Dear Reader

FUNNY how you start missing things you never expected to miss. One of those, for me, has been trying to get the tiniest hint of a smile from those scary immigration officers at JFK airport in New York.

‘It’s so great to be back in America,’ was one of my opening gambits a couple of years ago as I offered up my right hand for security fingerprinting.

No response whatsoever. Not even a flicker of communication on his part. Apart from: ‘And the other hand.’

Presumably, it will be the same on Monday when British holidaymakers are allowed into the U.S. for the first time since March 16, 2020, following the lifting of Executive Order 212f.

And that’s no bad thing. It makes the juxtaposition between those poker-faced men and women in their federal uniforms and what awaits beyond the arrivals hall even sweeter.

I lived in New York for three years, renting a cramped, mouse and cockroach-infested apartment in Queens with two friends — but still felt privileged to be there; still considered the city to be the most important place on the planet. Perhaps that’s what the actress Brooke Shields means when she says that in order to love the city, you must be willing to hate it, too.

In the build-up to Monday, you can practically hear the collective sighs of relief from BA and Virgin Atlantic as they wheel out their planes for the first time in more than 600 days. It will take many months to get back to the good old days of 2019 when 22 million travelled between the UK and the U.S. — but the airlines are ready for take-off.

That’s why we’re devoting the whole of Escape this week to America and offering £20,000 worth of holidays to be won, starting today on page 60 with a seven-night break for two adults and two children in Orlando, Florida, whose attractions include Disney World (above).

And with aviation normally contributing some £23million a day to the British economy, you could say that the reopening of transatlantic travel makes winners of us all.