Travel with Katie Butler: Useful checklist for holidaymakers

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: We caught up with the ABTA who have recently issued The ABTA Travel Checklist with simple steps to ensure that preparing for your holiday this summer is as stress-free as possible.

ABTA’s Travel Checklist:

• Read the FCDO travel advice for the destination you will be travelling to.
• Check your passport is valid for your travel dates, especially if you have the older style red passports.
• Take out travel insurance. A good insurance policy will cover you for cancellation charges, delays, lost baggage and medical expenses if you fall ill abroad.
• Make sure you have a valid GHIC, The Global Health Insurance Card provides low-cost or free access to state healthcare.
• Check the rules for travelling to Europe, now that the UK is no longer a member of the EU, there may be differences to be aware of including passport validity, driving abroad or taking your pet abroad.
• Stick to the current rules surrounding liquids and laptops. Check with the airport you are flying from to avoid confusion around the differing rules.
• Get your travel money sorted, the use of cash and card can vary from country to country so plan ahead especially if you have resort taxes payable locally at check-in.
• Have a fun and safe trip, we want everyone to have a holiday to remember, for all the right reasons, so make sure you take steps to keep yourself safe, such as , when swimming, follow the rules at the pool, look out for warning flags and signs at the beach.

Much of the above we would go through with our customers, either at the time of booking, or when they collect their tickets.

However, all the information, plus much more, can be found on the ABTA website http://www.ABTA.com

Last week we welcomed back Alison who is based at our Ossett branch.

Alison has just returned from sunny Bulgari, a trip hosted by Balkan Holidays.

This is what Alison had to say: “Having never been to Bulgaria I was excited to see and experience a place that I sell but have never personally visited.

" I flew out of Humberside Airport, again an airport I have never flown from before, and what a fantastic little airport – totally stress-free. I wish more airlines flew from there.

"Bulgaria was amazing and the experience did exactly what it intended – it opened my eyes to a beautiful new destination!

"Like most places it has its busier parts, but my absolute favourite place has to be the old town of Nessebar, just a ten minute drive from Sunny Beach, or you can even jump on the mini-train. The town is quaint with picturesque cobbled streets and a beautiful harbour.

"I would definitely take a holiday to Bulgaria.”

Another cracking week for late deals in all three stores, accounting for 38 per cent of our total new bookings.

Turkey and Majorca retained top spots for last week.