Deals of the Week: Eurostar, Dover-Dunkirk, Cheap seats to Italy

A TRAIN

One of the most frustrating things about Eurostar (08705 186 186, www.eurostar.com) – besides having to smash the carriage windows for ventilation when your train breaks down – is that you cannot book more than three months ahead. But the Avignon Arrow, which will run in summer between London Waterloo and the Provençal city, is now open for booking right through to the end of October. The first departure is on 24 May, the last on 25 October. Fares start at £109 return in standard class, £195 in first. The 715-mile journey runs only on Saturdays, and takes six hours, 15 minutes (breakdowns permitting).

A BOAT

Norfolkline (0870 870 10 20, www.norfolkline.com) has a special offer of £79 return for a car plus five people on its Dover-Dunkirk route, if you book by 15 March and travel by 15 April.

A PLANE

"Distressed inventory" is the airline industry's jargon for empty seats, and to judge by the present depression in aviation there is plenty of distress around. The Italian national carrier, Alitalia (0870 607 6005, www.alitalia.com) is trying to offload its surplus capacity with a seat sale that expires on Friday. Milan is on sale from Heathrow for £79 return, but this applies only to the city's inconvenient Malpensa airport; Rome from Heathrow or Gatwick costs £87; and Venice from Gatwick, on the independent airline Volare, is also £87. Bologna, Genoa, Pisa and Verona are all on sale at £99, but Alitalia no longer flies from the UK direct to them; you must change planes in Milan or Rome. To get these prices, travel out by 22 March and back by 29 March, and stay one Saturday night but no longer than a fortnight.

AN EXPERIENCE

BBC Television is following up the programme Fifty Places to See Before You Die with Fifty Things to Do Before You Die. The programme team is seeking nominations from the public. If you think parascending in the Pyrenees or a sweating in a Siberian sauna is the best thing since watching EastEnders, log on to www.bbc.co.uk/50.