Something to declare: Buy a railcard today; holiday snaps on canvas; summer in America

Where to go, how to save, what to avoid

Warning of the week: Buy a railcard today

From tomorrow, prices for most railcards increase. Senior, 16-25 and family and friends railcards go up from £24 to £26, with a three-year version still available at £65. If you have an annual card that expires any time in the next month, you can save cash by renewing today.

Network cards, which offer one-third discounts on off-peak journeys in South-East England, increase in price from £20 to £25. In addition, the minimum fare from Monday to Friday rises from £10 to £13 – making them less useful for many journeys, including those to most of the capital's airports from central London.

See railcard.co.uk or call 08457 48 49 50 for more details.

Destination of the week: holiday snaps on canvas

Venice, Hong Kong, Cuba: some of the destinations featured in An Exhibition of Paintings From a Camera by David Freeman, at the Coningsby Gallery in central London (020-7636 7478; coningsbygallery.com; 16-20 May, 10am to 6pm. "They are moments seen and things observed rather than 'picture postcards'."

Opening today and for the next two weekends (noon-6pm) at the WW Gallery in Hackney (0753 134 2128; wilsonwilliamsgallery.com) is Travelling Light, showcasing 58 artists including Kate Davis, Jarik Jongman, and Eva Lis.

The works will subsequently form part of the Venice Biennale, to be hung in a palazzo between the Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Bargain of the week: Summer in America

Continental Airlines, the fifth-biggest carrier in the world, is having a lousy time; its latest financial results showed a dramatic fall in revenue, and sharp reductions in premium passengers. That is why it has started a short-term sale – open until midnight on Monday, 18 May – offering uncommonly low summer fares to the US, around one-third less than prevailed a year ago. Non-stop return flights between Heathrow and Newark (New York's second airport) on Continental are widely available in August for £426 return, falling to £283 in September.

Delta is offering some even better fares on some Heathrow-New York JFK fares – as low as £414 return.

Equally surprising are the low fares on offer to Florida. Peak days during the school summer holidays often hit £1,000 for non-stop flights on British Airways and Virgin from Gatwick to Orlando. This year, though, the absolute peak dates – 1 August outbound, 15 August inbound – are available on BA for around £800 return. If you change planes along the way (eg on Continental via Newark, Northwest via Detroit and US Airways via Philadelphia), the target range is between £600 and £650.