Another easyjet route
Fancy exploring a new destination? easyjet has launched a new route from London Luton to the city of Bremen. The new route opened for business on October 31 and the airline expects to carry almost 100,000 passengers during the first 12 months of operation. Bremen, in the heart of North West Germany, is known as the ‘Rome of the North’ and the 1,200-year-old city has an exciting mix of heritage, science, high technology and space industry. Contact PDM for more details of low cost flights to the city.
Hurricane Wilma’s impact on Cancun
Mexico’s tourism industry will take until at least next February to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Wilma, according to the country’s President.
Most of the luxury hotels at the heart of the country’s holiday resorts were ruined by the storm. In addition, many of its shopping centres were emptied by looters before soldiers and police took control of Cancun’s streets and imposed a curfew.
The breakdown in law and order will add more worries to tourists already concerned about similar scenes in the US after Hurricane Katrina. In all, 14 deaths in Florida were blamed on Wilma, which also killed at least 12 people in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Beta, formed in the south-western Caribbean Sea, became the season’s 23rd tropical storm – the highest number since records began in 1851.
French crackdown on tobacco
If you travel between Portugal and your home country via France, be aware that no one is allowed to carry more than 10 packets of cigarettes outside their home under a new bill passed by parliament recently. Under the legislation, anyone who buys large quantities of cheap cigarettes in Europe will be liable to fines if they try to bring them back through France.
Parliament approved the bill despite the opposition of President Chirac’s centre-right government because it breaches European Union laws on the single market. The new law states that the transport of more than 200g of cigarettes bought retail for personal use – 10 packets of 20, or one carton – will be banned, and the quantity that may be stored at home will be limited to 10 cartons, or two kilograms. Legitimate commercial suppliers will not be affected.
France has long applied old customs rules regulating the movement of alcohol. No private person may carry more than 10 litres of spirits, 90 bottles of wine or 100 bottles of beer without a permit from the excise service. To enforce the law, customs squads will carry out more spot checks on vehicles near France’s land borders. Such checks are routinely carried out now to keep watch on potential illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug smugglers.
