HouseTrip Blog – Holiday apartment news, travel and rental tips

Hi everyone. Our Friday round-up is a bit late this week. Apologies and let’s get on with it – there have been some fascinating stories circulating the web this week!

You may remember reading in last week’s post about the tropical storm that devastated Guatemala, causing an extraordinary 200 foot sinkhole that swallowed an entire road junction in Guatemala City.

Pacaya volcano lava rivers

Now the Pacaya volcano has erupted, killing a reporter. The extraordinary lava rivers have been one of Guatamala’s premier tourist attractions for years, but they are now threatening to engulf nearby villages.

Fortunately, there is better news elsewhere in Guatemala. A commendable project called Maya Pedal is making manual tasks easier by providing locals with bicimáquinas (bicycles that power machines) which can grind corn, pump water and hull coffee beans. With no need for electricity, the initiative is eminently sustainable.

It’s one of several development projects that caught my attention this week. Another is a bizarre hotel that’s just opened (and closed) on Capocotta beach in Rome as part of Corona’s “Save the Beach” campaign.

Save the Beach hotel, Rome

We’ve all been to rubbish hotels, but not many of us have been to a hotel constructed almost solely from garbage. Model Helena Christensen was the first visitor.

Lastly, paint company Dulux has just released a stunning global film for its Let’s Colour project, which is literally brightening the lives of people in grey urban areas around the world. Volunteers and locals are shown in super fast-forward as they cover huge expanses of brickwork in brilliant colour.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV4IoCgi2QA[/youtube]

The new iPhone 4G was officially unveiled this week, although the launch was something of an anti-climax after tech site Gizmodo got their hands on a copy a few weeks ago.

If you can’t wait to get your hands on one, you could always pick up an Ai Feng in China. The new knock off version is already doing the rounds in Shanghai, where the World Expo is going strong.

This Expo will probably be remembered for the enormous queues for the popular pavilions. Visitors are recommended to join the queues two hours before doors open, to have any chance of getting in.

After all that queuing, you might want to steer clear of KFC – a recent survey has surprisingly revealed that KFC is twice as popular as McDonalds in China.

Of course, if you’re not one for queues, you could follow the strategy of this lady at Dallas Fort Worth airport, who wasn’t in the mood for hanging around.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWk4MCQaHrc[/youtube]

France has surprisingly emerged as the most expensive place to take a holiday in a recent Skyscanner poll. UK consumers mistakenly believed that the Nordic countries, Dubai and Japan would be the most expensive, whereas France and Switzerland actually topped the list.

Switzerland sure ain’t cheap, but I’m not sure how France came top. Lucky you can save money with a holiday apartment in Paris (shameless plug!).

One man who knows the price of a holiday is Tony Woodley. As the latest in the series of BA strikes disrupted flights for thousands of passengers, the UNITE union leader jetted off to Cyprus – with easyJet!

He’ll be joining thousands of the worst dressed holidaymakers in Europe, although we can only speculate whether he’ll be joining the current British Speedos epidemic which is affecting beaches worldwide.

We’ll finish with two of the strangest stories I noticed this week.

First, a Romanian jobseeker breached security at Vienna airport and hid himself in the undercarriage of a plane owned by the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. He remarkably survived temperatures of -41C during the flight to London…where he was promptly detained and sent home.

On the other side of the world, the only pub in the hottest place in Australia has just shut down, forcing many locals into a 150 mile pilgrimage across the Outback to the nearest local.

Just goes to show that Australians really don’t give a XXXX about anything else.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yZYMW8GISg[/youtube]