Although the era of regular ‘space tourism’ is still a decade or more away, you can still enjoy that ‘weightless’ feeling if you’re super rich, or super brainy. Several individuals have paid their way into space programmes, others get a freebie for doing a lot of thinking.

Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, author of the ground-breaking theories of the universe in A Brief History of Time, has been offered a chance to theorise in a ‘space environment’.

The wheel-chair bound quadriplegic, who has suffered Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) since early adulthood, will get to beat gravity and personally analyse the effects thanks to a generous berth aboard one of the flights operated by Zero Gravity Corporation.

The modified Boeing 727, provided by the Fort Lauderdale-based space tourism and entertainment company, soars to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent.

“As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience first hand weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment,” Hawking said in a statement.

Zero Gravity will pick up the $3,750 bill, and has been offering the flights since 2004. However, it will not be the only time the world’s pre-eminent theoreticist experiences space. Sir Richard Branson, whose company, Virgin Galactic, is building a suborbital spaceship that could be flying passengers as early as 2009, has also offer Dr Hawking a free seat. These might cost as much as $200,000 when the service begins.

During the course of 2007 two new budget routes will be introduced from the UK to Poland. The first will begin operating on April 17 between Birmingham and Warsaw, provided by Norwegian on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, departure from Birmingham at 11.25am, arriving in Warsaw at 6.55pm. Flights from Warsaw will return at 1.20pm and arrive at the Midlands airport at 2.55pm.

On October 5^th easyJet will introduce a service between London Gatwick and Krakow with ticket prices starting at £27.99 return (taxes included). Daily flights will depart from London at 11.50am, arriving in Krakow at 2.40pm. Return flights will leave Poland at 3.05pm and arrive back at Gatwick at 4.35pm.

www.easyjet.com

Getting your head around your own personal or small business accounting is a lot less fun than jetting off on a tropical island holiday. But without figuring the finances the chances are you won’t be able to afford the trip in the first place.

Not unless you fly frequently for business or other trips. Raking up air miles is one simple way to gather enough points for a free vacation flight, but keeping track of them is another story. Airlines deduct, short-change, refund, boost and cancel expiring points, all making it a nightmare to track.

Now you can keep tabs on your free travel plans with a handy hack that lets you track your air miles in quicken, simply by creating an account that is not included in the overall reporting and balance sheet. The currency is substituted for points, and you have all sorts of options to add and subtract miles, each time you fly.

Find out more in a step-by-step tutorial:

http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2007/02/15/quicken-hack-how-to-track-airline-miles-or-points/

Fancy a few early spring days strolling the Champs-Élysées, cruising the Seine in a Batobus, or exploring the back lanes of Montmartre?

The most convenient way to get to Paris from London just got better. March specials for weekend packages travelling by high speed train and staying in three and four star hotels in the French capital start at £98 for mid-week travel.

With offers from less than £100 (departing in April on a Sunday evening) for a 2 night fling in the City of Light, a break from London’s dreary spring weather has never seemed more attractive. If you can’t wait that long there are deals departing on Sunday May 18^th for £141.

Those who can’t afford to miss a working day can still go for a romantic spring weekend for as little as £155, departing on Friday 30^th March. In fact an unbeatable deal offers the same weekend package for under £100 leaving on Friday April 20^th.

And if two nights isn’t enough time to get to see all the sights and squeeze in some shopping, you can score a three night package, departing Saturdays for as little as £119, departing in April.

Deals offered on Lastminute.com

http://www.lastminute.com/site/travel/gridpage.html?trawlProductId=31104&intcmp=eurostar_3favbox_3*paris_2march

Ryanair are counting the cost of an Irish rugby victory over England at Croke Park on the weekend, after promising one million free flights (excluding the taxes and charges) if Ireland won. And win they did, with a record margin of 30 points, leaving English fans despondent but travellers ecstatic.

Following the match at this historic venue, Ryanair have begun to introduce selected free flights from Ireland to the UK so that Irish passengers to travel to England “to boast about the win”, he says Ryanair’s Peter Sherrard. It also gives England fans a chance to escape he added. Ticket sales went on sale from Monday February 26th on their website.

