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 Cardiff, Chicester and Chernobyl all get the thumbs up but trips to Tibet are more fizzle than sizzle

In Cardiff Bay, not far from the Millennium Centre is what you might consider an oddity, a church. What’s so strange about that you might say, Wales is full of churches and chapels. The difference is that this is a Norwegian church which tells a story about Cardiff that many people don’t know. And today, Norway’s national day, it re-opens after seven months spent on refurbishment.

[ September 24, 2011 to September 25, 2011. ]
Cardiff Castle, Wales

[ April 10, 2011; 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. ]
Bute Park, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff
Members: In advance £7, on the day £10
Non members: In advance £8; on the day £10

Escaping to sunnier shores with the kids this half term but wondering which airport to fly out from? Make up your mind with our handy guide

The phrase above is the slogan that Visit Britain us using as part of its advertising campaign to encourage Americans to come and see us. The slogan thought up by Californian, Jay Masunaga, in a competition designed to publicise Britain as a holiday destination for the gay community.
To complement the promotion, Visit Britain has also come up with categories of people to whom Britain would appeal. These are Foodies, Night Owls, Event-Goers, Culturati, Chillers and Fashionistas. You can guess what most of these are but how about Chillers

Initially one of the travel sectors that bucked the downward trend was that of cruising. On the face of it, the reasons seem obvious. Everything’s included in the price so you know what you are paying for and you paid in sterling so there were no nasty foreign exchange surprises. That didn’t necessarily turn out to be the truth as we mentioned earlier and some cruise business slumped. One part that remained resilient was where holidaymakers started their cruising from the UK. According to Gill Cruise Centre, just of half a million of us started a cruise in the UK, 20% over 2008. Of the bookings Gill made in 2009, over two thirds decided to start their cruise in the UK.

What to see and do in Cardiff

I was in Cardiff yesterday for a meeting about tourism. Cardiff has transformed itself over the years. It has had the castle, the National Museum and the shops for years to attract tourists. Then along came the regeneration of Tiger Bay. Now there is a new shopping area that has just opened so on the way to the meeting I thought I would have a quick look. Judging from the number of people there it has attracted initial support and, when the rest of the shops open, it will probably have good Xmas sales.

Disregarding the little event in Paris last night, Welshman will be out to enjoy themselves tomorrow as a variety of events and processions occur. Or will they?St David’s Day has never been a public holiday and has never had the appeal that the Irish allot to St Patrick who may well have been a Welshman. [...]