Travel

Akaiami (main) is one of the 15 islets in the Aitutaki atoll of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Between 1951 and 1960, Tasman Empire Airlines Ltd (top right) would drop the likes of John Wayne and Marlon Brando (inset) off at Akaiami while the plane refuelled on the way to Tahiti. David Whitley followed in their footsteps to experience the dreamiest white sand and sparkling water, including One Foot Island (bottom right).

Pictures posted online showed the extent of the damage to the nose cone of the Aeroflight flight from Moscow when it landed in St Petersburg after striking what is thought to be a great cormorant. Nobody on board the aircraft was injured and the plane landed safely. Bird experts say great cormorants are a common sight near the airport.

Couple Bec Ormond and Mike Pinker spent a whole day being a 'live-in luxury art installation' in an open bedroom set up in the public lobby of the Crown Towers hotel in Perth, Australia. There, other guests and passers-by could watch them as they relaxed on the bed, top left, watched TV, top right, ate dinner, bottom, and even had massages, inset.

Ted Thornhill checks into VIP Ski's ludicrously well-placed Avoriaz digs Chalet Poudreuse. It's great value luxury in an excellent resort for skiers and boarders - with just one or two niggles. Such as his bedroom having no view whatsoever. But aside from that, all is very well indeed. There are 400 miles of pistes to explore and superb chalet staff.

The Sandersons and friends spent their summer holiday exploring the 'trulli' beautiful region of Puglia, on the 'boot of Italy's heel'. They stayed at the Villa San Michele (pictured) a family friendly 13th-century former monastery with a swimming pool, pizza oven and even its very own medieval cave, just outside Ceglie Messapica between Bari and Brindisi.

The Antonov AN-22 is very rarely spotted and drew a huge crowd of aviation enthusiasts to the airport to witness it. Flying in from Helsinki, Finland, it was originally due on Thursday afternoon but that arrival was cancelled. The Antonov AN-22 is a heavy military transport aircraft designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in Kiev, Ukraine. The aircraft is capable of 460mph and has a staggering 211ft wingspan.

The Maldives, Hawaii and Mauritius are all known for their beautiful beaches and azure waters. But tropical locations don’t have the monopoly on idyllic coastlines, as these pictures prove. Can you guess where they are? They show picture-perfect beaches with silver sands and lens-baiting bays. And one has been awarded a best-beach TripAdvisor accolade.

Croatia, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Malta... film and travel blogger Andrea David has recreated Game of Thrones scenes in a variety of locations. She compares shots of Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Daenerys Targaryen and others from the series against their real locations across the world.

Intriguing time-lapse footage has been released by Virgin Atlantic that reduces a working day on board a Dreamliner flight from London to Los Angeles to just a few minutes. It begins by showing 25-year-old stewardess Emma Ashley arriving at London Heathrow on a chilly October morning for a briefing with flight service manager Mark Gallagher (bottom left). Emma is one of 10 cabin crew and the clip underscores just how busy they are (bottom right). She does get some time out, though, in a hidden crew bunk (top left) and in the galley (top right), where the crew nibble chocolate – one is filmed grabbing a quick Twix - eat meals and make the odd round of tea.

Masters of Landscape Photography. It’s a book title that is 100 per cent accurate, with images taken by 16 of the world’s leading landscape photographers who are clearly at the very top of their game. The book's editor, Ross Hoddinott, says that 'each photographer has been chosen because of their pedigree and reputation in... an increasingly crowded field'. The pictures come from all corners of the globe and include the immense Trango Towers mountains in Pakistan, the ice fields of Greenland, the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway (bottom left), the Lake District in northern England and the Seljalandsfoss waterfall in Iceland (top right). Pictured top right is a sailing boat in Somerset and bottom right is a wood in the Netherlands. Here MailOnline Travel presents a tantalising selection of photographs from the book.

This is Mexico as you've never seen it before. A trio of British photographers has captured the daily trials of love, life and death there for a stunning new book - Sweet Dreams. British photographers Charlie Kwai, Chris Lee and Paul Storrie are otherwise known as Tripod City, a trio who travel the world to document different cultures. Their work explores the difference between cultural stereotypes and reality. After projects in Asia and India, the photographers headed to Mexico to explore beyond the preconceptions that many have about the country.

