My youngest daughter is coming back to the UK from Australia in June. She and I want to meet up in Tokyo on her way back, and spend a week there. She needs a single ticket, but I haven't been able to find anything that isn't ridiculously expensive. Also, we'd like to arrive in Tokyo on the same day, and travel back to the UK on the same flight. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Carol Kidd

Doc Holiday responds: Particularly on Gap Year trips, extended backpacking, or just very long holidays, you may want to change your plans along the way, and buy a new ticket home, or to somewhere new. In general, it’s usually cheaper to buy an airline ticket from the place where you intend to fly from - so in your daughter’s case, for her to buy a ticket in Australia.

The best option is to visit a local travel agent or consolidator. Avoid using backstreet bucket shops, which may have the cheapest offer on the face of it, but can turn out to be scam outfits, leaving you with a bigger bill, or in the worst case, leave you stranded with a useless ticket.

Instead, go for a company that you know well, like STA Travel (08701 630 026, www.statravel.co.uk), which has offices in 22 countries, and dozens of them in the UK. Flight Centre (0870 499 0040, www.flightcentre.com) also has offices in six countries, and Trailfinders (0845 0585858, www.trailfinders.com) has branches in Australia.

With six branches in Melbourne, STA offers one-way fares from there to London, with a stopover in Tokyo from about £800, flying with Japan Airlines. This isn’t exactly cheap, as return fares are almost always better value, but it will be better cheaper than buying the same flights from Melbourne, in the UK. Incidentally, it’s also cheaper than buying a one way-fare to Tokyo, and then buying a one-way fare from there to London.

Return fares from London to Tokyo are from about £750, from STA Travel, Trailfinders, or Flight Centre, also flying on Japan Airlines.

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