Welcome to Bugbog Travel Guide and Pictures Helping you plan great holidays quickly, with maps and tours
Above are some excellent, non-euro, good value destinations July-August 2008: Hike in Canada; laze on Turkish beaches; tour ancient sites in England; self-drive an RV in USA See below for possible Sept-November holiday spots or click on the map below or navbar above
Intrepid offer good value, small group adventure tours in 90 countries around the world from overland expeditions to active, family and comfort vacations. Tours Search | Family Vacations | Activity Holidays | Overland Trips | Brochure | Late Booking Deals

Times are tough in the UK and USA right now with currencies at rock bottom and travel costs relatively high so choose countries that don't use the expensive euro, for example the UK, USA, Canada and Turkey, and do some research before selecting a holiday flight.

See our low cost flights comparison site listings:
UK Cheap Flight Comparisons | USA Cheap Flight Comparisons

Or visit our tours pages and see what's on offer: Tours

How use credit cards abroad and save money:

Buy goodies or pay bills [checks] with credit cards when on vacation as they provide insurance as well as delayed repayment but don't draw cash out from ATMs with them. Interest starts accruing immediately and bank exchange fees [2.75%?] in addition to the ATM fee [2.5%?] may be unreasonable. Better to buy foreign cash at home from a commission-free provider [e.g. in the UK, the Post Office, Thomas Cook] though, of course when you travel you'll have to carry a fat wad around, so the best solution depends on the security of your holiday destination. If you travel a lot and want to get cash from an ATM do some research on transaction fees and get the lowest fee debit [not credit card] card you can find. [Nationwide is the UK's cheapest in 2008]
Also, never pay for anything abroad in your home currency [the exchange rate is likely to be absurd], insist on paying in local currency.

Mobile phones when travelling:

Ideally use a wifi internet or Skype phone abroad and you will escape the ridiculous charges incurred if you use your home cell phone for local or international calls.
Alternatively get a global sim card at home [do some net research on best deals currently] and change the sims over when you arrive at your destination. The number will be new but charges will be way less.

T5 Heathrow, Part Duh!

Willie Walsh, head of BA, yesterday admitted that he knew of problems with Heathrow's Terminal 5 before the grand opening - and decided against delaying it.
"It was a calculated risk and one I decided to take," Walsh told MPs yesterday. "You can't point the finger at anyone else."
Despite his regrets, he said that the cost of delaying BA's move to the building would have been 'many times' greater than the costs incurred in the chaotic first days. [You can imagine Walsh thinking, hmm..lose money or screw the customers? What to do?]

Mr Walsh said that staff were unfamiliar with the building they were working in and that the baggage handling system failed — a software filter ensured that the computer system remained in training mode.
A mass of teething problems led to chaos, with hundreds of cancelled and delayed flights and a mountain of lost luggage.
More than 23,000 bags were 'misconnected' — the last time the situation was reviewed, attempts were still under way to reconnect 125 of those with their owners.
Then there was the problem of a software training filter being accidentally left on. The server lacked capacity, airport jetties needed to be recalibrated by engineers, staff had problems clearing internal security and getting to their positions.

Some customers commented, May '08:
- Online claim process not working, we have 3 complaints logged with BA from 19/4 onwards no response from BA to date. Our travel agent advised 000's bags still missing as at 3/5. Martin Breen, Ormskirk, UK
-I have just flown into and out of T5. Contrary to BAA and BA testimony at the Common's transport subcommittee, T5 is clearly not working at anything approaching a reasonable level, as on-site BA and BAA staff will freely acknowledge when asked. As a knock on result T4 is also in considerable chaos. Nigel Bradshaw, Sweden

'The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page' St. Augustine

Bugbog is an independent travel guide that helps plan holidays - whether it's beaches, safari, exotic or European tours - quickly and efficiently. We provide guides to the world's best destinations, with key tourist information, festival dates, travel pictures, travel health and safety advice, maps and thousands of useful exit links.

The travel guide summarises the best times to go, good and bad points of different great holiday destinations, and gives you an idea of what they look like with well over three thousand travel pictures in our many photo galleries.
Bugbog is not attempting to be a detailed reference, but rather a concise and inspirational guide.

Information and pictures on this travel guide are © bugbog.com