Airplane Bomb Threat for Love?

It's like something out of a romantic comedy... guy meets girl, they fall in love, something happens and he decides to leave the country in order to take a job, she realises she can't live without him and races to stop him boarding the plane and disappearing forever...

Except not quite. When Grace Guajardo called in a fake bomb threat to stop her boyfriend's plane from taking off in Chile, it seemed a little less than romantic to the other 300 people on the plane. Consider that they had been living together for eight years, and that he would only be gone for a few months. Consider that he had done this many times before.

Why the sudden desperation?

Read the full article here.

Word Travels Forum Round-Up #10

Here are the hot topics people are talking about on the Word Travels Forum this week:

Travel in Egypt

Solo travel in Singapore and Malaysia

Visa requirements for Wales

Visa for au pair in Italy

Remember you can ask your travel-related questions on the forum and our local experts will find the answer for you!

Win a Trip to London!

Have an urge to see Buckingham Palace? How about the Tower of London? Looking to crash Will and Kate's wedding?

Then enter here with Independent Traveller to win a free trip to London!

Top 5 Blackberry Travel Apps

We talked about iPhone travel apps a while back, but in South Africa and the UK, the Blackberry is still king. So here are our top 5 Blackberry travel apps:

The Weather Channel - I've tried a few weather apps, and this one is by far my favourite. It has a clear display that shows you current and predicted weather forecasts up to 10 days in advance or any destination worldwide, so you'll know when to hit the beach and what to pack. (Free)

FlightTrack - One of the most advanced flight tracking apps out there, FlightTrack gives you information on not only your arrival time, but gate updates and realtime flight mapping. It's pretty comprehensive, covering 1,400 airlines in over 4,000 airports worldwide. (US$4.99)

Google Maps - My Blackberry's built-in GPS is pretty crap... so one of my first downloads was Google Maps. It's handy in the car if you don't have a Garmin or TomTom, and even better if you're wandering around an unfamiliar city trying to locate major landmarks! (Free)

Navita Translator - There are a lot of translation apps out there, but Navita keeps coming out tops. This handy app allows you to translate emails, texts, and tweets; you can also type or speak the phrase you want to translate. Navita supports 50 languages, including English, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian. (Free)

TripIt - This travel organiser lets you forward confirmation emails to them, and they'll build your itinerary for you! Keeping all your scheduling info at your fingertips, it syncs with your Blackberry calendar and Google Maps, and will even update people with your trip progress. (Free, or pro subscription for US$49/year)

Travel in Egypt: Is it safe?

Communications are spotty, reporting is varied and governments disagree. Here's a summary of what's going on in Egypt at the moment:

At present, most governments are advising against all travel to Egypt, if not actively evacuating their citizens. Ongoing violent protests in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez make the cities dangerous for travellers, and communications are still difficult as internet and cellular networks are still down. There are reports that airports (which must abide by the 4pm curfew) are chaotic as expatriates attempt to flee the country. Many tour companies...

Read the rest on Word Travels.

Travel Book: Tell My Horse

In honour of Black History Month in the US, put Tell My Horse into your travel book rotation. Written by anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, well-known African American author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tell My Horse is an account of her travels to Haiti and Jamaica in the 1930s to investigate voodoo culture.

The book is decades old, but having spent some time in Haiti in 2003, I know that voodoo beliefs are still very much alive, especially in the rural areas. The book is a fascinating mix of travelogue, anthropological study, and political analysis that is all the more interesting when you take into account the constraints placed on Hurston by her predominantly white audience and patron.

Verdict: Borrow it

How to Book a Local Flight Abroad

Let's say you're on holiday in the Netherlands and need to book a flight. You can't necessarily use the same websites you do at home, but can't get to a travel agent. Where you you go?

This site has a great list of local flight booking websites in 32 countries. It will tell you that in the Netherlands, GoedkoopsteVliegtarieven.com is the place to go, or Despegar if you're in Chile. You need never be stuck again!