Travel with Katie Butler: UK lucky to enjoy temperatures warmer than some European holiday hotspots

It has been a case of up at 7am for work and de-ice the car, no jacket required by midday and then bang on the heating for the evening. Crazy weather indeed.

Similarly, bizarre weather was recently experienced on the East Coast of Lanzarote last week, as it was reported that the equivalent of a whole year’s worth of rain fell in some parts, including the popular resort of Costa Teguise.

A number of hotels were forced to close due to extreme flooding and a small number of holidays had to be cancelled due to the lack of accommodation available due to the Easter holidays.

Thankfully, we were able to relocate our customers to alternative hotels and most impacted hotels are now back operating as normal.

If this type of event happens to you and you are booked on a package holiday – then it does lie with the responsibility of your tour operator to look after you and your booking. If an alternative cannot be found – you should be offered a full refund.

Once again, the importance of having a holiday that is ATOL protected plays its part in these circumstances. If you have booked separately – you would be responsible to source new accommodation, quite often at a higher price, as you will be looking for last minute availability.

Travelling to Thailand this year?

Thailand are to introduce a mandatory ‘Digital Arrival Card’ for arrivals from May 1 to replace its paper arrival form which arrivals currently fill out onboard their flight.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice with details including the correct link on which to apply.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand said: “The TDAC is part of the government’s broader digital transformation of immigration procedures and is administered by the Immigration Bureau of Thailand.

“It is designed to streamline border processing, reduce paperwork, and enhance traveller convenience.”

There is no charge for the TDAC and so be wary if you do apply and it is asking for payment – as you will most certainly be on a scam website. Our advice for any form of entry requirement is to always go through the FCDO website link under ‘entry requirements’.

The form should be completed within three days of arrival and after submitting the form you will receive a confirmation that will need to be presented at immigration either in paper format or digitally.

Have you booked your 2027 holiday yet?

I can’t believe that P&O Cruise Lines will this week be launching their summer 2027 programme whilst many of us are still hoping to get summer 2025 booked in.

More on this next week, when we will see what new itineraries will be on offer. I am really excited and hope we will see some fabulous new destinations on offer.

May remained the top selling month last week with a 16 per cent share and June was second with a 12 per cent share of the bookings.

Late bookings were a 35 per cent share of the total bookings.

Cruise share was 19 per cent, although we expect this to increase in the next few week due to the P&O launch.