An ethical guide to last-chance tourism
When French writer Cédric Duroux reached the summit of a remote Icelandic mountain where a few lone glimmers of ice remained, his first thought was that it was breathtakingly beautiful – until one of the guides gently told him that everything around him used to be glacier.
"And then it hit me at the top of that mountain; I'm still having goosebumps telling you about this," Duroux said. "That's when I realised how serious the situation was."
This was in 2018, the first of several trips to Ok – formerly the Okjokull glacier – organised by Rice University anthropologists. The professors were scouting the location where Okjokull's highly publicised glacier funeral would take place, and Duroux tagged along. The moment he came face to face with climate change for the first time has stayed with him ever since.
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The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
World first driverless BUS to ferry holidaymakers between terminals at major UK airport is unveiled
HOLIDAYMAKERS will soon be ferried between terminals in the world's first driverless bus at a UK airport. The eight-seater auto shuttle will trial at Teeside International Airport from October. 2 A £1 million deal between the airport and Aurrigo International Plc will see the bus ferry passengers between terminals, while an Auto-Dolly Tug - designed to ferry cargo instead of passengers - will be trialled in January. Managing Director at Teesside International Airport, Phil Forster, said the technology would make moving bags from check-in to planes seamless. But Aurrigo's Auto-Shuttle will be tested before it carries any passengers across the tarmac. It's hoped that, if successful, the new vehicles will transform the way passengers are moved around the airport. And they could be shuttling passengers to their flights as early as 2026. Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, told the BBC: "These vehicles arriving in just a couple of months' time are a huge boost and I'm excited to see them serving holidaymakers on our year-round flights in the New Year." The futuristic vehicles come to the airport after plans were announced earlier this year to invest £2 million to build a facility that would construct and test trackless trams. The Tees Valley Combined Authority hopes the facility would allow driverless vehicles to be put to work in town centres by the end of 2027. He went on to say that the tech will likely have an impact on the whole aviation industry. Aurrigo has deployed its driverless vehicles across the world before but has never trialled them at a live airport. The firm's test will mark a world first as the driverless buses take to the tarmac. Driverless buses have previously been used in Scotland but never deployed to an airport before. The new technology allows for operating costs to be reduced with no need to pay drivers. Driverless vehicles are still relatively new and untested technology and are yet to be rolled out nationwide.
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Lovers, lunatics and 80,000 meatballs: adventures on sleeper trains
Film buffs will know night trains as vehicles of love, lust and mystery. Consider Cary Grant top-bunking with Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest. Or Marilyn Monroe getting jiggy with a ukulele during an onboard pyjama party in Some Like It Hot. Silver screen sleepers are steamy stuff. However, those who have taken the Great Western Railway sleeper from Paddington to Penzance will also know that a night train can be as sexy as a Travelodge on a wet Wednesday in February. In Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train, the travel writer Monisha Rajesh eloquently and amusingly combines the fact and fiction, the cocktail hours and backed-up loos, the charming ticket inspectors and deranged fellow travellers, as she enjoys — and endures — 18 journeys spanning four continents. Rajesh surveys a form of travel that many might have considered obsolete. However, she explains, the night train has risen from its slumbers. After the Covid lockdowns 'many people were nervous to fly, booking private compartments and taking the time to explore closer to home', she writes. 'In 2022, Interrail had a record year of sales — and then I saw it, one line at a time, sleeper trains inching back out of the darkness.' Rajesh zips through moonlit mountain passes in Scandinavia and South America and takes city links in North America, Asia and Europe, routes that vary in quality, comfort and distance. On a press jolly on board the deluxe Belmond Andean Explorer to Arequipa, she enjoys pisco sours with a former Miss Peru and beds down on plush banquettes; in Turkey, she gets caught up in the maelstrom of the 2023 earthquake; and in the north of Norway, whistling through the land of the midnight sun, she enjoys a night train without night. She soon discovers that sleeping arrangements rarely fail to disappoint — her 'first-class' compartment on the Shalimar Express across the north of India 'looked like it had been repurposed from a scrapyard'. Sometimes the accommodation is simply surreal: the new Vienna-Hamburg Nightjet service provides a morgue-style row of single-berth wooden lockers into which passengers slot and lock. 'It's like sleeping in a bread bin,' her travelling companion observes. • 22 of the best rail journeys in Europe — your carriages await While compartments, couchettes — dorm-rooms of bunk beds — or reclining seats provide rest, the beating heart of a night train is its dining car. The meals are often geographical signifiers: there's 'sweaty gravlax' in Sweden and Angus beef and whisky on the Royal Scotsman. But these trains are not for fussy eaters, Rajesh writes. 'I'd once spent five days on the Trans-Mongolian eating onlyinstant mash and noodles.' Meanwhile, dining cars provide delicious opportunities for eavesdropping. 'Do you think people shag on these trains,' a woman whispers to her husband on the Caledonian Sleeper. 'I have,' a passenger at the next table interjects. 