‘I booked a petrol hire car but was given an EV instead'
Bigger rental companies won't guarantee petrol/diesel cars even if you get a note put on your booking specifying that you don't want an EV. Hertz, for example, said it could not guarantee a 'specific make, model, transmission or fuel type'. The best way to get what you want is to book with a reputable smaller, local company, which will have a smaller fleet and more personal service. In Crete try the highly rated Anna Cars which can guarantee no EVs because it doesn't have any (annacars.gr).
✉ On May 31 I was on a Ryanair flight to Stansted, coming home from a hen weekend in Biarritz in the south of France. I couldn't check in online due to a visa check issue (I'm Canadian), so I planned to do it at the airport. But when I finally got to the desk, I was told the flight was overbooked and I'd need to wait and see if any seats were freed up. In fact, six passengers, including another girl in the hen party, were left stranded, with zero support (when we rang Ryanair we were just told to go to a check-in desk but there were none of its staff there to help). The other hen and I had to find our own way home via Bilbao and this involved a two-hour night bus ride, a £120 airport hotel and a £200 flight. Ryanair has since made it near impossible to claim the compensation I'm legally owed. Its forms don't allow overbooking claims and I've had irrelevant replies to my complaints. Can you help?Jessica Pearce
You and your fellow hen had a miserable experience but, as is so often the case, human error is to blame for your inability to claim compensation. A Ryanair spokesperson said your flight was not overbooked but a smaller plane had to be substituted for operational reasons: 'As a result, a small number of passengers were unable to travel on this fully booked flight. Regrettably, when informing Ryanair, the third-party ticket desk agent at Biarritz airport failed to include this passenger's details and as a result this passenger did not receive the email required to submit her EU261 compensation claim. A member of our customer service team has since been in contact to further assist this passenger with her claim.'
✉ My husband and I would like to take a trip to celebrate my son turning ten next year. We're flexible on when we go (Easter or summer) and my husband wants to take him to the theme parks in Florida, as his parents did with him when he was ten. I can't think of anything worse. Could you suggest a trip/route that would balance out the crowds and noise, experiencing more of Florida? I'd like to see the Keys and the Everglades. We have a budget of up to £15,000 for us all for up to a fortnight.Katie Pratley
Audley Travel could tailor-make this trip for you, starting with five nights in Orlando — three nights at Drury Plaza Orlando, in the Disney Springs area, and two nights at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando — with Disney and Universal tickets included. (You could make your theme park experiences slightly less painful by buying skip-the-queue passes which at Disney are called Lightning Lane and at Universal Express Pass, and should be invaluable during the school holidays). Then escape the madness by flying down to laid-back Key West for three nights at Oceans Edge Resort. You could add a kayak or snorkelling tour to explore the crystal-clear waters.
Next, pick up a hire car and drive about two hours to Marathon, between Key West and Key Largo. Don't miss a visit to the brilliant Turtle Hospital, which should be perfect for your ten-year-old (turtlehospital.org). You'd then have a two-night stay at the gorgeous Isla Bella Beach Resort before heading west to Naples for three nights at Naples Bay Resort and an airboat tour of the Everglades. A 14-night trip like this during next year's Easter holidays would start at about £15,000 for the three of you, including flights, car hire, theme park tickets and hotel stays sharing one room, room-only (audleytravel.com).
✉ I'm travelling to Peru with my daughter in January. She'll be on a work trip so I thought I could go on my own to Cusco and Machu Picchu but I can't find a travel company that will organise a three-day trip with a small group and guide. Any ideas?Marie Thompson
It's essential to book this Machu Picchu trip as soon as possible because permits to visit the site in January sell out quickly. The local operator Alpaca Expeditions has a two-night tour that also includes exploring Cusco City and the Sacred Valley and involves lots of walking but no trekking. It starts at £513pp, including two nights' B&B (based on sharing a room, single supplement £110), guiding, permit and entrance ticket and transport, and the company warns that because flights to Cusco are often cancelled, you should aim to arrive in the city at least two days before your trip, which will also allow you to acclimatise to the altitude (alpacaexpeditions.com).
✉ We're three friends in our late sixties who take a short break together every year. Our next choice is Vienna. Can you recommend the best area of the city for us to stay in? We're interested in historical sites, museums and city parks with the occasional shopping trip thrown in. Also, is the city easy to get around?Melanie Lloyd
Vienna is a brilliant choice for a short break. It packs a huge cultural punch, is very walkable and, mercifully, doesn't suffer from the overtourism of so many European capitals. Stay in the compact First District (or Innere Stadt) and you'll have the Hofburg Palace, St Stephen's Cathedral and the Vienna State Opera, as well as high-end shopping streets like Kärntner Strasse and Graben, on your doorstep. The large and lovely Stadtpark, home to the golden statue of Johann Strauss, is here too. For a taste of the city's imperial Habsburg past, stay in the small and central König von Ungarn, which dates back to the 17th century and has 44 elegant rooms, a glass-roofed courtyard and vaulted restaurant where you can sample a schnitzel. B&B doubles (or twins) start at £255 in September (kvu.at). The city's fast and efficient public transport is another of its high points and a 72-hour travel card costs £14.50 (wienmobil.at).
