Economies and Expenses to Budget For When Travelling

Hiking - cheap or expensive?

Is hiking a cheap holiday? It can be. 

But, to be safe, you might need outdoor clothing, food, drink, maps, phone and charger. 

Plus the climbing or hiking clothes, and gear such as poles, ropes, boots, torches, maps, GPS devices.

The big cost can be flights and connecting flights. Within Europe you have Ryanair. For example, from Stansted.

Also, budget for the cost of taking a car into a National Park (not a car park, but a tree and wildlife park).

Sticks - cost, design and check-in 

A stick for climbing rough grounds has a tip, which must be covered on aircraft. 

A walking stick for city walking has a flat rubber base, which may be allowed on some planes, or can be packed if it folds. You may need to buy a stick with points, or a pair of sticks, at the destination.

UK costs: driving

Toll on the bridge into Wales.

Parking costs at hotels, and visiting museums.

If no parking in city centre restaurant areas, you may need to budget for taxis. 

If drinking or wine tasting, you may need a taxi back to your hotel.

Europe - driving

Toll roads in France.

USA Parks and vehicles

In the USA and many countries, entry costs at entrances of national parks for pedestrians and vehicles.

ASIA - costs

India required my family, who were holders of British passports, to buy visas. 

Nepal cost cutters

A cheap country such as Nepal has cheap food. 

However, you may have to pay a hefty fee for the permit to climb e.g. Everest. Also the cost of a guide. And porters to take tents and cooking equipment and food for the entire trip. Allow not only the time of the climb but any hike to base camp, and time to acclimatize. 

Camping Costs - Research, Money, Time, Planning, Experience

 Our son practised camping by putting up a tent in our garden. 

Some people run in their shoes or boots. 

My husband spent more than the cost of a night in a hotel, and a taxi to a hotel, on buying a tent, and a  on a sleeping bag, bag liner, hiking boots, torch and most of the contents of the camping shop website.

Home Swap Advantages

We did a home swap with a family in the Channel Islands. We saved on accommodation.

Home Swap Challenges

We had to pay our fare to get there and back, plus our foods and entertainment at the destination. But we saved on accommodation.

Packing for a holiday takes time. But clearing your house for a family of four to move in takes longer.  You must clear space.

You need to pack away valuables. We had to leave new matching crockery in sets of four.

Hotel Extra Charges

Parking

You might have to pay for car parking outside the hotel, Or pay for use of the hotel's garage. Or pay for valet parking.

Some airports have introduced drop-off charges.

Extras At Hotels & Restaurants

A five star hotel might also charge for service, taxes.

Incidental extras might be phone calls. 

Watch out for cover charges. Service charges. tourist taxes. State taxes vary around the USA, and are added when items are posted from one state to another.

Drinks - Extras

Also drinks, water. Also watch out for the mini bar contents. 

Drinks Included

Many buffets have free sparkling wine, Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, or French Champagne, at either breakfast, or evening dinner, or both. But they might not tell you. Have a look or ask if it is included.

Find out the cost of an upgrade to a room whose cost entitles you to use of a Club Lounge or private breakfast room with a fancy name. If they run all day or intermittent food and drink, this could save you paying extra for water and wine with meals. Or for coffee and tea and cakes mid-morning and tea time. Apart from the cost, it is a time saver.

Spas, Saunas - Time and Money

The indoor pool might be within a spa which charges residents as well as outside non-resident guests.

Hotel Extras Included

Some hotels have free swimming pools with spar baths, or complete spa centres with saunas, and steam rooms.

In the Canary Islands we had a free indoor pool at the Parador in Tenerife. They closed early, 6 pm. The same applied to the outdoor pool at the Parador hotel on La Palma, which closed at 5 pm in their off-season June 2026, although later the next month.

On Tenerife the outdoor pool was free, included in our room and breakfast package. We were given one free session in the indoor spa which had lovely massaging pools and water jets. We were there two days, but did not get a free session for each day, just one free session to tempt us to make further bookings.

Some ask payment per hour rather than the whole stay free, or paying for one day.

