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The roof of Queen Elizabeth Hall has been transformed with the help of the Eden Project, turning it into a beautiful roof garden complete with lawn, wildflowers, vegetable patches, and even a scarecrow.

There's fantastic panoramic views across the river to enjoy whilst you sup on a drink from the bar.

Four stars as the view is spectacular and the venue unique, although it's slightly tainted by an at-times shambolic service at the bar and the fact that there isn't an ounce of shelter from the wind or rain.

The bar is temporary (being taken down on 4th September) so visit while you can - although the Southbank Centre has already said that it would like to find a way to make this a permanent feature every summer.

Access via the yellow staircase to the right of the area where everybody skates / graffitis. (Disabled access via a lift next to the Hayward Gallery entrance).

Roma Termini manages to fulfill all inner-city station stereotypes. It's got ticket machines that swallow your coins (this seems to be consistently the ones that don't have a colour touchscreen), passageways that smell of urine, taxi drivers who will try to rip off tourists (only ever use the taxi rank at the front entrance of the station, by the Nike shop), not to mention guys who will try to commit 'distraction theft' whilst you are using a ticket machine in a language other than Italian. And after all that, as a station itself, it's incredibly difficult to navigate. It can take 5-7 minutes to walk from the main concourse to some of the platforms - including the ones for the Leonardo Express to the airport.

What it does have in its favour is a good selection of shops, cafes, and supermarkets - in the underground shopping mall there's a great noodle bar, and the supermarket sells slices of hot pizza.

Using Termini is an inevitability if you are visiting Rome - all I can advise is that you keep your wits about you, and don't take your eyes off your luggage for one moment.

Where to begin?

Grotty, crowded, low ceilings, long queues, long walks, Fiumicino doesn't have much going for it.

Fiumicino feels more like a painful inevitability of any trip to Rome, and all you can really do is try to minimize the pain - check in online, and try to avoid checking in hold luggage - outbound passengers face a risk of their bag disappearing, and inbound passengers face up to an hour's wait for their bag.

The one thing going for it is that the bored immigration officials wave through English passports with barely a glance, keeping down the queues. That is, assuming that Alitalia don't accidentally bus you to the domestic arrivals (it has been known...).

Waar anders in de wereld vind je een kuuroord, een casino en een kunstmuseum op een vliegveld? Naast uitstekende voorzieningen in de lucht alsook op land, is het vliegveld gemakkelijk, efficiënt en stressvrij. De bagage krijg je snel en zonder schrammen terug en de aankomstrijen vormen amper een probleem.

Als extra bonus, voor non-Schengen-vluchten is er beveiliging bij de gate zelf wat erop neerkomt dat je je geen zorgen hoeft te maken over genoeg tijd inplannen om voorbij de beveiliging te komen – als je je bevindt bij de gate en ook in de rij van de beveiliging zullen ze je toelaten in het vliegtuig.

Ja, er komt veel lopen bij kijken, maar dat is nou eenmaal zaak op een grote internationale terminal. Mijn enige klacht gaat over de “Haarlem”-landingsbaan (36L / 18R). Landen en opstijgen van deze baan houdt in dat het vliegtuig 9 kilometer moet rijden voor het opstijgen, waardoor je reistijd 15-20 minuten langer wordt. Je kunt net zo goed van een ander vliegveld vertrekken.

Where else in the world would you find a spa, casino, and art museum in an airport? Aside from excellent facilities both airside and landside, the airport is easy, efficient and stress-free. Baggage turns up speedily and unmolested and immigration queues are rarely a pain.

As an added bonus, for non-Schengen flights you have security at the gate itself, which means that you don't need to worry so much about allowing loads of time to clear security - as long as you're at the gate, and in the gate's security queue, you're going to be allowed onto the plane.

Yes, there is a lot of walking, but this is par for the course at a major international terminal. My only gripe would be the 'Haarlem' runway (36L / 18R) - landing / taking off on this runway means that your plane will have to taxi for up to 9 kilometers, adding 15-20 minutes to the journey time. You might as well be leaving from a different airport.

The "Market Place" restaurant is has to be the best YO! Sushi that I've been to in London.

Fresh contemporary decor, split-level sunken seating, and most importantly of all... whizzy Japanese toilets. They also have an excellent selection of food on the conveyor belt, which is a bit of a bugbear of mine.

