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AN airline is launching its first flight from a London Airport to a city that has been compared to New York.

Condor Airlines has confirmed that a new flight route to Frankfurt will be launching from London Gatwick.

The new route will start from April 2026, with three flights a day.

While Frankfurt might not look like New York at first glance, it has it’s own “mini Manhattan”.

The city’s financial district’s skyline of skyscrappers has led to the moniker of ‘Mainhattan’.

CNN Travel previously said: “Frankfurt looks and feels more like a modern American city than any other metropolis when people visit Germany.”

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Being home to more than 95 per cent of Germany‘s skyscrapers, it is now even nicknamed Europe‘s skyscraper capital, with plans for another 50.

For some of the best views in the city, head up the 200m-high Main Tower which is one of the tallest in the city.

It even once was home to Europe’s tallest building before being overtaken by The Shard.

Of course, there is more to Frankfurt than it’s banking district, including its beautiful Old Town.

While stunning, most of it was destroyed during WWI, so the majority of buildings are replicas, leading to its nickname New Old Town.

The most popular attraction in the city is Städel Museum which has “700 years of art”.

And, of course, the city’s Christmas market launches next week which runs from Zeil down to Römerberg and Mainkai,

Make sure to try some local delicacies there too, including apple wine and of course some Frankfurter sausages.

And Frankfurt will be easier to travel to next year as well, with a huge £3.6billion airport terminal set to open.

Until the new flights launch, you can fly to Frankfurt with Ryanair with return ticket from £30.

Future plans will even see trains from the UK to Frankfurt.

Eurostar unveiled future routes that could one day launch from the UK which would also connect to Germany as well as Switzerland and Italy.

There is also a city in the UK that has been compared to New York.

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Liverpool is often used to film Hollywood blockbusters like Batman due to its skyscrapers and red brick buildings.

And here is a New York style attraction you can find in the UK.

ARGUABLY the most famous waterfalls in the world is Niagara Falls – but did you know that just a few hours away in Europe there is a miniature version of the natural wonder?

In under three hours Brits can fly to Bosnia and Herzegovina where you’ll find the beautiful Kravica Waterfall.

The pretty natural site is tucked away in the village of Studenci which is near the country’s border close to Croatia.

The smaller waterfall is 82 feet high and 393 feet wide.

In comparison, the Horseshoe Falls, which is one of the three Niagara waterfalls is about 188 feet high and 2,200 feet wide.

Visitors to the Kravica Waterfall have called it “spectacular” with one of the highlights being able to swim in the natural lake.

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One person wrote on Tripadvisor: “It’s a magical and surreal place with lots of streams as you walk down for kids to play in.

“It was like a scene from Jumanji or journey to the centre of the earth. The waterfall is hidden in a basin, surrounded by lush trees.”

Surrounding the falls are on-site restaurants and a few shops.

Bosnia and Herzegovina itself was named a top trending destination for 2025 – and a cheap one too.

The capital, Sarajevo, has some of the cheapest beers in Europe with a local pint costing £1.81.

According to Wise, you can get a three-course meal for two for 50.00 KM (£22.61) and a regular cappuccino 3.29 KM (£1.49).

In Sarajevo, you can visit Baščaršija which is the city’s oldest bazaar and is considered the cultural centre of the city.

Here you can try traditional dishes like cevapi, flatbreads filled with grilled meat, and burek, flaky pastries filled with cheese, spinach or even sour cherry for dessert.

Also in the capital are attractions including the War Tunnel, or Tunnel of Hope, left over from the Bosnian war that was originally built in 1993 to get aid and humanitarian supplies into the city.

Further south is the city of Mostar which is home to the historic Stari Most otherwise known as the Old Bridge.

Stari Most was first built in 1566, destroyed in 1993, and rebuilt in 2004. It is huge and towers 78 feet above the Neretva River.

Another famous site in the south is the Blagaj Tekija Monastery in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The monastery is built into a cliffside just above the very blue Buna River and is known to be a spiritual retreat.

Tourists are allowed inside year-round as long as they adhere to the dress code.

Men must wear long trousers below the knees and women must be covered with a scarf and wear a long skirt.

The monastery is usually included in tours of Mostar, and during the summer there are short boat rides into the cave at the bottom of the cliff.

From the UK Brits can fly to Sarajevo in two hours 45 minutes. With Ryanair you can fly to the capital with flights starting from £16.

If you opt to take a trip during the summer the average daily high temperatures across the country generally range from 24C to 32C.

During the winter 15C to -3C – temperatures range a lot within the country with the coldest spots being in the mountains.

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Here’s more on the tiny European hotspot so much cheaper than Croatia – but just as beautiful with 25C temperatures in autumn.

Plus, here’s Croatia’s largest island has hilltop towns, sandy beaches and it’s own airport with direct UK flights.

We appear to have gotten our first look at a curious Chinese ship, which some have dubbed a ‘drone carrier,’ actually in use, supporting at-sea testing of the AR-500CJ uncrewed helicopter. The vessel is one of a number of unusual designs with open flight decks that have emerged in China in recent years as China’s drone ambitions have increasingly extended into the naval domain.

China’s state-run television station CCTV-7, which focuses on news related to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), broadcast clips of the AR-500CJ being tested at sea back on October 30. The AR-500CJ, a version of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC) larger AR-500 family optimized for shipboard operations, first flew in 2022.

The CCTV-7 segment does not appear to name the ship the AR-500CJ is seen operating from, nor does it offer a full view of the vessel. However, the size and configuration of the flight deck, especially a trapezoidal section on the starboard side toward the stern, as well as its markings, match up directly with the design of a ship that was launched at the Jiangsu Dayang Marine shipyard back in 2022. Naval News was first to report in detail on that vessel, which is approximately 328 feet (100 meters) long and some 82 feet (25 meters) across, and has a small island on the starboard side toward the bow, last year.

