Travel rumblings

Russian visa applications are notoriously complex but the pay off is worth it, writes Kaye Holland

As more and more airports introduce charges for just dropping off passengers is this man’s attitude an indication that passengers might be reaching the limits of the patience with the way that the aviation industry is fleecing passengers at every opportunity?

It all seems like one long drawn-out East Enders plot with everybody lurching from one mess to another with none of the cheery win-through attitudes. Come to think of it East Enders doesn’t have that either!

How long will it take international visitors to forget this unusual spasm of bad weather and once again put any of these destination on the list of future holidays?

Manchester has shown the world (you’d be surprised at how widely this story has been picked up) that it isn’t a pleasant place to visit.

Are crowded skies making journeys longer?

Whatever date might be chosen a holiday between August and December 25th would boost spirits through the long and dank weather that we usually experience in the autumn and early winter.

From November 1st the airline will operate a new hand luggage policy that it says will reduce delays in boarding.

Adrian looks at information provided by My Voucher Codes as to how expensive some theme parks and attractions really are.

BBC research that was released earlier this week, suggests that there are a greater number of closures than many might have believed.

Some airlines have adopted the habit of listing the price of a ticket as being only that price when two people travel together. Is this being transparent?

For Wales to grow by 0.5% is lamentable and there is little evidence that Visit Wales or the Welsh government understands that it has a problem let alone knowing how to solve it.

Are Britons – a majority of which are normally sun-lovers – not holidaying in Spain, Portugal and Italy because it is too hot?

Fears that many had about the typical Cuban ambience of the present won’t be subsumed into international tourism beige for a few more years.

Whilst #PlasticPatrol, Surfers Against Sewage and others work hard to remove litter the problem is that litter louts still do it and nothing the government or experts have considered so far seems to deter them.

These days to get some individuality, some colour into your holiday you need to go to one of the specialists and even then you may not be successful. Could this be why I have “packaged” my own holidays over the last decade or more?

Let’s just sit back and – mindful of problems that too much sun on our bodies can bring – make the most of it because we probably won’t get such a wonderful summer again for a few years.

Let’s have a campaign to ban adverts about returning to school until at least half way through the holidays.

The suggestion by ne expert that all those involved should get together to resolve the problem in a particular destination seems “pie-in-the-sky” given the number of competing claims.

The Ceredigon Museum should be thanked for reminding us what many might consider to be a bygone age.

Neither Cameron nor May has given any of the culture secretaries or tourism ministers long enough to understand their brief.

The parking problem has been growing for some time so the unanswered question must be why didn’t the local authority plan earlier?

Strikes in France and Italy on Friday and the weekend continue a long series of disruption that travellers have had to put up with for months.

Is this a ploy by the tourist boards of France and the UK to widen our eating habits by introducing us to the cuisine of each other’s countries?

Should we then have a day – say 1st of July – where we are reminded that we should take holidays for health and well-being reasons?

For the last two days I have been listening to dozens of people connected to airports – mangers, owners, contractors and planners – all talking about procurement for airport development.

The tourist board for Singapore should be dlighted with the worldwide coverage they received earlier this week. It certainly would have cost more than $15 million if they had to pay for it.

Would I bet on Heathrow’ expansion hapening. Not yet, I wouldn’t.