London (67)

When travelling on the Heathrow Express from Paddington, keep an eye on the platform floor, it points to the end of the train you should sit at in order to be closest to your terminal. Also, when getting to the terminal from the Heathrow Central station, never take the escalators, these wrap around and take longer than the lifts.

When travelling it's easy to forget some of the important dates in our lives. Set yourself up with an online calendar to remind yourself of these dates. Notifications can be emailed to you on the day or prior (if you need to buy presents).

If you want to get discounted theatre tickets in London, you can either go to the Tkts booth in Leicester Square (expect queues) or try a site such as Lastminute.com which can offer discounts or packages for the theatre. The queue at the Tkts booth can be quite long so you can check availability on the Official London Theatre Tickets website. The other ticket booths you see dotted around London typically share the same inventory so there is little difference to whether you go to one or the other (the service charge may just differ).

If your company has a travel policy which encourages you to fly on low-cost airlines on short-haul flights, then you may be interested in EasyJet's 'Speedy Boarder (Plus)' option. This option allows you to be amongst the first to board the plane and with the plus option, you also get your own dedicated check-in desk. It's clearly a way for Easyjet to make more money but has the added benefit of increasing your chances of getting the seat on the plane that you want. Prices for this range from around GBP2.50 to GBP7 and speedy boarding plus adds an extra GBP2. For frequent travellers, you may be interested in the newly launched EasyJet plus card which will give you a year of these (standard) benefits for a GBP100 annual fee (plus GBP25 joining fee) - plus features will be charged at GBP2.50 a go. Discounts are available for secondary cards and should start saving you money after five return flights. In order to maintain the level of service, Easyjet have stated that they will limit the number of such cards.

In my experience, online currency ordering via www.travelex.co.uk gives you the best rate (they also have a best rate guarantee). Order online and pick up at the airport. Just be wary that some debit card providers charge a 'cash advance' fee - however, Switch cards do not incur such a fee. My tip would be to order via www.baa.com/worldpoints and get the same great rate but also collect worldpoints (which you can use for frequent flyer miles or discounts). Remember to present your card when collecting the currency.

If you are responsible for your own flight bookings and/ or don't have a separate travel department, then you can save some money by booking your flights and hotels via cash back website www.quidco.com.

Here you can get the referral commission advertisers normally get for referrals. Flights typically receive 1% cash back from well-recognised sites such as expedia.co.uk and ebookers.co.uk or virginatlantic.com.

Hotels also get higher returns giving as much as 10% cash back for agencies such as hotels.com and expedia.co.uk. The only thing to caution about is that hotels will be prepaid and may not have the same flexibility (a cancellation charge may apply) when compared to booking directly.

Not famed for its quality Japanese food, London has only a handful of good Japanese restaurants. If you want to step away from the pretentious or expensive, then try Brewer Street, just north of Exit 1 at Piccadilly station. Here you will find a number of Japanese restaurants and a Japanese supermarket. My personal recommendation would be for Ten Ten Tei (apparently one of the first Japanese restaurants in London). The small and cosy interior is supported by good quality food at reasonable prices. Main meals are around GBP10 and set menus from GBP15.

It's a little known fact but BAA operated airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh and Glasgow to name a few) offer a money back/price guarantee on goods purchased at their airports. This can be great when faced with the uncertainty of picking up a bargain at the airport or waiting to you get to your destination to see if things are cheaper. To qualify, you just need to purchase using BAA's loyalty card - Worldpoints. Sign up online for bonus points and easy registration www.baa.com/worldpoints

A list of BAA operated airports can be found at www.baa.com

Despite a change in regulation which technically brought the end of tax-free shopping at UK airports for persons travelling within the EU, electronics chain Dixons continues to offer tax-free prices to all travellers, regardless of their destination. The Dixons Tax Free shops are a great way to pick up a bargain (saving 17.5%) without having to worry about different power suppliers, warranty and import duty issues that may be associated with buying abroad.

Whilst the range is limited, they do offer a number of key brands including Apple iPods and major electronic brands. Large items can even be delivered to your home address or picked up on your return. Pre-ordering is available by phone and details of products can be found on their website - www.dixonstaxfree.co.uk.

I would recommend that you pre-order or check availability before you fly. It saves a lot of time and they can get stock in from different terminals if required.

It's a little-known fact but if you are a BMI gold card holder, and are flying on Virgin Atlantic (any class) out of London Heathrow, you are able to use their award-winning Virgin Atlantic clubhouse. The clubhouse is world-renowned with a beauty therapist, hairdressers, full bar and restaurant and games area. Those who want to bring in a guest may look at the virginholidays website where guest passes can be purchased for £60.