Cádiz vs. The Caribbean: Where to travel? Let’s see where it’s cheap!

What do you think is cheaper? An all-in trip to the Caribbean or an all-on-your own trip to Cádiz?…

We do have the answer: Travelling to The Caribbean could be cheaper than to Cádiz. Actually, a trip to Punta Cana is cheaper than to Cádiz, thanks to the latest Caribbean holiday offers. Let's see how!

Due to the amazing growth and development low-cost flight companies are achieving, travelling is no longer a luxurious privilege beyond our grasp. Whether or not going on vacation may not be your real worry now, but choosing your destination.

When choosing for the right destination, price, for some, is all that matters. There are still travellers/people who think that the further you travel, the more you pay… Is still this prejudice really true? Let’s see an example:

Imagine you are going on vacation from the 15th to 22nd August departing from Madrid. The destinations are the aforementioned: Cádiz, a trip where the flight and accommodation expenses are paid separately, and the Caribbean, where Logitravel offers hot offers on holiday packages.

Cádiz is a city which lies on the Costa de la Luz (the western part of the Andalusia coastline that faces out to the Atlantic). It is well known for its marvellous beaches and for its party atmosphere. There are direct flights so as to arrive there from Madrid. The cheapest option found for a two-adult ticket from the 15th to 22nd August costs 278,28€.

There is a four-star hotel available on the desired date: Spa Senador Cádiz. Its price for a standard double room (just accommodation) for two adults rises to 1240€.

Having said that, a two-adult trip to Cádiz from Madrid choosing the cheapest flight option, from the 15th to 22nd August and having accommodation in a four-star hotel would cost 1518,28€ (Expenses on transportation from the airport to the hotel and vice versa and food expenses for the whole stay not included).
Imagine you spend about 40€ on a taxi going and coming from Jerez’s airport to Cádiz, as well as approximately 120€ per day on food expenses for you and your companion (840€ per the whole week). All these expenses (taxi + food) will increase considerably the travel budget: 2398,28€.

Punta Cana, however, offers better prices to suit your pocket. At Caribbean holiday offers we find an excellent option for a holiday trip to Punta Cana on the desired date. The final cost will be 2000€ all-inclusive: Direct Madrid-Punta Cana flight, double room accommodation, full board, hotel and airport transfers, travel insurance, fuel fees, and taxes. It’s a bargain!

Summing up: A trip to Cádiz would cost approximately 2398,28€ (depending on your food expenses and taxi transportation), whereas an all-in trip to Punta Cana would only cost 2000€ altogether. The Caribbean beaches are expecting us!

Although there is not a huge difference between prices, there is in the destinations: a trip to the Caribbean might be unforgettable. Its pristine blue water beaches of white sand make Punta Cana one of the world’s most famous sun-and-beach destinations.

As we have already demonstrated, distance is no longer a hitch so as to enjoy a dream holiday in an exotic destination. The prices -comparing this kind of holiday with a more traditional one- are practically the same.

Then what are you waiting for? Start looking for the best travel offers to Punta Cana now!

Written: 01 ago 2008, 02:23 by Logitravel | with 0 comments

Filed under: low cost travel, cadiz, caribbean, travel

Don't lose your baggage! Survival and Prevention Guide

At this very moment, many people are making endless lists of things they want to take on holiday. Still, when traveling by plane, it might be better to keep it short since the most frequent complaints are those related to delayed or lost luggage. Indeed, these represent 20% of the total amount of complaints made by passengers.

Nowadays, the most important regulation when it comes to passengers’ rights and especially, delayed and lost luggage, is the Montreal Convention of 1999. According to it, “mishandled” baggage is deemed lost after 21 days and the largest sum of money an airline company may have to pay is 1000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) whose exchange rate fluctuates. Currently, it approximately amounts to €1,030, $1,630 or ₤820.  

During 2007 in the UK, insurance companies had to pay £35 millions for 430,000 complaints related to lost luggage.

A few pieces of advice before flying 

To minimize the impact in the case of delayed or lost luggage, you’d better follow the next few lines:

1. Try to put your most important and valuable belongings in your hand-luggage (laptop, medicines, jewels, …).
2. Avoid taking things whose value you cannot prove. Should your suitcases be lost, you will have to prove the value of the items it contained to be refunded, which is very difficult not to say almost impossible: indeed, you’ll have to provide receipts for all the items and personal effects contained on the suitcase. Since it is pretty difficult to do so, the easiest thing to do is to only take belongings and items for which you still have a receipt or a proof of payment (from the credit card for example).
3. Make a list of all the items you put in your luggage. You can even take a picture of them as well as of the suitcase to facilitate its identification.
4. Read the policy of the airline you travel with in order to know what they cover in case of loss. Note that jewels, computers and other electronic devices are generally not covered.

What to do if your luggage is lost?

If for any reason your luggage goes missing, i.e. it doesn’t arrive at the airport at the same time as you, you should:

On the other hand, you can also visit the airlines’ websites: most of them have an automated baggage tracing and management system such as WorldTracer, which enables one to follow the progress of the search for delayed or lost luggage.

Note that only 1% of the luggage remain lost after 60 days and most of it is found within the first 24-48 hours.  

The worst airports in baggage handling

When traveling by plane, be careful with your lugagge, especially in some airports: Philadelphia, in the United States, and in Heathrow, in London, are the airports which are listed as having the highest number of missing luggage.  

At the end of 2006, beginning of 2007, some problems concerning passengers’ luggage took place at Heathrow. Amongst others, the reasons for these troubles were the establishment of new security norms and regulations, the opening of a new terminal, and on top of all this, the breakdown of a conveyor belt, resulting in thousands bags and suitcases being stranded in the terminal until their owners came to pick them up.

