Jacqueline Timson watched helplessly as her husband Colin was lowered into an unmarked grave in Cape Verde, three days after he collapsed and died on the second day of their £2,000 holiday. The retired forklift driver, 74, from Heighington near Lincoln, had fallen ill at their hotel in July 2024. “We both fell ill at the same time but I wasn’t as bad as Colin, who was vomiting yellow sick,” said Jacqueline, 69. “When he left the clinic to go to hospital I went back to the hotel as I was told Colin would be in safe hands. I didn’t even know he’d died until I arrived at the hospital the following day. When I heard the news my world fell apart.” She said she believed she did not have adequate travel insurance and thought it would be too expensive to fly him home. “I couldn’t even bring his ashes home. Instead, he’s buried in an unmarked grave, alone, thousands of miles away from his family.”
Irwin Mitchell, the law firm representing the Timsons, said it now acts for more than 2,500 people who have complained of illnesses such as salmonella, E.coli and shigella after holidays in the West African country since summer 2022. Among them are the families of 10 people who died while on holiday, all planning legal action. In another case, Laurence Brownlie, 67, a retired IT engineer from West Calder, West Lothian, died three days after collapsing at a dinner table during a two-week holiday in June 2024. His daughter Erin said the family had concerns about conditions at the resort, including reports of flies in food.
“A woman buried her husband in an unmarked grave after he died on a Cape Verde holiday, as others embrace home swapping.”
But for others, the rising cost of living has driven a different kind of holiday economy. Henry Vanderpump, 42, his wife Elliw, 39, and their two young children have swapped homes with strangers for their past two holidays and have another planned this summer. They stay in someone else’s five-bedroom house in Tarporley, Cheshire, while that family stays in theirs. Neither side pays for accommodation, only an annual membership fee to Home Link, the listings site. Henry said they have saved around £2,500 per trip on accommodation and a further £700 on transport by swapping cars. “We used to have one holiday a summer, now we have two. And the kids love the idea of living in someone else’s house while that person is living in theirs,” he said. The family has stayed in Hamburg and Copenhagen, living “like a German family” and cycling to the beach on electric bikes left by their hosts.
May Burrough, 38, a chief operating officer from London, has done 34 home swaps in three years using HomeExchange, hosting people in her central London flat while she stays with her partner in France to build up points for future trips. Home Link said members typically send 10 to 15 messages before getting an offer, and last-minute bookings do not always work. The contrasting experiences raise questions about the risks and rewards of modern travel.
