This summer sees more flights from more UK airports to more cities in the US and Canada than ever before. And it's hard to think of anywhere more suited to the car than North America: the sheer diversity and size of each individual state or province makes driving a great way to see the country on your own, with the flexibility of diverting to places that take your interest whenever you want. There's an extensive, excellent and well-signposted network of (mainly) wide and relatively quiet roads.

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Every man needs a hobby, a focus for all that potentially unruly energy, a way of passing time that includes some jargon, the chance to immerse oneself in a body of arcane knowledge and, preferably, regular opportunities to swap cash for assorted hardware. I'd tried stamp collecting, bodybuilding and DIY, and now I was heading towards Vinopolis, the city of wine located on the south side of the River Thames next to Southwark Bridge - to try my hand at wine appreciation.

It was a dreary ( Read more... )
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Figures from the aviation consultancy RDC Aviation show that Britain's 33 busiest airports all report lower passenger numbers in the first eight months of the year, which include the main summer peak.

British travellers are taking 9 per cent fewer flights overall, but there are much sharper falls to our most popular holiday destination, Spain ? with a a 16 per cent fall ? and America, which had one in 10 fewer travellers from London. The loss to New York was even more pronounced, with a ( Read more... )
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Tourists are being offered exclusive use of Peter Island in the Caribbean's British Virgin Islands in what is described as an island "buy out" package.

But prices for five nights at the island's resort and spa, including all rooms and villas come at a jaw-dropping £208,099.

Those with deep pockets - and lots of friends - could invite up to 130 guests and can even ask for a no-fly zone to be imposed over the island so their stay is not affected by ( Read more... )
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Walls have been a symbol of both division and unification. They can simultaneously protect and destroy people?s lives, a distinction that often depends on which side of the wall you reside. They often symbolise the dividing line between ?us? and ?them? and can play a rich part in a country?s heritage. History?s walls and those of the present day remind us that their presence has a long lasting effect on the landscape both physically and socially.

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Once a comrade was evidently of no further use to the regime, they could legally be shipped out of the country, usually to be buried by relatives in the West. The prescribed route to posthumous freedom was across the land frontier at Helmstedt, a sprawling scar on the hills that ripple from Berlin across to Hanover. But the Communist authorities wanted to ensure that the recently departed was not merely resting and seeking a surreptitious departure from the tyranny of the East ( Read more... )
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Unquestionably, BA commands a premium for its with-frills product: a still-generous free baggage allowance, free pre- assigned seating and at least a G&T or a coffee to go with the packet of birdseed that passes for lunch on shorter European flights.

Commendably, the price you first see when you book online with BA is the price you usually pay. The airline's punctuality has never been better. And, when an itinerary unravels due to disruption, BA is generally better at coping than its rivals. ( Read more... )
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The codeshare agreement allows Etihad to reach a host of new airports in the UK, linking Etihad's 55 destinations with Flybe's 55 destinations across 13 European countries. The two companies now sell connecting flights for each other on just one ticket sold by one airline, greatly expediting the flying process for the consumer.

Etihad now directly reaches several regional airports in the UK, including Southampton, Birmingham and Belfast, as well as providing service to Edinburgh, Glasgow ( Read more... )
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Travel essentials

Why go now?

Winter arrives next Saturday with the opening of the popular outdoor ice rink (1) on Parker's Piece (to 3 January, cambridgeonice.co.uk). The triennial Cambridge Music Festival (01223 350544; cammusic.co.uk) starts tomorrow and runs to 29 November. The festival's theme is evolution, linking various musical forms to creation, nature, and the passing of time in our universe. The event will host classical, jazz and international ( Read more... )
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Like Responsibletravel.com, until recently we encouraged readers to assuage their consciences and limit the damage to the environment by offsetting emissions from aviation. We recommended the "reduce my footprint" scheme endorsed by Abta, the travel association. But earlier this year we stopped. Carbon offsetting seemed too imperfect a science.

An example: the citizens of Honduras, one of the more benighted corners of Central America, are among the beneficiaries of a scheme to allow householders ( Read more... )
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Is there much to explore?

