We’ve said before, that there are advantages to being able to speak Spanish when you visit Lanzarote. Whether you want to be able to bargain better at Teguise market, or just make sure that there are no hidden extras on your restaurant bill, some things just work better if you can use the local language.

One of the online courses that we recommend is Notes in Spanish, which offers downloadable audio, accompanied by worksheets containing transcripts, vocabulary lists, explanations of grammar and tasks for you to complete.

This week sees the start of the second season on Notes in Spanish Gold. For just €17* per month you receive a weekly audio file with the relevant worksheet on topics that are often connected to current issues in Spain.

So if you’re past the stage of asking your way to the Playa, and would like to learn some more advanced – even colloquial – Spanish, then take a look at Notes in Spanish Gold.

* sales within the EU are liable to 18% VAT; price subject to change

by Nick Ball

The popular holiday island of Lanzarote now has its first online lifestyle magazine. Thanks to the launch of Lanzarote Magazine – www.lanzarotemagazine.co.uk

Image © Lanzarote Magazine

Lanzarote Magazine features all of the latest news from across the island. Covering lifestyle, sports, food and drink, events, property, travel and much much more besides.

The website’s attractive and easy to use design provides the ideal backdrop for high quality photography and images of the island. Along with daily news snippets and in-depth feature articles.

According to the publishers; “Lanzarote Magazine is designed to provide both tourists and residents alike with all of the latest news from the island in an easy to read format. Despite the current economic climate Lanzarote will still welcome hundreds of thousands of English speaking tourists this year. Whilst the island also has a sizeable expat population.”

“Currently there isn’t really any English language media out there that provides up the minute news information and good quality lifestyle features. We aim to change that and have plans to introduce a print version of Lanzarote Magazine in the future.

“Lanzarote Magazine also has an interactive element. Visitors to the site can get involved by commenting on stories and submitting their own news.”

I have been booking flights to Lanzarote recently, and it was not an easy thing to do.

Firstly, of course, I have to explain that I want flights from Frankfurt am Main in Germany, so my search was concentrated on German sites.  I am also booking several months in advance.  It is amazing what price difference there is at the moment, and what sort of strange options I was being offered.

As is often the case, flights during the school holidays tend to be more expensive than during term time.  I started by looking at Expedia.de, which offered me a selection of flights ranging from 290EUR to 1478EUR per person.

Flights with Iberia tended to be the cheapest, and I have flown with them on previous trips, only to disappointed with the on-board serivce.  Normally flying with them means changing planes in Madrid.  This time I was being offered flights that would take me to Madrid, then on to Las Palmas, and finally a short hop with Binter Canarias to Arrecife.  A few days later, the same search did not show this option, but instead a wait of 14 hours (overnight) in Madrid.

The most expensive option was with KLM (codesharing with Air Europa), changing in Madrid and Amsterdam!

So I decided to search online for alternatives.  After going through various search engines and travel agents, only to discover that even direct flights with charter airlines were not going make much difference to the price, I finally settled for an offer from SpanAir – booked directly via their website.  I flew with them last year to Madrid, and although the crews did not speak much English on board, the rest of the onboard service was better.  Plus, the price was good and the times were approximately what were were looking for.  There was also the additional bonus of changing planes in Terminal 2 in Madrid, thus avoiding the long walk and underground ride between Terminals 4 and 4S.

I booked the flights and was ready to pay for them online with my credit card, as I had done previously and would expect to do on other booking sites.  But no!  At the last stage of the booking, I had to fill out a form with my credit card details and fax it to a Spanish number.  Then I either had to call the SpanAir call centre (in Spain) to confirm them or go in person to a SpanAir agent in Germany within 24 hours.  And this was Saturday night at 11pm.

As I didn’t really want to have to find an agent on Sunday morning – probably at Frankfurt airport – I decided to call the call centre (yes, at 11pm on a Saturday night).  For such international calls I usually use Skype, but Skype would not let me call the number.  So I had to resort to using a normal land line – something I had not done for international calls for a long time.

I told the agent in my best Spanish why I was calling, and she answered in good English!  The whole call lasted only a few minutes, and by the end of it I had my eTickets in my Inbox!

I have to admit to being a little bit annoyed, that I wasn’t told in advance that I was going to have to do this.  But I have to admit that the call centre agent was efficient.  Actually, I think she spoke better English than a  lot of the cabin crews!