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Get me out of here - Skiathos, surfing in the Basque country, BA seat sale

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Now... Ionian & Aegean is offering a week at the Villa Kalypso in Skiathos, which has two bedrooms and a pool, for £531pp, based on four sharing. It includes Monarch flights from Gatwick on 31 May and car hire. Ionianisland holidays.com

Deals of the week - Vineyard tours, Austrian cycling tours, Menorca

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Less than £200... English Wine Week starts on Saturday. To celebrate, Three Choirs Vineyard in Gloucestershire has a two-for-one offer on the daily vineyard tour and tasting, priced at £9. It is valid until the end of June for Sunday to Thursday visits. Three-choirs- vineyards.co.uk

Which European city will offer the best value for a high-season break at the end of August?

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Q. It's my daughter's 21st birthday in late August. I'd like to take her on a city break to somewhere not too expensive to get to, but which will give her great memories. By the way, we've been to Paris. Sarah Gee, Bedfordshire

Gardener's world of botanical escapes

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

What's the attraction?

London is in bloom, celebrating the centenary of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show until Saturday with bigger, better and more elaborate displays than ever (rhs.org.uk).

Tips and deals of the week: Prince de Galles hotel, Where Chefs Eat app and East Coast Trains offer

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT

The hotel

Ben Ross: Her Majesty knows that her passports are precious things

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT

A new name has been given to the agency which produces all British passports. From now on, the Identity and Passport Service – formed in 2006 in an attempt to combine the UK Passport Service and the Home Office's doomed identity cards programme – will be known as "Her Majesty's Passport Office", a rebadging designed "to make the service more easily recognisable" to Brits both at home and abroad.

Travel Agenda

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

A palace reborn

For the second time, the Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover has been comprehensively rebuilt. It reopened with a new museum this week, completing one of Europe's finest gardens (visit-hannover.com/en; for our latest 48 hours in Hanover, see: bit.ly/Han48).

Battle of the bulge on before-breakfast Berlin-bound jet

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Cabin bags at dawn: not a pretty sight. Just about everyone aboard easyJet's Monday morning flight from Gatwick to Berlin has been up since 4am or earlier, in order to be ready for the 6.50am departure. The vast majority are business travellers, with busy days ahead. So still to be stuck at the gate after seven turns the mood in the Airbus distinctly grumpy. The reason the flight is late? The cabin crew are wrestling.

Hotels with grand transfers

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

King Pacific Lodge, Canada

Set in a remote corner of British Columbia, the King Pacific Lodge is accessible by floatplane from the nearby town of Bella Bella, after a two-hour flight from Vancouver on Pacific Coastal Airlines. This floating wilderness lodge is set on the edge of the Great Bear Rainforest – one of the last intact temperate rainforests. Discover the pristine surroundings and wildlife by foot, kayak and boat.

King Pacific Lodge, Princess Royal Island, British Columbia, Canada (001 604 987 5452; kingpacificlodge.com). Doubles from C$9,800 (£6,533) for a four-night itinerary, with full board and transfers from Vancouver.

Open jaw special: Readers write back – about Heathrow

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

When you write about Heathrow, please stop referring to the people disturbed by aircraft noise as "local" residents. I live miles from the airport, in Clapham, south London, and my life has been made a misery by aircraft noise for at least 10 years. Referring only to "local" residents misrepresents the size of the problem and plays into the hands of the industry's spin doctors.

My life in travel: Dawn O'Porter

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Television presenter and journalist Dawn O'Porter has written her first novel, Paper Aeroplanes, which is available now (£7.99; Key Books).

Travel Challenge

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Each week, we invite three companies to offer their best deal for a specific break. This week: a summer escape to the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Prices are per person, based on two people sharing. Each includes a week's accommodation and flights from London on Sunday 16 June.

