Brits in Crete. What will happen to your holiday after Brexit, will it affect holiday 2020

From 1 February 2020, the United Kingdom is officially a country outside the European Union and by 31 December 2020, we will be in the second phase of the transition period, under which the United Kingdom will continue to be fully committed to the "Αcquis Communautaire" and the rules of the European Union. So, if you are planning your holidays to Crete in 2020, except that the transition period may be extended once by two years, meaning it could remain in place until 31 December 2022.               

The full departure will be on 1 January 2021 and until then, you can expect everything to stay the same as when the UK was still an EU member. This simply means that by the end of December 2020 nothing will change for travelers and agencies, as many more months of negotiation lie ahead.

Brexit life goes on as normal for British families and that includes making plans for holidays 2020, as the idea behind the transition period is to give some breathing space to allow new UK-EU negotiations to take place.

This includes:

- You can still travel freely with a passport (applies to UK citizens going to the EU and EU citizens coming to visit the UK).

 - UK driving licenses will still be valid for visiting EEA countries during the transition

- During the transition period, there will be no additional border checks so airport queues should not be longer.

- The EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) scheme will continue during the transition period.

- Passengers will continue to be entitled to assistance or compensation if there are boarding problems, delays or cancellations.

- No extra charges for roaming - so you can use your mobile for calls, text, and data as you would in the UK.

- Duty-free shopping within the EU will not be possible during the transition.

- Any pet passports issued in the UK will be valid during the transition.

At the moment, all British and EU citizens travel freely within Europe and the United Kingdom thanks to the Free Sky and Borders Agreement. The EU rules also apply to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein as well. Until the end of the year 2020, the negotiations that will deal with the future UK-EU trade agreement will not affect traveling and virtually nothing will change for tourist business or for the travelers during this time.