Simon Calder’s travel year in review: chaos from beginning to end, plus five great destinations for 2024

Fires in Rhodes and at Luton airport, air traffic control failures, plus strikes, strikes and more strikes on the railways: Simon Calder reflects on 12 months in which booking a holiday felt like a gamble rather than a guarantee

Which way now? Simon Calder on the Lantau Trail (Jasmine Rushton)

From the traveller’s point of view, each year begins full of hope and optimism – and the start of 2023 was expected to mark the great post-Covid reboot. With the vast majority of pandemic travel restrictions lifted, it was surely going to feel as though the 2020s were finally beginning. But as the months have rolled by, the range of hazards standing between you and your travel dreams have multiplied. Yet our collective appetite for adventure seems undimmed – despite everything. Apologies in advance for any flashback anxiety this timeline may create...

January

The year started with rail strikes, and it will end the same way. No sooner were the festive New Year engineering works out of the way than the two main rail unions resumed national walkouts in support of their long and bitter disputes over pay and working arrangements.