Aspect Car Rental BlogNews and views about car hire and rental world wide.

After 6 days of airport closures the airlines are losing money hand over fist! True they are saving money on fuel costs but those savings don’t balance their losses. It also seems that the biggere carriers such as BA are losing more than the budget airlines like Ryan Air and easyJet.

This is not just because of the difference in ticket costs but also because unlike the larger airlines, the smaller ones are less generous to their passengers! They give less help in the way of hotel and food costs, so passengers stranded away from home are incurring more costs if they flew with a budget airline. Will it have any effect on passenger numbers for those budget airlines when travel is normal again? Who knows but I suspect many will think twice before booking in the immediate future.

The ash cloud has not been all bad news though, coach and rail passengers have increased with Eurostar passengers up by some 40%, it’s going to be up to them to provide such a great service that they’ll keep some of those numbers when the airlines are flying normally again.

Of course it’s not just the airlines that are suffering, experts estimate that European businesses are losing 400 million a day in lost productivity due to stranded employees. Will governments step in and help the airlines and other companies in this fragile economic climate? It could be disastrous if they don’t and equally bad if they do because they can’t help everyone and those smaller companies will probably be the ones who suffer!

They are also the ones who will probably need help the most but what is government to do? Larger companies have more employees and those are the ones they’ll probably feel must be saved.

If you want to be sure that you’re not going to get caught out, watch this video so you know what ‘they’ don’t want to tell you!

Car hire secrets – what they don’t want to tell you!

Then when you’ve finished with that one, you could watch this one

Why you should be wary of drop boxes!

You will then be well on the way to becoming a ‘Professional Renter’ that’s someone who knows all the tricks and tips about car hire so they don’t get caught out!

So who would have thought it eh? Iceland has a volcanic eruption and Heathrow airport (as well as many others are shut down!  In fact feel sorry for all those people who are booked to fly into or out of Heathrow today (Thursday April 15th 2010) because they’re going to be out of luck. If you know someone who is booked to fly through Heathrow, you may want to let them know the problem.

The volcanic eruption has thrown 1000’s of tons of ash and smoke into the sky, the winds have carried it to Europe, affecting many major (and smaller) airports. The problem seems to be twofold, one is of course visibility, the other however is far more serious, because shards of volcanic matter up to 1&1/2 inches long are also floating around and there is a danger of those shards entering and engine and in several ways causing it to fail.

It seems that mother nature can still confound us even with all our technological advances!

If you have booked a hire car from Heathrow then you may want to check with the car rental company or broker with whom you booked, to if you can either cancel or amend your booking, they may or may not be able to help you but it’s always worth a try – assuming of course that you can get through on the phone – I suspect they will be very busy!!

Many airports have been affected, including some on mainland Europe, so check your flights for details.

If you’ve travelled to Charleston and picked up your hire car from the airport, then you may want some ideas for things to do and places to see whilst you’re in the lovely town of Charleston.

Where to start is the problem though isn’t it? There is so much to see and do that you can be spoiled for choice; so maybe the best thing is to decide first what exactly you’re interested in.

For example. Are you into food, history, gardens, or shopping? Once you’ve decided you can begin to plan your excursions.

Food is very important to Southerners. Its the cornerstone of their famous hospitality and so, as you would expect, there are many places to eat and eat well!

Are you into seafood? Then try the Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar. Opened in 2009 it’s wowed the locals with it’s amazing oysters and locally caught fish. Situated at

205 East Bay Street
Charleston, SC 29401

(843) 853-8600

Try the Crab and lobster soup with tarragon cream at around $4.95 a cup or $6.95 a bowl – it’s a great lunch dish and very reasonably priced too.

Of course you may want a little more than a bowl of fabulous soup. Here you’ll find it from fried oysters to Chef Todd’s famous shrimp corndogs. If meat is more your thing you can have an Amen burger or a Petite Filet of Beef.

This restaurant has a full bar which is open ‘til 2.00am and is set in the historic district within walking distance of the market and the harbour. Remember though, you have a hire car and drinking and driving do not mix – so this is a place to walk to or get a taxi. Save driving the hire car for more distant locations.

Most importantly of all, having picked up your car at the airport enjoy your stay!

