Why Easter is the best time of year to travel — Travelling Tom

Every year the Friday before (Good Friday) and the Monday after (Easter Monday) the Easter Sunday are bank holidays in the UK. For those of you who don’t know, a bank holiday is a public holiday where everyone gets the day of work and those who have to work, tend to get those days back in lieu, or enjoy a higher rate of pay.

But for me – someone who works a nine-to-five office job – I do get the regular bank holidays off and so Easter is always on the radar.

The reason Easter is so great is because – straight off the bat – you’ve got four full days without work. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. You can even maximise this by travelling on the Thursday evening after the conclusion of your final pre-Easter shift.

Even with the basic time off, there’s enough to visit one or two European destinations. You even unlock the potential to reasonably visit the Middle East, North Africa or North America for a long weekend.

Want 10 days off? All you need is four days of annual leave that can be tacked on before the Good Friday or after the Easter Monday. Double down and you get 16 for the price of eight – then you can go on a mega adventure.

A couple of recent Easter trips have seen me go to Israel and Palestine for the weekend back in 2018, and in 2019 I utilised my holiday days in true Easter fashion, travelling to Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar and Armenia.

There are other months which afford similar opportunities – Christmas is a good example with Christmas Day and Boxing Day – but they’re not always attached to the weekend and prices are usually higher at that time of year (plus Christmas is the one day of the year I actually enjoy being at home).

Last year we also had the double bank holiday for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which enabled workers to take off three units of annual leave for a nine-day break. But that was just a one-off, and so Easter stands alone as the best time of year to travel.

Now we’re fast-approaching that same weekend in 2023 – in fact, it will begin a month on Tuesday. I will be travelling again across Easter, taking off the day before Good Friday as well as the following week for more travels in Southern Africa.

And whilst I may not be stuffing my face with chocolate on Easter Sunday itself, I will definitely be enjoying some Creme Eggs in the build-up.