travel

"This is probably the only tourist hot-spot in the world without traffic problems", I thought as I got on a vaporetti - a waterbus. The Venetian canal (above) forms the main road and vaporetti are the buses, and are quite cheap at €18 for a 12 hour pass.

Nearby, a group of Japanese tourists were enjoying a ride on a gondola- a kind of private taxi. One ride for a maximum of 6 people costs about €80, but I heard stories that the gondoliers often charge extra for the added bonus of singing. Many shops follow the same practice- the ‘eat-in' fee is the equivalent of the tip.

From the vaporetti, you can observe the typical Italian architecture, especially the many churches. In medieval Italy it was popular to steal the relics of the saints and because of this, St Nicholas is buried in Bari. However, the remnants of St Mark (San Marco) the evangelist rest in the basilica in Venice patrolled by his symbol - a lion. The basilica is decorated with mosaics and onion-shaped cupolas - that's the byzantine architecture, and Marco Polo even brought aspect of Asian culture from his travels.

On Saturday I attended a wedding. It was the first wedding in our family after a series of funerals and everyone was looking forward to it. And it was nice- a bit of Spanish fiesta mixed with Hungarian folklore and meals.

However, after midnight, everyone wanted to get home. The police would not be interested in the fact that you are more likely to be run over by a car when walking drunk, than cause an accident whilst drink driving. Common practice is that one passenger from each car keeps away from alcohol to be able to drive the others home. But drowsy drivers can be just as dangerous as drunk drivers.Actually, it does not matter whether your reactions are slowed down by alcohol or fatigue.

However, people will always choose to drive tired due to the legal reasons. There is zero alcohol tolerance in Slovakia and if you exceed 1.0 (which is likely after a wedding where the home-distilled spirit is a must), you can end up in prison.

Perils of Flying

Getting home from the wedding was one thing, but some of the guests will soon have to get back to Spain, and judging by recent news there are further dangers lurking in the air. The same Saturday as the wedding, 307 people on board a flight from Seoul to San Francisco went through a terrifying experienced.

I decided to visit Cardiff - the capital and the political, financial, industrial and sporting centre of Wales.

I had never been to Wales before, but knew a bit of its history and culture, as Welsh and Scottish nationalism was the topic of my Master's thesis. And it really is a bit different to England compared to the commuter's jungle of London where I live.

The weather was hot- enough to wear just a t-shirt. In London, a hoodie or an umbrella always comes handy. First up, I took a public transport bus to the Cardiff Bay (pictured above) to see the sea. An all day ticket was just £3.40. In London, this gets you just one peak-time journey on the Tube.

I know, I should not compare the incomparable, because there are reasons for the differences (maintenance costs, amortisation and replacement of the material abused by millions of travellers a day), but I cannot help it.

My trip continued in Cardiff Bay with the Wales Millennium Centre, Senedd (the Welsh National Assembly) and the Doctor Who Experience.

Last week, I took a long-haul British Airways flight from Heathrow’s Terminal Five. Other frequent flyers may be aware that the only airlines serving this particular terminal are Iberia and British Airways. Now, to make this relevant, I must explain that I am a recent smoking veteran.

I am fortunate enough to live very nearby a vendor that sells Gamucci Electronic Cigarettes at far below their usual retail price, and the idea one day struck me to give them a try. Within a week, I had cut down on my tobacco intake significantly, and have tapered my use to only social situations over the last month, which is a great personal victory for a pack-a-day smoker of three years.

Before my flight, I ran over British Airways’s regulations to find any explicit mention of electronic cigarettes, of which there were absolutely none. I made my way to Lewisham, where I (rather ambitiously) purchased three nicotine free cartridges for my Gamucci battery, charged the cigarette and packed my bags. When I arrived at Terminal Five, I began to feel anxious about the lack of nicotine that I may have to endure for the ten hour flight, and popped over to WH Smith to buy myself a SKYCIG, containing the equivalent nicotine of 30 cigarettes.

As the UK starts to descend into chaos ahead of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, thousands of families will be hitting the road to spend some quality time with one another.

We've searched the web to find its very own hidden easter egg gems and present to you the top 5 ways to cope with this hectic time of the year: