HolidaysPlease

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the U.S. Coast Guard and Monroe County Emergency Management are continuing to monitor developments at the BP Deepwater explosion and subsequent oil leaks in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

It looks like currently the Florida Keys are unaffected by the oil spill at the moment and is forecast to remain the case for the forseable future. There have been reports of some oil arriving on beaches but these have been found to be unconnected with the BP oil spill.

Oceanogrpahers say if the Gulf of Mexico current loops change adversely it would 10-14 days to arrive at the Florida Keys in a worse case scenario.

Accordingly no advisories are recommending against travel to the Florida Keys. There are also no other precautions advising not to engage in fishing, diving, swimming or other water sports in or around the Keys. Finally, the Florida Keys-waters seafood is being delcared as safe to eat.

Despite EU leaders agreeing a deal to help bail out the Greek Government’s debt crisis this may just be the start of problems for the Euro. Other economies such as Spain, Portugal and Italy are saddled with massive debts are likely to have to enact strict austerity measures in order to contain the situation.

If the Euro does come under pressure what does that mean for UK travellers?

Most travellers would think that it is going to help as they travel to Europe their spending money will go further as the Euro weakens against the pound.

However because the UK is so dependent on trading with Europe the pound has also been hit which has meant both the Euro and the Pound have both slipped against the dollar. This means that travellers from the UK to the USA are going to find it very expensive.

As the pound weakens it is only a matter of time before UK tour operators are going to have to put up prices as the majority of their contracts are in dollars or the domestic currency where the hotel is based.

Our advice therefore for UK travellers is to book early with operators before they have to put up their prices. If you book early then hopefully by the time you travel the pound will have rallied and your spending money will go further. Also by booking early it gives you longer to watch the currency markets and to buy your foreign currency as soon as the pound reaches a reasonable level.

Personally, I use a windows desktop application that gives me currency rates every day and when they hit a certain level I buy my currency. Ok the amounts I buy aren’t going to set the markets racing but as they say every little helps!

The Foreign Office has just amended its advice regarding travel to Thailand.

The advice previously was not to travel unless it was essential. The latest advice is now to exercise caution if travelling to Bangkok or Chiang Mai but non essential travel can take place.

Political stability continues to be a problem in Thailand (Bangkok in particular). There is still a risk of violence and further demonstrations but as at 29th May 2010 life in both cities has generally returned to normal.

There was a curfew in place in Bangkok and 23 other provinces which has now been lifted.

Travellers who are just transitting through Bangkok airport are at least risk as the airport managed to escape much of the disruption that occured. If you are travelling away from the airport then you are advised to exercise caution and avoid demonstrations and large gatherings. Advice still remains to avoid travel to the Preah Vihear temple area and also to the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla.