As well as this offer we are also giving away a £100 voucher to the person that uploads the best fan photo and review of a beach. This offer ends at the end of June. Simply upload as many images to be in with a shot of winning, the more images you upload the more chance you have of winning.

FACEBOOK VOUCHER TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. Vouchers will only be handed out on successful completion of reaching 15000 fans on our Facebook fan page located here
2. Vouchers MUST be redeemed on an order searched and purchased on the website and cannot bee redeemed at our call centers
3. The £25 vouchers must are only valid if used on a total order cost of £500
4. Voucher must be used against ONE holiday and cannot be split into multiple holidays
5. Entry is not open to On The Beach employees or their family and friends
6. Winner’s forename and town/city may be used in future promotional material.
7. Offer is non-transferrable and no cash equivalent will be given.

James Bond has some cool settings, but even the most breathtaking location is no comparison to what has been conjured up in the minds of those doodling comic book geniuses. From stunning island nations complete with secret hideaways to orbiting space stations, comic books never cease to amaze!

Genosha

Genosha: This fictional island country in the Marvel Universe is home to many of the Marvel comic book characters. The island is located off the coast of Africa, just north of the real-world country of Madagascar. It’s described as a beautiful island free of political unrest and has an annoyingly high standard of living due to a fictionally fantastic, non-derivative-based economy. There is one slight caveat in this otherwise perfect comical utopian vision: the economy is dependent on an enslaved mutant population! Genosha is most prominent in X-Men but it is also used as a setting in several other Marvel comics.

Muir Island

Muir Island: This is an important destination in the X-Men Comic book because it’s the home of Earth’s largest complex for mutant research. Muir Island, a small fictional island located off the coast of Scotland, was originally set up by Dr. Moira MacTaggert who needed a base for mutant biological research to help her powerful mutant, but immensely destructive son, Proteus. It is featured in other comic books as well, although the nature of the island is different in other series: for example, in Ultimate Marvel Universe Muir Island was a hospital.

Asteroid M

Asteroid M: Truly viable commercial space travel is soon to become a reality thanks to the pioneering work of Virgin Galactic and others, but in the world of comic books space travel has long since been conquered. In fact, comic book asteroids are more than just target practice for the combined nuclear arsenal of the developed world. In the spirit of sustainable development, these pesky planet killers have been tamed into orbit where they often harbour a base of some sort or other. Marvel’s oft derided and inherently dastardly Magneto has called Asteroid M home, several iterations of which have been destroyed and recreated, but they all have the same basic traits in common, namely multi-level designs with really cool observation decks, hangar bays and a cornucopia of antenna arrays.

Madripoor

Madripoor: This is a fictional island featured in many Marvel Universe comics. Madripoor itself is located in Southeast Asia and is in many ways based upon Singapore, a real-world city close to the island, for its design and social demographics. There is a clear divide on the island: one area is rich and beautiful and the other which is poor and plagued by crime. Visitors to Madripoor stay at the fictional but luxurious Sovereign Hotel and could spend their time exploring the inlets and deep water bays around the island, while dodging mutant criminals and bag thieves. Of course.

Savage Land

Savage Land: Jurassic Park is lame compared to this! Savage Land is a staple of the X-Men series described as a tropical land created on a whim during the Triassic period by an omnipotent and god-like race of aliens called the Beyonders who employed the Nuwali aliens and their vastly superior technology to terraform a valley somewhere on the continent of Antarctica and protect it from the harsh Antarctic climate. Over the millennia Savage Land’s caretakers, the Nuwali, populated the region with prehistoric animals and creatures: even a lost tribe of Atlanteans fleeing the decimation of their city got involved, using their incredible mental prowess to acquire and master the science of genetic engineering, which they used on other inhabitants. Savage Land remained a secret until rediscovered by Sir Robert Plunder who was subsequently killed by a tribe of Man-Apes, but whose son Kevin, aka Ka-Zar, survived to fight another day and eventually team up with Spiderman and the X-Men.

Latveria

Latveria: This is a country landlocked between the real-world nations of Romania, Serbia and Hungary. Latveria has a population of some 500,000 fearfully ruled by the eminently villainous Victor von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, who maintains order with an army of Doomsbots. Obviously having an absolute monarchy with (at best) questionable morals is cause for concern in Marvel Universe, which is why Latveria has been a frequent backdrop in Spiderman and the Fantastic Four, the latter of whom was responsible for at least temporarily ousting Doctor Doom from his seat of power.

The Batcave

The Batcave: Who hasn’t wanted to visit Batman’s lair? The rather orginally named Batcave, hidden beneath Wayne Manor in a series of caves, is home to all manner of unimaginably cool gadgets and pectoral-enhancing suits. And of course, what self-respecting Batcave wouldn’t be stocked without the infamous Batmobile or Batwing? Being the good upstanding citizen that he is, Batman has taken steps to reduce his carbon footprint by installing a hydro-electric generator running off a nearby underground river. The Batcave also benefitted from a technological retrofit after an earthquake struck Gothan City creating new levels, which have been kitted out with a laboratory and a clustered mainframe consisting of no less than seven Cray T932 computers.

