British people spend more than £168,000 on an average of 120 holidays during their lifetime, a survey has shown. 

The Teletext Holidays’ poll revealed that a holiday “life” involves spending more than £2,750 a year starting at 18 and lasts for around 60 years.

Average holidays cost around £860, but people could save money by considering airport transfers to and from their flights.

Travelling by bus to the airport not only removes the cost of parking a car, but it gives tourists the chance to avoid fears over making the flight in time. 

Young people travelling without their parents for the first time tend to head to Newquay in Cornwall, with Blackpool, London and Brighton also popular destinations.

The survey of 3,000 Britons also found that Australia is a popular location for gap-year trippers as well as those taking retirement holidays.

Florida is favoured by teenagers and those with young children, while those in their 20s taking trips with friends like to visit the Spanish island of Ibiza.

The favourite stag and hen party destination is Amsterdam, while Maldives is a popular honeymoon spot.

Teletext Holidays managing director Victoria Sanders said: “Holidays are increasingly being used to mark important milestones in people’s life. There are more people travelling for stag and hen weekends, to get married overseas or celebrate ‘big zero’ birthdays than ever before.

“An ageing population means that we are travelling for longer and we can fit much more of the world into a lifetime than ever before.”

Copyright Press Association 2011

More people could be taking transfer buses to Stansted following news that flights to the Cape Verde Islands will be available from the airport. 

Flights to Cape Verde will soon be taking off from Stansted, it has been announced

Budget flight website airflights.co.uk announced it would be putting on the flights, which will also enable travellers to head for Banjul in the Gambia, from this winter. 

Previously, flights to the relatively unknown Cape Verde were offered by the website from Gatwick or Manchester – heading to the islands of Sal and Boa Vista.  

However, rumours that the place is earmarked as an ‘in’ destination has seen the firm extend its service.

The cheap flight specialist called the move a ‘great development’.

Many travellers looking for something a little more exotic are expected to head from London to Stansted once the flights begin jetting off. 

Lying off the cost of West Africa, Cape Verde is made up of separate islands including Sal, Boa Vista, Maio and Sao Nicolau. 

Vast white beaches can be found at Sal and Boa Vista, while those looking for more rugged terrain would be more at home on one of the other islands – which all have strong historical links to Portugal. 

Copyright Press Association 2010

Border officials have trained their sights on animal smugglers following the discovery of a briefcase on its way into the UK at Gatwick Airport - full of dead pigeons.

A pet Boa Constrictor was in the top 10 of unusual finds by the UK Border Agency

A number of the birds – discovered at the airport last month - had all of their feathers removed, leading to suspicions they may have been on their way to British restaurants.

But a UK Border Agency spokeswoman revealed how officials were left confused by the old pair of boots found alongside them in the case.

The find was the latest in a top 10 of unusual discoveries by the UK Border Agency, as it targets smugglers bringing animals into the country illegally through airports including Stansted and London Luton.

Another of these was a scene that could have come straight from Snakes On A Plane, with a passenger travelling through Heathrow Airport with his pet Boa Constrictor snake wrapped around his leg.

Other finds included more than 40 dried seahorses, destined to be ground up and used as Chinese traditional medicine, on a passenger travelling from Shanghai; 1,000 live spiders, individually boxed in a suitcase checked in by a British man; a total of 26 rare birds of prey stuffed into plastic pipes for a trip from Thailand; and three rare Copes Alligator lizards, smuggled inside a video tape seized at Gatwick.

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A huge fire in a car park at Stansted Airport has highlighted that it is possible, and often more convenient, to get the bus or use the Stansted Express.

A fire in a car park at Stansted Airport destroyed 24 vehicles

Firefighters were called to the car park at Zone C where an electrical fault in a vehicle caused the fierce blaze.

In total, 24 cars were destroyed, causing £250,000 of damage as gusts of up to 50mph fanned the flames.

The airport’s own fire service, along with other fire service crews, spent more than an hour bringing the flames under control.

Holidaymakers returning to Stansted will be in for a shock to find their cars destroyed.

And the nightmare will not end there as authorities investigating the blaze said it is difficult to find out which was the faulty car that started the fire, making car insurance claims more difficult.

A spokesman for Stansted Airport admitted: “It will be an unpleasant surprise for the owners returning to find their cars burnt-out. But we are arranging free taxis to take them home or a 40% discount with a car rental firm here at the airport.

“A police and fire service investigation is under way and that zone is closed off to new arrivals.

“All the car parks are monitored by CCTV round the clock and, although the fire was picked up quickly, the very high winds caused it to spread extremely rapidly.”

Stansted has the biggest open-air car park of any European airport with a capacity of 26,500 vehicles.

Copyright Press Association 2010

Lisbon has been voted the best city-break holiday but Sydney has not fared so well, which may tempt tourists to find last minute airport transfers and switch their flights from Heathrow in London to Luton Airport.

The charms of Syndey Harbour were not enough to impress tourists

The Portuguese capital, which can be reached from Luton Airport, topped a city index which considered factors such as weather and value for money. However, the Australian city, which tourists cannot reach directly from Luton or Stansted Airport, came 20th and last in the list of 20 cities put together by shopping comparison site Kelkoo.

