Air France Wants You to Hop

Hop on a flight. That is what Air France is promoting these days with their latest service called Hop! Responding to the budget airlines that have been kicking them in the rear rudder, leaving them behind in streaming fumes of jet fuel, they are fighting back.

Hop! Is billed as a low cost flying alternative with primary destinations scattered throughout France. What a surprise that is, right? Well from Budapest, one can fly to a number of Francophile destinations, many of which may not have been on one’s radar in the past.

Offering three levels of service, there is something for everyone’s budget. Choose from Basic, Basic Plus, or Maxi Flex. The Basic for example is 55€ each segment, but only includes 1 piece of hand baggage of not more than 12kg or 55cmx35cmx25cm. Yes ladies, your purse counts as this one piece.

If you need that extra luggage, it will need to be under 23kg, checked in, and it will run you 15€ per trip if you remembered to order it on the Internet. Otherwise, it will be 30€ per trip at the airport. Notice that per trip means each flight, not round-trip. By-pass the added charge by springing for the Basic Plus or Maxi Flex where 1 piece is free or 2 pieces are included in the Maxi amount.

Do you want to earn miles with the Air France Flying Blue program? You sure can for just an extra 5€, which will add 250 miles to your account. Do you want fries with that? Those are extra too.
The real surprise here is that Budapest has a significantly varied 19 choices within France as opposed to Vienna where there are only four within France and none anywhere else. From Budapest, you can go to Naples. WOW!!


The idea is that this will be a feeder for other global Air France routes. The English link is here.

France
•    Biarritz
•    Bordeaux
•    Brest
•    Caen
•    Clermont Ferrand
•    La Rochelle
•    Lille
•    Limoges
•    Lorient
•    Lyon
•    Marseille
•    Metz - Nancy
•    Montpellier
•    Mulhouse-Basel
•    Nantes
•    Nice
•    Poitiers
•    Rennes
•    Strasbourg

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Number 2 Wins

Two is greater than one. When you are number two you have to try harder. Two has double the power of one. One is the loneliest number you'll ever know. Just ask Three Dog Night or click here for a diversion.

What the heck is this post about, you may be asking? Well, it is official. As of May 29th, the airport formerly known as Ferihegy 1, currently known as Ferenc Liszt Terminal 1 will be called "Closed" or "Zarva".  From May 30th onward, all budget airlines that were once flying out of terminal 1 will now be moved to terminal 2A and 2B depending on whether or not the flight is within the Schengen zone or not.

The pity of it is that they spent a great deal of money remodeling terminal 1 and it is quite a lovely little terminal. The railroad tracks go by it from Nyugati train station. Now those wanting to take the train from the city will need to get off and continue by bus to terminal 2. Ah, Malév, what a domino effect you have created.

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• Hungarian Transportation In the News
• France Threatens to Pull out of Borderless Europe
• Problems at Prestwick as passengers shun airport

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Paris or Nice Rentals

ladauphine has left a new comment on your post "Paris Rentals":

"Our good friend has several apartments to rent in Paris: www.historicrentals.com and we still have our place in Nice to rent as well. http://ladauphine.com/nice/niceapmt.html

Ray and Kim in New Orleans

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Paris Rentals

Reader Ray and partner Kim from New Orleans just sold their apartment in Paris. However, he turned me on to this website for apartment rentals. Just click here.

If you don't know square meters, but do know square feet, you can click here for a automatic conversion engine.

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Menu Decoders - Budget Travel

Menu Decoders - Budget Travel: "Don't know tourte from tartine, or harira from harissa? Before your next trip, print out one of these handy decoders with translations of food terms and popular dishes." Menu decoder BARCELONA • Eat Like a Local: Barcelona www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/misc/0709_BarcelonaDecoder/barcelona_menu_decoder.pdf FRANCE • Picky and Proud of It: Paris's Top Baguettes http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/misc/0806_FranceDecoder/france_menu_decoder.pdf MOROCCO • My Marrakech Is Better Than Yours www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/misc/0804_MoroccoDecoder/morocco_menu_decoder.pdf PORTUGAL • Alentejo, Portugal: The Next Tuscany? http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/misc/0802_PortugalDecoder/portugal_menu_decoder.pdf PRAGUE • Eat Like a Local: Prague http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/images/0604_prague.pdf CHINA http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/misc/0808_ChinaDecoder/index.html Do it yourself travel to China http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2008/04/china_doityourself_travel.html?wpisrc=newsletter To get the language 'cheat sheets' go to the link under each country above. For more information about eating 'like a local' go to Budget Travel at: www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/06/16/AR2008061601101.html?wpisrc=newsletter

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The South Africans are coming

The South Africans are coming…

Well actually, I lied. They arrived this morning. Don and Patricia Pinnock arrived today from Cape Town, South Africa. Why are they worth writing about, you may ask, so I will share the info with you.

When we were in Cape Town, we rented their apartment. You can find their information in this blog, but to save you doing a search and ignoring me now, I will enlighten you. Don is the Associate Editor for Get Away magazine, a thick, rich, travel monthly that is distributed to eighty countries. He writes a number of articles as well as doing the photographs. His background was once in Criminal Justice, with a doctorate and specializations in gang behavior. He has some books to his credit in this area. After changing life paths, he has written Blue Ice about Antarctica and African Journeys.

Patricia has a Masters in Creative Writing and has written nine children’s books, a book of poetry, and three adult novels. Her writing name is Patricia Schonstein and Patricia Schonstein Pinnock. One of her books has been sold for movie rights to a company in the UK. Two of her books have won literary awards in France and the UK. Her poetry book is being translated into Spanish and Finnish.

As if this is not enough excitement, Don is here to write an article for the magazine that he dreamed up while we were there. The article concept is going anywhere in the world from South Africa on 10,000 Rand a person. They are here to make this happen. Since they are staying with us as B and B guests, our B and B will be in the article. So far, they are very impressed with the flat and the bed, which they tested for their post-travel nap. I will report back as the week develops.

Stay tuned.

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