Vaccinations For Foreign Travel

We thought we'd have to see the GP.

Apparently not.

These Days, if you need a vaccination for a foreign trip you pop along to your local Vaccination Bureau which might be in a National Chain store Chemist or a high street clinic. However, we were still surprised at the cost involved.

Now, we are off on a Cruise later in November and will be stopping off in Gambia, Cape Verde, The Canaries and Spain - more articles regarding this later in the year, but we are very excited - and we were advised to get a Yellow Fever jab.

That's £58 each please...Ouch!

So, I thought it would be of interest to show a list of popular (!) jabs and, as you can see, the most expensive will set you back around £268.....EACH. For a family of four that'll cost you well over a thousand pounds...and that's just one particular batch of tablets....

Don't forget to add that to your budget...

Here's the list below - I think it's quite an eye opener.

More news about the Cruise as it happens.....

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The Importance Of Leg Room

As Ryanair announces plans to cram more passengers in its planes - we look at the best and worst airlines for legroom and ask whether fliers are feeling the squeeze

Ryanair has agreed a £13bn deal for up to 200 new Boeing planes, each of which - thanks to slimmer seats and reduced galley space - will be able to accommodate more travellers.

The budget carrier announced that it will fly its new Boeing 737 MAX 200s with a total of 197 seats – eight more than the 189 seats possible in the 737-800 planes currently being used.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's CEO, said the extra seats would generate around €1million of additional revenue per plane per year and that, with the new planes, he hopes to start a new price war in Europe, “which, like all the old price wars, Ryanair will win.”

Yet this latest move to increase passenger numbers in economy comes in a month when rows about legroom caused three planes to be diverted. Will Ryanair passengers have less room?

Ryanair claims legroom space will actually be increased, thanks to the svelte seats and smaller galleys. While not revealing the exact dimensions, or a configuration plan for the new plane, it has said the pitch (ie. depth - the key indicator for legroom) will be at least 30 inches on average.

Airbus, however, Boeing’s rival manufacturer, said the MAX 200 configuration would mean removing three of eight galley trolleys - used for serving drinks and meals - to make way for more seats. This, it said, would leave only five trolleys for the 197 passengers. "Even low-cost carriers need more than that if they are serious about on-board sales and ancillary revenues," Mary Anne Greczyn, an Airbus spokeswoman, told Reuters.

Cheap Breaks? Try Warsaw

While many dream of a no-expense-spared five star trip, few can actually afford one. That is unless you travel to Warsaw, which has recently been revealed as the cheapest European city for a luxury break.

A night in a top hotel in the Polish capital costs on average £84 a night, while London, Florence and Paris, unsurprisingly, are the most expensive, according to travel website kayak.co.uk.

It pays to head east when looking for a bargain as Thessaloniki and Bucharest are two cities where a five star experience will cost an average of £87 and £98 respectively. This is in sharp contrast to staying in Florence, Europe’s second most expensive city for luxury, where a stay in its Belmond Villa San Michele starts at £632.

London is the continent’s priciest city - its famous five star hotels, including the Ritz, the Savoy and Claridges, cost on average £321. A night at The Berkeley costs £750, the equivalent of 11 nights at Domotel Les Lazaristes in Thessaloniki, where prices begin at £67. Elsewhere in the UK, Edinburgh is the second most expensive place to stay - prices for a five star hotel cost £211.

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Bucket List

From The Telegraph:

When Barack Obama ordered his helicopter pilot to make an unscheduled stop at Stonehenge on Friday, following the Nato summit in Wales, he explained that the prehistoric landmark in Wiltshire was something he had always wanted to see.

"Knocked it off the bucket list," he said.

A visit to Stonehenge also features on the "Great British Bucket List", published in April - 50 feats to complete in Britain, which includes things as mundane as watching a box set of Only Fools and Horses to more active experiences, such as walking the Lake District and sailing around the Isle of Wight.

Top of the list was eating fish and chips on a seaside pier followed by whale watching in Wales.

Having a pint in the Rovers Return, the fictional pub in ITV's Coronation Street, is one thing Britons apparently must do before they die, as is seeing Morris dancers at a country pub.

Others said people must take a ferry across the Mersey and see the Christmas lights in Oxford Street in London before they die.

The Great British Bucket List was compiled by Ask Jeeves, the search engine, which asked 1,000 people what they would like to do before they die.

The phrase "Bucket List" comes from the idiom "kick the bucket" - meaning to die.

The phrase became increasingly popular after the 2007 film The Bucket List, staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who escape from a cancer ward to go on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they die.

Their adventures include skydiving, visiting the Taj Mahal, riding motorcycles on the Great Wall of China and going on a lion safari in Africa.

The Great British Bucket List in full

1. Eat fish and chips on a seaside pier

2. See whales off Wales

3. Go to a night at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall

4. Visit Giant's Causeway

5. Have a picnic at an open air concert

6. Go up in the London Eye

7. Travel Scotland's West Coast by rail

8. Watch a Shakespeare play in Stratford-upon-Avon

9. Dine in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant

10. Go to a British Grand Prix

11. See inside the Houses of Parliament

12. Get the Ffestiniog railway in Snowdonia

13. Go to Glastonbury festival

14. Hold the FA Cup trophy in your hands

15. Take in the view from the top of the Shard

16. Be at Stonehenge on longest day of the year

17. See the Trooping the Colour

18. Go to a cricket test match

19. Visit 'The Prisoner' village in Portmeirion, Wales

20. Have tea at Betty's tearooms, Harrogate

21. See a traditional Christmas pantomime

22. Watch a British player at Wimbledon

23. Do a 'Wainwright' walk in the Lake District

24. Drive round Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent

25. Visit a whisky distillery

26. Go to a Six Nations rugby match

27. Go on a Jack the Ripper guided walk in London's East End

28. Have a pint in the Rovers Return, the fictional pub in ITV's Coronation Street

29. See Lake Windermere by boat

30. Go on a historic London pub tour

31. Experience the Notting Hill Carnival

32. Try a deep fried Mars Bar

33. See the fireball ceremony at Stonehaven, Scotland, on New Year's Eve

34. Sail round the Isle of Wight

35. Attend the Grand National, Guineas and Gold Cup horse races

36. Go to a World Darts Final

37. Take a selfie at both John O'Groats and Land's End

38. Take a ferry across the Mersey

39. Climb Ben Nevis

40. See Tower Bridge raised

41. Visit Borough food market, London

42. Eat Haggis on Burns Night, in Scotland

43. See Morris dancers at a country pub

44. See the Christmas Lights on Oxford Street

45. Be at a recording of The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent

46. See Blackpool Illuminations

47. Watch a boxset of Only Fools and Horses

48. Watch the Boat Race

49. Attend first day of Harrods sale

50. Watch the London Marathon live

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