Something to declare: Warning of the week - how old is your plane

The column that gives the global picture

Destination of the week:Lake Constance

"Friedrichshafen: gateway to the world" – a far-fetched claim these days for a small port on the north shore of Lake Constance. But around 1930, the German town was the base for the longest-haul flights in the world.

Flights from the airship base at Friedrichshafen went non-stop to New York and Brazil, aboard the airships Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin. The story is told at the town's fascinating Zeppelin Museum, on the shore of Lake Constance – locally known as Bodensee. The museum (00 49 75 413 8010, www.zeppelin-museum.de) opens 10am-6pm, daily except Mondays, admission €6.15 (£4).

To get there, fly on Ryanair from Stansted (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com). A train runs direct from the airport to the unlikely-sounding Friedrichshafen Hafen station, whose platforms merge with the Zeppelin Museum.

Once at the lake, you can take advantage of an innovative three-nation unlimited travel pass. Parts of Germany, Switzerland and Austria that border Lake Constance, plus Liechtenstein, have teamed up to offer a Tageskarte Euregio Bodensee – a ticket that lets you travel on as many trains, boats and buses as you can manage in a day, around Lake Constance and deep into Switzerland and Austria. The standard price is €26 (£17), while two adults and up to five under-16s pay a total of €46 (£30).

For more details, call 00 41 71 228 2313 or visit the website www.euregio.com.

Warning of the week: How old is your plane?

The latest airline to boast about the youth of its fleet is easyJet, which asserts its planes are much newer than those of British Airways. There is no direct correlation between the age of an aircraft and the risk of an accident, but some flyers are happier on newer planes.

The Seattle-based website www.AirSafe.com has estimated average fleet ages for leading US airlines. Youngest, by far, is the low-cost operator JetBlue, which has a network of domestic flights from New York JFK; its Airbuses are an average of 21 months old.

Among big airlines, the most modern fleet belongs to Continental (seven years four months), followed by United (eight years nine months). AirSafe says Northwest Airlines has the oldest fleet of big American carriers, with its planes averaging 20 years two months.

Bargain of the week: France from London for £50 or less

First call for the undersea awayday – yesterday Eurostar unveiled its summer day-trips promotion, offering trains from Waterloo to Paris or Brussels for £50. Lille is even cheaper, at £45. A first-class supplement of £50 buys more legroom, plus free meals and drinks.

Bookings for the cut-price trains through the Channel Tunnel begin next Friday, 22 July, for travel from 25 July until 7 September. The late summer Bank Holiday (23-26 August) is excluded.

The latest outbound train you can take is the 10.23am to Paris and the 10.27am to Lille or Brussels. Coming home, the first train allowed is just after 4pm from Paris, 5pm from Brussels.

For comparison, the usual day-trip fare on Eurostar is £298 in second class, £405 in first – but easyJet has day returns from Luton to Charles de Gaulle airport for around £60 return in August.