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For most students, spring break means sun, beach, fun and non-stop partying. For others, spring break is a time to travel and discover new parts of the world. There is no reason why these two objectives cannot be combined. You can have fun with your friends while discovering different parts of the world, different cultures and a different perspective on things. Take a look at some of the top spring destinations for 2008.

Paris and London

I’ve combined these two cities because they can both be explored in a small amount of time. Paris and London are connected through the Eurotunnel and can also be reached by train. Both cities are so full of life and offer an infinite amount of activities – sightseeing, shopping, culture and entertainment. The only downside is that you won’t be able to spot any sunny, sandy beaches around here…at least not during the spring months.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Punta Cana is an all-inclusive paradise. Most resorts in this area offer all-inclusive amenities meaning that you will be able to sleep, eat and party all without leaving the comfort of your resort. The beaches are beautiful, the entertainment is superb with some of the best Latin music originating from this country.

Negril, Jamaica

A seven mile stretch of white powder sand and crystal clear turquoise water is Negril’s best attraction. Here you can swim, dive or just relax with your friends. This is one of the top Spring Break destinations offering beach parties and Reggae concerts at affordable prices.

Acapulco, Mexico

Acapulco is known as one of the top tourist destinations in Mexico. It offers beautiful beaches, top-notch entertainment and some of the best hotel facilities. Located on the Pacific side, Acapulco offers a variety of activities including water sports, cliff diving, world-class cuisine, international music and lots of fun at the beach, but it’s also more affordable than its counterpart in the Caribbean Sea – Cancun.

South Padre Island, Texas

Located almost at the border between Mexico and Texas, this island has been named one of the top 30 beaches in the world. South Padre Island offers a variety of activities for Spring Breakers from concerts to parties to aquatic sports and wildlife watching. It’s also important to note that it’s one of the most affordable Spring Break destinations.

By: Denisse Romero

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Other modes of transportation from the U.K. to France involve a trade-off of some kind. Low price, speed, comfort, convenience and efficiency cannot all be had in the same experience. Such difficult decisions can be avoided by taking Eurotunnel or Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel.

The first go at turning this idea into a reality was finally started in the mid-1800′s, only to be stopped by political turmoil. In the 1970′s economic troubles brought the second attempt to a standstill. The third attempt, started in 1988, was successful. Despite the financial, political and technical challenges, the Channel Tunnel was finally completed in 1994.

Though completely funded by private investors, the Channel Tunnel was considered a financial disaster by many, because the cost and debt associated with it ended up being much higher than originally anticipated. On the positive side, the completion of the Channel Tunnel provided competition with the other available modes of transportation, causing travel prices to lower and thus be more affordable for travelers.

Constructed of super strong, super thick concrete and steel, the Channel Tunnel is 50 km (or 31 miles) long, connecting Folkestone, England with Calais, France. The trip across takes 35 to 45 minutes to complete. The Channel Tunnel consists of two tunnels, with a smaller service tunnel in between used in case of an emergency. These railway tunnels are utilized by Eurotunnel, Eurostar and cargo trains.

Eurotunnel, in addition to providing electric rail ferry services for vehicles, is actually the company responsible for the construction of the Channel Tunnel (or Chunnel, as it is popularly known). Passenger cars and commercial lorries and vans can be trnsported from the U.K. to France much more quickly than with oversea ferries. Service is provided 24 hours a day, with greater efficiency, greater speed and less hassle. Prices vary depending on how far ahead the trip is booked, the time of day and time of year, the type of vehicle and the intended length of stay.

Eurostar is a high speed electric passenger train service that operates in the U.K., France and Belgium. Eurostar contracts with Eurotunnel for the right run its commuter trains on Eurotunnel’s railways. As with Eurotunnel service, a Eurostar tunnel crossing takes 35 to 45 minutes, with speeds up to 200 mph. Eurostar offers a choice of food and different passenger classes, and prices vary widely, depending on which class is booked, the time of year and how close the tickets are booked to the actual time of travel. Eurostar also offers the convenience of non-stop service between many locations, including London and Paris.

Regardless of whether one chooses to travel with Eurotunnel or Eurostar from the U.K. to France, using the Channel Tunnel railways clearly offers the most benefits compared to other modes of transport.

By: Nick Gent

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Families of various incomes, poor and rich, can appreciate an excellent vacation to Disneyland located in Paris, and get a tour on the city, all at a very inexpensive cost. Coach Holidays are a family owned business that had been providing families with a great vacation for over 10 years. Coach Holidays Disneyland Paris! The best site.

Holidays has a number of locations in Europe, where they transport tourist in a fabulous coach bus, and transport them from the country of England to France for a wonderful four day vacation of sightseeing in Paris. This luxurious vacation cost only 296 Euros, but does not contain the price of a hotel room. They do on the other hand recommend that folks stay at a hotel wherever a single room goes for a very inexpensive 60 Euros.

