Jetsettersblog

Europcar - Prius - final.docWorkers and residents in and around London can now escape the city whilst saving fuel, congestion charge costs and their conscience with the availability of the Toyota Prius from Europcar. The UK’s leading vehicle rental organisation is now offering the Prius, the world’s first and most successful hybrid power vehicle, from all of its London locations.

Driving pleasure, comfort and space haven’t been sacrificed to provide an eco-car. Instead the Prius combines style and superb handling with state of the art technology needed in these environmentally conscious times.

The fleet of vehicles are exempt from the London Congestion Charge and can be driven certain distances using electric power only at the press of a button. This means zero emissions, less noise and better fuel economy – perfect for city and country driving alike.

“The availability of the Prius provides customers with an opportunity to put the hybrid to the test following news that Toyota aims to sell at least 1 million hybrid vehicles annually in the early part of the next decade.” said Catriona Lougher, Marketing Director for Europcar.

“Renting a car with Europcar is already a green choice as all our vehicles are on average just 3 months old and fitted with the latest technology to cut emissions. The average CO2 emission of our fleet is 157 g/km compared to the UK car parc of 164.9 g/km*. However, by making the Prius available we are bringing our customers a new way to drive greener that will also help them cut costs in terms of fuel and congestion charges. It’s all part of our commitment to exploit new manufacturer developments to bring customers the latest models to hit the road and a great rental experience.”

*Source SMMT 2007 report.

Reservations Phone: 1-800-626-0126Website: www.amawaterways.com

The Yachts of Seabourn has partnered with Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Beginning in summer 2009, the elegant, all-inclusive train will offer transfers from London to Venice and Venice to London for the Dalmatian Gems itinerary aboard Seabourn Spirit.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express rail journey from London to Venice runs by the Swiss and Austrian Alps and the Italian Dolomites. Upon boarding a British Pullman at Victoria Station, passengers will sit in reserved seats for a three-course lunch, complete with wine and champagne, as the train travels through the Kentish countryside before entering the Chunnel on its way to France.

A personal steward will attend to needs throughout the journey, which includes private compartment accommodations upon arrival in France, when guests switch trains and board the blue-and-gold carriages of Continental Wagon-Lits of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

Pre-dinner cocktails are served before multi-course meals prepared by French chefs in the train’s restaurant cars. Afternoon tea arrives in time for passage through the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy.

And when the train crosses the Venetian Lagoon and pulls into Santa Lucia station, a Seabourn representative will be waiting to provide passage to the Hotel Cipriani for one night before departure on Seabourn Spirit. The post-cruise rail itinerary is in reverse, with overnight accommodations at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London. The seven-night Dalmatian Gems itinerary includes Opatija, Split and Triluke Bay, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; Koper, Slovenia; Trieste, Italy; and Venice.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express transfer will be available prior to the seven-day cruises departing on July 4, Aug. 15 and Sept. 26, as well as post-cruise following the Sept. 5 itinerary. Cost of the rail portion, one-way is $4,399 per person, double; $5,999 per person, single. Fares for the Dalmatian Gems cruise start at $4,598 per person, based on double occupancy.

v

Pierre Graff, chairman and CEO of Aéroports de Paris, and Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, inaugurated the new terminal 2G at Paris-Charles de Gaulle on Sept. 9, in the presence of Christine Lagarde, Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment of France. The decision to build Terminal 2G corresponded to two fundamental desires — AirFrance and its regional subsidiaries, Brit Air, City Jet and Régional, wanted to consolidate their traffic in a single location, and Aéroports de Paris wanted to increase its handling capacity to support the growth in traffic within the Schengen area.

The new terminal has more gate parking stands, improved connections for passengers and a new lane for aircraft to minimized taxiing time and save on fuel. It also has gate-parked aircraft, easier international connections, rapid baggage check-in system and simplified access, all designed to reduce operating costs. The new terminal is designed to handle the needs of disabled and reduced-mobility passengers, and has new services for business travelers.

