Travellers wanting to book inter-continental rail journeys across Europe currently face a nightmare of red tape when booking each stage, country by country. The exceptions currently are Eurostar and Thalys high-speed rail services but their services are limited to certain central European cities.
The European Union has now paved the way making it as easy to book rail journeys between countries as it is to book flights, with a combination of stops and destinations to suit the needs of both business people and tourists. The EU is adopting new regulations to force the standardization of rail passenger data on fares and timetables right across Europe.
In 2012, by law, rail operators must bring their computer systems and practises inline, making it easy for travel agents and individuals to book tickets to and from most destinations, hassle free.
One of the main reasons behind this approach from Brussels is that inter-city travel by rail is far more environmentally-friendly than travel by car or by air. Rail travel considerably reduces harmful emissions and the effects on global warming, possibly making it the recommended method of travel for forward-thinking governments of the future.
by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels
Conservationists on the Mediterranean holiday island of Malta are calling for better law enforcement to stop the illegal hunting of birds.
Last September, BirdLife Malta discovered the buried remains of more than 200 protected birds in woodland that’s heavily used by hunters.
Because of its location on the Europe-Africa migration route, Malta has nearly 400 recorded bird species, but it also has a high density of hunters. The remains found included western marsh-harriers, European honey-buzzards and black-crowned night herons.
Birdlife Malta is starting an international campaign to demand proper enforcement of the European Union Birds Directive, which it claims has been largely ignored since Malta joined the EU in 2004.
by Andy Moreton
Luxique can secure the best rates at two of the finest luxury hotels in Malta – the Xara Palace and the Villa Luna.
Figures released last week give an indication of the extent of the problem of lost airline luggage.
A total of 42 million bags worldwide were ‘mishandled’ in 2007 and, of those, more than a million were never found.
The consumer watchdog, the Air Transport Users’ Council, said that an additional irritation was that passengers were being short-changed when they sought compensation. At times, they were being offered as little as 10 per cent of the value of the lost items.
The situation has prompted the European Union to take action. A statement said the EU’s Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani, had decided ‘to take immediate measures on passengers’ rights, starting with an investigation on the scale of the phenomenon.’
It’s possible that the result of that investigation could be a body which would order airlines to pay compensation to travellers whose baggage fails to arrive. European law already means airlines must compensate passengers whose flights have been cancelled or significantly delayed.
by Andy Moreton
The historic town of Eu in Normandy has plenty to offer the tourist, but it has a big problem – it’s internet ‘invisible.’
Type Eu into a search engine and you might get the past participle of the verb, avoir, (to have). For British internet surfers, Eu would fetch up an endless list of European Union references.
The council in Eu says this has caused the town of 8,000 people to lose out on the tourist boom because people are increasingly using the internet for information and bookings.
The Mayor, Marie-Françoise Gaouyer, now wants to add extra syllables to bring the town to the attention of more web users. She wants to have a referendum on names such as La Ville d’Eu, Eu-le-Château or Eu-en-Normandie.
The change is being resisted by some who believe its history is too important to tinker with - William the Conqueror married Mathilde in the castle chapel in 1050, Joan of Arc spent a night there and the town was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1944.
If the name were changed, it would have the added effect of killing off an old and embarrassing pun on Madame Gaouyer’s title: la Maire d’Eu, which sounds similar to la merde (French for s**t).
by Andy Moreton
If you want to short-cut the eu distractions, go straight to http://www.ville-eu.fr
And if you’re heading to this part of France, check out Luxique’s selection of luxury hotels.