The UK does not have a really great reputation for food, which is I think a pity. We have so many local farmer’s markets now that give you the opportunity to buy great local, fresh produce that will surprise you with the diversity available.

Not only will you get great fresh produce, you’ll also get a chance to try food from small local kitchens, preserves and pickles, cheese, bread, cakes and cookies. As well as local wines, vinegars and beers, you’ll find cordials and soft drinks that will amaze you with the exotic ingredients and the sheer invention that puts together ingredients to create unique flavours.

Local car boot sales can be another source of local food, as some of the larger ones will have people selling their own home grown food stuffs, either to eat on the spot or to buy and take home. It can make a pleasant break just travelling the country visiting the best of the local farm shop/producers or farmer’s markets.

Just make sure you have plenty of room in the car for all the bargains you may pick up, don’t have a big enough car? Then get UK car hire from Aspect and explore the varied and intriguing places in the UK where you can buy great food. We have great fish all along the coast, in Scotland smoking fish is a great tradition and you can buy fantastic smoked fish that is not available anywhere else.

From Scotland to Cornwall you’ll find an amazing variety of food to buy or to try, all you have o do is get in your car and explore!

Phoenix road trip part 2….FOOD!!!

Wow where to start????

Phoenix has just about every cuisine under the sun represented (although I could never find anywhere that does a “Rice Staffel” from the Netherlands..maybe they will read this and open up a place!!)

Obviously being the US, you will find a McDonald’s, Burger King, or Jack in The Box  or Taco Bell on just about every corner!! Whilst we mock the “fast food” joints..they do certainly have their place. You are driving around, getting hungry, can’t be bothered or don’t have the time to stop and get out of your car, so you pull into the nearest “drive thru” and you can eat for less than $2 in some cases!! No it’s not gourmet and is loaded with more fat than we probably want to know about, but it DOES fill the hole!!

Mom and pop places also abound, where you can get a good home cooked meal with no frills and no fuss.

I’m a food addict so let’s go on to some of MY favourite places to eat in Phoenix…..

One of my all time favourites is Tomaso’s. Located on the SE corner of Camelback and 32nd street, Tomaso’s has been a local favourite for many years. Tomaso himself is usually at the restaurant most nights overseeing his famous Italian dishes… Once you get to know Tomaso personally, if you are VERY lucky he MIGHT just go into the kitchen and rustle you up a little “something special” himself. (He doesn’t do it often but when he does….wow Amazing!!)

Tomaso’s is NOT cheap so we usually go for a “special Occasion dinner”, but I think it is worth every penny spent..oh and don’t forget to try some of his wines..yes he also has his own vineyard in Umbria which is where he is from.

There is also a very good Spanish restaurant at the new MonteLucia Resort on Lincoln Drive…fabulous surroundings and great food.

Another interesting place is the “El Chorro Lodge”

Built in 1934, in the shadows of the majestic Camelback and Mummy mountains, on 11 desert acres in Paradise Valley, El Chorro is and has been a favourite with the locals. Friday and Saturday evenings try to get a table outside (weather permitting) as they have some quite good live music.

Going on to mid range pricing…..

Phoenix City Grille and it’s sister restaurant Sierra Bonita are two of my favoutites. PCG (as it is fondly known) is a typical American Grill/Bar. Darkish and cosy is the best way to describe it. You can either eat at the bar, on one of the tables or slide yourself into a comfy booth. It’s menu ranges from AWESOME Burgers, to pasta dishes, to a down home slow cooked beef stew. Comfort food.!! It’s sister restaurant, Sierra Bonita, has more of a mexican/texan/southwest thing going on and all the food is freshly cooked using whenever possible, the freshest LOCAL ingredients.

Another great hang out is The Rokerij (Dutch for “smoke House”). Very popular for happy House from 4-7 (at the bar only, so get there early). Cool downstairs bar with only three tables and a huge warming fireplace..so great for those chilly romantic evenings.(Actually they even have the fireplace going in the summer WITH the air conditioning as well..just for ambiance!!). Upstairs is another bar and lots more tables. Menu is again somewhat Southwestern with some other stuff thrown in. Their salads are amazing (and HUGE). I like the way they serve their mashed potatoes..stuffed inside an open chili pepper (Not too spicy). and their “chili” policy is….”If you order it you own it”!!!!! They usually have a chalk board up with the daily specials (which are many) and their fish is usually superb and very fresh. Sunday Brunch is also very popular here.

