Hello, I'm Simon Corder welcoming you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest news on

travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape, looking forward to one or actually away,

and having the time of your life, which I certainly was yesterday. I was in beautiful northern Burgundy in France and I was at the first gig of the year for Tankus the Henge.

Yes, if you do not know this band, you certainly should do. And what a joyful occasion it was, even though the bar was closed, everyone had to sit at tables and wear masks, but we had a great

time. I also had a fantastic journey back. I've not always been the greatest supporter of Euro star,

and that's maybe a subject we can come back to but my goodness me they have

suffered far more than i think pretty much any other transport undertaking during the COVID crisis.

They of course run trains from Paris as well as Brussels and Amsterdam and Leal and in the good times from ski resorts

and from Disneyland, Paris and from Marseilles and from Lyon to London. But they've had a tough time

and I was looked after extremely well. My train from Burgundy arrived annoyingly late.

I was there with sort of 20 minutes to spare.

You're supposed to be there between 60 and 90 minutes in advance.

But unlike the airlines, they don't say, off you go, pal.

They look after you.

And so therefore I managed to get through without having to

enrich some testing company with a test that 18 days ago, the Transport Secretary Grant Shaps,

said had outlived its usefulness. If it's outlived its usefulness, stop making people spend money on it.

Well, finally, today, that £60 million of enrichment that I calculate they've made in that

time reached its end and you don't need a test to come back in. And the passenger locator form

is still a pain to fill out.

It's a little bit simpler.

And please, I mean, when you have, for example, drop-down menus that include airlines that don't exist at the moment, like Flybee,

...