Many of us are looking forward to travelling on the new Boeing 787 when it is rolled out to all the major airlines, apart from looking nice, we found out why is ‘the sitting down and flying experience’ is going to be better:

The new composite material makes it faster, fuel efficient which also means there are lower airport fees due to less overall weight.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Less stop overs as it can fly 8,000miles non stop, and the cargo hold is larger.

We are told the 787 ‘Dreamliner’ as it is being billed, will leave you less fatigued due to less humidity and lower cabin air pressure at the equivalent of 6,000 ft average whereby current Aeroplanes are at around 8,000 ft. For passengers, the changes start with boarding, they enter into a wide-open area with sweeping arches, 8ft high, instinctively move up giving you an impression of more space.

Claustrophobia is reduced just a bit, even if seats are as cramped as ever. The interior is standardized, which saves airlines money. There are many seating arrangement options for airlines, which can arrange seats seven, eight or nine abreast. The aeroplane can hold 210 – 250 passengers

Another physiological trick: lights gradually change colour during long flights to reduce jet lag which always leaves a passenger happier and less anxious.

The windows are bigger than any other jet for those who like to look down to 40,000 ft you can now dim the windows from the seat controls now as well!

For those of us worriers, less turbulence as later models will come with the latest dampening system. meaning; the front of plane has a sensor noticing air displacement and instantly can make adjustments so that a nine ft drop is converted to a three ft drop, hardly noticeable, well to some!

Economy class Dreamliner

The plane is faster than existing Boeing models, perhaps cutting an hour of your journey

The Airbus A380 is bigger, but Boeing has put their trust in the 787 being more of a mid distance workhorse.

Currently 11 Dreamliners are flying. The first Seattle-built 787 was delivered to Japan’s All Nippon Airways in September 2011

Fifty-nine airlines have ordered more than 800 Dreamliners. Despite not being happy that the overall project because it was three and a half years behind schedule.

UK passengers will have to wait for the Dreamliner’s benefits. Thomson Holidays will take delivery of 12 next year. British Airways has ordered 24, with the first due to arrive in 2013, while Virgin Atlantic takes delivery of its first 15 Dreamliners in the spring of 2014.

Let us know if you have been on the Boeing 787 or the Airbus a380 and which one you prefer.

Share This

Caravan holidays are still very popular in UK and Europe, regarding what the petrol heads of Top Gear will try to tell you. Over 2 million people still take caravan holidays each year and the caravan club has over 850,000 members. You will find them staying at over 3,000 parks in the UK, with most people taking the dog to be shot by a farmer in the West country. Caravanning is very much a social holiday as the bonding between fellow caravanner breaks down many barriers and they all get to meet similar people in a quest for the outdoor life.

The parks where they stay can vary from huge centres with cinemas and pools to scenic spots with just running water.

From an economic point of view the caravan industry should be lauded as over 90% of caravans are made and bought here in the UK so give them a thought as you pass by them on a country lane in your German car, American hamburger, and Chinese T-shirt, that they, have bought British!

In fact during the noughties this was a thriving business selling to Europe.

The national caravan council, yes it’s a council! Which is ironic as it seems the majority of people living in a caravan are doing so to avoid council tax altogether, have statistics :

Over a million caravans of which there are three types in the U.K. Half a million of them (clogging up the M6 this Easter probably) are touring caravans, the ones stuck on the end of cars with big mirrors. Around 325,000 are caravan holiday homes or static caravans which many like to call them, and there are around 135,000 motor homes I wonder how many of these are driven by people of Irish descent and distinctive taste, especially for funfair’s and dodgy weddings!?

caravanners

Venturing further afield for the brave of heart with stickers to change the car lights direction. There is a venue that has started to become very popular amongst daring caravanners willing to try the continent, are camps at Schatberg Holland, with loos and a Jacuzzi, and the view of the flora to die for in the nearby De Wildhoevein the Hoge Veluwe national park I am told. Just a short trip away is the Kroller-Muller museum with a huge collection of Van gogh paintings.

Normandy France has always been a popular spot for caravanners and with it’s miles of beaches it’s certainly worth the drive. These are known as camp-sites however they have all the facilities and more of say a center parks. Huge swimming complexes and restaurants and you have a much better bet on the weather. Some of the static caravans you can hire are simply awesome.

Normany holday home

Few things can destroy the soul than say, a breakdown, or a lousy camp site and even lousier weather to make you want to put the caravan up for sale and go all inclusive to Cuba, but for those who have stayed the course and are the more experienced caravanners, I bet they have the most amazing holidays and lie back with a smile on their face when they realised they can travel whenever they want, have all their home comforts, the dog, budgie, friends and an amazing beach right on their doorstep and they paid a fraction of what you and I have paid to live out of a suitcase for a week!

Share This

Trudging in the snow to work on a dank cold Monday morning, is not everyone’s idea of enjoying life, and you can be forgiven when your imagination turns to sandy beaches and palm trees, and the premise that there must be an warmer way to make a living. Not to say everyone has had there lot with working in the West, but for many, thoughts run amok back  to their holiday, and the idea that they could move there, is very tempting indeed.

