If you are a regular and particularly curious visitor to this site you may have wondered what on earth this section called Jancis recommends is all about. It is certainly the least frequently updated one. But the idea is that I share with you my particular discoveries and enthusiasms – not necessarily wine-related.
You may have noticed that I have been quite busy working on all the other categories on the revamped JancisRobinson.com – which is my only excuse for leaving this corner of the site untended for so long. But I have been meaning for ages to direct those who do not know it to www.dohop.com
Dohop.com is to air travel what wine-searcher.com is to wine, but is even more comprehensive. Unlike similar sites such as Expedia, it includes not just scheduled airlines but all the budget outifts too. If you are someone who has to fly, this site will direct you to every airline that flies the route you are interested in, ranking all possiblities as you wish – which I should imagine for most of us is by ascending order of price. You can choose whether you're interested only in direct flights. You can choose a group of airports (all airports round a metropolis, for example) and of course whether you want a one-way or return flight.
For travel agents manqués like me, this is a great resource, although even an inveterate traveller like me must add the caveat that as someone mightily concerned about the future of our planet, I am deeply shocked by how low air fares are compared with many rail fares – especially for British travellers. The week after next I'm going to Germany for a wonderful-sounding tasting. Here is a likely summary of the costs – flights courtesy of Dohop:
Flights £6 each way
Booking fee £8
Parking £50 (I need a quick getaway from Stansted to get to another tasting in the English countryside)
Crazee.