Should you head abroad or stay in the UK for your summer holiday?

If you go abroad there will be trouble, says Chris Carter. But you should be safer with a holiday nearer home.

Glendun, Northern Ireland
Glendun: a tranquil spot on the Northern Irish coast
(Image credit: © Alamy Stock Photo)

“European destinations insist that they will be open come summer. Tour operators promise that there will be flights,” say Chris Haslam, James Stewart and Susan d’Arcy in The Sunday Times. “But confusion and uncertainty over self-isolation, tests, vaccinations and now quarantine hotels is discouraging all but the most determined travellers.” And yet, most of us are by now yearning to get away – even if that means staying in Britain.

After all, going through the rigmarole of booking a foreign holiday only to see it cancelled again like last year will feel too much like Groundhog Day. And if it goes ahead and you come home to a fortnight banged up in a Travelodge, it will feel too much like Papillon. In Hounslow. A better plan is to star in your own The Great Escape and book a British summer holiday now. Yes, peak periods will be “irritatingly busy”. And you might have to navigate the “latent hostility from a shrill minority of locals”. But the nation’s beauty spots are “there for the enjoyment of all”.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.