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Travel in a train in India with your pet

If you are a pet lover and have pets, planning a trip might seem like a task every time. While many leave their four-legged friends behind when they go on work trips or holidays, a number of travellers also opt to travel via road so that they don’t have to leave their furry friends behind. But, did you know that while it’s heartbreaking for humans to leave their pets behind, separation anxiety is real for pets too? Well, you no longer have to worry, as Indian Railways has become one of the most favoured modes of travel for those with pets. The trains are safe to carry your pets to a longer distance; moreover, it’s an affordable, more comfortable option and has easy laws to abide by. Rules you need to follow: Do note that no pets are allowed in AC Sleeper coaches, second-class coaches, and AC chair car coaches. Thus, there are two travel options available. You can either book first class AC tickets, either a cabin with 4 seats, or a coupe with 2 seats as per your requirement. Once your tickets are confirmed, get a copy of your ticket, and write an application to the Chief Commercial Officer explaining your case of travelling with a pet. This will ensure that you are not allotted any random berth, but a coupe or a cabin. It’s the responsibility of pet parents to carry collars and chains for their pets. Plus, the pet parents must arrange for their pet’s food and water. Make sure that your pet has completed all the vaccinations, and keep the Vaccination Card ready. If possible, also get a Fitness certificate of your pet from the Vet. You will get your cabin confirmation almost 4 hours before the departure time. Once your cabin or coupe is confirmed, reach the station at least 2 hours before departure. Then go to the parcel office and show them your tickets, your pet’s fitness certificate, and vaccination cards. Remember to carry photo copies of all your documents, your ticket, and one Photo ID proof. Then, request the concerned authorities to book your pet; following this, they will weigh your pet, after which parcel charges will be levied. Keep some dry food and water for your pet, and some bones or sticks to keep them busy throughout the journey. Note that the pets usually get stressed during travelling, as such they don’t drink or eat much. However, they might dirty the surroundings; you can take them on walks at stations with long halts to save some trouble on this front.

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Complete revival not possible before 2025, Indians flocking to Southeast Asia

As more and more South East Asian countries open international boundaries and ease restrictions, even with varying Covid-19 testing norms, the travel industry is set for a revival. Indians in significant numbers are choosing South East Asian regions for luxury vacations. The overall air traffic on February 2022 including both domestic and international flights was up by 115.9 per cent compared to February 2021 according to data tracked by International Air Transport Association (IATA). The improvement is by large margins compared to January and February travel figures. Compared to pre-COVID February 2019, however, traffic was down 45.5 per cent. Domestic air travel saw a more significant upswing than international travel. It was up by 60.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2021 but is 21.8 per cent low compared to the pre-pandemic era, latest in 2019. In domestic markets, U.S has seen a significant revival but countries like Japan, and Australia is still down by more than50 per cent compared to February 2019 travel traffic. China which already has lower by 35.3 per cent domestic travel traffic still under strict lockdown and travel restrictions are expected to witness further deterioration in March. Russia too is expected to witness a sharp fall in international travel in March for sanctions and war with Ukraine. International travel levels overall are 59.6 per cent down compared to February 2019, however, when compared with other months or a year ago, there is a market uptrend. There is a year-on-year improvement of165.5 per cent. All regions improved their performance from last few months as upto February 2022 figures. The patchy border reopening in the two largest markets of Asia, Japan, and China led to the lowest air traffic rise in Asia-Pacific airlines. While China is. still hanging to its zero Covid policy, being largely shut to the rest of the world, Japan is still allowed foreigners who are students or business travelers. Hence with North Asia remaining close, southeast Asian countries are leading the way in cross-border travel. Even then the traffic is just 10 per cent of 2019 levels at the start of the year and by late March it reached 38 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, a significant surge said a Reuters report. Singapore and the Philippines with the most relaxed Covid norms for tourists had the largest uptick in bookings, up to 72 percent that of 2019 levels. Thailand, however, with its on arrival OCR test and institutional isolation requirements just picked up 24 percent of its booking level from pre-pandemic levels. Singapore had the highest uptick in travelers witnessed had 67,760 arrivals in February 2022, according to its tourism board data, 18.5 per cent higher than the previous month. Indians represent the largest group of travelers to Singapore in January and February this year with over 27,000 visitors arriving. Indonesians and Malaysians from the next largest groups. IATA expects that air traffic within the Asia Pacific will not entirely bounce back to the pre-pandemic levels before 2025, considering there no major epidemic breaks out again calling for restrictions and China, the largest source of tourists in the region opening to overseas travel.

