Miami-Bound
Inexplicably, I've been forgetting to mention that we're going to Florida at the end of February. Not an extensive trip - we'll only be away a week - but one into which we're hoping to pack as much activity as possible. Not for us a week of lounging on beaches - oh no, we want to see the Everglades, and the Kennedy Space Center, and probably a theme park or two (I want to go on this ride, but I suspect I'll be doing so alone), and we plan on driving down through the Florida Keys on that fantasic road that links them all, in the convertible automobile we're renting 
What really put it back in my mind is this outrageous situation with the Air Passenger Duty increase. If you haven't followed this particular saga, the Government increased the rate of Air Passenger Duty (a tax levied on each passenger departing the UK, ostensibly increased because airlines aren't 'meeting their environmental costs', whatever that means) back in December, with the increase becoming effective from 1st February. But: the tax applies on flights where tickets were already booked and paid for when the increase was announced. Meaning that people who thought they'd already paid for their tickets might now (depending on their airline) be required to pay more.
Now, as I've noted before here, I worry enough about the amount of flying I do, and its environmental impact, so I'm not averse to the idea of this kind of charge, but this way of going about things means that the people who are most likely to be affected by the extra charge are those who bought ahead, either to save money or to work around limited flexibility (school holidays, leave availability, etc). Broadly, people flying for leisure who don't do so very often. And the people booking at the last minute, which probably includes a fair proportion of business travellers who won't pay it themselves and who therefore won't care, will probably not even register the charge or what it's for.
Anyway, we've paid up, like dutiful citizens, and will therefore be avoiding any potential scrum to pay before being allowed on a plane next month.
I liked this line from the Virgin Atlantic website, even if I was wholly unimpressed by the shonky process itself and the fact that they're using PayPal (yes, that's right) to collect the money.
The APD is a government tax which has been paid by passengers since it was introduced 13 years ago. The government says the extra APD raised will be targeted at helping our environment and tackling climate change. Virgin Atlantic can't wait to see how the UK government will spend your money to combat global warming.