Souvenirs and Supplementary Bags

You may buy souvenir clothing, books or bulky items, or bring back leaflets. You might need to buy another suitcase, and to pay the airline for extra bags or bulky or heavy luggage.

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Travel Tips - When Lost - Google maps

When I was lost, I went into a garae to ask the way.

 In the UK and elsewhere, if you cannot get your satnav to work, find Google maps on your phone. Type in your destination and it will show your route and read you directions.

Other systems include include waze. 

You can also use street maps to check exits from roundabouts and motorway signs.

Useful websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_navigation

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What Maps Hide And Reveal - north and south and distortions and country sizes

Problems
Maps can show north at the top or elsewhere, distort the globe to fit your page, and reveal that countries or states you don't know are huge - and take hours to drive or fly across.

NORTH AND SOUTH Problems
We drove around Vienna, driver and passenger arguing. The map said left; the signpost said right. Why?

Answer
North was at the bottom of the map.

One man established the convention of always having north at the top of the map.

If you drive north, then turn and drive south, you might want to reverse your map. Some navigation systems allow you to choose.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

TRAIN MAPS - UK
You have to be Sherlock Holmes looking at train maps, especially at maps of the London underground.

Most underground train maps show north at the top and west on the left and right on the east. However, on some London Underground trains, you will see different maps on each side of the train.

 MIRRORS - GLASS / WATER
When taking photographs which tee shirts which include lettering or maps,especially if photographing yourself in a mirror, be aware that the text may be reversed. The same applies to reflections on glass and in water. If you have the original as well as the reflection, it is easier to read and looks more interesting and deliberate.

GLOBES
If you look at a globe, you will see that some countries appear bigger when you show a map on the flat. Otherwise you would have to make petals to show the real size. to get a real picture of distance in your mind, check the measurements.

Also notice that distance as the crow flies are not the same as driving times. A z shape road up a mountain or along a coast is much slower than a motorway, not just because of the speed but because you are not going in a straight line.

Really big places

Look at size. The USA is not a country but a continent. The English or Spanish speaking population in the USA will usually be much bigger than a single country in Europe. My blog tends to get more readers in the USA than in the UK, because of the size of the population, and potential readers. Time of day is another effect. (More Americans if I publish in daytime in the USA and night time in the UK).

Size does not necessarily mean population density. Houses and room sizes are huge in the USA, tiny in Hong Kong, getting smaller in London and Singapore.

Driving and Flying Times
Ukraine is huge. Driving across or flying across takes hours. Don't even think of walking.

MOUNTAIN BARRIERS
Also note that mountains are great for hiking up and down, especially if you want to start and end at the same place, but can create barriers if you were thinking of driving or cycling.

FLIGHT MAPS AND FLAT MAPS
Flight maps are also distortions. Flights may be routed across land rather than sea for safety reasons.

Flights from the UK to East coast Canada are much shorter than you might expect. Look at the globe instead of a flat map and you will see why.

NAUTICAL MILES
What is a nautical mile? How does it differ from a land mile? Again, look at your globe.

FLIGHT TIMES
Flights are generally designed to take routes suited to the airline, not your breakfast time.time. If the flight took longer, it would cost more in terms of fuel.  However, the trains from London to Edinburgh shunt around and stop in the middle of the night, in order to arrive before breakfast and not in the middle of the night, which would be a nuisance for passengers and station staff.

Compare times of flights, trains and driving by car or on a public coach.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

What You Need To Know About Restrictions On Fences And Rainwater Collection In Homes In the USA

Problem
You move to the USA, or another state in the USA. At first, it's great. Huge properties. High ceilings, Big bedrooms. Swimming pools. Wonderful. Then you discover a host of local regulations which make no sense. Drinking, marrying, gambling, building a fence or collecting rainwater, buying and carrying guns, death penalty - allowed or banned? It depends where you live. That's why in films (movies) you see the criminal racing across state lines to escape the cops.

1 Some areas won't let you build a fence around the property.
2 In this State you can drink. In the next State, you can't.
2 It's illegal to save water in a water butt, or install water collection devices to make your property green and water the plants. Where?
Why? What the ...!

STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS DIFFER
Coming from England, it took me a while to understand why different states had different laws and what federal means.
A state is like a council in Britain. You have laws which apply to the whole of the USA, and others which apply only to one area.

ALCOHOL - WHAT YOU CAN & CAN'T DO
One state can ban alcohol. We drove through West Virginia looking for a restaurant and kept seeing signs which said Club. Eventually, we stopped and asked a passer-by for direction to a restaurant. He told us,
'There's one on the corner. You just passed it. It's huge. I don't know how you missed it."
 I replied,
"Yes, we saw it. But we didn't stop because it says it's a club."
"You can eat there. You just have to join the club. It costs a dollar. In our state, only clubs are allowed to sell alcohol, so a restaurant serving alcohol has to be a club and charge you a membership fee. Every member of your group has to pay the dollar club fee. Of course, we locals, just pay the dollar once to two or three local restaurants, so, for us, it's no big deal."

We drove back to the restaurant, which was about to close for the night, just one customer left, or maybe they only ever had one customer, but we were just in time.
Our conversation with the receptionist went something like this:

"Howdy, folks! How ya'll doin'?"

"Fine thanks. Can we eat? Three of us."

"Yes, sir. But we serve alcohol, so, first, you have to join our club, which costs five dollars, each, for a  full lifetime membership. Fill out this form, pay me the money, and I'll give you your cards."
My husband does a quick calculation.
"Fifteen dollars! But we're only here one night."
"In that case, Sir, only one dollar each. And that's for the whole year! Keep your cards. And I'll keep your records, all year. Just in case you come back drivin' this way."
"That's an extra three dollars. For all of us? I'm not drinking alcohol. I'm driving. Can't my wife be a member, and let me in as a guest? Our son's under age. So he's not drinking."
"But, sir, if you was to take only one sip of your good wife's drink, and that state trooper, sittin' over there, watchin' us, saw you, you would be in big trouble, for drinkin' without the paperwork. And I could lose my business for servin' you! Let me explain ..."
"It's late, and I'm tired and hungry," said my husband. "Here's the money. Just give us the membership cards."

Every now and then I read that a debate is on to change drinking or other laws in one state or another. You have to watch it. But at least we now know what it's all about.

FENCES ARE RESTRICTED - WHY?
We used to drive around wondering why the big ranch houses (in the UK we say bungalows) had no fences. They looked unfinished. Like show homes.

And what about security! I suppose that's why they have guns. Anybody can walk in, and right around your house, looking in the windows to see if anybody's at home.

Then one day the mystery was solved. Some estates have bye-laws saying no fences. All the houses must look the same. Not different walls and fences on each one. (A bit like Hampstead Garden suburb in England, where you can't change windows nor doors, nor update antique wood with white ersatz double glazing, nor paint your house pink and purple stripes and dots.)

In America, on some estates, you have to keep the grass mown, because everybody can see. Lawns are around every house. Bushes over a certain height and tall trees are banned. No surrounding your property with fast-growing Cypress Leylandi and blocking the neighbour's light.

 No flowers. (I'm not sure if flowers are banned. But, I suppose the postman, delivery boy, or children, imaginary children, could pick them.)

If you don't have fences, you are rather paranoid. Rightly so. You keep a gun.

FENCES AND DOGS
How do you keep your dog inside your property and stop it running out to annoy neighbours or getting killed on the road? A Canadian company and others have made invisible fences, using electrified wires around the property. Oops - won't that injure children and other people and scare animals? It can be made connected to a dog collar which bleeps a warning when the dog gets close, without giving it a nasty shock. (See Wikipedia.)

What about dogs from outside coming onto your property. What if a dog comes onto your property, damaging your plants, leaving dog mess, threatenign you, your gods or your small children? A much-publicised court case in 2018 concerned a dog shot by a neighbour.

GUNS - TELL ME MORE
Gun laws vary from State to State in the USA, just as other laws vary.

So do the laws on when you can use guns.

