Travel

From Singapore to Switzerland, with the right hacks anyone can gain access to a world of pre-flight luxuries in airport lounges, according to aviation expert Alex Macheras. The savvy traveller shared his top tips for joining the VIPs in transit with MailOnline Travel. Pictured clockwise from top left, Mr Macheras in a BA lounge in London, a bedroom in the Swiss first lounge at Zurich airport, Virgin Atlantic's upper class Clubhouse at Heathrow, and the bathroom at Swiss' lounge in Zurich.

Designed to mimic traditional Masai forts, these domes are found at The Highlands camp in Ngorongoro, Tanzania, and boast spacious living quarters and staggering jungle views. The camp (bottom right) comprises eight luxurious domes, kitted out with wood-burning fireplaces (top right) and cosy en-suite bathrooms (bottom left).

An Australian backpacker was able to hitchhike and couch surf all the way from Edinburgh to Delhi with only beer as his currency. During Manny Marshall's eight-week, 5000-mile adventure he shared 120 cans of Innis & Gunn craft beer with the people he met on the road in exchange for a free ride and accommodation. He is pictured bottom left in India and bottom right in the Czech Republic with bemused locals he met along the way. 

These spectacular aerial images reveal a side of London that few get to see with such clarity. They feature some of the UK capital's most famous skyscrapers and landmarks, including the Shard (bottom right), Walkie Talkie Tower (top left), Piccadilly Circus (bottom left) and London Bridge (top right), all photographed in the last year. But, instead of using a drone, all the images were shot by aerial photographer Jason Hawkes while leaning out of a helicopter.

MailOnline checks in to the Athenaeum and discovers that bringing in the Galvin brothers to oversee the food was a master stroke - and that the millions spent on the refurb has made the hotel sexier than ever. The Athenaeum has long attracted those famous for being on the silver screen. Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christian Bale, Warren Beatty, Renee Zellweger, Natalie Portman, to name but a few. Here's why they'll love the sequel. Pictured clockwise from top left is the new lobby, redesigned restaurant, the new bar and one of the expertly crafted cocktails guests can enjoy there. Inset is the hotel entrance, opposite Green Park.

You may never have heard of these places, and that's a good thing if you are seeking mind-blowing beauty without the heaving crowds. Pictured, clockwise from top left, Germany's Bastei Bridge, Morocco's Chefchaouen, India's Great Rann of Kutch, Greenland's Ittoqqortoormiit, and inset, Chile's La Mano del Desierto.

Canadian teacher and writer Jasmine Teed, 32, had planned to invite a new love interest with her on a trip abroad, but after he 'ghosted' her, she took a cutout of him instead. Ms Treed is pictured in different areas of Iceland and, bottom left, in Ireland.

Mountain Forest Hotel in the Wanfeng Valley, in Guizhou, China will be built as a vertical forest resembling a mountainscape that originally existed at the site. The 250-room property is the latest brainchild of Stefano Boeri Architetti (SBA), the design studio responsible for ground-breaking forest skyscrapers in Italy and Switzerland. Set in 400 acres of rolling hills, the hotel will feature a gym, lounge, VIP area, bar, restaurant and conference room.

MailOnline's Carol Driver is welcomed by a smiling Raymond Blanc bounding across the courtyard at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, greeting guests as he makes his way to the kitchen. Clockwise from top left: Lavender in full bloom in the Le Manoir gardens; L'Orangerie is a one-bedroom suite that comes with its own patio area; Japanese-themed garden and ponds; inside the restaurant; the exterior of the 15th century manor house.

Daniel Gillaspia visited far-flung destinations including Tokyo, Singapore, Cape Town and Dubai and paid less than one per cent of the cost for his flights and hotels. Rather than fork out $52,000 (£41,913) he spent just $408 (£329) for a journey that most people could only dream of. The travel hacker sipped on free-flowing champagne in first class suites such as Etihad Airways Apartment, top right and Singapore Airline's first class suite, bottom left. He also bedded down at luxurious hotels in some of the most expensive cities in the world including Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, top left and W, Dubai, bottom right.

The famous White Cliffs Of Dover (top left) are now eroding at their fastest ever rate, but the coastline is not alone - climate change, deforestation, tourism and industry are having a devastating effect on many of the tourism wonders of the world. For example Venice (top right) is disappearing under water, likewise the Maldives are sinking (centre), the Dead Sea (bottom right) is drying up and the Great Wall of China (bottom left) is vanishing.

