Friday, 27 July 2012

Celebrities holiday on the Riviera - The Riviera Times Online

Celebrities holiday on the Riviera - The Riviera Times Online

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Will they charge for using the toilets at Luton Airport next?


Luton Airport Departure Lounge early in the morning in July 2012
 I have been using "London" Luton Airport for nearly 30 years now and seen the transformation from a small airport with an old terminal building to the much smarter building that houses it now.

Unfortunately for a visitor arriving in the country the welcome is not great. The approach from the planes is not too friendly.

Once you have crossed the tarmac there is not much in the way of covered walways and if it is a summer like 2012, people get very wet.
You have to walk up and down stairs often before reaching passport control, why when it is meant to be a modern building. All the internal walkways could be geatly improved with bright posters or pictures. After all visitors have not arrived in some eastern bloc country prior to 1989, but in 2012 Britain the place where the Olympics are being held.

 Unlike most other international airports where you put a coin into the luggage trolley and get it back again, at Luton they keep it.

The person meeting you has waited half an hour in the car park and has to pay £7.20 for the priviledge (possibly higher than London Heathrow) and if he or she pays by credit card there is a surcharge on top.

When you are dropped off the person dropping you off has to pay a £1 or risk a fine for "Ilegal drop offs", to go through the Government security checks, they encourage you to pay for a "speedy clearance".

Once inside the terminal, if you go there early in the morning as I did on a Thursday in July around 7.30a.m there are so many people there you have to queue for the toilets.

In May this year easyJet said that "the infrastructure at Luton Airport must improve and old perceptions swept away". -"Passenger friendly terminal facilities – Reduce waiting times at security and immigration. Increase the number of stands to remove the need for bussing to planes, an improved terminal experience – more seating and retail on the way, not in the way."

The worry is that they will do a bit of tidying up and improving and possibly add further toilet facilities and do you know what, probably want to charge for using their "Speedy super loos".

Luton Airport needs to improve, but not by making its customers have to keep on putting their hands in their pockets every five minutes so the company running the airport can make larger profits.

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Cannes self catering holiday rental available from 31st July

Now that the jmlvillas.com holiday rentals website is back in business after being "off the air" for a few hours today, we are pleased to promote this new arrival on the site.

A privately owened apartment with individual style and a superb view.

The apartment is located less than 1km from Palais des Festivals and located 150m from Cannes la Bocca train station - 3 minutes by train to the centre of Cannes.



This stylish apartment that sleeps four, situated on the Boulevard du Midi boasts magnificent, panoramic views of the Mediterranean encompassing the islands of St Honorat and Ste Marguerite as well as its impressive pool set within beautiful Italian gardens.

The Palais des Festivals and the famous La Croisette are a short walk away. Around Cannes are a number of medieval perched villages, including Mougins (about 10 minutes from Cannes once you get up to the autoroute), St-Paul-de-Vence, Antibes Old Town, and the famous perfume capital of Grasse.

There are also frequent boat excursions to St-Tropez, where every Tuesday and Saturday from 8am to 1pm, there is a large open-air market in the beautiful Place des Lices. There is also a Provençal market just 2 minutes from the residence.



Places to see nerarby:

Grasse - 21km. Considered the world’s capital of perfume and was made “Ville d’Art et d’Histoire” (town of art and history)



There are numerous old ‘parfumeries’ in Grasse, such as Molinard, Fragonard and Galimard, each with tours and a museum. An annual Fête du Jasmin or La Jasminade is held at the beginning of August.


Fact: Twenty-seven tonnes of jasmine are now harvested in Grasse annually.


Antibes Old Town - 14 km. The covered market (Marché Provençal) offers fresh products every morning except Monday, with a magnificent selection of meat, fish, cheese and vegetables.


Home also to the Picasso museum - for hardcore Picasso fans.

Cap d’Antibes is a beautiful and invigorating walk around the cape.


Mougins - 7km. Has a strong culinary history with such great chefs as Roger Vergé and Alain Ducasse having managed restaurants in the village. Both were synonymous with the restaurant L’Amandier, which is situated in the heart of the old village.

Mougins also hosts the annual ‘International Gastronomy Festival of Mougins’, or ‘Les Étoiles de Mougins’, an international gastronomic event taking place every September in the village.


The Mougins Museum of Classical Art (MMoCA) was opened in May 2011. Included in the museum are the works of Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Degas, Dalí, Dufy, Chagall, Derain, Lautrec, Yves Klein, Damien Hirst, (and so on.)

Fact: Pablo Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life living in Mougins (1961–1973), where he died.



St Paul de Vence - 26 km. One of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera, well known for its modern and contemporary art museums and galleries, in particular Fondation Maeght - its collection includes many important 20th century artists including Bonnard, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Fernand Léger and Joan Miró (among others) *http://www.fondation-maeght.com



Saint-Tropez - 70 km. Dubbed the ‘playground to jetsetters, fashion models, and millionaires’.



