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Cork

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England

Knock

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Valentine's Day trips 💘 at €30-€68 rtn from Ireland

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Valentine's Day trips 💌 at £31-£70 rtn from Scotland

Birmingham

Birmingham 🛍️ at €48 rtn from Stockholm 

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Netherlands

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London Luton 👑 at €87 rtn from Amsterdam

Manchester

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Charleroi

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Leeds Bradford

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Valentine's Day trips 💖 at £34-£87 rtn from North England

Luxembourg

London Stansted 🏰 at €33 rtn from Luxembourg

My boyfriend and I went to London to visit friends! :)
The first night after going out, and after switching buses many many times and almost losing one of the people in the group (of which they had to run after one bus to join), we were finally on a bus back to our friend&#39;s house... when I suddenly really really REALLY needed to pee... My boyfriend and I then hopped off the bus and looked for a bathroom. To our surprise there are pretty much NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS IN ENGLAND especially at that time of night. I couldn&#39;t hold it any longer and went to a corner of the sidewalk and had to just let it out :(.... when a couple started walking directly towards me and I just kept waving my hand to tell them to look away, look away.... &lt;( ⸝⸝•̀ - •́⸝⸝)&gt;

Story from marythefairyest

Hey Jack &amp; team,
I booked this snack to Vienna from Copenhagen, dec 12 to 15!
Super excited to go with my husband and baby 🐥

Postcard from Elizabeth

I did get a trip to Aus for £500 in march this year so thanks ☺️

Postcard from Kevin

Hi, I booked my return trip to India yesterday over December and got it for 399 without a checked bag (and 458 with). This is a direct flight via BA from London &gt; Delhi &gt; London. Thought I’d share!

Postcard from Sangam

Took the one way option as I&#39;ll head to Southern Spain first. What a great price! 

Postcard from Beth

This was a great deal and we just flew SAS to Copenhagen. We booked this for a trip to Berlin! 

Postcard from Amanda

Georgia

Panama

Hey there, Travellers,
It's time to invoke the "c word" again &mdash; chaos. Anyone planning to travel over the next couple of weeks should be prepared for potential travel chaos, as storms, strikes, and government shutdowns could well change your plans.
In Europe, flights to, from, over, and around France will feel the impact of <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/furious-ryanair-boss-warns-100-000-passengers-could-have-flights-cancelled-next-week-13442651">air traffic control strikes</a> from October 7th - 10th. Meanwhile, in the USA, an ongoing government shutdown could result in delays at TSA checkpoints and even lead to cancellations.
And here in the UK and Ireland? Let's just say I'm currently listening to the wind and rain batter my windows thanks to the first named storm of the season. Dublin Airport has been cancelling flights all day, while airports in the UK are poised to follow suit.
On the plus side, if we can't go anywhere right now, it's the perfect excuse to make plans for the future. Let us know where you're off to next <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/detour-206-georgia-love-story-plan-for-chaos#comments">in the comments</a>!
Happy travels and safe landings,

Katy - Editor of The Detour

My Love Affair with Georgia (the Country, Not the State &mdash; Though I&rsquo;m Sure She&rsquo;s Great Too)

The Detour Editor Katy is a budget travel aficionado who has already travelled to more than 50 countries. Whether she's at home or on a foreign adventure, she has a particular talent for stumbling upon tasty Georgian restaurants.

By Katy

This one&rsquo;s long overdue. Honestly, it&rsquo;s only taken me so long because it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to know where to start. Like any good romcom, there have been a few (mostly entertaining) bumps in the road during my relationship with Georgia. So, I&rsquo;ll just start at the usual place: the beginning.
This love story begins like most life-changing romances: with a good meal.
Back in 2018, I visited Stockholm for the first time. I have a friend there (hi, Noora!) who insisted that we must go out to her local Georgian restaurant for dinner. &ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Never had Georgian food before.&rdquo; Little did I know that it&rsquo;d begin a years-long obsession that I&rsquo;m yet to find a cure for.
I have no memory of what I ate that night beyond <a href="https://www.tasteatlas.com/beyond-adjaruli-khachapuri-varieties-youve-probably-never-tasted">khachapuri</a>. But that&rsquo;s all it took. Turns out a simple cheese bread can unlock doors, change worldviews, and shape the way you live forever. Okay, I&rsquo;m maybe going a little over the top here, but what can I say? I&rsquo;m in love!

From that point on, I took every chance I could for an hour or two in the company of a cheese-filled dopamine boost and the heady delights of an orange wine. The butterflies in my stomach (or was it hunger?), the wonder of discovering something new and different every time&hellip; Like the early days of any romance, I was always left wanting more.
From then on, I&rsquo;d carve out time to savour even the smallest taste of Georgia whenever I could &mdash; and sometimes, I even felt like it was seeking me out, too. From Scotland to Estonia, Lithuania to T&uuml;rkiye, we began seeing the world together. Georgia loves to travel too, it seems.&nbsp;
A year after first tasting that stringy liquid gold encased in its soft, bready vessel, I finally decided it was time to take our relationship to the next level. I needed to experience the real deal, so when Jack&rsquo;s sent me a &pound;38 return trip from London to Kutaisi (I was a just member back then!), I couldn&rsquo;t say no.&nbsp;
But unfortunately, that trip wasn&rsquo;t to be. As talk of Coronavirus spread around the world, the idea of travelling solo to a completely new country where I&rsquo;d have zero language skills wasn&rsquo;t appealing. Instead, I still made the trek to London, where I would have caught that flight, and consoled myself with some khachapuri&nbsp;there before hunkering down at home for a year and a half.

