1. The September Monocle has a bit of a state-within-a-state theme going on. The issue includes features on Finland’s autonomous Åland Islands, Bolzano, the capital of Italy’s Süd Tirol/Alto Adige region, and an especially fetching multipage feature on Georgia’s Russia-supported breakaway region of Abkhazia. A Monocle dossier on European microstates would be the perfect follow-up. » Read more

Like a hard-bargaining player happy to have gotten his way and thus prepared to reward his subjects—yesterday, the airline came to an apparently mutually agreeable decision with the Brussels Charleroi airport administration—Ryanair today announced two new routes from Bremen. From late October onwards, Ryanair will kick off Bremen-Alicante and Bremen-Palma de Mallorca routes. Of course, » Read more

Ryanair announced today that the airline has reached an agreement with Brussels Charleroi airport. The Irish low-cost carrier had threatened to withdraw from the secondary Brussels airport from November 12 onwards. All ticket sales for travel after November 12 have been released. A desire to avoid the future sudden strikes at Charleroi provided Ryanair’s purported » Read more

In an attempt to capitalize on Ryanair’s threat to junk flights in and out of their Brussels Charleroi base from mid-November on, Brussels Airlines has announced a slate of inexpensive fares from Brussels. The airline is currently promoting €49.99 all-inclusive evening flights from Brussels to 13 destinations across Europe. With b.places, the airline ensnares Second » Read more

What’s new this afternoon? 1. SkyEurope has gone and revamped their site. Very nice, especially the faint gray of the destination map. We just noticed for the first time that our favorite Central European LCC doesn’t fly to a single airport in Germany. Points to us for being observant. 2. Ryanair is in trouble with » Read more

Tuesday. Rainy. Feels like fall. To brighten the mood: 1. EasyJet continues this season’s route expansion extravaganza with today’s announcement of two new routes. From November, the Orange and White will fly between London Luton and Hamburg; beginning in February, they’ll kick off an East Midlands-Palma route. Luton-Hamburg roundtrip fares will start at £33.98. The » Read more

D-Reizen, the Dutch holiday shop chain that regularly turns in some of the cheapest deals around, currently lists a seven-night house rental in Tuscany for €24 per person, based on double occupancy. The rental, in Marina di Bibbona, actually costs €85.50 once reservations charge, booking fee, and insurance charge are taken into account. But considering » Read more

We just discovered hidden europe, a treasure of a publication devoted to out-of-the-way corners of Europe, cultural (and geographical) enclaves, and thoughtful, leisurely examinations of destinations. Hidden europe commenced publication in early 2005 and comes out six times a year. Quite frankly, we’re blown away. We love the publication’s very mission, its attention to detail, » Read more

What’s notable at midweek? 1. TUIfly may be in a financially shaky place, but they’re pulling out all the stops to get more people on board. They’ve just announced an “All you can fly” promotion, which runs €199. For your euros, you get unlimited travel between selected TUIfly destinations. These include 14 destinations in Germany, » Read more