A humanitarian crisis that threatens to engulf the Middle East deepens; Russia's assault on Ukraine hardens for the winter; and deadly storms wreak havoc in Nepal and the southern states of America. For the traveller, a time to contemplate the relative serenity of the UK and western Europe – and in particular the green, green grass verges that line the highways of home. I am one of the three-in-10 British people without access to a car (unless I rent one). Yet I cherish the motorway network (perhaps, though, that is because I am only an occasional user rather than a long-suffering regular). Even my coach journey yesterday from London to Milton Keynes was a joy. After a gear-grinding procession through the northern entrails of the capital, suddenly a slip road north of Hendon catapulted us onto the M1 and into a river of humanity on the move: coaches carting airline passengers to Luton airport, trucks plodding along the endless supply-chain conveyor belt and car drivers asserting their right to self-guided freedom. All of us drifted north through the Home Counties on a special kind of road that has transformed mobility for exactly 100 years. The world's first motorway was not in the UK: our first attempt was the Preston bypass, now part of the M6, born (like Madonna and Lenny Henry, incidentally) in 1958. To find the original long but-not-winding road, I travelled to northern Italy where the autostrada was created a century ago this autumn. A short stretch of the original limited-access highway survives in the northern city of Varese: in the foothills of the Alps, the exhilaration of the open road to Milan and the beautiful south endures. |
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Starting grid: Northern end of the world's first motorway, the autostrada from Varese to Milan |
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| | The top places to stay in Croatia's cool coastal city for sea views, boutique boltholes and five-star luxury. Read more. |
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| The peace-loving city sounded like a perfect place to settle for our writer – but then everything changed. Read more. |
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| From the Sacré-Cœur and Petit Palais to the Montmarte district, these spots will take your breath away. Read more. |
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The joy of the journey is only one component of travel. Being there is another. In my case, "there" was Milton Keynes – not always appreciated as a compelling tourist attraction. For one day, though, travel passion pumped through the veins of the city's rigorous road network. The occasion: the Group Leisure & Travel Show, in which tourist attractions, hotels and destinations converge with excursion organisers in the Marshall Arena to plan adventures for 2025. Next year will see the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. The author already has her own visitor attraction in Bath, but the marketing team behind the Great West Way propose an extension south to Winchester, where she died aged just 41 and is buried in the cathedral. And in West Yorkshire, as Bradford becomes UK City of Culture in January 2025, the excellent National Science and Media Museum will finally reopen. The amount people who are prepared to pay for memorable experiences is rising, too. You might think £90 for a day return from Bristol to Plymouth by train is a bit steep. But Ranjiv Bhalla, founder and chief executive of Veenus Travel, invites you to pay 11 times more for an awayday on a steam-hauled train on the route next June. "We specialise in luxury steam journeys, taking people back to the golden era of travel," he says. "We're looking at the 1920s and 30s. It's the excitement of travelling by steam, having a champagne breakfast and on the way back a beautiful five-course meal of the type you would have in a five-star hotel. You feel like a superstar, just for the day. It's incomparable." To be clear, that's the Bristol-Plymouth heritage steam-train experience, costing £995, not a day-trip up the M1 by coach to Milton Keynes, priced at £12. Almost every destination wants more tourists, not fewer |
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Experience Two Incredible Destinations in One Unforgettable Holiday! |
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Indian winter from Gatwick and Birmingham |
Sussex gets better connections to the sub-continent when Air India increases flights from Gatwick this month and next. Airline analyst Sean Moulton says the current five-a-week departures to Bengaluru will increase to six from 28 October, while the three-a-week flights to Ahmedabad step up to four from 24 November. Meanwhile Air India goes daily from Birmingham airport from 26 November: three a week to Delhi and four a week to Amritsar. |
Engineering work will lead to delays and cancellations on Eurostar train links from London St Pancras to Lille, Brussels and Paris over the first weekend in November. Between Friday 1 November and Sunday 3 November, a total of 16 trains will be cancelled. All other services will be diverted via "classic" lines between Calais and Lille, with journeys taking up to an hour longer. Could Eurostar trains serve Stratford in east London? |
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Guaranteed winter warmth? |
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I am looking for two weeks of sunshine and warmth (25C-plus) near a beach in late February/early March. Where do you advise? |
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The later you can travel in February, the better: avoiding the crowds of half-term holidaymakers will make the trip much cheaper and more serene. Going as late as possible will also mean likely temperatures are slightly higher. The problem I have coming up with a crisp answer to your question is the temperature stipulation. My go-to location for late-winter/early spring, as well as late autumn/early winter: the Canaries. These Spanish Atlantic islands are only about five degrees (or 350 miles) north of the tropics.
For Tenerife, the largest isle, the UK Met Office says: "Warm sunny days are the default even in February." You can expect an average of six hours of sunshine, but average highs are just 21.4°C – and only a degree warmer in March. Access is cheap and easy, with loads of flights from the UK taking typically four hours and plenty of competition keeping fares and holiday prices keen. So you might want to trade those benefits for a few degrees of heat.
If not, then you could consider the Red Sea coast of Egypt: either Sharm el Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula, or Hurghada on the African "mainland". I can guarantee the water will be warm and tempting. Tui – Europe's biggest holiday company – says the averaged daily high in air temperature is 25C in February and 28C in March. Fares and holiday prices are higher because of the extra distance – Manchester to Sharm el Sheikh is over 660 miles further than to Tenerife – and an extra £75 in Air Passenger Duty applies. But to compensate, local living costs are low. Why you should go to Egypt now |
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