Yes, YO! is expensive, but there are plenty of offers around, especially if you sign up for their mailing list - we got 2 for 1 plates on our visit.

If you fancy sushi, and have decided that you're going to YO! - then this is definitely one of their best restaurants in London.

Foolishly I left it rather late to get a hotel on a recent visit to Boston, and the only reasonable price that I was able to find was for the Hilton Boston Logan.

I was arriving on a red-eye flight at 7am, and finding the hotel was an easy walk through a bridgelink from the terminal. The hotel does usually try to find a room for guests arriving on an early flight - although in this case the property was still full. I was however able to freshen up using the facilities in the gym, and have them look after my bags whilst I headed off into Boston itself.

And this is where the problem starts. To get to/from the hotel you have three choices: get the hotel shuttle to the nearest metro stop, walk to the metro (about 10 minuites, along a route never really designed with pedestrians in mind), or walk to the airport terminal building and catch the 'Silver Line' bus into the centre of town. This isn't so much the fault of the hotel - but more very poor urban planning that has led to the construction of such a major airport without a direct link to a subway line.

Otherwise, the hotel is as you would expect. It's an airport hotel, so you don't get amazing views, or rennaisance styling. What you do get is a solid, comfortable room, good breakfast, and good gym.

Because of its location, if you're visiting Boston, I wouldn't recommend using this hotel as a base - unless as a last resort. It is comfortable, and cheapish, but it is a bit too depressing to go out for a night, come home on a bus, and walk through an airport terminal to get to your room.

The entrance to this bar is undeniably one of the more unique ones, going in to "Crif Dogs", a fairly anonymous hot dog shop, then going in to a phone booth, picking up the handset, and having a hostess open a secret door on the other side of the booth. The bar is very small, so if you don't have a reservation, and are in a group of more than 2-3 people, then you may not have too much luck getting in.

Once inside, it recreates a snug, prohibition era speakeasy feel, lots of stuffed animals on the walls. The bar staff mix up some mean cocktails - although my girlfriend found the choice on offer to be fairly 'manly' (brandies, whiskies, etc). I can't say that I found the cocktails excessively priced - what you're paying is par for the course in many bars in London / New York.

Much of what Gibbo says above is true - the most exciting aspect of the bar is the entrance. The bar is small and pokey. Getting the hostess to let you in can be difficult. The cocktails do cost a fair bit, but do have generous measures. And serving hot dogs is completely out of keeping with the bar (although, to be fair, we never touched the food).

BUT. It is a fun 'experience' to visit once, for one or two drinks, perhaps as a warm-up for another place, or something at the end of a night... and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a friend visiting New York. If you go there expecting it to be the 'main event' of your night, then you will be disappointed. If you expect it to be one stop of many... then you will have a good time.

It's amazing how much a ten minute walk will save you. Rooms at this hotel were going for $90 a night when I visited. For your hard-earned cash you get comfortable, modern rooms, although incredibly even a 20th floor room won't get you a particularly stunning view if you're on the city side.

The hotel is a 10 minute walk to Market Street, where you'll find the main shopping district, and BART / tram stops. You're a five minute walk from the cable car stop in Chinatown, to get you down to Fisherman's Wharf.

With Little Italy and Chinatown around the corner, there's also plenty of options for food within a short walk.

For the price - the hotel is highly recommended. In return for a short walk from the local transit options, you can get a solid 4* quality hotel at a very decent price.

Great price for a great location. Walking distance to Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Fifth Avenue... with plenty of metro stations nearby. Rooms are small, but this is par for the course in New York. The hotel has a long history, and I did really appreciate the amount of character both in the lobby and in individual rooms.

The hotel doesn't have extensive facilities - a 24 hour diner, a bar, a gym, and business centre. It is a bit of a shame that there's not room service, a swimming pool, skybar or similar, but for the price of the hotel, it is to be expected. The free WiFi is a great bonus.

We did have a problem with the A/C in my room... and the front desk staff upgraded us to a 35th floor suite with private roof terrace overlooking the Empire State Building - you can't do much better than that!

The hotel is part of the Ramada / Wyndham group, so members of their rewards scheme can also redeem / earn here - if you're earning points at other Ramada properties, it is probably one of the best value properties to redeem at.