Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

After a miserable weekend for travelers in large parts of the UK, the working week has begun with more disruption. Thousands of airline passengers woke up on Monday morning where they did not intend to be after dozens of weekend flight cancellations. Rail firms are warning of major disruption on day four of an overtime ban by train drivers. Some roads in Cumbria and the Peak District are blocked due to snow, and the Met Office has issued four yellow weather warnings for Monday.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter - sign up to receive it every Friday here.

I’m speaking exclusively to Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, just after members voted overwhelmingly to accept a pay deal. But, he warns, strikes could be back next summer if negotiations in the New Year do not go well.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter - sign up to receive it every Friday here.

On today's podcast, I'm stationed at Manchester Piccadilly, exploring the impending rail challenges this December. From driver strikes to altered schedules, I'll break down what this means for UK travellers and how to best navigate the disruptions.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

Another bit of aviation jargon unravelled. Some listeners and readers have been in touch about “downgauging" – when an airline uses a smaller plane than planned. What happens if two dozen passengers are unable to travel as booked? The same rules apply as for overbooking.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

Join me, Simon Calder, as I chat with Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, about their groundbreaking 100% sustainable fuel flight across the Atlantic. We discuss the significance of this pioneering step and its impact on the future of sustainable aviation.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

Wish it could be Christmas every day? Probably not if you, like me, rely on public transport, because on 25 December all the UK trains close down. But this year the long-distance coach operators are providing more intercity links than ever.And on Boxing Day, ScotRail will offer the highest number of trains for three decades.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

News has just broken that Eurostar trains from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London will be canceled from June 2024 to January 2025. The Channel Tunnel passenger rail firm will still run London-Rotterdam-Amsterdam; the problem is space for London-bound frontier formalities while Amsterdam Centraal station is renovated. And Brexit is playing a part ...This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

Traveling home for Christmas by rail? Good luck. Festive engineering works mean two key London stations, Paddington and King's Cross, are closed on Christmas Eve. So unless you travel by 23 December to/from Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland (King's Cross) or the West of England/South Wales (Paddington), you could be scuppered.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.

I'm at London Gatwick Airport talking to the chief executive, Stewart Wingate. He says that if a second runway gets the go-ahead, the Sussex airport would almost double the passengers it presently handles.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday.