midnight

Jayne Harrison-Bond and husband Ian landed, enjoyed some sun, sand, and beers, then flew home

A couple jetted off to a Spanish island for some New Year’s Eve sunshine – and still made it back in time to ring in 2024 with family. Jayne Harrison-Bond, 52, and her husband Ian, 53, managed to squeeze in three hours of beach time in Lanzarote while still being home to celebrate with their adult children.

Community nurse Jayne, from Loughborough in Leicestershire, organised the spontaneous getaway after realising December 31 was her only free day during the festive season due to her hectic work schedule.

The adventurous pair secured £75 return flights from East Midlands Airport just three days beforehand, rising early to catch their 5.45am departure to the Canary Islands.

Their entire escapade cost under £100 each – covering flights, beach transport, meals, drinks, and a taxi back to Lanzarote Airport for their 6.05pm return journey. Jayne reflected: “It was lovely, a spur-of-the-moment thing, really. I was the only person at work on New Year’s Day with a sun tan, so I’ll take that.

“Somebody on a Facebook group put about going (to Lanzarote for the day) and we’re reasonably close to East Midlands (airport) ourselves.

“I was working all over Christmas but I had that day (the 31st) off. I said to my hubby, ‘that would be a good day trip’ kind of laughing about it, then ended up booking it on the Sunday.”

Welder Ian and Jayne touched down in Lanzarote at 10.15am, reaching Playa Honda beach by 10.35am after hopping on a bus for €1.40 each. “We did very little apart from the beach,” Jayne shared. “We had some nice tapas and a couple of nice drinks. The object of the day was just to utilise some rest time.”

The pair shelled out €4 each for beers at a beachside bar, before heading to Goliath Terraza for more food and drinks, setting them back €11 each. “My hubby had a large pizza and fries”, Jayne revealed. “I opted for a chicken caesar salad and we both enjoyed another drink.”

A €10 taxi fare got them back to the airport in time to catch their flight home, arriving just before midnight. Jayne recalled: “We’ve got two adult children still living at home; we raised a glass of Buck’s fizz with them. I was back to work the next day at 8am. It was well worth it.”

Jayne’s workmates were taken aback by her whirlwind trip, but the travel enthusiast – who has also made day trips to Alicante and Malaga recently – assured them she managed to get up for work without any issues.

She added: “They said, ‘I don’t know how you went that far for a day out’ but we weren’t exhausted after it or anything. It was a very straight-forward, everyday thing so I would recommend it to anyone.”

THE clock is ticking, the countdown is coming to an end…the £9.50 hols are nearly here.

From midnight tonight, Sun Club members like Tracy Kennedy (and many of her quarter of a million followers on social media) will be eagerly sat at their laptops, ready to book.

It’s been 36 years of The Sun’s £9.50 holidays, and Sun readers can still collect their coupon codes in the paper to enjoy their holiday deals.

But now, savvy £9.50 holidaymakers have joined Sun Club – where you can get earlier access to booking your holiday online.

Our new £9.50 hols agony aunt, Tracy Kennedy, has her £9.50 holiday night routine locked down.

Because tonight is a big night for holidaymakers across the UK looking to bag their top choice of holiday park for 2026.

TAKE FIVE

Our top picks for ‘fun under £5’ across all £9.50 Holiday destinations in the UK

TOP TIPS

Our new Hols From £9.50 Agony Aunt’s top tricks for booking the best Sun holiday

“I call it The Midnight Service” says Tracy.

“It started years ago when we could start booking online”.

“What happens is at about 10pm we stop all posts on the group and have a bit of a quiet down…then midnight comes”.

“After a few minutes, Sun Club people can book. Which includes me, straight after midnight. The people collecting codes have to wait a bit longer”.

“Then everyone jumps on and is booking”.

With a community of 280,000+ behind her, it’s a big night for our Queen of £9.50 hols.

“Tonight is a big night, people get all hyper and excited. It’s always good fun – even after I’ve booked mine I wait up”.

“When I wake up, my inbox is full of messages with everyone excited about where they’ve booked.”

As we approach the opening for bookings, Tracy has some top tips to make sure you get the holiday you want.