'Stand your ground', is the catchphrase. Well, folks, you ain't got no place to go. As they say, the police are only half an hour away. Shoot first, asked questions later. Better judged by twelve than carried by six.' That puzzled me for ten seconds the first time I read it. It means judged in a court of law by a jury of twelve, for killing somebody, is better than carried in a coffin by six, because somebody killed you.

And the death penalty, or lack of it, varies, too, from state to state. States are like little countries. America is the size of a continent.

Okay, now I have visited America, taken a Greyhound bus, in a big circle, coast to coast, New York to LA and on to New Orleans. I lived in America, in three different states, and driven around from New York to Florida. I've also been on press trips to Florida, the mid-west, and California. I can go along with all of those laws, that stuff about drinking, and fences.

I also understand guns. Quite apart from those unprotected houses without fences. I have been to the mid-West and seen a preserved room where somebody got shot over a game of cards. I met a man on horseback who had a gun, when we were driving across a mountain range in Utah in the middle of nowhere.

I have sat on a boat in water, not Disneyland, real water, in the deep south, surrounded by crocodiles, giving toothy grins. Not me, them. Alligator or crocodile, same difference. Anybody got a gun? I hope it's not one which takes three minutes to re-load. There's another crocodile - behind you!

WATER COLLECTING RESTRICTIONS
Rainwater
But what about water? Bottled water, if you want it in a restaurant, but there's movement against plastic bottles. Drink tap water.
Some people install filters in their kitchen tap. Others collect rainwater as it falls on the garden. Or draw it out of wells.

Flashing around Facebook is a demand to fight and change laws stopping you from collecting rainwater in the USA. What's that all about?

WHY ARE THEY RESTRICTING WATER COLLECTIONS?
If you are asking why should it change: because we could be saving water in times of drought by collecting rainwater for plants. This would help your area not run out of purified water when the population increases or drought makes the water in dams run low. Poor people, those interested in conservation, people living 'off the grid', anybody moving a caravan or building a house and not yet on the water supply system, even demonstration centres and water butt sellers could be prosecuted if the law is allowed.

Why Collect Rainwater?
If you are asking why should restrictions on saving rainwater change: because we could be saving water in times of drought by collecting rainwater for plants. This would help your area not run out of purified water when the population increases or drought makes the water in dams run low. 

Poor people, those interested in conservation, people living 'off the grid', anybody moving a caravan or building a house and not yet on the water supply system, even demonstration centres and water butt sellers could be prosecuted if the law restricting water collection is allowed.

Useful Websites
US LAWS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_West_Virginia
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5108843/Woman-left-tears-man-shoots-pit-bull-dead.html
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/08/united-states-cant-fences-certain-height-front-backyard/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/is-rainwater-harvesting-legal-in-your-state-us/61586739
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/foreign-nationals-and-death-penalty-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_the_United_States

St James Hotel, New Mexico. Photo from Wikipedia by Daniel Schwen. 

TOURIST SITES:
GUN HISTORY
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8798 Chair where Wild Bill Hickock was shot dead during a poker game
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Hotel_(Cimarron,_New_Mexico)
St James Hotel, New Mexico, USA, fatal card game room. Everyone you can think of from the wild west stayed here. Wild Bill Cody, Wyatt Earp, Jesse James and many more. I loved it. Highlight of my trip.
WATER CONSERVATION
USA
https://www.hooverdamtourcompany.com/center.html

Hoover Dam showing the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, far left. Photo by Kuczora in Wikipedia.

HONG KONG
http://www.hypsos.com/en-us/cases/visitor-attraction/water-conservation-education-centre-in-hong-kong.aspx
TOURIST BOARDS
visitbritain.org
visit-usa.com
LANGUAGE & EMERGENCY
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/chinese-translation-of-emergency.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/american-and-british-english.html
Many more posts by Angela Lansbury about Americanisms, language, Esperanto, Chinese, learning languages, travel to the USA, Canada, UK, China, Singapore and more.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 
I have many other posts on travel, living overseas, learning languages, and business travel and holidays.
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Funerals: Arranging Driving To And From A Funeral and The Middlesex Stadium, Barn Hotel, Clothes

Problem
How to get everybody to the funeral venue - driving before or with the cortege?
How to arrange transport from the funeral to the refreshments?
Organise the line-up?
What to say?
Display photos?
Drive and park at the reception/refreshment venue?
What could Go Wrong?

