Dear Reader

WHEN a Pret tomato soup costs £4.92, it’s hardly surprising that prices for package holidays and flights to sunnier climes are soaring. And they will continue to rise while the longing to leave these rocky shores is so strong.

‘I’m a traveller, get me out of here’ is the unspoken mantra of millions at this dismal time of year, when even getting around our own country has become a journey into the unknown.

At London Waterloo on Tuesday evening, staff were physically restraining passengers from boarding the 7pm train to Portsmouth because people were crammed in like proverbial sardines already. Not even the chaos at Delhi’s main train station could quite compare.

A week in Greece this summer will cost some 30 per cent more than last year, with holidays in Italy, Spain (Marbella pictured) and Turkey up by at least 20 per cent, according to the consumer group Which?

Airlines, desperate to claw back revenue, are beginning to rake it in and are not inclined to help out consumers while bookings remain so buoyant.

We’re doing our bit today on page 57 with tips on how to become a canny traveller. Some tricks might be more obvious than others and we’d be keen to hear your suggestions.

‘Fly to Bali and never come back,’ might work. But, perhaps, that’s not entirely practical.