Super stylish seaside revival

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

As matriarch of the Brighton hotel scene, The Grand has garnered more attention than most, the low point of which was the IRA bomb that targeted Margaret Thatcher in 1984 and closed the hotel for two years. After reopening, it initially regained its radiance. But over the years, The Grand went from being a Brighton icon to a faded shadow of its former glory. The final blow to its confidence was in 2008 when the hotel lost its five-star rating after an essential refit was put on hold as a result of the recession.

Heading for America? Prepare for the longest US immigration queues ever

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:40:46 GMT

Welcome to America: now stand in line for three hours. Millions of British holidaymakers and business travellers heading for the US this summer face longer waits than ever to be processed by immigration.

Heading for the States? Prepare for the longest US immigration queues ever

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:40:46 GMT

Heading for the States? Prepare for longer US immigration queues than ever

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:40:46 GMT

Late-night line-up at US immigration

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:40:00 GMT

Since 9/11, visitors to the US have got accustomed to the idea that getting through the immigration check is hard work: you will have your mugshot and fingerprints taken, and may face tough questions about your travel plans. But this summer, just reaching the head of the queue could be an ordeal in itself. The Independent Traveller has crunched the latest data from Customs and Border Protection and discovered that new arrivals in Florida could stand in line for three hours for US Immigration.

EasyJet asks passengers to slim down carry-on bags

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:13:16 GMT

Just when the long-suffering passenger had got to grips with budget airlines’ hand-luggage rules – easyJet is about to introduce a “two-class” system for carry-on bags.

Restricted Heathrow is failing to serve UK, warns airport tsar

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:10:56 GMT

Solving London’s aviation capacity crisis must make provision for flights to other parts of the UK, Sir Howard Davies has told The Independent. The man tasked with prescribing a solution to the shortage of runways in south-east England said: “It’s been made very clear to us in our regional visits that, unless we think about connectivity to London, we will miss a big part of the picture.”

Get me out of here - Cornwall, Canary Islands, cycling in Sicily

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Now... Watergate Bay Hotel in Cornwall is offering a three-night package from this Sunday to coincide with the Veuve Clicquot "Polo on the Beach" event, in front of the hotel, for £350pp including two evening meals, one at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Watergatebay.co.uk

Deals of the week - Bruges, Skiathos, Cape Verde

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Less than £200... For £199pp, Cresta Holidays is offering a three-night jaunt to Bruges this summer. The package includes accommodation at the Flanders Hotel in the heart of the city with breakfast and return Eurostar from London St Pancras on 19 August. Crestaholidays.co.uk

Why transferring at Heathrow for a flight to LA should be hassle-free

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Q. I have just purchased a return flight on Virgin Atlantic to Los Angeles (pictured) from Manchester, changing at Heathrow. (The extra cost was just £50, which was superb.) I have just over 90 minutes between flights. I have never used a connecting flight before, so have looked up the process online, only to find a wealth of conflicting information. Can you advise? Andy O'Dwyer, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

A doctor writes: The cabin crew are able to cope perfectly well in a medical emergency

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:30:34 GMT

It is the duty of a doctor to help as best they can in the event of an emergency. The keen young newly qualified doctors are often very quick indeed to respond. I never head the stampede, and often I’ve found there are too many offers of help, and not enough space to do anything.

Is there a doctor on the plane? Give them frequent-flyer points

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:08:41 GMT

An airline is offering frequent-flyer points to GPs who register their details so that in the event of an emergency they can be easily found.

Summer Guide 2013: Islands

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Take your pick of seven new properties on the Greek Islands available through Ionian Villas (01935 477196; ionian-villas.co.uk). "Artist's Villa" on Paxos, built in 2011, has three bedrooms and sits on a hilltop surrounded by olive groves overlooking Gaios port. It costs from £1,330 for a week's rental. Meanwhile, two-bedroom "Morpheus", a newly completed property on Antipaxos, is one of only four villas with swimming pools that are available to rent on the island. It costs from £1,120 for a week, including rental of a Suzuki 4x4. International travel costs are not included.