1 The People Who Know The Place Still Get Lost
This happened to me twice.
a) The lady at the care home said ,"I know the crematorium," so we didn't send her directions. She just wrote the time in her diary.
We didn't have her mobile number to call and ask, 'Where are you? Are you on the way?' which we should have done twenty minutes in advance.
Later we discovered she went to another crematorium, nearer the care home (instead of the one nearer our home) because, 'that's where most people at the care home have funerals'. She had bought flowers, which we never received, and wasted both her money and time. We had worried all through the funeral, watching the door, wondering if she was late.

Funeral Clothes
Out first problem of the day, at the recent event, was: what to wear? What was the dress code? At a wedding, our family said they did not want to tell people what to wear. But it's embarrassing if you get it wrong.

All Mourners, Family and Guests Wearing Black
There are three sets of clothes styles.
1 Traditionally everybody wears black. (After attending several funerals were nobody wore black, I arrived at a huge Catholic funeral in a countryside church in England. I was wearing my reversible jacket. I had to crouch on the floor hiding in the pews. I struggled to remove my coloured patchwork jacket and reverse my jacket to black, put it back on and stuff my bright scarf in my bag.)

Seeing the mourners setting off, we were able to ascertain that they were all wearing black, not dayglo yellow and pink.

Next Of Kin Only In All Black
2 Only next of kin wear black, like white for brides at a funeral, so you can distinguish the immediate family from a distance in a crowd.

You don't want to look as if you are one of the funeral party, the next of kin. This happened to me on one occasion when I wore solid black at another family's funeral but only the morners wore black. A stranger assumed I must be a daugher or mother or ex-wife next of kin and came up and shook my hand and patted me on the back and told me, "I am sorry for your loss".

What could I reply? The first time I was speechless with surprise. The second time I said, 'thank you  - and who are you? Then I explained who I was.' The first person must have thought they'd done their duty speaking to the widow, when they hadn't.

3 Bright Colours
The deceased (such as a rock star who is homosexual and knows they are dying of cancer or HIV, for example, has specified in their will that they want bright colours, such as their favourite colour of purple or red or pink, or something to cheer up the family and children).

So, we changed clothes and dressed in sober black. We could see the cortege outside in the street.

Driving Before Or After The Cortege?
It is usual for the cortege to start from the house. Then the neighbours can see you going.

One person wanted to drive following the hearse, to find the venue and form a cortege. However, another neighbour advised against it. He said, "They drive very slowly. You create a traffic jam which nobody else on the road can overtake."

He was right. The more I thought about it, the more I could see he was right. We needed to arrive early, to be there to greet the mourners.

When we arrived, there were dozens of people. (One mourner commented, 'That's because she was young." If you have a 90 year old's funeral, sometimes they have few friends alive or well enough to travel. With a school, you might have an entire class, brought on a bus organised by the funeral director, bearing the funeral director's name.)

Shiva and Chairs
At a Jewish family funeral tea and the prayers held one evening or as many as seven, (Shiva is hebrew fr seven) you 'sit shiva' meaning the family sits on low chairs, easy to spot the family when everybody else is standing and a group of people are together at the far end of the room on low chairs supplied by the synagogue.

At one shiva when I was in my early twenties I wore black leather trousers and discovered leather was wrong and trousers were wrong.

This time I thought I would wear a reversible jacket, black one side and coloured the other. I could reverse it from black if I had got the dress code wrong.

My family said, "That's too casual. You have to dress formally, to show respect."

Breakspear Crematorium and the funeral service organised by Hearden and Daughters was good. I noticed Suzanne stroking the arm of of the widower  before he got up to speak.

Going back to the house is a lot to organise. You don't want to risk strangers walking in. You have to tody up, make space, organise where people will put clothes, pick caterers to serve, clear up afterwards.

I heard one family say that they were staying with relatives and did not even want to go back to the house.

Why Choose The Barn?
Every other funeral tea I've been to after a cremation at Breakspear in Ruislip was held nearby at the Barn Hotel.