Once terminal 2G enters into service, flights will be operated to the following 20 destinations: France: Clermont-Ferrand (Brit Air & Régional), Limoges (Airlinair for Brit Air), Mulhouse-Basle (Régional), Pau (Régional), Rennes (Airlinair for Brit Air), Strasbourg (Brit Air);? Germany: Bremen (Régional), Hanover (Régional), Leipzig (Régional), Munster (Régional), Nuremberg (Régional); Spain: Bilbao (Brit Air), Vigo (Régional); Italy: Florence (City Jet), Genova (Brit Air), Pisa (Brit Air), Trieste (Brit Air), Verona (Régional); Slovenia: Ljubljana (Régional); and Sweden:

 Gothenburg (City Jet, Régional). There is a 750-space parking lot adjacent to the terminal, 18 self-service check-in kiosks, 10 self-service transfer kiosks, 12 baggage drop-off points including one specially designed for reduced-mobility passengers, 8 customer information points including one specially designed for reduced-mobility passengers, 20 boarding gates and 12 disembarkation gates. The new terminal can handle about 70 flights per day.

For more information, visit www.aeroportsdeparis.fr

The Eurail Group is bringing out several special edition extended rail passes, offering free travel days good for travel throughout Europe in the spring. With fewer crowds, lower airfares and more availability in hotels, spring is a good time to travel to Europe.

Tourist attractions, such as museums and monuments, are less crowded and the weather is also pleasant. Eurail is launching a special off-peak promotion, offering free travel days on two of its products: the Eurail Select Pass and the Eurail Global Pass.

The Eurail Select Pass allows customers to choose three or more adjoining countries in which to travel, enabling a tailor-made rail pass. For those wishing to cover more ground, a Eurail Global Pass gives travelers access to 21 participating countries from January.

Customers buying a 15- or 21-day Eurail Global Pass will instead receive 21 days or one month, respectively. The Eurail Select Pass 3 Countries, valid for six or eight days within two months, now comes with an additional two travel days.

These passes go on sale worldwide (outside of Europe) from Oct. 1.

To be eligible for the additional travel days, passes must be purchased before the end of November. Travel can start as from March 1 and must be completed by May 31.

All Eurail Passes are available from Eurail’s network of authorized Sales Agents worldwide: ACP Rail International (www.eurail-acprail.com);

Eurail (www.Eurail.com); Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.com);

www.OctopusTravel.com;

Rail Europe (North America: www.raileurope.com,

rest of the world: www.raileurope.fr),

and STA Travel (www.statravel.com)

Auto Europe has extended its free GPS rental offer in Europe with car rental services.

Travelers will receive a free Gamin Nova 270 or similar for the duration of their rental with routing maps of Western Europe and most of Eastern Europe with car rental services in Italy, France, Austria, Ireland, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Norway. In addition, Auto Europe is also offering this promotion with any Peugeot Open Europe lease of 17 days or longer and with any long term rental of 21 days or longer. The free GPS offer is valid with minimum seven-day car rental reservations booked now through Sept. 30. The offer applies in Italy, France, Austria, Spain and Norway with any intermediate car rental or larger for travel through Nov. 30.

The GPS offer is valid in Ireland and Switzerland for travel through Oct. 30. Germany is valid with any compact car rental or larger for travel now through Oct. 31. UK is valid with any intermediate car rental or larger for travel through Oct. 31.

Free GPS offer is valid on select Peugeot models with Auto Europe’s Peugeot Open Europe program for travel through Nov. 30, and with any car category booked for 21 days or longer for travel through Oct. 31. Free GPS rental validity dates exclude shipping and handling charge of $40. Optional insurance is available at $1 per day.

Offer is subject to change without notice. Additional restrictions apply.

FIT wholesaler Travel Bound just announced 18 new packages for independent travel clients in cities throughout Central and Northern Europe.

In addition to the more famous Christmas market towns, such as Munich and Salzburg, Travel Bound’s packages are offered in Basel, Berlin, Bratislava, Geneva, Hamburg, Krakow, Prague, Stockholm, Tallinn and Vienna.

