You should have been there

With the help of listeners' stories, we distil positivity from the unlikeliest of subjects-  delayed flights at airports.  

Follow Simon's week of travel reporting-from the chaos at UK's airports to the 9 euro deal of the century on German railways. And taking in the bizarre dangling tram of Wuppertal as well as plenty of technical challenges along the way.  Many thanks to Hywel Jones and Linda WS for their contributions.   

Our guest interviewee is airline pilot and travel writer, Mark Vanhoenacker. He talks about his new book, Imagine a City, recently published in the UK by Chatto and Windus and also shares some trade secrets. Would you have guessed that the first things he packs is a spork?   Thanks to Mark for his photo of Cairo by night

Enjoy more of listener's  photos of great dishes with spectacular views. Find out which country topped the polls as your favourite location and see the photos @ https://www.flickr.com/gp/190976368@N06/Dc61Tp.    Thanks to all contributors for their photographs and to Scott Buckley for permission to his music track, Solstice

We discover listeners' rooms with views (with Greece clocking up a majority) and serve up the first helping of plates with views. With thanks to everyone who sent in pictures to our twitter account @ youshouldhave BT, and to Nicky Gardner, co-author of Europe by Rail magazine, for sharing her favourite view from a train.   

Hear from listeners about the views that have inspired them and created travel memories both happy and sad. With special thanks to Julia Lo Bue-Said of The Advantage Travel Partnership, James Beagrie of Meon Valley Travel, Mary Poulton, Rebecca Halpern and everyone else who got in touch to share their rooms and their views via our twitter account, @youshouldhave BT 

Bats, birds and bones, not to mention churches and cheese. We enter the twilight zone of caverns and grottoes to discover much more than stalactites and stalagmites.

We discover ways of adding spice to your travels by undertaking special or unusual quests.  The "route of the dovecotes" in southern France, the grounded solar system in Zagreb and the Shakespeare trail in Stratford-upon-Avon are all on the itinerary. Thanks to Norman Smith, Tim Neale and Gary Knapper for taking part.     

Simon takes the temperature of travel in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, three small states in the menacing shadow of Russia and Belarus. Even so, he enjoys the scenery, the hospitality and a surreal cultural tour in the Estonian town of Sillamäe. With thanks to his guide, Valentina, and the anti-war protestors of Tallinn. 

We discuss the real value of travelling with the help of listeners' descriptions of their most expensive holidays. But were these the most enjoyable ones? With special thanks to Jan Morris and Susan Latham