After two near misses of members getting on flights where they really shouldn't have, we don't want any of you to miss your holidays, so please double check your passport dates. It's not as simple as it used to be and according to The Independent, even the UK government has it wrong.

As of the UK leaving the EU, when you are entering the EU you have to follow the guidelines for entering the EU as a 3rd Country National. These rules state you need to have a 10 year passport, with at least 3 months validity after the expected end of your trip. Previously the UK was alone in issuing passports with longer than 10 years validity by giving you credit for any unused portion of your passport.  For example if you had 6 months left in your last passport when you applied for a new passport in 1 Nov 2011, you would get a passport valid from 1 Nov 2011 to 1 April 2022.

This is where confusion at the moment reigns. UK GOV takes both rules together and says in that example, that passport now is only valid in the EU until 1 Nov 2021. This would mean your passport would only be valid for trips up to 1 August 2021. However the Independent says the EU High Commission confirmed that the rules are separate, you need a passport that is under 10 years, and separately you need to have 3 months of validity. In other words, in that example, you can arrive in Portugal up to 31 October.

Yes we are all confused, and as airlines generally check the UK GOV guidelines, its best to follow them.

You can find more information on the UK government website. However their recommendation of 6 months left doesn't actually make sense unless you are travelling for 3 months. The actual rule is 3 months as you can see on the Portuguese Government website. 

We know you all feel that coming to Madeira is what keeps you fit and healthy, but we also know a lot of you have conditions that mean your insurance premiums rise quite considerably. One of our members was struggling to find well priced insurance cover due to cancer issues, and she helpfully sent us a link of a comparison website specifically for those with medical conditions which helped her to get cover for much less cost than the first few quotes she had received.

You can find the link here, hopefully you will find it helpful.

As you might have noticed, we have a few more cats now than we had before covid. Just to let you know that we are working with the council and cat welfare associations to reduce the number of cats in a nice humane way. We hope in the next month or two this should have righted itself.

In the mean time, can we please ask you not to feed them. We know lots of you are animal lovers, but this isn't helping the situation and is confusing the cats who don't understand timeshare so don't understand when one room feeds them for a week and next week the next guests don't provide breakfast. 

If you are a cat lover, we would like to recommend a local and recognised animal welfare organization where a simple donation can help provide the animals with vital food and medical care.

AMAW is a local animal welfare association with an excellent reputation for the free voluntary work and medical service they offer to the stray and abandoned animals on the island. Should you wish to give a donation to this local charity you can either click here, or there is a donation box in the timeshare office.