Fast forward a couple of years, and it was time to try again. In 2022, I discovered that I was not the only one among my group of friends who had been harbouring a fascination with the Caucasian country. And after a couple of years mostly stuck at home, we were ready for adventure.
By that time, I had begun working at Jack&rsquo;s, so I knew all the hacks for finding cheap flights. Since that convenient London-to-Kutaisi route hadn&rsquo;t made it out the other side of the pandemic, I had to get creative. With nothing but small backpack bags stuffed to the brim, we budget airline-hopped from Edinburgh to Katowice, and then over to Kutaisi. Anything to reach my beloved Georgia!
After a late landing and a long immigration queue, we finally emerged from the airport and dashed to catch our 3.5-hour coach to Tbilisi. It&rsquo;s important to note at this point that, due to the slight delay in arriving, we hadn&rsquo;t managed to pick up a Georgian SIM in the airport, and none of our phones supported an eSIM.
After about 50 minutes on the bus, we ground to a halt just before entering the highway. And good job, too, because ahead of us there had been a landslide. Every car on the motorway was stuck with no escape.
Thankfully, we were able to get off the road and into a local town to wait until the road was cleared. Cue hours of expensive communications with our Airbnb host using roaming data, shockingly rustic railway station loos, knocking on the window of a 24-hour pharmacy for water (and chocolate), and playing in the snow.

After a restless night aboard the coach with 40-odd others, it became clear that the driver had no idea when we&rsquo;d be able to move again. Thankfully, the one passenger who spoke both Georgian and English knew of a 6am commuter train, headed to Khashuri, which would perfectly circumnavigate the closure. So off we went.
Tickets acquired, we made our way towards the <a href="https://wander-lush.org/trains-in-georgia-country-tips-map/">beaten-up, single-carriage Soviet relic</a> on the platform. It was still dark, there was no indication that this train would take us where we wanted to go, and we couldn&rsquo;t speak the language. As I grabbed the handles by the door to pull myself up into the unlit train, my husband jokingly (but somewhat prophetically) went full horror movie and whispered the words, &ldquo;Welcome to the abattoir.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s when the stench of raw meat hit me like a ton of bricks. 
<a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/my-love-affair-with-georgia-the-country">Keep reading...</a>

Travel Tales

On travelling First Class with kids...

"I haven't flown first class before, but our family had a fantastic experience when we ended up on a Lufthansa 747 at short notice in business class from Frankfurt to Mexico City. The flight was not full, and I had selected bassinet seats in the mini cabin because we actually had two lap infants. However, we ended up with the entire section of 12 seats completely to ourselves, with control over all window shades and IFE screens, our own personal flight attendant, use of any bedding we wanted from any of the seats -- all curtained off from the rest of the massive plane!&nbsp;
What we experienced must be what it's like to fly private! So yes I agree that actually flying private is the only way to consider that you've purchased peace &amp; quiet... but maybe try to go in as a group of friends and book up a mini cabin section of business class on planes that have such a setup! 
Otherwise, kids should be able to travel with their parents/accompanying adults in whatever seats the airline will sell them. However, our experience was that United Polaris was much too private in each seat to be very enjoyable traveling as a family with small kids. Business class cabins with a more open layout give parents better ability to monitor and care for their young one, and suite style seats should be much better suited to those wishing to zone out from whatever is happening in the rest of the aircraft." - DaringSightseer12881

On conscientious, community-focused travel&hellip;

"I write a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/shropshire-slow-travel/marie-kreft//9781804692639">guidebook to Shropshire</a> (new edition coming out in November).&nbsp;It's in Bradt's Slow travel series, so it does encourage self-powered travel above all else. 
But even after flying to a destination, I think we can be better (or more responsible) tourists by taking time to learn about the people, history and culture of the region we're staying in; trying out a few words of the language (even if we look silly - it shows willingness); visiting 'lesser known' attractions rather than just the crowded must-sees, and shunning big/international businesses in favour of smaller restaurants and hotels, local producers and tour guides, so we put our money directly into a local economy and maybe help to keep skills and jobs alive.&nbsp; I don't think there's anything wrong with being a tourist, by the way, especially for people who are curious and sensitive about how they go about their travels." - Marie

Plus, one Traveller in our Facebook community needs your help!

