Thanks to Philip for sending me this link from the independent. A great write up of an experience travelling to Madeira and back to the UK.
It wasn’t the traditional holiday scene: an eerily quiet airport, one half of it shut. I’m no stranger to turning up at dawn to catch a cheap flight to Europe, but this felt different. Five months after my last trip out of the country, I could barely remember what I needed to pack.
After 19 long weeks, international leisure travel finally got the green light from Monday 17 May, under the much-publicised “traffic light” system. A slender list of 12 destinations were deemed “safe”, Portugal the only mainstream holiday country among them. (I’d forgotten to pack my bearskin coat, so South Atlantic islands Tristan da Cunha were sadly out.)
In the run-up to 17 May, airlines and holiday companies piled on more capacity to “green” Portugal, including its islands Madeira and Porto Santo in the Atlantic, to capitalise on what was expected to be a boom in demand.
I’m going to leave this article pinned to the top of the blog for a while.
Please share your experiences with others in the comments below.