THIS is a travel column. Well, it’s a column that contains a cautionary tale that involves travel and this season’s hottest political topic: A hard border.

The UN has warned that it could see no easing of the flow of refugees into Europe, with 8,000 arrivals daily, and that problems now facing governments may turn out to be only “the tip of the iceberg”.

Pilgrims due to travel to Croatia from Dublin yesterday refused to board their flight after it had already returned to the airport twice with technical issues.

Rescue helicopters evacuated dozens of people from snow-blocked villages in Serbia and Bosnia and airlifted in emergency food and medicine as a severe cold spell kept eastern Europe in its icy grip.