Adventure Sports in... Albania

Apart from the lovely people, Albania's main attraction is the magnificent mountain scenery. Unfortunately, with bad information, roads and signposting and few travel agents organising trips into these wild places, it's not easy for foreign visitors to get the best out of the country.

Tirana-based Outdoor Albania allows visitors to get in touch with nature, while taking in some culture along the way. They can take individuals or groups on tailor-made trips throughout the country, organising activities such as trekking, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, mountaineering, paragliding, 4W-driving and more. Programmes are adapted to the abilities of the participants, all guides are experienced and multi-lingual, and the equipment is of international standards. Even if you're in just Tirana for a short while, they can arrange an active daytrip in the nearby mountains. You can join a daytrip from Tirana and go hiking, river hiking, rafting, kayaking and cave exploring. In winter, activities are limited to snowshoeing and hiking.

Outdoor Albania, Rr. Elbasanit 85, tel. 22 71 21/069 218 88 45, www.outdooralbania.com.

They've Lost Their Coconuts

Bizarrely found on the money pages of The Times, this article lists the 25 strangest travel insurance claims ever (why is everything in lists of 25 or 50 on The Times these days?)

The best is No. 21:

Direct Line received a claim for two lost coconuts from a couple who returned home from a holiday in Mauritius. As a coconut costs just 69p (from your local Tesco), the claim was rejected. The couple’s excess on their policy meant they would have paid for the first £50 of the cost of any claim.

BMI Goes East

Low-cost (well, low cost-ish) UK-based airline BMI this week begins flying to 17 exciting new destinations. And we mean exciting. Bishkek, in Kyrgystan, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Aleppo in Syria, Teheran, Baku, Ekaterinburg... Even Khartoum in Sudan.

Budget seekers looking for a cheap weekend in Bishkek should look away now, however: fares start at around €800, London - Bishkek return. We priced a return flight at BMI's website this morning for early November at a whopping €1100.

Unsurprisingly the airline has said that the routes are aimed primarily at business travellers. Expect prices to come down soon enough however as adventurous types get the urge to head into the unknown.

Funniest Line of the Year?

Each year at the annual In Your Pocket get together, held in some swank location just before Christmas, the funniest review of the year wins its author a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

If you want to nominate a review this year get in touch at editorial_enquiry (at) inyourpocket.com.

As things stand the funniest thing I have read so far this year in an IYP guide is not in a review per se, but in the excellent Solidarity feature in the latest issue of Gdansk IYP.

There is just something about the phrase 'the dangerously named Derek aftershave' that had me in a fit of giggles for several minutes, my wife and children looking on rather concerned.

Go Green!

Two suggestions for heaps of family eco-fun this winter!

1. Christmas in Rosia Montana, Romania

A cause celebre for the green lobby, the poverty-stricken town of Rosia Montana in Romania’s Apuseni Mountains is the perfect destination for the environment-conscious traveler. Since an NGO made up of foreign do-gooders managed to delay the construction of a gold mine that would have regenerated the entire region, creating jobs for thousands and hope for many more, Rosia Montana will remain for the foreseeable future one of the most eco-friendly towns in the world. Most homes to do not have proper plumbing, meaning that ‘eco-toilets’ have to be used. The kids will just love having to trot down to the bottom of the garden in sub-zero temperatures to take a pee! Get them fit as they help push horses and carts out of the mud!



2. Tirana, Albania

Mismanagement of, and underinvestment in Albania’s electricity grid has left many of the country’s cities crippled by daily power cuts. What better way for the environmentally friendly traveler to show his concern for the planet than spending his holiday with an ordinary Albanian family, in the dark in an unlit, unheated apartment! Walk up 11 flights of stairs and enjoy the view over... nothing...

The Offending Map

Now, what did we do with Kaliningrad?

I have to admit that according to the map we published in our latest guides it does rather look as though the enclave that was once Königsberg has been flooded.

Something which many - though not us of course - would say greatly improves the place.

Kaliningrad... Gone...

Oh dear. It appears we have caused something of an international incident...

We've lost Kaliningrad.

According to the Russian media, which has been bombarding us with phone calls this past week, those cheeky Lithuanians (that would be us) have finally gone and done what they always wanted to: wiped Kaliningrad off the map. That being our, In Your Pocket map as it appears in our print guides (download the latest Vilnius issue here to take a look).

Indeed, it does appear that our graphics team was a little over zealous in the 'delete bits of Russia' department, but given that several hundred islands off the coast of Croatia are also missing, as are some bits of the UK, not to mention a couple of German islands and a large portion of Albania we do not have room for... we think our Russian neighbours are over reacting.

Now, if we had shown Kaliningrad as part of Lithuania... that would have been a story.

Maybe we will do that in the next issue. Or maybe we will just put Kaliningrad back.

Until then you can be certain that we will be avoiding sushi.

Romania: Clearly the place to be

Not one, but two new flights to Romania from the UK were launched this week.

Budget airline Wizz Air has launched a new service between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Romanian capital Bucharest three times a week, potentially boosting investment prospects in the Romanian market.

Wizz Air's Natasa Kazmer said: "We are glad to expand our network from Liverpool to a new EU member state." She predicted that Romania would become the new "must-see" place of Europe, due to its good beaches, cities and picturesque countryside. Wizz Air will also be flying from Luton to Targu Mures, a city in the heartland of Romania, later in the year.

Ms Kazmer also said that travellers and investors would be able to reach the country in a short time and at an affordable price.

Blue Air, a Romanian low cost carrier, this week launched a thrice-weekly service from Bucharest to Stansted, in Essex. EasyJet will launch its Gatwick-Bucharest service on October 29. On the same day, American Airlines begins a daily flight to New York's JFK.

According to the American Automobile Association, Romania saw a seven-fold increase in the number of bookings from US tourists during summer this year.

Drunk Kicking Leads To Gaylord Murder. Belarusian Ostrich Looks On.

Okay - so I'm bored, and must apologize in advance for the very tenuous In Your Pocket link that this story has. But... I couldn't resist.

About a year ago, a pair of drunk adolescents wandered into an ostrich pen south of San Francisco and received a right good kicking for their efforts. As their female companions laughed, Gaylord the ostrich kicked McKevitt, 19, and Jonathon Porter, 21. Their precious pride was so kicked-in by the angry-yet-powerful flightless dunny brush that they did as many Americans would: they returned with firearms to seek revenge.

While popping a cap in the parson's nose may have been sufficient, the lads shot at the unrepentent Gaylord seven times, killing him to death.

One of the lads has been sentenced to either five or seven month's jail (depending on which paragraph of the Reuters story you read).

Oh - and the IYP link? The photo used to illustrate the story was of an ostrich on a farm in Kozishche, a town some 260km from Minsk.

More holidays for Brits

departure
Originally uploaded by Daintree.

Workers in the UK got four more days of holidays per year from this month. And, from April 1, 2009, they'll get four more, bringing the total to 28 days per annum. That's great news for those of us who love to travel, although we do hope that the baggage mishandlers can keep up.