| Fast rail offering hip personalised travel
E-TICKETS, on-board DVD rentals, events, and even new encounters French rail's new iDTGV trains are testing a new way of travel. Music blares from a speaker in a bustling bar and conversations get louder as customers just out of Paris meetings trickle in, settle down and order drinks. The barman hands over a beer, spilling a little as the brightly-coloured buffet car on the top deck of a customised high-speed TGV train rolls into its three-hour journey to the Mediterranean port city of Marseille. Joined to a regular TGV train, this iDTGV, playing on the French word "idee" or "idea", is operated privately, but owned by the national SNCF rail company and designed as a laboratory for future rail travel. Planned party train on the way The iDTGV was launched in December 2004 and offers cheaper tickets, internet reservations, and services aimed at pleasing passengers, including a soon-to-be launched party train, to help the SNCF better compete with low cost airlines.
The industry's most reliable source
1car1, the UK's leading independent car rental company continues to grow and grow and grow. This year the UK specialist car rental company has seen 10 new branches open nationwide giving an even greater level of service to the Australian Traveller. With its ever present Free home delivery Lee Burrows, 1car1's National Sales manager says, We aim to position ourselves in the marketplace as the leaders in UK Car Rental and whilst we are still new to many agents there is a large following out there who know that 1car1 are the only stop when it comes to full on expertise in the UK. Some of the new branches such as Kendall in the Lake District highlights just how specialised we are." Whilst available in all the major centres some of the 1car1 branches service the obscure requests that are sometimes received.
Renting 'green'? Not so easy
We're not going to be able to save the world," says Andy Taylor, Enterprise's chief executive, "but we think we can have an effect on the space where we play every day as a business. And we think that's what our customers and especially our employees want us to do." But - and you knew there would be a "but" - Enterprise can only do so much. Its customers, and those of sister brands Alamo and National, aren't guaranteed a hybrid rental car because there aren't enough of them for the company to buy. Most of its flex-fuel cars never run on ethanol because E85 filling stations are scarce. And fewer than one in 10 customers so far are paying the extra $1.25 per rental to offset their carbon emissions. Green is a popular theme in the rental car business these days. Hertz, for instance, markets its "Green Collection" and offers hybrids at 50 U.S.
Wallet-friendly business travel tips
For the typical road warrior, who spends about $1,045 on airfare, hotel accommodations and car rental per trip, the cost of business travel is a necessary expense. After all, a global economy requires traveling far to pitch clients and deliver presentations. But the cost of representing a company off-site is expected to increase. The average domestic trip this year will cost 6 percent more than in 2007, or $1,110, while the average international trip will rise 7 percent to $3,171, according to the American Express 2008 business travel forecast. What's more, as the American economy weakens, companies are beginning to scrutinize travel expenses, and business travelers will be enlisted to help control spending. .
It’s official: Rockford lands Ireland flights
Twice-weekly flights between Rockford and Shannon, Ireland, will start June 26, according to Kenny Tours. The Maryland-based company signed a deal Thursday with North American Airlines to fly the route through Aug. 31, said Bob Nay, Kenny Tours' director of sales and marketing. The flights will be Thursdays and Sundays. Round-trip airfares start at $888, including taxes and airport fees. Six-night motor coach tours, including airfare and hotels, start at $1,489. Six-night bed-and-breakfast stays, including airfare and car rental, start at $1,489. The seasonal model is similar to Chicago Rockford International Airport's other international route, Apple Vacations' weekly flights to Cancun, Mexico, in the winter. But the Ireland flights will be on Boeing 757s with almost 200 seats, which would be the largest plane used on a regularly scheduled passenger route from Rockford.
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