Dr Birol of the International Energy Agency (IEA) now admits that we have passed peak conventional crude oil. After saying for years, that we are nowhere near peak oil, he now says that the IEA thinks that conventional crude peaked five years ago. Dr Birol says that governments should have been planning for this ten years ago. What have they been doing?
In the UK, predicting a doubling of air passengers by 2030 and planning for a third runway for Heathrow and a second runway for Stansted. The cancelling of plans for the Heathrow third runway by the new government seems obvious in light of the predicted oil supply in 2030. Yet, I still see plans being wheeled out for concepts such as the Aerotropolis.

The travel industry will increase its fuel surcharges, but the problem extends to all of the products that rely on cheap oil but the real hard hitter will be fertilisers and food. All of these will rise in price. With the scarcity of supply driving prices up, the price of oil is hardly likely to drop unless the recession bites again. Take a look at this video where a Dr Birol is interviewed and even Richard Branson is shown discussing an impending oil crunch.

Do you think we will still be able to fly around the world for less than £1000 / $1500, in five years time?

My most memorable travel moments were unplanned and beautifully unexpected.

1. Arriving in an Irish village, wet, hungry and thirsty after a day’s walking. Entering the first pub, to find it was Paddy Burke’s.

2. Relaxing on a balmy June day, in a Florentine Piazza, watching a man wash his clothes under the drinking fountain, then draping them on the railings to dry.

3. Giving a student a lift to his home in Chamonix, then sharing tea, meringues and Gruyère cream with his family.

4. Discovering Annecy, when my sleeper train to Chamonix was cancelled due to a strike. The rescheduled itinerary involved a wait there.

5. Staying in a Swiss family’s Martigny apartment, later enjoying a locally sourced banquet at a 50th birthday celebration.

6. Ignoring rain and fog at Chamonix to experience one of the best days of my life riding fresh powder snow high up in the mountains.

7. Climbing Scafell through snow laden clouds, following a Saturday morning working away from home. Summiting in zero visibility, the clouds parted for the sun to illuminate the magnificent Lake District vista.

8. Seeking somewhere to eat in Rauentahl, Germany when all the restaurants were closed. Invited by locals into a garage behind a house, to join the community feasting.

9. Singing along to an Oompah Band playing “Smoke on the Water”, while standing on trestle tables and benches at Oktoberfest.

10. Finding Telč a UNESCO listed town, tourist free, on a sunny July afternoon.

This post has been entered into the Grantourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.

Each November, in Wallonia and Brussels OXFAM Magasins du Monde host breakfasts at school canteens and cafeterias. Last Saturday and Sunday the 20th and 21st November, we were among the 39,200 diners. The event has been run for the last nineteen years now, but this was only my second OXFAM breakfast. It raises money for the charity as well as showcases the high quality range of foods the shops sell here in Belgium.

We regularly purchase their fruit juices, coffee, chocolates and the like. It was good to discover some of their breakfast cereals as well. I was very impressed by the baguettes with quinoa, unfortunately bread is not normally sold in the shops.

OXFAM Breakfast

Revised 18 February 2011, for #FriFotos on Twitter.

Between the hours of 9am and 7pm, for one Sunday, each September, cars are banished from within the Brussels Outer Ring Road. All of the buses, trams and metro are free. The only cars allowed are those belonging to the Emergency Services and taxis. A number of events are staged around the city. Including the laying of turf and trees in large pots, on Place Royale in front of the Palace for a large picnic and farmers market and eco exhibition.
This weekend is one of the best to visit Brussels, especially if you wish to hire one of the city’s bicycles from the Villo! Bike share scheme as you will be a lot safer on the road.

I posted this video on YouTube. It gives a some idea of what the day is like.

But then found this video from the 2009 event, of longboarders enjoying a car free Avenue Tervuren, I really enjoyed watching it.

Usually, there are also some Braderies on the streets, where locals (and some traders) spread out anything they want to sell on the street.

Other Car Free Days are staged in cities as diverse as Amsterdam and Bogota. There is campaign to try to get a Car Free Day for London. What is the situation in your city or country?

