Whether you’re new to cruising and need help planning your first voyage or are a seasoned cruiser searching for inspiration for your next holiday at sea, don’t miss The Cruise Show at London’s Olympia next weekend

Ewe celebrating St Patrick’s Day? Even a flock of sheep in Scotland wants to be ‘seen in green’ this weekend!
 

Staff on the Heathrow Express are arguably the first lot of Londoners that visitors due to arrive for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games, will see. Which is why there has been such a commotion about the service’s new uniform – due to be introduced in July.

Heathrow has been crowned the world’s best airport for shopping for the second year in a row. The accolade was awarded to Heathrow in the Skytrax World Airport Awards, one of the aviation industry’s most prestigious awards.

Yesterday we told you how the 100 year old afternoon tea menu at the Ritz-Carlton London is getting a ‘British makeover’ ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

In just under 48 hours a new wave of strikes was due to begin at Iberia. The union involved, SEPLA- the pilots union- have called those off. The airline says that it is rescheduling cancelled flights and will try to reassign passengers to the flights they had originally booked.

Word has reached CD-Traveller towers that the 100 year old afternoon tea menu at the Ritz-Carlton London is getting a ‘British makeover’ ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics.

It’s what Harry Potter fans around the world have been waiting for: on March 31, the hugely anticipated Warner Bros Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter will open at Watford’s Leaveseden studios.

California’s Mojave Desert is magical at this time of year when wildflower season is in full swing, writes Donna McCrohan Rosenthal

Brits abroad could be shaking off their boozy image, with more choosing to save the last of their holiday currency (36 per cent) rather than splashing out on final cocktails/duty-free alcohol (eight per cent) or a slap up meal (10 per cent)

Friends and family are beginning to book tickets for this summer’s slew of festivals. I flattered they thought to invite me along, but as regular readers of CD-Traveller will know: I am not a fan of festivals.

Years ago, the chairman’s wife, royalty or another dignitary used to launch ships. But with so many cruise ships afloat, launches don’t get noticed by the media. Now the rage is to christen them and have an entertainment ‘A’ lister do it instead.

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.

At the New York Times Travel Show last weekend, Visit Britain, in the shape of Karen Clarkson, was asked what people should see in Britain this year. Apart from the Olympics and the Jubilee of course which, as she pointed out, last only a short period of time.

Staying at Richard Branson’s private island retreat counts as one of the best prizes you could bid for in the CHTAEF silent auction this coming saturday.you could hope for. You could also bid for a signed pair of Usain Bolt’s golden running shoes or a cricket bat signed by the 2008 winning West Indian team.

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.

have read a slew of articles recently on how Abu Dhabi – the UAE’s richest emirate – is about to emerge as a world class centre for the arts, culture and sport. The Abu Dhabi Festival kicks off next week (March 11) and will see Simon Russell Beale perform at the Royal Opera House while Michelin starred chef, Gary Rhodes, is set to open Rhodes 44 at the St Regis Abu Dhabi.

Flying can be fun- unless that is you’re sat next to the flight neighbour from hell (for 10 of the worst travelling companions check out http://www.cd-traveller.com/2009/12/11/the-worlds-worst-flying-companions/).

However help could soon be at hand: Dutch airline, KLM. and Malaysian airlines are already testing a new programme that allows passengers to pick their in-flight neighbours by evaluating Facebook and LinkedIn profiles before take-off and other airlines are expected to follow suit.

Yesterday we told you how a growing number of brides and grooms to be are shying away from spending their hen/stag nights in a bar in town and instead opting for a weekend away – often overseas. There’s also a growing number of UK based couples who are choose to tie the knot abroad.

For those with smart phones and i-pads, comes the “Show me Wales” ap. Instead of a guide book you can use the ap to provide information about what’s nearby to visit, what events are on and where to eat and stay.

On the occasion of St David’s Day, here are five things you really ought to know about the Welsh festival

CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month Croydon and coach tours of the M25 are proving (inexplicably) popular

Two of my best friends are getting married in May and so the talk has turned to hen dos. One has suggested a long weekend in Paris while the other is thinking about a break in Brighton.

Come St David’s Day this Thursday, the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust wants you. In particular, sixty of you. And the more, the merrier!
Why?

Tui Travel’s distribution and online director, Nick Longman, has gone on record as saying that travel companies could soon become completely brochure free – as more and more Brits choose and book a trip online, rather than through a glossy brochure.

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?

London’s second airport has hired The Goring – the West End hotel where Kate Middleton spent her last night as a single woman – to teach airport staff how to deliver service fit for royalty ahead of the Olympics.

Destination wedding website, MarryAbroad.co.uk, has predicted that 2012 will be the year of the vista, in terms of wedding hotspots abroad.