Papers please: time to tackle that red tape

Simon Calder's Travel Week

SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE: £1 FOR 3 MONTHS February 17, 2023 View in browser Even in the extreme east of the UK – the Suffolk town of Lowestoft – the sun rises at 7.05am this morning and sets barely 10 hours later. As winter drags on, the antidote to seemingly endless gloom is to plan an adventure abroad. Double check: Holding two passports can make travel much smoother If you can spare a minute, we'd love your feedback on this newsletter. Complete the short questionnaire here.  Get inspired... Berlin break How to spend a day in Prenzlauer Berg, the German capital's coolest neighbourhood Cotswolds boltholes Check out our collection of the best hotels in this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Winter sun on a budget How to spend less on a trip to Hurghada, Egypt's ultra-affordable Red Sea resort Simon's dispatches Mid-February is an excellent time to get your papers in order: in particular dusting off your passport to check the issue and expiry dates. Depressingly often, plans are wrecked by failing to comply with the red tape required by travel firms and foreign governments. This time last year, easyJet and Ryanair were imposing non-existent rules about post-Brexit passport validity to the EU that relied in turn on advice invented by the UK government. The actual stipulation: your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day of entry to the EU, with at least three months remaining on the intended day of departure. But they concocted rules such as arbitrarily reducing the 10-year requirement by three months and, in a bizarre twist from the government, temporarily claiming children's passports were useless for Europe after five years.   Today, official advice and the airlines have fallen into line with the rules as set by the European Union. But travellers are now getting caught up in a different bureaucratic tangle. Ministers insist applicants must allow 10 weeks for a renewal by HM Passport Office. If your passport needs a refresh, the government is saying you cannot plan to leave the country until the end of April unless you pay extra for premium service – which requires attending a hard-to-find appointment at an office.   The ideal solution is a second passport. Ideally this will be one issued by Ireland or another EU nation: that would make future European ventures a breeze. But if, like me, your ancestors lacked the foresight to be Irish, an additional UK passport is the next best thing. It is perfectly legal to hold two British travel documents at the same time, and demand for a second UK passport seems to be on the rise. You simply need to demonstrate, with supporting evidence, than you need one. Grounds for obtaining one include your employer possibly needing you to travel abroad at short notice; having stamps that are incompatible with future plans, such as evidence of a visit to Kosovo and a wish to travel to Serbia; or, as in my case, needing to lodge a passport with a foreign mission for an indeterminate length of time while officials decided whether or not to issue a visa.   As you may have read a fortnight ago, the Algerian consulate in London hung on to one of my passports for weeks. Finally I was summoned to collect it with the vital visa in place, and I have the pleasure of waking up this morning in Algiers. The capital is roughly the same longitude as Lowestoft, but I can confirm the sun rose at 6.30am over this glorious city.   Do you qualify for a second passport? This is how to apply Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our welcome offer when you join today. Tip of the week: Travel disruption this weekend As mentioned last week, two significant problems face UK travellers this weekend. The first is that no direct trains will run between Scotland and London on Saturday and Sunday, 18 and 19 February, due to Network Rail engineering work on both the East and West Coast main lines. Rail replacement buses and/or circuitous diversions by train will be required for journeys such as Glasgow or northeast England to London. Across the Channel, UK Border Force staff working at "juxtaposed" frontier posts at the ports of Calais and Dunkirk, as well as the Eurotunnel terminal at Coquelles, will strike on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   Options for travelling between Scotland and London this weekend Deal of the week: Finally a use for a losing lottery ticket National Lottery Open Week runs from 18 to 26 March 2023. The idea is that hundreds of tourist attractions which have been funded by the UK's regular raffle return the favour to the public. Anyone who has ticket or scratchcard from the National Lottery, whether paper or digital, issued at any time in the past 29 years, can benefit. But conditions and offers vary widely – from free entry without booking (many National Trust properties) to 50 per cent off, afternoons only, book in advance (Brunel's SS Great Britain). Check the rules well in advance. Question of the week: Northern Spain in 10 days? Q What highlights do you recommend in a 10-day trip across northern Spain?   A This is a superb journey best achieved by train – most of which is narrow gauge. Start just across the French border in San Sebastián, one of the finest cities in Spain. The shell-shaped beach is framed beautifully by headlands, with the Old Town sheltering beneath the eastern hill – and serving up the best pintxos (the Basque take on tapas) in the region. A train takes you through gorgeous scenery to Bilbao; the Guggenheim, resembling a deconstructed Jumbo jet, is gorgeous in its riverside location, but its interior can underwhelm. Instead, explore the core of the city.   Santander and Oviedo both reward exploration, but the scenery is the star as you head west to Ferrol. Around the bay is A Coruña, a lively resort with a spectacular shoreline noted for the first-century Torre de Hércules – a Roman-built lighthouse. Santiago de Compostela is the cultural highlight of northern Spain, with a splendid cathedral built on the site where the remains of St James the Apostle were said to be discovered in the ninth century. Frequent flights depart from the city's airport to the UK.   How to walk the pilgrimage to Santiago without roughing it STAT OF THE WEEK 3 Hours added to the length of the daily flight between Minsk and Istanbul as a result of the EU airspace ban on airlines from Belarus and Russia What you might have missed... Slow motion: The travellers making long journeys by rail, road and sea Second place: Tui cedes title as biggest UK holiday company to Jet2 Love travel: Advice from the travel desk on romantic journeys SIMON'S DIARY       Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in 'Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast' – available free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts or Acast.         Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in 'Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast' – available free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts or Acast.         I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It's also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can't respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts @SimonCalder         I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It's also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can't respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts @SimonCalder         Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on @Simon_Calder         Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on @Simon_Calder         Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via @caldertravel         Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via @caldertravel   INDYBEST / TRAVEL BEST BUY 14 best women's hiking boots for rambling and trekking across all terrains Enjoy the great outdoors in a trusty pair of hiking boots that'll go the extra mile (or five) - and a heated jacket to keep you snug on route! Shop now We noticed that you might not be registered By registering, you will enjoy limited access to Independent Premium articles, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists REGISTER FOR FREE Essential reading Meet the Londoner who travelled all the way from the capital to Scotland by £2 bus Articles available exclusively to subscribers Want to explore France's wine regions in a cheap, sustainable way? 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