Simon Calder's 32 years on the road as travel correspondent for The Independent

Simon Calder's retirement marks the end of a 32 year road trip as The Independent's travel correspondent. On 29 May 2026 he signs off for the final time, capping a career that began on 16 May 1994 when the paper was based at 40 City Road in London. Travel was then more expensive and less predictable, yet journalism technology was already shifting ahead of its time. Calder recalls filing from a Soviet era hotel in Novosibirsk after dismantling a Russian phone to reach the mainframe, sending copy at roughly 180 words per minute. These moments illustrate how reporting tools have evolved during decades of change.