In it for the ultra-long haul

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE: £1 FOR 3 MONTHS]( May 19, 2023 [View in browser](   [The Independent]( [The Independent]( Once upon a time, only one British Airways route stood out as ultra-long haul: London Heathrow to the Chilean capital, Santiago. Today, two more flights clear the 14h30m bar. Final call for a long and winding flight   [Get inspired...]( Bilbao bites]( Plan the perfect pintxos crawl in this northern Spanish city; here's [our expert's guide]( on the best restaurants serving the Basque version of tapas [I'm an image]( [Spectacular rail trips]( If you're looking for your next adventure, stay on the right track with The Independent's [pick of train holidays](, including escorted tours and expert-led trips [I'm an image]( [Back to nature]( Fancy a stripped-back staycation without actually having to camp? Check out these [top UK lodge and chalet holidays](, from luxury retreats to budget family stays   Simon’s dispatches The longest duration in the British Airways schedule is now Tokyo Haneda to Heathrow, clocking in at 14h40m – five minutes longer than the South American leap. In third place, at 14h30m, Hong Kong to London: the flight I boarded on Tuesday night. Normally I hang back to try to be the last to board in the hope of finding a couple of empty seats to ease the squeeze. But when I checked in online, the BA website offered me the chance to switch to any other available economy seat – which turned out to be 51B. I stuck with my allotted place by the aisle while the Airbus A350 meandered northwest then due north across China, almost to the Mongolian border. A sharp left turn took us to and over Kazakhstan, a country so vast that it took three hours to cross. When finally we reached the edge of the world's ninth-largest nation and made seafall over the Caspian, the plane was heading southwest to swerve the southernmost point of Russia by a couple of miles. Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine has caused immense human suffering with a horrific death toll. By comparison, [the closure of Russian airspace to BA and other airlines]( is a trivial side-effect. But with dozens of planes making similar detours every day, the economic and environmental cost of flying distinctly sub-optimal routes intensifies. The plane hugged the north coast of Turkey to keep a safe distance from occupied Crimea, then plodded over Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany and Belgium. By the time the pilots crossed the North Sea and performed the traditional lap of honour over south Essex – flying a circuit while awaiting a landing slot at Heathrow – any vestiges of the glamour of flight had vanished into the thin outside air. So it was exciting to read the latest about the prospect of sub-orbital travel. If you believe the hypersonic hype, [by 2033 we will be flying between Sydney and London in under two hours](. On that reckoning, the hop from Hong Kong to Heathrow should take just 90 minutes. Yet the technology to allow fare-paying passengers to fly one-third of the way around the world in less time than it takes to watch an inflight movie remains decades away ([if not more, in my honest opinion](). At least flight BA32 touched down at its appointed destination. Three days earlier, a couple of thousand passengers heading for Gatwick landed at alternate airports scattered across southern England from Bristol to Southend. [A dozen diversions were caused by reports of an unauthorised drone hovering in the flightpath to the Sussex airport](. What with a strike by Italian ground staff shutting down large parts of the aviation industry today, and [the imminent prospect of industrial action by Spanish pilots](, landing in the right place at roughly the right time must be counted a success. Meanwhile, fellow airline passengers, let us keep our grumbles in perspective: [my flight-free colleague, Helen Coffey](, departs tonight to Algeciras in southern Spain. No Airbus for Helen: she will check in at Victoria Coach Station in London for a 48-hour Flixbus odyssey. [The 14 best Hong Kong hotels](     Tip of the week: Meet Handel and Hendrix in Mayfair Whether you love 18th-century classical music or 20th-century rock, a top London tourist attraction has made a comeback. After a £3m restoration lasting nearly two years, [Handel & Hendrix]( in London is open for visitors (10am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday, admission £14). It comprises two residences in Brook Street, Mayfair: the house at no 25 where George Frideric Handel lived from 1723 until he died in 1759, plus the next-door upstairs flat at no 23 that Jimi Hendrix called home in 1968-69. Both homes are recreated to represent how they were when these great musicians were in residence. [Jimi Hendrix visits the Isle of Wight, 1970]( Deal of the week: Free public transport in northern France All local buses in Dunkirk, the northernmost French city, are free. Routes extend from Gravelines in the west through to Adinkerke, across the Belgian border to the east. In neighbouring Calais, the same applies to all 13 local bus services. Nantes, where the Loire meets the Atlantic, offers free trams and buses at weekends. [Where to find free public transport worldwide]( £99 £20 for 1 year ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   Question of the week: Best US stopover cities? Q In June 2024 I shall be flying from London to Jackson, Wyoming, for a hiking trip. There are no direct flights. I want to make the most of having to change planes by staying a day or two. Which city would you choose? A The hubs for one-stop connections between London and Jackson are Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle. Exclude Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas – all fascinating but prone to extreme summer heat. Los Angeles will extend the overall journey time too much. Of the remainder, Denver and Salt Lake City are mountain metropolises that will feel fresh and are excellent for a stay of 48 hours – in which you can explore the downtown attractions and their high-altitude hinterlands. [Denver's Ramble Hotel, a city institution]( Were I forced to choose between the two, Salt Lake City would win. It has an easy, close-in airport with a fast and cheap streetcar connection to downtown, where you discover the heartland of the Mormon church. The West Coast options of Seattle and San Francisco are even more alluring. Try to break the journey both outbound and inbound, and ask a good long-haul travel agent to quote on the best combination. [San Francisco city guide]( STAT OF THE WEEK £12.40 The [average loss incurred by easyJet for each of the 33.1 million passengers carried]( between October 2022 and March 2023 – down from £23.20 per person during the previous winter. Yet Britain's biggest budget airline is confident about expanding profitably this summer. What you might have missed... - Lost cause: [26 million air passengers' bags went astray last year]( - Unwanted extras: [Travellers hit with unexpected charges for condiments and even background music](//link.e.independent.co.uk/click/31530895.3391/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvdHJhdmVsL25ld3MtYW5kLWFkdmljZS9ibHVlLWFpci1yb21hbmlhLWZsaWdodHMtc3VzcGVuZGVkLWIyMTYxNTY1Lmh0bWw/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B2ae3b82c - Pompidou fermeture: [Paris attraction to shut for five years after 2024 Olympics]( SIMON'S DIARY Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can’t respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts [@SimonCalder]( I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can’t respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts [@SimonCalder]( Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on [@Simon_Calder]( Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on [@Simon_Calder]( Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( [INDYBEST]( / [BEST TRAVEL BUYS]( [12 best camping mats for sleeping comfortably in the great outdoors]( Whether for a hiking trip or festival season, snooze soundly on your next [camping holiday](. 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