Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

I predict that we're about to see the busiest holiday since 2019 this bank holiday weekend and it won't be helped by the train strikes. Over ten thousand trains are going to be out of service. Watch out if you've booked a weekend in Cornwall as you may be heavily affected. However if you're travelling through Greater Anglia you're in luck. Either way make sure you check your journey in advance.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I am celebrating the news that not one but two airlines will be flying from Luton to Cairo this winter: easyJet and Wizz Air. With the much-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum, finally looking as though it will open its doors in the next few months, the great Egyptian capital will be more appealing than ever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twenty years ago, the world’s only surviving supersonic airliner was on her final lap of honour. The Concorde era ended on 24 October 2003, when British Airways retired the plane on commercial grounds. It was also arguably a flying environmental disaster, burning astonishing amounts of fuel and carrying an implausibly vast noise footprint. But at the BA heritage centre near London Heathrow, I talked to Jamie Bowden – former British Airways executive, who flew on Concorde 39 times. Will we see supersonic flight again in our lifetimes?This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For today’s travel podcast, I’m on the train again, from London Bridge to Gatwick Airport – making the most of the opportunity of rail travel ahead of the next round of national strikes across England on:26 August RMT, the main rail union1 September Aslef (train drivers)2 September RMT.Thousands of trains will be cancelled every day. Check before travel.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

50 years ago after Tony and Maureen Wheeler first published Across Asia on the Cheap – the first book in the Lonely Planet guidebook series. The pandemic clobbered travel publishers harder than pretty much any other businesses – and with so much travel information available online, guidebooks are surely endangered species? Not so, according to Tom Hall, Vice President of Lonely Planet.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s A-level results day, which means some young people may be having a bit of a rethink about their future.One option for which the academic requirement is simply six GCSEs (including Maths, English and a science subject) is becoming a pilot under the new British Airways Speedbird Pilot Academy. To find out more, I’ve been talking to senior first officer Genevieve Pearmaine, who is a British Airways 777 pilot flying long-haul.For more information, visit careers.ba.com/future-pilotsThis podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After an elderly couple was hit with a £110 admin fee for failing to print out their boarding passes for a Ryanair flight, I've been sifting through all the responses – along a spectrum from "terrible airline, why does anyone fly with them?" to "you just need to follow the rules".This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last Friday morning, retired doctors Ruth and Peter Jaffe arrived at London Stansted in good time to check in for their flight FR2668 to Bergerac in southwest France. They knew that Ryanair requires passengers to check in online ahead of travel. But inadvertently, they went through the process for the inbound, not outbound journey. The couple were charged £110 for their honest mistake. My thoughts ...This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trans-European Race from London to Istanbul is over – with all manner of surprises along the way. I’ve been talking to race director James Finnerty from Lupine Travel about the fastest, the slowest, the cheapest and the most countries visited along the way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guide to unexpected items in the billing area, after a British tourist at Lake Como in northern Italy was charged €2 extra for cutting his toasted sandwich in half. US resort fees top my list of unfair charges.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.