1 I’m after a cool apartment to rent for a long weekend in Paris.
Where can I find one? Appartement de Ville (00 33-1 42 45 09 08, www.appartementdeville.com
) has a great selection, with a minimum stay of four nights; prices start at
£280 for somewhere central sleeping 2-3 people. Other companies usually
require a week’s minimum rental in summer, but offer long weekends at other
times. Try A la Carte Paris Apartments (01 42 46 42 57, www.alacarte-paris-apartments.com),
Guest Apartment (01 44 07 06 20, www.guestapartment.com)
or Bonappart Appartements (01 43 25 72 19, www.bonappart.com).
2 Is there a good boutique hotel in Hong Kong for less than £100?
The Minden (00 852 2739 7777,
www.theminden.com) has 64 nicely decorated and spotless rooms, with
doubles starting at £59. It’s on the small and lively Minden Avenue, a
five-minute walk from the shops on Nathan Lane and 10 minutes from the Star
Ferry to Hong Kong Island.
Another option – a bit naughty, as it busts the budget – is the new, 54-room,
Philippe Starck-designed Jia Boutique Hotel (00 852 3196 9000, www.jiahongkong.com),
on Hong Kong Island. The designer rooms are all equipped with kitchenettes
and studio-style lounging areas. Doubles start at £130.
3 What’s the best seat on a plane? That depends on what
you’re after. For more legroom, bagsy an emergency-exit seat. With a
toddler, sit near the toilet and galley, for a close loo and extra attention
from the crew. For a stable flight, sit near the centre of gravity – just
behind the front of the wing. Don’t want to be disturbed? Sit behind a
bulkhead, so you’ll have no seat in front to recline into your lap. (On the
downside, baby cots are positioned here too.) Visit www.seatguru.com
and www.seatexpert.com for detailed
seat plans.
4 Can the queues at the Vatican be avoided? You can queue-jump at the
Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel with the help of Museum Rome (00 39 06
3972 2474, www.museumrome.com),
which charges a flat booking fee of £12 for up to five people and £25 for
groups of six or more. You present your booking number at the small
prebooked queue and pay the standard entry fee. For fast-track entry to the
Uffizi and Accademia galleries in Florence, visit www.weekendafirenze.com.
5 I’ve got two weeks in Argentina and no idea how to fit it all in. Any
advice? The country is 11 times bigger than Britain, so planning is
vital. Start with three nights in Buenos Aires, then swagger down to gaucho
country, a couple of hours’ drive south, for two nights. Next, fly to
Patagonia for three nights to see the Perito Moreno, one of only two
advancing glaciers in South America. After that, stay overnight at the
thrillingly remote Estancia Cristina, which overlooks the snout of the
Upsala Glacier, then fly up to Iguaçu Falls for your last three nights. It’s
easy to fly back to London from Iguaçu via Sao Paulo or Buenos Aires.
6 How do I know if a country is safe to visit? The most frequently
updated and authoritative information is from the Foreign Office (www.fco.gov.uk/travel).
Beware: if the advice is not to travel, but you still do, your insurance may
be invalid.
7 How do I get a refund on an unused airline ticket? First, look at the
booking conditions, as the chances are you can’t. You can, however, reclaim
the unused taxes and fuel surcharges – up to £217 on a return to New York –
for an administration fee of up to £30 per ticket. Get the refund from
whoever sold you the ticket, whether that’s your local travel agent or the
airline itself.
8 Can I hire a car and driver in India? You don’t have to be posh to be
chauffeur-driven on the subcontinent. Avis (0844 581 0147, www.avis.co.uk)
has offices in the main tourist towns, with self-drive starting at £132 per
week, as against £150 with a driver. Or try Hertz (0870 844 8844, www.hertz.co.uk).
9 How can I find a tour operator that specialises in a particular country? The
Association of British Travel Agents offers a useful search tool at
www.abta.com, but it’s far from comprehensive. For independent operators,
look at the Association of Independent Operators website, www.aito.co.uk.
Tourist boards often have details of operators, too – find their official
websites through Antor (www.antor.co.uk).
10 Which airline has the best in-flight entertainment system? The most
up-to-the-minute ones have about 500 channels of films, television shows,
music and games, all on demand. About 1.6m passengers voted in the 2007
Skytrax awards (www.worldairlineawards.com)
– Emirates came top for entertainment, followed by Singapore Airlines,
Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and Virgin Atlantic.
11 If I go to Cuba, will the passport stamp prevent me from travelling to
America? No – the Tourist Card, £15 from the Cuban embassy (020 7240
2488, www.cubaldn.com) or your tour
operator, is a separate document from your passport. US immigration need
never know.
I am planing our trip of a life time ,manchester to Bangkok this december to see our son . Having never travelled long haul I need some help with Choosing an Airlinine ,best planes,diffrence between 1st and business class ,lounges do you pay extra for using them ie food etc. any help most appreciate
PETER , prestatyn, WALES
Very interesting and useful list - especially the reference to Jingo (no. 39) which I got from a friend at work and was a great success last summer on our drive through France.
Larry Pipe, Welwyn, UK
You can get a Cambodia tourist visa online: evisa.mfaic.gov.kh It's quite easy.
I got to jump the queue, while most of the others on the plane had to wait.
Kelly P., New York, United States
How do you blag a free upgrade?
Laura, Manchester, UK
You can also fly into Siem Reap from KL, via cut-rate AirAsia. An early flight will cut the visa queue ($20.00/photo). They also hit you for $20.00 when departing. Somewhat disturbing when you're safer in Communist Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos than in the USA. Land of the free...what was the last part?
Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan
48: Is the brace position bunkum?
The theory that the brace position is "designed to expedite death and prevent decapitation " was tested on Mythbusters and found to be anything but true. The brace position has been proven to save lives and reduce injuries.
Andrew Bell, Sheffield, UK
the best view over Sydney is from the cocktail bar in the ANA hotel, its on the 33rd floor.
melissa, Munich,
you may also use http://www.hotfly.ro/Flight-Low-Cost to search for air fares!
Cornell, London,
You can also fly direct to Siem Reap from Hong Kong. Get a seat which gets you off the plane fast and bring only hand baggage - the queues for visas at Siem Reap airport are unbelievable. Hotel de la Pix is very nice and the Khmer food at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor is excellent.
Oonagh, Hong Kong,