Thumbs Up: No retail, no therapy Who says shopping makes you happy? The South Pacific island of Vanuatu, population 200,000, was declared the happiest place on the planet last week. "People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little.
This is not a consumer-driven society," says Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the country's online newspaper. The Happy Planet Index was constructed by the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and Friends of the Earth using three factors: life expectancy, human wellbeing and damage done via a country's "environmental footprint". Ireland came 113th.
Lord it up at a low price
One of the best accommodation bargains currently on offer in Ireland has to be at Coxtown Manor, Laghey, Co Donegal, 10 minutes from Donegal town. This is a beautiful, tranquil place, with five lovely rooms in the main house and five in the converted coach-house. The huge bathrooms are especially impressive. For July and August - Saturdays excepted - it is offering accommodation, breakfast and a three-course à la carte dinner for €99 per person. Terrific food, great service and a charming small wood-panelled bar. Tel 074-9734575 www.coxtownmanor.com.
Thumbs Down
Tickets please
Obviously, the best way to book airline tickets is online...but what if you have no credit card? Last week, in Dublin, a colleague tried to book four one-way student tickets from London to Dublin. Her laser card didn't work because of the currency differential; her credit card was out of credit. The local travel agent could do it - for 30 extra per ticket! The only way around it was to drive to Dublin Airport and book them there. The tickets, by the way, cost €12 each (before taxes).
Soggy bottoms
As if getting drenched in the downpour and mired in the mud at Oxegen wasn't bad enough, sopping punters became the ultimate captive market for enterprising entrepreneurs who got hold of logo-laden plastic ponchos and sold them for €4 each.
