Cold weather, ice, snow and blizzard force winds continue to wreak havoc with those attempting to travel on the “Continent”, particularly those traveling in Eastern Europe. Section of the Danube River in Romania have been closed to traffic and other sections have frozen over for the first time in twenty-five years. See this detailed review at CNN for more information. These articles from the UPI and France24 provide details on various aspects of the continued weather troubles plaguing Europe.

The Costa Concordia Cruise liner ran aground on a sand bar near the Island “Isola del Giglio: off the west coast of Italy, killing six and endangering 3,000 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Several hundred remain on the aground, but severely listing boat. Several were injured during the rescue. For more information see this article by CNN

While looking for news about the boat, we ran across this promo for the Concordia in Costa’s US website. Next, you may find this description of the rescue posted on the Costa UK website to be of interest.

From Costa Cruises
Saturday, January 14th

“The Guests had to embark today in Savona and in subsequent ports will be contacted directly by Costa Cruises.”

Seemingly unending rains have descended on parts of Europe, with France and Italy being especially hard hit. Many rivers are nearing flood stage and the problem has closed several noted attractions including Pompeii in southern Italy near Naples. Read this account of the action from Euronews for more details. Also, see this article by Reuters for more information on the rains in France.

Travelers in southern France, Italy or northern Spain should exercise extreme caution if visiting the affected areas. If possible, avoid driving in the areas of these countries having problems with flooding. If you are forced to navigate these areas, inquire locally for advice.

Where to start?

Two of the largest labor unions in Greece have announced a 48 hour nationwide strike for October 19 and 20. Currently, lawyers are on strike, as are customs officers who are on a ten-day strike. See the Belfast Telegraph for details.

The “Occupy Wall Street has gone international with demonstrations in London, Toronto, Mexico City, Madrid, Rome and other locations. Unfortunately, the demonstrations turned violent in Rome. See this article from CNN for a top level overview of the demonstrations.

In Egypt, reform leaders are criticizing Egypt’s Military leadership, while the friction between the Copts (Christians) and some sects of believers in Islam, continues.

All in all, not a good week for travelers, at least those in the centers of major cities around the world. We are unsure what lies ahead for the demonstrations in Europe and the United States, but urge you to search local news sources to see if the activity might interfere with any travel you have planned. Other hotspots such as Greece and Egypt look to be long term problems that might just wind up with you taking these potential travel destinations off your bucket list, at least for a while.

Authorities in Rome implemented a new tourism task over the New Year Holiday. If you stay at a four or five star hotel, you will have to pay an extra €3 per person per night, or €2 per person per night for a three star or less hotel. If you choose to camp, it’s an additional €1 per person per night. The worst aspect of this wrongheaded tax is that you must pay it in CASH on departure! The good news is that the tax only has to be paid for the first ten nights of your stay (about 7 nights longer than the average visit) and does not apply to guests younger than 10 years (or to anyone staying at youth hostels). See this article in the Daily Mail for more details

While the new tax is designed, in part, to help the city with maintenance costs related to is large number of visitors, the fees will also be used to promote Rome as a tourist destination – to attract more people that can be taxed for visiting. Has Rome forgotten how much money tourists spend while visiting? Or that we pay entrance fees to explore numerous of the Eternal City’s attractions. Well, they know they have a captive audience, since you can only see Rome when in Rome.

Even though the fee is modest, we suspect that people will be irritated by this gratuitous fee, enraged by the requirement to pay in cash and maybe they will cut their trip short to compensate. Unfortunately, we have a feeling we are just spitting into the wind, as more and more destinations will begin to charge additional travel taxes, just like Rome. Eventually everyone will begin wondering – “Where did all the tourists go?” That’s easy, we stayed home because we could not afford to travel. Why — well, it seems that our own governments raised taxes on income and airline tickets while we were reading about the tax increase for tourists visiting Rome. Happy New Year.

Europe and the British Isles are reeling under snow and record breaking cold. See this article in the Guardian for more information, or this from CTV.

In Britain, Gatwick Airport was closed due the weather and British airways suspended all flights out of Heathrow. Airports across Europe were canceling flights by the hundreds and many smaller airports (even as far south as Florence, Italy) were closed. Highways in Denmark were treacherous, as were roadways across much of the Netherlands, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In Rome, the city’s fabulous fountains iced over and snow was swirling around the Colosseum.

According to the weather forecasts, it does not look like the problems will go away soon. In fact, this may go down as the coldest December in the United Kingdom since weather statistics have been kept on an official basis. If you are planning on traveling to the UK or Europe for Christmas, bring plenty of patience, prepare for traffic jams and expect canceled flights. Most of all dress warm, wear layers and bring a winter coat. Leave those flip-flops at home and wear waterproof boots.

Italy’s embattled Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, survived a no-confidence vote in the Italian Parliament today. Just a few day’s ago it looked certain that he would lose this vote and that his government would be dissolved and elections held. However, the vote supported his continuing in office and this enraged many of the citizens of Italy, particularly those in their twenties.

In Rome, dissatisfaction with the result of the vote lead to rioting, which was focused in the areas popular with tourists. Other demonstrations were held in Milan, Palermo, Genoa and in other locations around the country. It is unclear at this time whether the demonstrations were one-time events of if they will continue over the next few weeks. See this AFP article at Yahoo news for an excellent recap of the situation.

Travelers planning on visiting Rome or other cities in Italy over the next week or two should pay close attention to this situation and check local news sources in Italy for more information about the latest developments.

On September 29, 2010 many of Europe’s trade unions are planing an EU-wide protest against the austerity measures imposed by governments in the region. For more details see this excellent article published by the European Voice.

While numerous pan-European actions are still being considered, there are currently plans for strikes in Spain, Italy, Portugal and a mass demonstration in Brussels (that could exceed 70,000 participants).

If you plan on traveling in the EU during this period, be prepared for some inconvenience. We recommend avoiding Brussels on September 29, as the demonstration is being held in advance of a meeting of the EU Finance Ministers in the city on the 30th and 31st of September.

Today Rome experienced a rare snowfall that closed the Coliseum and a local airport. Although the amount of snow was minor, more may fall in the next 24 to 36 hours. See this article from Bloomberg in Business Week for more details.

Venice is undergoing serious flooding due to a seasonal combination of tides and significant rain. See this article from the AP that details the problem. If you had been planning a quick Christmas holiday in Venice, we recommend a change in plans.

In a somewhat humorous note, the AP coverage (unless now corrected) shows a Google map of Rome, (where the AP story was filed), rather than a map of Venice, which is the geographic focus of the story.