Holidays divides the trip into four luxurious days. Day one is spent making the long trip from England to France, wherever once the group arrives, they take pleasure in a complementary dinner and drink, and have the opportunity to relax.

The second and third days are spent traveling to a number of cities and sights, which are effortless to arrive across since of Paris magnificent architecture. The city of Paris has numerous sidewalk cafes, which makes it possible for folks to get pleasure from a quaint dinner or drink with their party. The fourth and final day is spent having breakfast in bed, and going to Disneyland and embarking back to England.

Coach Holidays offers excursions to the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs Elysees, all breathtaking sights. After visiting all of these sights, Coach Holidays permits the tourist venture by themselves for a couple of hours, and individually appreciate sites throughout Paris.

Holidays does supply an optional excursion for the tourist which are visiting websites consist of going towards the Garden or Versailles, the Montmartre the Night and Montparnasse, a boat trip on the Seine. These web sites are all beautiful and very suggested to view, but they do arrive at an additional price.

Some things that are included are, services by Travelsphere Tour Manager, three nights accommodation, two nights of bed and breakfast, dinner the first night, channel crossings by the ferry or Eurotunnel, a tour with the city of Paris, a welcome drink, and travel back to England in an air-conditioned coach bus. This service comes extremely advised by the individuals who have been fortunate enough to use it within the past. You can find extremely few, if any negative comments. Book now! trips will go fast!

By: Harry W Carson

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The Euro Tunnel is now bankrupt, but it has a new leader to take over. A couple of years back the entire board of the EuroTunnel was sacked and a new board installed. Now we have a new boss at the helm; who comes in as the cash dry Chunnel Operation hits the end of the line. They are out of money.

Will the British be isolated again from the rest of the European Continent? The EuroTunnel has never made any money, never turned a profit. The investors where shown really impressive proformas, which would put Enron to shame. As a matter of fact if this were in the United States the operation would have been sued into oblivion by investors, State’s Attorneys Generals and Regulatory Bodies. But this is European business and things are done differently there. So there is a chance that this EuroTunnel may now have a turn-around King installed to talk over and fix the problem without the lawsuits.

Today the Tunnel is 12 Billion in debt. Jean-Louis Raymond resigned and of course all the shareholders want their money back? Wouldn’t you? But why did such a good idea fail? Is it because humans do not like to drive underground for 21 miles? Or because no one wants to take a train-ride underground at 100 miles per hour, just to come up and be forced onto an English rail system of 40-60 mph at best? There is a Semi-Fast line going to the London Suburbs, but the rest of the relay is slow and cumbersome indeed. Part of the issues was that the Ferries implemented a price reduction strategy to deal with the competition to lower the costs.

Additionally if someone from London wishes to go to France by car, they still have the car when they get there and driving a car is nightmare there and the Chunnel costs are not cheap. You could fly for about $55.00 or so from London to anywhere in Spain, Italy or France. Are we seeing a trend in the world with transportation issues? Will the EuroTunnel survive simply thru subsidies in transportation? If so, why not make it free to travel and really open up the trade routes? After all if the EU is serious about having everyone on board then, they need to be thinking here? Picking up the assets out of bankruptcy cannot be too bad? But presently it is a complete and utter failure and a dismal fiasco. Think on this.

By: Lance Winslow

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Public transportation is typically problematic as it creates its own wind of bureaucracy. The Euro Tunnel is no different in that it has to deal with all sorts of rules and regulations. We see in the United States many crises in the public transportation sectors. Bus systems are found to be often losing money and wasting dollars. We see the BART Trains in San Francisco as well upside down in cost per rider VS costs to run the system.

Each time a large transportation project is made to jump thru nearly impossible hoops of regulation we see issues where they become inefficient and are unable to reasonably serve the common good. Let’s look at the Amtrak in the United States which seems to be a pet project of many a democratic politician. It has never made any money and always been a drain on the taxpayer. In Canada we see privatization helped their counter part to the Amtrak. But still with over regulation, favoritism to other government transportation in competition with such systems we see more of the same issues really.

It is estimated that the EuroTunnel could be bankrupt by autumn of this year. We also know with the increased security costs it has been less traveled; hurting tourism and raising costs. Everyone knows it is a target of Muslim Radical Terrorists as well. It is also a sore spot on National Security for Tony Blair. The EuroTunnel is used by many to enter the UK illegally. These are just a few of the more recent factors affecting the profitability of the EuroTunnel. The EuroTunnel was not cheap to build either and it has considerable debt, which it cannot pay from profits, as there are none. The company running it fired all their board of directors last year for lack of performance. The current board is currently under some musical chair issues and the rental company owning those chairs wants them back.

