Something To Declare: yellow fever and red tape

The best deals, the latest hot spots and what's new in travel

Seven years ago, British Airways announced plans to fly from London to Ho Chi Minh City (pictured). Nothing came of that idea, but Vietnam's biggest city - and the national capital, Hanoi - are increasingly easy and cheap to reach.

Given the shape of Vietnam, the ideal solution is to fly into one city and out of the other. This "open jaw" arrangement is offered by Trailfinders (08450 58 58 58; www.trailfinders. com) on its fare of £502 on Malaysia Airlines for travel in October and November.

You can fly from either Heathrow or Manchester via Kuala Lumpur, where a stopover is allowed; travellers from Heathrow can also take a Penang stopover on the outbound trip. Book by the end of the month.

Warning of the week: yellow fever, red tape

Border crossings between Peru and Bolivia can prove tricky, with frontier officials often making freelance financial demands to allow you across. From this month, another way to obstruct travellers has been conferred on the bureaucrats. Each country has decreed that citizens of the other nation must possess a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate in order to be allowed in. Although travellers from other nations are not officially covered by this, experience suggests that some officials may insist that it applies to all, in a bid to extract cash. The solution: get a certificate in advance.

Travel medicine experts such as MASTA (www.masta.org.uk) can oblige.