So what do you do when you get there? Well you could visit the Wazemmes Market (Marche de Wazemmes) a vast and sprawling market held every Sunday. This is not a market primarily for tourists so you’ll experience Lille as the locals do.

There are many different things being sold, African artifacts and clothes, local food and fresh vegetables as well as kitchen items, shoes, belts bags and just about anything else you’d expect to find in a large local market.

If you decide to go for a weekend you’ll need somewhere to stay so you could try the Hotel Des Tours, 27 rue de Tours, 59000. Tel: 03 59 57 47 00.

This hotel is situated in the old city centre close to many restaurants and has garage parking (for a fee). It has 64 rooms which are modern and attractive with the public rooms have bright contemporary paintings, it’s handy for most tourist attractions around the Lille area.

If you don’t want to drive your car there, then you can always get there then hire a car, cost will depend on when you go and you will need to weigh the cost of taking the ferry with your car and passengers against the cost of trains/ferries/planes and car hire.

Some ferries will take foot passengers which can be a very economical way to travel, then the cost of a hire car in France is very reasonable too so you get the best of both worlds. Cheap crossing and a car built to drive on the other side of the road!

Do we think that Murray will this year beat Federer who knows he certainly seems to have the hunger to win which is always a good trait to have but only time will tell and time is on his side, every year older the reining champion gets will slow him down. True we don’t see that much slowing down but unless he’s an alien hybrid even Roger Federer will be subject to the aging process!

Does this have anything to do with car hire? Not directly no but with Wimbledon and the world cup on at the same time, those canny folk who took my advice and booked their south African or London car hire early probably got the car they wanted. On the other hand those that didn’t probably had to settle for what was left and indeed in South Africa many probably didn’t get anything at all unless they paid in gold!

So remember, if there’s a major event coming up that you want to attend, and you want to hire a car, then you do need to book early!

Imagine you are a car rental company in say – Malaga – your high season is spring, especially around Easter and summer in particular June and July. During those periods you can charge high rates and still be sure of renting out your entire fleet, even though you may keep some back to rent to ‘walk ins’ (people who walk in off the street or airport without a prior booking).

You keep some back because you know that when a potential customer turns up in high season without a booking you can charge even more than your published rate (the law of supply and demand).

There is no incentive for you as a car hire company to actually lower your rates. Now think about the low months, November, January, February and the beginning of March, how do you maximise your turnover/profits?

You offer deals and one of the deals you may offer is a cheaper weekend rate, during these times people may take advantage of cheaper airfares to visit for a weekend. they may want a weekend city break but want to organise their own instead of going with generic trips on offer.

Perhaps they have family and just want to ‘pop’ over for a quick visit, as a car hire company it makes sense for you to offer a price incentive to have the car for the weekend doesn’t it?

So check around and see what’s on offer, even in your own country if you want a weekend break and want to ‘up-grade’ your own car for example, you may find that renting a car for the weekend puts a different slant on the question “something for the weekend?”

But what exactly does this mean for those of us wanting to hire a car in the UK this summer? The ‘book your car hire early’ advice still stands because with smaller fleets, a reduced demand won’t necessarily mean that cars will be available to hire if you wait to book.

This is particularly true of high profile locations like the major UK airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham to name just a few.

Although many of the travel companies like Thomson are reporting a huge boost in sales for overseas trips from the UK, it doesn’t mean that demand for car hire in the UK will see a related drop.

For those who are staying in the UK, hiring a car is often the way they travel to their destination, especially if they have a small car but want to take a lot of luggage.

People also choose to book a hire car if they want something a little more powerful, if for example they want to tour the mountains of Scotland or Wales where an 1100cc engine carrying a full load would strain to get up the hills!

So check car hire prices as early as you can and get the car you want not the one that’s left!

It seems  that whilst Iceland’s problematic volcano continues to throw out ash and smoke, airlines are feeling the pinch whilst car hire companies are picking up extra bookings. Euromonitor a market research company has warned that some low cost airlines and even some flag carriers are likely to be hit badly, some failing altogether. As a consequence other forms of travel are picking up extra business and car hire is one of them.

What with people being stranded and unable to get home they’re looking at alternatives, trains and coaches as well as ferries are also seeing an upsurge in business.

What does this mean for the car renting public? It means more than ever you’ll need to book early, car hire companies are not expanding their fleets so cars will be in short supply and if more people decide to rent a car to avoid using an airline, then shortages will occur and prices will rise.

If you are going to Europe from the UK you can hire a car to drive but, it will cost a lot in surcharges and extra insurances, so the best way is to go by train or ferry (as a foot passenger) and pick up your hire car at your destination. If you’re in Europe of course there’s no problem as most car rental companies allow you to cross borders as long as you return the car to the original pick up location.

So don’t get caught out by this boost to the car rental industry and remember to book early!

How does this affect you the renter? In many ways it doesn’t really, the smaller airports still have their cars on site and the desks are in the arrivals hall, where you fill out the contract and then walk to the parking lot to pick up your car. The downside to this is that if when you get to your car and check it (you do check it don’t you?) if you find damage on the car that is not marked on the contract, for your own protection you must walk back to the arrivals hall and the car hire desk and get the clerk to amend their part of the contract too.

