Dear Reader

KEEP it simple is my advice. And do what I say and not what I have just done by booking a trip to two different Caribbean islands, each with their own rules of entry — one requiring a PCR test up to four days before departure, the other insisting on a test within 48 hours of arriving.

In other words, a PCR test before leaving the UK won’t satisfy the requirements of both countries. Stick to visiting one country in any single trip seems like a sound rule — and make sure you can fly there direct to avoid unnecessary hassle and expense if transiting.

What’s clear is that you have to really, really want to travel or really, really need to travel in the current circumstances and as we inch towards that glorious moment when sticking a swab up your nose and giving it a twirl will be long behind us.

It’s a slow process, but Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is right to boast that the UK is one of the most open countries in the world in terms of what’s required to come here.

The lifting of the day 2 test for those fully vaccinated, effective from February 11, has already served as a boon to the travel industry, with the February halfterm and Easter holidays in particularly high demand.

Beware of false dawns, of course — and we’ve had many of them in the past 22 months — but there are plenty of positives for those of us fed up with doom and gloom merchants.

Tui says this weekend will mark the biggest booking day since before the pandemic; easy Jet plans to run a record number of flights to beach hotspots such as Turkey and Greece this summer; flights to Morocco are about to resume and the Cruise Lines International Association expects nearly every vessel (Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 pictured) to be back operating by August this year and passenger volumes to surpass 2019 levels by the end of 2023 at the latest.

Let’s hope this outbreak of optimism is here to stay.