Themyscira

Themyscira: For all you Wonder Woman fans out there, this is for you. Themyscira was located somewhere in the Aegean Sea, near Greece and Turkey, but was later destroyed and the civilisation moved across the Atlantic to set up a new city in the Bermuda Triangle. It is populated by a race of humans called the Amazons, who are the reincarnated souls of women killed by men in pre-history and are ruled by the sisters Antiope and Hippolyta, who begat Diana, aka Wonder Woman, who became the Amazons’ ambassador to the outside world. A complex past indeed.

Dinosaur Island

Dinosaur Island: This is a fictional island in DC Universe situated in the Southern Pacific Ocean that theoretically exists in a state of temporal flux. After a number of US Navy submarines were mysteriously lost in the area during World War II, a crack team of marines were sent in to investigate. They found an island, as the name suggests, populated by dinosaurs who had been suspended in time and then released as the result of a series of powerful earthquakes. Outside the DC Universe timeline, Dinosaur Island is in fact a sentient being called the Center, who in response to the perceived threat to its existence from a nuclear-capable humanity, determines to destroy all of mankind.

Tontecarlo

Tontecarlo: This is a fictional gambling town found in the cult Spanish language Superman parody, Superlopez. Unless you have been confined to a cave all your life you couldn’t fail to miss the similarities with Monte Carlo, the infamously exhuberant gambling mecca of the Mediterranean. Who knew that superheroes gambled too?

Palombia

Palombia: This is a small, fictional South American country which is featured in several Belgian comic books and bordered by the Orinco River, the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Rainforest, placing it somewhere in real-world Venezuela. The name Palombia is actually a mash of Paraguay and Colombia. Here we can see TinTin, one of the most racially, politically and socially divisive comic book characters ever created, escaping from the clutches of an erupting volcano in Palombia with what looks like a gormless monkey following behind.

After an arduous climb up to the top of a waterfall or massive cliff, are you feeling brave enough to take a flying leap from the peak of your destination? How about if it means that you have to jump through narrow crevices into icy cold waters, risking your life because of the height of the jump and the chance that you’re going to pummel straight into the side of that cliff? Some crazy people out there aren’t afraid to take these chances, or are at least brave enough to overcome those fears. Here’s a look at nine of the places where they go to do those insane jumps.

La Quebrada Cliffs, Mexico

La Quebrada Cliffs: Cliff jumpers aren’t all crazy and appreciate that it’s much safer to jump into a deep lake or a waterfall’s plunge pool. But in Mexico they do things differently: seemingly health and safety was of little concern when someone decided to turn the La Quebrada cliffs into a diving spot. Not only do cliff jumpers here have to contend with all the usual variables, height, rocks, wind, but they also have to account for open ocean swells filling up and draining out the water levels. In other words, if your cliff jump was badly timed you stand a good chance of hitting something other than water.

But it doesn’t stop there! A group called the La Quebrada Cliff Divers perform cliff jumps nightly, in the dark. They make it look easy, especially since they jump with torches to put on a really cool show. In reality, however, it’s anything but easy and they’re risking their lives every time that they jump. Some of the jumps these guys pull off are just insane: there’s not much more you can say about it.

Wolfgangsee, Austria

Wolfgangsee: When I watched these videos of cliff diving at Wolfgangsee I was literally gobsmacked: what type of person considers cliff jumping from these extreme heights a ’sport’? Suffice to say the divers at the Red Bull Wolfgangsee Cliff Diving contest really pushed the envelope with incredible dives from mind-blowing heights of around 100ft. Fortunately, there are various jumps so you can scale to the top and leap into the waters below or you can work your way up to that kind of true fear.

Ponte Brolla, Switzerland

Ponte Brolla: This is a popular cliff diving spot in Switzerland but that doesn’t mean that it’s for the average cliff jumping tourist. It is a spot that’s best for professionals as evidenced by the fact that the World High Diving Federation held their European Cliff Diving Championships here last summer when participants performed somersaults, flying leaps and armstands to the delight of the audience. Not all has been pretty here, though: Ponte Brolla has been the site of several serious accidents among professional divers. The height of the jump, the jaggedness of the rocks and the iciness of the water all combine to make this a very dangerous cliff diving spot to risk your life.

Red Rocks Park, Vermont

Red Rocks Park: It’s not just the icy chill of the waters here that make this a dangerous (but popular) place to go extreme cliff jumping, there’s also the 80ft plunge straight into the water below. Many of these jumps are between narrow rock walls, adding to the already stratospheric danger levels. One jumper here landed parallel to the water after a ninety foot jump, breaking his back and requiring a six-month recovery after surgery!

Tar Creek Falls, California

Tar Creek Falls: It takes a long time to hike up to the top of the 70ft waterfall, so you’re exhausted before you even make the jump. While it’s considered quite a high jump, what really makes it dangerous is how the layout of the land makes it difficult to jump more than a few feet away from the side of the cliff and risk slamming into it as you fall.

Angora Lakes, Nevada

Angora Lakes, Nevada: Some people make it look easy to somersault off of the sides of 70ft cliffs at this Nevada cliff jumping spot, but some unfortunate people also don’t walk away unharmed. This has got to be one of the most insane and outright dangerous places to cliff jump but at least you can fit in a backflip on the way down!

Lighthouse Park, British Columbia

Lighthouse Park: Most people visit Lighthouse Park in British Columbia to check out the massive trees that grow in the forest and down on the waterfront. However, more adventurous people flock to Lighthouse Park to check out the massive jumps that are possible off the cliffs and into the lake.

