New Titanic hall is sure to excite

New Titanic Exhibition Hall in Belfast is a grand structure.

Nothing excites me more than events and stories surrounding the Titanic. So these days I'm very excited about the opening of a new attraction in Belfast which will bring the mighty ship back to life - in our minds, at least.

In just a few days, a new visitor's attraction called "Titanic Belfast in Northern Ireland" will open in that charming city where the "unsinkable" ship was built and from where she set sail on her ill-fated maiden voyage on which she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and dropped to the bottom of the ocean, where her skeleton remains still lie.

Our friends over at Tourism Ireland sent word yesterday that the finishing touches are being put on a new six-storey Titanic exhibition hall which officially opens March 31 and will feature lots of Titanic memorabilia. The unique structure of the Titanic hall - 3,000 shards make up the building’s impressive exterior while its plaza includes the world’s largest outdoor map of the northern hemisphere, tracing Titanic’s route across the Atlantic - and the fact the story of the Titanic still evokes interest these many years after she sunk, will make this Belfast attraction a must see this summer.


In Belfast you can visit the dockyard where Titanic was built.

 The Titanic hall features nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city and people that made her. Visitors will learn about the construction of RMS Titanic and the wider story of Northern Ireland’s industrial and maritime heritage.

Over 50,000 advance tickets have been sold to the new hall, which just proves that lots of people like me remain fascinated about the great ship. People from as far away as Canada and New Zealand have booked passage to this new museum. While in Belfast, you can also visit the old Thompson dry dock where the Titanic was built and the city has plenty of other reminders of the great ship's brief but romantic history.

A 15-tonne ‘Titanic’ sign – the same weight as Titanic’s main anchor – dominates the building as visitors approach. Laser-cut and made from eight, 30mm-thick solid steel plates, the 4.5m-tall, 15m-long sign is the same length as the private promenades that were available on RMS Titanic’s most expensive accommodation, the First Class Parlour Suites.

In conjunction with the opening of the new Titanic Belfast visitor attraction, the Titanic Belfast Festival will take place from March 31 until May 2012 and will include plays, tours, exhibitions and talks all themed around the Titanic. Commemorations for the lives lost on the anniversary of the ship’s sinking will take place from April 14 to 15.

So make time this year to get to Belfast and see this permanent Titanic exhibition.

For more information, go to http://www.discoverireland.com/

Wi-Fi is a bad link for hotel guests

One thing that really irks me when I check out of a hotel - especially 5-star properties - is to be handed a bill with Wi-Fi charges added on.

In some cases, the charges can be as much as $20 a day - hell, I only pay $40 a month for my home Wi-Fi so $20 a day is a bit much.

According to a piece I read this morning in the London Telegraph, two thirds of hotels worldwide charge guests for Wi-Fi access and the paper says London's stuffy The Dorchester charges its guests about $30 a day to go online.

Ironically, most Interstate hotels I stay at in Canada and the U.S. offer FREE Wi-Fi and roadside fast food joints long ago went FREE Wi-Fi.

Not much you can do but vent but one wonders why when you're paying $500 a night for a 5-star hotel room, the chain can't throw in FREE Wi-Fi.

London hotels gouging Games' goers

Let the gouging begin!

London newspapers are reporting that hotels in the 2012 Summer Olympic city are charging as much as 300 per cent more for rooms - that, despite the fact the London Organizing Committee returned more the 120,000 reservations to the hoteliers. (The organizing committee blocks off rooms for sponsors, media and International Olympic Committee members - but obviously fewer people are planning to attend the Games, which start July 27 and runs until August 12).

London's Telegraph newspaper cited examples of the gouging:

"Accommodation at the Premier Inn Victoria during the Games costs from £199 ($315 Cdn.), a rate that is non-refundable and must be paid in advance. For the rest of August, rooms start at £87 ($138 Cdn.). At the Premier Inn Old Street, August rates range from £75 to £132, but during the Games the cheapest rooms are also £199," the newspaper reported today.

Other examples of gouging reported by the Telegraph:
-  "At the Novotel London Paddington, room rates during the Olympics are more than double (from £299 per night) what they are during the rest of the summer (from £149). And at the Z Hotel in Soho, a two-night stay during the Olympics costs from £186 a night, compared to just £102 a night in the week after the closing ceremony. "

British politicians are reportedly "outraged" by the hotel "scandal" but what a bunch of hypocrites.

Laws to protect the public from such gouging could have been passed when London was awarded the Games but instead the members of Parliament sat on their hands until it was too late.

So, once again, the biggest losers at the 2012 London Summer Olympics won't be any athlete, but rather the public - those, at least, who are dumb enough to go to London during the Games' period.

Brits ban credit card fees on travellers



  Just back from a few days R&R over Christmas and was surprised that one country - Great Britain - has given its travelling public an unexpected gift by passing a bill into law that bans fees on credit and debit card charges "made up" by tour operators and airlines.

Consumer groups were quick to claim a "victory for travellers" but the bill was squarely aimed at one particular airline - Ryanair, which has raised its credit and debit card fees 15 fold over the past seven years, according to British newspaper reports.

Example: If a bank charges a $1 credit or debit card usage fee, Ryanair charges $20!

So much for being a "low cost" airline. Of course, we all know Ryanair is just a low class airline which eliminates bathrooms to squeeze in extra passengers.

More than 50,000 supported a London Telegraph newspaper campaign which was launched in support of the bill.

British travellers are some of the most taxed in the world - the Air Passenger Duty which every British citizen must pay when departing from  the U.K., has risen 333 per cent in the past seven years.

No wonder so few Brits are travelling these days and big tour operators like Thomas Cook are facing bankruptcy.

When Air Canada and WestJet eliminated cash payments on their flights, I warned people that they could be gouged with credit card fees. So, can we expect the Canadian government to follow the British lead. Not bloody likely! This, after all, is Canada - pity!

Europeans taxing foreign tourists

Seeing Berlin's iconic landmarks will soon cost you more.

Cash-strapped European governments - at all levels - are hoping new "tourist taxes" will help them get out of their hopeless debt situations.

As if Europe wasn't already too expensive!

Berlin is the latest city in Europe to be "considering" a tourist tax which would add about $10 CDN to a tourist's hotel bill.

Last month, Venice added a $10 per night tax to a tourist's room charge and that followed similar moves by cities in Ireland, Greece, Great Britain - actually, almost every city in Europe now has new tourist taxes!

Which is why I think it's ironic that the European Commission - the world' s most useless and expensive government body - is bitching because the United States has introduced a new surcharge for travellers arriving from Europe.

The U.S. now collects $14 from Europeans as well as Australians, New Zealanders, Koreans and Japanese upon arrival - Canadians, so far, have been spared the expense.

Ryanair gouging the public again

Ryanair, maybe the worst airline in the world when it comes to gouging passengers, will start charging customers $160 per check in bag starting next summer, according to British media reports.

That would be the highest baggage fees in the world and you know if people pay it, other airlines will soon up their fees.

So, let me get this right - Ryanair charges $10 for a flight from London to Paris but with bag fees and taxes the fare quickly jumps to well over $300 - about what British Airways charges its customers.

During the low season, from October to May, Ryanair says the cost of the first bag will go up from $50 to about $95 and in the summer it will rise to $160. A second checked bag will cost you as much as $215.

The airline, which also plans to remove bathrooms and give passengers a plastic bag just in case, says they are introducing the new fares to discourage people from bringing too much luggage.

If this latest stunt by the world's worst airline doesn't discourage people from flying it, well then, the Irish and Brits who keep it in the air deserve what they get.