photo © 2011 Khairil Zhafri , Flickr

You won’t be much in a mood to work when you realise that half of the world is probably holidaying on the 1st of August. Let’s take a look at some of the countries who will be celebrating this coming Monday.

Angola: Armed Forces Day (Unofficial holiday, but widely celebrated.)
Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago: Emancipation Day (Businesses, government offices and schools close.)
Benin: Independence Day
Canada: Civic or provincial holiday (First Monday in August)
China: Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Day
Democratic Republic Of Congo: Parents’ Day
Eritrea: Many Eritrean nationals living overseas return for vacation trips during July and August.
France: Travellers visiting France for business purposes should be aware that the traditional holiday month is August, when most businesses and government departments keep only a skeleton staff at work.
Iceland: Commerce Day
Ireland: Summer Bank Holiday
Jamaica: Emancipation Day (Sunday before Independence Day)
Nicaragua: St. Dominic’s Fiesta Day
Scotland: Summer Bank Holiday
Switzerland: National Day (All government offices and most businesses close.)
Worldwide: Ramadan

Looking for a truly exotic experience? How about staying in an igloo, while experiencing the midnight sun? For the first time, travellers will now be able to experience staying in a hotel made out of ice during the summer months.

There are however only three suites available in a 120 square metre area, which is a far cry from the 60 rooms covering 5,500 square metres in winter. Activities such as ice sculpting and drinking vodka out of an ice cup are still available though.

Instead of dog sledding and snowmobiling, you can spend your days rafting, canoeing and hiking. And with 100 days of sunlight, you probably won’t be complaining about the lack of hours in a day!

Here’s a sample of what a 6-day itinerary would look like: http://www.travelplanner.com.sg/itinerary/public/details/171

Following the footsteps of Virgin’s Galactic space tourism program, KLM has now jumped on the bandwagon to offer suborbital flights starting January 2014.

Using the Lynx aircraft, the flight is planned to take off from the island of Curacao, which is coincidentally the name of the space experience. Soaring to a height of 100 km, the Lynx can seat two people, who will experience the loss of gravity while in the earth’s orbit. 

The price of this experience comes significantly cheaper than that of Virgin’s programme at €70,000. Virgin has priced its space programme at over twice the price at €146,500. Virgin’s programme will however launch almost two years earlier in 2012. It is set to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico, USA. Its flight craft of choice is the VSS Enterprise, which seats six.

Following a lost bet with AirAsia boss, Tony Fernandes, on whose team would finish lower in the 2010 Formula One season, Richard Branson will now have to dress up as an AirAsia ‘stewardess’ and serve as a flight attendant on a charity flight from London to Kuala Lumpur on the 1st of May 2011.

The bet was made at the start of the 2010 Formula One season that the owner of the team (Branson owns Virgin and Fernandes owns Lotus) who finished lower in the standings would have to serve as a flight attendant on the winner’s airline.

On the 1 May charity flight, Branson is expected to wear a female AirAsia uniform, complete with heels and make-up. The thrill of being served by Branson will not come cheap though, as one-way tickets on the flight start at £4,500.

Here are 5 of the most unusual hotel jobs around the world, from past to present.

#1 – The Bed Warmer

At the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in London, a unique turn down service is offered to guests – a human bed warmer. Upon request, a member of the staff will put on a special full body suit and roll around the bed for 5 minutes, creating an ideal sleeping environment for guests.

#2 – The Coin Polisher

In 1935, the Hotel Westin St Francis’  director noticed that the white gloves of female guests were getting dirty when touching coins. To ensure guests’ gloves remained in pristine condition he decided to employ someone to clean coins every day. This tradition is still alive and well today at the hotel, and the Coin Polisher has maintained the important role of keeping coins passing through the hotel clean and shiny.

#3 – The Pigeon Chaser

At the luxurious Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, India, two of the hotel’s staff are are tasked with keeping pigeons out of the hotel’s courtyard. The “Pigeon Chasers” wave a large flag to keep the birds at bay for nine hours a day.

#4 – The Fairy Godmother

In Georgia, USA, The Barnsley Gardens Resort boasts its very own in-house Fairy Godmother to make guests’ wishes come true. Be it a birthday celebration or a romantic proposal, Fairy Godmother is on hand to help create lasting memories.

#5 – The Bedtime Storyteller

If you are staying at the Hotel Andaz in London and have trouble falling asleep, you can call for the Bedtime Storyteller to come to your room and read you a book of your choice.

If Iceland is one of those destinations on your to-travel-to list, why not strike it off with a visit from 26th March 2011 to 2nd April 2011. This is the period when the Icelandic Horse Festival will be held. Even if you’re not big on horses, you’ll be amazed by these unique purebred horses, who have their heritage dating back a thousand years to when the vikings brought their horses over.

What makes these horses so special is its innate ability to do a tölt, which is four-beat lateral ambling gait. In laymen terms, one or two or the horse’s feet is always on the ground, without a moment of suspension. This makes the ride extremely smooth and comfortable. To demonstrate the smoothness of the tölt, riders often hold large mugs of Icelandic beer while riding, without ever spilling a drop. And celebrating thereafter with the unspilled beer!

And if Iceland isn’t yet on your list, perhaps it’s time to add it in.