Of course it does vary from company to company and while some are charging little more than a tenner a week others have cranked their car seat hire charge up to nearly £70, almost as much as it costs to hire a car in the first place!
The piece also claims that, not surprisingly, prices vary largely from location to location, with the research pointing to some prices at Majorca’s Palma airport being the highest, while it found the cheapest prices at Nice’s Cote d’Azur airport in France.

Obviously, as with any purchasing decision, the wisest course is to remember the caveat emptor principle, and always do your research thoroughly so you can ensure that you get the car hire deal which best suites your means, and your needs! Apart from anything else it looks as if taking the time to look before you book could save you up to £60 a week, which while not an earth shattering amount is still extra holiday spending money you could have in your pocket!

Spanish Festivals

It would be easy to point at some of the annual Spanish traditions and poke fun at their eccentricity, and I must admit I was tempted, but then I remembered that I come from the country which has brought the world Cheese Rolling and Morris Dancing; I think most countrys have their little quirks and oddities and, although from a 21_st century perspective it can be easy to be derisive of these quaint old traditions, it’s important to remember that, almost universally these strange old customs sprang up for reason, which presumably seemed good at the time, and that their preservation gives us a glimpse into a past.

Moros y Cristianos
These go back to the battles between the Christians and the Moors during the days of the reconquista, and are actually observed, in some form or another, in lots of Spanish towns. The most famous of these takes place in Alcoy, Alicante, and, from what I’ve heard, is well worth checking out. The event commemorates the Battle of Alcoy (1275) in which the Moors, led by Al Azraq, were defeated, and forced to lift their siege of Alcoy, when, according to the legends, St George miraculously appeared to aid the Christian defenders. From the research I’ve done it sounds like the best way to take in this one is to sort out a hotel and car hire in Alicante, and then travel to Alcoy rather than base oneself in the town itself.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’m likely to catch it this year, what with it taking place between the 21_st & 24_th of April. Still, it’s one to put on my “one day” list.

Las Hogueras de San Juan
Although this festival’s name translates as “the Bonfires of St John”, it actually pre-dates christianty, being a celebration of the Summer Solstice. Although the festival is celebrated throughout Spain it is especially well observed in coastal regions where it is traditional to head to a beach, light a bonfire, & party through the night. Alicante is particularly well known for its lavish celebrations on St John’s day (June 24_th), which include spectacular fireworks displays followed by the burning of large, wood and paper mache, figures in the city’s main squares and plazas. Although the 24_th is the focal point of the festivities Alicante’s celebrations actually run from 20_th to the 29_th of June with drinking, dancing and fireworks forming the core of each night’s revelries. This one sounds like a huge amount of fun, and is definitely something I want to experience, if not this year then certainly before I get too much older!

La Tomatina Tomato Festival
This event which takes place in the village of Bunol, near Valancia, in the last week of August each year, is basically a massive free-for-all food fight (tomatos obviously). The tomato fight happens on the Wednesday lunch time in the town centre and surrounding streets, such are the number of revelers, but the celebrations themselves actually start several days earlier. Unlike a lot of quirky traditions this one isn’t that old, and has only been around since the 1940s, when some youngsters started throwing tomatoes during an entirely unconnected parade. The following year they repeated the tomato fight, despite the local council’s best efforts to prevent it, and over the years it became an accepted event in its own right. These days the population of Bunol swells from ~9,000 to ~30,000 each year during the festival, making it a strong contender for the title of World’s biggest food fight.

Baby Jumping Festival
Yes, really, a baby Jumping festival! this is actually the town of Castillo de Murcia’s own variation on the catholic festival of Corpus Christi. The event involves men dressed as the Devil leaping over babies which have been placed upon the ground, a process which supposedly protects the newborns from the evil. Maybe I’m not being fair, or am missing something, but this one doesn’t really appeal to me that much, and I honestly can’t see myself bothering with it, it just sounds like an extremely unpleasant accident waiting to happen, but then maybe that’s because I’m old and boring.

I have to say that the first two are the ones which most appeal to me, and as I’ve missed Moros y Cristianos (this year) it’s looking like if I do visit Spain this year it’s going to be around mid-summer to catch the Las Hogueras de San Juan, that really does sound like my kind of party, and from the sounds of it Alicante is the place to be for that one. I haven’t made any solid plans yet (I guess I should get around to doing that at some point soon or it will be a mid-winter break, rather than a summer holiday, by the time I get my act together.)

If you’ve been following the UK news you’ll know that the FCO have closed their embassy in Bangkok today. Although the majority of the mainstream news is superficially doing its best to make the move sound like an extreme reaction to an extreme situation, the current reality is (as the Independent points out) that the embassy is being closed as a temporary measure because of it’s proximity to the ongoing protests in central Bangkok; from some of the news headlines floating around you’d think that the embassy’s closure was almost a breaking off of diplomatic relations between the UK and Thailand, but then I suppose good news never sells as well.