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19 Goa beaches face erosion threat; experts call for urgent mitigation plans

Goa's beaches are under increasing threat of erosion and the phenomenon may impact its tourism economy in the years to come. Experts have called for urgent intervention and the need to create short term and long term plans to safeguard the state's coastline. Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha earlier this month that 19.2 percent of Goa's 103 km long coastline was facing the threat of erosion, which includes some of the top beaches in the state like Anjuna, Keri-Tiracol, Morjim in North Goa and Agonda, Betalbatim, Majorda in South Goa. According to Goa government's water resources department statistics as many as 19 beaches in the state face the threat of erosion. The authorities have embarked on measures like building protection walls, reinforcing erosion-affected areas with tetra-pods, geo-fibre barriers to salvage affected areas. However, according to Sujeet Dongre of the Centre for Environment Education and a member of the state government's Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, there was scope for a lot more planning in order to combat the erosion threat. "Whichever area is more prone to such erosion, we have to ensure that it is protected by rejuvenating beach ecosystems, sand dunes and ensure that beach vegetation is not tampered with. In the long term, we need more research data. There is also a need to undertake mechanical and biological means of protection of that area," Dongre said. In the absence of mining, the tourism industry has been the backbone of the state's economy accounting for more than a quarter of the state's gross domestic product. And while erosion is a common phenomenon along the country's coastline, in Goa it gains relevance because of the state's overwhelming dependence on the tourism industry for revenue and employment generation. Just before the advent of Covid, nearly 8 million tourists visited Goa's beaches, while the construction of a new airport at Mopa in North Goa could bring a few million more visitors, according to government estimates. Environment experts have called for a detailed study of the carrying capacity of Goa's beaches. Some years back Manguesh Nagararan, a senior faculty at the Goa Institute of Management, among the nation's premier B-Schools, said that 1.47 lakh people could become jobless in Goa in the wake of rising sea levels which he said have already begun to show, estimating that the state could lose as much as 30 percent of its economic activity due to global warming. Faced with the threat the state government has also written to the Pune-based Central Water and Power Research station to recommend a solution to check the erosion of Goa's popular beaches and remedial measures to be undertaken in order to arrest erosion. Dongre said there was a need to protect the existing biological ecosystem on the beaches, especially sand dunes, which he said serve as a protective barrier against cyclones. "The sandy portion, landward-side dunes are very important. They serve as a protective zone. They not only provide protection from cyclones, but they also stabilise beaches," Dongre said.

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SpiceJet launches new & additional non-stop flights on its domestic and international network

Budget carrier SpiceJet has announced the launch of new and additional nonstop flights on its domestic and international network. The airline has added new flights to its schedule including two industry-first flights, new domestic and international flights and additional frequencies. These non-stop flights will be starting from April 26 in a phased manner. With the new and additional flights, SpiceJet is strengthening its domestic and international network to meet current and emerging demands. The airlines will be launching new non-stop international flights connecting Ahmedabad with Muscat in Oman, Mumbai with Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kozhikode with Jeddah & Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Mumbai with Riyadh & Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Apart from this, the airline will also be launching new domestic flights on the routes between Ahmedabad-Goa, Ahmedabad-Bagdogra, Ahmedabad-Shirdi, Mumbai-Tirupati and Mumbai-Guwahati. SpiceJet is also enhancing frequencies on Delhi-Jabalpur, Delhi-Leh, Ahmedabad-Dehradun, Hyderabad-Shirdi, Mumbai-Goa and Mumbai-Srinagar routes. Commenting on the development,Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet, said, “We are delighted to introduce new flights on domestic and international routes. With the economy reviving from the pandemic slump, this will help us to enhance our presence in the aviation industry domestically as well as globally. The flights announced today includes a mix of industry first, new routes and enhanced frequencies covering both domestic and international destinations. Along with enhancing convenience for general travellers, tourism and local economy on these routes will get much needed boost as many of them are important religious and leisure travel destinations.” The airline’s Boeing 737 and Q400aircraft will be deployed on these routes. Bookings are now open on www.spicejet.com, SpiceJet's mobile app and through online travel portals and travel agents.

