As Europe shivers in the cold, its residents are dreaming of sunny getaways and foreign adventures. Not only dreaming but booking their 2025 breaks in record numbers, according to the travel industry.

January is often a busy month for travel bookings as holiday companies tout tempting deals to rival the high street’s New Year offers. But there’s one particular day that traditionally sees a flurry of bookings, and this year it was last Saturday.

Dubbed ‘Sunshine Saturday’ by British travel agents, the first Saturday after the first full week in January typically sees more bookings than any other day this month.

2025 has been no exception, with multiple travel companies logging record sales last weekend. Does that mean all the deals are already gone, or is there a better time to book your 2025 travel?

Record sales across multiple travel companies

Tour operator Hays Travel broke records on both Saturday and Sunday, with more than a third of bookings made by customers new to the company.

“People continue to prioritise their annual holiday and we are seeing a small upturn in average spend,” says Jonathon Woodall-Johnston, Hays Chief Operating Officer.

British self-catering provider Hoseasons had a booming weekend too, with lodge and park bookings up 19 per cent on Sunday 12 January. The only day with more sales in its history was the day the UK relaxed its COVID lockdown restrictions in 2021.

Its sister brand, cottages.com, also had a record day on Sunday. Bookings for spring breaks were up 25 per cent year-on-year, the company says, noting a high demand for properties with hot tubs.

Adventure travel is in demand too, with Dnata Travel Group’s adventure brand Incredible Journeys recording its best-ever day for calls and bookings.

Incredible Journeys said that, on Monday 13 January, they took 37 per cent more calls than the same day last year. Japan, up 80 per cent, was the fastest-growing destination booked, alongside Kenya and Sri Lanka.

In fact, across the Dnata Travel Group, which also includes Gold Medal, Pure Luxury and Cruise Plus, all the brands had a record-breaking start to the year.

“Our brands have seen a strong start to peaks,” said Simon Applebaum, Managing Director of Dnata Travel Group. “Our web sales are +40 per cent year on year which is really promising to see.”

Should you book your 2025 travel early?

UK travel company Barrhead Travel reported that, even in the first week of January, bookings had overtaken the demand they saw in 2024. Sales are mostly for summer 2025, although December is also selling well.

“January remains one of the best times to book a holiday as it’s the time of year where most operators, airlines and cruise lines offer significant savings and added value,” notes Jacqueline Dobson, President of Barrhead Travel.

“With demand for travel at an all-time high, booking early also means that you’re more likely to get your first choice of accommodation.”

Consumer company Which? stresses the importance of booking early too. Research published last year showed that a week-long holiday in Portugal would save around €200 when booked eight months in advance compared with two weeks out.

Holidays to Italy in the peak August weeks could be €165 per person cheaper eight months out, and Croatia attracted a €115 saving under the same rule.

When is the best time to book 2025 travel?

Package holiday seekers could benefit from this eight-month rule when booking for summer 2025.

Which? considered the price of some 24,000 package holidays, noting that “it’s no surprise that the biggest average savings, of the eight months we tracked prices for, were for bookings made in December or January.”

But there was an anomaly in the data, and it related to some of the most popular destinations in Europe. For the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, mainland Spain and Turkey, a second booking window in May was shown to be even cheaper than early-year booking.

In Bulgaria and Cyprus, booking just weeks before departure was where the cheapest price point lay. Which? Explained this saying it was “probably because tour operators had overestimated the demand for these destinations.”

When it comes to unpackaged holidays, booking site Kayak has some advice on when to book, and when to stay.

For a city break, starting a hotel stay on a Sunday can be lucrative. The travel site’s data shows a 7 per cent saving over other days of the week. Fridays should be avoided, with average prices coming in 8 per cent higher.

Resort hotels and leisure stays benefit from midweek arrivals, with prices for a Tuesday up to 4 per cent cheaper than the average. Thursday is the most popular day to check in, commanding a 2 per cent price uptick as a result.

Flexibility pays, and leaving it until the last minute can unlock significant savings.

“Hotel pricing doesn’t favour planners,” says Kayak. “One reason is that hotels typically have a 24- to 48-hour cancellation window. When travellers cancel close to their date, the hotel would rather put heads in beds than leave the room empty.

Booking platform VRBO assessed booking trends in the holiday home market. It recommends booking in February, noting “By April, over 70 per cent of summer stays will be booked.”

It also recommended opting for a ‘shoulder season’ stay – the periods just outside the high season, where good weather can still be had but at a fraction of the cost. Longer stays can also attract a 10 per cent discount, says VRBO.

The site evaluated that, for the Easter holidays, the best time to book is 20 January, with bookings made no later than 3 March.

For summer holidays, booking on the 17 February is recommended, with bookings made no later than 28 April.

