Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Calder. It's Tuesday the night of December.

All through this month, I was hoping to bring you tidings of comfort and joy about all the

marvellous travel opportunities coming up in the year ahead. But I have to interrupt that sequence

just to bring you the latest that is happening this morning

as Storm Bram sweeps in.

What's happened overnight is that the Met Office has stepped up some weather warnings

so that there are now amber warnings for wind and rain, particularly in Western Scotland, in northwest, northern Ireland,

also patches in South Wales and Southwest England. And the picture is that, well, there is

disruption on trains, boats and planes. Let's begin in the skies. British Airways has cancelled the entire first wave

of departures from London Heathrow to Belfar City, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester.

And of course, the corresponding inbound flights are also grounded. That's 10 flights. Let's say

1,500 people affected.

The worst hit airport, though, is Belfast City. At least 18 departures and arrivals are grounded

on Tuesday, most of them on Air Lingus Regional. And if you were hoping to get to and from Leeds Bradford or Birmingham,

there are multiple cancellations on those routes.

Some travellers hoping to get between Northern Ireland and Great Britain might think,

well, I'll go to Dublin instead. Don't do that. Many flights across the IRC are cancelled as well as links with

Paris and Amsterdam. Oddly, perhaps given the weather warnings, the early departure from

City of Derry Airport to London Heathrow took off on time. That was Loganair, but the airline is also offering passengers booked on flights on

Tuesday and Wednesday the chance to postpone their journeys in order to get some certainty.

So much for aviation, if you think, well, I'll just go for ferries. I'm afraid you're not going to

have much luck across the Irish Sea'll just go for ferries. I'm afraid you're not going to have much luck

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