5 September is the day to celebrate travel professionals, and therefore a good day to hear from Julia Lo Bue-Said OBE, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership. She believes school holidays need to be transformed so that they better meet the needs of families – and wants to start a national conversation on cutting the summer break to a month, with extra weeks added in May and October.

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Nicky Gardner, co-author of Europe by Rail, tells me the best places to make the most of all-you-can-travel rail.

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At the end of the summer I'm talking to Kaya Niedenthal of Currency Online Group in London about trends in the currency markets: what's worth buying now, the use of the dollar and euro in many developing countries, and the currency that is selling extraordinarily well to Brits.

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The Caribbean is a mosaic of delectable isles - but what makes St Lucia distinctive? Senior travel writer Natalie Wilson was there in the summer and was smitten by the island's beauty, friendliness and culture.

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"The pearl of the Adriatic" has been enticing millions of tourists every year, with its spectacular setting and mighty walls wrapping around the old city. More recently Dubrovnik's starring role as a backdrop in Game of Thrones has brought even more visitors. The pressure from tourism has been evident – but the Mayor, Mato Frankovic, has been telling me how he plans to rebalance the relationship between visitors and the citizens.

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From 12 October, the EU's much-delayed entry-exit system (EES) will begin to be rolled out. Using some mathematical modelling, Oliver Ranson from Airline Revenue Economics has worked out the European airports most at risk of collapse on first contact with the EES. Milan Malpensa, Bucharest and Athens top the chart.

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Since he took over as chief executive of Ryanair in 1994, Michael O'Leary has guided what was an ailing Irish regional airline to become Europe’s biggest budget carrier.

I've been talking to him about a crackdown on cabin baggage, his plan for smartphone-only boarding passes and the EU entry-exit system. Listen up!

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My guest is travel expert Gilly Bachelor, who is a champion of solo travel for women. Tomorrow (Thursday 28 August) she is organising a special evening aimed at women preparing to go it alone abroad – under the brand "No stopping her".

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Travel Desk Tuesday, and Global Travel Editor Annabel Grossman has been telling me about her experience in Bali – the Indonesian island that has been under attack for the quality of the travel experience.

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Today I am talking to a campaigner on cabin air quality, Captain Tristan Loraine. He believes passengers and crew are often at risk because of engine oil contaminating the air inside commercial aircraft. He is the spokesperson for the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive, gcaqe.org

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