Tropezien beaches are located along the coast in the Baie de Pampelonne, topless sunbathing is now a usual way of sunbathing for both men and women - the Tahiti beach is now “clothing-optional”, but nudists often head to private, nudist beaches, like that in Cap d’ Agde.



It also hosts the most exuberant open air market in the whole of the Riviera; every Tuesday and Saturday from 8am to 1pm.



And much more: Provencal gastronomy, wineries, bakeries, chocolatiers, and high fashion.

Things to Do:
•Beautiful beach 100 meters



•Jet ski rental 2 km


•Cannes Garden Tennis Club 2 km


•Diving courses 50 meters
 
•Water skiing 300 meters


More information at jmlvillas.com Here

jmlvillas.com Holiday Rentals site 3rd July 2012

Unfortunately due to a technical problem with a BT Line this afternoon to the jmlvillas.com site's server, the site has not been working since approximately 13.00 on Tuesday 3rd July.

We trust the problem will be rectified very shortly.

The problem also effect jml-insurance.co.uk, however many of the products advertised can either be found at www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk  or at www.insurance4carrental.com  or for Ireland at www.irishpropertyinsurance.com

We have been told that the problem has nothing to do with all the wet English July weather!

Monday, 25 June 2012

Living Spain and Destination France Summer 2012 editions now out

Just received the summer edition of Living Spain magazine and Destination France magazine.

Each magazine will cost £3.99 and they are very good value and full of intesresting features.

On the jmlvillas.com local south of France website www.cotedazurrental.com we have been given consent to publish some of the articles from that region over the years.

This summer editions features Normandy, with a city guide to Lyon, and what is on "Rendez-vous". I like the feature about Art DecoPosters that cost £395 each and give a fantastic impression of how travel used to be and featuring south of France locations like Cap D'Antibes, Cannes and Saint Tropez. This is an easy way to buy one of these. Another is to go to the Sunday market at Villefranche Sur Mer just outside Nice.

Living Spain magazine features about buying a country farmhouse and Tarragona and its wines. 

Both magazines run jmlvillas and jml insurance ads in their directory sections. So if you are looking for more information about Spain and France, those seem to be the magazines to buy.

Thursday, 31 May 2012

Prices at some Irish Holiday Homes are slashed for bank holiday

Just receved an emaily flyer from Dream Ireland, Ireland's specialist self catering holiday homes company.

They say that "Prices slashed for June Bank Holiday weekend" Well that is this coming weekend. It is referendum day in Ireland today and on Saturday 2nd June the bank holiday weekend starts. Just for a change the Irish bank holiday falls on the same day (4th June) as the British one because of the British late May bank holiday falling a week later because of the extra day on the 5th June for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. New Zealand also has a bank holiday, but it is easier to get to Ireland  if you are living in Europe.

For some ten years now Dream Ireland Irish Holiday Home self catering rentals have been advertised on jmlvillas.com so why not take a look at the jmlvillas.com/Ireland section today? Follow this link

Friday, 18 May 2012

Is your holiday home rental in Spain, Greece or Ireland lying empty?

There is so much doom and gloom about (and that is not talking about the rather unpleasant weather in the south of England during the first couple of weeks of May) with news of uncertainty in Greece over their retaing the Euro, far too many properties empty in Spain and prices of property still very low in Ireland.

You might have a holiday home in one of these countries. If you have never considered letting it out to help pay some of the costs? (there are always costs involved even if you don't have mortgage - local taxes, maintenance etc).

Your holiday home might already be on the rental market, but you are not getting the bookings this year. People are watcing their money carefully before spending it on holidays.

There are solutions. One is to advertise it on www.jmlvillas.com . Oh no you say that means spending even more money. I have already booked advertising in this villa magazine and the Sunday something or other for 3 weeks and alltogether it has cost me a lot of money. Well advertising on jmlvillas.com won't exactly break the bank balance. Far from it. It costs about the same as 4 bottles of wine does in an average UK supermarket. Just £12.50 (that GBP Twelve pounds fifty pence) for ONE YEAR. That means the ad is there for all the year for thw world to view on the web.

There are plenty of information guides for owners and their guests as well.

If you are not getting the volume off booking that you got last year look at your prices. As stated earlier people are generally on much tighter budgets now and even though air travel, car hire and insurance are still very good value in many cases and even if the renter is coming from a country outside the Eurozone where exchange rates are good at the moment, they are concerned about extras when they arrive.

It is better to reduce your price a little than to leave the property empty.

jmlvillas.com has been promoting self catering holiday rentals for ten years now. All the dealing are carried out between property owner and renter and all the owner has to do is to pay for an exceptionally inexpensive advertisement. You add your own description room, by room, what to do in the area, 6 photos and your prices and change details whenever you want at no additional charge.

So don't leave the Greek, Irish or Spanish holiday rental empty( or any holiday rental in other countries),but list it today HERE