Photo by Something in between

It’s Thursday. Read up.

1. Tourism is on the rise in Jersey. Bookings on the Channel Island in May, 2007 were up 25 percent over May, 2006 bookings. Clearly Jersey Tourism’s UK television campaign is paying off.

2. SkyEurope is hawking a bunch of €39 all inclusive one-way fares. The fare sale period stretches from July 2 through October 28. Promo fares can be booked until midnight (Central European timezone) on July 8.

3. We’re very curious about BelleAir, the airline that flies to and from Tirana from 14 airports in Italy. We also wonder why their route map appears to refigure Europe politically, ignoring last year’s Serbia-Montenegro split and, more bizarrely, turning Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria into one massive new country.

4. When the weather heats up, as it is currently doing, our minds turn to those tiny garden-and-hut plots so often sighted from behind windows of trains zipping from city to city throughout German-speaking Europe. Typically located on the outskirts of cities, a Kleingarten or Schrebergarten plot provides a way for people of average means to grow vegetables and fruit, get some fresh air, and relax. What a glorious solution to the stresses of urban life. Check out this description of the Schrebergarten phenomenon.

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On Wednesday, Aeroflot abandoned their effort to purchase a significant stake in Alitalia. Also on Wednesday, Ryanair’s bid for Aer Lingus was blocked by the European Commission. Ryanair has already confirmed that they will contest the European Commission’s decision.

Is it time for Ryanair and Aeroflot to reconsider bravado as a strategy? Perhaps, but we doubt the two carriers will take this caution to heart.

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Photo by Danner Gyde

This and that.

1. Today’s Kazakhstan special report in the FT. Summary: oil, Nazarbayev, grand architecture, and, um, oil.

2. Ryanair extends its “lowest price guarantee” through September 30. The guarantee has 11 stipulations. Best of luck.

3. We like Guardian Unlimited’s Czech “beer experiences” top-ten list. At long last, lads and frat boys have been given a legitimate excuse to take a beer bath.

4. Starting August 16, Norwegian Air Shuttle will be flying between Oslo and Moscow three times a week. The cheapest roundtrip fares we’re seeing is NOK2485 (€312; $419). Norwegian’s Oslo-Moscow route ends on October 25.

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Here. There. And Elsewhere.

1. Europe A La Carte Blog warns of delays at UK airports. Partially to blame: Spain’s new security rules for air passengers, which seem to us to flirt with violating the spirit of Schengen.

2. Italian somewhat low-cost carrier Volare is hawking a €10 discount on all July flights, if booked by July 2. Worth checking out.

3. UK travel gourmand site Black Tomato tell us about Yotel.com, a new airport-based pod-like accommodation featuring tiny cabin-like rooms with en suite showers. A Yotel is about to open at Gatwick’s South Terminal, where rates will begin at £25 for a four-hour stay in a “standard” cabin. The earliest date taken by the Yotel booking engine is July 1.

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UK low-cost carrier Monarch is bursting with confidence these days, trumpeting their dominance of the Manchester-Barcelona route to anyone who will listen—a group of people, we suppose, that includes us.

After Monarch inaugurated a Manchester-Barcelona service in late 2003, BMIBaby and Iberia—two other players on the route—ceased flying the route. Now Jet2, which began flying between Barcelona and Manchester in March of this year, is also withdrawing its service.

While we’ve found Monarch’s “Bargain Hunter” search tool to be more buzzy than useful, the airline deserves props for its free newspapers and hot towel service. Neither amenity tends to show up on the LCC menu all that often.

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New, nasty, and noteworthy.

1. Polish wonder LCC WizzAir announced this week that they’ll open their 7th base in Poznan in January 2008 by launching new routes connecting the western Polish city to Doncaster, Glasgow Prestwick, Malmö, and Oslo. Hot on the heels of that press release, the Wizzers announced today that they’ll inaugurate a Dortmund-Sofia route on October 29.

2. It looks as though cellphone conversations will soon flavor the air in planes zipping across the European Union. We can’t friggin wait.

3. June 30 sees La Notte Rosa celebration sweeping through various towns along Italy’s Adriatic coast, from Lido di Volano north of Comacchio in the north to Cattolica in the south. “Pink Night” also extends inland to the Republic of San Marino. La Notte Rosa literally turns everything pink. Pink balloons, pink candy, pink cakes, pink flowers, pink flags will all crop up. These towns will be awash in pink. There will also be a massive range of cultural events, concerts, and other public events.

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We just devoured the July/August issue of Budget Travel, noting happily Caitlin O’Neil’s story on carbon offset firms. O’Neil’s story points readers toward several different carbon offsetters, going so far as to profile four “recommended” outfits: Atmosfair.de, CarbonCounter.org, ClimateFriendly.com, and NativeEnergy.com.

We liked O’Neil’s digest-like coverage of the issues surrounding carbon offsetting. She provides a very useful background for thinking through how to choose an offsetter best in line with your own values.

There’s really no longer an available excuse to avoid carbon offsetting, now, is there?

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Photo by Eriol

It’s Wednesday, a.k.a. midweek madness freak out day.

On our minds:

1. The Tirol tourist site. First of all, there’s no regional tourism logo as timeless as that white-on-red “Tirol, “the dot of the “i” safely lodged in the cross of the “t.” But beyond that, the Tirol tourism site is just so crisp and gorgeous that we’re suddenly, unexpectedly, ready to pack our bags for a summer wander through the Lienz Dolomites. (See Lienz, above. Pee-ritty, right?)

2. Doing research for our upcoming Balkan jaunt, we came across Hotel Park, a Ljubljana hotel that looks like a kick-ass place to rest our Cheapo heads. Hotel Park appears to be characterized by that simple central European modernist feel that makes us limitlessly happy. Plus we like the rates: €60 for a double in high season sounds awfully nice.

3. We’ve mentioned ace Euro budget flight finder flycheapo more than once. We realize that we’ve neglected another useful budget airline digest site: attitude Travel, which provides LCC info for Europe and beyond. Check out attitude’s European low-cost carrier map right here.

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German low-cost carrier TUIfly is offering a bunch of cheap air fares for travel within Germany and from Germany to various points across Europe.

Promo fares are good for flights in July and August. The catch? Tix must be purchased by midnight tonight. That’s midnight in Germany. In other words, time is of the essence.

There are still many open flights listed at the €19.99 one-way fares. Note that promo fares include taxes.

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Today, Ryanair fires off another salvo in its summer price war with easyJet by offering three million one-way flights for just £10 apiece, including all taxes and charges. The three million promotional fares are good for travel in July, August, and September.

Meanwhile, through Wednesday, easyJet continues to hawk £14.99 one-way flights good for travel between June 27 and August 15.

Ryanair provides a nice list of point-to-point promotional fares, along with various applicable restrictions. Because we like actually locating touted low promotional fares—versus merely knowing about their technical existence—we appreciate Ryanair’s route pricing lists. EasyJet, note the utility of said front page fare lists.

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