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<div dir="auto">"Looking at 10 days in Panama - ideas on where to stay, what to see, transport/guided tours. Thanks." - Yvonne</div>
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So, dear readers, have any of you been to Panama? <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/detour-206-georgia-love-story-plan-for-chaos#comments">Share your top tips</a> for making the most of 10 days in the country, so we can make sure Yvonne has an amazing trip!
Do you have a question you'd like us to answer in The Detour? Just let us know below 👇

Reader's Corner

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across web this week.
<ul>
<li>Follow in Jane Goodall's steps with a visit to <a href="https://www.pinyourfootsteps.com/gombe-national-park-walking-with-chimps/">Tanzania's Gombe National Park</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2025/09/30/talks_underway_on_repatriation_flights_after_play_c/">Passengers have been left stranded</a> after Icelandic budget airline PLAY went into administration this week, only 6 years after the country's last low-cost carrier, Wow Air, faced the same fate. </li>
<li>Let the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250926-nine-of-the-worlds-most-unforgettable-train-trips">world's most iconic train routes</a> inspire your future travels. </li>
<li>Here's how <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/jet2-holiday-summer-2025-viral-song-meme-b2837336.html">Jet2 and&nbsp;that song</a> became this year's inescapable summer meme. </li>
<li>And finally, plane diversions can happen for many reasons, but <a href="https://local12.com/news/nation-world/ryanair-flight-fr8718-flight-diverted-after-strange-passengers-freak-out-before-eating-flushing-passports-cincinnati-lavatory-law-enforcement-alleged-asylum-strategy-compensatation-ultra-low-cost-carrier-ulcc-business-incidents-travel-incidents">passengers eating their passports</a> has to be one of the weirdest we've ever heard.</li>
</ul>

Travel News

For the Love of Georgia & Planning for Chaos

United Kingdom

Mexico

&iexcl;Hola,&nbsp;fellow travellers!
Just yesterday, we had some super exciting Mexico trips spring right into our flight-hacking laps here at Jack's HQ.
First, we dug up some sweet <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/flights/mexico-in-1000s-1190s-rtn">Premium Economy fares</a> all across the country &mdash; a real rarity from the UK, for sure! Then there were the perfect winter sun flights to Canc&uacute;n from <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/flights/cancun-in-430s-510s-rtn">Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg</a>. So far, so good.&nbsp;
Then out of nowhere, as we were busy imagining ourselves sipping margs by the Caribbean, appeared an error fare from London to <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/flights/mexico-city-at-295-rtn">Mexico City for under &pound;300</a>!&nbsp;That one didn't last long, but suffice it to say, it made for a very excitable day.&nbsp;
The thing is, readers, all these surprise Mexican treats were from the European side of the pond. And frankly, awesome fares to anywhere other than Canc&uacute;n come around so rarely for us that I just don't know where to pick, given the choice.
So, this time, I'm looking mostly to those of you in North America, who are used to a little more Mexico on your plate &mdash; where's the place to be? Is it the beaches of <a href="https://theawkwardtraveller.com/cabo-or-cancun/">Canc&uacute;n or Cabo</a>? The street food of <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1kmaaj8/mexico_city_vs_oaxaca/">Oaxaca or CDMX</a>?
Let us know your favourite spots in Mexico <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/detour-196-slow-and-scenic-italy-alternative-uk#comments">in the comments</a>, or by replying to this email.
Happy travels and safe landings,

It's Our Summer Sale!

Now is the best time&nbsp;to start planning your winter getaways. As a Premium member, you&rsquo;ll get access to&nbsp;all&nbsp;of our content: 8&ndash;10 flights&nbsp;per week, including error fares and business class.
Keep that summer feeling going long into the winter months with 3 months of Premium for &pound;1 - this is our biggest offer of the year!

Jack's Flight Club Promo

Now is the best time&nbsp;to start planning your winter getaways. As a Premium member, you&rsquo;ll get access to&nbsp;all&nbsp;of our content: 8&ndash;10 flights&nbsp;per week, including error fares and business class.
Keep that summer feeling going long into the winter months with 3 months of Premium for &euro;1 - this is our biggest offer of the year!

Now is the best time&nbsp;to start planning your winter getaways. As a Premium member, you&rsquo;ll get access to&nbsp;all&nbsp;of our content: 8&ndash;10 flights&nbsp;per week, including error fares and business class.
Keep that summer feeling going long into the winter months with 3 months of Premium for $1 - this is our biggest offer of the year!

Now is the best time&nbsp;to start planning your winter getaways. As a Premium member, you&rsquo;ll get access to&nbsp;all&nbsp;of our content: 8-10 flights&nbsp;per week, including error fares and business class.
Keep that summer feeling going long into the winter months with 3 months of Premium for $1 - this is our biggest offer of the year!

Larissa is an Aussie expat from Sydney who only sometimes misses the beach. Currently based in London, she&rsquo;s now working on ticking as many European cities off her travel list as possible, while checking for brunch spots along the way.