Ryanair is currently involved in a hostile bid to take over the Irish national carrier Aer Lingus – itself a much bigger company but in financial straits and presently facing immediate industrial action.� Ryanair operates budget flights to destinations across Europe, both from Ireland and London’s Stansted and Luton airports.

The Irish rugby side, early favourites to win this year’s Six Nations, will travel to Italy on Saturday 17th March, and have won two of their first three games.

www.ryanair.com

China, rarely out of the news these days as the slumbering dragon that is rapidly becoming the world’s factory and most happening business environment of the twenty-first century. And with its ancient capital Beijing, set to host the Olympics in two years time, tourisms is becoming another major attraction for a country that boasts a fifth of the world’s population.

But getting around this city of 13 million can be scary, costly and stressful. Here are five simple tips;

1. Food is inexpensive so there’s no need to eat at noodle stands and risk stomach bugs from exotic dishes. Besides, unless you speak Mandarin, you’ll have a time ordering friend rice instead of fried frog!

2. Don’t come in the winter. It’s not that much cheaper but certainly much colder.

3. Two of the country’s greatest sites are found here, the Forbidden City – which is a must on any visitor’s itinerary, and the Great Wall of China which comes within 55 miles of Beijing at Badaling Pass and can be seen as a day trip.

4. Getting around can be a nightmare, so don’t be in a hurry because you’re up against millions of others. Taxi drivers, like everywhere else, tend to rip off visitors but it’s a small price to pay if you really need to get around and see a variety of disparate sites without spending all day figuring out the transit system.

5. With so many hotels under construction in anticipation of the Olympics, you’ll find plenty of rooms and competitive prices, so remember to shop around. The Chinese are eager to please and can offer some surprisingly good value, if you’re not too naïve.

Earning air miles now has become so common that few people travel without earning something or other for their trip. In fact it’s frustrating to hear about your neighbour or colleague who has just returned from a weekend in Palma on a free flight – cashing in on those air miles. Or how about the frequent business traveller who never pays for his vacation flights?

But there are some catches, here’s a few tips before you go flying off around the world to get something for nothing.

Having an air miles card can be very restrictive on your choice of flights and often you lose out in the long run to cheap deals and best rates offered by other airlines who are not part of your air miles alliance. Shopping around is no longer an option if you are obliged to use your airline’s card to earn miles. Nothing is free in life and those offering generous points are usually premium rate airlines.

Bank credit cards are the solution to the above problem but then you have to consider the real cost of using their credit card to buy your ticket (on any airline) for the sake of air miles. Often this is a ploy to give you a credit card, which of course you go spending freely on forgetting that the interest can be as high as 20% p/a. Soon you realise that the re-payments end up costing more than the savings on the flight. Then there is the issue of just which airlines you can redeem them on and how expensive they are. Often air miles can only be used for premium rate seats.

Redeeming your air miles is the other issue. Some have a deadline, meaning that you really have to do a lot of flying or spending to earn enough air miles to go anywhere decent. This sets you off on a spending spree you can’t afford, simply to get that free flight.

And finally, what about all the new budget flights. Some are so ridiculously cheap during off-peak times you really don’t need to earn air miles and can avoid the exorbitantly priced regular flights offered by the ‘dinosaur’ airlines that still thrive off ‘air miles’.

Think again. Air miles can be great if you are frequent flier but sometimes there are better savings options in the long run.

Two Russian women were shot dead in the early hours of Saturday morning while lounging on a beach in Pattaya, a resort city two hours drive from Bangkok. Local Thai police are treating it as a gang-related homicide case, after the two were shot at close range by a gunman who immediately fled the scene on a motorcycle without stealing any of their belongings.

The two holiday markers, Tatiana Tsimfar, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were package tourists in this town noted for its popularity among Russian tourists. It also has a reputation as Thailand’s sex capital and has attracted foreign mafia gangs in recent years who have frequently become violently engaged in turf wars with locals. Initial speculation by the police suggested the two might have been ‘freelancing’ as prostitutes, resulting in a reprisal, however this was later outruled as both girls held down good jobs in their home country and have never been to Thailand before.