If you don’t do this, you may find yourself stuck with a credit card charge for repairs! Other than that it’s still the preferred method of getting your hire car, in the parking lot at the airport!

Still for many people arriving in major airports like Miami, JFK. Heathrow etc, life will remain unchanged as they go to the rental desk and then take a shuttle bus to the cars. Will this drop the price of airport car hire? I suspect not, it’s a captive audience after all and those who travel and need to get from the airport to hotels, friends homes, self catering accommodation or to a business meeting are still going to need a car at the airport!

Commenting that customers were now looking for value for money rather than just the cheapest rental car, he confirmed that Hertz were investing in new vehicles and more staff training.

What does this mean for the people who hire cars? Hopefully it will mean better service at rental desks and newer cars on fleet. Will the public really look for this over cheaper car hire? It will always depend I suspect on the budget of the person in question, if you’re on a tight budget you’re going to want the best rate you can find on car rental. If on the other hand you’re not so strapped for cash, you’ll probably be more interested in knowing that the car you’ve booked is well maintained and not more than six months old.

How can you be sure of getting the best price and the best service? Try going to a broker like Aspect Car Rental, the prices offered are usually lower than you will get direct (after all a broker books thousands of cars in a year and you probably only book one or two!) That’s not the only reason though, a broker is liable to care more about your booking, so if you do experience any problems they will usually try harder to resolve it for you.

Will all this mean lower and lower rates? I suspect not, Nigel Johnson was careful to say that prices had been lowered but that clients were looking more for value for money, so it looks as though prices are as low as they’ll go. This still means that to stand the best chance of getting the vehicle of your choice (a less common vehicle like a convertible or automatic in Europe) you still need to book your hire car early rather than late, fleets are still lower in number than they have been for some years, which of course means there are fewer cars to hire!

Luxury and opulence are two of the qualities that come to mind when you think of the Bellagio in Las Vegas. From the moment you step into the lobby and gaze up at the 2000 hand blown glass flowers that adorn the ceiling you instinctively know that you’ve stepped into timeless class.

To go with this you of course need a luxury hire car so how about a Buick Park Avenue? This luxury hire car has all the toys, cruise control, aircon, comfort and space, it’s the sort of car that looks good pulling up to the Bellagio and can be booked for around 250GBP for a week in May.

Of course the Bellagio itself may be enough for you and you may decide you don’t need a rental car and who could blame you? But Las Vegas is so much more than just hotels and casino’s that it would seem a pity to miss the opportunity to explore.

Speaking of the Bellagio, it has much to offer, not just 2000 hand blown glass flowers but Cirque Du Soleil performs every day except Sundays and Mondays as well as art exhibitions and golf!
Want to book a show or find a special gift? Then the Concierge at the Bellagio is there to help, from shows and gifts, to golf and spa appointments and almost anything else you can think of (that’s legal) the concierge is only too happy to help.

The pools and courtyards are breathtaking, from the private cabanas to the Pool Café you’re sure to find a place to relax and recharge. Cocktails you say, the Pool Bar I answer where you can sample some of the finest and newest cocktails known to man.

The Bellagio offers food for all tastes, from fine dining to casual, from quick to hand prepared and, you can also join their world class chefs and learn some of their secrets as well as learn what wine goes best with what from their Master Sommeliers.

How about that, insured but not insured  it seems, people who trusted the AA to provide their travel insurance must feel doubly betrayed, especially if they were one of the many who found their airline less than helpful!

We always recommend that people buy good travel insurance, now it seems we have to qualify that further and say, check out the ‘Act of God’ clause and check that volcanic eruptions are also covered!!

Flybe are now offering a stand alone insurance to cover volcanic ash, available on bookings made between April 28 and May 10 for travel up to October 30. The cost of the insurance is 6.99 Sterling per return flights and will cover expenses like hotels and car hire if you have to cancel these due to volcanic ash. Perhaps customers should start to vote with their wallets and try and affect what cover is given by insurance companies?

One thing is certain, this event has shown precisely why you need GOOD Travel Insurance, check all details and take with you any telephone numbers or contact details that you may need in order to make a claim. In the UK if you can’t get any satisfaction it’s always worth reporting insurance companies to the Ombudsman and/or local Trading Standards offices.

If you still get nowhere, try organizing other customers into a pressure group, persistence is usually the best policy because in the end insurance companies don’t want the bad publicity!

If you want to read how people are doing who were flying with BA then you may be interested in these posts at BoingBoing.net a cross section of opinions as well as stories from people actually starnded by this ‘Act of God’.

So is there anything you can do? Not it would seem after the fact, even though the airways are required (by EU  law) to provide food and accommodation in these circumstances. Before the fact though is a different matter, get yourself good travel insurance, check out what would happen in similar situations and make it a priority to get the best insurance you can.

People often skimp on this, believing that they only need health cover but this event shows just how wrong you can be! If you ever lose anything (I lost an 18th century gold Lorgnette on a trip and was covered for their cost) you’ll be glad to get the cost back, even if you can’t replace the items. If you get something stolen, you’ll also be glad you got good insurance and if another volcano errupts, then hopefully you won’t be one of the people losing money hand over fist!