I’m planning a budget Bulgarian trip, any advice?

Simon Calder answers your questions on Balkan getaways, day flights from New York and how to plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia

St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia is well worth a drive-by (Getty/iStock)

Q Any advice on taking a budget break to Bulgarian cities such as Plovdiv and Sofia?

Paul W

ABulgaria, like neighbouring Romania, is a Balkan nation that deserves far more attention from UK travellers. It is also outstanding value, with costs for everything from coffee to accommodation about one-third of what you might pay in western Europe.

Sofia, the capital, is a city of broad avenues and grand buildings. It is well worth a two- or three-day break, as well as an excellent starting point for any deeper exploration of Bulgaria. What it lacks in premier league tourist attractions, Sofia makes up with friendliness and surprises – including some relics of the communist era alongside exquisite places of worship. Furthermore, at this time of year it is the European capital with the closest skiing opportunities: just southwest of the centre, Mount Vitosha rises to almost 2,300m.

Close by is the village-turned-suburb of Boyana, location for arguably the greatest cultural treasure in the Balkans: Boyana Church, a tiny, 13th-century chapel that is the location for some startling murals, and a Unesco-listed monument. If you plan a trip for summer to Sofia, make time for an expedition to the Rila Monastery: a 10th-century complex with more superb frescoes and Bulgaria’s holiest shrine. You could even hike there across the Rila Mountains.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second city, was European Capital of Culture in 2019 and has much to recommend it – from its Roman monuments (including a theatre in remarkably good condition) to cobbled streets lined with wooden houses. The city’s setting, in and around a muddle of hills, is part of the charm.

You can easily combine the two by train: an attractive journey that takes under three hours and costs less than £5. From Plovdiv, the Black Sea coast is a further five hours by rail, and also well worth exploring.

To travel on The Ghan train it is best to book as soon as possible (Getty)

Q We are reasonably relaxed travellers in our early sixties. We’d like to book a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2024. We anticipate being away more than six months and including experiences like The Ghan train. Would you feel confident to book such a trip now? Would you book everything independently, or go through an agent?

Maggie Allen

A I admire your planning, and in your position I would be strategic. Definitely recruit a good travel agent and talk through your plans in detail. Yes, it may end up slightly more expensive than booking everything independently, but you will get lots of experience and expertise. In addition, a good agent will have strong relationships with providers on the ground in Australia and can probably organise the odd upgrade or extra treat as you go along.

You can’t book the flights until almost a year ahead, so park those for the time being. With elements such as the in-demand luxury train, The Ghan, it is probably best to book as soon as possible (though ideally with a bit of flexibility around dates if that is feasible – your agent will advise). The same goes for things such as harbourside accommodation in Sydney over new year, if that is part of your plan. But internal flights/trains/car rental can wait a little longer.

Consider what you want to do about travel insurance. Such a long trip is likely to cost a fortune. In your position, I would rely upon the excellent reciprocal health care deal that the UK has with Australia and not insure. (Your agent may argue against this – challenge them to find a good-value policy.)

The other dimension to consider soon: what stopovers to build in on the way there and/or back? This will also affect (or be informed by) your choice of international airlines. On a trip of a lifetime taking in both Australia and New Zealand, it would be regrettable not to circle the globe even if that merely means pausing in Singapore for a couple of days outbound and Los Angeles inbound.

Finally, back to that agent. I suggest you effectively interview two or three agents: phone them, outline your plans and see how engaged and creative they sound.

It’s the city that never sleeps, except while the sun is up it seems... (iStock)

Q I see JetBlue has announced a new daytime flight from New York to London. Why don’t more airlines do this? It seems a much more civilised idea than overnight flights.

Rebecca H

A Your question spurred me to check the departures for today from the two main New York airports (JFK and Newark) to London (Heathrow and Gatwick). Only four departures are daytime, leaving relatively early in the morning from New York City (around 8am) and arriving at Heathrow around 8pm, compared with 22 overnight departures to London.

There are good reasons for that, commercially. Early eastbound departures have virtually no significant connecting traffic from other airports in the US or Canada – they are simply too early for all inbound flights to JFK and Newark except a few random red-eyes. Similarly, at the London end, the vast majority of possible onward connections have left by the time the flight arrives. So daytime services are very much point-to-point traffic. They are also concentrated on the cities, since surface transport to locations, say, 100 miles away, is rare in New York very early and in London very late.

Furthermore, many hard-pressed business travellers say daytime flights are not ideal since they wipe out an entire day. Daytime eastbound transatlantic departures used to be known disparagingly as “chairmen’s and grandmothers’ flights,” implying they were the only people with time to spare. I have only ever taken one eastbound daytime flight. It was so long ago that the airline was Pan Am. Being two-thirds empty in economy, it was an excellent flight. Since then the prospect of paying Manhattan hotel rates for the privilege of a daytime flight has not appealed – not least since you are really looking at a 5am wake-up call to get to and through the airport in good time. However, if the JetBlue fare is appealing enough, though, I could be persuaded.

Daytime flights are also available from Boston (British Airways, departs 7.30am/arrives Heathrow 7pm). But pre-Covid links from Chicago, Toronto and Washington DC have not been restored. Evidently, the airlines do not believe the market is yet strong enough to bring day services back from these key locations – which indicates how commercially marginal they are.

(Getty)

Q I am taking a group of 40 students to France next week. Four of the kids have a passport that is five years and one month old, but which meets the requirement of having three months validity left. Am I correct in saying we can travel with them? And they don’t need to get a new passport? As there is no such thing as the “five year” rule?

Name supplied

A Regular readers (thank you) of these questions will know that the thorny subject of UK passport validity for the European Union after Brexit crops up again and again. The travel queries are a fair reflection of the electronic post I receive. Evidently, there is still a lot of confusion around – especially on the subject of children’s passports. Yet there should be none. The regulations that we asked to become subject to after leaving the EU require your passport to meet two conditions:

1. Less than 10 years old on the day of entry to the EU.

2. At least three months remaining on the intended day of departure from the EU.

Children’s passports are issued for a nominal five years; some are given extra credit for unspent time, adding a maximum of nine extra months. So they all meet the first condition. The only question, then, is on the time to the expiry date. Those you mention are compliant.

So how did this misinformation come about – that there is some kind of “five year” rule? I am sorry to say that some travel professionals spread misleading warnings about the existence of such a rule. In their defence, so did the UK government. To its considerable shame, the official online “passport checker” was programmed to tell anxious parents that they would need to renew passports that had reached five years. That was never the case, and once I raised it with officials the offending practice ended.

Post-Brexit travel to the European Union is tough enough without such nonsense; remind your charges to consume any cheese or meat sandwiches before arrival. I hope your trip goes well.

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder