Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

London's fourth airport is to expand by 90% in the next 15 years. I've been looking back at its history – and forward at possible long-haul expansion. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MPs on the Transport Select Committee spent the morning grilling Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of London Heathrow, about the decision to close down Europe's busiest airport following a power outage. A lively session, and you can hear some of it here. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

Yesterday I was at Southend airport for the opening of a new easyJet base. Today the target is Luton airport where Jet2 has opened a new base – at the home of easyJet. Steve Heapy, chief executive of  Jet2.com  and Jet2 Holidays, says the customer will be the winner. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted...

Ryanair has just announced it has carried 200 million passengers over the course of a year. A good moment, then, to catch up with Michael O’Leary, who has been chief executive for the past 31 years. We talked about his quest for “intergalactic domination”, fares and delays this summer, cabin bag size and the new Ryanair Prime subscription offer. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's wee...

US immigration is going to be looking more closely at everybody coming through the border. How this translates into travel and decision making, we don't know yet, but you cannot ignore these very high-profile cases and ask yourself what is the effect going to be? This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See...

"Ryanair Prime" costs £79 a year, and its benefits are – to be polite – modest. Rob Burgess, founder of the excellent Head for Points frequent-flyer website gave me his expert assessment as we walked together in Toulouse, southwest France. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

“Passengers don’t deserve to end up on random Atlantic islands,” says Matt Purton – group aviation services director at Air Charter Service – after last Friday's closure of Heathrow. He says we must have a national conversation about how to cope better next time. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See...

I'm talking today to Vanessa Hudson, chief executive of Qantas, about Project Sunrise – connecting London and Sydney nonstop. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've spent the weekend covering the airport shutdown. Around a quarter-million passengers who were due to fly to, from or via Heathrow on Friday and over the weekend saw their travel plans wrecked when the airport closed for nearly 24 hours. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Today the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions has released its figures for 2024 – showing a "slow but steady" increase in visitor numbers. But the backdrop is tough times for attraction providers, exacerbated by successive governments putting up the barriers to foreign visitors. I'll been catching up with ALVA director – and top tourism thinker – Bernard Donoghue. This podcast is free, as i...

I've been talking to Sean Collins, chief executive of Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, about his shiny new ferry – and how it will transform travel across the river downstream of Tower Bridge in London. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, the German capital is a busy, fun and coherent city. But I first knew Berlin when the Wall carved through its streets, dividing families. Some of those oppressed in East Berlin were allowed to leave – along with curious tourists like me. The main way out was at Friedrichstrasse station, where the Tränenpalast – or Palace of Tears – is now the most powerful reminder of division. This podcast...

Cheese dumplings, the castle of the princely family, a national trail and some excellent skiing. That’s some of the offering from one of Europe's blink-and-you-miss-it countries: Liechtenstein, a mountainous crumple of territory measuring 15 miles by four. I have been talking to tourism spokesperson Claudia Agnolazza. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here...

Hope you don't get flashback anxiety – I have been looking back with many a shudder at the extraordinary tangle of travel restrictions that blighted our movements for two years from 17 March 2020. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year Easter is unusually late ... and that spells a very different holiday pattern for many people, especially families. Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive, Advantage Travel Partnership, tells me some are swapping an August fortnight in Mallorca for two weeks in Thailand at Easter for much the same price. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get...

I'm in Portugal, and talking to Captain João Melo about the prospects for serious fishing 40 miles off the coast of the Algarve –and how the tuna are tagged and released, rather than eaten. Sounds one heck of a day out (and, forgive my maths error, the cost is €258 per person based on six sharing the vessel). This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get i...

BREAKING NEWS! British travellers will not need an online permit to visit the European Union and wider Schengen Area until April 2027 at the earliest. In this episode, I break down the full timeline of what we can expect from the rollout of this new service over the coming two years. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox....

I am talking to Mikael Mahlberg of Swedish e-ferry manufacturer Candela. His firm makes the electric hydrofoil that darts between the islands of Stockholm and will soon be gliding across Lake Tahoe. He explains how a low-impact ferry can transform urban transport. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acas...

One of the many triumphs of the Brexit agreement was that British travellers to the European Union are now counted as “third-country nationals” – limited to stays of a maximum of 90 days in any 180 days. But Steven Jolly, of the France Visa Free group is campaigning for friendlier relations between the British government and the EU. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newslette...

Explora Journeys might sound like an overland adventure company, but in fact it is an upmarket cruise line. The president of the organisation, Anna Nash, told me how it differs from mass-market cruise firms, and says she welcomes competition from land-based companies such as Ritz-Carlton dipping a toe into the water and offering voyages. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly news...

Gloria Guevara is campaigning for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations body that works to promote sustainable tourism around the world. She told me why she is the person for this tricky role. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've been looking into Electronic Travel Authorisation ahead of the 2 April 2025 deadline – after which every foreign visa-exempt visitor to the UK, with the exception of the Irish, will need to pay £10 and register online. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March hasn't started brilliantly on the travel disruption front, with ultra-long passport queues at Stansted, a delayed flight from Gatwick and a cancelled train. But I had an appointment to talk to Decius Valmorbida, president of travel for technology firm Amadeus – and finally caught up with him at McDonald's opposite Strasbourg station. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly ne...

For the past five days I have been rattling around the southernmost province of mainland Italy, Calabria. Most of the ground has been covered by train, which is a joy: affordable, usually reliable and with superb scenery. I reckon you should stick to the cheap, “classic” network rather than the high-speed trains. This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to g...

On Sunday 2nd of March, rail fares across England and Wales will rise by 4.6 per cent. Alex Robertson, chief executive of the consumer watchdog Transport Focus, has been telling me that passengers need to feel that they are getting value for money – by increasing reliability of trains. Also a reminder to buy that railcard on 28 February or 1 March, before they increase by £5 to £35. This podcast i...