British tourists on an easyJet flight to Rhodes have said they refuse to let wildfires ruin their holiday – despite thousands heading back home from a ‘holiday hell’.
Speaking to The Independent at Gatwick Airport departure gate for the 9:35am flight to Rhodes on Tuesday morning, holidaymakers said that while they had “absolutely” been worried by the reports from Greece, “you still want to go on holiday, at the end of the day”.
The wildfires ravaging the south of the island have sparked Greece’s largest-ever evacuation effort, with many airlines now offering refunds or ticket exchanges to customers due to fly out – as a lack of Foreign Office advice against travel to Rhodes leaves others at the mercy of their insurance companies.
“We were absolutely [worried],” said Richard Hamilton, a 54-year-old company director from Guernsey, who was travelling with his daughter, who had been taking part in a golf competition in Winchester. The pair were meeting the rest of their family at Kallithea, who arrived there the night it “actually kicked off”.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on the news and everything, but it’s really difficult because it’s quite a big island. For us in the UK, you forget how big it is …. We’ve been really careful, we’ve got a close friend who’s kept an eye on it for us, so we’re not too concerned at all.”
Those travelling on easyJet flight 8229 all appeared to be staying in the north of the island, however, and felt conditions were safe enough to travel there and take their chances despite the “nightmarish” reports of people fleeing miles along beaches on the island to escape walls of flame just days earlier.
Noting that their family already in Kallithea “would have come home if they were worried”, Mr Hamilton said he hoped they would be able to relax over their eight-day stay, adding: “It’s going to be hot there but it seems like everything is okay, so we’ll see how we go when we get there.
“The airport might be a bit chaotic but apart from that it should be fine.”
Richard Hamilton’s family members have been in Kallithea for three days
(Andy Gregory/The Indpendent)
Rosie, a 32-year-old office manager, and Alex a gas engineer, were travelling also travelling to Kallithea with their son Finlay, aged 11, for a holiday they had booked in April.
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