Ryanair have confirmed that their chief executive Michael O’Leary was serious in examining the feasibility of charging their passengers to use onboard toilets. Quite unrepentant, Mr O’Leary has now offered free flights to the winners of a competition for the best idea for new, and of course chargeable, on-board services. 
 
Perhaps the airline should reflect on the results of a survey just published on flight search engine website Skyscanner. One in four travellers found hidden charges the most annoying aspect of air travel. Extra costs for purchasing the ticket with a credit card, putting baggage in the hold and fuel surcharges were seen as particularly unfair.
 
With the help of clients, and firmly tongue in cheek, Skyscanner has compiled a list of potentially chargeable services for Ryanair to consider. These include an extra charge for having a co-pilot, an extra fee for providing a life jacket and, in the event of an emergency, a fee for releasing the oxygen mask, followed by an extra charge per minute for the volume of oxygen consumed.
 
Perhaps Ryanair customers should think twice about entering the real competition, because Mr O’Leary might take some of the suggestions seriously. For example, a charge for hand luggage based on weight, a surcharge for children because they cannot boost profits by buying alcohol on board, a surcharge for occupying a seat in the emergency exit rows because of the additional leg-room provided, and coin-operated overhead lockers. The idea of weighing passengers at check-in, and adjusting the fare payable on a £1 per lb basis, has been known to appeal to the Ryanair chief. He is also rumoured to be enthusiastic about the revenue potential from charging for the captain’s weather forecast at the flight destination.

A 10-year-old moratorium banning shark fishing in parts of The Maldives has been extended to cover the whole island group. Since its adoption in 1998, the moratorium covered seven atolls – but now it extends to 12 nautical miles off any Maldives land mass.

The Maldivian Government has taken the step in the face of evidence that shark populations in the area have come under threat from fishing practices. This is brilliant news because many scuba divers (myself included) are attracted to The Maldives for its healthy populations of sharks, in particular hammerheads.

I’ve just received the following which I thought might interest you

We had a lovely holiday in Cuba. It’s certainly a very interesting country and we are very glad that we did the trips you suggested.  In fact we felt that we could probably have done another one and spent slightly less time at the resort.  Havana was amazing and our hotel was very good.  Breakfast, room, position and service was excellent.  We took an afternoon guided tour of Havana which was well worthwhile when on a limited timescale. Loved the view from the roof. 
 
Vinales was also amazing for very different reasons – seeing and meeting the local people was so interesting – also did a guided walk in the valley which was thoroughly enjoyable.  Los Jasmines was excellent, and although only 2 Star was totally adequate – the view from the balcony made up for any shortcomings.  Were rather amused by the full time doctor who had a surgery on site and the number of security guards! 
 
Breezes was fine – although felt that the whole peninsula was just geared upto tourism and if you had not visited any other part of Cuba would not know what the country was really about.  The staff were very friendly and very helpful.  For us, the resort was a little noisy with quite a lot of Canadian youngsters, loud music round the pool and the quality of the entertainment was not brilliant (felt at times like an upmarket Butlins).  Our room was good and kept very clean and we found a lovely quiet spot on the beach which was fantastic. 
 
However, overall we have no complaints and thoroughly enjoyed our holiday.

S&M.

I got round to watching ‘In Bruges’ last weekend and it occurred to me that although the film is absolutely brilliant I did get a little distracted by the wonderful architecture of the city.  Now I have been as far away as Australia, Africa and the U.S.A., but I have never been to Bruges and it really made me want to go there.  So do film locations influence our choice of holiday destination?   I may be the only person on the planet who didn’t like ‘Mama Mia’ but I thought the background shots were stunning and reminded me of several wonderful holidays spent on the island of Skiathos.  ‘Out of Africa’ brings back memories of my trip around Kenya, especially when they buried Finch Hatton on the hill with that breathtaking view across the Mara – where I have sat!    And although ‘The Beach’ is not one of the best films I have ever seen, it’s a great advert for the scenery and beaches of Thailand.  You may not fancy Mumbai but ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ really does bring alive the colour and chaos that is India

First it was spas, now it seems yoga retreats are what everyone is asking for as the stresses of everyday life take their toll – and it certainly isn’t at the expense of luxury!
Shanti Ananda is the first and only destination spa in Mauritius and has quickly established an excellent reputation for its Ayurveda yoga (it is sister property to the Ananda in India)
La Prairie Maia Spa at Maia, Seychelles consists of 3 thatched pavilions, each with treatment areas and private gardens.  There are complimentary morning yoga, shiatsu and qi gong classes and 3 resident instructors for private lessons
Cocoa Island, Maldives is sister hotel to Parrot Cay in the Caribbean and their COMO Shambhala Spa has expert yoga tuition which includes week long retreat weeks.   Another island, Baros, offers Hatha Yoga sessions twice a day
Pangkor Laut, Malaysia is a wonderful tranquil location with its own yoga pavilion