I get around 20 emails each month and CV’S asking if they could come and work for my company abroad, or just asking for advice on working in another country, and my response quite often does not fit in with what they had hoped.

Unless you have been offered an ‘expat package’ by your company to work tax free abroad, then you have probably got to choose the hard route. I am not saying it is impossible but it will reduce you to tears at some point. You will need to go to your country of choice with around 6 months living money and emergency fees as well, and either flaunt yourself in front of expat employers, or run your own business.

Many expat employers are fine tuned to the idea of a cheaper labour force, that is probably the very reason they are based where they are. Added to that many countries require by law that for every expat employed they must employ a number of locals in another role, making the process very expensive for the employer. So your skills must be such, that a local inhabitant can not do what you do, and your expensive price tag has got to be worth it for the prospective employer. This is why English teaching or TEFL is so popular in the Far East. so armed with your amazing skills that the population can not do, you will need to find all the best networking clubs and the expat chambers of commerce and get your self in front of employers that way.

Starting your own business is the other route, and you must be prepared for all the red tape and insane bureaucracy that comes with the territory, also the business culture gap is a subject that tomes of books have been written for. Off shore companies are governed differently, work permits, and business visas legislation will make you head for the first expat bar on the beach you can find, and listen to the expat bar owner moan all day about starting a business abroad, and the pair of you will drink all day in the sun to forget your woes.

My company has an office in Bangkok as well as UK, and I also run my business from Thailand. My company is an online marketing training and blog design company. The fact that my business is online means I can cut overheads dramatically, and much of my affairs are virtual. I get orders from all over the world to either write a blog or a press release or host a site or start someone’s Facebook page for them, and these can all be done without ever meeting a client. Quite often if the email comes from Koh Samui or Phuket I will find an excuse to go the beach and meet the client, as long as he has a beach bar!

A hard days work on the beach

It has not been plain sailing, in fact it took 5 years and during that time I was very much on my knees financially whist growing my business and met a few should we say ‘nutters’ along the way who hampered the process immensely. The process being that success means having enough money from online sources that I can stay wherever I like and run my business from wherever.

I made a website dedicated to the subject of working abroad and it gets more hits than this website! hardly surprising really.

Share This

CTI visits a timeless classic this week The Great Wall of China said to be the only man made structure visible from space (well with binoculars from Skylab). Chairman Mao once said:

“Until you reach the Great Wall, you’re no hero.” which figuratively means there is no success without work.

Why do people want to visit this awesome spectacle? Stunning views and sense of history dating from the 700 BC in this monumental achievement.

Stretching over 6,000 Kilometres, very few will have walked the entire length Most people visit the Beijing sections.

The best time to go is in Spring and Autumn where temperatures are from 10-25 and you can avoid most of the rush then. The vegetation in Spring and Autumn provides the best scenery. One of the most important traditional Chinese festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival which falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, around the time of the autumn equinox (usually September 22). Many refer to it simply as the “Fifteenth of the Eighth Month.” It is a time for families to be together, so people far from home will gaze longingly at the moon and think about their families.

Great-Wall of China

You may enjoy the Winter if you don’t mind the cold The mountains and the wall itself are covered with snow , offering an awesome snowy scene. The weather in this time of the year will be very cold and tourists are fewer. It is the best time to get the whole view of the wall.

Fly into Beijing and a cab or the train to the wall should take around 2 hours. Badaling is the best place to start.

Located at the foot of Badaling Great Wall in Yanqing District, Chadao Minsu Village is an ideal place to view the Great Wall, experience rustic life and reflect on old times.

Get to the wall itself by cable car or the Badaling Great Wall Pulley.

Places of historical interest nearby:

The Ming tombs

50 KMS northeast of Beijing are the Ming Tombs of thirteen emperors a perfectly preserved shrine A must see is the Changling and Dingling tombs Changling, the chief of the Ming Tombs, is the largest and is completely preserved. The total internal area of the main building is 1956 square meters. There are 32 huge posts, and the largest measures about 14 meters in height. It inhumes Emperor Zhudi, the fourth son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

 The great Wall museum

Opened formally on Sep.6 1994, the Museum covers an area of 3,200 square meters (3,827 square yards) and has nine exhibition halls. Composed of seven parts divided by different topics like “Great Wall of All Dynasties”, “Great Wall of Ming Dynasty”, “The Defensive Function of the Great Wall and its System”, “Wars”, “Economic and Cultural Exchanges between People on Both Sides of the Great Wall” and “Culture and Art”.

 The Water pass

Located in Yanqing County in Beijing, 1.24 miles away from the Badaling Great Wall, the Shuiguan Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). It is the most complete and strongest section of the ten thousand li Great Wall and famous for its sheer cliffs.