Still, despite the media games the situation over in Thailand is pretty severe at the moment, with tensions between the Govt supporters and the Red Shirts at an all time high. The troubles go back to 2006 when Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted by a military coup only weeks before an election was due. Although an election was later held, in 2007, the country’s constitution had been rewritten by the Junta in the mean time, and charges that the Thailand’s current political system pays only lip service to democracy are at the root of the troubles we’re currently seeing.

As someone from a country with a well established (if quirky in its own right) democracy where a military coup is pretty much unthinkable, it can be all too easy to pre-judge what is a complicated, and very different, culture. Thailand’s govt was an absolute monarchy up until 1932, and, although the exact form of govt has changed several times since, it has retained a constitutional monarchy throughout. Indeed, the Thai monarchs seem to have remained a far more important and respected part of Thai life than our own constitutional monarch.

My point is that, although superficially there may be similarities between the UK and Thailand’s systems of  Govt, we’re talking about a very different culture with very different traditions, and one which is relatively new to the ideal of democracy; as such it could be all too easy to see those who enacted the military coup as the bad guys of the piece, and while I’m not condoning coup d’etat as a method of forming a govt, it must also be noted that some serious charges of corruption and abuse of power were made against Thaksin Shinawatra, and used as the excuse to remove him from power.

So, were the coup-masters patriots serving the best interests of their country, or power hungry generals overthrowing a benevolent, democratically elected PM? Unfortunately the answer seems to depend on who you ask; even four years on Thaksin Shinawatra remains an incredibly divisive figure in Thai politics with large portions of the country’s populace polarised, either supporting their former PM, or the men who overthrew him.

The question is that with the Thai people, and popular opinion, so divided how will it be possible to find a lasting, peaceful solution to the troubles which currently plague not only Bangkok, but many of Thailand’s other provinces? It’s hard to see an answer, even yesterday both journalists and Major General Khattiya Sawasdiphol, a prominent figure amongst the Red Shirts, were shot, alledgedly by Govt forces; developments which are almost certain to fan the flames!

In the end it’s likely to be the ordinary Thai people who suffer most from these troubles, regardless of the side they’ve taken; if nothing else the tourism industry is worth a substantial amount to the Thai economy and it’s hard to see this unrest not dissuading people from visiting the country. Even our own FCO is now advising against all but necessary travel to the country, and although Bangkok doesn’t sound like the ideal holiday destination at this very moment, it appears that the troubles are mainly effecting the central and northern regions of Thailand rather than the southern peninsula which has been unaffected so far, and is a destination of choice for many tourists seeking a relaxing beach holiday.

So, while flights to Thailand continue, one has to wonder how empty they are at the moment; most people will (wisely) take notice of official govt advice, but in these days of over-accountability and media witch-hunts you can see why the FCO would feel obliged to issue a warning for the whole country, rather than risk the bad press which would come if they said the country’s south was pretty safe, only for a UK tourist to later come to some harm.

So, first up, I’m going to aim my sights pretty low price-wise, and think about grabbing a week or two out in Spain.

It has a number of advantages as a holiday destination for Brits. It’s in Europe, which cuts out any kind of worries about visas or the like. Also, EU countries are part of the “European Health Insurance Card” Scheme; essentially, once you’ve applied for (& received) your free card, you’re entitled to free emergency care throughout the EU, and some other European countries. It’s not a complete replacement for travel insurance, something which might still be worth looking into at a later date, but if you’re travelling on a shoe string, are disorganised, or don’t mind taking a chance, it’s a pretty good safety net to have in place.

Quaint though traditional Spanish transport is, car hire might be a better way to go...

Another advantage is that, being more or less due south from the UK, it is pretty much the closest country with decent weather. There are also a load of the low cost carriers who fly out to Spain, which should make deals pretty easy to find; being over 6 foot I’m not too keen on the lack of leg space which inevitably comes with a budget flight, but at least it’s not a long flight.
The prevalence of English in the country is also an attraction for me, it’s not that I mind trying to learn other languages, it’s just that I’m woefully bad at it; I’m all for making the effort, but my spoken Spanish breaks down after the most basic greetings and food/beer orders, so it’s nice to have a back up plan.
Having said that I’m not one for expecting countries I visit to totally pander to Brits, and I actually like getting off the beaten tourist track. I’m all for the odd lazy day in the sunshine, but it seems like a waste to spend too much of a foreign holiday basking on the beach; after all there’s all the other sites to see as well, and being a big fan of history it would seem almost criminal to me to go to all the effort of travelling to a foreign country and then not spend a little time taking in some of the culture.

As far as where to go in Spain is concerned I’m really not sure at this stage. Between the Costa Verde and the Pyrenees the north of the country has some beautiful scenery, and is definitely less touristy than a lot of the south, but weather on the Atlantic coastline is always a little more unpredictable than the Mediterranean coast. It is tempting, but good weather is a big draw for me, so I may well go for the south of the country instead.
I’m certain there must be un-touristy places in the south, and I know for a fact that there’s a lot of very interesting history going back to the time of the Moorish kingdom of Al Andalus, & the Reconquista.
If I’m heading to the south then Malaga airport is looking like a pretty good bet, and if that’s the case then getting car hire from Malaga Airport seems to make sense.