Enough of this I’m getting hungry……..

So…you are driving the West coast of America and you end up in Phoenix!!

Phoenix is the Capital of the state of Arizona and is the fifth most populated city in the US with a population of approximately 1.5 million in Phoenix proper with about 4.3 million in the “metro area”.

Phoenix is nicknamed “The Valley of the Sun”. Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has the hottest climate of any major city in the United States.

The average high temperatures are over 100°F (37.8°C) for three months out of the year, and have spiked over 120°F (48.9°C) on occasion. Despite these high temperatures the Phoenicians cope very well with the heat.

Most people have air conditioning in their homes, their cars, their schools, the shopping malls and just about any public place. After the shock of your monthly Electric bill……..the worst part is getting to and from your nice cool air conditioned car and if you flew in make sure your hire car is air-conditioned..!

Sometimes though,  it takes a while to cool it down if it has been sitting in an open parking area for a couple of hours in 100 degrees!! This is why covered parking garages are plentiful in Phoenix..USE THEM..you’ll thank me.

Phoenix is also a winter home to “SnowBirds”..these are the people from the colder climes (Canada, Minnesota, Colorado,Wisconsin, Idaho etc etc) trying to keep out of the snow, and whilst the Phoenicians sometimes whine and moan about the influx of “out of state” license plates on their roads, and not being able to get a seat in their favorite restaurants, the Snowbirds do generate a fair amount of extra income for the State.

As you would expect in a major city, phoenix has no shortage of “culture”. Museums, Performing arts, Parks and Recreation, Fine arts and Cuisine (LOTS of cuisine!!) Just about anywhere you turn in Phoenix, you can find a restaurant of some sort..from Sushi to Indian Fry Bread and anything in between. There is quite a large Hispanic population so Mexican cuisine is plentiful and good if somewhat “tailored” to the American palette.

(More on specific restaurants that I frequent in part 2 !!)

Driving past Velez Rubio, the land becomes more ochre in colour , yellows and beiges predominate and the mountains have receeded so you drive through flat land bounded by mountains in the distance.

The autovia is I have to say pretty boring to drive through, with only occasional small farms and ruins to break the monotony. One thing about Spanish motorways though is the frequency of their Via de Servicio’s (Service areas) where you can get food and drink and for you and the family as well as fuel for the car.

You will often find small hotels attached which have full restaurants and unlike our motorway services in the UK, these restaurants are well patronised by the locals, especially on Sunday lunchtimes.

As you head towards Lorca you begin to descend and the air heats up, even in the winter months.  At Easter time, if you visit Lorca you will be able to witness the procession, two brotherhoods, white and blue compete with each other. The procession includes elaborate floats, horses brought in from all over, musicians and amazing costumes, capes and standards created by local craftsmen and sometimes taking years to finish.

Past Lorca and it doesn’t take long for the traffic to build up on the approach to Murcia. this is an old city which is still very Spanish and doesn’t have the large ex-pat communities which mean shops and restaurants catering to British tastes.

That’s not to say there are no ex-pats, just that they are in smaller numbers and more integrated into local life.

Now you can drive from Malaga to Murcia in a day but if you do, you will miss so much. Take a few days and stay overnight in Granada because really, you must visit the Alhambra, it is a magical place but beware the gypsies who crowd the car park offering to tell your fortune. They are very persistent!

Then take a day or so to get to know the ‘troglodyte’ village and surrounding area. Staying in Velez Blanco will give you breathtaking views of the countryside as it’s almost at the top of the world.

So there you have it, take your hire car and explore the hidden interior of Spain, I promise you won’t be disappointed – well unless you want beaches of course

Half way to Murcia driving through the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in our hire car and we come out of the pine forests and begin to drive through mile after mile of open plain. We’re still fairly high above sea level and our hire car has to struggle to get up some of the inclines (note to self – next time hire a car with a bigger engine!)

Here the scenery is more open, in spring though it can be breathtaking with wild flowers growing in huge swathes across the land, almond trees are in blossom and their perfume fills the air.

