DEAR READER

NOT everyone likes flying. I love it, and long for that moment at the start of a long-haul holiday when the drinks trolley rumbles down the aisle and you sit back with a glass of wine, open a new book and leave your stresses behind (all the more so now we have to battle through the Covid red tape before boarding).

The good news is the same will apply on trips closer to home as British Airways announced the return of free food and drink on short-haul economy flights this week.

Yes, the drink may be limited to water for now. But it’s a step in the right direction since the glamour of flying short-haul departed a decade or so ago.

Things are looking up elsewhere, too. Direct flights to Morocco (Marrakech pictured) are returning on Monday; the UK Government is finally dropping its arduous Day 2 return test on Friday and bookings are booming for trips around the world. Indeed, airlines are recruiting thousands of cabin crew after a turbulent two years saw many leave the industry for good.

The way things are going, 2022 could just be a golden year for travel. Especially as New Zealand and Australia, perhaps the world’s most locked-down countries, will be welcoming international tourists back in the coming months (see right).

But we have some way to go — and travel can still be a minefield. I’m heading to the Dolomites tomorrow, flying to Innsbruck, Austria before driving across the border to Italy.

Austria’s entry rules are among the most complex I’ve come across, with jabs having sell-by dates and rules varying according to which vaccine you’ve received. And then I have to consider Italy’s entry restrictions for crossing the border, which require me to show proof of a negative PCR or antigen test and complete a Passenger Locator Form. What a fuss.

Let’s just hope I’ll breeze through boarding tomorrow and be sipping on something strong in the sky a few minutes later (although no doubt £10 or so poorer).