We are seeing worldwide issues with public transportation, which is run by private or public sectors. They are not working; rider ship is at issue with regards to the scare of International Terrorists, especially after the Madrid Train Bombing. Some conspiracy theorists think that it is only a matter of time before the EuroTunnel is attacked to further tighten the screws on the European populations. These same conspiracy theorists look at similar smaller targets in the United States such as the Baltimore Tunnel, California Bridges and Bart System, Boston Tunnel and Washington Ferries. But whether or not the conspiracy theories hold any water, it appears Al Queda is also looking at these things and taking digital pictures as well. The question is will the economics, Lawsuits, over regulation and banks shut down some of these transportation projects before the International Terrorists or Bird Flu virus predictions?

If they remain un-profitable, underwater, debt laden they will continue to be an underground bottomless pit of taxpayer resources. If the prices are raised to cover the costs the rider ship drops and they lose their purported economies of scale. If they are un-economically viable or if people are afraid to use them for fear of catching a disease or being in the wrong place at the wrong time during an International Terrorist event then we have a very serious problem worldwide with out human transportation flows. Please think on this, we need some solutions. It is not working.

By: Lance Winslow

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I used to live in a house up on a hill in East Kent with a great view of the English channel and the Dover Calais ferry from my living room window. That was back in the days before the channel tunnel was built and the traffic back and fore in the busiest shipping lane in the world seemed to be almost constant. On a clear day you could see all the way over to France, with the Cap Griz Nez clearly visible on the horizon. The Port of Calais itself is just along the coast from the cliffs, and built on flt land in the valley so that’s not so easy to make out from 28 miles away on the other side of “La Manche”.

I got to travel on the ferries quite often in those days too, mostly as a foot passenger but also once or twice a year as a motorist, taking the car across either for a short shopping trip and camping in the north of France or else taking a longer tour around Europe. The day trips were fun, sometimes a large group of us would all go onboard straight after work and just enjoy the restaurants and bars on the old jumbo ferries without even bothering to get off the other side.

When the Eurotunnel came along, people in Dover thought the ferry business would be devastated and it did indeed shrink for a while, but the number of people choosing to go by sea on the Dover Calais ferry route is now increasing rapidly again.

By: Andy Roberts

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Many skiers and snowboards now go on their ski holidays by car. There are some benefits about driving that cannot be ignored including the cost, self drive ski holidays will be cheaper if there are a few of you. Secondly, taking children becomes less stressful, you can just throw everything you need in the car. Finally, against popular belief it can be fun too! Here are some suggestions to make your self drive ski holiday as smooth as possible.

1. Consider resorts closest to Calais – good options are Flaine, Morzine or Chamonix.

2. Choose between the cheaper ferry or a faster Eurotunnel. The ferry will take 2 hours, whereas a Eurotunnel will only take around an hour, if traveling late or early this time saving will be noticed.

3. Make sure you only take the toll roads. The national routes in France will take a lot longer, a lot, lot longer, and it’s just not worth it for the cost saved.

4. Make sure you make efficient use of your stops. If you need to get petrol, make everyone go to the loo, if you need to stop for a loo break, then you may as well fill up with petrol.

5. If you’re traveling with children, then it’s worth taking DVD players, and games consoles. Plus once in resort they can be used, to entertain them, leaving you with some relaxing time.

6. If you’re traveling with friends, then it may well be worth looking at getting everyone insured on the car, so you can drive without stopping so much.

7. If you’re not short of time on your trip to and from your ski resort, then it’ll be much less stressful if you stop at a hotel en route and complete the journey in two days. Accor Hotels is a good place to start as they run several chains of different budget hotel chains. The cheapest is Formula 1, you’ll find one of these every 30 miles or so on the motorways, they also run the Etap hotels and Ibis.

8. Check your snow chains fit your car. The ski resort management are pretty good at clearing roads, but you can really never be sure that you won’t arrive in resort in a snow blizzard.

9. Check out the parking at the resort before you leave. Some resorts offer free parking, or your accommodation may well have access to parking, however some resorts do charge for parking, and it would be worth knowing in advance what your options are.

10. If you’re driving through France then don’t forget the kit you are legally obliged to carry in your car. You will need a warning triangle, a reflective jacket and snow chains for snow covered roads.

I hope these tips help you enjoy your self drive ski holiday.

By: Liz M Adams

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After the fire in the channel tunnel in 2008 the cleanup operation was massive. Each and every piece of equipment was stretched to the limit, and some beyond. One of the service and maintenance train modules the “Drain Cleaning Rig” was used over and above its intended design and by 2009 had suffered the consequences and became inoperable.

The Drain Cleaning Rig is a one-off

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