“MADRID, Dec 11 (Reuters Life!) – A charity calendar sold by Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair showing its air hostesses in skimpy bikinis demeans women and breaks the law, a Spanish consumer group said on Tuesday. The Ryanair 2008 calendar called “The Girls of Ryanair” has photos of air hostesses posing in and outside of planes, dressed in bikinis rather than their normal blue suits. April’s hostess is Nicola from London Stansted, who is wearing only bikini bottoms, with her breasts covered by a lifejacket. “Miss July” — Edita from Marseille — reclines backwards over a wheel with a wrench in her hand and grease on her body.
“The company is attacking the dignity of women workers in general and especially of cabin crew members, by presenting stereotypical images of these professionals which they have spent years struggling against”, Spanish consumer group FACUA said in a statement. Ryanair, which is selling the calendar for five 5 pounds ($10) and giving the proceeds to the children’s charity Angels Quest, was not immediately available for comment.
FACUA has complained about the calendar and its promotional material to Spain’s Women’s Institute, which is part of the Labour Ministry, and to the National Consumer Institute.”
Read the full article at http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINL1111819420071211
“Ryanair has come bottom of an online Irish shopping survey, despite being named one of the most efficient airlines in Europe by the Association of European Airlines. On Friday, the airline topped the European organisation’s newly released league table, which assessed airlines based on punctuality and the number of bags lost. Despite this good performance in Europe, Ryanair’s website, Ryanair.com, finished in last place in a separate survey of consumer practises at 25 online firms by Irish internet consultancy firm AMAS.”
Read the full article at
Travel websites are among the worst for online customer service, according to new research from Transversal. The travel industry came joint worst along with telecoms, insurance, consumer electronics, grocers and utilities in a survey of 10 sectors. Although travel websites have improved their ability to respond to holidaymakers’ basic questions in the last year, 60% of questions remain unanswered. Travel websites that offer email customer service options took an average of 58 hours to respond, which is only eight hours better than corresponding research carried out in 2006. Transversal monitored 10 leading UK travel companies by phone, web and email as part of its third annual customer service research.
“Despite the enormous growth in the online channel, across all sectors, our research shows that consumers are still suffering from substandard online service”, said Davin Yap, CEO, Transversal.
Read the full article at http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1124662.php?mpnlog=1
You don’t need to worry about getting your newly acquired purchases home as PNG Arts has a reliable packing, crating and shipping service, which the Beetle has twice used and all items arrived safely in London, taking about three months – see the very exciting picture left.
Anyway, down to business, this is not an ad for PNG Art, the Beetle wants to talk about Rabaul. Rabaul is a natural harbour on one of PNG’s islands, this one is New Britain, part of the Bismark Archipelago, which is immediately north of the main part of PNG. Rabaul has a sheltered deep harbour which allows good anchorage for large cargo and cruise ships. The harbour itself is a massive flooded caldera of an ancient volcano – it here that the Beetle did many fantastic dives. See the picture above right of a very undignified Beetle hanging on to some dead coral for dear life as the currents threatened to wash her away.
From 1910 until 1937 Rabaul was under German control and the base of Japanese activities in the South Pacific during World War II and there are many remains and relics to be seen as a result of this and subsequent Japanese occupation. 
If you have an interest in WW2 artefacts and wish to gain a better understanding of the events in this part of the South Pacific, there is no better place to visit than the Kokopo war museum. It is largely set outdoor amidst beautifully manicured gardens with a gorgeous collection of frangipani ad star fruit trees. 
German colonial period, pre-war and WWII Japanese occupation such as tanks, search lights, munitions, motorcycles, half-tracks, guns, artillery, machine guns, and the wrecks and partial wreck of many Japanese aircraft. 
Japanese War Memorial A war memorial was constructed by the Japanese after WWII as a peace memorial, and in memory to those who lost their life in and around Rabaul. It is on a hill above the town, with a fabulous view of the area that was once occupied by thousands of Japanese Navy and Army personnel. The memorial is not without a little controversy. The huge map of the Pacific with New Britain and Rabaul at the centre forms the background of the memorial also
shows the sites of Jap
anese conquests. This elicited a response from the Australian government that the memorial signified Japanese occupation rather than promote their subsequent peaceful intentions. You can see in the Beetle photo left that there is a hole that lets the sun shine directly onto a simple pillar shrine.
The Japanese used forced labour to build a series of tunnels through many parts of Rabaul. You can still see these tunnels sixty years later. Some of the tunnels were used to live in, store munitions and guns, and others were used to house barges. The Beetle photo left shows the remains of one such barge. One tunnel in particular is large enough to have stored five landing craft. During the war, these were carefully lifted out of the tunnel using a hoist system, taken across to the cliff face where they were lowered into the water. 
ooks dim. But the story here is Greek Macedonia, one of the most beautiful regions of Greece, and an area which will grow in importance as the commercial and cultural centre of the Balkans in the years to come. 
Founded by King Perdikas in the 7th Century BC it was formally known as Aigaes and was the first capital of Macedonia. When the capital was moved to Pella it was continued to be used as the royal burial grounds. In 336 BC, King Phillip II was assassinated by one of his seven bodyguards while attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra in the theatre.
Ancient Dion was an important religious centre for worshipping the Gods of nearby Mount Olympus. This is where Phillip II came to celebrate his victories and his son Alexander came to make his sacrifices here before going off to conquer the East. While most of the statues which were not only found virtually intact, but with traces of colour, are in the nearby museum in the town of Dion, they have been replaced with copies. The Sanctuary of Isis is perhaps the most interesting discovery so far. An earthquake had displaced water and mud and the building was hidden for centuries under 6 feet of water which protected it from vandals. The temple still sits in the water and a copy of the statue of Aphrodite can be seen there. 
The Capital of Macedonia moved from Vergina to Pella in the 5th Century BC and was in effect the capital of Greece. Many people come here to see the exceptional mosaics discovered in the remains of houses and public buildings. The museum is one of Greece’s best on-site archaeology museums with a display of pottery, jewellery and mosaics found at the site. The remains of the buildings have impressed archaeologists and led them to believe that the Macedonians enjoyed a high level of wealth. 
Site of the famous battle where the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavius met and defeated the armies of Julius Caesar’s assassins in 42BC. Brutas and Cassius committed suicide and the victors spent a fortune on Philippi, granting it the status of Roman Colony, providing us with the impressive ruins, and artefacts which are now in the museum. In 49 AD Saint Paul came to preach to the inhabitants of Philippi and ended up in prison. Despite Paul’s misfortune Phillipi was the first European city to accept Christianity, though the first two churches they built suffered some bad luck. The first was destroyed by an earthquake right after it was completed in the 5th century and the second collapsed before its dedication in the 6th Century because it was too top heavy. The remains can both be seen, as well as the ancient theatre built by Phillip II.