I am currently in France enjoying a short break.
Simon Calder, the Independent's effervescent travel editor, is an expert on holiday breaks long and short and on Saturday we shared a sofa in the Green Room at Television Centre.
Simon is a former smoker but he's not an anti-smoker. He asked me about smoker-friendly destinations and I said I thought that Eastern Europe and cities such as Prague are the most welcoming, although the situation is changing. Hungary and Bulgaria, for example, are becoming more restrictive than they were.
On reflection, I should have mentioned Austria. As I reported last year when I visited Vienna, you can eat, drink and smoke in many, not all, bars and cafes. I even had breakfast in a beautiful coffee house with smokers lighting up all around me. Speaking as a non-smoker I found it strangely liberating. Non-smokers, btw, had a generous no-smoking area so everyone was happy with the arrangement, or seemed to be. The place was packed.
Anyway, our conversation got me thinking and I said I would invite nominations from readers for smoker-friendly destinations. They can be anywhere in the world but they have to be current and I need a sentence or two explaining your nomination. Post them here and I will forward the link to Simon.
In the meantime, and by complete coincidence, The Free Society has just published an article - Holiday blues by Rose Whiteley - that highlights the problem faced by smokers in today's anti-smoking climate.
Rose writes:
Holidays for me have become the very opposite of what they are intended to be: stressful and anxiety-provoking, to the point where I dread my partner saying, “Where are we going to go on holiday next?” And he of course is penalised by having his holiday options severely curtailed through no fault of his own other than being in a relationship with someone who smokes little more than a packet of cigarettes a week.
The article finishes with this poignant observation:
If you’re reading this thinking, “What’s the big deal? It’s only for a week or two”, I would ask you to imagine how you would feel if you like to drink say alcohol, or coffee, and going on holiday meant you could only do that nice, relaxing thing while standing outside in a car park or on the road, in all weathers. Does that give you the holiday vibe? I thought not.
That struck a chord. I don't smoke but I love good, strong coffee and I miss it enormously if I go without.
Two years ago I took my family on an American-run cruise ship. The facilities were pretty good but I couldn't get a decent cup of coffee anywhere. On holiday little things like that matter and I would think twice about booking with that company again.
Anyway, don't forget to post your smoker-friendly holiday nominations. Over to you.
PS. I have just done an early morning interview from my hotel for BBC Radio Shropshire. Subject: smoking in play areas. Even on holiday there is no escape!!