As a whole, Asia is one of the most innovative continents in the world. From the latest in technology to the most unbelievable hotel designs in the world, the Asian continent is, to say the least, one-of-a-kind.

Japan, China, India, and other emerging Asian nations are home to some of the weirdest hotels anywhere in the world. Maybe it’s their imaginative thinking or maybe they just have a more innovative culture? Either way you slice it, Asia has some of the most off-the-wall hotels on the planet. Here are 10 of the most strange and offbeat hotels across the massive continent of Asia.

Safariland Treehouse Resort, India

Safariland Treehouse Resort: Deep in a mountainous jungle region of India, you’ll stumble upon one of weirdest hotels on the planet. This hotel actually consists of 4 treehouses which stand approximately 15 feet off the ground, and each is built out of locally sourced materials such as bamboo. These gigantic treehouses provide awesome views of the mountains and jungle streams below.

Each of the 14 rooms here cost between $150 and $250 per night depending upon the room, and there’s plenty to do for eco-tourists including wildlife treks, mountain hikes, bonfires, elephant rides, and you can even get some good food at the on-site restaurant.

Imperial Boat House, Thailand

Imperial Boat House: Located on the unspoiled Cheong Mon Beach in Thailand, the Imperial Boat House Hotel consists of 34 authentic teakwood rice barges that have been converted into luxurious beachfront suites. The pool here is even in the shape of a large ship. Each one of these converted barges features 91 square meters of living space, a beautiful sundeck, sky-lit bathroom and separate living rooms.

There aren’t many places on earth where you can ride an elephant on the beach as you can do at Imperial Boat House Hotel. These recycled barges are surprisingly comfortable in their design, and they are definitely a unique way to holiday.

Helga’s Folly, Sri Lanka

Helga’s Folly: The 40 room boutique Helga’s Folly hotel, located on a hillside in dense foliage near the town of Kandy, is more of an experience than just a stay at a hotel. This 1930’s-style hotel features a flamboyant colour scheme and eclectic furnishings. The sound of soft jazz music can be heard throughout this unique hotel, which combined with the interior design and unique setting make for a sensory explosion.

The hotel walls are littered with antique paintings, unique photographs and newspaper clippings from the local area; even the bathrooms are decorated with magazine covers as wallpaper. People who stay here claim that the experience at Helga’s Folly is unlike any other hotel in the world, and they get a feeling of sadness when their stay is over. Rooms start at about $100 per night.

Three Camel Lodge, Mongolia

Three Camel Lodge: A traditionally designed nomadic retreat in the middle of the Gobi desert, the Three Camel Lodge somehow manages to mix weird design, eco-friendly construction, and Mongolian Buddhist architecture. This hotel consists of 30 gers (nomadic tents) which are made from felt and wood without using a single nail to hold it together. This luxurious wilderness camp is also eco-friendly and takes advantage of both wind and solar power.

While these plush tents are small and expensive to stay at (doubles start at $300 per night), how many people can say that they’ve actually stayed in an authentic Mongolian ger in the middle of the desert?

First World Hotel, Malaysia

First World Hotel: This is the second largest hotel in the world behind the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a total of over 6,000 rooms, and is located in Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. It’s not so much the interior of this hotel that makes it weird, but rather the exuberant colour scheme of the hotel’s facade which puts it on this list of weird hotels.

The brightly coloured facade is a perfect fit for this entertainment hotspot with a fully-equipped theme park, casinos, lounges and enough shopping to satisfy anyone’s taste. Any trip to the Genting Highlands area is not complete without a visit to the First World Hotel, and believe me, you can’t miss it!

Crazy House Hotel, Vietnam

Crazy House Hotel: It may be officially called Hang Nga Guesthouse, but locals have dubbed this off-the-wall hotel the Crazy House Hotel, and for good reason. This hotel was built in 1990 in Dalat, and has since been added onto numerous times over the years. This treehouse of sorts more resembles a fairytale castle than a hotel with its curvy interior and exterior. There’s also plenty of friendly stone animals surrounding this unique place including a huge giraffe, bear, and spider.

If you don’t wish to fork out $60 to stay the night here, you also have the option of taking a tour of this offbeat hotel for a very small fee.

Love Hotels, Throughout East Asia

Love Hotels: These so-called ‘love hotels’ are scattered throughout Japan, South Korea and parts of China, but they’re not the type of place to go for your honeymoon. These hotels are basically a cheap way for couples to ‘rest’ for a short period of time from 1-3 hours in most cases. There’s also overnight rates, but you can’t reserve your room for the night until after 10:00pm.

Often these odd love hotels take the form of castles, UFOs, and boats to name a few. The interiors can get even weirder with leather-laced rooms, dungeons, plenty of neon, ceiling mirrors, and even rotating beds.

Dotonbori Hotel, Japan

Dotonbori Hotel: One of the weirdest entrances to a hotel in Asia has to be the Dontonbori Hotel in Osaka, Japan. The front of this luxurious hotel right in the heart of the shopping and entertainment area of Shinsaibashi features 4 gigantic pillars that are shaped liked heads. This type of grand, and weird, entrance to a hotel is not something you see everyday!

Flush Hotel, South Korea

Flush Hotel: Maybe the weirdest hotel on the planet, the so-called Flush Hotel is a fitting name for a building shaped like a toilet. The owner, Sim Jae-Duck, built the $1.6 million toilet bowl in order to raise awareness about cleaner sanitation around the world. This live-in restroom is over 400 square meters in size, and is located just south of Seoul, South Korea.

The most amazing part about this giant toilet is not the design (surprisingly), but rather how much it costs to stay here for one night: $50,000! It must be said, though, that the proceeds go to provide poor countries with proper sanitation, so at least you know your hard-earned money won’t be going down the crapper!

Capsule Inn Osaka, Japan

Capsule Inn Osaka: This was the first hotel of its kind where each ‘room’ of the hotel was actually a small capsule with cramped 2m x 1m x 1.25m dimensions. The capsules are stacked on top of each other to maximise space, each one consisting of a TV, bed, and a wireless Internet connection which almost seems like a 5-star luxury all things considered. The Capsule Inn Osaka is extremely popular amongst local businessmen who need a place to sleep on long business trips, and it’s also popular to those who need a place to stay after drinking a bit too much sake the night before.

The notion of having a capsule for your hotel room was introduced in 1979 and its popularity has sparked interest by other hotel chains around the world to duplicate its design, including hotels in New York City and London. Nightly rates here are rather inexpensive starting at the equivalent of £15-20.

For most of us, booking a hotel involves checking out our favourite travel website or calling the hotel directly, but for MMO fans, it’s a bit different. For MMO players, booking a hotel involves checking in to their favourite online virtual hotel within their MMO game of choice, whether it be SL, WOW or one of the other games.

Travel has gone virtual within these MMO’s, which is probably quite a smart thing to do given then cost of fuel now and the recent rash of bankrupt airlines. The biggest names in the international hotel industry are getting onboard with this trend for massively multiplayer online games. So next time your avatar needs a place to stay in virtual space, check into one of these virtual hotels where lodging is literally out of this world. Some of them are actually quite impressive, but then again, what isn’t in a virtual world?

Illustrious Hotel

Illustrious Hotel: This hotel isn’t associated with any MMO, such as Second Life, instead it’s more like a virtual hotel for businesses to advertise their products and services. It’s a creative alternative to traditional advertising, where websites can rent a room at the hotel and visitors can check out the room by simply mousing over the room at the Illustrious Hotel home page.

The people behind this one-of-a-kind virtual hotel also claim that the Illustrious Hotel will host various special events to help generate repeat traffic to the site, and thus increasing traffic to the businesses paying to stay at the virtual hotel. Whether or not this website will ever take off is yet to be seen, but at least the hotel itself looks cool!

Habbo Hotel

Habbo Hotel: This online PC game isn’t an actual virtual hotel, it’s more like an online virtual world. Habbo Hotel was created in 2000 and was designed as a social networking game where teenagers around the world can chat and interact in a virtual world. The idea has clearly caught on as it is now one of the most popular MMO’s in the world.

Habbo Hotel has over 75 million registered users and growing. The popularity of this particular virtual hotel is in large part due to the fact that it’s free to join the community, although you must purchase inexpensive Habbo Credits in order to play games or decorate your room.

World of Warcraft Dungeons

World of Warcraft Dungeons: The closest thing you’ll see to a hotel in the world’s most popular MMO is the large number of the so-called micro and world dungeons laced throughout the virtual land. These dungeons are located within tombs, haunted mines, ice caves, sunken ships, and many other locations - not the most comfortable accommodation and certainly not the type of place you’d want to stay in the real world.

Rixos Hotel

Rixos Hotel: The Rixos Hotel Group is a chain of luxury hotels based in Turkey. This popular brand decided in 2007 to join the Second Life (SL) virtual world by opening a virtual Rixos Hotel complete with employees hired from the best and most experienced candidates out there. Rixos Hotel Group will be one of the highest investors in SL with a variety of golf courses, entertainment areas, and the hotel just to name a few. Executives from the Rixos group hope to corner the virtual hotel market in SL, which has around 8 million registered users.

Starwood Aloft Hotel

Starwood Aloft Hotel: Starwood, owners of the Westin, Sheraton, and prestigious W hotel chains, is one of the biggest names in the international hotel industry. Back in 2006, Starwood decided to explore a new style of hotel with minimalist design, high ceilings and chic furnishings. With a loft-style room, this ultra-cool design was soon dubbed Aloft.

Starwood decided to try their new hotel in the virtual world before actually building it, just so they could see if it would actually be successful in the real world. They opened the hotel in Second Life, and then monitored how visitors interacted with the hotel, measuring what they liked and disliked etc. In fact, Starwood were actually the first hotel chain to open a hotel in Second Life, and it proved to be a largely successful test market for them.

Google Lively

Google Lively: Google recently announced the introduction of their very own virtual world that they call Google Lively. Google Lively will work hand-in-hand with social networking sites, such as Facebook, and it will be a browser-based application complete with avatar customisation, custom rooms for each user, and more chatting than two 16-year-old girls gossiping on the phone.

Each member of Google Lively will be able to design their own avatar and setup shop in their own virtual room that is completely designed by the user. Users will be able to chat with other users and chill out in each others rooms, as well as explore the rest of this MMO’s virtual world.

Once upon a time, in a world far far away, travelling by air was actually enjoyable. Airlines had personalised service, legroom was bountiful and they couldn’t give away enough food and drink during your flight! How things in the airline industry have changed.