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Vande Bharat train to run between Delhi to Madhya Pradesh'

Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced the operationalisation of the Vande Bharat Express train between Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district and Delhi. During his visit to the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, the Minister said that two rake points have been approved at Chhatarpur and Khajuraho. Along with this, he also informed that rail tickets can now be obtained from 45,000 post offices. "Soon Rail Over Bridge /Road Under Bridge (ROB/RUB) will be constructed at important places," he said while mentioning the operation of Bharat Gaurav trains like Ramayana Express, the electrification of which is to be completed by August. "By that time, Vande Bharat will also start rolling out. The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government is to serve the people and has to be followed in spirit while doing development of the region," he added. Vaishnaw also reviewed the works done in the Pradhan Mantri Gram Yojana in the Bundelkhand region. He took stock of the development projects of the Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Center area. Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Virendra Kumar and other public representatives were also present during the inspection. Vaishnaw also informed about the redevelopment of Khajuraho station to make it a world-class station. The minister, along with the local administration and Railways, encouraged the farmers to set up solar plants on their land so that their income could increase. The pilot project is to be started with Bundelkhand. The land is to be identified soon. Kisan Morcha, Railways and District Administration to jointly identify the location. Vaishnaw also informed that "One Station One Product Scheme" is also being expanded so that local level products will be made available in the market through stations. 1000 stations will be included under this scheme, in which Chhatarpur station will also be included. "Limestone industries near Panna are important. Panna is to be linked with Railways," he said.

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When will US lift travel restrictions; Entry requirements explained

People travelling to the United States are still required to present evidence of a negative Covid test. Many other countries have now scrapped testing requirements, including the UK and key European destinations. There are hopes the US could soon follow suit, knocking a chunk off the price of travel. Here is everything we know, and the full entry requirements for the US explained. When will Covid testing end for US travel? At present passengers are required to show a negative Covid-19 test result taken no more than one day before travel. This can be a lateral flow or PCR test. You must use a private provider, rather than a free government-provided test. However, US airline Delta has said it is confident this requirement could be dropped within weeks. Delta president Glen Hauenstein told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday: “Hopefully that gets rolled back in the next few weeks. We are hearing good things from Washington.” The company’s chief legal officer, Peter Carter, added: “We are getting a strong indication that pre-departure testing will be phased out in the near future, which is quite encouraging.” Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the Netherlands all recently announced an end to pre-departure testing for fully vaccinated arrivals. What are the US entry requirements? You will need to get a visa or an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (Esta) visa waiver to enter the US. People must also be fully vaccinated to travel to the US. Your second dose should have been administered at least 14 days prior to travel. Booster doses are not required. The NHS app is accepted as proof of vaccination. Everyone must also present evidence of a negative test result, as explained above, or display proof of having recently recovered from Covid-19. To use proof of a recent infection in lieu of testing you must have proof of a positive test result taken in the past 90 days and a signed letter from a licensed healthcare provider or public health official that states you have been cleared for travel according to CDC’s travel guidance. All arrivals must complete a Passenger Disclosure and Attestation form when travelling by air from the UK. This can be completed up to 24 hours before travel and should be done before boarding. Children under two years old do not need to test to enter the USA. Children under the age of 18 do not need to be vaccinated to enter the country, but unvaccinated under-18s must take a test three to five days after arrival. All children, except US citizens aged undertwo2, must complete the same Passenger Disclosure form as adult.

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