By Larissa

I&rsquo;ve just come back from a week in Puglia, and I didn&rsquo;t rent a car. That may surprise you, as the number one way to see southern Italy is from behind the wheel &mdash; and for good reason. Aside from the lax driving rules and how easy it is to pick up a vehicle at the airport, lots of the major visitor attractions are only accessible by car, like the best beaches in the area.&nbsp;
Despite knowing all that, I still decided to rely on trains and buses throughout my trip in June 2025. In fact, this is my second time travelling around the boot of Italy this way. You may be thinking, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t speak Italian, I&rsquo;m not adventurous enough to hop on and off public transportation across the country. Surely it&rsquo;s not worth the hassle!?&rdquo;
Well, neither do I! And you don&rsquo;t have to be as adventurous as you think; the south of Italy is surprisingly well-connected by trains and buses &mdash; we saw plenty of people using both as we navigated around, tourists and locals alike.

<h3 dir="ltr">Why take public transport in Southern Italy?&nbsp;</h3>
If you have the time and don&rsquo;t want the hassle of renting a car, buying petrol and figuring out your insurance, I&rsquo;d recommend ditching the car.&nbsp;&nbsp;
To give you a little background &ndash; I learned to drive as a teenager (as most do in Australia) around the suburbs of Sydney, have always enjoyed it, and still have a driver's licence. So far, so normal. That was, until I moved to London when I was 24. It&rsquo;s been 6 years since then, and that means 6 years since I&rsquo;ve been behind the wheel of a car.&nbsp;
When faced with the prospect of navigating tiny cobbled streets, Vespas and overeager European drivers, it struck me that I&rsquo;d maybe been off the roads for too long. So with that in mind, I decided to throw myself at the whim of bus and train schedules, while baking under the summer Puglian sun.&nbsp;
Before we go any further, a caveat: yes, trains and buses do get delayed, and the service can be infrequent (especially on weekends and the off season). This kind of travel will only work for you if you&rsquo;re happy to spend hours waiting around, and you allow yourself plenty of time to get where you want to go. For some people, it&rsquo;s always going to be easier to just hire a car and have the freedom to move around, which I totally respect!&nbsp;

<h3 dir="ltr">Catching public transport between Brindisi, Maglie, Ostuni, Lecce and Monopoli</h3>
We flew in and out of Brindisi airport, then (thanks to a very beautiful, but very remote wedding) had to make our way down to a little town called Maglie &mdash; it's located almost smack-bang in the middle of the boot, about 80 km from the airport. To get there, we took the airport bus into the centre of Brindisi, stayed overnight, and then spent the next day slowly winding our way down the country.&nbsp;
First, we caught a train from Brindisi to Lecce, &lsquo;the Florence of the South&rsquo;, and then hopped on a bus to Maglie from there. All in all, it took a couple of hours and two hops, whereas if we were to drive, we would have been there in just under an hour. Not the fastest way to go, but it was cheap (less than &euro;10 per person) and reliable (especially when compared to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1iagaf6/europes_best_and_worst_rail_operators/">other European rail networks</a>). The train and bus both came when they were scheduled.&nbsp;
We had to do it all again in reverse a couple of days later, which also went off without a hitch.&nbsp;
On separate day trips, we also travelled from Brindisi by train/bus to other spots on our list like <a href="https://www.alongdustyroads.com/posts/things-to-do-ostuni-puglia-guide">Ostuni</a> (the &lsquo;White City&rsquo;, full of boutique shops and has views of rolling hills for days), <a href="https://pugliaparadise.com/puglia-travel-guide/lecce/">Lecce</a> (the &lsquo;Florence of the South&rsquo;, with looming sandstone churches and baroque buildings) and <a href="https://www.bontraveler.com/monopoli-italy/">Monopoli</a> (easiest access to sandy beaches by foot, also a very pretty town in its own right).&nbsp;

<h3 dir="ltr">How to plan your own trip around Southern Italy on public transport</h3>
So, you&rsquo;re intrigued &mdash; how do you follow in my footsteps?&nbsp;
<a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/puglia-by-public-transport">Keep reading...</a>

Alternative UK City Breaks: Bonus Round

Flight Finder Akasha finds phenomenal flights faster than you can decide where you want to take a trip to next. A pro at finding the best of the best fares, she's also a master at sharing must-visit spots for when you land.

By Akasha

Before we wrap up last week&rsquo;s roundup of alternative UK cities for a summer break, another entry just hit our inbox from JFC member Claire. Here&rsquo;s what she&rsquo;s got to say:

&ldquo;On the subject of UK cities worth exploring this summer, I'd love to make a case for Newcastle. A compact city centre boasts attractions old and new, particularly for those who love their art and culture. From world-class museums like <a href="https://baltic.art/">contemporary art gallery Baltic</a>, the fascinating <a href="https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/greatnorthmuseum">Great North Museum: Hancock</a>, to the interactive<a href="https://www.life.org.uk/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=19682308792&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADshYFo7ea6fKL-8Ebz43MQ3jWRfe&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwkILEBhDeARIsAL--pjykSj0YmybFRNnBaYYegg8cVyh9kdhWFEjI2NhAPT6tGpODMhP0mzYaAsubEALw_wcB"> Life Science Centre</a>&hellip;&rdquo;

