Rome

Tag Archives for Rome.

New Qantas Safety Video-is ten minutes too long?

Qantas, known as “The Spirit of Australia” has been around for more than a century, and in that time it has proven itself to be one of the safest and most dependable airlines in the world. The excellent safety record of Qantas is a reflection of the company’s dedication to safety, which is a core value. Qantas pioneered the long storytelling safety video, and they have now produced a number of them. I have loved them all. As a Qantas passenger who has flown them over 470 times earning me Gold for Life Frequent Flier…

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Tourist’s Stupidity wins them €20K fine

I hate tourists that damage the buildings or the natural environment. Its a massive bugbear of mine. The question is how much do we want these people to be punished? It seems Italy is getting tough. This week,  one such vandal was fined $US25 000 for attempting to carve his initials into the Colosseum. This AD70 amphitheatre built during the Roman Empire stands 48.5 metres high and welcomes over six million visitors a year. I have visited it twice and it still inspires me. The 42-year-old Russian tourist  had used a stone to carve the letter “K” into…

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Ethiopian Hijacker arrested- Airport closed-All safe

Ethiopian Airlines are reporting all passengers and crew are safe at Geneva Airport.  Associated Press announced that the hijacker of the plane  has been arrested. Police spokesman Jean-Philippe Brandt told The Associated Press that “the situation is under control” Geneva airport is fermé (closed) until 9 a.m local time (8am GMT, 3am US EST) according to the airport website. There will be a Press Conference at that time. Flights bound for Geneva have been cancelled or diverted as a result. The reason for the hijacking is unclear, although unconfirmed reports suggest that some of those on board the aircraft may have been…

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Ethiopian Airlines Hijack? [updated]

Confession: I am less scared of crashing inside a plane than I am worried I may be a hijack victim. So my heart goes out to 200 passengers today. News sources are reporting that Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702, a Boeing 767-300 (registration: ET- AMF) was hijacked over Sudan. Social media posts suggested that the plane’s transponder began squawking”7500″. Flight 702 departed from Addis Ababa at 00:30 (local time) and had been scheduled to arrive in Rome (FCO) at 04:40 (local time). The flight was scheduled to fly on to Milan (MXP) but that segment has…

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iDotto Audio Guides

The idea of wandering around a city listening to an audio tour does not excite me. Until now.  iDotto is an intriguing app for the future of travel guiding. It  is an audio guide that “accompanies” its users around a city and gives them a personalised guided tour. With a guide book, you usually have to follow a set route, or turn to a particular page. With IDotto, you download, whack in your headphones, walk where you want to and listen.”iDotto doesn’t give you orders, or impose an itinerary. It goes with you and tells you about what you are looking at. After all, it…

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