If you can’t decide where you want to go on your summer holidays this year or maybe don’t have the funds to do anything too extravagant, why not consider a weekend break to a European city as a viable option?

Visits to big cities in the UK and Ireland like Edinburgh, London and Dublin may not be all that cheap generally speaking, but as you are only going away for a shorter period of time your budget only has to stretch across a few days.

What you can do is look for ways to make the holiday as financially sound as possible by staying at off-peak times and searching for online discounts. You can put the money you save on expensive flights towards enjoying yourself for the weekend exploring the city.

News just in…

I was writing in a recent blog post about Michael Jackson that although full refunds had been offered by Ticketmaster, there was no news on refunds for the Aftershow party to be held at the IndigO2 nightclub.

I have just received the following email from Ticketmaster:

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In the last few posts regarding the late King of Pop I was concerned with whether Michael would ever be in a fit state to take to the stage for any of his demanding 50 shows booked at the O2. The hardly unexpected – yet still shocking – news of the demise of Michael Jackson has been discussed in detail since it was announced last Thursday night that he had gone into cardiac arrest.

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I have been writing quite frequently on this blog regarding the upcoming concerts and I am concerned like most fans with tickets that the concerts do indeed go ahead. I have tickets for in a month’s time to see Michael on 24th July.

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Since the King of Pop announced his comeback concerts back in March (and I managed to get myself some tickets) I have been fervently looking for any further news regarding the concerts and provided an update a while back. Yes, I am a little apprehensive that Michael Jackson will not be in a fit state to perform 50 shows – that would be a lot for any performer, let alone a 50-year-old man who has been in a wheelchair because of back trouble.

The announcement last week that the shows will be moved will not have helped dispel these fears. There was a report in the Daily Mail that suggested someone close to the Jackson camp had let slip the revelation that Michael had only attended 2 out of 45 rehearsals so far and that was the underlying reason for the delay. Well, I hope not.

I have been affected by the changes myself – but only so far as I will see him earlier in his schedule now the other three concerts have been moved. I have tickets for Friday 24 July – now the 5th show.

The affected dates are as follows:

8 July - moved to 13 July, 2009
10 July - moved to 1 March, 2010
12 July - moved to 3 March, 2010
14 July - moved to 6 March, 2010

I received the following reassurance from the promoters by email:

Dear Customer

Michael Jackson’s producers recently announced the rescheduling and change of the opening shows in order to meet the challenges presented by such a large and technically complex concert. As you may be aware, the first four dates of the tour originally scheduled for 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th July 2009 have been rescheduled to meet these requirements.

We would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that the date you have purchased tickets for is unaffected by these changes and will go ahead as scheduled. Michael, who is directly involved with all aspects of the styling/choreography/band selection and rehearsals, is working around the clock to ensure this is the show to end all shows!

If you require any further assistance, please contact us by emailing Michaeljackson@Ticketmaster.co.uk

We’re looking forward to seeing you on the night on the show!

Please note, your tickets will be dispatched closer to the event date, please allow up to 5 days before the show for your tickets to arrive, or if you are travelling 5 days before you leave.

Regards

Ticketmaster - sent on behalf of AEG Live

As for whether he will indeed turn up, we’ll just have to wait and see.

As I said in a previous blog post, I have tickets for one of Michael Jackson’s upcoming O2 shows so obviously I’m interested in any news concerning Mr Jackson’s wellbeing in the run up to the event.
Rather concerning is an article on the Daily Mail website which questions whether Michael will be up to the task of completing these shows.

Apparently, rehearsals for the farewell concerts have already begun in an empty aircraft hangar in Los Angeles which is fitted out to look like the stage of the O2 Arena. Michael’s dancers are practicing their moves, the musicians are also hard at work and Michael himself has shown up.

Concert organisers are hoping that with the cancellation of the auction of Jackson memorabilia which was supposed to take place next week, Michael can now concentrate fully on getting himself in shape for the gruelling schedule ahead.

This report suggests that Jackson has decided on his set list and the show’s themes with elephants on stage and a jungle with monkeys and parrots. He also wants to fly in like Peter Pan, apparently.

Privately, there have been concerns that Jackson will not be up to either the dancing or the singing and AEG Live are keen to make sure he is in the best frame of mind for the shows. I for one hope that this is the case and Michael Jackson can overcome his problems to make one of the biggest comebacks ever.

As soon as I heard about Michael Jackson’s proposed tour – the day of the press conference – I signed up straight away for the chance to get a pre-sale code.

I have been a fan of Michael’s music since I was 9 years old back in 1987 when I bought ‘Bad’ on cassette tape – my first ever music tape. My younger brother was also a fan and his part piece has always been to do the Moonwalk, which is actually quite impressive!

Back to the tickets… by Tuesday evening I still hadn’t heard anything so assumed I hadn’t been successful. And then an email arrived giving me the opportunity to purchase tickets in the pre-sale the following day at 7am!

I was one of the thousands who had technical difficulties with the website and kept getting kicked out by ticketmaster. I gave up and went into work at 8am. I tried again but couldn’t get through and left the ticket page searching for tickets in the background on my computer. Just after 9am, to my surprise and delight, there were 4 tickets reserved for me for Friday 24th July. Granted, it was £75 a ticket for seats way up in the Gods, but I could now relax and ignore the general sale on the Friday, eBay touts and the Viagogo prices.

I’m looking forward to the tour at the O2 and like a lot of Michael Jackson music fans, just hope he is up to this and it doesn’t turn out to be a disappointment. I do hope that rumours about the support acts to possibly include Eoghan Quigg from the X-Factor turn out to be false!

A new flight from London to New York is due to be added by Continental Airlines on a daily basis.  This will bring the number of flights on this route by Continental Airlines up to three.

It will be a direct flight flying out from London Heathrow and landing at Nweark Liberty Airport.  Although awaiting government approval the additional flight is scheduled to start on 25th October 2008.

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In September this year London will host yet another attraction called the Design Festival to tempt visitors from all over the continent. 

The Design Festival will be open to visitors from the 13th September up to the 23rd of the month.  It was first launched in 2003 and has leapt in size and popularity so much so that it rivals long established events such as London Fashion Week and the highly acclaimed London Film Festival.

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