Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary has announced that Heathrow will get a third runway. Building should start in 2015 and be complete by 2019. there have been news reports that the government will speed up the planning process so that this runway might be ready in 2015 but that surely is on the understanding that [...]

Over 300 events will take place in Scotland this year as the country celebrates what it has termed it’s Homecoming Year.

Although it began with the new year events, it kicks off properly with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns over the weekend of the 24/25th of January and ends, not unsurprisingly with St Andrews’s day on November 30th.

Just how much is the credit crunch hitting travel?I ask because today I travelled on a train with two men, one reading a copy of the Sun and the other, Metro. Both were on what used to be called the workers train, that is the first train out in the morning. Both were talking of [...]

Unless you have been asleep for the last 48 hours it has been hard not to see news about the advertised job in Australia. For about seventy thousand pounds a year you have to live on Hamilton Island off the Queensland coast, feed the fish, survey all you behold and write a regular blog. Well, [...]

Turned off by chain hotels? Bored with ‘boutique’? Bettina Kowalewski, author of Bed in a tree – a gorgeous coffee table book published by DK Eyewitness Travel about the world’s craziest, quirkiest places to stay– suggests provides some inspiring alternatives from an actual bed in a tree in South Africa to a hanging eco-sphere in Canada, a giant suitcase in Germany and glass igloo in Finland!

Following on from yesterday’s blog on the success of Liverpool as one of the 2008Cities of Culture, I thought which city this year.As is now the custom there are two, Vilnius in Lithuania and Linz in Austria. Linz is twinned with Edinburgh but as far as I can see, Vilnius is not twinned with any [...]

As we wrote a year ago, Liverpool was one of two European cities of culture in 2008. the Liverpool Culture Company has just presented it’s report on the effects of the year and reckons that it generated about £800 million for the city and encouraged 3.5million first time visitors. To me this seems a tremendous [...]

After a year of hard work and few breaks, Poppy (my 10-month old Puppy) and I decided to have a week away between Christmas and new year. Unlike the Marloes holiday last June, we decided to do this just a few days before departure.

For a lot of people today is the first day back at work and here in the south east, the snow may not help despite the fact that we have no more than a couple of centimetres of the stuff.What will annoy people is the annual party every year when rail prices increase. I thought [...]

Escape damp and dark London for a weekend in Marrakesh and enjoy a taste of Middle East culture without a long haul flight.

Stay at a traditional Riad to add to the experience and immerse yourself in the different sights and sounds around the Place Djemaa market square.

As the sounds of Jingle Bells and Auld Lang Syne fade into the background Marrakesh can offer a great weekend escape and experience of Middle East culture without the pain of a long haul flight. The Atlas Mountains provide a spectacular backdrop overlooking the Place Djemaa.