TimeTravel

More than 2.5 million skiers and boarders head to La Plagne’s 11 resorts high in the French Alps every year, making it the most popular ski destination in the world. It was created in 1961 when the Tarentaise Valley towns of Aime, Bellentre, Longefoy and Macôtto joined forces to save the area from a downturn in agriculture and mining. The first resort at La Plagne opened on Christmas Eve in 1961 with two drag lifts and four slopes. It now has 92 lifts and is due to open this winter on December 16. NT

Welcome on board the fantastic ‘plastic’ plane. It’s my first time in an Airbus A350-900 XWB (Extra Wide Body), Europe’s answer to the USA’s revolutionary jetlag-busting Boeing 787 Dreamliner – and it’s seriously impressive.

This £232million, 297-passenger Finnair plane was assembled in Toulouse, France, and is made from a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic composite, with Rolls-Royce engines from Derby and wings manufactured at Broughton in North Wales.

It features the same technology as the rival Boeing, with super-quiet twin engines, improved air quality, mood lighting, a more spacious cabin and bigger windows.

And it flies higher and faster than ‘standard’ planes – at up to 42,000ft and Mach 0.89 (around 590mph).

Greener credentials come from a 25 per cent fuel saving and, like the Dreamliner, it offers a huge range – up to 9,375 miles, which could get you from London to Hawaii in one go or even Perth in Australia.

So what’s it like to fly on? I tried Finnair’s economy and business seats and while the ‘turn left’ one is superb and converts to a lie-flat bed, the light and airy main cabin features seats that are genuinely impressive with good legroom from the 31in pitch (slim profile seats make it feel better than that), ample recline, wi-fi and a great entertainment system.

Clearly on my three-hour Helsinki to Heathrow flight, jetlag was not an issue, but you certainly appreciate the pleasant, fresh feeling in the cabin and whisper-quiet background noise. At present A350s are

operated out of the UK by Finnair, Cathay Pacific, Ethiopian, Singapore and Qatar. But they will arrive on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic routes in 2019. The flag carrier has 18 on order, while Sir Richard Branson’s airline is taking 12.

It perhaps does not have the graceful external lines of the Dreamliner, but there’s certainly an inner beauty once you’re on board. Go Travel Flexi Memory Pillow, £24.99, go-travelproducts.com

Can be used as a neck or a lumbar support; simply mould to shape. Integrated pockets hold glasses and phone, while a strap at the back can be attached to luggage for carrying round.