News

F1 vrooms to Valencia

Valencia is all set to join the Formula One world when it hosts the European Grand Prix on 24 August. The new street circuit was used for the first time at the end of July and proved to be fast, challenging and exciting. In contrast to many new circuits where races tend to be processional and boring, it looks as if Valencia will provide plenty of overtaking opportunities, which always leads to exciting racing.

After last year's near-silent America's Cup yacht races, the Grand Prix will see the scream of Formula One engines echoing around the stunning, futuristic buildings of the Spanish port’s City of Arts and Sciences.

Famed circuit designer Hermann Tilke has drawn up the street course, based around the America’s Cup marina which was developed for the prestigious yachting event last year and is already a focal point for visitors.

The superb location promises to make it a far more memorable venue than other recent new circuits. Valencia joins Monaco as one of only two street circuits in the 18-race 2008 Formula 1 calendar. The two races have their Mediterranean port locations in common, but the Spanish circuit is much faster, with the probable blistering heat adding another unknown quantity.

Valencia is easily reached from resorts in the northern Costa Blanca like Denia, Jávea, Moraira and Calpe, so Formula 1 fans can combine a summer villa holiday with a real sporting thrill.

Plan for your passport

First-time travellers could find their holidays never happen if they don’t apply for a passport well in advance.

That’s the message from the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), which says that adults applying for their first ever passport need to allow six weeks, as the application will include a face-to-face interview in one of the 69 new passport interview offices around the country – and there’s no fast-track option.

Renewing a passport takes three weeks, but if time is tight you can make an appointment at a passport office and pay for the one-week fast track service (£97) or the same-day service (£114). The charge for a new passport or standard renewal is £72.

Children can no longer be included in their parents’ passports – even infants now need their own, though children under 16 don’t have to be interviewed.

Home Office minister Meg Hillier says: “Interviews for first-time adult customers will build on other anti-fraud measures we have introduced such as enhanced background checks and more secure passports with your photo contained on a chip. Together these will help fight passport fraud and forgery and ensure the British passport stays one of the most secure and respected in the world.”

Please visit the Passport office website.

‘Biggest in north west’
claims easyJet

Budget airline easyJet says it will become the biggest airline in north west England this year as it takes on an extra base at Manchester and steps up flights from Liverpool John Lennon.

The airline claims that within three years it will be flying 40 routes from the region, carrying more than four million passengers a year.

The move into Manchester follows the purchase of GB Airways, which has two aircraft based at the airport. EasyJet will add a further three planes by 2010, when the company plans to have a total of 15 aircraft operating through both airports.

GB Airways, which operated as a franchisee of BA, will continue to run all its routes until March 29, after which GB routes from Manchester will operate under the easyJet brand. Customers who have already booked to travel with GB Airways will be given the choice of flying with easyJet at the same times or receiving a refund.

GB Airways flights from Heathrow will be axed from 30th March. Customers booked onto flights can fly from London Gatwick or have a refund.

Eurostar booms

More people travelled on Eurostar last year than at any time since the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994. A total of 8.26 million people crossed the Channel by train in 2007, up by just over five per cent on 2006.

The rate of increase quickened after the opening of the high speed link to St Pancras, which cut journey times by 20 minutes. Between November 14 and December 31, Eurostar saw an 11% increase in passengers against the same period in 2006.

Eurostar has been helped in its fight with the airlines by consumer dislike of airport delays and increasingly intrusive and bewildering security measures. The convenience of city centre to city centre travel has also helped, with Eurostar saying 91.5% of its trains arrived on time or early in 2007, compared with 68.8% of flights competing on its routes.

Chief executive Richard Brown said: “We expect to see this growth continue throughout 2008 as the impact of the new through fares from across the UK drives growth in the number of travellers using Eurostar.

“The UK is now truly part of Europe’s high-speed rail network and this country can be rightly proud of the huge achievement that the successful launch of High Speed 1 and St Pancras International represents.”

Give us a Break

More than 100,000 people a week have been voting to support tour operator Thomas Cook’s campaign for an extra bank holiday.

The company reckons Brits deserve an extra day off because we only get eight public holidays per year, while most of our European neighbours have 12 or more. Of the 27 EU countries, Spain tops the table with 16 bank holidays a year. Britain comes next to bottom – only Romania is less generous.

It’s the long 121-day gap between the last bank holiday in August and Christmas – nearly a third of the year – that most people want to plug. A survey by the TUC back in 2004 revealed that 41% would prefer a day in late October, though a third opted for a national day for St George (23 April), St Andrew (30 November) or St David (1 March).

The Institute for Public Policy Research think tank prefers the first Monday after Remembrance Sunday (11 November), saying the day might help the Prime Minister’s aim of building a British identity.

Not everyone is in favour, though. Perhaps predictably, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wants to keep us hard at work, claiming an extra day off could cost the economy up to £6bn.

To add your vote to the campaign, go to
Vote for a Free Day

Hand baggage hassle

The partial lifting of the one-bag restriction for hand baggage has led to confusion amongst passengers. Although 22 UK airports have now lifted the restriction, some airlines – including Ryanair and easyJet – continue to allow only one bag. Some airlines allow two bags to business class travellers but only one in economy. And how smaller items like handbags and laptops are treated varies between airlines.

As a result of the confusion, and because individual airlines and airports may change their rules, passengers are being urged to double-check airline and airport baggage policies before travelling. Arriving at the airport with more hand luggage than you’re allowed will mean having to check the excess bags in as hold luggage, which may lead to extra charges, as well as a possible risk of theft or damage to items like laptops or camera bags.

In January, Ryanair added to the misery by raising its charge for checked-in baggage from £5 to £6 per item and for personal check-in from £2 to £3 per person.

Top of the hot spots

Three Canary Islands feature in the top 10 winter sun destinations, according to flights website Cheapflights.co.uk.

Based on the number of searches for flights to each destination, the table also features Orlando in Florida at number three and Barbados at number nine.

Whether the number of flight searches is really a good guide to popularity is anyone’s guess, but it does look as if there’s a growing trend towards long haul destinations, as holidaymakers seek real winter warmth. Cheapflights’ Top 10 most searched winter destinations are:

1. Tenerife
2. Bangkok
3. Orlando
4. Dubai
5. Lanzarote
6. Cape Town
7. Goa
8. Gran Canaria
9. Barbados
10. Sharm El-Sheikh

Fly and Drive

Golf fans booking a villa on Florida’s Gulf Coast could be in for a treat. The Jack Nicklaus-designed Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero, near Fort Myers and Naples, has been named 2008 Florida Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA). Despite its name, the course was opened only last year.

The award is presented annually to a course that is ‘setting new standards in golf course design and club management by demonstrating exceptional quality, excellence of ownership and management, outstanding contributions to the community, and significant contribution to the game.’

Golf Digest magazine, one of the USA’s top golf publications, has placed Old Corkscrew on its prestigious list of America’s Best New Courses.