And I have to agree! I spent a few days in Newcastle with my dad last year, and although it was just a quick stop en route to Edinburgh, the city really surprised me. More specifically, the people and their kindness surprised me (from the minute we arrived, the Geordie welcome hit full force), as well as the food!
Traveling with my father can be challenging; he&rsquo;s loud, he&rsquo;s curt, and he&rsquo;ll have no problem telling a waiter what he really thinks of the soup. But he is also a big foodie, which results in a Google Map transformed into a gastronomic guidebook before you&rsquo;ve even made it to the boarding gate.
No need for a tour guide, just follow Geoff. Give him 60 minutes, and he&rsquo;ll be on a first-name basis with the chef at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g186394-d1773852-Reviews-Rani_Indian_Restaurant-Newcastle_upon_Tyne_Tyne_and_Wear_England.html">Rani Indian Restaurant</a>, tucking into a Punjabi feast that&rsquo;s normally reserved for Aunties and VIPs. By dessert, he&rsquo;ll have two staff members and two diners signed up for Jack&rsquo;s Flight Club &mdash; and an entire notes app full of places like Shimla, Sissu and Manali to visit if I ever make it to <a href="https://youtu.be/dHEVGuw5LCE?si=SJ-9Ox83AQs9RQVj&amp;t=40">Himachal Pradesh</a>.&nbsp;

So with that in mind, I followed Geoff through a whirlwind of some of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/quayingredient/?hl=en">best English breakfasts</a> I&rsquo;ve ever tasted, and <a href="https://www.rio-steakhouse.co.uk/quayside">Churrasco comas</a> come sunset. Relinquishing any notion of gazing up at those museum ceilings.
Okay, that&rsquo;s not exactly fair &mdash; I did manage to peel him away from <a href="https://newcastlegateshead.com/business-directory/shopping/matthews-cheese-specialist">the cheese stall at Grainger market</a> to visit the city&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/">Norman castle</a>, which I highly recommend. Besides the standard tours of the castle, they also occasionally run movie nights, historical reenactments and talks. &pound;8 to hear someone yak about witches and cholera? Sign me up!

&ldquo;There's also <a href="https://newcastlegateshead.com/events">a free programme</a> of city-wide activities like kayaking on the River Tyne, outdoor movie screenings, and fun activities throughout the summer. The city's music scene is thriving. Head to the trendy Ouseburn Valley for quirky venues, craft beer, interesting eats, and tons of live music.&rdquo;&nbsp;- Claire

I&rsquo;ve heard&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stephaniefox.co.uk/enjoy-a-day-out-to-ouseburn-newcastle/">great things about Ouseburn</a>. Back in the day, it used to be an industrial hub. Now? It&rsquo;s more like what Shoreditch is to London. Quirky, gritty, cool.
By day, you can weave in and out of <a href="https://ouseburntrust.org.uk/events/tunnel-tours/">WWII tunnels</a>, art galleries like the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebiscuitfactorygallery/?hl=en">Biscuit Factory</a>, farm trails (yes, there&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ouseburnfarm.org.uk/">an urban farm!</a>) or pass the time with a book and a gluten-free muffin <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thegaragencl/?hl=en">in a garage-turned-caf&eacute;</a>. Think exposed pipes, vintage lights, and coffee so strong it could rotate your tyres. 
At night? You&rsquo;ve got Newcastle&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ouseburntrust.org.uk/explore-ouseburn-valley/where-to-visit/music-and-gigs-in-ouseburn/">best nightlife, live gigs and pubs</a> at your fingertips.

&ldquo;All this, and the stunning county of Northumberland on the doorstep, where you'll find coastal castles, networks of hiking and biking trails, ancient treasures like Hadrian's Wall, and friendly, welcoming people.&rdquo;

This is why I&rsquo;ve sworn to return to Newcastle solo next time (sorry, dad) &mdash; for the chance to see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/">Hadrian&rsquo;s Wall</a> poking up among dramatic moorlands and Roman ruins, windswept castles, golden beaches, and quaint coastal towns on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.visitnorthumberland.com/explore/destinations/towns-villages">Northumberland Coast</a>. Or maybe go northwest to be illuminated under the vastness of <a href="https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/things-to-do/discover-dark-skies/where-to-stargaze/">Northumberland Dark Skies Park</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, I wouldn&rsquo;t trade the memories for anything. But next time, I&rsquo;d love to see more of Northern England&rsquo;s natural scenery by venturing out into the wild between the fantastic feasts. Thanks so much for your tips, Claire! We love hearing everyone's destination recommendations, so if there's somewhere you absolutely need to tell The Detour readers about, <a href="https://members.jacksflightclub.com/articles/detour-196-slow-and-scenic-italy-alternative-uk#comments">head to the comments</a> or hit 'Reply'!

