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When my niece visited France at New year on the occasion of her honeymoon she returned full of tales of what she saw.  Forget the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay - all these lovebirds noticed was the baby cribs in the shops.  Apparently the plan for 2008 is all about filling their nest, and the lovebirds are totally focussed on starting a family.  By the time they go on their cruise to the Mediterranean in June she plans to be ordering baby furniture.  This cruise is a present from the inlaws and they will be visiting Spain, Morocco and Italy. I hope she knows about the seasickness she is likely to suffer as they cross the Bay of Biscay!

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No matter where you travel in the world there are likely to be thousands of people suffering from mesothelioma. This terrible affliction has no cure and the only recourse for sufferers is to try and track down the cause to claim compensation. Make sure your hotel is not built using asbestos or you could find yourself in this group in years to come.

The airlines are very strict about the rules regarding expectant mothers flying during their third trimester. Flying after 28 weeks is absolutely forbidden and I witnessed the discussion between an unsuspecting woman wearing maternity clothes who was quizzed by airplane staff about her due date and she naively told them she was in week 27.  Huge discussions ensued as she had to explain that if the flight went to schedule she would arrive home at week 27 plus one day!

When I travel abroad I often think the office furniture used in hotels and banks is a touch more stylish than the stuff we see at home. Maybe it is simply the romance of travel, but that is how it appears to me. When I get back to this country everything seems a little grey by comparison.

The Lake Malawi National Park now has an extra attraction in the Pumulani Beach Lodge, comprising ten luxury lakeside villas. Each commands a spectacular view over Lake Malawi and its own private deck. Activities at the lodge include birdwatching, waterskiing, sailing, diving, wakeboarding, kayaking, snorkelling and fishing.

Guests can experience the beauty of the Lake of Stars by night on scenic cruises in a traditional wooden dhow, a 40ft sailing boat handbuilt by local craftsmen. The National Park is a World Heritage Site and the opening of the lodge brings luxury accommodation to this natural paradise. Read more »

Going on vacation involves some formalities that are not very exciting but if you neglect them it could cost you dear. Passports and visas are obvious, but good travel insurance is something that many travellers fail to research - to their cost. You cannot rely on your annual medical insurance if you are going abroad, but you can find several affordable plans - there are different ranges of travel cover depending on your age and destination. This is money well spent so you can go on vacation knowing you are covered against emergencies. On the website you can also get a free travel guide to help you explore the benefits of your destination before you arrive - just leave your email address and destination and your holiday guide will be sent to you today.

Travelling has stopped being an enjoyable experience for many of us. Can you honestly say that you enjoyed the last flight that you took? Long queues at check-in, suspicious staff at security checks, uncomfortable airport lounges and cramped seats all contribute to make flying more of an ordeal than a pleasure. Here are some ideas that could improve your travel experience:

- Travellers deserve respect. Why should we hold on for ages on premium rate lines just for the privilege of giving the operators our money? As a customer, make your voice heard against this rip-off practice and seek out the firms that offer toll-free or freephone numbers

- Look after our luggage. Why are airlines still losing our baggage when they have all the high-tech logistical tracking tools at their disposal? The number of lost or damaged items is going up, not down. There is no excuse for this sloppy practice. Worse still, the restrictions on cabin baggage mean we are forced to put more of our essentials in our cases, like medications. So if the case does not turn up at the other end we are even more stressed. And while we are on the subject, why should the bags not appear on the carousel by the time we get to the luggage hall?

Give us better seats - the regular airline seat appear to be constructed to offer maximum discomfort, and legroom becomes less every year. Even the smallest adult finds these seats tortuous. Why should a comfortable airline seat be a luxury item? Give us decent aircraft seats as standard.

For UK travellers the regional flight supplements on package trips are a disgrace: as much as £100 extra is loaded on to the price if you need to travel from any airport other than Gatwick. If the same trips were booked independently, the difference in cost would be negligible.

Here in the UK over the past two decades there has been a big gap in proper skills training and that is part of the reason that so many people have travelled here from abroad to fill skills shortages in building and construction. My own children are actually looking for employment training at the moment as they have wisely decided that it is an advantage to get trained for a trade that is in demand.  We found out what was available at the CSkills website.  They are a partner of the sector skills council for construction, giving information on career development  in the construction industry.

Young people who want to start working straight away, like my son, can find out how to start an apprenticeship. They pick up skills and these are certified by studying at the same time for NVQs, this is a great way for them to earn as they learn.

My partner has developed an interest in playing online poker after talking to a friend who has been doing very well from playing on the web. But when he tried to get started, he hit one big stumbling block - most sites did not offer software that he could use. The reason? He has a MacBook, and their downloads were designed for Windows. However with a quick search he found a site that brings together all the Mac friendly gaming websites and reviews the best ones for you to visit. Now my partner is also wary of downloads, so I was pleased to see that they also link to Mac Poker and Mac casino sites that use Javascript, and therefore do not require any downloads. They also show you the highest Online Casino Bonuses, and there are some genuine voucher codes for extra signup bonuses so you can start off with some ‘free’ money!

The entertainments available in bars differ enormously depending on which country you travel to in the world.  Over here in the UK, darts was once an integral part of every public bar layout and it was advisable to mind your head when a match was in progress.  Over the past thirty years many of these traditional entertainments have disappeared from most of our pubs, such as the billiards or pool table.  Small wonder, since the table itself and its pool table accessories took up a lot of room.  And of course they did not generate much income for the owners, whereas slot machines were big earners.  Pubs and bars over here have generally smartened their act up over the past fifteen years, and they are now great places to eat as well as drink.  The menus in pubs, pub-restaurants and gastro pubs now rival anything on offer in the average restaurant and they cost a lot less.  Most pubs in the UK are child friendly during the day so the family can eat together.  Foreign visitors to the UK sometimes find it hard to see how the protocol of the average pub works.  You normally find somewhere to sit before going to the bar to order your drinks and/ or food.  It is acceptable to move chairs from elsewhere in the pub if you need extra seats, as long as nobody is sitting on them!