Most packages include three nights at a three-, four- or five-star hotel plus daily breakfast, hotel tax and service charges and roundtrip private transfers from airport or rail station. Two packages — Geneva and Salzburg — include a Christmas-themed sightseeing tour. All packages may be booked directly from the promotions section of the home page of www.booktravelbound.com.

Agents can customize these packages by selecting hotel star rating and by adding one or more sightseeing tours from Travel Bounds wide selection. Commission starts at 15 percent.

Sample Christmas market packages and prices: Berlin, more than 50 different Christmas markets, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $222; Bratislava, historic Old Town on the Danube and close to Vienna, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $184; Geneva, on the shores of scenic Lake Geneva, three-nights plus Christmas-themed tour, from $349; Krakow, historic architecture and beautiful town square, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $193; Tallinn, historic Old Town on the Baltic, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $133; and Vienna, Christmas makes the imperial city romantic, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $254.

Selling exclusively through travel agents, Travel Bound is a leading wholesale provider of travel products for independent travelers and groups of more than 10, offering more than 90,000 hotel rooms every night in 129 countries worldwide plus a wide range of sightseeing tours, excursions, transfers and other travel services.

A brand of GTA (Gullivers Travel Associates), Travel Bound maintains a global network of 31 offices to ensure local coordination and assistance.

The company is an active member of ASTA TOP and USTOA Travelers Assistance Program. Call a travel agent today.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will introduce a smoke-free indoor environment on all five of its vessels beginning early in 2009. Smoking will be banned in all indoor areas, and permitted only on cabin balconies and specially designated areas of deck space.

This new ruling will come into effect initially on three vessels. Boudicca, Black Prince and Braemar will become smoke-free from their first sailings in 2009 (Jan. 1, Jan. 5 and Jan. 8, respectively). Black Watch and Balmoral will follow suit after completion of their 2009 World Cruises (April 13 and May 29, respectively).

At present, indoor smoking on Olsen vessels is restricted to designated areas of certain lounges on each of the five ships.

“A recent very extensive survey among our current and past passengers has proved to us without a doubt that this course of action is what most people want and, frankly, expect.

Even those passengers who are committed smokers understand the situation and accept that smoking onboard will be restricted to balconies and specified deck areas,” said Mike Rodwell, managing director of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

“While we may have a few negative comments initially, I am confident that many new customers who are non-smokers will be encouraged to cruise with us in the future.” Braemar will be based in Miami for the winter 2008-09 season and Boudicca will be based in Barbados.

For more information, call Olsen’s GSA, Borton Overseas, at 800-843-0602, ext. 6, or visit www.fredolsencruises.com

Lufthansa passengers can now use mobile boarding passes on all flights from Germany to any destination in Europe.

Following the successful pilot scheme conducted in the spring and the across-the-board introduction of mobile boarding passes on all domestic German routes in the summer, this innovative service has gained widespread acceptance among travelers. As the last count, more than 7,000 passengers a week were using electronic boarding passes.

The service has now been extended to about 1,000 European flights a day from Germany. The mobile boarding pass is sent to passengers via email or SMS to an Internet-enabled cell phone.

In addition to the relevant flight data such as the passenger’s name, flight number and departure time, the boarding pass contains a barcode which permits passengers to pass through the security checkpoints and then proceed straight to their departure gate.

There, the barcode is read by a scanner, enabling the passenger to board the aircraft without a printed paper document. Lufthansa passengers can request an electronic boarding pass via the mobile portal by using an Internet-enabled mobile device or they can check in online via the Internet. All they need in order to identify themselves at check-in with their mobile device is their booking code combined with the name of the traveler. Alternatively, passengers can collect a printed boarding pass at a check-in terminal or at a ticket counter if they cannot display their electronic boarding pass on their mobile because, for example, the phone needs charging.

Deilmann Cruises is offering a 150 euro ($212) on-board credit to passengers.

For some Danube departures, Deilmann also offers free or reduced rail tickets from any railway station in Germany to Passau and back. A special feature is the Danube theme cruise, Danube Waves and Classical Music, aboard MS Mozart departing Oct. 5 with fares starting at 1,899 euros ($2,681). A 12-page folder can be ordered from Deilmann.

For more information, visit www.deilmann.de