A jolly holiday in the sun? Give me a break!
I REALLY do wonder why people go on holiday abroad — it’s hassle from the word go. Once you’ve booked (at double the price during the school holidays), you start worrying whether the hotel/resort/villa you are heading for actually exists. Even without the long queues at security and passport control, there’s chaos at the airport, which is where the rip-offs start: extra costs for baggage and people with long legs, and your children are the other end of the plane unless you pay more to sit together. Then there’s the extortion at the bureau de change with their appalling exchange rates if you have forgotten to order any currency before your trip. Have you remembered to get an allsinging, all-dancing travel insurance policy at great expense to cover you for every eventuality — apart, that is, from what you end up claiming for? And don’t get me started on air traffic control strikes. Once you finally arrive, you queue to pick up a hire car and discover that with waivers and must-have extras, it’s twice the price you bargained for. At the resort, if you manage to get a sun lounger, prepare to be harassed by timeshare sharks and crooked claims firms patrolling the beach. Later, you’ll get home to find your car has been used for joyriding and rally cross while at ‘secure’ airport parking and your house has been ransacked because you posted pictures on social media of your family having fun thousands of miles from home. And if you choose to holiday in Britain — I’m off to Bournemouth — the return train ticket and a week in a two-star hotel is the same price as a business-class return flight to New Zealand. Of course it won’t stop raining until the children are back at school. Happy holidays everyone!
GRAHAM LUDLAM, South Wingfield, Derbys.