There's good news for island residents on the travel front this week with the announcement of cheaper travel and a new ferry service.
For many years now residents of Spain's non-mainland outposts, the Canary and Balearic Islands and the two North African cities Ceuta and Melilla, have been entitled to a discount on the ferry or plane fare from their home to the mainland. This has been set at 33% but will soon be increased to 38% and hopefully will be backdated to January 1st.
Local ferry company Trasmediterranea have announced that they are to run a super fast ferry service using the catamaran Milenium to Barcelona via Palma. There are of course other fast connections to both Palma and Barcelona but the good thing about this one is that it gives Ibiza residents the chance to travel to Palma and back in one day. Leaving at 07.15 and returning back at 22.30 it's perfectly timed for anyone who has a specialist hospital appointment in Palma or who wants to bring half of Ikea back to Ibiza.