Top 10 Valentine’s breaks

Boutique hotel experts Mr & Mrs Smith have sifted through the schmaltz to find Valentine’s packages that will really set hearts aflutter (and won’t involve soggy petals clogging the plughole). Here are 10 hot properties that offer something a little bit different…

Explore Shandong

Heading to China in the year of the Dragon? Seek out Shangdong – steeped as it is in myth and supernatural allure

Department of Transport

From the website:

The Department for Transport’s aim is transport that works for everyone. This means a transport system which balances the needs of the economy, the environment and society.

All Right Here Hon?

Adrian begins his exploration of Myrtle Beach, America’s favourite family holiday destination

Homeless lead London tours

Homeless tour guides are showing tourists the grittier side of London life. The idea – the brainchild of Unseen Tours – allows visitors to the capital to see the street s of Shoreditch, Covent Garden, London Bridge, Mayfair and Brick Lane from, well the streets.

Proving Who You are to Ryanair

Up until October 1st, if you flew Ryanair any old photo ID would do if you were flying just within the UK.. Now they will only accept a passport. Ryanair say this is “to simplify our identification policy to avoid passenger confusion.” Well you have to say that this sentence doesn’t help matters either. Who was confused beforehand? Nobody. Photo ID was anything that had your photograph on full stop.

Flights of fancy

There’s one thing you can guarantee in the wake of the attempted plane bombing above Detroit in December: we’re all going to spend a lot longer at airports. CD Traveller profiles the capital’s four main airports to see how they measure up