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across web this week.
<ul>
<li>If all that talk of Mexican street food earlier on got your taste buds tingling, let <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/hubs/feast-2025">Gastro Obscura's 2025 Feast</a> help guide your upcoming travel plans. </li>
<li>Lusting after the most epic of all road trips?&nbsp;<a href="https://wild-places.com/">It's got to be Patagonia</a>. </li>
<li>First they stopped making us remove our shoes, and now they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.afar.com/magazine/tsa-tests-eliminating-bag-recheck-rule-on-connecting-flights">won't make us collect checked luggage</a> on international connections. Seems the TSA are in a good mood? </li>
<li>And finally, getting a slice of life abroad can sometimes be hard without taking a trip. But it turns out that all it takes for some authentic Colombian vibes is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p0lqjgsz/the-secret-behind-colombia-s-blender-craze">a blender</a>. Time to get juicing!</li>
</ul>

Slow and Scenic Southern Italy, Bonus Alternative UK

Northern Ireland

Like every year, 2025 has presented a never-ending stream of &ldquo;the best cities to visit this summer,&rdquo; &ldquo;the cheapest city to visit,&rdquo; etc. I always keep an eye on these lists, because just occasionally, they dig up somewhere new or less-visited. 
Not so for the new list of &lsquo;<a href="https://www.cntraveller.com/article/top-uk-destinations-to-visit-this-summer-revealed">top UK destinations to visit this summer</a>,&rsquo; as named by CN Traveller based on recommendations from online travel agent Hoppa. Essentially, it names five of the most famous cities in the UK outside London &mdash; hardly revelational, but they are all well worth a visit. Suggesting we visit in summer, though&hellip;? That was the tipping point for me.
To save you the trouble, the article names Manchester, York, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Bath as the best places to visit this summer. If you&rsquo;re coming to the UK on a big summer jaunt, those cities are likely to be on your radar already, but if you live in the UK, or you&rsquo;re keeping your plans loosey goosey, I&rsquo;d recommend looking elsewhere.

I&rsquo;ve visited four of those five cities over the last year, and every single one of them is best enjoyed outside peak summer.&nbsp;
Take York, for example; I was there two weeks ago. It&rsquo;s gorgeous, and there are lots of great restaurants. When you visit, you&rsquo;ll likely want to walk around the old town, along <a href="https://www.chasingthelongroad.com/england/shambles-york/">The Shambles</a>, and visit the Minster. You may even want to lean into <a href="https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/haunted-places/york">the city&rsquo;s spooky side</a>.&nbsp;
But a summer trip is basically an invitation to wait in lines, battle along narrow streets through hordes of tourists, dodge the raucous hen and stag parties, and pay over the odds for fairly basic accommodation.&nbsp;
In fact, that&rsquo;s a theme that repeats across all these destinations: big money, big crowds. Meals out are expensive, reservations are hard to come by, and frankly, there&rsquo;s just so little room to breathe and enjoy your surroundings.

Having lived in Glasgow on and off since 2007, I&rsquo;ve always had one rule about visiting our more famous and desirable neighbour, Edinburgh &mdash; don&rsquo;t do it in August. And if you must, come prepared.&nbsp;
A trip to Edinburgh in August should be a conscious decision to join the tens of thousands other visitors descending on the city for the festival. Or should I say &ldquo;festivals&rdquo; &mdash; there&rsquo;s not just one, but five, spanning art, opera, comedy, literature, and more. You can catch big names on small stages, street performers on corners, up-and coming stars in bars. It&rsquo;s great if that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;re into! But even strolling down Princes Street becomes a mission during this time.
Visiting the castle is a must for any first-timer, but be sure to book your tickets well in advance during summer. Usually, I&rsquo;d say you can save a few bucks by skipping the tour and just taking in the views from the outside, but they&rsquo;ll be blocked off by the set-up for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/whats-on/military-tattoo/">military tattoo</a>.

All that to say, readers, I just don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s worth it if you really want to experience a city.&nbsp;
Even in May, Belfast was buzzing and pricey, with little chance of grabbing a table without planning ahead. Manchester in August required the specialist knowledge of a local to find us a brunch spot worth making those reservations for, and the only affordable accommodation within the city was a noisy hostel room with no air conditioning. It was safe and didn&rsquo;t break the bank, at least.
So where would I recommend in summer? Here are a few suggestions, the first of which likely won&rsquo;t surprise you:
<h2 dir="ltr">Glasgow</h2>

First off, it&rsquo;s within easy reach of Edinburgh if you do want to dip into the festival scene. Trains connect the two cities during the day in only 50 minutes, while buses run all night to get you home after a late show.&nbsp;
 But there&rsquo;s plenty to see and do in <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DHT4ItFIHDR/?hl=en">Scotland&rsquo;s under-rated largest city</a> without heading east. The grand architecture, free museums, and quirky character like <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/duke-of-wellington-statue">Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s perpetual cone hat</a> and the old, <a href="https://www.summerleetg.co.uk/blog/blog9.html">circular subway system</a> are enough to make anyone fall for Glasgow&rsquo;s charm. Plus, it's a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/indy-eats/glasgow-best-restaurants-bars-food-scene-london-b2770764.html">haven for foodies.</a>
<h2>Folkestone</h2>

