If you have ever wondered what you really need when you hire a car in the USA then just take a look at the following link. usrentacar.co.uk have put together a quick over view of insurances, driving license requirements and other general rental info.

Car hire USA

As usual our friends at usrentacar have have given us the low down on the run up to Christmas. Early signs are that there may be peak season surcharges introduced as the availability on some of the most popular vehicles is looking quite low. If you are thinking of hiring any of the following vehicles the advice is to book now for the folllowing locations - Orlando, Sanford, Miami, Tampa - all Florida car hire. Plus other popular locations like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas!

7 Seater Minivan (Dodge Grand Caravan or similar)

8 Seater minivan (Toyota Sienna or similar)

12/15 Seater Minivan (Dodge RAM or Ford e350 or similar)

Intermediate SUV (Jeep Liberty or similar)

Standard SUV  (Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar)

Full size 7 seater SUV (Chevrolet Tahoe or similar)

Convertible (Ford Mustang or similar)

There are still great rates available so reserve now to avoid disappointment.

Just thought I would give a little heads up for those travelling to the USA this Christmas and New Year. I recently read a very interesting post by usrentacar who specialise in car hire USA.  This year all the early indications are pointing to a shortage of car rental availability in major locations like Florida, California and New York. Well, its either a shortage or a major price hike.

But generally speaking when prices rise its due to two things. 1) Lack of vehicles 2) increase in demand.

Well, even thought both reasons intrinsically affect the other here are a couple of reasons why usrentacar.co.uk think prices are set to rise;

• Like everybody car rental suppliers are feeling the pinch, the second hand car market is bottoming out and the actually amount of vehicles on the road is down due to the knock on effects of the Tsunami.
• Suppliers know Christmas will be busy, they also know that the U.S. domestic market will hire a huge amount of vehicles, more than they actually have.

For more details on this post please visit the usrentacar.co.uk blog

If you are travelling to the USA this Christmas and New Year the advise is to book early, especially if you need a specialist vehicle like a convertible, any SUV and any high occupancy vehicle like a 7, 8, 12 and 15 seater minivan.

You can book car hire in the USA with usrentacar.co.uk - please click the following link: car hire USA

As well as bargainn for car hire in the USA you can still get a great deal on your Florida Villa Rental as many of our private owners are offering great rates this coming Christmas and New Year holiday.

Let me know if you have any other Chrostmas and New Years tips,

Karl

Bargain Villas

Officials from Europe’s biggest airline from want to remove two or three of its lavatories and replace them with up to six extra seats.

Under the plans up to 200 passengers and six crew would be forced to share bathroom facilities during a flight, leading to long queues, or worse, mid-air accidents. The company said ticket prices would fall by about £2 from a typical £40 ticket.

Michael O’Leary, the airline’s controversial chief executive, who is famous for his uncompromising approach to cost-cutting, defended the plans, saying all bathroom facilities were “very rarely” all used.

But critics said they were a “step too far” in its crude bid to cut costs and increase revenues. It is the latest cost-cutting measures announced by the airline.

But dont fear, there are still some genuine bargains out there that dont cut quality. Check out Bargain Villas for some great deals on cheap villa rental

Bargain Villas

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Boss Michael O'Leary boasted that his airline would cash in as more passengers compete for fewer seats.

Ryanair expects to run fewer services this winter for the first time in its history so it can save money on jet fuel.

Dozens of new aircraft being delivered by BOEING will simply be "parked up" until March next year.

Mr O'Leary said: "This will help get the fares up." He added "lead in" promotional fares would rise - but insisted: "Supply and demand is the real driver of this. Bookings are stronger because of all the austerity.

Still, not everything is bad news for your pocket. You can still find a Bargain for your next holiday villa with Bargain Villas. Search our rates with owners Directly and Companies for the best choice of cheap holiday villas.

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• British Airways is not operating any flights between London and Scotland until 1400 BST
• KLM cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle as well as flights from Durham Tees Valley Airport
• EasyJet cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen between 0500 and 1300 BST
• Ryanair said it has been advised by the Irish Aviation Authority not to operate flights from Glasgow Prestwick, Edinburgh or Aberdeen until at least 1300 BST but believed that "there is no basis for these flight cancellations"
• Flybe cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen and Inverness
• BMI said flights to and from Aberdeen were subject to delay and passengers should check its website, but services in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh were running normally
• Glasgow-based Loganair has cancelled 36 flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected
• Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace

Since last year, the CAA has graded ash levels as low, medium or high, and airlines are notified if levels reach medium or high.

All British aircraft can fly in medium-density ash but the airlines need to consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments.

A CAA spokesman said the current cloud could "potentially" cause serious disruption as charts showed the ash density below 35,000ft had reached the highest level at more than 4,000 microgrammes per cubic metre.

But he said procedures were "totally different" compared with last year and although no airlines had applied to fly in high-denisty ash, some had apllied for, and been given, permission to fly in medium ash.

More information can be found at Bargain Villas Blog

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Grímsvötn

Meteosat Second Generation (MSG)

Image of Ash Cloud taken 06:00am on 24th May 2011

Image taken on 23rd of May

MSG images are monitoring for the presence of volcanic ash emission in the vicinity of Iceland using infrared data from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. Because cloud particles and volcanic ash particles interact with the infrared radiation in different ways, data at several different wavelengths can be combined to identify the main ash plume, which, when present, would be shown as yellow and orange colours in the images. However, it should be noted that it is only the thicker parts of the plume that are able to be detected by this method. In addition, the ash plume is often masked by overlying high cloud and therefore might not appear in the satellite image.

Loganair, based at Glasgow airport, has cancelled 36 flights on Tuesday as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) warns that disruption cannot be ruled out.

Analysts expect the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano to reach Scotland and Northern Ireland by Monday evening.

The event comes a year after ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano spread across Europe, causing huge disruption.

'Better prepared'

Andrew Haines, chief executive of the CAA, said: "Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of people both onboard aircraft and on the ground.

"We can't rule out disruption, but the new arrangements that have been put in place since last year's ash cloud mean the aviation sector is better prepared and will help to reduce any disruption in the event that volcanic ash affects UK airspace."

A Loganair spokesman said Met Office forecasts indicated that a high density of ash would be present in large parts of Scottish airspace throughout Tuesday, clearing into Wednesday morning.

It has cancelled almost all flights on Tuesday and advised customers due to travel to contact them to rearrange flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected.

The UK's air traffic control service, Nats, said volcanic ash was forecast to affect parts of Scotland between 1800 BST and midnight on Monday.

Services may be affected from Barra, Benbecula and Tiree.

The Met Office, which runs Europe's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, earlier said there was a possibility of ash moving across the UK towards the end of the week.

But a spokesman said the weather was much more changeable than at the time of last year's eruption and there was a lot more uncertainty.

The CAA said ash levels would be graded as low, medium or high, and airlines would be notified if levels reached medium or high.

Airlines would then consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments already carried out, the CAA added.

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Click here to see Satellite Images of the Tsunami

Click here for more images of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

More information can be found at our blog - click here

Click here to see Satellite Images of the Tsunami

Click here for more images of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

More information can be found at our blog - click here

A screen grab shows a tsunami simulation with a prediction of possible spots that could be hit by giant waves after the Japan earthquake. (Picture: EPA)

Extraordinary map showing energy of Tsunami as it crosses the Pacific from Japan after the earthquake. (Picture: US TSUNAMI WARNING CENTRE)

A Seismic Monitor from Friday showing the Japan earthquake (Picture: IRIS)

This graphic provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows estimated tsunami travel times following the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan (PIcture: AFP/NOAA)

More information and images can be found at our blog Click here