Browsing: Travel

Vienna has retained its crown as the world’s most liveable city, according to Economist’s annual index. But other European cities have not fared well.

Danish man Torbjorn Pedersen completed his 10-year mission without taking a single flight.

He might have had a hangover or two, though.

Rooms are up to rent for £35 a night at some of the Prince of Wales’s holiday homes (Picture: duchyofcornwallholidaycottages.co.uk / PA)

Prince William is renting out his luxury cottages for less than the price of a Travelodge room.

The Prince of Wales rents out dozens of holiday homes through his £1 billion Duchy of Cornwall estate to holidaymakers in the UK.

Prices on the five-star properties have now been slashed as families struggle to afford a summer holiday, according to the Mirror.

Dozens of deals are now on offer with the Prince hoping to get fully booked up for August and September.

A week in one of his Cornish cottages now costs as little as £980 for four, which works out at just £35 per person per night – cheaper than a budget Travelodge hotel.

The two-bed barn conversion at Diggery Restormel Manor in Fowey Valley is one of the Prince’s properties (Picture: Duchy of Cornwall)

The Restormel Manor has had its price cut by £2,328 for the last week in August

Wills’ property portfolio includes historic manors and secluded country cottages in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Three of his properties in Lostwithiel – Diggery, Staniforth and Hext – have all been reduced.

The 685-year-old Duchy Estate holds 0.2% of the land in the UK.

It also finances William and his wife Kate’s official duties. The most elegant of its holiday lets, the nine-bed Restormel Manor in the Fowey Valley, has had its price cut by £2,328 for the last week in August.

It now costs £517 per person to stay – or just £73 per night.

The 500-year-old property boasts an indoor heated pool and spa, its own tennis court and a fishing licence for the local river.

One previous guest at the Cornish manor wrote online: ‘We could not fault the comfort in any way, it was totally wonderful in every respect.’

The price cuts come as families decide to holiday at home this summer due to the cost of living crisis.

The Duchy of Cornwall was approached for comment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

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Police said they found the American pilot with a ‘pasty mouth, glassy eyes and difficulties in expressing himself’.

Just before lunch at the height of the summer season, the narrow alleys of France’s iconic Mont-Saint-Michel are thronged with a crush of people.

‘It’s so nice to be on there and just get away from reality, just be a big kid.’

Visiting for the photo op? That’ll cost you €5.

Hundreds of holidaymakers back in UK after Rhodes wildfires British holidaymakers have started arriving back in the UK on repatriation flights after wildfires broke out…

Have you thought about heading for the hills instead of battling over sun-loungers this summer?

Ryanair and easyJet are still running direct flights to Rhodes.

More than 19,000 people have been evacuated so far.

Find out if your flight could be hit.

‘It ruined our holiday and has caused a huge amount of stress since.’

Overtime bans are set to continue, impacting services across the country (Picture: Getty Images)

Train passengers are set to face yet more disruption to their journey in the coming weeks after unions added more dates to an ongoing overtime ban.

The action will now see services impacted for the remainder of July and into August, with hundreds of trains set to be cancelled as summer travel reaches its peak.

The action is the latest in the long-running pay dispute train drivers are facing. coinciding with another round of train strikes as well as action on the Tube, set to bring travel misery to millions.

When are the new overtime ban dates – and how will summer travel be impacted?

What are the new overtime ban dates?

The new overtime ban dates on the rail network will be from July 31 until August 5.

It follows the first week of the overtime ban from Monday July 3 until Saturday 8, and a second week from Monday July 17 until Saturday July 22.

The latest dates pile on yet more disruption for commuters already hit by a month’s worth of strike action.

The dispute with Aslef over pay and conditions could drag on for months (Picture: PA)

Commuters are facing several days worth of Tube strikes, with services set to be severely disrupted between July 25 and 28 – while train strikes will also take place across the network on July 20, 22 and 29.

How will summer travel be impacted?

It’s likely that hundreds of trains will be cancelled as a result of the overtime ban, with many train companies forced to publish amended or reduced timetables.

While it’s not yet clear which companies will be affected by the new week of action, National Rail has said that the following will be unable to run a full timetable in the week of July 17-22:

We have not heard a word from the employers in the last 12 weeks. “In contrast,we want a resolution. A fair resolution. That is why we are taking this action to bring things to a head…” @MickWhelanASLEF 👇https://t.co/ur0gkDOI9D— ASLEF (@ASLEFunion) July 17, 2023

Chiltern Railways

Gatwick Express

Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express)

Great Western Railway

Great Northern

Southern

South Western Railway (including Island Line)

Thameslink

TransPennine Express

The following train operating companies may also be affected – while they expect to run a full timetable some trains may be cancelled at short notice.

Avanti West Coast

CrossCountry

East Midlands Railway

LNER

London Northwestern Railway

Northern

Southeastern

West Midlands Railway

c2c, Caledonian Sleeper, Grand Central, Elizabeth line, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, London Overground, Lumo, Merseyrail, ScotRail and Transport for Wales are not affected by the ban.

Some train companies may run an amended or reduced service (Picture: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

If you have a journey planned, check before you travel whether your service is likely to be affected – and keep an eye on the National Rail website for which companies are impact by the next week of action.

Why is there an overtime ban?

The Aslef union says members who haven’t had a pay rise for four years shouldn’t have to sacrifice their working conditions just to get an increase that doesn’t match inflation.

Aslef has already rejected the offer of a deal worth 4%, which would bring a train driver’s average pay to £65,000 a year, for two years in a row.

The deal was contingent on changes to train drivers’ working practices, which employers and the government have said are needed to cut costs and modernise the railways.

More train strikes are also set to cause misery for passengers (Picture: PA)

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘They wanted to go back to Victorian times, in relation to how we roster, how we recruit, how we do things.

‘The word ‘reform’ is “want productivity for nothing”.’

He claimed it is a ‘Westminster ideological problem’ because the union isn’t having issues with the London Underground, Crossrail or Eurostar, with freight or with services in Scotland and Wales.

He continued: ‘We did 14 pay deals in the last 12 months. The only place we can’t get a pay deal is with the Westminster government.’

MORE : Summer holiday misery as Gatwick Airport staff call strike

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