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Our Travelbar team celebrate their 1st birthday today.

The Travelstart office has been decorated with pink helium filled balloons with the team also dressed in pink – Travelbar’s official colour.

It’s hard to believe it has been a year since we opened the phones to our customers wishing to book directly with a consultant opposed to booking online.

Travelbar has grown from strength to strength. Having started business a year ago with just 2 consultants, we have now 5 consultants.

Happy birthday Travelbar long may you reign & continue raising the bar.

Our Travelbar team are:
Wouter Nel - Team Leader
Delani van Rijswijk
Kirsty Henderson
Nanette McDonald
Levonne Aspey

Tel: 0861 878 278 (select option 5)
Email

Virgin Atlantic has announced that is coming to the rescue, saving South African passport holders the extra expense of applying for a British Visitor Visa. Virgin has declared that they will fund SA travellers’ UK visa costs.

Great! Someone has finally seen sense to counteract this very unfair, extremely unpopular & expensive introduction by the British Government.

However, in reality the procedure to qualify for a free UK visa is rather complex. I will attempt to outline the rules as follows;

1. Buy a ticket to London on Virgin Atlantic before 30th September 2009 & travel between 23rd September & 30th November 2009. The ticket must be issued at least 60-days before travel.

2. Apply for a regular 6-month stay UK visa in the normal manner within 30-days of buying your 1st ticket & pay the visa cost (regular visa costs R938 per person). Once the UK visa has been granted a copy of the visa, or visa number, must be sent to Virgin.

3. Once you have travelled on the 1st ticket, you will be required to purchase a 2nd ticket before 30th September 2009. Travel on the 2nd ticket must be between 1st October 2009 & 30th November 2010. This 2nd ticket must be in the same name as the 1st ticket.

Bear with me the refund for the visa is coming…

4. All travel on the 2nd ticket must be completed within a year from the date the 1st ticket was issued.

5. Once authorised by Virgin Atlantic, the 2nd ticket price will be discounted by R938 (the original cost of the visa).

6. Travel for both tickets must be in the same class of travel, i.e. Economy & Economy or Upper Class & Upper Class.

7. Economy tickets only permit a free 6-month stay UK visa.

8. Both tickets will only be valid on Virgin Atlantic for the same traveller.

9. Your 1st ticket may be refunded in full if your UK visa application is unsuccessful (proof required) within 30-days of the ticket purchase.

If you have any questions in relation to this or any other matter, please give us a call on 0861 878 278, or chat to us online, or pop us an email.

The Paris-based Pullman Hotels and Resorts teamed up with Bee My Friend a few weeks ago to fund a beehive on behalf of all its French hotels. "Pullman Is Bee Friendly" drive try to help preserve honeybee populations and to look after biodiversity in general.  Through this a new opportunity was created for guests as well, they can now taste three different honey varieties from Burgundy created by the bees: which include acacia honey, an all flowers honey from Morvan and a spring flowers honey.

According to experts, urban bee keeping is on the increase. The White House in recent times added some beehives in their vegetable garden. The bee populations are still declining but no one can explain. Still, demand is high for honey, more and more urban dwellers are keeping hives and harvesting their own honey!

It is not a bad idea to visit New York City in the middle of summer. There are lots of free events going on in the different parks and there are slightly fewer people since about a million leave to city to have their July vacation somewhere else. But the heat and the humidity can be oppressing at times and then it is good to know there is a beach less than an hour of a subway ride away. Coney Island!

Of course there are several beaches close to New York but Coney Island is the easiest - and the cheapest to get to, only 2 dollars. The beach, which is many kilometers long, is open and patrolled by life guards from Memorial Day in May to Labor Day in September. If you walk a bit away from the main entrance point you will get to spots with fewer people, where both the sand and the water is cleaner. But if you feel like doing some people watching you can just hang around the amusement park area where there are volleyball nets, restaurants and lots of souvenirs to buy. 

The best tip is to start your visit by walking along the famous boardwalk to find your own favorite spot. But no matter where you choose to put your towel, the water will be equally refreshing and that is why a trip to Coney Island is the perfect break from an otherwise sweaty visit to New York.

Check out this novel form of in-flight entertainment.

The major drawbacks are the lack of volume control (to turn down not up) & more importantly, there's no off button.

Do you want to experience Stockholm, the beautiful capital of Sweden, from a different perspective? Then a roof top tour on the small island Riddarholmen in Stockholm might be the thing for you!

Most of us have probably, at least once or twice, joined a guided tour when visiting a new city (come on, admit it!). It is usually quite a good way to get to know the place you are in. However, walking around with a bunch of other tourists in a busy city can be quite crowded and stressful. My experience is that I sometimes end up NOT seeing what the guide is pointing out.

SO, I have found a solution and it is spelled roof top tour. Let me explain!

On the roof of the old Parliament House (43 metres up!) on the small island Riddarholmen in central Stockholm you can experience quite a different guided tour. While walking around on the roof, your guide (who also explains the safety rules and helps you with the fullbody harness) will make sure that you get to know the history of Stockholm from a 360 degree panoramic view. 

A spectacular view over large parts of Stockholm are promised to those who are brave enough to try this type of guided tour! 

If you are looking for a spectacular venue where you can get married you can stop looking and send an e-mail to the address below. What about the wedding guests? Well, they will come with you all the way up! 

Location: Riddarholmen, Stockholm 
Season: April to September
Time: approximately 90 minutes
Prerequisites / requirements: 18 years. Sober / drug free. Maximum weight 120 kg.
Home page: www.upplevmer.se
E-mail: info@upplevmer.se

Photos taken by Ewa Blixt.

On your next visit to Cape Town, don't forget to include a trip to Gansbaai to experience Great Whites on a whole new level with Great White Shark Tours.

After a continental breakfast and a briefing we set out to sea. A few minutes offshore the anchor was dropped and the excitement began. We waited not even half an hour when the first shark made an appearance. The 1st group jumped into their wetsuits (not as easy as seen on TV) and was ready to enter the cage  ...dahdumdahdumdahdum

Each group was in the cage for approximately 20 minutes and experienced the Great Whites up close and very personal. A feeling that is totally indescribable. Thankfully there was more than enough time for a second round. The excitement on board was great that there was no time for fear or anxiety. Once in the cage, you feel completely safe.

As the day neared an end, we bid the Great Whites farewell, the cage was hoisted back in and we set off to view the seal colony at Dryer Island.

The day was ended in high spirits with a replay of the DVD shot on board and a warm cup of hot chocolate in hand.

It is a once in a lifetime experience and recommendable to anyone!

We booked our trip through

Great White Shark Tours
Tel: +27 28 384 1418
Email: brian@sharkcagediving.net
www.sharkcagediving.net

Did you know that over 40% of Internet users spend at least one day a month searching for people they know online? To make this task even easier there’s a new search engine www.yasni.com that does nothing but find people online by searching through thousands of websites including; MySpace, Google & Facebook.

Beware as this can become very additive.

Montreal is unlike any other city in North America, it boasts a population with a diverse cultural background, fosters top-notch education with the highest ratio of students per residents in North America, has a European feel and has strip clubs built next to churches. Maybe that last point isn't something to be proud about but it definitely gives the city a lot of attitude!

Depending on where you're coming from a trip to Montreal will start by you getting there! Montreal is readily accessible by air through the Pierre-Elliot Trudeau International Airport, train, bus or car. If you shop around enough you can find specials with the major carriers all the time, even during peak season.