No frills to Tel Aviv
Easyjet (easyjet.com) is launching a new service between Luton and Israel's second-largest city, Tel Aviv, on 2 November. The airline, which will become the first no-frills carrier to fly between the British capital and Tel Aviv, will run services every day except Friday, with fares from £71.98 one way. The airline will also start running twice-weekly (Wednesday and Sunday) flights from Gatwick to Agadir in Morocco on 4 November, with prices from £32.99 one way.
Cook's 2012 Tours
More than a century after it escorted British travellers to the first modern Olympic Games – in Athens in 1896 – Thomas Cook is gearing up to support the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. The tour operator will provide a range of short-break packages, including accommodation, transport and tickets. Sports fans will have a while to wait to get their hands on these packages, though – they won't go on sale until 2011, but you can register at thomascook.com so you can keep up to date with all the details.
An eyeful in Paris
Heading to Paris in the next three months? You're in luck: you'll see the Eiffel Tower as it's never been seen before, lit up with 400 LED spotlights. To celebrate 120 years of the Eiffel Tower, a 12-minute light show – one minute for each decade the Iron Lady has stood in the heart of Paris – takes place on its Trocadero facade every night at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm and 11pm from now until 31 December. You're promised "a dynamic light sequence evoking the extraordinary construction site of the Tower". For more information see tour-eiffel.fr.
Cup and Cape
If you're heading to the World Cup in South Africa next June, and thinking about making a trip of it, you may be interested in a new boutique travel company, based in Cape Town. Run by a previously London-based couple, Cape Active (00 27 28 272 9723; capeactive.com) will help you not only with self-catering accommodation during the tournament, but also with packages in the Western Cape before or afterwards. For example, a package including seven nights' B&B accommodation, a guided tour of Cape Town and Table Mountain, wine tastings at the Stellenbosch vineyards and an overnight safari stay in a lion sanctuary costs from £575, including transfers but not flights.
Living for the weekend
If you're stuck for ideas for your next weekend away, visit 101shortbreaks.co.uk. This new website features lots of ideas for short trips worldwide, from one to four nights. Try wine tasting in Gloucestershire, a weekend on a working farm near Calais or a yoga retreat in Morocco's Atlas Mountains. A tour operator is recommended for each trip.
London by iPhone
Whether you're after a hip coffee shop, farmers' market, library or hotel, if you're an iPhone owner planning a weekend in London you can get insiders' tips with the new iPhone App "Not For Tourists London 2010" (notfortourists.com). Featuring 140 neighbourhoods, 4,500 listings, and dozens of interactive maps, it costs just £2.99, from iPhone App stores.
