The low budget airline Ryanair is rumoured to be contemplating charging passengers to use the on board toilet facilities. The budget airline vows to offer low price basic tickets and then charges passengers for extras such as additional luggage, airport check in, on board snacks and for credit card payments. It is possible that Ryanair will adopt this new charging policy for the on board toilets, but I for one think this is stretching the definition of the term “extras” a little too far. It is too much to charge passengers to use the toilet because it is surely a human being’s right to go when they need to. Imagine a scenario whereby you do not have the cash to on you to go to the loo. Surely you would not be expected to hold it from say London to Madrid.

Ryanair have recently tried to squash any rumours, and have deemed them untrue. They state that the airline will not be introducing a pay per use toilet scheme in the near future.

Long journeys can be uncomfortable at the best of times but can you pick your worst? I can. Mine has to be the overnight train in Thailand from Bangkok to Surat Thani. I’m not sure what I was expecting from an overnight train. I knew it wouldn’t be luxury and it wasn’t, but I didn’t get a wink of sleep.

The journey lasted from 8pm until 6am the following day so it was a solid 10 hours travelling. The train never really picked up much speed so the frustration of this got to me more than anything else. I am sure in the UK the same distance could have been covered in half the time.

We started out in pairs with two seats facing each other and then at meal time a table was slotted into the floor and side of the train. Food was optional and I chose the hot option but this was a mistake because it was “red hot” and I couldn’t eat it. Instead, I stuffed a half stale tube of Pringles which unsettled my already fragile stomach. When it came to sleeping, the chairs folded out into bunk beds which I thought was a pretty efficient system. I foolishly took the top bunk and ended up with the only light in the carriage right in my face and the loud fan blowing only on my feet every 20 seconds. The biggest issue however was the humidity. All the trapped heat in the carriage was rising to my level and the face mask I was using was saturated with my own sweat. As we trundled along at close to walking pace the coaches would bump together and jerk you suddenly in your bunk making it impossible for you to drift off to sleep. I found myself lying awake trying to anticipate the next banging together of the carriages. I bathed in my own sweat for the entire 10 hour journey and felt extremely grimy by the time came to disembark at Surat Thani. A grin came across my face when we were directed to the café for a breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and a cool glass of orange juice.

Experiences like this one do build character and make for interesting talking points when you get home. I would not be in any hurry to choose another overnight train unless absolutely necessary. Leave a comment about your worst journeys.

Last night it began to snow hard. Within 10 minutes we had a couple of centimetres in London and it was only set to get worse overnight and into the next day. Night came and went and upon getting up for work, I was met with close on a foot of snow; the worst it has been for 18 years. Whilst eating my cereal it was announced that my mum’s school was shut, parts of the M25 were closed along with other major roads, the whole of the underground train system was suspended stopped an there was not a single London bus in operation. For me, this was great as it meant a day off from work but it really highlights how things grind to a halt when there is significant snowfall in the UK. Internationally it is also an embarrassment as flights into and out of Gatwick, Heathrow and London City Airport are all disrupted.

If you go to the northern states of America or continental Europe, when snow is predicted there will be a fleet of gritters on the roads preparing the motorways and also snow ploughs clearing the snow as it falls. In the UK, we simply are not prepared for a significant snow event like this. With no transport in London, many businesses and services simply will not run today and possibly tomorrow depending on the snow fall in the next few hours.

Many people coming to London as tourists this week will suffer serious disruptions to their plans, but many Londoners will be enjoying a glimpse of what a real English winter used to be like 20 years ago. Grab your sledge, build a snowman make the most of it while it lasts!!

I was having a think about my top 5 airline annoyances. These are the things that really grate on my nerves when it comes to air travel.

Trolley in the aisle

Airplanes were clearly not designed for trolleys. The aisles are narrow enough as it is without someone having the bright idea of getting a trolley to plug the gap. Everyone has been in the position where the drinks trolley has just passed your seat and the loo is inconveniently positioned at the other end of the plane to you. You then have the moral dilemma of asking the stewardesses to pull the trolley out of the aisle and irritate the remaining passengers or taking one for the team and waiting 15 minutes for the blockage to clear. Which person are you?

The domino effect

Ever been on a plane journey where as soon as the seat belt light goes off the chair in front of you falls right back into your face? I have. The problem is that it creates a dominos effect of seats all down the plane to compensate. One after one the seats falls back until you get to the back row where the poor blighter has to suffer on an 11 hour journey from the UK to Japan without being able to recline their seat more than two inches. I have been this guy too. Serves me right for checking in late.

Shoulder snoozers

Dribble on the shoulder is pretty grim but even more so when it is from the fat guy sitting next to you. You can sit there for hours conscious that the guy may lean on you as he teases you with his sleepy head bob motion. Why do attractive ladies never fall asleep on your shoulder? The world is just never that kind.

TVs in the aisle

I think this rant may be outdated now on many long haul flights but still exists in strength on budget and short flights. If you have a window seat under on a row with a TV your are officially in the worst position to view the onboard “entertainment”. You have to peer over the seat in front to try and get a glimpse of the 15 inch monitor that is behind the air stewardesses’ head. Things we do you a bit of TV.

Kids and the loo

The toilet really does create the most tension on flights. If there is a child in the window seat you know from the word go you will be having to stand up one hundred times for the kid to empty his or hers bladder. Its like go before you left!! Making sure you are the person asking others to let you out for the loo. That way you never get disturbed and this is the key to a good flight.

Well yes and no. To say the Grand Canyon is large is and understatement but the name does imply, and many people believe, it is the largest. At the maximum depth the Grand Canyon measures in at 1800m (6000ft) and 440km long, but the Colca and Cotahuasi Canyons in Peru are almost twice the depth at around 3000m (11,800ft). So why is the Grand Canyon generally regarded as the biggest?

I guess it depends how you measure the size of a canyon. You could go by depth but does that really describe the entire size of the Canyon? Some may say width or length but I think the fairest way is to measure the volume but this is generally not the metric used as it would be nearly impossible to measure accurately. Interestingly, some of the largest (by that I mean deepest) canyons can actually be found in the Himalayas but because of their extreme locations and lack of visitors, they are generally not recognized for their size and are disregarded.

After some research these are some of the “biggest” canyons in the world by depth.

1) The Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon (Tibet, China) 5382m (17657 ft), 496.3km long. The undisputed largest canyon in the world.

2) Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal,

3) Polung Tsangpo Canyon in Tibet,

4) Cotahuasi Canyon

It seems as though because the Grand Canyon gets so much publicity and is accessible to people, it is generally accepted as the largest. When I visited the Grand Canyon I was blown away by the vast size of it but I do think other canyons do get overlooked. I for one would like to visit some of the canyons in Peru so leave a comment if you have visited either the Colca or Cotahuasi canyons please.