Isn&rsquo;t that where the Channel Tunnel goes to France? Why yes, actually, it is. But Flight Finder Larissa assures me it&rsquo;s also a great spot for a weekend break. In her words, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s particularly cute &mdash; it has a very Brighton vibe without being so crowded as Brighton.&rdquo; 
By that, she means you&rsquo;ll find cobbled streets full of&nbsp;<a href="https://folke.life/folkestone/places/old-high-street/">colourful, artsy, and independently-owned</a> shops and caf&eacute;s, as well as a city beach safe for surfing and swimming. It&rsquo;s got its fair share of wartime history behind it too, with the nearby <a href="https://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/">Battle of Britain Memorial</a> and the <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zigzag-path">Zigzag Path cave</a>. And on a clear day, you can even <a href="https://folke.life/folkestone/places/the-leas/">see France from The Leas</a>.
<h2 dir="ltr">Lincoln</h2>

Looking for that gothic cathedral, fortified castle, and cutesy cobblestone street vibe you&rsquo;d expect in York or Edinburgh? Turns out&nbsp;<a href="https://jamiechancetravels.com/blog/things-to-do-in-lincoln/">Lincoln&rsquo;s got it too</a>, minus the millions of tour buses.&nbsp;
Between the Arboretum, Roman ruins, nearby country parks and <a href="https://www.doddingtonhall.com/">Downton Abbey-esque mansion</a>, you can easily fill a few days of glorious summer sunshine. By day, you&rsquo;ll stumble across <a href="https://www.visitlincoln.com/shopping/markets/">market stalls</a> selling fresh produce and local crafts, and come nightfall, the local <a href="https://www.lincolnghostwalks.co.uk/">ghost walk</a> serves up a more gruesome slice of local lore.
But should the British summer show up in traditionally unpredictable fashion, you still can pass the time with a spot of history; Lincoln Castle houses an <a href="https://www.lincolncastle.com/explore/magna-carta">original Magna Carta</a> from 1215, while the nearly 1000-year-old cathedral was the tallest building in the world for over 200 years. Be sure to look out for its <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-lincoln-imp">demonic resident</a>!
There are certainly more cities around the UK &mdash; and indeed, across Europe &mdash; that deserve a shout-out here for their charm and affordability. Get in touch and share your favourite summer city breaks off the usual tourist trail!

Why You Shouldn't Visit the Most Popular UK Destinations This Summer

Trinidad and Tobago

Antigua and Barbuda

Philippines

United Arab Emirates

Canada

United States

Australia

India

South Africa

Portugal

Who does Christmas best, according to the JFC Team!

