So, what's a tourist visa?

Evidently, it's not for sightseeing.

It seems that a number of people (although the precise number isn't given) have been turned down for tourist visas to visit the UK.

The reason?

They only plan to sightsee during their visit. Entry clearance officers are turning down visa requests and give, quite frankly, some silly reasons.

• "You have never previously undertaken any foreign travel before and I can see little reason for this trip."
• One applicant who had previously traveled abroad was refused entry because the countries were "nowhere near the UK".

Though the precise number isn't given, the article says that 86% of refusals were reasonable. That means 14% of refusals were unreasonable.

It gives an interesting twist to the lead article at VisitBritain.us - You've never seen London like this!

(As a side note, when I drove to Toronto a few years ago, I got puzzled looks from the Canadian border guards when they asked why I was visiting Canada and I answered that I was sightseeing. Possibly it hasn't occurred to some of these people that, quite often, "sightseeing" encompasses "spending money" and "contributing to the local economy".)

Here's the article.

Got some spare time?

Like about 520 days?

If so, the European Space Agency may have just the thing for you. In preparation for future Mars missions, the ESA is looking for candidates to participate in "up to three isolation and confinement studies".

The main qualifications are:

• Aged 25-50 years
• Good health
• High motivation
• Height up to 185cm
• Background and work experience in one of the following fields: medicine, biology, life support systems engineering, computer engineering, electronic engineering, mechanical engineering
• The working languages during the studies will be English and Russian, therefore fluency in one and working knowledge of the other language is highly desired.

Oh, and "For successful completion of the entire study including training before and follow-up after the isolation, the respective volunteer will receive a fixed compensation that is in line with international standards for participation in clinical studies."

An article about it is here.

Applications can be found here.

A New Must-Have Travel Accessory - a Coin

Here's an interesting article called Portland by Public Transit and the Flip of a Coin.

The idea is to take a free day and explore without an agenda. The author had six rules:

1. I'd begin at the nearest light-rail stop, where I'd buy an all-day pass.
2. I'd take first train that came along, whichever direction it was going.
3. I'd take the train ten stops and get off.
4. From there, I'd walk in the direction the train had been going, and at the first corner I'd flip a coin. Heads, I'd turn right; tails, I'd turn left.
5. I'd then walk in that direction for ten minutes, then look around. If I saw a public transit stop -- whether for light rail, streetcar, or bus -- I'd go there and take the next transport that came along. If no stop is within sight, I'd keep walking and flip a coin on every corner until I found one.
6. I'd then repeat steps 2 through 5 until (a) I found myself at or very close to home again, or (b) the sun went down and I had to call for a ride.

• I had one major sub-rule: I could stop for anything that caught my attention, whether it be a museum, a shop, a work of public art, a street performer, a friendly dog, a good view, an interesting pattern of light and shadow on a building, an interesting person, good graffiti, or what have you. When I was done being transfixed, I'd just flip my coin again to determine the next phase of my route.

It reminded me of the Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel - a book full of suggestions for exploring a new (or old) place.

Huh?

Last week I picked up at travel magazine offering tours by Kumuka Worldwide. The inside front cover had several questions and answers designed to convince people that Kumuka tours were just perfect for their situation. (Actually, they aren't questions, just statements followed by "here's how we can help you" responses.)

The last statement caught my eye:

My husband and I would like to take out twin boys (aged 7 and 9) to
China.

Huh? Just how long was that delivery?

The Ultimate Travel Guide

In my line of work, I read a lot of travel guides.

Okay, that's not true. It usually has nothing to do with work, but I do tend to read a lot of travel guides and travel narratives (that's the bookstore category for "books people have written about their trips").

So when I saw a booktitled "The Clumsiest People in Europe, or Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World" I had to read it.

It turns out that in the 1850s, Mrs. Mortimer wrote a series of wildly popular series of geography books for children. They were titled "The Countries of Europe Described," "Far Off, Part I: Asia and Australia Described," and "Far Off, Part II: Africa and America Described."

This book, "The Clumsiest People in Europe," is an edited version of all three books. And I'll warn you, it's not for the politically correct among you. I mean, here's what she wrote about her own country: "What is the character of the English? What sort of people are they? They are not very pleasant in company, because they do not like strangers, nor taking much trouble." And she goes on. But if she writes that about her own country, just imagine what she's said about the rest of the world!

• Spain: "There are robbers and murderers there."
• Ireland: "Cottages: There are no huts in the world so miserable as the Irish cabins or cottages." and "Rags. This is the dress of the poor Irish."
• Russia: "The women dress in a very clumsy manner."
• Greece: "The Greks do not know how to bring up their children."
• Egypt: "The worst quality in any character is hypocrisy, and this is to be found in the Egyptian."

And those are the nice things. She saves particular condemnation for Catholics.

It's an interesting take on the world, particularly from someone whose own travels were limited to a single visit to Brussels and Paris as a teenager.

The Clumsiest People in Europe edited by Todd Pruzan

Don't take a seat.

It's something I've noticed about travelling - they don't really want you to sit down. Since many airports make most of their money from retail, they want you up, on your feet and spending money.

This week, we learned that Heathrow's new Terminal 5, due to open on March 27, 2008, will handle more than 30 million passengers each year, will have 250,000 square feet of shops (that's more than four full-sized American football fields), and 700 seats.

Yup. 700 seats.

For a terminal built to handle more an average of more than 82,000 passengers each day, that's a person-to-seat ratio of about 117 to 1.

Evidently, there will be more seats available in some of the 25 restaurants but you'll have to buy something to sit there.

After missing a flight back from Vienna earlier this year, I had to buy a business-class ticket to get back. It was then that I learned one of the real reasons to fly busuness-class or higher: you get to sit down in the terminal. What's behind the doors of the business-class lounges? Seats. Sure, there's free food and things like that, but the real draw is the seats. No roaming the terminal scoping out a vacant chair. No lugging a coat and carry-on bag to the toilet. No balancing food, drink and luggage while you try to eat. Just real seats.

The Guardian's story about Terminal 5 is here.