It had been suggested that the ship seen in the CCTV-7 footage might be a mysterious Chinese vessel with a large open flight deck and three superstructures that TWZ was first to report on last year. That ship bears the logo of the state-run China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and may be named the Zhong Chuan Zi Hao, and could also be a first-of-its-kind ostensibly civilian research ship, as you can read more about here. However, the CSSC ‘carrier’ has a much larger and differently shaped flight deck that also has very distinct markings on it.

As mentioned, a number of unusual open-decked vessels have emerged in China in recent years. Jiangsu Dayang Marine, also known as the New Dayang shipyard, has become particularly notable in this regard. The yard has also produced at least two catamaran drone ‘motherships,’ which TWZ was also first to report on in detail, as well as various specialized barges. These all largely appear to be intended for use in training and/or testing, and to be particularly focused on replicating drone and/or electronic warfare threats. The first known imagery of one of the catamaran motherships in use also notably came from a CCTV-7 segment in 2022.

As TWZ has noted in the past, the maritime platforms that Jiangsu Dayang Marine has produced could potentially have roles in an actual operational context, including when paired with larger crewed warships. At the same time, the relatively small size and general configuration of the ‘mini drone carrier’ would limit its suitability for any kind of sustained employment in support of real-world operations.

An image from the ground of the reported Chinese experimental drone platform. If accurate, it illustrates the relatively modest proportions of the design. Via “斯文的土匪—”/Wb (H/t Temstar/SDF). pic.twitter.com/LAFHRqaGfK

— Alex Luck (@AlexLuck9) May 18, 2024

Even without a secondary operational role, dedicated naval drone test and training platforms still offer value to the PLA, which has been steadily working to expand the scale and scope of its shipboard uncrewed aviation capabilities. AR-500CJ, which AVIC has said could be used as a surveillance asset or an aerial signal relay node, among other roles, is part of this evolving ecosystem. Another drone helicopter intended for shipboard operations, based on the larger AR-2000 design from China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC), was among a host of new uncrewed aircraft designs showcased at a huge military parade in Beijing in September.

Chinese naval drone developments extend well beyond vertical takeoff and landing capable designs. Work on a navalized version of the stealthy flying-wing GJ-11 Sharp Sword uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) has become a particular centerpiece of these efforts. Imagery just recently emerged that offered the first clear look at one of those drones with its arrestor hook deployed. The naval GJ-11, also sometimes referred to as the GJ-21, is expected to fly from at least some of China’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibious assault ships.

As it seems, for the first time clear images of a GJ-21 in flight are posted and this one – based on the still installed pitots – has its tail hook down. pic.twitter.com/5h1nVZHzIe

— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) November 1, 2025

On a broader level, China continues to reinforce its position as a global leader in uncrewed aviation developments in the military and commercial domains, and there is often considerable overlap between the two. Just this year, TWZ was the first to report on the emergence of several previously unseen advanced drone designs, a number of which are also notably large. As we have reported in the past, flying-wing uncrewed aircraft designs also continue to be a particular area of focus for the Chinese aviation industry.

With all this in mind, China’s use of bespoke ships with open flight decks to support drone testing and training, as well as other purposes, only looks likely to grow.

Contact the author: [email protected]

IN A lesser-known corner of Europe is an amusement park with its own mini Colosseum, a nightclub on a plane… and a helicopter observation tower.

The park has no traditional rides, replacing thrilling rollercoasters and carousels with giant building bricks, a farming village and 18-metre high slides.

Irrland in Kevelaer, Germany is a huge hit with families – with one parent who goes by thestrongmamaphysio on Instagram describing it as a “kids’ dream” and one of the “best days out we’ve ever done”.

At the park, her kids helped to build an enormous mountain with over-sized Lego-style bricks, and had a rave in a disused plane.

They also enjoyed enormous slides, sand and water play, mazes and a go-karting track.

Plenty of other parents agreed, with one saying: “Best place we have ever been to – we managed to go in the summer and spend two full days at the park.

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“I genuinely think you’ll struggle to find anywhere as good as this and for £10 per head is ridiculously cheap.”

Irrland i park is split into three parts – Irrland-West, North and South, with more than 90 different attractions.

In the West part of the park is where you’ll find the Disco Plane, it also has a huge Trojan Horse climbing frame and jumping pillows.

There’s also a waterslide and an Airport Tower with 18-metre tall slides.

Irrland North has a helicopter observation tower, a toddler play barn, and a huge treehouse.

It’s also home to the world’s largest building construction site – with enormous Lego-style bricks.

In the South is a toddlers’ farming village with pedal tractors and petting zoo, bamboo mazes, even a mini-colosseum, and a small splash park called ‘South Sea’.

The cut off in the park is for children who are 12 years old.

An online day ticket is €12 (£10.53) per person, children under two years old won’t need a ticket.

Any child’s whose birthday it is on the day of their visit can also enter for free – but they will need a form of ID to prove this.

If you’re in a large group and want to spend time together during the day, there are on-site villas which have lockable rooms and fenced areas – perfect for outdoor picnics.

These are available for the day only as the park doesn’t offer overnight stays – you can enter from 10am with the key needs to be handed in by 5.30pm.

During the summer, barbecue areas are available to book too – the cheapest spot being €25 (£21.94).

Before you look at booking a ticket, the park is closed for the winter season.

Currently, it looks like it will reopen on Saturday March 14, 2026. But check back nearer the time as it’s likely to be weather dependent.

The closest airport to Irrland is Weeze, but you can’t get direct flights to there.

For direct flights, head to Eindhoven in the Netherlands and from there it’s just an hour away by car.

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