Hurricane Isaias comes ashore on the Florida Panhandle; the toll of Catalonia’s storm; strikes in Italy, France, Leeds and Seoul; a new Hong Kong–Shenzhen crossing; and Sydney’s second airport opens on 25 October.
Red rain warnings and cancelled flights in Catalonia; part of Japan’s Uchibo Line reopens as a new typhoon passes offshore; Hawaii after Hurricane Nolo; the Japan Rail Pass price rise; and a new US travel authorisation fee.
Typhoon Dujuan leaves parts of the Chiba coast without trains and Typhoon Surigae heads for Okinawa; UK air traffic control fails for the second time in a fortnight; Hurricane Nolo nears Hawaii; and Barcelona’s baggage-handling strike is back on.
A large typhoon is forecast to reach Tokyo on the holiday Monday; an independent review is ordered into Britain’s air traffic control failure; the US ESTA fee story going round is a year out of date; and Australia moves to cap second-year backpacker visas.
Britain’s air traffic control system failed on Tuesday, and UK airports are still catching up — this week that is the likeliest thing to touch your journey, wherever you are going. Record rain has flooded Nagoya and brought warnings to Tokyo. Schengen borders quietly lost the flexibility that kept queues moving. China’s new entry rules start on Tuesday. And two Italian strike dates are worth knowing if you connect through Rome.
Tropical Storm Krovanh loops around southern Japan; India’s monsoon moves to the Himalayan foothills; Schengen border flexibility ends; and British Columbia lifts its wildfire emergency early.
Typhoon Saudel has put Japan, China and Hong Kong on the same warning map in a single week. Barcelona’s baggage strike is worsening, British Columbia’s state of emergency expires Saturday, southern Kyushu still has no through train, and Norwich Airport closes on Friday. What actually changes your plans.
Two big stories, both weather. Typhoon Dolphin slammed eastern China on 9 August, grounding well over a thousand flights at Shanghai, and Asia’s storm season is at its fierce peak around Hong Kong and Japan too. Meanwhile fast-moving wildfires in British Columbia have forced more than 20,000 people from their homes and put the province under a state of emergency. Spain’s airport strikes rumble on into a second week, and — a reminder for travellers everywhere — measles is rising worldwide.
A heavy week, much of it about getting there. A week on from the Kumamoto earthquake, Japan is recovering but still shaking. Flying to and around Europe is hard going: an indefinite ground-staff strike hit Barcelona and Palma airports from 4 August, and a wider air-traffic-control shortage is delaying flights across the continent. A tropical cyclone is disrupting Hong Kong–Japan routes, and — some better news — Spain’s wildfires are finally easing.