7 Reasons

Tag: Barcelona

  • Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Travel By Car

    Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Travel By Car

    Holidays are something that we all need and love; without them we would all go a little crazy! The way we travel is really down to personal preference: should we fly, ferry or drive? We all have different ideas on how to get to our destination, but what happens when we do arrive? Do we sit by a pool all day sipping cocktails or do we explore? This is where we step in and say “book a hire car, see more”! Not yet convinced? You will be after these 7 reasons:

    1.  No Waiting At The Airport For The Hotel Transfer. There are many a bad childhood memory to be told about landing in the foreign airport at 1.30am, tired and grumpy, waiting what seems like a decade for your suitcase – which always seems to be the last one out – and then standing outside with the rest of the happy campers waiting for your accommodation transfers. Once you have all been ushered on and you’re on route, it appears that not only was yours the last suitcase off, you’re also the last hotel drop!

    2.  You Can Choose Your Passengers. We’ve all been there; jumped on a bus thinking it will save on the holiday budget and got stuck with a person that proceeds to tell you their entire life story and why they are embarking on this journey alone, or that bloke with the worst personal hygiene ever who smelt; normally he has dreads, those pants that are neither full length or shorts, and a few beads around his neck.

    7 Reasons To Travel By Car

    3.  Make Day Trips Your Own. Everyone has encountered those annoying holiday reps that speak in a voice high pitched enough for the local dogs to hear and they think we are all stupid tourists that need every single attraction pointed out and explained to us in so much details that we suddenly find jumping of the Eiffel Tower a better prospect than just climbing the steps.

    4.  Getting Lost And Then Finding Your Way Again. What’s a holiday without a little adventure? Take a car hire Barcelona for example; one minute you could be driving down a busy road and think ‘I’ll just take the next left to avoid the traffic’ and BOM you’re in the dodgiest city area you have ever seen, thinking you’re just about to get car jacked and then you turn another corner and you’re back in the land of camera snapping tourist. Now that’s a story for the grandkids!

    5.  You Can Find The Best Beaches. You can read a tour guide book to find out where the tourist beaches are, and if you spend a day on one of those you’re likely to get hit by a football from the family next to you and their over active kids, or be attacked by a cheap rubber lilo in the sea. Now book a car hire Gran Canaria an you are free to unearth those hidden coves, known by only the locals. But beware, you could come across a few nudist beaches as well!

    7 Reasons To Travel By Car

    6.  Make A Little Money On Your Travels. Heading off for the day but have room for two more, why not offer that nice couple that are staying in the same hotel as you a lift? At a small cost of course. This way you can cover your fuel costs for the day without having to dip into your holiday money!

    7.  Test Drive That Car You Wanted Before You Buy. Granted that most times when you book a hire car you are not sure of the vehicle type until you arrive at your destination. However, some suppliers – if you are prepared to pay that little extra – will let you choose your car when you book. What better way to get to know the handling of a car than to drive it around for a week or two?

    *All images are copyright of http://www.globalmediaserver.com.

  • 7 Reasons You Need To Improve Your Scamming Technique

    7 Reasons You Need To Improve Your Scamming Technique

    Scam Alert!

    I never once felt sorry for Bernadette. I probably should have done. After all, her Dad had just died in a plane crash leaving Bernadette to live with her evil mother. A mother she then ran away from and found safety in a run down orphanage. An orphanage without running water, electricity and warm bedding. In fact the only thing that kept the likes of Bernadette going was the super-fast BT Broadband connection. The truth is though, I didn’t care about any of this. I was much more interested in the money. Bernadette was offering me a lot of it. Millions of pounds worth. That was a lot of tea bags. Which is why I gave her my bank details. That was two years ago. He’s still borrowing my money now. That’s right, ‘he’. Bernadette turned out to be a bloke called Alfonso. I am now partly responsible for Nigeria’s heroin addiction and at least thirty-five murders. The only way I can get out of this mess is by winning the lottery. That way I can pay Alfonso the £1 Million he is now demanding and I get to keep my fingers. No wonder I got very excited the other day when this email arrived in the 7Reasons inbox:

    Your Email ID won!
    EuroMillion Lottery Intl. Program
    FOREIGN SERVICE SECTION BARCELONA.
    REFERENCE NUMBER: SOXW/HAWIR
    BATCH NUMBER: 2011/149 /BMQ

    OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION.