Lisbon, which scored 66.17 points out of a possible 100, was ranked ahead of Athens in second and Istanbul in third. London (45.62 points) was in eighth place and Dublin (45.24 points) was ranked 10th.

Sydney finished bottom on 21.34 points, while Rio de Janeiro (23.01 points) and Cape Town (30.35 points) performed little better in the survey of 2,300 UK adults.

Athens was found to have the best weather and Hong Kong was praised for the best security, but Rio was considered the most rainy. Amsterdam had the worst crime, while Rio, Sydney and Cape Town were thought to be the least affordable cities for tourists.

London relied on its cultural and tourist attractions to perform well on the survey because it was not highly rated for value for money or weather. Kuala Lumpur was the highest-placed city outside of Europe in ninth, with the top eight cities all located in Europe.

Holidaymakers may be advised to find cheaper ways to airports, such as taking the bus to Luton, after the survey revealed travel expenditure is set to hit £41.1 billion, or £669 per person – some 2.4% higher than last year’s figures.

Affordability was considered to be the most important factor by those surveyed, while security, weather and good food were also vital. 

Copyright Press Association 2010

International air authorities have given the green light to expansion work at Manchester Airport which will see the world’s biggest airliner becoming a regular visitor to the city.

International air authorities have approved expansion work at Manchester Airport which will see the world's biggest airliner become a regular feature over North-West airspace.

After spending £10 million improving facilities and infrastructure, the North West’s main airport is now ready for the arrival of the Airbus A380 super-jumbo – set to touch down for the first time in September.

Manchester is one of just 17 airports across the world able to accommodate both the A380 and other ‘Code F’ aircraft such as freight transports.

Civil Aviation Authority’s Aerodrome Standards Division have approved plans for widened taxi-ways, reinforced tarmac and a revamped terminal.

This puts Manchester in the same league as other international hubs such as Heathrow – linked with the North West by airport transfer – as well as Sydney Airport and California’s LAX.

Manchester Airport managing director Andrew Cornish said that a lot of effort had gone into making Manchester a ‘Category 10′ airport.

He explained: “A lot of hard work and planning has gone into the arrival from many people across the business and we’re pleased that as an aerodrome we can accept the newest type of aircraft flying today and that Emirates has recognised Manchester as a world class airport.”

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Potential strikes at some of Britain’s biggest airports threaten the travel plans of thousands booked on flights over the next few weeks. 

Stansted will be among the airports facing disruption

Getting to Stansted airport could be quite difficult in the coming weeks after staff at BAA’s six airports voted on Thursday to take industrial action in a row over pay.

But there was a glimmer of hope after conciliation service Acas said it was arranging a meeting between workers’ union Unite and BAA. 

No decision will be made over the form or date of any strike before Monday, when the union meets shop stewards, leaving the weekend open for talks between BAA and Unite. 

With firefighters and security making up the Unite members at the airports, any walkout could well have a devastating effect on air travel and tourism industries in the UK, which have already been hit by another dispute with British Airways cabin crew. 

The earliest a strike would be called is August 23 – ahead of the bank holiday weekend. 

Only half of the 6,185 Unite staff voted in the ballot and of those that did, almost three-quarters (74.1%) came out in favour of strike action.  

 But Unite warned this could still force a “total shutdown” of BAA airports – Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

 Luton and Gatwick airports will be unaffected.

BAA said it did not believe the result was a “clear mandate for strike action” and Prime Minister David Cameron said that a strike would “do nothing but harm” to business, tourism and jobs.

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One in three people who hire a car have difficulties with its basic controls, according to a survey, so will be relieved easyBus makes airport transfers simple.

Men have more problems than women in getting to grips with a hire car, Kwik-Fit’s poll of 2,000 adults found. Those flying into the capital and needing to travel the distance from London to Luton can avoid the confusion by booking in with the easyBus service.

Younger drivers tend to have more problems with hire cars than older motorists

Almost half (48%) of 18 to 34-year-olds admit being perplexed by hire cars, but just a third (33%) of drivers over the age of 65 report having problems. The biggest problem people encountered was opening the petrol cap, with 47% admitting they had difficulties.

Other problems commonly met include finding the light controls, opening the boot, operating the windows or mirrors and operating the car’s radio or CD player.

Almost one in five (18%) admitted having trouble starting the car, 6% could not locate the handbrake and 4% have trouble unlocking the doors.

Ian Fraser, chief executive of Kwik-Fit, said: “The controls in a car can differ hugely from one manufacturer to another – and sometimes even between models of the same manufacturer.”

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Travellers going from London to Stansted and Heathrow airports will soon see the work of promotional space provider Brandspace after the company was chosen to manage experiential activity at both venues.

Brandspace has been awarded an eight-year deal to market branding activity at Stansted and Heathrow airports

Brandspace will market promotional sites at both airports to brand partners after it agreed an eight-year deal with BAA.

Figures show that 89 million people travel through Stansted and Heathrow airports every year, while 4.9 million use airport transfer services such as easyBus.

With travellers spending an average of 2.5 hours at airports per journey, branding activity is seen as hugely important for companies.

Steve Hughes, CEO of Promotion Space Group, of which Brandspace is a subsidiary, said: “Our presence in airports means Brandspace offers brands the opportunity to engage with target audiences in a relaxed environment where they have the time and inclination to interact.”

Copyright © Press Association 2010