Hot Spot

Ireland has its shamrock, Florida claims it's the Sunshine State, and the Russian spa town of Zheleznovodsk is so proud of its method for treating digestive complaints that it has put up a monument - to the enema.

It's a 362kg bronze statue of a syringe bulb supported by three cherubs, along with a banner proclaiming: “Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas!” So get your butt over to Regent Holidays (0117 9211711), which offers spa breaks in the Southern Caucasus Mountains, a region famed for the curative powers of its mineral springs.

Picture perfect

Forget “Wish You Were Here”, try “Yes, I Was Here”. For the ultimate in holiday one-upmanship, you can use the Personalised Postcards internet service to upload your holiday snaps, design your cards and write your messages. They'll be mailed to anywhere in the UK the next day - all for 99p a card. www.ppme.co.uk

Amazon venture

If you have a year or so to spare, no fear of snakes, creepy-crawlies or gun-toting guerrillas and can walk long distances without whining “are we nearly there yet?” then here's your chance to join pioneering Ed Stafford on his 4,000-mile trek from the source to the mouth of the Amazon. Ed's original buddy on the expedition stuck it for only 90 days. Flakes and wimps need not apply to pickme@walkingtheamazon.com

Site of the week: www.monsterfamilyfun.com

Ten child-friendly monster icons, such as Piski, who is into thrills and rollercoasters, and Noj, who likes painting and dressing up, represent different sorts of days out all over England, so kids can choose where they'd like to go. Launched this week in time for the school holidays, this colourful new site comes from Enjoy England, the tourist board.

Suitcase secrets: Alan Carr

What do you always take with you? My iPod and speakers. You never know who'll end up on your balcony, and you can't beat a good sunset with a gin and tonic, listening to La Isla Bonita.

What's the worst thing that you've lost or had stolen? I haven't got anything worth nicking. I lost a couple of pants, backpacking in Mexico - but that was more to do with the mojitos.

What do you most regret leaving behind? My mother. Some of the places I've visited, like Cuba and Cape Town, my Mum has always wanted to go to. I'd love to bring her along, but she'd cramp my style, and I can't be seen rubbing suntan lotion into my mother's back, I'd look like Norman Bates.

What's the best thing that you've bought or found? My Louis Vuitton hand luggage, because it brings back so many happy memories. I still feel guilt pangs when I think of the decadence.

Alan Carr co-hosts The Sunday Night Project on Channel 4

Tom Chesshyre's news in brief

See the world through tinted windows

WINDOWS with switches allowing passengers to control how much light comes in to the cabin will be standard on planes soon to be introduced by Thomson and First Choice Holidays.

The switches will determine the level of tint on windows on 23 Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes due to start flying in two years. There will be no blinds and the windows will be bigger than on any other plane now in commercial use.

FIRST CLASS? A first-class passenger on a Delta Airlines flight from New York to Guyana opened the emergency exit and slid out after landing - when he became frustrated that economy class was being let off before him. Police say that he appeared to be intoxicated.

SILLY Equal opportunities laws have meant that the Isles of Scilly airport had to advertise for a new air traffic controller in Braille.

BLOOD-SUCKING TIPS Leech socks and a good song are recommended for trips to Borneo in Lonely Planet's first guide to the Far East island. Village elders often ask outsiders to perform songs, it says.

TYRE TRAP Spanish thieves are targeting tourists by slashing tyres on hire cars and then stealing bags while holidaymakers jack up cars for repairs.

HANDS OFF St Ninian's Isle treasure has been lent for the summer to the Shetland Museum by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. However, Shetlanders believe that the silver Pictish relics, which were discovered in 1958 and are considered local icons, should stay permanently.

Times recommends

• Bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays
• The complete last minute holiday guide
• Croatia: the flashing blades of Korcula