For most people travelling by air now involves more stress than a bad week at the office: additional charges for baggage and checkin, fuel surcharges, rigourous security checks, queues - and that’s before you even get onboard! At least the airlines treat their paying customers well, I hear you questionably say. Wrong. If you are unfortunate enough to book with one of these airlines then you’re troubles, my good friend, may have only just begun!

So here, in all their glory, are ten airlines plagued by a litany of overbooking, delays, cancellations and failed safety inspections.

Nepal Airlines, Nepal

Nepal Airlines: This is another one of those airline options that people in the region often choose because it’s cheaper than the competition, however they usually find out that there’s a reason for this since the airline is notorious for delayed and cancelled flights. Reportedly, this airline sends delayed passengers to the airline headquarters to make arrangements for alternative flights rather than just helping them get on another plane since they’re already at the airport. It then ends up costing customers extra money to make those alternative plans.

Additional problems include that the former chairman was put in jail in 2005 for corruption and that the planes for this airline have a history of being grounded for failure to meet safety conditions. On the plus side, the airline is trying to make things better; in 2007, they sacrificed 2 goats in front of a plane in order to please the sky god and resume good flight conditions!

Varig Airlines, Brazil

Varig Airlines: This airline has had a history of problems and recent reports indicate that it remains unreliable despite efforts to improve service. For several years, people anticipated that this airline would go out of business due in no small part to financial issues. It’s a bad sign when the bank shows up at the airport and actually seizes one of your planes since you haven’t paid them!

Throughout 2006 Varig was significantly downsized and was subsequently purchased by another company in 2007. It was hoped that this could turn things around. However, reports from customers in 2008 indicate that the airline remains unreliable; one customer has said ‘the crew try their best but are let down by ancient aircraft, unpunctual flights and seats that are dirty.’ Nice. Oddly Varig is quite efficient when dealing with delays; it has a system in place to email people (often in the middle of the night) to let them know that their planes will be delayed for hours.

Alitalia Airlines, Italy

Alitalia Airlines: This large airline is so notoriously bad that there is an entire website devoted to providing consumers with information about why they should boycott their flights, (a website that Alitalia tried unsuccessfully to have shut down). In 2006, one blog named it the worst airline of the year due to constant strikes, cancelled flights and general ongoing delays and service issues.

Financial problems have caused these same issues to continue on into 2008. In fact, Alitalia just received an emergency loan from the government to help it avoid complete collapse (which the EU is investigating for issues of legality). Either way, many say that the airline’s demise is inevitable.

United Airlines, USA

United Airlines: This airline has regularly been called one of the worst airlines in the world because of constant delays that are compounded by horrible customer service. Just one example of a typical problem with this airline was the case of a woman who was returning from Cancun last year and got stranded in Mexico when United cancelled her flight. The airline basically told her, ‘it’s your problem, not ours’ and it ended up costing her nearly $1,200 to get new tickets on another flight!

In one set of reviews from a site that ranks airlines based on comfort, customer service and delays, the highest rank for United was in the area of on-time flights and that was only a 4 out of 10. It is believed that the problems are at least partly due to the nearly constant financial issues the airline faces, a problem that they’ve tried to remedy by overselling seats which sometimes leads to delays of more than seven hours for customers on their flights.

Aeromexico, Mexico

Aeromexico: This airline operates over six hundred daily flights, which is apparently too much for them to handle because they’re constantly receiving complaints about delays, poor customer service and lost baggage.

For example, one customer reported an incident a few months ago in which she had taken three students on a Spring Break trip from the USA to Nicaragua that was supposed to have a one night sleepover in Mexico City. When they arrived in Mexico City, the airline told them that the flight to Nicaragua had been delayed and that it would be eight days before they could get a new flight. The group decided to just return back to the USA; however Aeromexico couldn’t get them back there for another five days so they were stuck hanging out in Mexico City for almost a full week on their own tab.

Air India, India

Air India: The one thing that can be said for this airline is that it gets some points for consistency; unfortunately they’re awarded that honour only because they are consistently delayed. In 2005, customers experienced long periods of time just sitting on planes that pilots refused to fly because of safety concerns. In 2006, one customer reported that a flight was cancelled because there were too few people on it to make flying profitable so they were delayed to the point of needing to purchase a ticket on another airline.

In 2007, there was a day on which five flights were cancelled leaving approximately one thousand people stranded for as long as 24 hours. Air India’s problems continued into 2008 with numerous complaints of overbooking, sitting in cabins without food for up to six hours and regular delays.

Ariana Afghan Airlines, Afghanistan

Ariana Afghan Airlines: This airline is so bad that the EU has banned all but one of its planes from flying in Europe due to concerns about safety. One report states that Ariana Afghan Airlines have crashed more planes than are currently working in their fleet.

The airline is notorious for taking bribes; one customer reported that $50 would get you on a flight despite an announcement that the flight was delayed. However, the real concern comes from more recent reports that $500 will get you a pilot’s license to fly with Ariana! Some hope that increased political stability in this part of the world could ultimately lead to positive changes for this airline but for now it’s not one that you want to fly with.

Cebu Pacific, Philippines

Cebu Pacific: This small airline doesn’t have a huge itinerary of daily flights to manage so you would think that they could operate the ones they do have scheduled, but that’s not the case since they’re legendary for constant problems with delays. Currently a domestic airline, Cebu Pacific have ambitious plants to add scheduled international flights. Don’t let optimistic ambition blind you from reality: one set of industry reviews has them ranked only 2 out of a possible 10 for on time flights.

