The profits announced by Ryanair this morning clearly show that the airline’s policy of charging for every single thing they can think off is paying dividends. Or at least dividends to their shareholders!

ScotRail has brought back the popular fixed-fare ticket prices for the over 55′s.
I don’t remember the tickets being available at this time of the year before but as the promotion has been so successful in its other outings, ScotRail must have thought it was worth running now.

As I said yesterday, in all the discussions about the delays in border entry queues at airports very little has been suggested as a way of resolving the problem. The announcement yesterday of eighty more staff is not a solution merely a sticking plaster. As passenger numbers grow, an alternative method of screening and checking passengers is needed.

In the last couple of weeks or so, the spotlight has turned on the lengthening queues at passport control as you re-enter the UK. In particular it seems to have taken much longer at Heathrow and Gatwick. Indignation, whipped up in particular by The Daily Telegraph, has led to some MP’s saying that “something must be done.”

Some readers might have spotted that I have been travelling recently. For 12 days I have lived out of a small, carry-on wheelie case. But as I picked up things it grew fatter. So I checked it in as hold baggage something I rarely do. And guess what? It didn’t keep up with me so I have been shopping for the necessities.

I wasn’t planning to stop at the Norfolk stand at the Pow Wow show. After all isn’t Norfolk (which is on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia) just a naval base? But I was attracted to the stand because they had USB sticks in the shape of a mermaid.
How shallow was I to be attracted by such a blatant promotion gimmick?

If you ask yourself what Louisiana means to you, New Orleans and the Mardi Gras might come to mind. Or maybe creole food. But would you think boudin?
I confess I had never heard of it before. So what is it?

It was something like that that they used to say in the old westerns. But gold still exists in some mining towns in the Mojave desert in California. And not necessarily the yellow variety.
Take Randsburg, a small town of eighty odd people, for example

The organisers have announced that tickets are available for the Diamond Jubilee festival which will take place in Battersea Park. Part of it will be “a proper knees-up with dancing” according to the organisers.
Did the Queen ever do this? Do we still do “knees- ups?”

f you are travelling to New York then one thing that many visitors want to do is experience the excitement of a Broadway show. If you didn’t get a chance to see the show in London, then you have a chance to do so now

Over the holiday weekend, there was media publicity given to how much of a drain public holidays were to the economy. For each one, it had been calculated by a firm of economic forecasters that each holiday “costs” £2.3 billion. How one-sided; how ill-considered and how meaningless was it by those that reported it.

Most people think of Mexico as a beach destination or one full of Mayan culture. But in the state of Nuevo Leon, adventure activities are attracting people from around the world.

You can get used to having some toiletries included in the price of a hotel room; sometimes the use of a pool or leisure centre. But how about the chance to see a small zoo which is in the same grounds as the hotel?

If you fly and have to change planes in a country and then fly out of it, you usually go into a transit lounge. You don’t need to go through border controls or customs. But you do if you transit in the US and what a hassle it can be.

Most of us know Mexico as Cancun and maybe Acapulco. Mazatlan claims to be the embodiment of Mexico or the pearl of the pacific but whatever it calls itself, it is certainly a destination that Britons should consider if they go to Mexico.

Twenty five miles away from Cancun, the most popular destination for British and Irish tourists is Ethos, a rather strange sounding name for a farm. What’s stranger still is the way a resort chain – Sunset World – has developed what could be a significant Mexican tourist attraction

This is the title for a new promotion campaign that is being launched to encourage people to return to the Mexican beach resort that is forever linked to the high life and a Hollywood type appeal

Over the next week, Adrian will reveal some places in Mexico you may not know but which are well worth considering if you want a holiday in almost guaranteed sunshine. He starts with an overview of the the practicalities, how much it costs and what you need when you´re there

At the last election both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said no to a third runway at Heathrow. Boris said that it would be built over his dead body. Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, campaigned against it and her constituency sits under the flight path. Now stories in the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph suggest the government is having a rethink.

We are used to having to look at the small print in airline adverts and e-mails but an e-mail from easyJet caught my eye this morning. This was an offer for a flight to Belfast. The price was £26.49. Actually from £26.49 so you automatically think that there is a catch somewhere like its only applicable if there is an “x” in the month or there are just two seats at this rate.

I’m sure you all remember what today is.
No?
It’s the first day of the great M25 tour offering.
Lucky day trippers who were picked up from Worthing and Brighton have been entertained on the coach trip organised by Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company. And what delights will they have seen?

I’ve just booked a return trip to California. The cost? £162. Yes, I kid you not, that is the price of an airline ticket on British Airways. Except that it’s not. The ticket might be that price but all the other extras and taxes and surcharges bring it up to £541.89.

Two days before the start of English Tourism week, Visit England launched a multi- million pound TV campaign. he same day ABTA, Association of British Travel Agents, wrote to the government bemoaning the “lop-sided” support of domestic tourism and that this promotion was a misuse of government money.

This Sunday, March 11 sees the anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Just one year ago at about breakfast time the news came through of the catastrophe. And a year on, Japan is using the opportunity to thank individuals and the 163 countries that helped out during the emergency.

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.

Adrian rides the rails with Amtrak. Read about his rail journey – arguably the best way to cover America’s huge distances – exclusively on CD-Traveller

I have been in Los Angeles to see the LA Times Travel Show, one of the largest in the US. I expected to see stalls promoting parts of California, the Caribbean and Asia but Wales?

Adrian rides the rails with Amtrak. Read about his rail journey – arguably the best way to cover America’s huge distances – exclusively on CD-Traveller