Take this plane to ... Dorset

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [View in browser]( [The Independent]( [Travel] Simon Calder’s Travel Week [Simon Calder]( Written by Simon Calder | June 18, 2021 A new summer air route on easyJet from Liverpool airport: in normal times I would excitedly speculate where the Airbus might be bound. Marrakech? Naples? Mykonos? But in the weird purgatory of draconian travel restrictions, where only Gibraltar and Iceland are plausible overseas destinations, [the reality is Bournemouth](, just 182 miles away. At the start of the week, easyJet revealed it was [shifting capacity from the UK to Germany]( to power the summer getaway from Berlin to the Balearics. But Britain's biggest budget airline still has a well-maintained fleet of aircraft and thousands of eager, professional staff. Aviation has terrifyingly high fixed costs and relatively low variable costs. So it is worth shuttling within the UK to keep the planes, the pilots and the cabin crew in shape. If neither Merseyside nor Dorset is to your liking, other short hops are available, including Manchester to Edinburgh. How successful this 185-mile link turns out to be is anyone's guess: the two cities are three hours apart by rail. Before [Flybe collapsed 15 months ago](, it shuttled between the pair. Many of its passengers were connecting to or from Manchester airport on partner airlines. In contrast, easyJet is a "point-to-point" carrier with no such tie-ups Pier review: one of many attractions of the Bournemouth area, Boscombe Pier One Anglo-Scottish route that has no competitive surface alternative will connect Inverness with Newquay. The 110-minute flight can replace a 12-hour drive or a 14-hour rail journey with five changes of train. Even better, it will permit someone to undertake the fastest-ever journey from Land's End to John O'Groats. (Before you heckle, I realise that neither is the most southerly nor northerly point on the British mainland.) With a cooperative driver at either end, I calculate you could cover the ground between the traditional extremes of Britain in six hours flat. I hope you get a window seat, because the direct route looks fabulous: across Pembrokeshire, the Llyn Peninsula and Holyhead in northwest Wales, bisecting the Isle of Man and then traversing the Southern Uplands and the Highlands of Scotland, Line of beauty: Great Circle Mapper's assessment of the most direct path between Inverness and Newquay Talking of Holyhead: weird flights are not the only strange transportational rearrangement: a week today, Stena Line launches [the first-ever ferry link from Holyhead to Belfast](. The company says that with social distancing measures limiting capacity on its existing sailings from Liverpool and Cairnryan, the extra weekend effort is essential. The voyage is scheduled to take eight hours – but if [Brittany Ferries' plans for a high-speed electric "SeaGlider"]( come to fruition, the link could shrink to an hour. Destination of the week: Love Field, Dallas Love in the air: a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 at theFrontiers of Flight Museum, Love Field Fifty years ago today, the world of aviation changed dramatically for the better. A three-plane start-up airline called Southwest dispatched its first Boeing 737 from Love Field, the older and less fashionable airport for Texas, destination Houston. The driving force was a lawyer-turned-airline executive named Herb Kelleher. His recipe of offering unprecedented low fares (initially designed to entice people away from the Greyhound bus), plus friendly, professional crew, propelled Southwest to become the most successful carrier the world has ever seen. "Herb Kelleher started the low-fare revolution, " the Ryanair boss, Michael O'Leary, told me this week. The Southwest story is celebrated at Love Field in the Frontiers of Flight Museum – which recalls events including 22 November 1963, when President John F Kennedy touched down there for the last time aboard Air Force One. Hours later he had been assassinated. Deals of the week - The last time I stayed in the Edinburgh Yotel, I paid almost £100 for a single room – good value for a top-class place to stay on the northwest edge of the New Town. With the collapse of inbound tourism to the Scottish capital, you can book a double for a midsummer night's dream stay next Monday for just £58. - What a difference a week makes. In the early hours of last Saturday morning, Stobart Air collapsed. The carrier operated on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional, and its failure left Belfast City with far fewer connections to and from Great Britain. Most have now been replaced and upgraded to jet service by Aer Lingus "mainline" and its sister airline, British Airways CityFlyer, and easyJet has now launched a link from Gatwick. A return from the Sussex airport, out on 12 July and back on 20 July, costs £62. - My marketing colleagues at The Independent have asked me to pass this message on: "Amazon Prime Day officially lands on 21 and 22 June, but there are already plenty of early deals to shop now. With thousands of savings up for grabs, we've been busy editing up the very best deals across everything from tech like laptops and headphones to household appliances like vacuums and coffee machines, to show you the ones that are worth your while. Don't miss out. [To keep up to speed click here](." Question of the week: Will Spain turn away Brits? Question: I am hoping to go to Barcelona in mid-August, and am fine to isolate if it is still amber (though hoping for green). However, do you think it's likely Spain may change their no-test/quarantine policy for UK travellers arriving there, now our infection rate has risen? Answer: Spain recognises that coronavirus cases are soaring in the UK, but it is holding to its "no test, no quarantine" policy as it seeks the optimum balance between public health and public finances. While other, less tourism-dependent nations such as the Netherlands have heightened barriers to Brits, I believe the situation in the UK would need to get significantly worse before more obstructions were placed in the way of UK travellers to Spain. Stories you might like [Simon Calder discusses travelling after May 17]( [Simon Calder discusses travelling after May 17]( [‘Green list shambles’ causing untold damage to UK tourism, says Ryanair]( ‘Green list shambles’ causing untold damage to UK tourism, says Ryanair]( More stories [Fastest London to Glasgow train journey attempted in bid to beat 36-year-old record]( Fastest London to Glasgow train journey attempted in bid to beat 36-year-old record]( [Lisbon ringed off at weekends as Portugal fights virus surge]( Lisbon ringed off at weekends as Portugal fights virus surge]( Other newsletters you might like [Adam Forrest]( Inside Politics Every weekday, 8am (UK time) Written by Adam Forrest [Join now >]( [Joe Sommerlad]( Daily News Briefing Every weekday, 8am (UK time) Written by Joe Sommerlad [Join now >]( Let me know your thoughts on Twitter [@SimonCalder](. If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. 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