The last of my Top Ten Winter Sports Tips will look at Safety. It may not be as sexy as saving money or the environment, but nevertheless it is important.  It is a controversial subject following the untimely death of the actress Natasha Richardson earlier in 2009. However, safety is little more than common sense. Don’t read these tips as a must do list. They are advice, you are free to disagree, or ignore them, but if you do and get injured, then please don’t go claiming off your insurance and pushing up my Winter Sports Premiums!

1. If you are a learner skier or snowboarder, then get lessons. Learn the FIS Code. You can get lessons at home on a dry ski slope or indoor ski slope. That way you will learn in your own language and be ready for action at the resort.

   

2. Get fit before you go. This will reduce your risk of accident by strengthening your muscles, You will also not tired so quickly on the pistes.

3. Use correctly fitting skis and snowboards. Lots of accidents occur because people borrow equipment from friends. Skis and snowboards and boots need to be matched to the user.

4. Wear the right clothing and and other safety gear depending upon your activity. The most obvious requirement is clothing suitable for the predicted weather conditions. Helmets, wrist protectors, impact shorts and back protectors can save some nasty injuries.

5. Read up on the weather forecast and follow the advice at the resort regarding avalanche risk.

6. If you intend riding off piste, then get trained in avalanche awareness and the use of transceivers, probes and shovels to locate buried riders. Take a trained guide with you.

7. Don’t forget sunscreen for your face. The thinner atmosphere and reflections off the snow mean that it is very easy to get sunburn to exposed skin.

8. Take plenty of water / drinks and high energy food / snacks with you, when you go riding.

9. Try to ride with friends so that you can look out for each other. Put the number of the Piste Rescue into your mobile phone along with the number of who they should contact “In Case of Emergency ” (store as ICE).

10. Make sure you have adequate insurance. If you are the wrong side of the marker poles, you may not be covered. A helicopter rescue can cost 20,000 Euros, so check beforehand and carry a copy of the cover with you.

There are a lot more points that I could add, but above all have fun!

Following on from my Ten Tips to save money on a Winter Sports break. Here are my Top Ten Tips for protecting the environment when taking to the slopes

Avoriaz Shuttle

on skis or snowboards. Winter Sports are one form of travel most under threat from Climate Change. Lets take responsibility for our travel:

1. Choose a resort that makes the environment a priority. Mountain Riders publish a guide that rates each resort on a number of environmental criteria. You can consult it online when making your plans.

2. Try to avoid flying to the resort. You can go by rail, or even bus to most resorts in Europe. If you go by car, then it is best to take a fuel efficient one with 3 or more passengers.

3. Use public transport instead of your own car at the resort. Many resorts have free shuttle buses.

4. Don’t leave the heating on full when you are not in your apartment, chalet or hotel. Rooms will heat up fast, once you return.

5. Short showers use less hot water and therefore less energy than long baths.

6. Buy local, in season produce when shopping for food. The energy expended getting exotic food to a ski resort can be huge.

7. Don’t litter use the bins provided. Get a portable ash can for cigarettes – one cigarettes stub can pollute a cubic metre of water.

8. In many of the French Ski resorts the supermarket chain Sherpa offers to take back unused tinned and boxed food. Preventing waste and saving money.

   

   Recycling bins

9. Try to purchase environmentally friendly, ski and snowboard equipment and clothes. Also use environmentally friendly waxes. Don’t throw away your gear at the end of the season. Sell it on ebay or give to others to help cut down the waste.

10. Segregate your rubbish and use the recycling facilities provided at most resorts.

I could add some more, like; share a shower with someone sexy, but this list is a Top Ten!

Pembrokeshire Coast path

Last week in Wales, while walking parts of the Pembrokeshire Coast , I took along a 2008 edition “coast to coast” a free newspaper published by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. It has the bus timetables and other very useful information for anyone walking parts or the whole of the coastal trail. Reading it one evening, I came across an article  discussing how agriculture on the path had changed over the time the Park has been in existence. It made some disturbing reading.

Twenty five years ago the path went through 33 dairy farms and 31 potato farms. Today the figure is 4 of each. Other statistical information presented included the fact that on average, in 1950 the sale of one fat lamb would provide a week’s wages. Now it takes the sale of six fat lambs to provide the same income in real terms.