A reward of 100,000 baht (£1500) has been posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect. The girls had been waiting for the sunrise and a half finished bottled of whiskey was found on the scene. The investigation is now centering on a male tour guide who had escorted them to various nightclubs the previous evening.

Pattaya receives more than 5 million visitors a year and 2006 saw a sharp increase in the number of Russian arrivals. In a country known for lax law enforcement but famous hospitality, Pattaya is known for its seedier and more dangerous side, in which murders of foreigners are frequently reported. In many cases the victims were not casual tourists but long staying residents.

New innovations, route expansions, more budget flights and technology advances to ease the inconvenience of tightened security are all predicted to change air travel this year.

The most welcome is likely to be the introduction of mobile use in-flight, promised by several airlines this year. Ryanair are leading the way with the announcement to have the service in place on all of its 50 airplane fleet by mid year, although Dubai based Emirates plan to beat them to it with a March introduction. Despite this, a poll revealed 66 per cent of travellers were against the idea.

It is predicted that the budget model will finally extend beyond regional flights into the long-haul market with Hong Kong based Oasis, introducing a budget fare between London and the Far East, for as little as £75 (one-way, taxes excluded). Zoom Airlines, a new Canadian based airline, is promising trans-Atlantic flights starting from £99.

Security remains high on the agenda for international air travel, with harsh restrictions in place since last August, but some streamlining of checks to reduce boarding time. The new Iris system, which can scan passengers and verify their identity via an iris eye scan has been in operation as a pilot system at UK immigration points for several months and greatly reduces the queuing times.

And there are a host of new routes from the UK, particularly on budget airlines, offering more choice for fliers. On the downside, the global trend towards ‘green energy’ has prompted the airline industry to rethink their emissions responsibility and this will have a knock on effect on price, adding about £10 on to ticket prices for short-haul flights.

www.ryanair.com

Lastminute.com are currently offering travel packages to Paris during March for as little as £90 (flights and accomodation inclusive). Prices are for two person’s sharing and are offered on weekday and weekend departures out of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

A two day package from Glasgow departing Thursday March 20th costs just £90 per person, while weekend packages from London range from £96, with a ‘killer deal’ for three nights departing on March 23rd for three nights at £113.

The specials include a large selection of hotels, offering comfort options for a slightly higher package rate. All London flights are from Luton Airport, with flights at off peak times, departing at 6.05 in the morning and returning at 11pm. However, options for travelling by Eurostar are also offered.

www.lastminute.com

The US Department of State has issued a travel advisory warning dated February 16 2007, against travel to Liberia in West Africa, superceding a previous advisory dated March 30 2006.

It notes that despite relative stability in the country from a massive UN peacekeeper deployment, violence risks and crime rates are still high, and resources for responding to emergencies of any kind are minimal. Transportation from the airport into the capital, Monrovia, cannot guarantee safety and and suitable provisions for lodging and emergency medical care, including obtaining medical evacuation insurance should be made in advance.

Traveling alone or after dark or walking along deserted beaches is strongly discouraged.� Poor road conditions, especially during the rainy season, and limited telecommunications inhibit Embassy’s ability to assist their citizens outside the Monrovia area.� Foreigners are high-profile targets for robbery.� Incidents of violent crime, including rape, have also been reported.

Liberia has been gripped by civil unrest and political instability from some time, following changes in government and rebel activity.

In a change of� plan, U.S. and Canadian citizens under the age of 16 will be permitted to cross the borders at land and sea entry points with certified copies of birth certificates and parental consent rather than passports.

The new passport rules, scheduled to take effect possibly from January 2008, will restrict movement of citizens of the two countries but are aimed in part at targetting terrorist suspects entering or leaving the country. The recent waiver for children has been introduced to facilitate movement of school trips and aid family excursions says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Longtime critic of the new law, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, welcomed the move saying;� “That’s a great first step and now we’re going to have to make sure they do it for everyone over 15 as well.” Schumer plans� introduce legislation to� delay implementation of the controversial requirement until June 2009, as well as calling for an economic impact of the initiative on each border state.

Since January 23, nearly all citizens of the US, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean entering the U.S. have been required to display passports. Children entering the United States by air will still be required to show passports.