'The very last empty coach … we just got down to it.' Since publishing Around the World in 80 Trains (2019), Rajesh has become a mother, which affords her considerable empathy for those dealing with sleepy, grumpy and hungry children as they clamber on board with the paraphernalia of parenthood. Sometimes her young daughters come along for the ride (confectionery and nappies required). Rajesh is an endearing railway junkie — a German passenger calls her a 'Pufferküsser' — who has authored two previous anthologies of railway journeys. But there is something about the nocturnal quality of these trips that covers new, almost philosophical, terrain. At night everything is heightened, both the romantic — sunsets, cosy spaces, suggestive rhythmic motion — and the gripes that come with being cooped up with a bunch of strangers. The sound of a train in the night suggests secrets: while cities, towns and villages sleep there is activity under way. Not all of it good. Rajesh touches on their sinister possibilities when she stops off in Brussels to meet Simon Gronowski, a nonagenarian Holocaust survivor. On a spring night in 1943, Simon's mother lowered her 11-year-old son on to the tracks from a moving cattle truck as it coursed through the darkness on its way to Auschwitz. The Nazis used the night-time to cover their crimes. Simon survived; his mother perished. • Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List The renaissance of the night train is driven by economic, environmental and social factors, all largely positive. However, as Rajesh explains in this hugely entertaining book, a night train is only as good as the people on board. Speeding to Lapland on the Santa Claus Express, impeccably polite Finnish attendants serve up meatballs (about 80,000 portions a year) and patiently look after hordes of over-excited children. It 'fulfilled my every dream', Rajesh concludes. Compare that with the author's early morning experience between Washington DC and New York on Amtrak's Silver Meteor, a train summed up as a 'magnet for the unhinged'. Watching the sun rise over the Potomac River, Rajesh recalls: 'I crouched by the window to photograph the moment, just as a man in a sweatshirt tapped me on the shoulder and moved me to one side so he could vomit into the recycling bin.' Cary Grant would have been appalled. Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train by Monisha Rajesh (Bloomsbury £22 pp336). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Every day's a holiday since I moved to a caravan park…I pay zero council tax but here's a downside many don't know about
A YOUNG woman has revealed that she moved onto a caravan park five months ago and no longer has to pay council tax. Not only this, but now every day is a holiday for Katrina, who is able to take advantage of the park's swimming pool and sauna. 2 Although it costs half of the price of her old flat, the woman, who lives in the south of England, took to social media to open up on the benefits and drawbacks of living on a holiday park. The brunette beauty, who bought her caravan outright and spends just £528 a month on her pitch, bills and insurance, revealed the big downside that many people don't know about, leaving many totally stunned. As she gave her followers a look inside her caravan, she said: 'I gave up bricks and mortar and chose to move into a caravan five months ago now and since then, I have non-stop been asked how to start this life. 'I think there are some pros to living on a holiday park - including no council tax, there's often more fun facilities. 'The fact that you can't stay there all year round can either be seen as a pro or a con - my holiday park is [open] 11 months and I really like the fact that I have to go for a month, it means that I'm gonna travel for at least a month a year.' But getting candid on the unknown negative side of living in a caravan, the content creator, who has amassed 29,900 followers since opening up about her life in a caravan, Katrina opened up on the address issue living in a caravan can pose. She added: 'There are some downsides too - you do have to have another residential address to assign to your GP, bank, important things, so if you're selling your residential address to move into a caravan, you will need to have someone in your life that is ok with you perhaps staying there occasionally and registering it as your address.' Not only this, but she also added: 'If you do choose a holiday park, know that you have less legal protection, so you really need to choose the right site - you have to do your research.' Those looking to do the same as Katrina should be aware that living full-time in a caravan on a holiday park can be legally tricky in the UK, especially if you're treating it as your main residence. Holiday parks are not legally allowed to be your permanent residence, as like Katrina recognised, they usually have rules and licenses from the local council that restrict how long you can stay. We moved into a caravan in my mother-in-law's garden for a year, sure it was cramped but we saved £20k As well as this, when living in a caravan, you'll usually have a license agreement, not a tenancy, which means you don't have tenant rights. Plus, the site owner can usually terminate your agreement with little notice, depending on the terms. If you want to stay at a caravan site long-term, you should consider parks that offer residential status (with a proper site license), look for a park that follows the Mobile Homes Act 1983 and get any agreement in writing and read the small print. LIVING in a caravan can be an economical and flexible lifestyle choice in the UK. Here's a breakdown of potential costs: Initial Costs Caravan Purchase: £8,000 - £40,000 (depending on size, age, and condition) Caravan Insurance: £200 - £800 per year Ongoing Monthly Costs Pitch Fees: £150 - £600 (varies by location and facilities) Utilities (Electricity, Gas, Water): £40 - £120 Maintenance and Repairs: £20 - £80 Internet and TV: £20 - £50 Gas for Heating/Cooking: £15 - £40 Other Potential Costs Waste Disposal Fees: £8 - £25 Transport Costs (if moving locations): Variable, depending on distance Optional Add-ons (Awning, Solar Panels, etc.): £400 - £1,600 (one-time) Sample Monthly Budget Pitch Fees: £400 Utilities: £80 Maintenance and Repairs: £40 Internet and TV: £40 Gas for Heating/Cooking: £25 Total: £585 Annual Estimated Cost Total Monthly Costs: £585 x 12 = £7,020 Insurance: £500 Maintenance and Repairs: £480 Total Annual Cost: £8,000 Tips to Save Off-Peak Pitch Fees: Look for lower rates during off-peak seasons. DIY Maintenance: Handle minor repairs yourself. Energy Efficiency: Invest in solar panels to reduce utility costs. While initial setup costs can be significant, ongoing expenses for living in a caravan can be relatively low, making it a viable option for those seeking an affordable and mobile lifestyle in the UK. Additionally, Katrina claimed that small, family-run caravan sites are 'always better' than bigger sites and acknowledged the importance of checking every park's rules. She also stressed the significance of asking 'for projection of site fees going forward' and advised those looking to move to a caravan site to 'talk to people who have lived on the site for a long time.' Social media users react Katrina's TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @ katrinascaravan, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 93,300 views, 2,099 likes and 37 comments. One person said: 'I have done this for five months too, I love it. So cheap.' Another added: 'Great vid.' A third commented: 'Wow, much admiration to you.'