When to travel to avoid the crowds

Analysis by aviation intelligence company OAG found that, over the past 15 years, all the busiest air travel days have fallen between 20 July and mid-August (apart from the pandemic years).

In particular, peaks in air travel demand were seen on the second Friday in August, with the first Friday in August also a busy day.

Flying on a Friday in early August isn’t guaranteed to be busy, but travellers are more likely to encounter long queues at airports, and the risk of delays and cancellations runs higher.

Delayed flights are nothing new, but Australian airline Qantas has come up with a rather novel excuse for late departures. It says its services between Sydney and Johannesburg are being delayed because of falling space junk.

The flights cross a portion of the southern Indian Ocean that US launch company SpaceX has earmarked for the splashdown of re-entering rockets.

Qantas says it often gets little notice of when or where it can expect rockets to fall from the sky, and as such, has regularly delayed flights to ensure safety.

“Over the past few weeks we‘ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean,” Qantas told Euronews Travel.

“While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.”

How long are the space junk delays?

“In the past few weeks, many flights have departed late in both directions, some more than five hours late, with the obvious knock-on impacts of this,” commented Dr James Pearson, a flight route analyst.

“It is unclear whether all or only some of the delays relate to the SpaceX debris. Nonetheless, like all airlines, Qantas revolves around safety, and it took precautionary action.”

Comparing notes between flight tracking service Flightradar 24 and SpaceX’s calendar of launches, there does seem to be a correlation between delayed flights and Falcon 9 launches.

For example, a flight on January 10, set to depart Johannesburg at 5:15 pm was delayed by five and a half hours, eventually taking off at 10:41pm. That same day, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with 21 Starlink satellites onboard from Cape Canaveral at 2:11 pm local time, just a couple of hours after the flight was due to take off.

How much space junk does a SpaceX rocket produce?

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has famously developed a reusable rocket it calls the Falcon 9. The first stages return to Earth to be used again, but a huge 3.5-tonne upper section remains in orbit, joining the swarms of space debris that circle the planet.

Eventually, it falls back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere in the process. But these aluminium rocket parts aren’t always destroyed on re-entry. Numerous reports have been made of pieces of Falcon 9 rockets turning up on beaches and even in people’s homes.

In November 2015, a piece of a Falcon 9 measuring 10 metres by four metres washed up on the shores of the Scilly Isles in the UK.

A piece of debris from a Falcon 9 launch crashed into a private farm in central Washington in 2021. The piece was described as being 1.5 metres long and cylindrical, and it made a crater in the ground around 13 cm deep.

Just last year, multiple pieces of debris were discovered throughout the mountains of North Carolina, which were subsequently confirmed to be from a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

And in 2022, junk found in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, was confirmed to be of SpaceX origin.

The company has set up a hotline for anyone discovering debris from SpaceX spacecraft, explaining that, “If you believe you have identified a piece of debris, please do not attempt to handle or retrieve the debris directly. Instead, please either email or leave a voicemail here with your name, number and a brief description of what you have discovered and where.”

Is space junk affecting other flights and is it dangerous?

Very few airlines connect Australia and South Africa. Just two carriers have direct flights – Qantas and South African Airways (SAA). But Qantas flies to Sydney, in the southeast of Australia, while SAA connects to Perth on the west coast.

Because of the differences in destinations, only Qantas takes a route that puts it in the path of falling debris.

“Qantas’ Sydney-Johannesburg Airbus A380 service follows a very southerly route,” Dr Pearson explained. “As South African Airways’ Johannesburg-Perth service follows a much more northerly route, it seems that only Qantas has primarily been impacted.”

But is space junk really dangerous for commercial air travel? While there may not have been an immediate danger to Qantas flights, airlines tend to operate out of an abundance of caution, so would always rather delay a flight than take unnecessary risks.

“Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place,” a Qantas spokesperson told Euronews Travel. “We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption to our passengers on the route.”

It would be very unlucky for a piece of space junk, even one several metres across, to hit an aircraft flying at hundreds of kilometres an hour. But it could happen, and should that piece of junk puncture the fuselage or enter the engine, it could be disastrous.

For Qantas, the situation is somewhat controlled as it receives warnings specifying geographical locations and timings of re-entry. But not all re-entries go to plan, which creates a risk for other airlines that might not be so well informed.

The Aerospace Corporation states that some 200 – 400 pieces of space debris fall to Earth each year – and those are just the ones that are big enough to track. That problem is only going to get worse as more nations look to send satellites into space.

As well as rocket bodies, dead satellites are also a problem the world will soon have to face. SpaceX alone has already put more than 7,000 satellites into orbit and plans to grow this fleet to 34,000. As these spacecraft come to the end of their service life, they too will be deorbited and fall to Earth.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on legislation around space debris, but it’s a tricky situation that likely won’t be resolved soon.

