Travel Page 9

Holidays & Accommodation

F.C.O.  Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice by country F.C.O. Locate Free emergency information service F.C.O. Embassies Make a note of your holiday destination embassy BEFORE travelling IATA website with the latest international travel requirements NHS Choices Medical travel advice by country. Apply for the new European Health Insurance Card EHIC (previously E111)

API Advance Passenger Information  - This is not the same as a Visa!

Visas Check Trailfinders for more info. Travelling to USA then click ESTA  No need to pay - beware of websites that charge

Tour Operators      1. Thomas Cook    2. TUI/Thomson/First Choice    3. AITO Note that the first 2 operators are the main travel companies operating in the UK - most other companies are subsidiaries. The AITO website lists all the other independent travel companies.

Titan Travel One of the best travel operators. Also try Kuoni and Aldi Travel Travel service from the German supermarket offering quality package holidays at brilliant prices - but currently not available! (June 2010)

TravelZoo (Top20 deals) Best deals on offer this week (can sign up for email) Deals Popular website with travel deals added frequently

HotelsComparison & Tripadvisor & Kelkoo Use these 3 to find hotel accommodation in Europe and the rest of the World RoomAtlas Shows hotels around the World on a map B&B's Use to search UK

ProtectMyHoliday Useful website to insure against airline failure if you're not booking a package holiday

TravelSupermarket Search most UK companies for worldwide package holidays Hostels  Use the search for Youth Hostels around the world. FarmStayUK Home cooking in superb rural locations

Travel Money Compare Use to find the best deal  Travel Money Services Great currency rates and free home delivery but min. order of £300 Travelex Excellent rates again and pick up from airport (£100 minimum order - home delivery option adds £5.99)  Currency Convert pounds into Euros and vice-versa

Tourist-Offices Official Worldwide tourist sites including VisitBritain

Google Maps Great site for UK and worldwide maps, also try bing maps including satellite overlays from Microsoft.   Also see EarthTools for contoured maps (click contour map button - top right)

See customer reviews of what your resort is really like at FodorsOnline  and TripAdvisor Worldwide City Guides are available at Dorling Kindersley  and Time Out

Car hire sites      1. Avis    2. Europcar    3. Hertz    4. HolidayAutos    5. Dollar     6. Alamo   also try either industry leading comparison website Kayak or TravelSuperMarket or the excellent CarRentals for independent local car hire firms                           CarHireExcess Cover excess costs by taking out an insurance policy - from 3 Euros/day. Or try here

TravelWithCare Shop online for travel accessories

Road Travel

Traveline Very good site for public transport travel planning Interactive bus map for Devon

Megabus Cheap bus travel across the UK Stagecoach Bus/Bluebird Bluebird bus service across Scotland National Express Bus Book Tickets online Scottish Citylink Bus Book Tickets online (Print ticket or postage free!!)

1. AA    2.  ViaMichelin  UK and European Route Planners

Travel News Google map mash-up of UK travel trouble spots (bit slow to load)

TrafficScotland road cameras TrafficEngland road cameras (tick box)   TrafficWales road cameras

BBC traffic cams by county and here BBC traffic cams SW England  scroll down            DCC Exeter Cams Devon County Council road cams

Transport for London Road cams

Sustrans Cycle routes around the UK  SW England map with cycle routes and postcode search WheresthePath Great mapping tool

Rail Travel

EastCoast  Great website! - Buy UK and European Train Tickets online  - free postage  TheTrainLine have a similar service but £1 booking charge Promotions Listed by region Ticket Alert Be notified when tickets are available to buy Train Delays Easy way to claim compensation

European Train Tickets Buy tickets online for Germany and other European countries Taxi Website listing taxi company contact details at each station

UK and European Journey search This is very good! (Most sites in English). Railtrack also have info but it's not as good

National Rail Enquiries Plan our route, special offers, Service information, train operators etc, etc Live Departure Boards Train departure information that updates every 2 minutes Exeter

Rail Canterbury Buy tickets for European travel from a company with 50 years experience. 10% charge and tickets usually arrive the next day.

Seat61 Fantastic resource for travelling by train worldwide

EuroStar Buy European Train Tickets for the Channel Tunnel and beyond (including London, Paris, Lille and Brussels RailEurope  Buy European Train Tickets online Eurail Info on European Passes but beware this site is a bit confusing. TrainsEurope Buy rail passes with £5 delivery fee CityNightLine Travel on Eurostar from London to Amsterdam (5.5hrs) then use previous link to book rail-sleeper to most European cities Lists the cities that the CityNightLine operates (in German though)

Heritage Railways Find out where your nearest steam trainline is GreatScenicRailways Devon&Cornwall steam train routes

UK Ultraspeed The very high speed train of the future?

Worldwide Subway Maps Print off before you go! London Tube London UnderGround map

Sea Travel

Ferry Operators World wide list of operators with a web presence SailandDrive European routes (click through 'API' error message)

FerrySavers Check route options and prices for European ferries. Similar website at FerryBooker

Air Travel

Airport Security Very latest info. on dos and don'ts and what liquids you can carry...............

Holiday Extras Brilliant website for finding and booking airport hotels and holiday car parking. Also try Airport Parking An independent guide showing all airport car park operators in UK

London Airports Links Gives a guide to the links between Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton Airports. Look down right hand side of page

NetFlights Was Airline-Network - one of the better sites for worldwide flights

SeatGuru and SeatPlans which give statistics on airports and airlines and click here for seat pitches FlightonTime See punctuality/delay statistics for Chartered and Scheduled flights

FlightMapping  Useful resource with clickable route maps e.g. Exeter Also try WhichBudget Budget airlines from European airports e.g. Exeter

BAA Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh,  Southampton and Aberdeen

No-frills airline operators from the UK. The routes used by the 10 airlines are shown on the maps below

1. Air Berlin     2. Jet2     3. BMIBaby      4. EasyJet      5. Thomsonfly     6. Flybe     7. Thomas Cook (was MyTravel)      8. RyanAir      or use the following sites Kayak/Sidestep    or     SkyScanner    or TravelSupermarket These three previous links effectively makes the budget UK to Europe airline links, below, redundant, with excellent search and mapping facilities Also try Martin Lewis's FlightChecker website

1. Air Berlin Main hubs are Manchester and London. See map below.

2. Jet2 Main hubs are Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackpool, Manchester, London. See map below.

3. BMIBaby See map below

4. EasyJet  See map below Greenline 757 Bus Travel Luton to Victoria Stn

5. Thomsonfly See map below

6. Flybe See map below

7. Thomas Cook (was MyTravel) See map below

8. RyanAir Main hubs are Glasgow, Dublin, Shannon, London and Brussels. See map below.

1. Air Berlin     2. Jet2     3. BMIBaby      4. EasyJet      5. Thomsonfly     6. Flybe     7. Thomas Cook (was MyTravel)      8. RyanAir      or use the following sites Kayak/Sidestep    or     SkyScanner    or TravelSupermarket These three previous links effectively makes the budget UK to Europe airline links, below, redundant, with excellent search and mapping facilities Also try Martin Lewis's FlightChecker website

Exeter Airport List of destinations

Happy travelling!!

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