I must admit that Barn Hotel is one of my favourites, historic, paintings, landscaped grounds, easy to find as it is just beyond the station, Ruislip station. I've been there to several teas, dinners - and funeral teas.

I wondered whether the Stadium would be a bit second best. People can get lost between the cemetery and the house. I remember a joke about people who ended up at a hospital following another funeral guest back to the house. It turned out that the person they followed was a doctor on call.

Convenient Location - Stadium
If the Barn hotel is convenient, the Stadium is even more convenient. The stadium is steps away form the entrance of the crematorium, which is in sight of the crossroads by Majestic wine supermarket, on the road leading down to Ruislip Lido and the restaurant.

Often you come out of a cemetery or crematorium and head to a house or hotel and start proceedings with a line up to offer words of consolation.

After a service at the Crematorium (in loving memory of Suzanne Elizabeth Roig) we came out of the service into the open air and queued to speak to the family and stand for a few minutes talking by the flowers on the ground outside. I thought this was good. You can then do that at the funeral, and move on to happier moments at the lunch or tea.

What do you say to the family? The Jewish standard saying, which saves you from having to decide what to say, gives you something to say if you are tongue

We went to the Stadium at lunchtime. There's plenty of parking outside.

After you have parked and lined up, the funeral cortege arrives, bearing the hearse with flowers. The next of kin are directed into a waiting room. The rest of the group queue outside on a covered walkway.
We found it quite hard for those with wheelchairs and zimmer frames to get through the queue to join their spouses or the waiting room.

The funeral directors had cordoned off the front row of seats for the immediately family. There were no ushers. Not enough seats for everybody, so people stood at the sides and back. The guests sorted themselves out. I saw one man on the end of a row get up and offer a seat to an elderly white-haired lady.

I stood for a bit, then asked somebody on the end of a row if they could move up. The man might have offered me a seat if he had been alone. But they were with a spouse and instead decided that both of them would move up.

My Conclusions and Notes For Next Time
1 Give everybody written notice of the date, and time, and venue.

2 Ask everybody to arrive 15 minutes early. That gives you time to chase anybody who has overslept (students, grandchildren) or got lost (the elderly, epople driving from far away, areas with more than one cemetery - such as Cheshunt in England - orthodox and liberal Jewish cemeteries, Hendon in London, England, which has several cemeteries and 'the Hendon cemetery - where my late wife was buried' (written in a will), could be one of several. Asking for a cemetery means passers-by direct you to the wrong one.

3 Phone anybody vital who is late. Phone them fifteen minutes before hand. Phoning at the start of the ceremony is too late. They call back five minutes later and your phone rings in the middle of the service. (This happened to me - not at the funeral but at a Toastmasters International meeting the same day, when I phone somebody who was late to see if another person should take over their role.)

4 Indicate the Dress Code

(I'm stopping for a food break. More later.)

Funeral Seating

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Being Drunk Could Invalidate Your Travel Insurance. Why? When? Drunk driving, pedestrians, falls and accidents

Problem
You are going to a party on Saturday night. But you are driving to your destination on Sunday. Does this mean you cannot drink on Saturday night?

Answer
I was in that situation two years running. I was going to a Writers Circle party on the Saturday night. On the Sunday I was driving to a Writing Holiday.

No To Drunk Driving
Knowledge has increased. I remember my shock on learning that you could still be over the limit the morning after.

Clearly, if you drink at midnight, and drive home at one in the morning, you are over the limit. But if you drink to two in the morning and drive at eight in the morning, you may still be over the limit. I was at a party starting at about eight in the evening and ending about eleven in the evening.

I decided that I could not have even one drink, because one drink could lead to two. Because if a policeman or doctor asked me if I had had anything to drink, I did not want to find myself hesitating, stammering, saying, "Well, er, it was only, um ..."

More importantly, I wanted my wits about me when driving, or protecting myself and property at motorway stops and in unfamiliar situations and places.

