You should have been there

A typing error leads Mick and Simon to wonder about the desirability of travelling in threes. When is three a better number of people than the standard two?  The answer seems to be - when you're in a boat with a dog, when you're up a snowy mountain or when you're flying on a low-cost Spanish airline on Valentine's day!  

Travelling and embarrassment seem to go hand in glove.  Simon and Mick wonder whether it's an essential part of being a tourist and also, if we are often the authors of our own discomfort, not to mention that of our children. The tale  of the false beards is a case in point.  Thanks are due to Poppy and Daisy Calder for dishing the dirt on their dad! 

Are you a responsible traveller?   See if you measure up to the standards proposed by some of the movement's new gurus, and enjoy the poetic pledge created by the Tourist Office of Finland.  Thanks to Anna Hughes of Flight Free UK for her interview  and to  Aaron Burden@unsplash for his photo.

What is that makes us stretch every sinew to get to the top of things? Simon and Mick's favourite high places include the Blackpool Tower, Buenos Aires' Barolo Tower, Mount Aconcagua, also in Argentina, and The Cirque de Gavarnie in the French Pyrenees. Joining them are Silas Webb, who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro and Ed Douglas, whose book, "Himalaya, a human history" is published on the 27th August by Vintage-price £25. Thanks are also due to Christian Bjoerklund for letting us use his musical track, Hallon. 

The act of travelling from one place to another may seem a simple thing. But it has spawned  a vast number of sayings and reflections. Simon and Mick discuss the wittiest, wisest, pithiest and most pathetic of them. 

Mick and Simon relive some of the travel situations which they're only too pleased to have survived.  Plus a visit to a pub in Southampton which is proud to carry the name of that ill-starred ship, The Titanic.  Thanks to Martin and Michelle for their contributions and to www.fesliyanstudios.com, for the music. 

What's in store for this summer's holidaymakers in the UK?  What's open, what needs booking and when do you need to take your own toilet with you? Plus an insight into the mysteries of Romney Marshes and the challenge of cycling from London to Land's End. Thanks to Rob, Silas, Karen, Jan and Vanessa. 

Simon unveils his five pillars of advice on how to avoid some of the nastier travel surprises that are emerging in the wake of the pandemic.  We're grateful to f_ilippo @Freesound for the casino recording  

Reflections on the subject, a bit of advice on how to do it and a look back at what some eccentric travellers carried with them on their journeys. You can see the painting "Waiting for a train" @ https://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/collections/3243/objects/35106/waiting-for-the-train-willesden-junction

Mick and Simon try to make sense of the bewildering advice about where we can and can't  go on our holidays. They also ponder the new pop-up enclaves created by Coronavirus, adding to the historical oddities like Llívia, a small piece of Spain entirely surrounded by France.