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I went to the Canadian-style safari resort in Europe with American bison and new restaurants
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There are about 6,000 wineries in Bordeaux and 57 different appellation d'origine contrôlées (AOCs — indicating the geographical area), all of which taste different depending on the terroir: the subtle differences in soil, slope and climatic exposure. This we learnt in depth at the Cité du Vin, Bordeaux's sleek, shiny swirl of a building and a seriously impressive wine museum, not just any museum but one that manages to engage, educate and delight both oenophiles and the mildly curious (aka us) alike. 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We ride under a heavy sky, through sloping vineyards, past manicured vines to the soundtrack of thunder and lightning. • 25 of the best vineyard hotels to visit in France Just as the downpour begins, we roll into Château La Dominique and retire to La Terrasse Rouge for lunch. Château La Dominique is one of a smattering of wineries marked with the hand of an ambitious architect, in this case Jean Nouvel, whose modern touch includes the wine-coloured metal cladding and a terrace laid with thousands of glass 'grapes' inspired by the artists Jeff Koons and Anish Kapoor. From here you can marvel at the perfect parcels of vineyards as far as Pomerol, including the modernist splendour of neighbouring Cheval Blanc, one of only two châteaux that earned the premier grand cru classification. They are so close in proximity I wonder whether their blends are similar? 'Yes and no,' says Christian, our guide. 'It's all about the blue clay ridge, which only a handful of wineries in the region have, including Cheval Blanc. It's their secret weapon,' he explains. 'A type of clay that is rich in iron and allows them to age their wines for longer than everyone else. We have a small section of it and our best wine comes from that parcel.' A hectare in Saint-Émilion costs in the region of €100,000 and upwards — it's a profitable business but you have to start with deep pockets. At 29 hectares Château La Dominique is a medium-to-large size vineyard, owned by the Clément Fayat family — the fourth largest construction company in France … deep pockets. We head to the cellar to see how their premier wine is made. A grand cru classé means strict processing rules involving 22 separate steel tanks for the 22 different parcels of land and ageing the wine in oak barrels, which are only used twice before being sold on, usually to whiskey distilleries. There is so much riding on the quality of wine, it's dizzying. The terroir, which can change from one side of the road to the other, clay and oak storage vessels, the weather — it can all dramatically affect the quality, and price, of the wine. At Château de Ferrand, a 30-minute cycle away, we learn that a vine that yields a 'good' wine is one that is suffering. 'If you don't trim it, it's going to try harder to grow,' says Elliot who, together with his colleague Josephine, is passionate and knowledgeable. 'We don't irrigate, we don't trim, we stunt it so it produces the biggest, juiciest grapes.' Château de Ferrand is another family-run estate. Not just any family, but the Bich family, responsible for bringing us Bic pens, razors and lighters. Pauline Bich then married Philippe Chandon-Moët, giving it additional kudos in the world of wines. This place is more than just a winery; it is a seriously smart château that feels like an art gallery-cum-winery. We are greeted at the front door by a very amiable and friendly team framed by a large sculpture of a chewed pen lid. After a tour of the wine cellar and vat room, we are ushered into a tasting room so pretty we forget to sit down, marvelling instead the 360-degree wall mural of the château, hand-drawn with Bic pen. 'Look at the colour of the wine against a white surface,' says Elliot as we sit down to taste. 'Then swirl and smell. Is it fruity, floral, herbal, buttery, oaky? Now sip.' We sip, they spit, we follow suit. Full disclosure, I don't actually like red wine, preferring the light and crisp swell of white wine. But I may well be converted. It's silky, fruity, delightfully fresh with just the right hit of oak. 'It's a wine full of pleasure to drink with friends,' he says, smiling. • 9 of the best wine-tasting holidays in France The team here are eager to press the point that Château de Ferrand may have accommodation — three stunning bedrooms that walk the line between luxury five-star hotel and comfortable family home — but it's all about the wine experience. Dinner can be arranged in the dining room among the family's private art collection (original Picasso included) or group tastings, tailor-made tours, parties and events can all be organised in the cellar or one of the newly renovated rooms. Our elegant dinner was an exquisite experience. It felt at times too formal: at the big polished dining table surrounded by expensive art, but that comes with the territory. It is after all the most expensive wine region in the world, but not exclusive. After three days of touring the best of it by bike I remain a bit of a wine beginner, but I do have a renewed appreciation for what goes in to making it and in future I will remember to spit. Aer Lingus operates daily flights from Dublin to Bordeaux between June and October; Hôtel Konti, double rooms cost from €112; Foch, double rooms cost from €285; de Ferrand, double rooms cost from €350; Rustic Vines runs a day trip from Bordeaux, which includes transport, bike hire, three tastings and lunch and costs from €175pp;
Reuters
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LVMH in talks to sell Marc Jacobs, WSJ reports
July 25 (Reuters) - Luxury goods group LVMH ( opens new tab is in discussions to sell fashion label Marc Jacobs in a deal that could fetch around $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
