By Bradley Walton
The near two million people who will be jetting off for a break away from the UK this bank holiday would be well advised to make sure they have taken out adequate travel insurance.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said, in the South East alone, more than 850,000 will be choosing to leave behind the unpredictable British weather and grab some guaranteed sun before the autumn comes.
It said 420,000 are expected to pass through Heathrow, 250,000 will leave from Gatwick, 136,000 from Stansted and 65,000 from Luton.
But while people splash out on insuring they top up their tan, they have also been warned not to scrimp on decent travel cover - with good value short trip and annual policies available.
Hundreds of thousands of others around the UK will leave from regional airports including 145,000 from Manchester, 65,000 from Birmingham, 36,000 from Newcastle, 25,000 from Leeds Bradford and 12,000 from Southampton.
In Scotland 116,000 will be flying out from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Some 60,000 are also expected to take the Eurostar across to Europe and another 500,000 people board ferries or use the Eurotunnel.
Beach destinations are the most popular as people look to take what could be their last chance of the year to soak in some rays. The Balearic Islands, mainland Spain, Turkey, Egypt, and the Greek islands were favourites.
For long-haul the USA was also a popular choice, with Orlando and New York the top destinations, while for European city breaks, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and Dublin topped ideal getaways.