From the northernmost reaches of Norway to the tropical oases of the Caribbean and the South Pacific, the world is graced with stunningly beautiful beaches. Powder white beaches amid swaying palm trees and turquoise waters might represent the holiday ideal for some. Others might crave more adventure: perhaps a windswept and craggy coastline with towering volcanoes or snow-capped mountain peaks looming over the shore. Whatever your tastes, there's sure to be a beach or two you love in a new list assembled by travel site FlightNetwork. It ranks the world's 50 best beaches according to the opinions of more than 600 travel journalists, editors, bloggers and agencies. Pictured at top is Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos, which placed first. At bottom left is runner-up Whitehaven Beach in Australia. At bottom right is third-place winner Anse Lazio in The Seychelles.

The African Queen, which is moored in Mapledurham near Reading, was bought by Bonny and Andy Cowley for £250,000 in 2004 and the couple transformed the vessel. They spent almost two years converting the barge into a floating hotel and have spent the past 10 years running weekend and five-day cruises on the Thames. The inset picture shows the barge sailing up the Thames before it was transformed. The other images show it after the refurb.

The seats are set to be available on all of the German carrier's regular routes from 2020 and will coincide with the roll-out of the Boeing 777-9, which has a wider cabin than its predecessors. The cabin, pictured, will come in a 1-2-1/1-1-1 seat configuration, meaning everyone will have direct access to the aisle, so you will never have to disturb your neighbouring passenger if you want to nip to the loo or stretch your legs. The bed lengths, Lufthansa says, will be up to 220cm (86.6 inches).

British Airways captain Claire Bunton (pictured), who lives on the UK's south coast, kindly agreed to tell MailOnline Travel what it's like to fly the world's biggest passenger plane. It has wings that at 2,775 sq ft are 54 per cent bigger than those of a Boeing 747, Rolls-Royce engines that are the size of a Mercedes C-series and enough storage space to transport 3,000 suitcases and 525 passengers. Here she describes its 'funky tech, how it handles, and where she sleeps on ultra-long-haul flights.

An online gallery of disgusting pictures has revealed some of the worst food airline passengers around the globe have been served up. And they show some bizarre meals including, top from left, bizarre looking pasta sauce, small portions of chicken, tiny cucumber sandwiches as well as, bottom from left, cardboard like cheese toasties, a green-looking mush and rubbery eggs.

More than 1,300 professional and amateur photographers from around the globe entered their stunning landscape images into the 2017 Epson International Pano Awards.The winning photographer was Spanish snapper Jesus M Garcia, with his snap of Damian Shan in China, top left. Other impressive images entered include the Dubai skyline, top right, a volcanic eruption in Chile, bottom left, and a rainbow over Arizona, bottom right.

Don Parrish, 73, from Chicago, started travelling the globe in 1965 after visiting Germany and after reaching Conway Reef off the coast of Fiji has been named as the world's most-traveled man. The most exotic places that he has visited include the South Pole, top left, Somalia, top right, North Korea, bottom left, Sri Lanka, bottom right and the Mauritius jungle, inset.

These days, losing faith in humanity is all too easy to do. But help is at hand. These remarkable photographs show how there are people out there who put others first without hesitation. There's the brave man who jumped into choppy waters in Melbourne to rescue a dog (top middle), the man in Brazil whose mission in life is to rescue as many strays as possible and the kindly passerby who taped some loose change to a snack machine for others to use for a bite to eat (top left). One act of kindness deserves a special mention - because it involved tunneling through an entire mountain. They are the most heart-warming pictures you'll see all year.

German photographer Axel Gomille spent 25 years travelling across India snapping pictures of the Indian subcontinent's diverse wildlife from sloth bears to nilgai and blackbucks. Mr Gomille says he has always had a passion for Indian wildlife and previously worked in tiger reserves in Kanha and Bandhavgarh. And he says the inspiration behind the book was his favourite childhood film, The Jungle Book, as he wanted to track down the movie's real-life characters.