Drunk Pedestrians
We have all seen drunk pedestrians staggering out of pubs or veering along the pavement, even sitting on the curb, using it as a seat, or falling over the drop, or lurching into the road without looking. In the UK, USA and Australia official bodies have released figures about the numbers of pedestrian accidents involving drink. If you want a quick check, references are compiled by Wikipedia.

Self Monitoring and Family
You can monitor yourself. You can ensure you don't get into a vehicle driven by somebody who you think is incapacitated.

You can monitor or warn those you know - your family who want you to drive them home. You can monitor strangers in the street, at parties, at pubs. You can monitor employees and put notices in pubs and places of work. I have seen warning on restaurant menus and by wash basins in pubs and restaurants and on the back of doors of toilet cubicles.

Monitoring Friends and Family
We see signs on medication warning that side effects could be drowsiness and not to operate machinery nor to drive while under the influence of the medication. If you take the medicine every four hours, you might assume that for at least four hours after taking medicine you must be careful.

A first step is to find out how many accidents and injuries involve drink, drugs or medication.

in 2011 Australia saw the start of a campaign: Never let a mate walk home drunk.
In the UK I was alarmed at reports of people who disappeared after drinking in pubs and walking home by canals and across bridges. I don't need to tell you ... But I will. After extensive searches, in some cases q quick result, in others nothing found until long afterwards.

The next question arises, did they fall or were they pushed? Water in the lungs shows they were alive and breathing when they went into the water. The question still arises, did they fall or were they pushed. Either way, drinking made them vulnerable.

Monitoring Customers

So, we all know that
1 It is dangerous to drive home drunk. Pubs have signs about designated drivers.
2 It is dangerous to drink at night and drive next morning. My local newspaper reported a case where a 'drunk', or over the limit driver killed a pedestrian. The driver had drunk the night before.
3 I have seen signs warning that it is dangerous to walk home when drunk, because of the danger of traffic accidents.
4 Now I learn that travel insurance can be invalidated if you are drunk and fall over.

Useful Websites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42878841# (Article about drinking and insurance claims)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_drivers
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/05/drunk-pedestrian-fatalities/2621673/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_walking

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Driving in the UK, Europe, Romania - each country's costs and quirky rules

Problem
In the UK and some former British rule of the road countries such as Singapore we drive on the left. Other countries in Europe drive on the right.

France and Accidents
I remember reading that a high proportion of accidents in Europe are near the ferry terminals. People drive off the ferry from the UK to France. They are not yet attuned to which side of the road they should drive on.

Of course, there are now signs.

France and Fines
Another concern of Brits going to France was that drivers had to buy breathalyser kits for their cards in case they were stopped by the police. Later this law was dropped because they could not produce enough breathalysers. Better check with the AA or RAC or the country concerned before you travel  to France or any country what the latest laws are.

If you own or hire a car in the UK and drive across to France through the tunnel or take a ferry, you are in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side. When you fly drive, it is easy to know which side of the road to drive.

Driving with the driving wheel on the correct side makes it easier to overtake. The driver is in the middle of the road and can see the road ahead and any traffic in the overtaking lane or, in a two way road, in the approaching lane.

If the driver is on the kerbside, the passenger my be responsible for saying if there is any vehicle coming.

Romania
When we drive in Romania, what are the rules of the road? What does a driver need to carry?

The websites telling you about driving in Romania point out that you need a warning triangle. You might think that if you hire a car that would automatically be provided. It is in your interests to check. As where it is. You might need it in a hurry and you don't want to cover it with a suitcase. Does it fold out?

The high visibility jacket is not something I expected to have to provide and wear on a motorway even in daytime. Very sensible. But In an accident that means I can't jump out and run back to fix up the warning triangle without it. So where do I get one?

I recently narrowly avoided hitting a pedestrian who ran across the street wearing dark clothing. It gave me quite a turn. You can buy armbands to go over clothing or be sewn on, specifically for safety. Another option is decorative patches which glow in the dark. Or wearing white at night.

Is there anything I hadn't thought of?

Answer
The RAC (UK's Royal Automobile Club) has a handy website about Romania. It covers what you want to know and things you didn't know you need to know.

