May 13th - Farewell to my excellent colleague, UK Travel Editor Ben Parker
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben is sadly leaving The Independent this week after two years with the travel team. He looks back over the highlights during that time – with Scottsdale well ahead of Santorini – and predicts a summer of travel calm. Ben will be missed.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast. It's Tuesday the 13th of May. |
| 0:05.9 | That means it's Travel Desk Tuesday, of course, as is customary, with one of my excellent colleagues |
| 0:12.2 | on the Independent Travel Desk, but this one is tinged with sadness because it is the last |
| 0:17.5 | contribution from the great Ben Parker, UK travel editor and somebody who has |
| 0:24.4 | been here for two years and whose work and professionalism and general charm I have much |
| 0:30.4 | enjoyed. |
| 0:31.4 | So Ben, very sorry to be seeing you go, but you'll bring us your highlights from the last |
| 0:37.4 | two years, which I presume don't |
| 0:39.0 | include me bringing you a cup of tea. Well, they were always highlights, but yes, it's great to be |
| 0:43.9 | on the pod again, Simon, and it is sad to be the last time, but you never know. I'm sure our paths |
| 0:48.5 | will cross again. Well, tell us then, you started, if I'm not mistaken, early summer, 2023. We were all so young then. |
| 0:57.7 | It was even earlier back in spring, end of March, 2023. So it's, yeah, just over two years. |
| 1:02.8 | And it's been a whirlwind. There's been news, as always, chaos strikes, problems with IT at airports and for airlines. |
| 1:11.1 | It's just never stops. |
| 1:12.4 | The world of travel and travel news never stops. |
| 1:14.5 | Not only does it not stop, but it strikes me that the frequency and depth of chaos seems to intensify. |
| 1:21.6 | That might be because we are more aware of it, because obviously we can find out what's happening very easily. |
| 1:26.7 | But is it me or are things |
| 1:28.8 | getting a lot more troublesome no I wouldn't say that I think here's the thing working in travel that |
| 1:34.3 | what we do it leaks into everything so the India-Pakistan escalation at the moment that's not travel |
| 1:40.1 | but it affects travel and that's what we've seen in so many events that the news desk, our newsdesk here at the Independent, have dealt with. |
| 1:47.5 | They come to us and they'll say, right, what's happening for travel? But I like to think positively. I think, I'll put it out there now. The summer's going to be great. There's going to be no issues. Everyone's going to get away on time. And let's hope that you're absolutely right. |
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