Chasing cheese in Gloucester, England

In the basement of a granite townhouse in the centre of Aberdeen, my guide Calum Lockerbie’s voice becomes hushed, bordering on conspiratorial. We’re awaiting the main courses in Amuse, a new fine-dining restaurant by chef Kevin Dalgleish, when Calum leans in and says: “Everyone in here has, is or will work in the oil industry.”

This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.

For two days, adventure sports photographer Dru Kennedy and his friend waited for the fog to clear from Goose Cove, a popular spot for iceberg viewing near Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula. They were hoping to set up a perfect biking shot in front of a drifting iceberg. 

Now that the legal right to wild camp in Dartmoor National Park has been lost, you can no longer sleep beneath the stars without landowner permission in England and Wales. But for those keen to sleep out in the wilderness, there are still a great deal of tucked-away campsites and glampsites that offer secluded pitches and the chance to go off-grid.

There’s a storm brewing in the rarefied air occupied by the priciest of the travel-rewards cards.

In the airline’s first major initiative since replacing CEO Jeff Smisek with Oscar Munoz, United today announced details of a major upgrade to its international business-class product.

When an airline knows its core customers are anything but frequent flyers, is there any point in hosting a loyalty program? Probably not. Which explains why Allegiant, the low-cost leisure-focused carrier based in Las Vegas, never rolled out a full-fledged frequent-flyer scheme. There’s just no return-on-investment when your customers are by definition infrequent flyers.

It may be hard to believe, but there’s a place in England where the sand is fine and white, the sea is turquoise blue, and the sun shines more than just about anywhere else in the country. In this dream-like place, you can surf, you can sunbathe (and even get a tan), you can hike coastal paths, valleys, and moors, and you can stuff you face with cream teas and pasties. You guess it, Cornwall, England, is a must-see when in Britain. Lucky for you, it’s only a direct train ride away from London.

Autumn (or Fall) in New England is a breathtaking and beautiful season: the billions of leaves change from green to a rainbow of browns, reds, oranges and yellows across the fields and forests of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. At this time of year the air is cool and crisp, making it perfect for walking or cycling; the wildlife is abundant, with thousands of birds and wild moose to spot; and you can find top lobster in Maine to accompany the wine trail in Connecticut.

Running along the shimmering Arctic tundra in Greenland, jogging across the African savannah and racing through the Amazon are some of the exhilarating marathon experiences now on offer around the globe. From coastal routes in Jamaica and California to challenging courses in the blazing Sahara and freezing Polar Circle, a growing number of endurance events provide a dramatic change of scene and pace. Read on for our pick of the world's best marathons.

How well do you know England? Like many of us, perhaps not as well as you’d like. To inspire you to explore beyond your normal boundaries this year, we’ve created a list of three cities in England with additional experiences within easy reach, so you can enjoy the best of both town and country in a weekend away. Here’s part one of these suggestions for a satisfying «microgap» – a chance to disconnect and discover something new without travelling too far; three destinations centred on the ever-varied landscapes of the south, east and west of the country.