A firm of engineers have unveiled a plan that would enable passengers to take a high speed train from Heathrow directly to the continent. The scheme would involve extending the high speed rail link from St Pancras to Heathrow. If the scheme were to go ahead it would cost around £4.5 billion and could be completed by 2019.

MPs have approved a bill which will se the £16bn Crossrail scheme go ahead. The rail scheme will link Maidenhead in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex via Heathrow. Under the scheme a number of new stations will be built. The first trains are expected to start running in 2017 and are expected to carry 78,000 passengers an hour during peak times.

This article suggests that an increasing number of British families are now taking their summer holiday in the UK. The main factors influencing their decision seems to be that they are trying to save money and also avoid delays and problems at the UK's airports. Whilst people still appear to be booking short haul holidays to places like France, Malta and the Canaries customers seem to be steering clear of long haul destinations.

Qantas Airways have announced that they will cut 1,500 jobs worldwide and abandon plans to create 1,200 new jobs. The move has come as the company tries to deal with high fuel costs. The losses will include closing call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London with the loss of 99 jobs. Around 1,300 jobs will be lost in Australia with the rest overseas. The airline is also scrapping plans to increase its capacity by 8% in the 12 months to mid 2009 as they are not expecting any growth in that period.

This article suggests that landing slots at Heathrow are so valuable that it can take companies years and millions of pounds to get just one aircraft into the airport. Heathrow is constrained in the number of flights that it can accommodate meaning an airline wanting to set up operations there can pay up to £30 million for take off and landing times. As a result the landing rights are sometimes more valuable than the airline themselves. The companies must continue using the slots otherwise they will lose them. This means that many airlines will continue flying even if its planes are virtually empty.

Ryanair has announced cut backs of the number of winter flights from Stanstead. It plans to reduce the number of flights by 14 per cent meaning the number of weekly flights will be cut from 1,850 to just 1,600. The plan is part of an effort to try and reduce losses and comes after a similar announcement from BA.

BA will cut capacity on winter flights by up to 5% in an effort to avoid losses. They will reduce the amount of flights on its routes and axe some service between October and March. There will be fewer services on the least cash generative routes with no more than two out of 154 routes being axed. Many airlines are currently cutting capacity due to falling demand and high fuel prices with US carriers leading the way. There are signs that the slowing economy is starting to affect travel with BA seeing a decline of 3.7% or 87,000 fewer passengers in June.

When booking a holiday you might want to check the small print to see what is says about fuel surcharges. This article highlights a case where a couple were hit with a surcharge of £892 a few months before they were due to set off on a cruise holiday. In their case the extra charge was simply too much to afford and they had no choice but to cancel the holiday. Unfortunately because the charges amounted to £8 less than 10% of the total holiday cost they were not entitled to a refund of the £900 deposit they had paid for the £9,000 holiday.

Exeter International Airport has unveiled expansion plans. Under the plans the airport would expand to include more destinations and would make improvements to taxiways. The plans could increase on site jobs from 1,400 to 3,550 by 2030 with the local economic contribution rising from £105m to £264m over the same period. However, Friends of the Earth have said that plans to increase annual passengers number at the airport are bad for the environment and that any economic benefit would be outweighed by the effects on climate change. The plan is open for consultation for three months.

It has been announced that injured war veterans will get free travel on London transport. Boris Johnson made the announcement last week on Veterans Day. The scheme will come into effect on the 2nd of November and will benefit an estimated 2,600 war veterans living in London.

If you don't fancy dragging heavy bags around when you travel then you might be interested in this new suitcase. It has an "anti gravity" system that distributes the weight over the wheels making the case feel lighter. The system can make pulling 30kg of baggage seem like just 3kg. The case does have a flaw, however. It weighs 10.kg when empty which is quite a lot more than the average suitcase. With strict baggage restrictions at airports this could be a disadvantage and mean you have to pack a lot less luggage. At £700 its also quite expensive.

We apologise for missing last month's travel blog of the week, we have all been very busy with upgrades to the PC2Paper website. This week's travel blog of the week is the rather unusually named Hedgehogs Without Borders. The blog covers Jessica and Tim's 18 month "round-the-world adventure" to places such as Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, England, Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos....

An article I found interesting was their visit to the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu its usually on top of every adventurers list when visiting Peru. What I liked about their visit was they also decided to scale Wayna Picchu the mountain peak you usually see in the back ground when pictures are taken of Machu Picchu. On top of this peak is an ancient complex of Incan guardhouses which leads to a spectacular view below of the Sacred Valley.