Recent complaints focus on the fact that flights are frequently several hours late on both the outgoing and incoming legs, often requiring passengers to wait inside uncomfortable planes for long periods of time while problems are sorted out. Cebu Pacific are also fond of the travellers worst nightmare - additional hidden charges.

Southwest Airlines, USA

Southwest Airlines: Many people in the United States love Southwest Airlines because it offers low prices on many flights. Unfortunately, this is often a case of ‘you get what you pay for’ as flying with Southwest has been notoriously problematic over the past few years.

There are the typical delays, of course, due to things like weather. It makes sense that Southwest is particularly concerned about weather issues since there was a case back in 2005 in which a Southwest plane mistakenly landed on an icy runway, skidding off of the track and killing a 6 year old boy. In fairness to the airline, it was said that the problem could have been the fault of the air traffic controller there but it put the airline on edge and made it so that weather-related delays were more frequent than necessary.

The following year, Southwest pulled its service out of airports where weather was often a problem, like in San Francisco (although they recently decided to return to servicing that airport this year). Things were good for the airline for a short time until early 2008 when over 40 planes were grounded because of the airline’s failure to meet inspection requirements causing widespread delays and cancellations.

AirTran Airways, USA

AirTran Airways: This small airline receives various customer complaints but the main one seems to be a result of the company’s practice of denying boarding rights to passengers who arrive late at the gate (even though the plane hasn’t even been readied to leave yet). It doesn’t seem to matter that the passengers are late because of delays in their connecting flights, delays frequently caused by the airlines themselves; passengers are often left idly at the gate watching the plane as it sits on the runway.

AirTran planes apparently like to just sit at those same gates for a while, with some passengers reporting that they’ve been stuck sitting on a stationary plane for up to five hours.

Few people would admit they’ve never dreamed of living in a castle. From the fairytales, princes, princesses and Disney movies of childhood and even as we get older, the appeal of the castle remains at least partly because they so regularly serve as backdrops in video games, movies and books.

Unless you happen to find that you had a long lost great great grandfather who left you an international conglomerate in mining and shipping then, unfortunately, you’ll probably never get the chance to live in such grandeur. Luckily there are a lot of absolutely stunning castles around the world that are open to the public, some are even converted into hotels where you can stay if only for a night.

We present you the first part in a series: 7 visually stunning and historically fascinating castles from throughout Europe and beyond.

Prague Castle, Czech Republic

Prague Castle: This 9th Century castle is one of the largest castles in the world and is home to the crown jewels of the Bohemian Kingdom, which according to legend will cause a usurper to die within one year if worn: interestingly this is exactly what happened to Reinhard Heydrich during the Second World War when he was assassinated within a year of placing the crown on his head.

Czechoslovakian kings and presidents have lived in this massive mansion in central Prague which includes not just residences but also churches, palaces, towers, stables and over half a dozen gardens. Lit up at night, Prague Castle is simply mind-blowingly beautiful!

Alhambra Castle, Spain

Alhambra Castle: The name of this 9th Century castle translates to The Red Fortress and highlights the most outstanding feature of this stunning castle - its instantly recognisable red hue. It’s of architectural interest today because of the fact that it blends both Christian and Islamic design, but the real reason that people love to visit this attraction on Spain’s Costa Tropical is because the building is just so amazingly beautiful.

Amazingly the Alhambra fell into neglect throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries with the lowest point being Napolean’s transformation of the castle into barracks for his troops stationed in Granada. It wasn’t until 1870 that the Alhambra was designated a national monument and given protection.

Himeji Castle, Japan

Himeji Castle: For a castle that looks different from any in the west, you might want to take a trip to Japan to see the 80+ buildings that make up this flatland mountain castle. The design of Himeji Castle is distinctly Japanese, fascinating and awe-inspiring. Among the many defensive elements is the famous maze of paths that protects the main keep by channeling any would-be attacking force into dead ends where they can be attacked by air from the relative safety of the keep. If you are more into anime than Disney, this is the ideal castle.

Chateau de Chambord, France

Chateau de Chambord: This is the largest castle in the surrounding region and yet it wasn’t even originally built to be a primary residence for the king who ordered its construction; Chateau de Chambord was in fact intended to be a hunting lodge offering respite from the stresses and strains of being a king. Chateau de Chambord is recognised today as one of the most outstanding castles in the world, particularly in terms of its representation of French Medieval and Classical Italian architecture.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

Neuschwanstein Castle: This Bavarian castle sits atop a mountain in Germany and offers a spectacular view and vantage point over the surrounding region that can hardly be matched by any that of any other castle in the world. Constructed by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a mountain retreat, Neuschwanstein Castle has a gatehouse, a Bower, a citadel and the Knight’s House with a square tower. Chances are that you wouldn’t even notice the view here, though, because you’d be so entranced by the splendour of the castle itself. In fact, the castle was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Florida.

Said to be the most photographed tourist destination in Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle, or New Swan as it translates into English, is a popular spot for anyone interested in Germanic history.

Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City

Chapultepec Castle: North America has a few amazing castles to its name, the most impressive of which is this one located on a hill overlooking Mexico City. In addition to being a home for royalty, Chapultepec Castle has been a military academy and an observatory. It’s currently a museum providing information about the history of the area to visitors but people go here to see the building more than to learn what it’s about!

