Summer rainbow: red, amber and green

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [View in browser]( [The Independent]( [Travel] Simon Calder’s Travel Week [Simon Calder]( Written by Simon Calder | April 16, 2021 Hello, and thank you for signing up to The Independent’s weekly travel newsletter. Sunny, safe and short on hassle: that’s all most of us want from summer. On Wednesday the MPs on the Transport Select Committee went into bat for the traveller – and their constituents who depend on the industry that has suffered more than any other during the pandemic. The honourable members quizzed industry leaders and the aviation minister, Robert Courts, about the Global Travel Taskforce. This is the document that prescribes a weird kind of rainbow summer where you and I fixate on the government-prescribed colour of our prospective destinations. You need no reminding that travelling abroad for fun is off the agenda until 17 May at the earliest. After that, countries will be assigned a colour that dictates the rules upon your return: - Red: 11 nights of hotel quarantine, price £1,750 for a solo traveller. - Amber: 10 days of self-isolation. - Green: as with first two, you'll need a Covid test before departing for the UK and another – PCR only – within a couple of days of returning here. depending on the degree of perceived risk. Rock star: Gibraltar has vaccinated almost all its adult population The MPs [extracted from Mr Courts]( the unwelcome confirmation that the travel industry will learn which nations are on the quarantine-free “[green list](” possibly only days before the 17 May resumption of holidays abroad. Also on Wednesday, I asked [the easyJet boss, Johan Lundgren](, which major European destinations – France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey – should be “green”. "I would struggle to see that there would be ... many countries who wouldn’t be in that green category," he told me. For the sake of your travel plans and the millions who depend on our visits, I hope he’s right. As insurance I have booked the 7.10am flight on D (for Departure) Day to [Gibraltar]( – surely the one guaranteed location for a green light, since the British Overseas Territory has vaccinated almost all its adult population. On the road: legendary guidebook writer Geoff Crowther, a long way from his home ground of Yorkshire Geoff Crowther has died, aged 78. You may not know the name of this Yorkshireman, but you may well have read his words: he was a pioneering guidebook writer, who created the first editions of many of Lonely Planet's early travel guides. His career began in Notting Hill, west London, in 1972, working for the alternative publishing house BIT. After finishing the manuscript of a guide called Overland to India and Australia, he later recalled: “I spent the next 48 hours drinking wine and smoking mushrooms nonstop while we churned out 1,000 copies of the new guide on the secondhand, manually operated duplicating machine.” The Independent travel desk is just a 20-minute walk from the old BIT office, but our working lives don't quite reflect Geoff's Seventies ethos. Destination of the week: the Scottish Borders Golden hour: a landscape in the Tweed Valley of Scotland Scotland opens up on 26 April, at least to arrivals from the rest of the UK. Hotels, attractions and indoor hospitality will all open. If you plan to cross the frontier from England, there is no need to venture far. At Berwick, the Tweed flows is English. Three miles upstream it forms the Anglo-Scottish border, but after another 10 miles it is a strictly Scottish river. The Tweed carves carves a gentle valley full of beauty and spirituality – the latter revealed in the skeletal ruins of ancient abbeys in Melrose, Kelso and Dryburgh. Two architectural highlights: the monumental Leaderfoot Viaduct, now a Historic Scotland landmark, and the turrets and castellations of Floors Castle outside Kelso – which reopens to the public on 30 April. Deals of the week - "Pricing in the market will continue to be very, very dynamic" – that's what easyJet's chief executive told me this week. In other words, air fares will be all over the place. Between Manchester and Faro in Portugal, for example, the early morning easyJet flight on Saturday 31 July is £204, but by the following Thursday, 5 August, the fare has fallen to just £34 one way – exactly one-sixth of the cost. The "3 week view" button on the easyJet site has never been more useful. - "Welcoming vaccinated British tourists from 1 June," promises Visit Malta. But the possible inclusion of the beautiful and storied Mediterranean island on the "green list" is not yet reflected in the air fares. From Gatwick on 2 June, returning on 14 June, Wizz Air wants a grand total of £38 return for a trip length of 2,600 miles. Question of the week: business travel after Brexit Question: Once the coronavirus crisis reduces, I need to travel to Spain on business. Will I encounter any problems due to Brexit? Answer: The Covid crisis has camouflaged the effects for UK travellers of the ending of the transition period on 1 January 2021. As you may discover, life for business travellers to Europe has become much more complicated. Every country in the European Union is likely to take an interest in the exact purpose of your trip. If you are deemed to be “supplying a service,” as opposed to simply attending meetings, they may require you to get a special permit or visa. Spain is one of several nations, along with Austria and France, which has strict rules for business travellers from third countries – as the UK has decided to become. If you are a professional carrying out specialist work in Spain, you should check visa requirements in advance with the consulate. Stories you might like [Police smash door and arrest man who failed to quarantine in hotel]( [Police smash door and arrest man who failed to quarantine in hotel]( [Major Covid testing firm cuts PCR travel test to £60]( Major Covid testing firm cuts PCR travel test to £60]( [Race to the Sun event]( More stories [Most of Europe will be green list by 17 May, says easyJet CEO]( Most of Europe will be green list by 17 May, says easyJet CEO]( [No details of ‘green list’ countries before early May, says aviation minister]( No details of ‘green list’ countries before early May, says aviation minister]( Other newsletters you might like [Adam Forrest]( Inside Politics Every weekday, 8am (UK time) Written by Adam Forrest [Join now >]( [Joe Sommerlad]( Daily News Briefing Every weekday, 8am (UK time) Written by Joe Sommerlad [Join now >]( Let me know your thoughts on Twitter [@SimonCalder](. If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. 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