Travel

The north jetty at Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare collapsed into the Bristol Channel during storms in 2016 and has been earmarked for demolition

This week, TLE caught up with intrepid traveller, journalist/ broadcaster and the voice behind the Big Travel Podcast, Lisa Francesca Nand. She told us all about her irrational travel fears, special memories about her first time visiting Fiji (her dad's home country) and how she thinks travelling is the best thing for your mind, body and soul. Tell us about your first travel/holiday memory? Travel and holidays were in my blood from a very early age. My first holiday was...

Eighteen years since Fatboy Slim’s first Big Beach Boutique heralded Brighton as party central, its reputation as a creative powerhouse continues. Inspired by the fresh sea air, the glorious South Downs just behind it, and the delightfully different outlook of its outgoing residents, it’s still one of the most vibrant cities in the UK for culture. Yup, even more so than London, in which world-leading arts offerings inevitably grapple with the inevitable rat race – and not just the Banksy...

by Alex Wright The heavens open as our host Linda pulls away, leaving us alone by the side of the riverbank. It doesn’t look like stopping soon so we stand under the shelter of a nearby tree. My friend Jules and I are on a short week’s break exploring the heart of Latvia - the Gauja National Park. Founded in 1973, the country’s first national park is easily accessible, 24 miles from the capital Riga. The 90,000-plus hectare site is...

A 21 year old passenger flying with Thomas Cook from Birmingham to Tenerife claims to have been humiliated by cabin crew over her outfit. Emily O’Connor says that she was left “shaking and upset” when flight attendants told her that her crop top and trousers were ‘inappropriate’ and “caused offence.” According to Ms O’Connor, she had already been through all stages of the check in and security process when, on entering the plane, airline staff told her that she would...

In some strange news a flight turned back after a mother realised she had left her baby in the airport, which almost sounds like the plot to Home Alone. The mum only noticed her baby was missing when the plane was in the skies. The aircraft had left King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia. According to Gulf News, the pilot told air traffic control: “May God be with us. Can we come back or what?”  The air traffic control...

The UK has banned all arrivals, departures and overflights involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8 which crashed on Sunday killing all on board, on a flight between Ethopia and Kenya. A spokesperson for the CAA said: “As we do not currently have sufficient information from the flight data recorder we have, as a precautionary measure, issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace." The UK has joined Malaysia, Singapore, China &...

It's unlikely you have heard of Petit St Vincent, but you ought to have. This exclusive James-Bond-style private island - think Daz-white beaches, paisley turquoise and blue seas and a scattering of hand-crafted bungalows - is part of the southern Caribbean’s Grenadine island chain. Accessible only by a tiny propeller plane, then a speed boat, even the journey there makes you feel like you’re on a secret mission. But once you’ve arrived, your assignment is all but done. From there...

There is something masochistic to be said about wanting to surround yourself with Hooray-Henrys and throw yourself down an avalanche-prone mountain on two fibreglass sticks. But, like S&M, there’s also an undeniable allure to it. As a man who grew up among the rolling hills of Yorkshire I’ve seen my fair share of snow, but one element that’s alluded me has been to ski down it. Just the thought of skiing has a kryptonite effect on my working class sensibilities....