THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER ONCE MORE

See? That wasn’t so bad after all. Travel is certainly a little more complicated than it used to be, but it feels much more straightforward once the new protocols have been demystified. After that the key thing is to be well organised, to plan ahead and to keep your options open for as long as possible. And once you have broken your duck and ventured out into the postCovid world, then hopefully you will feel confident enough to start planning a bigger, more adventurous trip – just like the old days.

That too will need careful thought because so much uncertainty remains. Nevertheless, the prospects are looking better than for a long time. Canada is back on the traveller’s agenda – it turned green in the latest traffic light review and welcomes fully-vaccinated British travellers. And it will surely be only a matter of months before other key long-haul destinations such as the United States start to re-open to tourism and before the big cruise lines gear up their international operations.

There is a glimmer of hope even for Australia – Qantas has said it may restart flights by the end of December. Thailand has just turned red, but there is plenty of time for that to change for the winter season, and while other destinations such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South America face greater challenges, hopefully we will be able to travel there in, say, 12 months’ time.

In fact, 2022 will surely be the year when the travel world slowly returns to normal. You may feel that it is too early to book, and that you want a little more certainty before committing, but this autumn is a great time to be planning a more adventurous trip and starting to put the bad memories of Covid-19 behind us.

Qantas may restart flights by December