abstract: We are interested in studying the different rates of escape of points under iteration by transcendental holomorphic self-maps of $\mathbb C$. Using annular covering lemmas we are able to construct different types of orbits, including fast-escaping or arbitrarily slowly escaping points to either 0, infinity or both of them, and points with periodic itineraries as well. These results are analogous to the ones that Phil Rippon and Gwyneth Stallard recently proved for entire functions.