Looking back towards Granada and you will see snow capped peaks where skiing is still in full swing, yet where in an hour or two at the most you could drive back down to the sun drenched beaches around Malaga to swim in the waters of the Mediterranean sea!

In some places you’ll see small farm houses, or ruins dotted about, sometimes you’ll drive past small white washed villages but what you won’t see is many animals, at least not the domesticated sort!

One place worth stopping is the Troglodyte village just out side Guadix, where many of the houses are built into the clay hills, they dig out the clay to make pots, then live in the dug out man made caves!

Surprisingly the houses created this way are quite spacious plus being well insulated. The beauty of them is that if you want more rooms, you just dig out more space.

This place is famous for its pottery and you can get some real gems as long as you choose wisely. That is, there are a lot of very cheap ‘touristy’ stuff that is churned out which is not as good as it could be but hidden amongst all the ‘tourist’ stuff, you can find some real gems.

I found two matching beautifully decorated hand basins and a fabulous cooler dish to hold plenty of bottles of beer or wine for a BBQ. The prices were great and the workmanship good.

From Guadix you start to pass more habitations and start to see more industrialization as you approach Chirivel, then the two Veliz towns of Veliz Rubio and Velez Blanco.

Veliz Blanco is up in the hills behind Velez Rubio and boasts an amazing castle which is outlined against the sky, at night if you’re lucky it will be lit and looks like something out of legend.

So, we’ll finish the trip in part three!

Spain is one of those countries where you can still enjoy driving, the roads are very good (much better than the UK generally) and unless you’re in the cities or driving on the autovia (motorway) around a city, the roads are not too crowded.

We visited the area between Granada and Murcia up in the mountains of Andalucia and were amazed at the majestic scenery. Because we were visiting friends we were unsure whether to hire a car, how glad we were that we did!

We flew into Malaga airport and after checking our hire car we drove up towards Granada, on the way we passed the beautiful little town of Antequera and stopped to have lunch in the restaurant under the bull ring. Rabo de Buey (oxtail) is their specialty and I have to say it is one of the best I’ve tasted in Spain.

It’s a very rich dish so salad is a great accompaniment along with (if you’re not driving) a bottle of full bodied Spanish red wine, lots of bread to soak up the delicious sauce and if you have room after some home made flan.

As we were driving and had a couple of hundred kilometers to go, we did without the wine and the flan!

Once past Antequera you drive through rolling hills of olive trees and rich red earth, this is the land of olives and large haciendas. The road up to Antequera is not so good but after, well after that it’s a dream to drive on, well surfaced and little travelled.

Being on the autovia of course means that you bypass the small and interesting villages and small towns, although there are many that lay close to the autovia and so you can decide to drive through if you wish.

In these villages you’ll find many a little local bar/restaurant that will serve delicious local food at very reasonable prices. In many it’s still the custom to serve a small tapa with a glass of wine or beer, but not with coffee or hard liquor.

Granada itself is a very large inland city with it’s own airport and as you approach it you find more traffic on the roads, be warned the Spanish, like the Italians are in the main very fast drivers! They seem to ignore the speed limits in many cases but if you’re in a hire car you really are better off keeping to the speed limit. Especially if the car is unfamiliar to you and it’s your first time driving in Spain because you’ll need all your attention on the roads!

As for speed limits, you need to watch for them as they can be different for different road conditions, slower if there’s snow and at night. So keep your eyes open.

Once past Granada you drive through gorges in the mountains and here you can see fantastic colours in the earth, from grey to ochre, deep vibrant red or deep purple and subtle combinations of any of them.

The hill sides are covered in pine, wild olive and almond and the ground abounds with wild herbs, mostly rosemary and lavender. Take a breath and you can smell the clean fragrant tones of earth, sky and water.

The road passes rivers and areas of nature reserve, with the clear blue of a Mediterranean sky, the fierce yellow of a Spanish sun and not very much traffic you could almost persuade yourself that you’ve entered a time warp – until of course a huge truck passes you going in the other direction or a local driver comes up behind you and passes so fast you almost don’t have time to see him!

All this and we’re only half way to our destination!

Part two coming shortly!