Helsinki, Bundaberg, Dolomites, Homecoming Scotland and Albania

• Geoff Harrison discovers the Underground Bar and Restaurant in Helsinki, Finland.
• Host Ren Zwiers has details of how and when to see the sea turtles on the beach  at Bargara, near Bundaberg (Queensland).
• Frances Beasley visits The Dolomites in northern Italy.
• Travelbites Radio host David Gordon interviews Caroline Packman on Homecoming Scotland 2014.
• From our US affiliate Around the World Radio/TV we feature a report on some of the sights in Romania and Albania.

Don't rubbish Albania!

Each week numerous travel-related media releases and advisories cross my desk (and e-mail inbox) at the Bayside & Northern Suburbs Star newspaper in Brisbane, Australia. In this regular posting I’ll pass on some of that information with some personal views added in (just to make them more interesting and relevant). I’ll try to do an update weekly (time and schedule permitting). Here’s the first edition…

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A report on e-turbo news states that Albania (eastern Europe) is facing a growing problem of litter lining the beaches of its once pristine resort towns. Having stayed at the major resort town of Durres several times, I can honestly say I hadn’t noticed it, but then, I wasn’t particularly looking for it either – spent most of my time eating and drinking at good hotel restaurants and/or beachside cafes instead. Apparently, since the days of Communist oppression in Albania ended, progress and consumerism have created the reported boost in random rubbish piles along highways and on and around beaches. The two leading men in the June 28 Albanian elections have both promised to tackle the problem if elected. Albania is a fast rising tourist destination with an ever-improving infrastructure to handle the visitor influx. None of these tourists want to see rubbish piles as a major attraction!

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Discount flights are the norm these days …just about every airline is in panic mode and virtually giving away seats. I’m having a great time scanning airline websites for domestic Australian flight seats, to enable some cheap weekends away from home. However, I scored a beauty internationally recently when AirAsia was giving away seats (paying taxes only). After a bit of endurance and experimenting with departure dates etc, I managed to obtain ‘free’ seats for my partner and me from Gold Coast to Kulala Lumpur return departing next March. I tried my luck again to see if a side trip to Phuket was also possible and again managed to book ‘freebies’ KL-Phuket-KL for the middle of the week away. All-up cost after paying for onboard meals, 15kg baggage allowance and return transfers to/from KL airport to the city set me back just over $400 Australian for two people. Now that’s a bargain! I can afford to stay five-star at KL and Phuket thanks to that initial huge saving

VIDEO: Road trip in Albania

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Take a road trip from the Albanian capital city, Tirana along the treacherous road through mountaineous country towards the country's north east. We undertook this return trip taking some five hours each way to visit my son-in-law's parents on their humble farm, approximately 15km from the Kosovo border in mid 2006. This road will be replaced by a new highway in a few years time, so the drive should then be much shorter and far easier.

VIDEO: Exploring the Albanian capital, Tirana

This is by far the most watched video I have ever posted on YouTube, boasting thousands of viewings, downloads and many comments. It features both a drive and walk through the Albanian capital city of Tirana with its huge wide inner city avenues, bustling traffic scenes and imposing buildings constructed during the previous Communist regime. Tirana is now accessible by direct flights from many European destinations and has a brand new and efficiently run airport terminal, so the future of tourism is looking a lot brighter for Albania, a country that was previously fairly unknown to the rest of Europe.