Most plane journeys are completely uneventful. But these snaps from around the world show that the odd one or two can be rather weird, with some showing sights that are so bizarre they could put you off flying for life. They range from cute dogs, top left and bottom left, bizarre therapy pets, bottom right, and even worrying sights such as taped up windows, top right, and cracked engine covers, middle bottom.

Arlberg Hospiz Hotel (inset) in St Christoph, Austria, combines glamour and cosiness, which along with its fairy-tale setting makes it the perfect retreat, writes Lucy Osborne. The resort has three charming restaurants with one, Hospiz Alm, boasting an extraordinary wine cellar (top left). What's more, there is a concert hall (bottom right) on-site and a modern art gallery, all connected underground to the hotel, plus a superb spa (top right).

Legendary British photographer Martin Parr's new book, Think of Scotland, showcases the country in a series of never-before-seen photos. His unique style captures the magic found in everyday life in Scotland, where he has been shooting on and off for 25 years. Parr's work often draws out the eccentric, the comic and the human elements of both routine and remarkable events and this style is in full form in his latest book. The main image was taken in Dunoon in 2004, top right is a picture of a woman feeding her baby in Stonehaven in 2006 and bottom right, Rangers fans look on at the funeral of football player Davie Cooper.

The White House is far too suburban for the Queen, writes etiquette expert William Hanson. If she took back control of the U.S for Britain, the Hay-Adams is where she'd stay. Opened in 1928, the Hay-Adams has been Washington DC’s go-to hotel for world leaders, diplomats and global icons for many years. Many former presidents call in for events, to stay or dine, and the hotel has most recently been seen in the latest series of Netflix’s House of Cards.

Jamaica – it’s the ultimate tropical paradise. White sandy beaches and deep blue seas sit beneath the blazing Caribbean sun. The island is the Eldorado of tourist destinations offering perfect weather, natural beauty and, if you are lucky enough, luxury of the highest quality. And if it is luxury you are after then there is no better place to wind down to island time than at Montego Bay’s famous Half Moon resort. The moment you arrive at the sweeping colonial-style lobby with its elegant whitewashed pillars, palm fronds dancing in the breeze as they frame the uninterrupted view of the ocean, your blood pressure begins to drop.

A holidaymaker has told how his dream holiday turned into a nightmare, which left him in extreme pain and partially paralysed. Simon Parsons, 26, from Ilfracombe, Devon, took girlfriend Jess Gear to a five-star resort on the Cape Verde islands off Africa where he proposed to her. But things quickly took a turn for the worse after he dislocated his femur, ended up in a nightmare hospital and had to witness an emergency landing when his plane home was hit by an engine failure. Pictured: Simon at a clinic in Cape Verde (top left), before the incident with his girlfriend Jess and daughter Amber (main right) and on a private jet being evacuated back to the UK (bottom left).

Adding a bit of punch to the high seas, martial arts star Jackie Chan (inset) has taken delivery of a top-of-the-range superyacht (pictured) complete with a helipad and sauna. The 63-year-old multi-millionaire actor from Hong Kong opted for a 125ft vessel crafted by the Chinese manufacturer Ruiying Yachts. The luxury boat, which boasts three decks and a pair of 1,900hp diesel engines, even includes a karaoke entertainment room, movie theatre, hot tub and gym to keep guests busy while cruising along.

Bali has become synonymous with nightlife, but as Samantha Lewis discovers, if you head to the eastern side, that's where you'll find tranquility - and the beautiful Alila Manggis hotel. Set across four thatched blocks, all 55 rooms face out across the pristine lawn and large palm-fringed swimming pool (top left). It offers a host of activities including snorkeling, temple tours, boat trips (bottom right) sunrise treks and a visit to a traditional Balian healer. The décor is in keeping with the resort's laid-back luxury vibe – think plush white cotton bedding and traditional Balinese wood and wicker furniture.

