 MONEY
If
you are planning a trip to Europe and want to find out
more about the euro, the best websites include the
European Central Bank's www.ecb.int
which gives general information on the new currency (with
pictures of the banknotes and coins) plus a useful
country-by- country timetable listing both the cut-off
date for using old currency as legal tender and
deadlines for exchanging it at commercial or national
central banks.
THE
UNIVERSAL CURRENCY CONVERTER
www.xe.com/ucc/
The Universal Currency Converter, the world's most
popular currency tool, allows you to perform interactive
foreign exchange rate calculations on the Internet,
using live, up-to-the-minute currency rates. To start,
simply type the amount of source currency in the input
box. Next, select the source and destination currencies
using the scrolling selection boxes. (Note that there
are far more currencies available than the initial five
displayed.) When you are finished, push the "Perform
Currency Conversion" button, and the results of
your conversion will be displayed.
WEATHER
A couple of websites offer useful
five-day forecasts for destinations worldwide. The
Meteorological Office address is www.metoffice.com
and is particularly strong on UK and European areas. For
a more detailed breakdown of specific areas and regions
outside Europe, try the BBC's website www.bbc.co.uk/weather.
This gives a daily summary with pressure maps and
temperature charts plus an excellent search facility
providing details such as rainfall, relative humidity,
windspeed, visibility and times for sunrise and sunset (plus
air pollution and sun index if relevant) for a large
number of different places.
ROUTE
PLANNING
Several
excellent sites help with planning routes in the UK and
Europe, all with good maps and concise directions. Try
the AA's www.theaa.com
which maps out your journey taking breaks and scenic
routes into consideration. Also good, particularly for
Europe, is www.viamichelin.co.uk
which provides several different suggestions for the
same journey. You can also calculate the journey times
based on car, motorbike or caravan - and maps are
up-to-date and detailed. With www.shellgeostar.com
you can go one step farther and work out your journey
time according to the speed you prefer to drive at -
fast, slow or moderate. Tourist attractions, restaurants
and petrol stations are also listed.
AIR
TRAVEL
For
clear, user-friendly information about flying look at
the Air Transport Users Council on www.auc.org.uk
which is aimed particularly at independent travellers.
There's plenty of general advice about buying airline
tickets, inflight services and useful links to websites
that can help if you have special needs. It also lists
the steps you should take if you find your luggage is
lost or damaged. Also check out the Directory of Airline
Web Sites on www.travel-watch.com
with an extensive list of airline web sites worldwide.
Use the alphabetical index or the site search to find
the airline you are looking for.
On
www.flightprogress.com
you can track an airplane and monitor the progress of
specific airline flights in the United States and Canada.
Immunisation
One
of the best sources of information on jabs is www.masta.org,
which is the website of the Medical Advisory Services
for Travellers Abroad (Masta). It is an excellent
website if you are planning to travel to far-flung areas
and want practical medical information about infectious
disease symptoms and methods of avoiding illness.
There's also a wealth of detail about the different
types of anti-malarial drugs available as well as
information about deep vein thrombosis.
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