What about the airlines?

When it comes to airlines, US Airways has the highest percentage of missing luggage in the United States with almost 10 complaints out of 1000 passengers. The US Department of Transportation  reports that more than 40% of the overall complaint figure has to do with missing baggage and inolves US Airways. The latter loses around 3,000-4,000 suitcases and bags everyday in Philadelphia.

In Europe, British Airways is the second worst company with 26.5 pieces of luggage going missing for every 1000 passengers in 2007. Still the “winner” in the list is TAP Air Portugal with 27.8 missing suitcases for every 1000 passengers. The average figure reported by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) is of 16.6 which represent a 0.9% general rise in lost luggage as compared to 2006.

On the other hand, the best airlines, when it comes to baggage management are Turkish Airlines and Air Malta.

In the following table, you can find the rank of every company pertaining to the Association of European Airlines in 2007. Note that no information can be found about Ryanair in this table but on their website, the company allege that the number of lost suitcases is lower than 1 for every 1000 passengers. The AEA asserts that there is no reason to doubt the liability of the information.

On the other hand, if you lose your suitcase and don’t claim it, the airlines are obliged to keep it for 3 months. After 90 days, they have the right to sell it. There are shops such as UnclaimedBaggageCenter, in the United States, or auctioneers who buy the suitcases nobody has claimed in Heathrow or Gatwick to sell them every week in Toothing, South London.

After reading this, we hope you’ll keep in mind our comments and pieces of advice and we wish you a pleasant flight.

Written: 28 jul 2008, 10:04 by Logitravel | with 0 comments

Filed under: flight, airports, holidays, lugagge, airline, vacations

Complete Guide to Speed Limits and Speeding Fines for Europe

Renting a car when you’re on a holiday can be a blessing or it can be a complete pain. As if it wasn’t hard enough trying to remember that you’re driving on the wrong side of the road, there are plenty of other traffic regulations, rules, and penalties that you have to familiarize yourself with so you don’t end up paying through the nose or worse, in jail.

For example, you can be fined from 50 euros in Belgium for speeding up to 10 km/h to 1500 euros in France for speeding by more than 50 km/h. Note that in this case the fine can bring about a suspension of the driving licence, a suspension which could last up to three years, as well as a three-month imprisonment penalty. Here are some handy guidelines for you to make your life easier:

Speed Limits

Speed limits vary according to road size:

• In cities or built-up areas the speed limit is usually of 50 km/h
• In other roads outside built-up areas the speed limit can vary from 64 km/h to 110 km/h according to the country.
• In motorways the speed limit starts from 90 km/h and in Germany, for example, there is no speed limit, but it is advised to don’t go beyond 130 km/h.

To have a comprehensive guide to the speed limits for each type of road in different European countries, you can see the complete speed limit in Europe table at the end of this article.

Fines and Penalties!

So, what happens if you go beyond the speed limits? In this case, you’ll have to pay a fine which can also be associated to a penalty. These depend on the country where the offence has been committed as well as on the speeding regulations established for each zone. The fines and penalties differ a lot according to each country and there are countries with low, medium or high strictness, as you can see as follows:

• Low-strictness countries: “don’t speed too much”

 In these countries, penalties are not too severe, whether they consist of fines, point sanctions… In Poland, for example, the highest fine you can get is of about 147 euros, in Ireland, speeding costs you 80 euros and two points from your driving licence while in Greece, you can pay up to 350 euros.

• Medium-strictness countries: “think twice before accelerating”

In most of the European countries, the sanction level is ‘medium’. In Belgium, for example, speeding fines amount to 50 euros to which you can add 10 or 5 euros – depending on the zone – for each extra km/h beyond the limit, while in Italy, you can be fined up to 1,433 euros for going over the limit by more than 40 km/h. In Germany, on the other hand, even though there is no speed limit on motorways, you can be disqualified to drive for up to 3 months for speeding over 70 km/h on other roads.

• High-strictness countries: “why don’t you go by bus?”

Be careful in these countries: fines are extremely severe like in France where, if you go over the limit by more than 50 km/h, the fine will amount to 1500 euros while 6 points will be withdrawn from your licence, you will be disqualified for up to 3 years… and might even be put to jail for up to three months!

Still, the most severe country when it comes to traffic offences and particularly, to speeding, is Finland where there is no upper limit to the amount of the fines. As a matter of fact, they not only depend on the severity of the offence but also on the driver’s net income! Remember the Nokia Multimedia Director, Anssi Vanjokki who, in 2002, had to pay the highest fine in history: 116,000 euros for going over the speed limit by 25 km/h on his Harley Davidson!

How to compare the penalties with those from Spain?

In Spain, like in Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom, there also exists a point-withdrawal system with the possibility of having your licence removed. However, in Spain the fines and sanctions for speeding are not as severe as, say, in France where you can even go to jail, or in Finland, where there is no upper limit to the amount of the fine.

However, to some people this leniency is not appreciated as you will see in this video where, illegally, vandals choose to remove the speed cameras and thus ensure that  they are not caught on the speed camera!

At the end of this article, you can find a grid with the fines and penalties for speeding in the various European countries. We have also added a table with the sanctions in Spain to enable you to compare them and to always bear them in mind during your Spanish "circuitos" (tours in Spanish)!

• Speed limit in Europe

• Penalties for each speed limit in Europe

• Penalties for each speed limit in Spain

* Disclaimer: The data about speeding regulations and penalizations that appear in this post are designed to be informative and are subject to change by any of the official departments. In any case they should not be taken as an official data. For more information, you should visit each relevant country's official website.

Written: 04 jun 2008, 10:08 by Logitravel | with 0 comments |

Filed under: speeding, speed limits, speeding fines, europe