Schonbrunn Palace, Austria

Schonbrunn Palace: Anyone who knows much about European history knows about the important influence of the Hapsburg family. The aesthetic preferences of that family are displayed here in the palaces and gardens that make up this amazing castle in the heart of modern Vienna. One outstanding feature is a ‘Roman Ruin’ which was created in the 18th Century on the grounds that represents the ancient architecture of Rome in days gone by.

All throughout the world lie the scattered remains of hotels that once stood magnificent in their beauty, but which are now decaying and decrepit. We recently took a look at sixteen of the world’s most amazing abandoned hotels but there are many more of these strange wonders out there.

The urban explorer may discover these architectural monuments of history on a trek in nearly any part of the world. From hotels that were only half-built and then abandoned mid-project to hotels who fell from their glory into a state of decay, here are eight more of the most interesting abandoned hotels in the world.

King Edward Hotel, Calgary

King Edward Hotel: The King Eddy, as it is affectionately called by those who want to revive it, was a hotel created in the 20th Century under the reign of King Edward VII. It was Calgary’s oldest continuously-operating hotel until 2004 when the site was condemned due to an infestation of cockroaches and an overgrowth of mold. A new owner had ambitious plans to re-open the hotel but it appears they may have taken on a project that’s bigger than they can handle as it continues to simply decay.

There are hopes that the historic building will still be brought back to life (and suggestions have been made that it could be turned into a venue for live music) but it’s unclear at this time whether it will ever make a return from its state of abandonment.

Hotel Regina Maris, Belgium

Hotel Regina Maris: This hotel located on the coast of Belgium in De Panne appears to have causes some confusion inside the travel industry. Hotel Regina is listed in several hotel directories but appears by all photographic accounts to actually be abandoned. Built in the 1920’s, it is not completely falling apart but has been the victim of extensive interior and exterior vandalism.

Diplomat Hotel, Philippines

Diplomat Hotel: This abandoned hotel in the Philippines is a historic attraction on the verge of being turned into a museum after decades of stagnation (unless you count the creatures that reportedly haunt the place). The building has served many purposes throughout the years including being a refugee camp, housing for Dominican friars and a first-class hotel. Its current state of disrepair is said to make the place incredibly spooky, so consequently it is a place of both notoriety and great interest to the world’s ghost hunters.

Palace Hotel, Jerusalem

Palace Hotel: The Palace Hotel was built in 1929 and once was the home of the Industry and Trade Ministry. Abandoned in 2004, it has been empty for several years. It isn’t going to be empty much longer, though; in 2010 this site is going to be home to the new Waldorf-Astoria luxury hotel.

Hotel Durant, Michigan

Hotel Durant: This grandiose hotel is named after William Durant, the founder of General Motors. That’s quite apropos considering that it is located in Flint, Michigan. This city used to be a thriving hotbed of automotive industrial activity, but has been in gradual decline due to the outsourcing of labour. The abandoned hotel serves as a symbol of the remains of a once-bustling area now fallen from its prime.

North Point Surf Resort, Barbados

North Point Surf Resort: Over thirty years ago there was a luxurious resort built on the Caribbean island of Barbados. With an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a dramatic staircase leading to the beautiful ocean beach, the North Point Surf Resort was poised to be a major tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the remote location didn’t appeal to travellers and the developer’s grandiose plans fell through. North Point Surf Resort is now a hangout for skinny-dipping Rastafarians but there are suggestions that it may soon get a renovation.

Dream Island

Dream Island: The site of this abandoned hotel looks like paradise and it could have actually been a dream come true if the region where it is located had been of any interest to tourists. Since that wasn’t the case, it’s simply just another spot marked only by some stunning, if not eerie, abandoned ruins.

Ramada Hotel, Louisiana

Ramada Hotel: The Ramada Hotel chain decided to move one of its Lafayette, Louisiana businesses to a new location and abandoned the old building. Sources say that it took less than two years for the abandoned hotel to fall into this somewhat shocking state of disrepair.

You might think that the notion of taking time off for a break away is a product of modern civilisation, but that would be an incorrect assumption. The idea of taking a break from work has been a part of life since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Of course, the ancient Greeks weren’t taking time off with the family for a trip to Disneyland or heading to the beaches of Dubai. So where did they go? Here are seven of their favourite spots.

Stabiae, Italy

Stabiae: Ask what people want from their time off on holiday and most will say that a great view of a beautiful landscape is important. Well that’s exactly why the ancients favoured the coastal town of Stabiae; it offered a stunning view of the Bay of Naples and the mountains that surrounded that region. Unfortunately, Stabiae was covered in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and that put an end to this particular small seaside town.

Ostia Antica, Italy

Ostia Antica: People seeking a retreat to the country back in the third and fourth centuries would often choose a break away to this popular colonia. Ostia Antica was located at the mouth of the River Tiber and was the site of numerous inns where travellers could rest their weary heads. It also had several sources of entertainment including bars, theatres and baths.

A short train ride from Rome will take you there today to see the remains of what was once a vibrant town. Believe it or not, it used to be a port city but sedimentary deposits from the Tiber mean that it is far more inland today.

