Santa Cruz secrets

Approximately 1, 65 miles south of San Francisco, lies the quintessential californian beach town of Santa Cruz. Come for the surfing but stay for the quirky shopping, sensational meals and mountains, says Santa Cruz resident Kayla Peterson

Spotlight on San Francisco

Ahead of the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th birthday on May 27, San Francisco has never looked more golden writes Kaye Holland. Read her guide to the city with its head in the clouds, here

Civil Aviation Authority

From the website:

“The CAA is the UK’s independent specialist aviation regulator. Its activities include economic regulation, airspace policy, safety regulation and consumer protection.”

What’s hot

Whether you’re staycation-ing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world

Real Londoners don’t eat at Aberdeen Steakhouses

I was going to write a good old moan. This time, my moan was about the way that Visit Britain was not promoting our countries. I was in New York for the New York Times Travel Show because it is always interesting to see how others view your countries. They see things that sometimes we overlook.

Customer Service in Travel

This is the time of the year when the National Customer Service Awards are announced. In any industry service is important. Good service leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction can lead to loyalty and repeat business. No customer likes being ill treated, ignored, patronised or fobbed off with meaningless official waffle so awards that support good service are welcome. But travel and tourism doesn’t seem to have done to well in this year’s awards. Is that because they didn’t enter or they did but weren’t shortlisted for the final?

Where the experts holiday: Alison Adey, editor of fabuloustravelguide.com

Travel journalist Alison Adey on Bolivia, Brighton and booking last minute flights