Originally, the wall was part of an ancient military defensive work. The water system was employed to defend against enemies and formed a pass, hence the name ‘Shuiguan’, translated as the ‘Water Pass’. The wall is built along the mountain contours with stone blocks and grey bricks. There are seven watch towers and one arrow tower. The arrow tower measures 15.63 meters (51 feet) high with an average width of 12 meters (13 yards).

The Ming Dynasty Great Wall was a complex system of border defences. It is now regarded as the most magnificent man-made wonder of the world; and its viewers are in awe when they see the heavy and bulky building materials that were used to build the wall in such precipitous places. A bucket list recommendation for certain!

Great wall travel map

Share This

Imagine you could have a party in every time zone as midnight first hits and how different they celebrate, so fasten you seatbelts and let’s go!

First to break midnight around the world just on the International dateline is Samoa, light a red balloon on the coast and see in new year just as the Irish are preparing for new years eve Lunch, cities in Oceania on the dateline also celebrating first are Kiritimati, Apia, Fakaofo

New Zealand next, Chatam Island first, and then the rest of the mainlands take New year very seriously with outdoor events and parties to see the new year in, they see it in the same time as the Solomon islands if you are lucky enough to be there.

Some small areas of Russia near the bearing straits will have a Vodka I am sure if they can take their hand out their gloves long enough!

Sydney Australia on the East coast compete with the rest of the world every year to show off the best Fireworks over their harbour.

Sydney New years eve

Midnight crawls across the vast Australian continent whilst inTokyo, the Japanese visit the Shinto shine with 108 bongs (Not so many fireworks here though they invented it!) Seoul, Pyongyang, (probably too miserable to celebrate 2012 with the loss of their leader) Dili see in their new years.

As midnight leaves Eucla Australia 2 and a half hours after the Sydney party, 11 more countries begin to celebrate China, (though not officially their new year at all till January) Malaysia and Philippines including Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore.

Pinoys of Manilla go crazy for Fireworks to drive away evil spirits and bring luck for the new year over a bulalo soup and a Kare Kare stew!

Many an expat will be bringing in the new year in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi and Phnom Penh whilst Brits at GMT are preparing their evening meal at 5 pm.

Myanmar celebrate ‘Thingyan’ by throwing water on their guests and attending song festivals.

Russia an hour after Rangoon, is now in full swing now with ice sculptures and evening markets. Nepal and Bhutan celebrating now also.

At 1830 GMT New Delhi, although they have Vikram samrat in March they celebrate midnight December the 31st by visiting friends and writing cards of good luck (Next year you be Doctor!!) Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, sharing the same time.

At 1630 in the U.S. many Western soldiers will be celebrating new year’s eve away from families in Afghanistan and in Kabul, Kandahar, Mazari Sharif, and Herat all sharing the same time zone.

8 Hours after the first Russians in the far east of the continent celebrated ,Moscow is now enjoying the new year along with many parts of the Middle East, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat, having a drink or not whatever you may be allowed.

Iran and Iraq see midnight consecutively next, Iraqis attending parties with cakes and decorations, whilst in Baghdad they party in the street, although if you work in the Iraqi capital you are not allowed in till start of business next year?!

10PM GMT midnight leaves the East and parties start in South Africa, The rainbow nation is all about fancy colourful costumes, and dancing in the streets of Cape Town and Boateng whilst Sudan Zambia Cairo, Ankara, Athens, Bucharest all start their festivities.

Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Rome are next to pop, make sure to wear red underwear for luck in Italy and head to the fat ox fair and watch out for Italians throwing things out of windows?

Finally new years eve arrives at GMT and London, Casablanca, Dublin, Lisbon all raise a glass and hold their arms in a strange interlocking and sing ‘Auld langs syne’ in a drunken melee, to which hardly anyone knows the words, let alone remember their own name!

Iceland, with winter feasts and Northern lights to guide in the new year whilst Greenland and then Brazil celebrating Véspera de Ano Novo with Brazilians dressed in white offering candles to the goddess of the water, and eat lentils and rice for good luck and crowding Copacabana beach with crazy Fireworks, as midnight crosses the Atlantic.

3 hours after the Brits and Portuguese lay down to nurse their sore heads Buenos Aires, Santiago, Asuncion, Paramariboa are in full swing, one hour later East Canada Newfoundland starts to welcome in midnight.

5PM GMT and Northern America is in party mode New York, Washington DC, Detroit, Havana and Montreal in Canada with New York vying for Firework supremacy over London Sydney Cape town who have gone before on this night. Midnight crosses Mexico City, Chicago, Guatemala, Dallas, to San Francisco eventually leaving Alaska and the Americas to Hawaii with a warm aloha and a trade wind kiss with midway islands and then finally Samoans are now waking up to 1st January.

San francisco new years eve

We all share the same planet, the same midnight, we all hope for a better and more peaceful year, and we all share the same humongous hangover, and if we are lucky we roll back over and wait till the 2nd January.

Thank you for reading our blogs in the first full year of this site and We wish you all over the world a peaceful new year!

Share This