Lithuania bans the sale of alcohol

It will be illegal to sell alcohol in Lithuania on September 1 this year. The ban will affect all cafes, hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, shops and supermarkets. Minibars in hotels will be locked, or will have alcohol removed.

September 1 is traditionally a big day for drinking. We don't totally understand why but it has a lot to do with the start of the academic year. Both students and their parents in Lithuania seem to like to celebrate the start of the school year in the same way that everyone else celebrates the end of it. (Actually, they also seem to like to celebrate the opening of envelopes, but... well... let's just not go there. Maybe I'll write something about that on another occassion.)

As September 1 will be a Saturday this year (and someone might open an envelope somewhere), Lithuania's Parliament, possibly anticipating a double-whammy drinking problem, thought it would be a fine idea to simply ban the sale of alcohol on that day.

Local newspapers are carrying stories suggesting that owners of bars and restaurants will come up with creative ways to circumvent the ban. (Offering alcohol but not billing for it until after midnight, giving alcohol away 'free' but compensating on the food bill, selling wine in tea cups, etc.) It will certainly be interesting to see what happens.

We expect this law will have a negative effect on travellers. People who come to Lithaunia for the weekend, ranging from those who like to have a nice glass of wine with their meal to those who like celebrating in a more enthusiastic way, will probably leave with a poor impression of Lithuania.

If Lithuanian politicians wish to tackle problems associated with drinking, it may be better for them to address the root causes of the societal problems, boredom, hopelessness, poverty and frustration that lead to drinking. In other words: they should sack themselves.

Photo, showing drinking and smoking in Vilnius, both of which will be officially naughty on September 1, courtesy of Sco.

Flying Without Fear

A press release just appeared in my inbox about Flying Without Fear. I'd never heard of it before. Basically it's a one-day course to help people overcome a fear of flying. It's run in association with Virgin, so a part of overcoming the fear of flying will almost certainly involve big images of gingerbeard (Sir Richard Branson) grinning at you.

The course also involves lectures by Captains who explain how planes defy gravity, what all the strange noises and vibrations are and what safety procedures are in place. After lunch, a psychotherapist works with participants to discuss fears and phobias and how to control them.

After that, it's all-aboard for a 45-minute flight. Scardy-cats are accompanied on this flight by Virgin cabin crew, pilots and groundstaff, who will keep them informed about what is going on and help them to be comfortable with it all.

Then it's touchdown and on to a relaxation session. Finally, participants get a certificate signed by Sir Gingerbeard.

I must say I think this is a teriffic idea. I've never been afriad of flying, but understand that it can be a barrier for many people, and it's great to see such a programme in place to help them overcome it.

Now... if only they could help us overcome fear of enviromentals, ruber-gloved customs officers, airline food sitting next to arm-rest-hogging fatties and baggage-loss.

Vilnius In Your Pocket on Google Maps

I've just been mucking around with Google Maps, and have made a Vilnius In Your Pocket map that shows the locations to a few venues, with links to the reviews on the In Your Pocket website. Click on the little blue balloons for pop-out details. Seems this doesn't quite fit in our blog page, so click the View Larger Map link to open it in a new window. Check it out and let us know what you think:


View Larger Map

EasyJet offer nonsense-wrapped discounts

EasyJet are having a 24-hour promotion that promises to offer various discounts on flights destined for many of the cities that In Your Pocket covers. So we thought we'd let you know. The discounts, that seem to change every hour, range from a paltry five per cent off the price of your ticket to... erm... something more exciting that we haven't seen yet. Yay! (Or something.)

Best Bus Song

American Road Magazine (no, we'd never heard of it either) have just published a list of the best road songs. While that sounds a bit yawn-a-riffic, this list comes in categories. So, we can tell you that America by Simon and Garfunkel is the 'Best Song About Riding a Bus'. And here I was thinking The Wheel On The Bus (go round and round).

The best song about a U.S. highway is, not surprisingly, Route 66 by Nat King Cole.

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, or whatever he calls himself this week, just missed out on Best Song About Parking. His Little Red Corvette was beaten by Meat Loaf and Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

As it's a list of road songs, Locomotion by the singing budgie Kylie Minogue doesn't get a mention. Shame.

Photo: Blue bus Originally uploaded by estan.

Pre Gherkin Baltic Exchange Heads for Tallinn

30 St Mary Axe, Swiss Re, The Gherkin Building, London - UK
Originally uploaded by theladsweekend.

The Baltic Exchange building, which stood on the site of the current Swiss Re building (aka The Gherkin) in London, will be re-built in Tallinn.

The Baltic Exchange was, apparently, rather lovely. Until the IRA blew it to bits. It could not be re-built on the London site, but has since been bought in bits by a couple of Estonian businessmen, one of whom was online shopping for a new floor.

The building will house a maratime museum.

Check out the full story in The Times.

If you read one thing this weekend...

Make it this:

Heathrow protest: Not so happy campers.

Crackpot George

In Your Pocket's favourite enliarmentalist, Crackpot George Monbiot, is at it again. The man who back in 1999 wrote that "flying across the Atlantic is as unacceptable, in terms of its impact on human well-being, as child abuse" has this week turned his attention to the media, with the revelation that newspapers - though flouting their green credentials editorially - are continuing to take advertising from car manufacturers and airlines. Hypocrisy he calls it. Well I never.