Air travellers will soon have to pay for luggage trolleys at Luton airport. From next month the airport will introduce a £1 charge for luggage trolleys, or two euros for people who do not have any British currency. The airport expects to earn million from the coin operated trolleys which will be similar to schemes already in place at some supermarkets. The difference with the airport trolleys, however, is that users will not get their money back when they have finished using the trolley.

Network Rail are looking at plans for five new high speed lines. If they go ahead the new lines would be on some of the busiest routes including Chiltern, East Coast, East Coast, Great Western and Midland Main Line. Consultants will be appointed to look into building these new lines and they will produce a report of their findings next summer.

Several airlines have increased baggage fees and fares in an effort to cut costs. The Australian airline Virgin Blue will raise ticket prices by $5 Australian dollars. United Airlines and US Airways have both announced they will charge a $15 fee for the first bag that is checked in. A number of US airlines have also increased fuel surcharges to $20 per roundtrip.

This weeks travel blog of the week is the official blog of the Romow travel directory. The blog has lots of useful tips for travellers. One post entitled how to make the most of your family vacation suggests stocking up at home for some of your vacation needs as its often cheaper. Packing plenty of sunscreen, batteries and first aid supplies will mean you don't need to pay over inflated prices at the airport and in the resort. The post also suggests travelling off season which can save you as much as 50% off high season prices and also enjoy your destination without crowds of other tourists. It also recommends doing your research and comparing prices on car rental and accommodation before booking and looking out for bundle deals which can often offer large discounts.

Another post looks at travel safety and security. It includes advice such as wearing a money belt to protect your paperwork and your travellers checks and also recommends making copies of all of your important documents before you go and storing them separately from the originals. There is plenty of other useful advice on this blog from tips on what to pack to advice on getting the most of your railway journey. Its well worth a look for any traveller.

This is interesting and if it works could help a holiday makers. Its a patch impregnated with toxins which could stop you suffering from stomach upsets. It has been found to be 75% effective against diarrhoea attacks caused by E.coli and people that wear the patch also recover more quickly. It has been estimated that over 27 million travellers suffer from E.coli related bugs every year so this could soon become an essential item to pack in your suitcase.

Airline bosses have warned that tickets prices are likely to become much more expensive because of rising oil prices. Passengers are likely to face a lot of new extra fees such as paying to check in luggage and paying to eat on the flight. According to John McCulloch the managing partner of Oneworld Alliance (which represents leading airlines including British Airways,Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Qantas) mainstream airlines are likely to follow Ryanair as they try to cut costs. He says this will mean that charging for meals is likely to become standard practice and that charges for bags could be introduced.

This week's travel blog of the week is Coomers Family World Adventures. The blog is about a family of three Shawn, Shawn and Jasmine who set about a two year trip around the world. Amongst their destinations are Australia, Belize & Honduras, Canada, Fiji, Guatemala, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the USA.

One interesting article is entitled "Have We Died and Gone To Hell?" Which explains the families trip through the Australian outback and suffering the severe heat which was so intense they had to cancel a trip and spend most of the time indoors with an air conditioning unit. Shawn mentions that in the brief time they were outside even the animals stayed out of sight in the shade.

The government will investigate claims that contaminated air in planes is making pilots and passengers ill. Figures suggest that one in every 2,000 flights is polluted with engine oil but unions claim that the problem occurs much more often. Last year there were 116 contaminated flights reported to the Aviation Authority. Pilots and passengers have reported symptoms including nausea, headaches, dizziness and lethargy. The investigation will use equipment to measure the cabin air on five different types of aircraft from five different airlines to try and identify any toxins that might be in the air filters.

BA have announced an increase in fuel surcharges on all tickets sold from Tuesday 3rd of June. The surcharge will increase by £3 per flight to £16 on short haul flights and increase by £15 per flight to £78 per flight on long haul flights. The increase comes at a time when the airlines are facing rising costs of jet fuel due to soaring oil prices. It is likely that other airlines will now follow suit.

Last summers storm has meant that bathing water at beaches across the UK is more polluted. As a result the number of beaches with excellent water quality has fallen by 10% on last year. 779 beaches were tested, with 443 getting a good rating compared with 495 last year. The tests were carried out between May and September last year coinciding with the wettest British summer on record. The society has said that heavy rain would have washed sewage and animal waste into the rivers and the sea making the waters more polluted than normal. The tests also found that the number of beaches failing to meet the minimum standard has tripled from 17 to 53. If you want to find out how a beach scored before swimming you can see the results here.

