jonyee (93)

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).

BA's new airline OpenSkies - opens for bookings today. Born out of the Open Skies agreement between Europe and the US, European airlines are now able to fly direct out of any EU city into any US city. OpenSkies is BA's attempt at capturing this market with a brand new 757 aircraft to service the New York to Paris route. Cabin illustrations show an upgraded cabin in all classes hinting at a new way to travel. Direct flights are great if you need to travel to Paris on business from New York and don't require a stop over in London.

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 you intend to change insert a local sim card into your mobile phone when travelling, be sure that you keep a note of your important telephone numbers. Often numbers are stored on the sim card so when you swap out your home sim card for the local one, you may find that you can't access your phone book anymore. Alternatively, make sure you use the option of saving numbers onto the phone rather than the sim.

When travelling in Tokyo, I would highly recommend vending machine Ramen (noodles) for the experience. The ramen is not dispensed by a machine but human contact (read the need to communicate in Japanese) is limited - so may be great for the foreign visitor. The process may look intimidating at first but in reality it couldn't be simpler. Outside the restaurant you will be faced with a vending machine with a selection of buttons, typically you need to select:

1) The size of your noodles
2) The type of noodles
3) Any extras, including egg, extra meat, etc

Simply press your desired buttons (all with pictures on for you to follow), insert money and you will be issued with a coupon. Hand this in to the staff in the 'restaurant' (usually a bar - perfect for single dining) and a few minutes later you will be presented with a piping hot bowl of ramen. Prices are fantastically cheap (no more than GBP5 a bowl) and extremely fresh. As an added bonus, you can feel smug that you've achieved to dine like a local and navigate yourself around what can be a very confusing city.

Any visit to Shanghai would not be complete without tasting the famous Shanghai dumpling (Xiaolongbao). These delicious dumplings are also know as soup dumplings, as the dumplings are filled with (often piping hot) soup. There are different versions to the dumpling but most are filled with pork and soup. It is typically served with vinegar, ginger and soy sauce.The most famous dumpling shop is in Nanxiang Mantou Dian in Shanghai where up to 30 minute queues can snake through this pretty historic site.

The business card plays an important role in conducting business in Japan. There are a few key tips to remember:

1) Always give and receive cards with both hands.

2) Take special care of the cards that are given to you. Spend some time consulting the card and reading it as a show of respect

3) Never write on or deface the business card

4) The business card exchange process is a pre-cursor to any business commencing.

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.

When in Hong Kong - check out the Haagan Daz in Lan Kwai Fong, Central, for an Ice Cream fondue. I haven't found this available anywhere outside Asia (although I may be proved wrong). The dish features different flavours of ice cream, fresh fruit and a warm chocolate fondue dip. Perhaps for those with a sweet tooth.