Tracy recommends people looking to grab a bargain holiday make a list of their top four resorts, plus a few more that they wouldn’t mind going to.

She also suggests making sure you can get there with your method of transport, checking if your site is dog-friendly, and knowing which dates you are looking to book.

Once you’ve chosen your top picks, there’s a few other steps to make sure you have the smoothest experience possible.

“Make sure to clear your cookies on your browser if possible” she says.

“Sometimes when getting to the page, an ‘invalid session…’ message comes up and stops you booking”.

“We’re not sure why this is, but it’s something to look out for and some people have said that clearing their cookies have helped”.

There’s multiple ways to get ready to unlock your £9.50 Holiday deal, but Tracy recommends joining Sun Club for the easiest way in.

“I’d absolutely recommend people sign up for Sun Club“.

“I love the convenience of having it all online. And it’s nice getting that extra priority with it opening early”.

Whilst Sun Club members can book their breaks just after midnight tonight, those collecting codes unlock booking on Wednesday 14 January.

“I paid £12 for the year, that’s a £1 a month”.

“What can you get for £1 these days?”

Plus, if you ask Tracy a question relating to our £9.50 hols, you could be rewarded with a £100 Amazon voucher.

Simply fill in the form with your details and question.

CINCINNATI — A man who broke windows at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home and caused other property damage was detained early Monday, the U.S. Secret Service said.

The man was detained shortly after midnight by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s home, east of downtown Cincinnati, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press. He has not been named.

The Secret Service heard a loud noise at the home around midnight and found a person who had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get into the house, according to two law enforcement officials who were not publicly authorized to discuss the investigation into what happened and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The man had also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way up the home’s driveway, one of the officials said.

The home, in the Walnut Hills neighborhood, on hills overlooking the city, was unoccupied at the time, and Vance and his family were not in Ohio, Guglielmi said.

The Secret Service is coordinating with the Cincinnati Police Department and the U.S. attorney’s office as charging decisions are reviewed, he said.

Vance, a Republican, was a U.S. senator representing Ohio before becoming vice president. His office said his family was already back in Washington and directed questions to the Secret Service.

Walnut Hills is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and is home to historic sites, including the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.

Richer and McCormack write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mike Balsamo and Sarah Brumfield contributed to this report.

Zohran Mamdani will become mayor of New York City as the clock ticks over into 2026 — but the celebrations are set to last through New Year’s Day.

The Democrat’s team is planning two separate swearing-in ceremonies Thursday — a small, private one with his family in an old subway station around midnight, followed by a large event in the afternoon that will include a public block party outside City Hall.

As a new mayor’s term begins immediately with the new year, it has been customary for the city’s incoming leaders to hold two events. Departing Mayor Eric Adams held his initial swearing-in at Times Square shortly after the famous ball drop, while Adams’ predecessor Bill de Blasio took his first oath at home in Brooklyn.

For his part, Mamdani will take his initial oath at the former City Hall subway station in Manhattan — one of the city’s original stops on its subterranean transit system, known for its tiled arches and vaulted ceilings.

New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, a political ally and notable foe of President Trump, will administer the oath of office.

The old City Hall stop was designed as the flagship station of the city’s first subway line, but was decommissioned in 1945. These days, outside of occasional guided historical tours, locals can usually only catch a glimpse of it by staying on the 6 train after its last stop downtown when it turns around to head north.

In a statement, Mamdani’s office said the choice to be sworn in at the station reflected his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day.”

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives,” Mamdani said.

“That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani will be sworn in again, this time by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of his political heroes, on the steps of City Hall in a ceremony. It’s scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. with opening remarks from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another political ally and a fellow New Yorker.

Mamdani’s transition formed an inaugural committee that includes actor John Turturro, playwright Cole Escola and writer Colson Whitehead, as well as advocates, small business owners and campaign workers who the incoming mayor’s office says have “provided perspective, guidance, and cultural sensibility” for the ceremony.

The public swearing-in will be accompanied by a block party along a stretch of Broadway leading up to City Hall. Mamdani’s office expects thousands of people to attend and says there will be performances, music and interfaith elements.

Izaguirre writes for the Associated Press.