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UK to Toronto flights, Barcelona's Sonar festival, the Adventure Travel Show and more: this week's Travel Agenda
Where to go and what to know
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The Adventure Travel Show is at London's Olympia next weekend, featuring speakers including Simon Reeve and Julia Bradbury, plus a Discover Africa and Incredible Journeys theatre, travel photography, writing and adventure-filming seminars. Half-price tickets from £5, quote “A5” when booking.
Ritz date
Work to refurbish Paris's 1898 landmark, the Ritz, is overrunning, but the hotel in the Place Vendôme is now accepting bookings from 20 March onwards. Double room rates on opening night start at €1,200, though for some subsequent dates the price falls to €999.
In your pocket
Lonely Planet has added new titles to its Pocket series, including Pocket Bilbao & San Sebastián and Pocket Seoul. Each of the compact guidebooks features top tourist sights, dining and shopping, and comes with a pull-out map. Price: £7.99.
Go Caracas
The Foreign Office has issued a stern new warning about using cards to access cash in Venezuela. The FCO advice says: “Queues at ATMs are frequently targeted by criminals,” and that “there's a serious problem with credit card fraud and cards being cloned”. And in any event, “ATMs have extremely low limits for cash withdrawals on international cards”.
Canada quick
This summer will see more flights between the UK and Toronto than ever before. Passengers arriving at the main Pearson airport can use a new express rail link to the city centre. Trains depart every quarter-hour and reach Union Station in 25 minutes, for a fare of C$27.50 (£13.50).
Feed and fly
Fortnum & Mason at Heathrow Terminal 5 is now offering passengers a gourmet “Hamperling” before boarding their flights. The options include a smoked salmon plate (£15), roast beef salad (£25), and a vegetarian option (£15). All include salad, chocolates, desert and cutlery.
Sound waves
Barcelona's Sonar festival is heading north to Iceland this winter. The electronic music festival will be held at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik from 18-20 February. The line-up includes Annie Mac and Hudson Mohawke, as well as several Icelandic acts.
Click and go
Panasonic's newest model of camera is the Lumix DMC-TZ80, which is pocket-sized and weighs less than 300g, but packs in a 30x optical zoom Leica lens, 18.1-megapixel sensor (which is tuned to bright and low lighting) and a recordable filming time of 55 minutes. All of which makes it a good companion for your travels. From £359.
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