Todorovden Horse Race

In Apriltsi Todorovden marks the beginning of the horse riding season with the annual horse race in Vidima. This year it also marked the first day of Spring. The sunshine was out. It was warm. The snow had melted. And many people turned out for the event. The famous TV chef Uti Bachvarov entertained the crowd with good humour.

Anybody can participate in the race. There were young and old, men and women. All with the same passion for horses. There were contestants with full-breed race horses and others with mixed local breeds with and without a saddle!


This year the winner was Ruja Netkova with horse named Omar from village Lagut near Apriltsi. There were also prizes for the muddiest horse and jockey, the best dressed, the youngest and the eldest. It was a great day of fun for all the family. People from all over Bulgaria came to see the races. Some people came with their tractors and trailers to enjoy kebab and home-made Rakia from a higher vantage point.

Apriltsi located in the centre of Stara Planina is a beautiful region for horse riding. JMB Active organises family horse riding trips for all ages and all levels from one day to a full week using experienced guides.

British Airways Staff to Strike

The staff of British Airways have held a ballot that resulted in BA staff approving to strike. The strike is being arranged by the Union for BA staff and has come about as a protest against the removal of travel perks that many staff enjoyed until they went on strike last year.

The results of the strike show that 5,751 were in favour of the strike while only 1,579 were against. This means that 78.45% of BA staff that voted have chosen a strike as their preferred choice of action.

This strike looks set to happen over the very busy Easter period, and will be made worse as this also coincides with the Royal wedding happening on the 29th April.

Tokyo in Japan

Tokyo is the capital city of Japan and is also the largest city within the country, but it has not always been the case having previously been a small town.

Tokyo History

Back in the early 1600’s Tokyo was a small castle town called Edo, this all changed however when the Japanese leader of the time called Tokugawa Leyasu decided to develop his government in Edo making it the political centre of Japan.

Within half a century Edo developed into a massive city commanding a population that rivalled the biggest cities in the world during the 1600’s.

Tokyo Today

Today Tokyo is still a major city and has one of the largest populations, in fact if you ask most people about Japan the first thing they will mention is Tokyo.

The Japanese are renowned for order and because of this Tokyo may seem manic to those on the outside but it is run like a well oiled machine. Day and night the city is alive and thriving with bright lights, coffee shops, shopping and business centres and more.

What is interesting about Tokyo is the fact that technology is what pushes this city forward as the people of Tokyo always want the best and newest gadgets available with fad quickly starting and fading away.

Tokyo may be an advanced technological city but it is also a very cultural and historical place too. Visitors can enjoy turning a corner from high glass front skyscrapers to find Shinto Shrines or Sento public baths with the public still keeping their ties to their cultural heritage by visiting in their hundreds and even thousands.

Tokyo is a fascinating and enthralling place to visit where tourists can really sample the historical culture of Japan along with the present day hustle and bustle of one of the world’s most important cities.

US and Russia Hit by Weather Conditions

While Weatern Europe starts its recovery from a disasterous Christmas period where travel is concerned because of weather conditions, the United States and Russia have now been hit by weather conditions causing travel problems.

The United States has seen snow and blizzards hit its eastern coast causing travel chaos everywhere as the country struggles to cope with the weather issues. As travellers struggled through grid locked roads, unpassable because of atrotcious weather news came through that many airports across the United States have cancelled flights too.

Flights from New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore to name a few airports have all seen cancellations making this one of the worst weekends for cancelled flights in the United States and world wide.

While Russia is renowned for being able to cope with heavy snow and bad weather conditions when it comes to its airports, it also found air travel disruption to its main airports in Moscow. The airports concerned are the Moscow Domodedovo airport and the Sheremetyevo airport.

The issues faced by these two airports were different to elsewhere as it was rain that froze as it fell that caused the issue, this rain caused dangerous conditions on the ground as well as an electricity outage. Combined both airports had delays on flights yesterday that followed into today with about a third of flights today still delayed.

If your looking to fly from or to the United States or Europe it is important that you check with your airline to ensure flights are running before embarking on your journey.

Travel Agencies Battle With American Airlines

Recently Orbitz took American Airlines off its listings after the two companies could not agree a contract on Orbitz offering American Airline fares, today we have learned that Expedia have now waded into the issue by not displaying American Airline fares in line with others by ranking lowest to highest fares.

Expedia are not happy with American Airlines after the the recent contract disputes with Orbitz and has now moved all American Airline results to the right side of the Expedia site, this is usually where higher priced flight results are found.

The move by Expedia and Orbitz comes as American Airlines is pushing online travel sites to use its Direct Connect Technology, a system that allows the consumer to book travel directly through them. This means that American Airlines is lowering its distribution costs and trying to create a more closer relationship with its customer base, something online travel sites disagree with as they see it as anti-consumer.

An announcement on the recent move by Expedia said: "This has been done in light of both American Airlines' recent decision to prevent Orbitz from selling its inventory and a possible disruption in Expedia's ability to sell American Airlines tickets when our contract with American Airlines expires,"

"American Airlines' direct-connect model is of questionable, if any, benefit to travelers, costly to build and maintain and would compromise travel agents' ability to provide travelers with the best selection,"

Interestingly it seems that Expedia is not the only online travel site to see the issues faced with American Airlines as the huge online travel site Travelocity has also waded into the argument by saying: "American's effort to push agencies to an inadequate direct-connect option is bad for consumers, corporations and agencies,"

Interestingly American Airlines is not the only airline looking to bring in a direct booking system as Southwest Airlines already does so and Delta Air Lines have advised they are looking to do the same.

Travel Woes Continue

Western Europe is still reeling from the cold weather that has hit the continent. In fact this weather has even strayed further into Eastern Europe where its affect has been felt.

Western Europe

Although the airports that have been closed in the earlier part of the week are now open and operating to near full capacity the bad weather is now affecting the road and rail networks.

Across the United Kingdom roads have become trecherous with many accidents happening and car speeds reduced to walking pace on many of the motorways such as the M1 in Leicestershire. The rail network in the United Kingdom was also straining under the pressure of the weather as many delays and cancellations are being felt.

France and Germany are also sustaining growing issues with their road networks as freezing rain was causing thick ice on the roads which in turn is causing many road accidents as vehicles are unable to brake.

Eastern Europe

Bulgaria has been another country hit by the cold snap as Sofia experienced two huge car accidents yesterday, both due to icy conditions on the road and thick fog. One of the accidents involved 14 cars near to the Sofia airport as the road became an ice rink with cars sliding into one another. The other accident was a country record as it inolved 60 vehicles thats collided into one another making a 3km long car accident as the thick ice on the roads was undriveable.

Although airports are open many travellers are finding it difficult to travel to airports and other destinations over the festive season. If you desperately need to travel then allow yourself a good amount of time and organize your trip in advance, if you do not need to travel then the government guidelines are to stay at home.