It's time for this week's travel news again! This week, we can tell you that Swedish spa hotels have won great prizes in the "World Luxury Spa Awards" Hanoi, that every fifth young Swede loses their passport and that our neighbouring country Norway intends to send autonomous robot ships out on the seas as early as next year.
Tweet
Share
Share
Pin
Share
ShareTable of contents
Free roaming provides relaxation
Surfing in the EU has been unleashed, leading to new holiday habits. According to a survey of 1000 Swedes commissioned by Telenor, almost one in two people feel more relaxed knowing they are always connected.
Six out of ten have more contact with loved ones on holiday and 75% say they don't have to worry about high mobile phone bills. However, a small number (3%) feel more stressed by always being available abroad.
Swedish spa hotels are winners
At the recent World Luxury Spa Awards in Hanoi, Sweden was showered with awards. The awards are given in 32 categories and are based on service levels and guest votes. Hotel Tylösand won two awards and was named both Northern Europe's best resort spa and best business spa hotel. Other Swedish winners included Sankt Jörgen Park Spa Hotel in Gothenburg and Stenungsbaden Yacht Club's spa - Bluewater Sports & Health Club.
One in five young people lose their passport
One in ten Swedes have lost their passport at some point and one in five young Swedes have lost their passport. This is according to a survey conducted by the insurance company If. There are significantly more men (13 per cent) than women (6 per cent) who lose their passports.
Losing a passport creates problems for the traveller, but the lost passport can also contribute to crime. Police suspect that there is widespread abuse of Swedish passports, which are highly sought after and can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars on the black market.
Google introduces personalised news feeds
Google is about to implement its biggest change since 1996: personalised news feeds. The idea is to directly compete with Facebook, which is taking up more and more of our time. The feeds will display personalised information on sports, viral videos and news.
Soon most people will own a mobile phone
Two-thirds (66 per cent) of the world's population is expected to use mobile phones by 2022, according to a survey by Forrester. This is a huge increase from 2013 when the figure was 21 per cent. The study also shows that the use of tablets is decreasing. Android is expected to account for 73% of the mobile market this year (1.8 billion users), followed by Apple (21%) and Windows (4%).
Norway will soon be running robot ships
Norway has developed a robotic ship that will launch as early as next year. The ship is fully autonomous, battery-powered and has robotic arms that can load and unload at the harbour. The ship is called Yara Birkeland, has zero emissions and is entirely controlled by robotics and artificial intelligence. "Who will the Somali pirates kidnap and hold hostage?" asks Dagens Analys.
Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Camping records, coffee in the suitcase and lots of googling of Sweden!
You might also like:
Croatia, live concerts and Sweden climb the list
Charters, sustainable theme park and asteroid hunting
Recruitment at campsites, the friendly train to the Alps and shy octopus
Lifting of restrictions and calves born in zoos
Göta Canal 200 years and passport-free in 'Little Italy'
Greece, airport chaos and Sweden's best campsite
English (UK) 
Svenska 
Deutsch 
Suomi 
Polski
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
It is careless to lose valuable documents such as passports. There is certainly a lot of suspicion about lost passports now, too.
31 July 2017 - 8:36
Helena says:
I agree. Certainly some carelessness, but also pure illegal trade. Unfortunately.
31 July 2017 - 19:54
Role o Carina says:
Yes, it is important to keep track of passports and tickets!
Take care.......
31 July 2017 - 10:47
Helena says:
Yes, it does! And even worse, lost passports are sold on the black market ...
31 July 2017 - 19:54
Husis blog says:
Well, the owners probably didn't fit in much there. Passports and tickets are always in my safe, except when they are checking in on a boat. If the owners are out flying, the man has a special bag where he keeps everything and it in turn is in the inner compartment of his bag.
Regarding roaming, there were difficult decisions before the trip. They are usually big consumers of GB and it was therefore a new subscription just for the trip we are on now. The owners thought it was a jungle when the roaming was released "freely".
31 July 2017 - 16:58
Helena says:
We also like to keep the passports in the safe. But in Spain it was difficult, because they wanted to see the passport from time to time. We remember that we once had to pick it up three times in the same day ... When it comes to roaming, we can agree. We are also big consumers, and it's not really free ...
31 July 2017 - 19:57
BP says:
Being careless with your passport can have disastrous consequences. So I pay special attention to that.
That roaming is a thing of the past is God's gift. I have never used roaming, as I was always looking for wifi, but was never really sure if I pressed the wrong button - untechnical as I am;-)
The robot ship seems cool. I mean there are already experiments about robot cars in the future. Best to start on the water, where the traffic is a bit more sparse;-)
31 July 2017 - 20:48