powered electric flights.

But equally hydrogen has its benefits.

Hydrogen can fuel aircraft in two ways.

It can be burnt in an engine or used in a fuel cell that combines hydrogen and oxygen.

And that will produce electricity, heat, and water or to make drop-in synthetic sustainable aviation fuels (synfuels).

Power-to-liquid fuels (PtL) or synfuels are drop-in replacements for fossil-based kerosene and require no significant aircraft or engine changes.

Down to Zero

So let’s fly again: And, yes, long-haul is allowed

In September, Airbus revealed three concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft which could be flying by 2035.

So as we focus on climate change in Glasgow and Travel inevitably takes a kicking…

We here will continue to focus in Holidos and Dont’s on Sustainable Air Travel.

And, of course, we’ll keeping Messers Johnson, Biden, Sarkozy et al’s feet to the fire up here in Glasgow.

And ask, for example, do they even know about the speekbom plant in South Africa which might just save the world.

Maybe they should get in touch.