Departure Lounge

Departure Lounge was a BBC One holiday magazine-style television series based at Manchester Airport It was hosted by Nick Knowles and CBBC presenter, Angellica Bell along with travel expert Simon Calder. The series ran as a pilot with each programme lasting one hour, until the series ended on 7 October 2005. The programme visited locations all around the world including New Zealand, Las Vegas, Madagascar, Tokyo and Thailand. Regular features of the show included "Call Calder", where members of the public asked for Simon Calder to accompany them on their holidays to help liven them up. Also there was the Celebrity Challenge, where a celebrity had a £500 budget, which included all travel costs, accommodation, sights and activities and food. Points were awarded on not only how far they could go, but also the various modes of transport they used, the number countries they visited and sights they saw. The winner was Vanessa Feltz.