What are the best offline apps for London?

WHAT ARE THE BEST OFFLINE APPS FOR MAPS FOR LONDON? I ALWAYS GET LOST WHEN I'M WALKING AROUND AND IT WOULD BE GREAT IF THERE WAS A VOICE TELLING ME TO GO LEFT/RIGHT/STRAIGHT AHEAD, BUT I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE TO BE CONNECTED TO DATA. I'M CLUELESS WITH TECHNOLOGY AND DIRECTIONS. L. THOMPSON, ARDLETHAN

City Maps2Go from Ulmon (ulmon.com) is one, the other is Pocket Earth (pocketearth.com). They work off satellites and make your smartphone into a GPS device; they locate and track you as you walk about. Cost is low and a one-off payment gives you access to all their maps, which cover most of the globe. Once downloaded you don't need a data connection, but they don't have voice commands. If you absolutely need voice, go for Sygic maps; they're made for drivers but also work well when you're on foot. Only problem is you'll have to buy Sygic Europe for €20. They don't sell just a UK map any longer, which is like using a cannon to deal with a fly. If I were you, I'd try getting around using one of the map apps above, and if you find that's not working then sign up for the Sygic maps. It should be simple enough to find a free Wi-Fi connection in London that would allow you to download Sygic Europe. Of course, in London, you can always ask a Bobby for directions!

MY WIFE AND I WANT TO TRAVEL TO SCANDINAVIA AND POSSIBLY ICELAND NEXT YEAR FOR 4-6 WEEKS. DUE TO WORK CONSTRAINTS WE HAVE ONLY A WINDOW OF MID-OCTOBER TO LATE JANUARY. WHAT SHOULD WE CONSIDER WHEN TRAVELLING AT THIS TIME? WOULD IT BE BETTER TO START THE TRIP IN MID-OCTOBER OR DELAY UNTIL NEAR CHRISTMAS? ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHERE TO TRAVEL IN THE COLDER MONTHS? S. MCKAY, SPRINGWOOD

Your main consideration is going to be Jack Frost, and the earlier you start your travels the better. The northern parts of Europe are seriously cold in winter, and it starts to bite in mid-October. An even bigger problem is the lack of daylight. On Christmas Day, Reykjavik gets five hours of sunlight, and it's a low, pale sun that barely raises a shadow, but great for photography. In mid-October you've got almost 10 hours daylight, so a much happier picture, and I'd put Iceland right at the beginning of your trip. Copenhagen gets about seven hours of daylight at Christmas; obviously the further north you go the shorter the days. Today's maximum temperature in Copenhagen is predicted to be 22C, which is about average for mid-August, slightly after peak summer in the northern hemisphere. Sydney's predicted temperature for today is 21C, which gives you some indication of just how cold it's going to be in Scandinavia in winter.

Christmas is actually a fantastic time to be in Scandinavia – lots of Christmas markets, fairs and seasonal food – but apart from that, your options for touring and sightseeing are going to be limited by the cold. If you were to do Iceland first, you might then fly to Copenhagen or one of the other Scandinavian cities and possibly hire a car. The coastline and countryside of southern Norway are seriously fantastic. By November, you'd probably want to be in the cities, as the rural areas start to quieten down when it gets cold, while the cities have much more to offer.

CONVERSATION

OVER TO YOU…

The question was "If you're a senior traveller, have you been able to get a fair deal on travel insurance?"

"After I fell ill and was hospitalised in the UK, neither of the two insurers we had used in the past would offer coverage," writes C. Jones. "After searching the net my wife found a Japanese underwriter, Mitsui Sumitomo, which uses Insure and Go as their retail outlet in Sydney. Insure and Go have been nothing short of fantastic. We first used them in early 2014 to visit South America and then bought another policy to cover a seven-week trip to South Africa in 2014. Four days before we were to fly out a serious accident at home left me in hospital for five weeks, with another three months of rehabilitation. My wife was able to cancel and recover some of our prepaid expense but we were left with a $24,000 shortfall. We mailed the claim to Insure and Go on a Thursday, and the following day we had a phone call to say the claim had been received and it would be reviewed and paid by the following Friday. On that day, the full claim down to the last cent was paid into our bank account. No questions, no haggling, no hassle."