what's the best way to ...

Amass air miles? Apply for a British Airways Diners Club card, to be launched later this month. You will earn one air mile for each pounds 10 spent, twice the rate for NatWest credit cards. Expenditure with BA doubles the rate to one air mile for each pounds 5. With bonuses thrown in, anyone spending pounds 4,000 with BA over the next year will earn 1,300 points - enough for a free return trip to Prague. The card costs pounds 75 annually.

Zoom to Zurich for almost zilch? Travel from Paddington station in London to Luton by bus, then fly on Edelweiss Air (01293 553717) to Switzerland's largest city. The flat fare on this charter airline is pounds 97 return.

Avoid drunk drivers? Go to Belgium, Holland or France, where the legal alcohol limit is 0.05 per cent (compared with 0.08 in Britain and a frightening 0.1 per cent in Ireland). This and other useful Continental motoring information can be found in Driving into Europe, free from branches of Halford's.

View the autumn foliage in Vermont? Call (802-828-3239), fax (1-800- 833-9756) or e-mail (http://www. travel-vermont.com) the Vermont Fall Foliage Report for a twice-weekly update on the colour of the trees.

Join Frank Bough as he explores the last Olympic city? As Atlanta's games kick off this Saturday, read his account of Barcelona in the travel pages of the Independent.