Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition when they travel on holiday to our favourite foreign destination, but from today, the government in Madrid is expecting to collect a lot more data from travellers.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered every Friday.

Untangling the red tape of global travel with Samantha McKnight, vice-president of Client Solutions for CIBTvisas in London.Subscribe to The Independent Travel newsletter. It arrives in your inbox every Friday, so make sure you're on the list here.

Today I have been covering two big railway stories: the roll-out of a new £1bn fleet of trains, known as Arterio, at London Waterloo; and, the remarkable news that the taxpayer is currently subsidising the railways to the tune of £12.5bn a year. That is a difficult figure to conceive, so I have calculated a less-cumbersome figure: £400 of public money per second. To his credit, Stuart Meek – interim managing director of South Western Railway – explains why the railways deserve support. He also believes his new suburban trains are as good as any in Europe, and will delight tourists heading for attractions such as Hampton Court.

I am talking to the present – and future – bosses of Britain's biggest budget airline, easyJet, about the latest financial figures and the year ahead. Current CEO Johan Lundgren is leaving at the end of the year, and current CFO Kenton Jarvis is taking over at the top. Apologies for the less-than-perfect audio quality, as I explain, the interviews were done on the hop.For a more crystal clear picture, do subscribe to The Independent Travel newsletter. Arriving in your inbox every Friday, you can make sure you're on the list here.

Ant Stone, Director of Marketing EMEA for G Adventures, tells me about how Pakistan and Tibet are opening up – and that he's a backpacker at heart.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered every Friday.

Holiday prices and air fares surge during school holidays compared with term times – two, three or four times as much. Always has been the case, always will be. Or will it?I'm talking to aviation expert Jonathan Hinkles, who is hoping to persuade the government that action short of legislation is the answer.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered every Friday.

Today's travel podcast guest is Paul Goldstein, wildlife guide and photographer who is just back from leading a tour in the Pantanal of Brazil – where he reports dozens of jaguar sightings.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered every Friday.

The Office of Rail and Road has released the latest figures on the UK's busiest – and quietest – rail stations. London's Elizabeth Line dominates the table – but worryingly, there are three stations with fewer than two passengers a week.

Richard Brown CBE has been one of the leading railway figures in the UK for four decades – including 11 years as chief executive and then chairman of Eurostar, the Channel Tunnel passenger rail service. He has just brought out a book – Changing Times, Changing Trains – in which he prescribes what is needed to turn around the fortunes of the UK's increasingly unhappy rail industry.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered every Friday.