I wanted to know about parking and fines. It told me which side of the road to drive on, that if you stop for more than five minutes you must be in the same direction as the traffic. (I believe that's so vehicles approaching from behind can see your reflectors.

You need to carry your driving license, insurance, and ID (passport).

Seatbelts are required in the back as well as the front.
(Incidentally, I am often told by taxi drivers and private car drivers worldwide that the seatbelt is stuck under the back folding seat but 'it doesn't matter'.

It does matter. I insist that they stop and sort out the seat belt. Why?
1 A friend of mine in the middle seat was thrown forward in a road traffic accident and several injured.
2 I read that the front seat passenger can be injured by the force of a body thrown forward from behind.
3 If you are not wearing a seatbelt the insurance can refuse to pay up or reduce damages on the grounds that your injuries were not caused by the driver but by your failure to wear a seatbelt.
4 You or the driver could be fined.

In Romania, according to the website, you also have to keep your lights on even in day time and you are not allowed to hoot your car horn day or night in some places such as a central city.  Whether you are seeking safety or to avoid being fined, better safe than sorry.

In the UK we have the AA, the Automobile Association. In the USA we have the American Automobile Association, AAA.

The first thing the AA website told me about driving in Romania was that drivers should be asare that NO alcohol is allowed. So you can't have just one drink.

The money supermarket site has handy information on the USA. It reminded me that you should not have alcohol in the car, even unopened. Keep it out of reach, in the boot of the car (which in the USA is called the trunk).

DIRTY CARS BANNED!
The most surprising thing is that Romania forbids driving with a dirty car. (That's the sort of rule I would expect in Singapore.)

Russia is another place which bans dirty cars. Why? Your numberplate or registration number must be visible.

Stopping When School Buses Are Stopped
Another important note in the USA is about not overtaking a stopped (and flashing light) school bus, whether you are behind it or approaching from the other direction. You have probably guessed that this measure was introduced for the safety of children who alight and run into the road without looking, or even do look.

Some countries require you to carry a first aid kit. Always a good idea. Others require a sign of a regulation size and colour and design, not just a red balloon, or white fabric handkerchief, on a bicycle or projecting object on the back or top or anywhere on your car.
Anything which promotes safety is good.

It's also a good idea to carry the number of the emergency services and have it handy in your phone.

How much will a high visibility jacket cost? I was amazed to see how widely they are available, from Sports Direct or Alibaba. The price for a sleeved jacket was about £20, and a sleeveless vest was reduced from about £6 to £2.50.

For more details see:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/country/romania/
http://www.theaa.ie/aa/summer-driving/romania.aspx
http://www.theaa.ie/travelhub/hiring-and-driving-a-car-in-europe/
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/driving-abroad-the-rules-and-regulations/0014407/

Tips
http://romaniatourism.com
https://www.duolingo.com/
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to my posts.

Coffee and Cures For Jet Lag?

Problem
You arrive on a different time zone and can't sleep. Then you are awake all day.

Answers
Is the answer coffee? What keeps you awake in the day? Coffee. Or keeping busy. You sleep in the dark and wake in the light. You can re-set your day and night so you are nearer to the time zone of your destination.

Coffee might keep you awake but coffee in your system can keep you awake at night.

Stories
I complained to a doctor I was getting up in the night. He said drink only one cup of coffee for breakfast, one at eleven, decaff at lunch time. I have stuck to that ever since.

I gave up brown sugar and cream in coffee when I started dieting to lose weight and coffee rarely tastes as good as it used to. I love coffee flavour in cakes and chocolates, but coffee rarely tastes as good as it smells. I'm turning to mango juice and mango lassi. Thinking of trying coconut milk (yes, that is also fattening).

Driving and Sleeping
I avoid driving after missing sleep. Somebody drove into the back of my car on a motorway. I heard her speaking on the phone telling somebody that she had just got off a flight from Asia. I immediately wondered whether she might have been dozing off at the wheel. Signs along British motorways warn Tiredness can kill.

Tips
You can buy Melatonin at pharmacies in airports.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my books on Lulu.com and Amazon.com. I am also on blogger com with other blogs, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Please follow, like and share.