A week on from the outbreak of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, it might be tempting to think it must be all over by now. But almost daily warnings of high winds show the worst is not over for LA’s residents.

For visitors, there has been no official message from Californian authorities requesting to stay away. The UK foreign office simply says, “‘Fast-spreading wildfires are currently active within Los Angeles County. You should monitor local media and follow the advice of the local authorities.”

So if you’ve got to travel to, through or from Los Angeles soon, is it safe to go?

Are flights cancelled at LAX?

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) typically sees around 700 flights a day. It’s around 17 km from the blaze at the Palisades but has remained open throughout the crisis.

A statement on the airport’s website reads, “​​LAX is open and operating normally. Passengers should check their flight status directly with their airline.”

No unusual delays have been noted at LAX, with all services operating normally, although some passengers have had a birds-eye view of the devastation.

Several airlines are not charging passengers to change their flights. These include major US carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Southwest and JetBlue are not charging fees either.

Aside from LAX, nearby airports at Hollywood Burbank, Ontario and Santa Ana John Wayne also remain open and are also covered by the airlines’ fee waivers. Similarly, flights have not been delayed because of the fires, although the high winds caused some disruption last week.

If there were any danger related to flying from LAX, the FAA and airport authority would stop the flights. As such, it is safe to fly to and from Los Angeles right now, but whether you want to is another matter.

Is it safe to visit Los Angeles?

Depending on where you plan to go, some areas are not at all safe to visit. The wildfires are concentrated in the north of the city, with the largest fire in the Palisades consuming more than 97,000 square metres.

Other areas of LA County have also been affected, including near tourist hotspot Sunset Boulevard.

A health emergency was declared on 11 January over the smoke. Some water supplies have been contaminated, and people have been warned not to swim in the sea. Wildfire smoke is incredibly hazardous to health, with even brief exposure leading to long-term, serious conditions.

In terms of amenities, DoorDash has suspended services to affected areas and many businesses are closed. Emergency services are overrun with trying to manage the crisis and many local events have been cancelled or moved.

Is Disneyland in LA closed?

As of 15 January, some of the major attractions that remain closed include:

• Warner Bros. Studio

• The Getty Center

• The Hammer Museum

• The Natural History Museum

• The Museum of Contemporary Art

• The Hollywood sign and hiking trails

Disneyland and Universal Studios remain open. Disney issued a statement last week explaining, “If you’re planning a Disneyland vacation, there’s no need to cancel unless you intend to spend a significant portion of your trip in the LA area.”

Airbnb is offering free short-term accommodation for displaced residents, but demand has been high. Losing money on non-refundable accommodation stings, but as someone probably needs that room, the best advice is to call your hotel and explain the situation.

More details on help being offered by the travel industry.

Is it safe to drive in Los Angeles?

Traffic in the city has alleviated a great deal since the first evacuation jams last week. However, many roads are closed, and closures are often happening at very short notice.

Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation, is regularly updating drivers via social media regarding which roads are closed. It has advised car drivers to “limit your non-essential travel and stay away” from the affected areas.

While there hasn’t been an official order not to drive in LA County, KQED reports that councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson said in a press conference on Wednesday, “If there is not a good reason for you to be on the roads, we ask that you leave the roads open as possibly as you can to the public safety professionals that have to do their work and will lead us out of the crisis that we face.”

Tens of thousands of people are currently displaced from their homes, and will be using the roads to return home at some point. Similarly, if another fire breaks out or spreads, the roads will quickly jam up with evacuating residents.

Is public transport running in LA?

The LA Metro and Amtrack are running, but are targeting their services at those affected by the wildfires.

LA Metro is providing free fares systemwide until the wildfires are under control. Its website states, “We are running with a few service impacts to some bus lines due to wildfires. All rail lines are running regular service. We’re also continuing to provide free fares systemwide while fire conditions exist.”

Amtrak is also supporting the evacuation effort, offering $10 (€11) fares for travel anywhere between San Diego and San Luis Obispo until 24 January.

Over 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders in Los Angeles County, and a further 89,000 are under evacuation warnings. Many will be relying on the buses and trains to get in and out of the city.

As well as being busy, the situation with public transport can change rapidly. Cancellations and closures will be enacted with little notice to keep travellers safe, so bear this in mind if you plan to travel by bus or train.

How to find out the current status of the Los Angeles wildfires

If your trip isn’t for a few days or even weeks, you may want to check in on the current situation nearer the time. The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection hosts a live, real-time dashboard showing where the fires are, and how well contained they are.

It also shows which areas are covered by the red flag warning. This is a forecast warning issued by the National Weather Service in the US to inform when conditions are ripe for wildfire combustion.

While an area is under a red flag warning, residents, firefighters and land management agencies will be on high alert. That’s not to say you shouldn’t visit, but if you do, it’s important to be aware that the authorities and local people will be incredibly busy and stressed.