I would not be at all surprised if this picture was repeated throughout the UK and Europe. Farming practices have always been subject to change and another statistic highlights this – in 1980 just 0.3% of the farms were organic, while today some 7% are.

Why do you feel farming has changed in Pembrokeshire? Do you feel that it has changed for the better?

The article suggests that we as consumers or visitors top the area can help support small family farms by:

• buying locally grown produce
• buying from farmers’ markets
• returning to stay in Pembrokeshire
• Supporting local farm enterprise

Do you have any tips to add to the above list?

Reference “coast to coast” published by the Pembrokeshire National Park Authority. Copies of the 2009 edition can be found in most Tourist Offices in Pembrokeshire.

While waiting to be served at a Cardiff Restaurant last week, I couldn’t help overhearing the large party on the adjacent table, discussing the merits of European cities they had visited. They were talking loudly, probably because they wanted the rest of the group to hear. One woman said “I did Prague”. The expression grated with me.
Prague is a wonderful city. It deserves more than to be “done”. Hearing this made me ponder why I travelled there in 2003.

It was a period of my life when everything seemed to be going wrong. I went because it had all but beckoned me through books, films and even pop videos. The experience was truly therapeutic.

I stayed in a cheap hostel with Soviet Era plumbing in the communal wash room. I walked, took the metro and trams all over the city. I ate with locals at cafés in the suburbs avoiding the tourist restaurants in the Old Town and city centre. I had many conversations with Czech locals and Russian Ex pats living in Prague. I even went to the Opera twice.

But did I do Prague?

My week in the city gave me a very small idea of what life was about in the city. The Museum of Communism gave another another insight. Inside in a display case were little lumps of lead and other heavy metals. The explanatory caption explained that the quantities shown were the average amounts breathed in over a year by a Czech inhabitant.

Shocking!

But is it any more shocking than flying out to Prague for a drunken Hen / Stag Party or flying there just to be able to say; “I did Prague”?

Its Tuesday of World Water Week 2009. Here are two more water saving tips for travellers.

Hallgerd - Fotolia.com

Tip 3

Do not leave the tap running while brushing your teeth. All you need is to wet the toothbrush.

Tip 4

In a similar vein. If you are staying in self catering accommodation, and are doing washing up, then use the dishwasher if it is provided. Dishwashers consume resources in the form of energy, raw materials, including water when manufactured.

If they are there use them.

They use less water than hand washing.

If washing up by hand then fill the sink. Do not use running water to wash your pans and dishes.

This week is World Water Week a cause very close to my heart as WaterAid is my favourite charity. It is a sad fact that 884 million people in developing countries have no access to clean water. Many walk miles for a container of dirty unsafe water each day. Every 17 seconds a child dies of a water borne disease. While about 70% of the Earth is covered by water only 3% is in the form of fresh water and the majority of this is in the polar ice caps. WaterAid works on projects to bring safe water and sanitation to communities. it along with other organisations is making slow headway as there was closer to 1 billion people without safe water 10 years ago.

yellowj- Fotolia.com

There is a long way to but as populations increase there can be no corresponding increase in fresh water on this small planet.

Tourism can also put strains on water supplies. It is a fact for example that the average water consumption by a French person is 140 litres of water per person per day while at home. When travelling this rockets to 300 litres per person per day! A typical occupied hotel room in the USA consumes 825 litres of water per day! A modern toilet flush will only produce 4.6 litres of water, so that’s an awful lot of flushes.  These rates of consumption put tremendous strains on water supplies in some parts of the world. So how can we be more frugal with our use of water while travelling (or at home for that matter)?

Tip 1

Do some research before your travel. Will you be staying in accommodation that has considered sustainability. Do they have measures in place for conserving drinking water such as dual flush toilets, aerated shower heads and tap faucets, do they make use of rainwater or grey water? You might also want to consider energy reduction measures and waste minimisation measures adopted as well.

Tip 2

Obvious really but short showers consume less water than long deep baths.

Finally as it is World Water Week consider supporting a water charity such as WaterAid.

Information – WaterAid, Mountain Riders and Fairmont Hotels