For the 11th and last holiday of the year I went to Cyprus to explore the history, politics and tourism of the Mediterranean island. Unfortunately as this was now the winter season, I was limited to a twice-weekly Monarch service from Luton to Larnaca - where I wanted to base myself, and this is where I realised just how bad a service this airline provides now. They clearly are on the back foot in terms of proving a no frills service - with expensive seat select...

Having never been to Portugal, it had been on my list for a while, and after toying between a sunshine holiday in the Algarve, or a cultural experience in Lisbon I went for the latter, joining my mum and sister for our third long weekend holiday of the year to the Portuguese capital. Unfortunately the weather for the weekend we chose wasn't great, with most of it raining but as this was a sightseeing holiday it didn't completely ruin the trip. Because of the ti...