Cuba

Colombia

Peru

Halloween is around the corner, so it&rsquo;s time to share some of the JFC team&rsquo;s creepy travel experiences. A few of them, you might want to recreate for yourselves, others&hellip; not so much.
<h3>Lauren says&hellip; </h3>
&ldquo;<a href="https://jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/welcome-to-the-weird-world-of-atomic-tourism">I'm a sucker for anything remotely abandoned</a>, I find it so fascinating to see how buildings are just left to decay. These are some of the most interesting and spooky that I've visited:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A derelict <a href="https://diplomatictimes.net/2018/12/22/cubans-still-embrace-derelict-abandoned-sports-complex-in-havana/">sports complex</a> in Havana, Cuba, still used by locals despite its decrepit condition.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Tenerife&rsquo;s abandoned <a href="https://therealtenerife.com/posts/the-abandoned-leper-village-of-tenerife/">leper village</a>, built to control an outbreak but ultimately never populated thanks to revolutionary treatments.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The now-famous <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-manuela-hacienda-ruins">holiday home of Pablo Escobar</a>, a shell of what it once was after being blown apart by a bomb in 1993.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/0fe770a0dc6a6d95295c08ca00814c4f17670903" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<a href="https://www.chescaislost.com/legend-wistmans-wood">Wistman's Wood in Dartmoor</a> National Park is also one of my faaaave spooky places. It's so quiet and eerie! The trees are so unusual and twisted, but just remember to keep your eyes peeled for the hellhounds&hellip;&rdquo;
<h3>Akasha says&hellip; </h3>
&ldquo;I once went exploring around <a href="https://adamxphotos.com/2018/08/22/explore-220-ballyvourney-de-salle-college-county-cork-ireland-september-2017/">Col&aacute;iste &Iacute;osag&aacute;in</a>, an abandoned Christian Brothers boarding school in County Cork, Ireland.
The school had a brutal reputation for abusing its students, and you could feel the sadness as you walked around it. The desperate messages scrawled on the walls only made it all the more eerie and depressing.
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/0eee9b95e5ee061de9fa0136e579d429a544501f" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
It was also known locally as a place where people would go to do seances and perform rituals. I&rsquo;d thought those were just rumours, until I got there and saw the open books on the floor about exactly that.&nbsp;
It was also one of the filming locations for a film called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_for_a_Raggy_Boy">Song for a Raggy Boy</a>. The storyline had some uncomfortable parallels with the school&rsquo;s own history, which only made the experience all the more grim.&nbsp;
<h3>Fran says&hellip; </h3>
&ldquo;We were doing a late <a href="https://blog.atlasobscura.com/trips/night-hike-pitch-black-in-the-amazon">night walk in the Peruvian Amazon</a>, near the three-border point with Colombia and Brazil. It was super dark, and we only had a tiny torch on our head. It was two of us, plus the guide, and thousands of tiny spider eyes staring at us.
At some point, we heard some noises coming from a bush close by and our guide froze, whispering, &ldquo;it may be a jaguar, don't move.&rdquo; I thought to myself, &ldquo;bye mum, it's been fun.&rdquo;
He got close to the bush, stomping on his old hiking boots and shook the leaves with his machete... it was a tapir mum with her baby! Our guide got SO excited and said it had been three years since the last time he saw a tapir. Took me a few seconds to start breathing again!&rdquo;
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/f8653772b4742a9fe2e54fd25eb118d1277fda2b" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h3>Robin says&hellip; </h3>
&ldquo;I fell asleep on a <a href="https://travelnevada.com/outdoor-recreation/sand-mountain-recreation-area/">remote sand dune mountain in Nevada</a> whilst star gazing.&nbsp;
I woke up in the middle of the night, no moon to light the sky, and panned my torch about. There was a quick, reflected flash from two forward-facing predator eyes away in the distance, on the crest of another dune.&nbsp;
My heart rate elevated. &ldquo;They don't have cougars in Nevada, do they?&rdquo; I wondered&hellip; (<a href="https://www.ndow.org/species/mountain-lion/">they do</a>).&nbsp;
I panned the torch around again. The eyes are closer than before. I start walking slowly away&hellip; Probably just desert fox. Probably.&nbsp;
I try the torch again. Four eyes now.&nbsp; Loping. Even closer, only another ridge away. Probably just curious. Probably.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/2aaaa8b2605ac22f7e32ce07bd6134cedde0b693" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
Confident walking away quickly turns into a terrified, careering run down 400ft of sand dune in the dark back to the safety of the car. Foxes (probably) laughing.
<h3>Katy says&hellip; </h3>
&ldquo;After a late flight into Georgia earlier this year, our coach transfer to Tbilisi got held up by a landslide on the motorway around 50 minutes into a 3.5hr journey. There was no way around it, so the driver parked up in the main square of a small town in central Georgia for the night.&nbsp;
We were free to leave and find somewhere to stay for the night, but we quickly realised that accommodation in <a href="https://wander-lush.org/things-to-do-in-zestafoni-guide/">Zestafoni</a> was few and far between&mdash;especially at 11pm. Plus, with snow up to our calves, none of us fancied abandoning the warmth and occasional Wi-Fi of the bus.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/d6e583e7984d7d3ac1e66067684e8d67bfd512a3" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h6 style="text-align: center;">&ldquo;I &lt;3 Zestafoni&rdquo;</h6>
After a restless night aboard the coach with 40-odd others, it became clear that the driver had no idea when we&rsquo;d be able to move again. Thankfully, the one passenger who spoke both Georgian and English knew that the first commuter train out of there would leave at 6am, headed to Khashuri, which would perfectly circumnavigate the closure. So off we went.
Tickets acquired, we made our way towards the <a href="https://wander-lush.org/trains-in-georgia-country-tips-map/">beaten-up, single-carriage Soviet relic</a> on the platform. It was still dark, there was no indication that this train would take us where we wanted to go, and we couldn&rsquo;t speak the language. As I grabbed the handles by the door to pull myself up into the unlit train, my partner jokingly said the words, &ldquo;welcome to the abattoir.&rdquo;
And that&rsquo;s when the stench of raw meat hit me like a ton of bricks. As I moved through the first compartment, I was greeted by huge plastic containers full of mystery cuts of mystery animal, accompanied by grubby older guys in dusty work clothes. I quickly averted my eyes and made my way onwards through the darkened compartments.
Eventually, in the second-last of 8 compartments, I found a couple I recognised from our bus and joined them&mdash;this felt safe. Ish. We sat down on the solid bench seats, knowing we had a couple of hours of discomfort ahead of us, but at least there would be safety in numbers, right?
A few minutes later, the train started squeaking ominously along the platform, still in complete darkness. Sleep-deprived and basing our whole onward journey on the word of one seemingly kind man on the bus, we began to accept that we may be chugging along to our deaths.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.jacksflightclub.com/id/bda9fe02b599a64ba6e13d57cf0ba9addc4c6f1b" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<h6 style="text-align: center;">My friend Mary, tired and suspicious of our surroundings</h6>
And then the light in our compartment came on. And then it went off. And then it flickered for the next two hours. All we could see out the windows was the occasional glowing neon cross on the hillside, which only added to the discomfort.
Then the darkness lifted somewhat, and the sky became navy blue, allowing us to make out the snowy, <a href="https://youtu.be/BoP-KlDyoRI?si=VY9wPv1t8CK962vt&amp;t=14">mountainous landscape of the Imereti region</a> around us. It was breathtaking. The train meandered on for a couple of hours, squeezing in an unfathomable number of commuters along the way. But eventually we arrived in Khashuri, victorious.&nbsp;
Holding our breath, we manoeuvred our way off the train past containers of meat and into the snow. Then we remembered that we still had to get to Tbilisi.

England

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