The climate crisis will irrevocably change how we holiday: Here’s what the future of travel looks like

Another summer, another ravaging of Europe by meteorological forces – surely the way we travel has to adapt? From swapping Greece for Portugal to delaying trips until the autumn, this is how our getaways are set for a shake-up, finds Benjamin Parker

Extreme heat and wildfires have disrupted holidays this summer (REUTERS)

Without fail, when summer unfurls each year, I’m gripped by the urge to escape these often cloudy shores to lie in the sun. I’m British, after all, and can’t shake our peculiar attitude towards the closest star to Earth: when rays of UV light bear down, I feel the pressure to soak them up lest I never feel their warmth again. Our friends on the continent aren’t burdened with such tendencies, instead holding a more nonchalant attitude to summertime.

What I don’t want – and, frankly, what scares me – is disruptive, record-breaking temperatures and uncontrollable blazes tearing across the landscape. That anyone could see the extreme weather in Europe – aid workers forced to supply water, wildfires swallowing villages, holidaymakers evacuated by boat, pilots dying while fighting to quell the burning – and could get anything like that whimsical, pre-holiday feeling is completely baffling (even considering the curious British perspective regarding a rise in the mercury).

The myriad effects of climate change have already been seen in this country in ways that largely go unnoticed by those of us whose day-to-day life remains unchanged: the unusual timing of a tree flowering (or bearing no fruit for a whole year); shorelines carved away by ravenous seas; falling numbers of insects and birds across the countryside.