I f one thing is certain it is that change is ubiquitous. Much travel writing is concerned with the timeless charms of wherever is written about, though it must always reflect current reality. Readers (and editors) find it annoying if they turn up somewhere after reading your piece and find that, say, a recommended restaurant closed down a year previously. Here I want to focus on a different aspect of change and propose to use – forgive me – Brexit as an example. The unfolding story of our move towards leaving Europe is one of change upon change upon change. Consider one example – the question of how we will travel to Europe after we leave. First, there were vague concerns: would Brits need a visa, how different would it be crossing borders and so on? Then some things became more specific. For example, driving in Europe would involve a return to having and carrying a Green Card to demonstrate that you are correctly insured and would need to be done in precisely the right way (Green Cards must be no larger than A4, literally green, even a white border invalidates them and if you have a caravan you need two; and more).
Similarly, news about international driving permits seemed to emerge. Yes, you need one. Yes, there is a cost (£5.50). No, they don’t last for ever. And what is more if you travel through both France and Spain you will need two, because different countries have different regulations (in fact across Europe three types of permit are used). Permits are only available from (main) Post Offices and when I checked mine when writing this they had run out of forms!