It’s going to be a long, arduous road to actually getting away on holiday – and I still can’t wait

After 19 long weeks, international travel is finally set to restart on Monday. It’s been a long, hard winter for airlines and the travel industry (and won’t anyone think of the travel editors churning out yet more articles headlined: “Can I go on holiday yet?” No, you can’t.)

I’ve squeaked through a couple of staycations since the domestic travel rules changed on 12 April. Lovely as they were, the Yorkshire weather, even in May, doesn’t hold a torch to the Mediterranean.

So, summer holidays. Last week, the government finally spelled out a slender list of “green” countries, a handful of which are in Europe, and only one that is really mainstream: Portugal.

Yet in a twist that is becoming darkly funny for those covering these mangled announcements, by Friday morning, the Iberian nation still hadn’t spelt out whether it would even welcome British holidaymakers, despite thousands of them planning to pile in. Spoiler: they will.

At sparrow’s fart on Monday morning, I’m due to fly to Madeira on one of the first “green” flights, with holiday giant Tui. The testing requirement is massive, even for a “safe” country: a PCR test taken today on my doorstep, analysed over the weekend, ready to present on arrival on Monday; a lateral flow test before flying back to the UK; and a further PCR test taken within two days of landing on British soil.

It’s certainly no longer a case of packing a bag the night before and showing up at the airport. The 2.30am wake-up is going to be the least of my worries.

All this organisation is getting in the way of the main event: the rush of walking off that plane, being hit with a wall of heat. Waking up in a new place, with the whole day stretching before you. Throwing on sandals, crunching the sand under your feet as you prepare to order a beachside cocktail the colour of screenwash. That. That is why I can’t wait to do it all over again.

Yours,

Cathy Adams

Travel editor