Travelblather

"Get yourself set up on Technorati

    !" that's what everyone I know who knows anything about blogging told me. The blog aggregator is "currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media... a recognized authority on what's happening on the World Live Web, right now." according to the site. Just wish I could up load a photo to my profile! Checking the forums I see that it's not just me who has this problem... Pretty unimpressive...

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I was just re-reading the survey news release about cheap breaks on Teletext Holidays' websiteThe piece is edited by their 'travel editor' Tina Banerjee who is available to answer readers' questions about any aspect of travel. I'm inclined to ask someone else... she describes Bulgaria as the 'Baltic State'. Any natives of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will doubtless be fascinated to know they have a new neighbour! (Yes... I think she meant to say ' Balkan'.)

According to a report in the Observer Bulgaria is officially the cheapest holiday destination for Brits. It came top of a survey commissioned by Teletext Holidays.  I visited Bankso, Bulgaria's second largest ski resort a few weeks ago... and it was cheap, but these surveys are rather meaningless. The bar at the bottom of the main ski lift was charging 5 Levs a pint (about £2). Literally 5 minutes walk down the road a more local bar was charging just 1.5 Levs a beer (about 60p)... so it's not just about going to the cheapest destination... you have to keep away from the tourist zones...

I just spent a week in a relatively obscure part of Russia called Karelia. It was a great trip for all sorts of reasons. One of the most interesting bits was meeting a guy called Alexi who worked in a local museum in a place called Petrozavosk. His passion for his subject - the culture, traditions of old Karelia - was only matched by his excellent English and good communication skills. The exhibits on show were actually pretty uninspiring - a few bits and pieces in cabinets and some pictures, but he brought them to life quite brilliantly. Contrast this with another guide I'd had to show me round the city... she had her standard commentary that she wouldn't deviate from. She didn't speak any English so I had to listen to her via a translator who was also really poor. The whole thing was dull and frustrating and not much use at all... I couldn't help tuning out after the first 10 minutes or so... It got me thinking about what makes a great guide great...

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Following on from my post last week about the £14 million fine imposed by the Rail Regulator on Railtrack for engineering works overrun at Christmas. ABTN is running a story today that confirms my concerns - that £14million fine comes out of money that would otherwise have been spent on improving the network - absolute madness...

To quote Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith: “Simply fining Network Rail potentially hits passengers twice... Passengers suffered the
original disruption and then a large amount of investment cash will be
lost to the rail industry which could mean poor quality services in the
future.”