Former UCC lecturer Derry Cotter has written Leeside Story, a tale of love in Cork city, says Colette Sheridan.

Barcelona is a new kind of target. It is one of the top five city break destinations in Europe and the biggest that is not a national capital.

A newly-confident generation of curvy women are throwing away their inhibitions, determined to embrace the bikini bodies they were born with, writes Deirdre Reynolds.

Newlyweds who were grounded when their aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after a suspected fuel leak passed the first big test of their married life together — with flying colours.

SPECIAL PRICES FOR LAKE GARDA HOLIDAYS

Spanish students at Ashton Comprehensive School have waved adios to CD players and pen pals, as technology is allowing them to talk live on video in class with students from Salou every week.

DISNEYLAND 2OTH PARTY DEALS

DIRECT Holidays’ programme for summer 2011 has 17 destinations on offer and three new routes from Cork. Prices start from €299 per person to the Algarve, while a family of four can enjoy 4-star luxury on the Costa Dorada next July for about €1,900 from any of the three main airports.

A CORK family was caught up in a horror bombing on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca which killed two police officers and led authorities to block all outgoing flights and ships from leaving as part of a manhunt.

Tour operator Budget Travel could be facing legal action after 180 Irish holidaymakers were delayed by nearly 30 hours on their return journey from the Spanish resort of Salou.

BUDGET Travel, owned by Icelandic firm Primera, made a pre-tax profit of €4.3 million last year.

CIE Tours International have added Siberia and Mongolia amongst others as new destinations to the 2008 Europe and Worldwide Escorted Tours and Cruises programme.

WHAT’S become a new year tradition has so far shown no signs of dimming despite the economic gloom: the holiday-booking rush is up and running.

TILL bells jingled across Cork city yesterday as thousands of bargain hunters flocked to the winter sales.

THOUSANDS of shoppers will attempt to beat the post-Christmas blues today as the winter sales get under way.

ABBEY Travel has released the latest selection of high-quality holidays to Dubai and Oman, with an additional destination to Abu Dhabi. That’s not surprising since the relatively recent start-up of flights from Dublin with Etihad to Abu Dhabi and beyond.

THE Northern Ireland Tourism Board has published a new brochure offering hundreds of options for the traveller short of time.

Ryanair today begins operations on its three new routes from Ireland to the UK and Spain.

COMPETITION among airlines offering flights to Spain intensified yesterday with Easyjet announcing it would begin flights out of Belfast Airport to Alicante and Malaga.

Ryanair will launch a new daily flight service from Dublin to Salou in Spain on April 29.

HOLIDAYS worth an estimated 60,000 were given out to 22 weary souls outside Budget Travel’s offices in Dublin’s Baggot Street for the start of their summer sale.

A EUROPEAN rape crisis helpline is being set up in response to the growing number of women who are raped and sexually assaulted while on holidays.

Christmas seemed to come early for a man when his bank accidentally transferred about £250,000 into his account.

A petrol powered toy car blew up after a toddler had taken it into his grandmother’s car in a Basque resort today, killing the woman and leaving the boy blind and with brain damage.

A toy car carried by a toddler to his grandmother’s car exploded in a Basque resort town today, killing the woman and injuring the child and his brother.

It has emerged that an Irish tourist was among the 13 people injured in today’s car bomb explosion in Spain.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is reminding Irish tourists heading for Spanish holiday resorts to remain vigilant.

A car bomb has exploded outside a hotel in the popular Spanish resort of Salou following a warning call from the Basque separatist group ETA.