From the ex-headquarters for the British Secret Service to a spa boasting poolside views of the Aegean sea, Condé Nast Johansens has announced the winners of both its annual UK & Ireland and Europe & Mediterranean awards. Hotels that achieved an accolade include Crossbasket Castle, Scotland (top left) which won best newcomer in the UK; SHA Wellness Clinic, Spain (top right) awarded Best Destination Spa in Europe; La Borde, France (bottom left) praised as the Best Small and Exclusive property in Europe; No1 Whitehall at the Royal Horseguards, UK (bottom right) named best for meetings in the UK and 41, London (inset) winner of the Best Service in the UK award.

Michael Pederson, a 41-year-old former painter based in Sydney, Australia, has been wandering around his city for more than three years installing whimiscal or peculiar statements. Pictured, left, a rusty abandoned Volkswagen becomes an artist's canvas, top right, a dandelion is a special exhibit and, bottom right, a 'stress cube' for pedestrians to kick.

A fascinating series of black and white photos capture excited New Yorkers enjoying themselves in the city's 11 new outdoors pools which opened in the blistering summer of 1936. The community pools  - in styles ranging from Romanesque Revival to Art Deco - were examples of state-of-the-art engineering of the 1930s and featured massive filtration systems, heating units, and even underwater lighting. Some of these urban pools still exist today. Pictured are bathers at Astoria Park Pool (left and top right) and Carmansville playground (right).

Mysterious tunnels built by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon snake underground in central Naples. These intriguing passageways were designed as an escape route for the king in 1853 before serving as a military hospital and bomb shelter in WWII and finally as a warehouse for impounded vehicles in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The dusty aqueducts were recently rediscovered and now visitors can take a spell-binding tour of the tunnels encountering abandoned vintage motorbikes and cars along the way.

A family from Lancashire spent their £4,000 five-star holiday in Turkey - booked through Thomas Cook - holed up in a hotel room after they were all struck down with a debilitating stomach bug. Andrea Flynn said: 'There were open grids we would walk past which stank of sewage. At the bar it stank of sick and there were wasps everywhere.' The tour operator have since stopped selling availability following the outbreak of sickness.

The Wanda Reign on the Bund hotel in Shanghai, China, took more than three years to build. The 20-storey building combines art deco style and early 20th century Chinese design. Pictured clockwise from top left: One of the four restaurants, a private karaoke room, a spa suite and the lobby. Inset: The hotel's exterior.

These fascinating pictures show a Soviet ‘turbojet railcar’, which was built in the 1970s and proved capable of reaching an astonishing 160mph, thanks to the huge jet engines on its roof. What made this concept impractical was the extremely high fuel consumption. And so this power car was pushed into a siding and left to rot.

While much of the world is the modern traveller's oyster, there are regions you can't roam freely. Whether that be the mysterious lands of North Korea or Syria, currently in the throes of war. But in many of these places, extraordinary beauty lurks behind the tightly-drawn curtains, along with the promise that some day they'll be free to explore again. With a few exceptions, all the magnificent destinations showcased here fall under the FOC's red zone - areas where 'all travel' is expressly advised against. Said notable exceptions include Norway's Domesday Vault (inset), a heavily guarded cavern built under the Arctic snow which contains seeds from almost every nation on earth to be retrieved in the case of an global catastrophe. Good luck getting a peek in there. Pictured clockwise from top left: Congo's beautiful region of Likouala, Bolivia's 'Death Road', the Karakoram highway that links China with Pakistan and Yemen.

From an ornate cane concealing a sword to a five-bladed flogger, the Transportation Security Administration has shared photos of the shocking items that travellers across the US have tried to take on planes. Pictured left are skull-adorned throwing knives seized from a carry-on bag at Chicago O'Hare Airport, right is a replica suicide vest discovered at Virginia's Richmond Airport and inset is a gas mask confiscated at Miami International Airport because it features replica bullets.

Nurse Tim Sheppard booked a week's trip to the Aquis Sandy Beach Resort in Corfu for the half term holiday with his partner Hayley Palk (inset, with Tim), and his two children Eloise, seven, and Amber, five. He described the resort as the hotel from hell - with most of the nine bars and restaurants closed. The family claim that their trip featured mouldy sun beds (bottom right); green slime in the swimming pool; broken drains; a litter strewn beach (top right and bottom left); rubbish stacked in corridors; a cracked and splintered entertainment stage; and dirty water at the buffet. Mr Sheppard, from Exeter, has revealed horror pictures of his £2,200 trip - booked through Thomas Cook.

According to the filmmaker visibility was so poor at the London airport that some planes were actually forced to circle before landing or divert to another airport. The video has been viewed over 25,000 times online, with many impressed by the filming and the skill of the pilots. According to Plane Clever, by Christopher Bartlett, modern airliners can ‘land virtually automatically in fog’, but the air traffic controllers will space the aircraft out more as they land and depart.