American Airlines will bring in a charge for checked bags from the 15th of June. They will charge $15 for the first checked bag and already have a $25 charge for the second checked bag. It will also raise other fees for service such as reservation help and fees for oversized bags. The changes come because the airlines fuel costs have increased by nearly $3 billion since the start of the year. Other airlines such as United Airlines are also looking at whether to impose a fee on checked luggage. It seems checking in baggage free of charge might soon become a thing of the past.

If you are planning on using your credit or debit card when you go on holiday abroad then you might want to check how much your bank charges. That's the message from some financial experts who warn that many holidaymaker's are charged much more than they expect for using their card abroad. Many banks have increased their fees for using cards abroad in the past year. These increases mean that if you withdraw £100 from a cash machine abroad you could be charged as much as £4.95 whereas spending £100 on a credit card will incur a charge of up to £3. Whilst the charges may seem relativity small if you unaware of them it can soon add up so the message is to check how much your bank charges before you go away.

This weeks travel blogs of the week is The World Is Not Flat.

Usually when we choose a travel blog we like to make sure it has been updated regularly to ensure its current. On this occasion we have chosen a travel blog that is "frozen in time". The main purpose of The World Is Not Flat was to record the 2 years travels of Lee and Sachi LeFever. At the end of their travels they catalogued their experiences into Favourite Overall Countries, Favourite Experiences, Not So Favourite and Favourite Cities.

The blog is vast and covers travels through places such as Japan, New Zealand, China, Russia, Thailand and Portugal with a wealth of photos and articles of their experiences. From scamming tax drivers to how to deal with street hawkers in India.

It has emerged that hundreds of foreign passengers have passed through Terminal 5 without proper checks. Problems at the airport have led to confusion meaning that overseas passengers have been treated as domestic arrivals and have passed through the airport without going through immigration or customs controls. In one case passengers arriving from Libya left Heathrow without having to show their passports and there are claims that six passengers from a Tripoli flight have never been found. The security breaches occurred when shuttle drivers collected passengers from overseas flights but dropped them off at a gate meant for domestic arrivals. BA has admitted there have been a small number of incidents and have said there are aware of 10 flights where passengers were taken to the wrong gates.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Sixintheworld, covering the travels of a family of six's year long trips around the world. The reason they decided to do the trip was to build family relationships and teach their kids that they have the power to make a difference in the world through good deeds along the way.

The site is well laid out featuring items such as the family's Itinery, Non Profit deeds and Photo collections. The family is so famous for their travels they have even been featured in national newspapers. 

British Airways has announced that it will move its long haul flights to Terminal 5 on 5 June. The move will include its services to New York, Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix. Flights to 40 other long haul destinations will continue to operate from terminal 4 for the time being but will be moved at a later date.

BA tickets will get more expensive because they are due to increase their fuel surcharge. Passengers on long haul routes will now pay £30 more for a return flight. The decision comes as the prices of oil continue to rise. The surcharge for short haul flights will also increase by £6 for a return flight, rising from £20 to £26. The increases will affect all tickets issued after Friday.

After 40 years the Wrexham to London Marylebone train service has resumed. The service will run five times a day and will re-establish a direct link to Shropshire, Walsall and London. The train stops at ten stations between Wrexham and London. Although only 11 passengers used the service today it is hoped that demand will grow as word spreads.

This weeks travel blog of the week is The Perrin Post written by Wendy Perrin. This blog is particularly useful because it deals with several issues that have been in the news recently, such as what to do when your flight is delayed or when you are stranded at the airport. 

One useful post entitled top ten things to do when you are stranded at an airport has useful advice on how to amuse children if your flight is delayed. It includes suggestions such as using cots and blankets to make a fort and building towers out of packs of Starburst Fruit Chews. Another useful post includes advice on what you are entitled to if you are bumped from your flight and another post has ten ways to keep your children occupied on a plane without toys. It includes games such as "what shape is that cloud" and a "find the city" game which you can play using the air route map, as well as other advice to buy a drink for the other passengers within earshot. Its all very useful and should make travelling with children a little bit easier.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Claire takes on the world, an amusing and feature rich blog of Claire's worldly travels.

What I enjoyed about Claire's blog is that out of the many blogs I have seen Claire had actually been to the Amazon. After 8 months in South America she had finally arranged a 3 day trip to the Amazon where they attempted to cross a river sitting on a wooden raft. While half way through the water Claire yelled to her friend "Jenny, where's your camera?"

Jenny replied "Claire, it's not the time for pictures!" and then suddenly realised when checking her money belt that her camera and mp3 player were covered in water!

When they finally reached the Amazon, of which Claire likens to looking like a forest in Ireland, Jenny referred to the experience as "We're getting to meet the entire cast of A Bugs Life today".

You can read the rest of Claire's adventures here