Sloth-spotting in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest is becoming a popular pastime with Brits July 25, 2016 The internet is responsible for reviving many things that should be extinct: men’s rights activism, the music career of Rick Astley and, less unpleasantly, everybody’s favourite endangered species, the sloth. Despite the fact they can barely drag themselves across a road, these smiley slow-coaches have somehow managed to take over the world wide web. Time [...]
A long weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland, a place of almost unimaginable beauty July 22, 2016 Where: Cradle of local hero William Tell, home of Wagner, Lucerne is a cobalt, lakeside idyll, ringed by mythical snow- capped mountains, a gorgeous Swiss City with a medieval Altstadt (Old Town), historic covered bridges, cobbled squares where perfectly conserved Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance houses, decorated with mosaics, jostle together inside towering city walls. First made [...]
Airbnb your house: Here’s how much Londoners could be making from the sharing economy July 13, 2016 The sharing economy is growing faster in Britain than anywhere else in Europe. As it has become more expensive to own cars, homes and even electrical equipment, more of us are seeing the advantages of monetising our idle assets. PwC estimates that transactions on platforms in the five biggest sharing economy sectors almost doubled in [...]
Burberry set to score a Brexit win on the weaker pound July 10, 2016 Luxury clothing brand Burberry is expected to announce better-than-expected results this week due to the fall of sterling since the Brexit vote. Analysts expect the FTSE 100 fashion brand to report a five per cent fall in like-for-like sales on Wednesday, but have adjusted profits estimates due to a weaker pound. On the day before the [...]
Stagecoach’s share price jumps after it announces it will offload European megabus despite fall in profits June 29, 2016 Stagecoach's share price has jumped over three per cent in early morning trading, despite its profits sliding, as it announced it was offloading European megabus to FlixBus. The figures Stagecoach's full year revenue for 2016 was £3.87bn, a rise for the £3.2bn from 2015. However, profit before tax fell 37 per cent to £104.4m in the 12 months [...]
St Helena airport costing £285m can’t open because it’s too windy June 9, 2016 The South Atlantic island of St Helena is one of the hardest-to-reach locations in the world; it takes a five-and-a-half day voyage on the RMS Saint Helena. So naturally, there was a lot of excitement in town when it was decided an airport was going to be built. That's been met with the same frustration [...]
Long Weekend review: Island hopping around Spain’s Balearic Islands, from luxury villa to serene Mediterranean spa June 3, 2016 THE WEEKEND: Island-hopping around the Balearics is the perfect way to spend a three-day weekend. The Mediterranean islands may be notorious party hotspots, but the charm of the Balearics is easy to find in the quieter parts of the islands. You know, the parts that don’t attract groups of lads who expect two-for-one Jagerbombs poured [...]
Olympic controversy and Zika outbreaks have done nothing to dampen Rio de Janeiro’s party atmosphere June 1, 2016 In what is surely a daily occurrence in Brazil, a bunch of transfixed foreigners sat speechless ogling a local. “Wesley, she looks friendly, get out of the van and walk up to her,’’ suggested our Iguassu Falls host Juliana. “I have two daughters, I’m not going anywhere near her,’’ Wesley replied. Juliana, let me confirm, [...]
Brexit threatens London’s world beating tourism industry: Don’t let the capital become a museum May 24, 2016 Tourism is one of our biggest exports – and London is the most-visited city on earth. But the industry is worried that this world-beating ranking could be at risk if Britain cuts itself off from Europe. In fact, Europe is our biggest tourist market, with more than 60 per cent of visitors to the UK [...]
The Netherlands is the most lucrative buy-to-let property hotspot in the EU according to study from World First UK May 16, 2016 You might have thought it would be somewhere coastal on the Mediterranean, or a country better-known for its second home culture such as Italy or France. But the most lucrative buy-to-let market in the European Union turns out to be the modest, not-so-hilly, tulip-saturated Netherlands. With the EU's highest rental yield rate in April, at [...]