Fortunately, In Your Pockets - which like most print publications rely on advertising for the bulk of their revenue - have no green credentials whatsoever, so the fact that we take ads from all kinds of carbon criminals (airlines, car rental companies) is of no concern to us.

What is worrying is that this continued attack on the travel industry shows no sign whatsoever of coming to an end. Fortunately, our appetite for weekends away in places covered by In Your Pocket also seems to know no bounds. Let's just hope that
Crackpot George and his gang (who would have all short-haul flights come to an abrupt end, forever) continue to do such a good job of making utter fools of themselves.

(Not unlike the Plane Stupid mob I wrote about earlier in the year, currently enjoying what I am sure is a lovely week in a damp field next to Heathrow Airport.

Save Our Shipyards!

According to the EU Observer, bureaucrats in Brussels threaten the continued existence of Gdansk's symbolic shipyards, birthplace of Solidarity and of Polish democracy. The EU is about as popular as imported Vodka in Poland right now: this latest row will only fuel anti-EU feeling.

The fight against closure is being led by none other than Lech Walesa, the former leader of the Solidarity movement, and first president of post-Communist Poland.

Brits on holidays

Floating brothel visits Studland

A floating boat-based brothel has been plying Studland nuddy beach near Poole, Dorset, to pick up... well, studs. Eager men have been swimming out to a Bayliner speed boat ('where fun lives' according to their marketing bumf), slipping into the cabin, making waves and re-emerging an hour or so later.

Police have been unable to catch up with the speedboat because it is a speedboat.

Lithuania to whip-up Pope Tour

Officials in Lithuania are considering developing a Pope Tour. The tour would link together sites visited by the Pope (John Paul version, revision II) during his autumn 1993 visit to the Baltic country.

The route of the 'pilgrimage' would include The Gates of Dawn and the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius and the Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai. And anything else that may have any chance of separating Catholics from their money.

We sincerely hope some enterprising organisation can pick up a used Popemobile and offer interesting tours.

Source: Interfax

Poles apart

To me, this is an amazing story. It's about a Polish woman who came home from holidays to find the local council had built a road in her back yard. When she complained, she was told that the council can build roads on private land without the consent of the owner, and without having to pay compensation to the owner.

That left me kinda gobsmacked. At the same time it just rang so true with my own experiences of the baffling municipal mentality that you can bump into while living in Eastern Europe.

To be fair, I found the story on Ananova - a website geared more towards offering amusement than offering informatioin or, erm... all the facts. There must be more to the story. I really hope so.

Anyway, read it for yourself on the Ananova website:
Garden turned into road during holiday

AQ in NYT

As he's too modest to post it himself... Here is a link to our very own Andrew Quested's article on Druskininkai that appeared in the NYT this weekend...

A former Soviet retreat grows up.

Prague 'trouble hotspot' for Brits abroad

Like we didn't know already... (from Travelmole)

Prague 'trouble hotspot' for Brits abroad

Prague has emerged as a top trouble spot for Britons travelling abroad due to the "massive influx" of stag and hen parties to the Czech Republic capital.

The Foreign Office reported a "disproportionate number" of lost passports, arrests and people being taken to hospital when visiting Prague. As a result the Czech Republic features as one of the countries where most consular assistance is required.

Prague is one of many European cities served by budget flights, attracting stag and hen parties due to its cheap alcohol and accommodation.

India, Thailand and Australis appeared alongside the Czech Republic in the top ten countries where British travellers required consular help.

FO figures for the year to March 5 found that 1,368 Britons were arrested in the US, 955 hospitalised in Greece, 376 deaths in France and more than 6,000 lost thier passports in Spain.

Greece had the highest number of rapes (48) followed by Spain (41) and Turkey (38).

Greece - the sixth most popular country to visit - also emerged as having the sixth highest number of arrests at 226.

The highest number of arrests of British travellers occured in Spain (1,529), the country most visited (13.7 million).

Foreign Office minister Meg Munn said: "Simple precautions like researching your destination, getting comprehensive travel insurance, checking out medical requirements and taking copies of important documents could help avoid common travelling traumas, ricks and dangers in the long-run."

by Phil Davies

Crappy souvenirs

Now you can get souvenirs that really are crap.

Biggest hotel complaint is noise

The bed tries to eat you, there’s a kettle but no tea bags, the ‘garden views’ consist of a straggly pot plant, the shower provides a pathetic dribble of an inconsistent temperature, the pillows are just not right, there’s a strange smell emanating from the plughole and a mystery pube stuck to the soap and the elevator doesn’t work. But, it seems the most common complaint about hotels relates to noise.

The 11th "North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Survey" from J.D. Power and Associates (whoever they are - we couldn't quite work it out after visiting their website) quizzed over 47,000 guests about a stay in a hotel and found that the most common complaints related to noise, room cleanliness, maintenance, smells and staff attitude (in that order).

I would add another item to the list that could be important to visitors to the more northern cities covered in In Your Pocket, such as the Baltics capitals and St. Petersburg: blackout curtains. In summer here, the sun shines until late into the night and rises very early in the morning. It can make getting to sleep very hard.

Photo: good morning my love by tamelyn on flickr.
Source: TravelMole (registration required).