    We are pleased to inform you of the released results of the EuroMillions Corporations Sweepstakes Promotion in conjunction with foundations for the promotion of software products organized for Software users.

    This Program was held on 16th February , 2011, in Barcelona- Spain. Wherein your email address emerged as one of the online Winning emails in the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of EUR1,500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand  Euros) and an Apple  laptop. Your laptop, certificate of winnings and your cheque of (EUR1 500,000.00 Euros) will be sent to your contact address in your location.

    Please take note, lucky winners will pay for their courier services delivery. EuroMillions corporations only provides lucky winners with a laptop and the sum of (EUR1 500,000.00 Euros) only. To file for claims of the release of your winnings, Contact the Customer Service Officer with the information below:

    1.FULL NAMES:
    2.ADDRESS:
    3.SEX:
    4.AGE:
    5.MARITAL STATUS:
    6.OCCUPATION:
    7.TELEPHONE NUMBER:
    8.COUNTRY
    9)BATCH NUMBER
    10) REFERENCE NUMBER

    Email: [email protected]
    Tel: +34 634 105 921
    Contact Person: Manuel Borreria [CSO]

    This Email Lottery is sponsored by Software development firms a Software Engineering Resource Consortium Companies. This internet E-mail draw is held periodically and is organized to encourage the use of the Internet products and promote computer literacy worldwide.

    Congratulations!!

    Sincerely,
    Mrs. Eva Lopez
    Online Coordinator

    For thirty seconds I got very excited and flexed my fingers in delight. But then I read it again and I realised a few things. This email was a scam! A scam! And it was so easy to spot. Here’s why the scammers drastically  need to improve their technique:

    1.  The Prize. I have won €1,500,000 and an Apple laptop. Obviously Mrs Eva Lopez is trying to stand out from the crowd here. She is trying to differentiate herself from her rivals by offering an incentive to claim the €1,500,000. In an already saturated market place it is a nice idea, but she lets herself down on the terminology. There is no such thing as an Apple laptop. It’s called a MacBook or a MacBook Pro. An understandable, but ultimately telling mistake.

    2.  The Address. Barcelona. That is far too nice a place to have your winnings sent from. Look at the base of any cereal packet and I guarantee you that the address you have to write to claim your prize is an industrial estate in Uckfield, East Sussex. That’s the way these things work. The scammers have failed by trying to be too exotic.

    3.  The Reference Number. SOXW/HAWIR. I’m not falling for that. This has quite clearly been copied from Mrs Eva Lopez’s to-do list, ‘Sort Out Xanthium Watering/Help A Witch In Rio’. It’s nothing short of laziness.

    4.  Courier Services. That’s right, I – the winner may I remind you – has to pay to get the money from somewhere in Barcelona to my lounge. This would never happen in the Lotto. If you win the Lotto Myleene Klass knocks on your door with a massive novelty sized cheque, a bottle of cheap fizz and a camera crew. It might be tacky, but it’s genuine.

    5.  Personal. The details they request are really rather prying. Take the third request for example, ‘sex’. What do I put here? ‘If I’ve been a good boy I earn the right to have a discussion about the possibility at a later date’? This is private information that should not be shared with anyone else. And quite frankly I don’t think my sexual prowess should stand in the way of €1,500,000. It never has before so why should Lopez think differently?

    6.  The Aim. As you will note from the bottom of this email, the mission behind the E-Mail Lottery is to promote computer literacy. While this is to be applauded surely Lopez would be better off sending the email to someone who doesn’t really know about computers and thus more susceptible to falling victim to scam emails. That way they may actually try and claim their winnings. Obvious really.

    7.  Repetition. I had the same email last November. Only a scammer would think that because they caught me out once they can do it again. Idiots.