Think banana plantations, cacti, dunes and volcanoes. Five out of the seven islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, El Hierro and Gran Canaria) are wholly or partly listed as Unesco biosphere reserves in recognition of their remarkable landscapes and unusual flora and fauna.

La Palma, in the thinly populated western Canaries, has such clear skies that it's one of the best places in the northern hemisphere for stargazing. El ( Read more... )
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This week, after a gestation period that began a decade ago, the Boscombe surf reef officially opened for business. As a previous editor of Australian surfing magazines, and having spent the last 20 years travelling the globe surfing waves in Hawaii, Tahiti, Indonesia and South Africa, I'd thought I'd seen it all. But when a local council invests more than 3m to produce an artificial reef for surfers, I had to don my wetsuit, crank up my Australian accent and see just what the world's newest surf ( Read more... )
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Christmas is coming and I want to see Santa

To meet the genial man in red, complete with the full works of reindeer, jingling sleigh, enticing parcels and much snow, head to northern Scandinavia. St Nicholas, the protector of children, morphed into roly-poly Santa Claus in the 19th century. He actually hailed from Myra in south-western Turkey. Yet over the last two decades or so, Lapland has become regarded as the traditional homeland of Santa. That is partly because ( Read more... )
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Hayes & Jarvis

£1,598: Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Beach, with Emirates flights from Heathrow. "Not only does the Habtoor Grand boast a great location adjacent to Dubai Marina on Jumeirah Beach, but the five-star resort also offers a range of facilities including spa facilities, an open-air infinity pool on the 25th floor, large private beach and choice of 13 restaurants and bars," says Glenn McCool of Hayes & Jarvis. (0871 664 0246;

For sun without the jetlag, try Gambia: The Gambia Experience (gambia.co.uk) is offering seven nights at the Kombo Beach Hotel in the Kotu region from £299 per person, including B&B, return flights from Gatwick and transfers. The offer is valid for 4 or 11 December departures only.

Jetsave (jetsave.com) can provide sunshine on a budget in Florida. Seven nights' B&B at the two-star ( Read more... )
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BMI Baby, which recently cut routes between Manchester, England and Alicante and Malaga in Spain, did not specify which routes would be axed. The company will cut its total number of aircraft by nearly 30 percent in 2010, as well as a significant number of staff.

The airline operates flights around Europe from its four hubs in England: Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands and Manchester.

German air giant Lufthansa owns parent company BMI, which it recently took off the sales ( Read more... )
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In late September American Airlines became the first airline to explicitly charge a $10 (?7) premium each way for three days around Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. As expected, nearly every major US airline immediately followed suit.

Concurrently, the number of travel surcharge days went from three in winter to a total of 13 over the entire year.

Only US budget leaders Southwest and JetBlue have not added the surcharge and stated they are not planning to adopt such fees.

After out-of-court discussions following a morning of legal submissions from counsel for the workers' union, Unite, the two sides agreed to come back on 1 February.

That estimated five-day hearing will resolve whether there should be a permanent injunction preventing BA from imposing cost-cutting proposals, which are due to start on 16 November.

BA says that it is entitled unilaterally to reduce cabin crew complements on board their Worldwide and ( Read more... )
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The data comes from ACI's sixth annual Airport IT Trends survey, which queried 172 airports worldwide and 56 of the top 100 busiest airports.

The survey found that 40 percent of the world's top 100 airports already utilize web check-in for the majority of their passengers, with that percentage expected to double by 2010.

The presence of automated kiosks -- whether for check-in, passport scanning or bag-tag printing -- is expected to rise from 63 to 90 percent in airports ( Read more... )
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A three-night stay -- featuring 15 sunrises (one every 80 minutes) -- will cost ?3 million, which includes an eight-week training course on a tropical island.  

It will take 1.5 days of travel (also included in the price) on a six-person, 30,000 kilometer per hour rocket (18,600 miles per hour) to reach the unmanned pod/hotel, which will orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above Earth.

Galactic Suite said 43 possible future astronauts have already made reservations, with more ( Read more... )
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