As I said at the top, these are all pretty rough ideas at the moment; I’ll have to do some more looking around at some point to narrow down potential locations a little more…

For all the cross channel rivalry that’s existed between Britain and France, for pretty much a millenium now, I do have to say that, as a nation, the French have a great attitude to protesting and protecting their rights, an attitude which sadly the Normans seemed to leave on the continent, or which, at least, has been well and truly beaten out of the British at some point over the last thousand years.
Still, for all I admire the Gallic attitude to asinine laws and regulations, any Brits planning a holiday in France this year would probably be safer to take a conventional approach to arranging their accommodation, and, for that matter, travel arrangements, I’m not sure that even the French would take kindly to one borrowing an unused car or van. No, even in France car hire is probably still the safest bet for getting around, unless you’re planning on your stay being extended, and “at the pleasure” of the French authorities.

With that in mind, the news from the AAA (Automobile Association of America) that, after a sharp dip last year, US holiday travel is set to see a boost this year should be seen as an encouraging sign that the world economy is coming out of recession; Projections are that both airlines and US car hire companies, along with retailers, will all be having a happier holiday season than they did last year.
One odd little bit of news, at least to me as I’m sat here in a cold UK office, are the forecasts that Florida, the “Sunshine State”, is looking like it will buck this trend, with predictions being that it’s set for another poorer than average year.
With it’s year round good weather I’d have thought that flights to Florida would be heaving, and that Orlando car hire brokers would be rubbing their hands in glee as holiday makers flocked in, but apparently not. *shrug*
I don’t know, maybe the whole holiday travel thing is a phenomenon which, as a Brit, I’m just not getting; Sure some years I’ll travel to see family, but surely if you were travelling for the sake of a winter get-away you’d choose somewhere warm, like, for example, Florida. *shrug*
Anyway, if you are travelling this Christmas I hope you have a safe trip & a relaxing break!

The impressive four tiered tower at the Al Jahili Fort in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Today the Fort also hosts a museum which provides information about the locality’s history, as well as an exhibition about Wilfred Thesiger; A British explorer and writer who spent a great deal of time in the Arabian penisula, and North Africa, and who crossed the “Empty Quarter”, a desert region so hostile and desolate that even the local bedouins avoid it, not once, as Lawrence of Arabia famously did when he led a surprise attack on the Red Sea port of Al Aqaba during the second world war, but twice. The exhibition includes an extensive collection of Thesiger’s photographs which provide a glimpse of what the region looked like during the mid 20th century, before the oil days.

Dubai is soulless and lacks charm and culture, but I also agree that there is something snobby about Western writers bashing it for those reasons.  Germain Greer writing in the Guardian earlier this year triggered heated debate from the readers after she rubbished the city following a four hour visit.

Dubai is tacky for sure, the construction insane and it’s future, when all high-earning western expats have returned home, is shaky at best. But, like all teenagers (Dubai is still in that difficult period) one day it will wake and with an appropriate sense of embarrassment clean up it’s act and get on with it.

So, sneer at the tallest building, yes, but what has the UK got to offer back? What have you got that stacks up against the beauty of Dubai Mall or the world class vision of the Burj al Arab? Exactly. Squat Diddly. You look at the iconic vision and world class ambition of the leaders there – who give a hell of a lot to charity – and you see these are great men who could teach Gordon Brown and his mob a thing or two about running a country.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are fast becoming international hubs for airline travel – their airports offering service and standards second to none. As a result flights to Dubai are frequent and affordable so if the opportunity arises it is a city that should be visited and your own opinions formed.

What are your thoughts on Dubai – please leave your comments

The UAE is a small country which, prior to 1971, was known as the Trucial States, a reference to treaties which existed between the British and the region’s rulers. The UAE is comprised of seven emirates which still operate as absolute monarchies, although it also has a central federal government.

The Coffee Pot Fountain: one of Abu Dhabi's many sights.

Travellers to the country are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with local laws and customs, a sensible preparation when visiting any foreign culture. For example, during one of Islam’s major festivals, Ramadan, it is not permitted to eat, drink, or smoke during daylight hours, & although foreign visitors tend to be given some leeway, in terms of observing this, eating, drinking or smoking in public during the day will land you in serious hot water! The FCO site is a pretty good place to start looking if you want to find out more of the “dos” and “don’ts”.
Another major consideration, when planning a trip to the UAE, is the time of year. Although air conditioning is almost ubiquitous, both in buildings and vehicles, the summer months are still likely to feel uncomfortably hot to those from cooler climes.

If you’re looking for a holiday which will allow you to experience a completely different culture, as well as spectacles, both ancient and modern, you could do a lot worse than look at the UAE as a potential holiday destination.

The Hill of Tara

The Hill of Tara: Ancient seat of Ireland's High Kings

Newgrange

Newgrange: Neolithic burial mound

Trim Castle

Trim Castle: The largest Norman castle in Europe

Whatever you decide though, have a great holiday!