Picking favourite airports is subjective. Security and speed-of-escape can be more crucial than sleep pods. Even so, the top terminals are truly surprising, tempting world-weary travellers with tranquil Zen gardens or even a brewery.

Forgive me for straying from my travel brief but Britain’s role in Europe is far more important than cheap flights and boutique beds – even if tourism will be affected by any decision to leave the EU. Let me nail my colours to the European mast. The EU may be flawed but it’s more than a marriage of convenience. Grab a glass of Euro fizz and get ready to disagree with my musings.

How valid are the annual travel hotlists? “Where to Go” cool lists seek to frame the travel year and shape our plans but are they arbitrary or authoritative? Shouldn’t there be more caveats?

This is a travel rant, teasing out issues of truth in travel, and focusing on the centrality of storytelling and strong voices in contemporary travel journalism. It’s polemical, following on from Travelandia, my first blog.

A cruise ship is both a floating city and showbiz at sea. In this comedy, perfect passengers (ourselves) face passengers from heaven and hell. All play their parts to perfection, from the cruise bore to the complainer, the clown to the Old Colonial.

Lake Como has been a retreat since Roman times. If Bellagio, its loveliest resort, feels like a refuge, it’s because it is, in both peacetime and wartime. During the Second World War, Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni faced down the Italian Fascists’ wrath to offer sanctuary to Jewish families.

It’s official: Switzerland is the world’s happiest country. Deservedly smug, the country has just topped the well-regarded World Happiness Report. I’m curious to find out why, taking a scenic rail route around some of the crassest cliches.

May is the time for making a meal of the Med. The Riviera’s ritziest restaurants come out of hibernation and serve concoctions as inspired as the arty settings in the hot, sweet south.

Electionland feels like a real country, even if it’s a surreal country under siege. We are on the election trail in the Weald of Kent. The British General Election has come to town.