Footage of the incident, which took place on Sunday, was shared by Airlive, who captured the moment on their live cam, set up at the international airport in the London borough of Hillingdon. Dramatic scenes show the rapidly moving flash of light (circled left) descend toward houses below, before appearing to burn up moments later, just before a huge jet comes into view (right). It is not known whether the glowing streak was a meteor or the atmospheric entry of some other unknown item of space debris. It is also unclear exactly how far away the 'shooting star' is and how near a miss aircraft overhead may have had.

MailOnline Travel's Ted Thornhill flew upper class with Virgin Atlantic from London to Johannesburg and back and here reveals that shelling out for a top tier seat means eating gourmet food, quaffing wine chosen by an elite wine merchant, sipping cocktails at a bar (inset) and enjoying an 11in TV screen. Plus there are very cool salt and pepper shakers (top right). Though it wasn't perfection. Read on to find out why.

Just like Yellowstone Park, Britain is home to a supervolcano. Although there is a crucial difference – Britain’s is extremely dormant. It erupted 420million years ago. Still, its dramatic remains can still be seen at Glen Coe (top left) in Scotland. Here MailOnline Travel presents this and other former volcanic hotspots you can visit in Britain, including Ben Nevis (top right), Edinburgh Castle (bottom left), Lindisfarne and North Berwick Law (bottom right), with expert insight from Professor Emeritus Peter Styles, Professor of Applied and Environmental Geophysics at Keele University.

The LA venue, Carondelet House, hosts the night and puts on a show called Nuit Blanche - a world class sexually charged 1920's performance - and five course black tie dinner. On entry guests must hand over their mobile phones and sign an NDA so stars can go wild - without anybody taking pictures. DailyMail.com was granted access to the electric evening. Pictured in the main image is owner Alan Dunn (far left) and supermodel Janice Dickinson (third from left).

Waves can be at once mesmerizingly beautiful – and terrifying – as these incredible pictures show. They capture waves rolling in beautiful sunlight to form near-perfect tubes. And engulfing lighthouses in a show of mindblowing force. Some daredevil surfers test their derring-do against giant waves, with some of the images here capturing their efforts as they’re dwarfed by towering walls of water. One brave soul - Australian stunt rider Robbie 'Maddo' Maddison - even surfs ginormous waves on a dirt bike. Here MailOnline Travel presents a gallery of the most impressive wave scenes you’re ever likely to see from Hawaii to the African coast. Pictured clockwise from top left: A stunning shot of a wave in Hawaii; a wave engulfing a lighthouse in Ouessant, France; a beautiful image by South African photographer Marck Botha; a surfer is dwarfed by a wave off the coast of Nazare, Portugal, and (inset) a surfer hurtles down the face of a huge wave in Hawaii.

From Table Mountain to the un-trekked wilderness, discover South Africa's stunning landscapes from your own home, via 360-degree Google Street View videos. Over 50,000km has been mapped thanks to over 200 volunteers. Rangers, nature enthusiasts, guides and tech fans trekked for 12 months, covering more than 900km on foot with a Google Street View camera. It mapped out 232 points of interest across all nine provinces in the country, including six Unesco World Heritage sites.

As views from the office go, this takes some beating. Guillaume Laffon, 32, gets the ultimate view of the world as an Air France pilot. But he's not keeping it to himself - he has recorded the last 2,200km of a recent Airbus A340 passenger trip between Charles De Gaulle in Paris and the Iranian capital, Tehran.

A new interactive ‘Travel Risk Map’ for 2018 reveals which countries are the riskiest in terms of road safety, security and medical matters. Finland, Norway and Iceland have the lowest rankings for all three categories, while most of Africa is deemed very dangerous for road safety and security. The map, by International SOS and Control Risks , shows that much of Africa also poses a very high risk for travellers’ health, along with Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Guyana. The countries in the ‘low’ category for health risks include Canada, the U.S, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Brazil, China and Russia are all deemed to have ‘rapidly developing variable risk’ when it comes to health. This map shows which countries have the highest and lowest security risks, with those that have an insignificant risk marked in light green, 'low' risk countries are marked in yellow, medium in brown, high in red and extreme, such as Libya, in dark red