Hierapolis, Turkey

Hierapolis: If you’re the kind of person who loves the idea of a rejuvenating spa holiday then you could have easily hung out with the ancient Romans because that was precisely their style. This destination is an ancient city located in Turkey which is home to natural hot springs that the ancients ventured to for healing and relaxation.

Popular in the 2nd Century BC, it was filled with temples, theaters, gyms and libraries but the most popular area was the baths. This also served as a retirement location for some of the ancient Romans who eventually died here and are buried in the necropolis at this location. Today this is a historic site with a museum dedicated to educating people about this therapeutic destination. The Pamukkale healing waters are still available for tourists to enjoy to this day.

Capri, Italy

Capri: If you were going to take a holiday to a beautiful Italian island today, there’s a good chance that you would choose Capri as your destination. Capri has had a rather colourful historyto say the least; it changed hands from one empire to another and being regularly sacked by pirates including the infamous Admiral Barbarossa. There is a long history of people visiting Capri for a break right back from the time of the Roman Republic, although they were probably used to a Capri without the designer shops!

Antioch, Syria

Antioch: Syria is a place where a battle for control of the land played out for several centuries in early times. During the fourth century, the Roman capital of Antioch was located here in what is now modern-day Antakya, Turkey. In ancient times Antioch was one of the largest cities in the entire known world and served as a major urban destination for the more adventurous and well-to-do ancients who came to enjoy the circus, theatre and the new colonnades being built there.

Baiae, Italy

Baiae: People who had a lot of money around the first and second century AD got to indulge in the luxury of a break to coastal resort towns; Julius Caesar and Emperor Nero both reportedly had elaborate villas built here for their holidays. It’s reported that Baiae was popular at least with some travellers in antiquity because of the medicinal hot springs found here, but it’s believed that the real reason people came here was because it was a hedonistic pleasure destination: think Las Vegas or Monte Carlo for the ancients.

You won’t be living it up in Baiae today, though, since volcanic and seismic activity in the area left most of the city under the Bay of Naples. There are some remaining ruins in the nearby coastal town, now called Baia.

Pompeii, Italy

Pompeii, Italy: This was a popular spot in the first century and it’s still a popular spot today for tourists who want to learn about the tragic history of the area. Pompeii would have been considered a more urban destination where people coming from other parts of Italy could get away, quite like the modern day city break.

Like with most destinations in ancient times, the main reason people ventured here was to enjoy the baths that were so intrinsic to life in the area at that time. It is also believed that Pompeii was a retreat for ancient artisans.

In case you haven’t noticed, the world is getting crowded and continues to get worse with overpopulation in many parts of the world. Combined with the fact that we are rapidly depleting our natural resources, this is causing many people to experience the feeling that they just want to get away from it all. If you’re one of those people, you might be in luck, and you won’t even have to wait until we colonise Mars!

Despite the overcrowding of urban areas, there are still plenty of places right here on this planet that are uninhabited and isolated. If you’ve ever daydreamed about taking refuge on a deserted island, the following seven islands are a good place to start your search for tranquility.

De Long Islands, Russia

De Long Islands: There are five uninhabited islands within a larger area called the New Siberian Islands, which are located north of the East Siberian coast. Historically there was some debate about who had control over this group of islands, with some saying that they belonged to the United States, but they are now controlled by the Sakha Republic of Russia. The De Long Islands are currently covered by icy glaciers, but who knows how inhabitable they may become as the earth continues to warm up.

Blasket Islands, Ireland

Blasket Islands: This chain of islands just off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula in south west Ireland has an interesting history because it was once populated by a group of creative people who produced a series of books about island life here. However, the population of the islands dwindled and the area was eventually abandoned in 1953; Blasket Islands remain uninhabited to this day. Ferry tours are available if you want to see some of the main islands in the chain, but there are several smaller islands that remain untouched.

Uninhabited Islands of the Maldives, Indian Ocean

Uninhabited Islands of the Maldives: You’re probably already familiar with the Maldive Islands because they’re a stunningly beautiful place that has recently become a popular tourist destination. But did you know that this area consists of over 1,000 islands and that less than a quarter of them are populated by humans? That leaves over 800 small islands in the Maldives uninhabited; at least one of those must be a great place for you to go to get away from people!

Phoenix Islands, Kiribati

Phoenix Islands: The Phoenix Islands are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reef islands under the jurisdiction of the government of Kiribati. At the beginning of 2008, the government declared this a protected area; it is now the largest marine protected area in the world.

Heard Island & McDonald Islands, Australia

Heard Island & McDonald Islands: These two islands located off of the coast of Australia may be deserted but they get a lot of attention from travellers nonetheless. That’s because these are the sites of the only two active volcanoes in this part of the world; one of these volcanoes, Mawson Peak, is the highest mountain in Australia. It certainly offers an impressive addition to the landscape, but are you sure that you would want to live here?

Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Canada

Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Travel to the northernmost part of Canada and you will find a series of nearly one hundred islands that make up this arctic archipelago. You might think that no one would live here at all due to the freezing cold temperatures but many of the islands have communities located on them. Nevertheless, there are quite a few uninhabited islands here. In fact, nine of the fifteen largest islands in this area have a population of zero.

San Juan Islands, United States

San Juan Islands: In the north west corner of the United States is a set of over four hundred islands called the San Juan Islands that are considered to be a part of the state of Washington. Some of these islands can be reached by ferry but only about one sixth of them are permanently inhabited. That’s a lot of land up there that could be put to good use someday!