IMPORTANT TOUR PRICES
All quotations / booking confirmations are always subject to amendment, due to airfare increases, exchange rate fluctuations and seasonal surcharges. The price will be guaranteed regardless of any changes in airfares and currency fluctuations once full payment has been received.

POPULATION FIGURES
United Kingdom : +/- 59, 669,000; Ireland : +/- 4,148,000; France : +/- 60, 496,000; Greece : +/- 11,120,000; Italy : +/- 58,093,000; Spain: +/- 46,481,000

CURRENCY
The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland’s monetary system is based on the pound Sterling. The pound is divided into 100 pence (pennies). All transactions are made using coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 pence, and bills in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 pounds. The currency in Europe is the Euro. There are 7 euro notes denominated in 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 euros. There are 8 euro coins denominated in 2 and 1 euros, then 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 cents. Every euro coin carries a common European face. On the reverse, each Member State has their own motif. You can use Euro notes and coins (irrespective of design) in any Euro participating country, including France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and many more.

TRAVELLERS CHEQUES
Almost all banks will cash travelers cheques into pound Sterling or Euro.

CREDIT CARDS
The most commonly accepted credit cards accepted in the United Kingdom and Europe are American Express, Diners Club, Mastercard and Visa.

TIPPING
Tipping is generally expected in cafés, restaurants and better hotels. It is customary to leave a tip of 15% or more of the bill – never tip in fast food outlets or self service environments. Taxi drivers and bartenders depend on similar –sized gratuities.

DRIVING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM & EUROPE
Motorists in the United Kingdom drive on the left hand side of the road, whilst in Europe one drives on the right hand side. International driving licenses are compulsory and seat belts (front and rear) are obligatory everywhere. Distances and speeds are measured in miles. Speed limits vary from country to country and are implemented rigorously. Europe and the United Kingdom also follow extremely strict drink driving laws. Please refer to http://driving.drive-alive.co.uk/ for full details on driving regulations for a specific destination.

TAXIS
Meter operated taxi cabs can be found in all the major cities and towns through Europe and the United Kingdom. Taxi ranks are located at transport terminals, major hotels, shopping centres and they can be hailed in the street. In certain countries, surcharges apply for the carriage of luggage so please check the charges with your taxi driver.

Our Europe and United Kingdom programme has been designed to cater for the independent traveler allowing you to tailor-make a tour to suit your particular and precise requirements. As the leading travel wholesaler promoting Europe, our hotel, car rental, tours, excursions, cruises, product and prices, are based on many years of experience, and the benefit of our unrivalled volume purchasing arrangements with all suppliers.

You are therefore able to take full advantage of our lower tariffs as an individual independent traveler, without the need to participate in an organized group tour. Europe and the United Kingdom is vast land and it is not practical or possible to include all the available travel and accommodation options on the website.

We would however be happy to provide information, itineraries and quotations for other services in Europe and the United Kingdom, which may not be featured in this programme.

It’s always advisable to pre-book as much as possible before leaving South Africa for the following important reasons:

• Most travel products presented in our Europe program cannot be purchased abroad at the special discounted rates which we have negotiated.
• It is obviously better to plan your itinerary before leaving, rather than to waste valuable time overseas organizing travel arrangements as you go along.
• Due to seasonal changes from one region to the other, availability can often be a problem unless your travel arrangements have been pre-booked.
• You will avoid the uncertainty of foreign exchange fluctuations in the knowledge that your accommodation and other travel arrangements have been pre-booked at a fixed rate of exchange.
• By pre-booking everything prior to your departure it is far easier to manage your holiday budget, without any unexpected surprises along the way.