HOLIDAY GURU
Helping you find the perfect break
Q MY WIFE would love to cruise to Australia, but she is a very light sleeper and I have been known to snore after a good meal and a few drinks. Separate rooms are costly. Can you help?
Steve Gill, via email.
A WHILE a 48-night Southampton to Sydney cruise on P&O Cruises’ Arcadia with adjoining single cabins costs from £8,149pp (iglucruise.com), perhaps it would be best to try out a ‘mandibular advancement device’ beforehand. This mouthpiece adjusts the jaw for more regular breathing (£44.99, snorewizard.com). Anti-snore pillows are £55.99. If these options work, share a cabin from £4,749 pp, including three nights in Sydney.
Q WE would like to visit Carcassonne next May for four days. We are not seasoned travellers and speak limited French. Any advice?
Andrea Morrice, via email.
A RYAnAIR has Stansted to Carcassonne returns from £61 in May (ryanair.com). A 20-minute shuttle bus to the medieval citadel costs £5. The charming Best Western Plus Hotel Le Donjon makes a good base and costs about £350 for four nights (bestwestern.com). Tours in English lasting 75 minutes cost £8 (tourismcarcassonne.co.uk). Q IS IT possible to buy an open-dated ticket from Heathrow to tour Australia, New Zealand and Singapore?
Stephen Thomas, via email. A TRAILFInDERS offers fully flexible tickets from
Heathrow to Singapore, with travel onwards to new Zealand and Australia and back, from £2,060 with Qantas (020 7368 1200, trailfinders.com).
Q WE ARE due to travel to Venice in December on a holiday bought from a tour operator. Is it safe after the flooding? Could we cancel and get our money back?
Peter Cambell, via email. A YES it is safe (you can check at www.gov.uk/foreigntravel-advice/italy). Tour operators are not currently offering refunds. Q HOW could I travel from Cheltenham to Cadiz, in Spain, by train?
Nick Dolan, Cheltenham.
A
IT WOULD be best to break up this journey. From London, take the Eurostar to Paris in the morning (from £44,
raileurope.co.uk), then catch a five-and-a-half-hour train to Figueres in Catalonia (£115) and stay the night there.
The next day, take the fourhour morning train to Madrid (£78, renfe.com), then an afternoon train to Cadiz, also four hours (£52).