I came home early from Greek holiday with sons because it was too hot

I came home early from Greek holiday with my sons because it was too hot – our hotel was like a giant oven and it’s lovely to be back in rainy, wet and cold UK

• Sally Urwin, 49, and her two sons decided to cut their holiday to Rhodes short
• Have you had to cut your holiday short due to the heatwave across the Mediterranean? Contact [email protected]

A British mother abandoned her Greek holiday and flew back to the UK three days early with her two sons because it was too hot as the unrelenting heatwave Charon continues to bake the Mediterranean.

Sally Urwin, 49, and her two sons, aged 16 and 13, decided to cut short their holiday to Rhodes after temperatures soared to above 40C.

Sally complained that their hotel on the Greek island turned into a ‘giant oven’ due to the sweltering heat – and said it’s ‘lovely to be back in a rainy, wet and cold UK’.

The author had landed in Rhodes on Wednesday for what was supposed to be a relaxing week-long holiday but the ‘suffocating’ heatwave forced them to spend all day in their hotel. 

Sally, from Matfen, Northumberland, said: ‘It was suffocating. I’ve worked in Texas and all over the globe, but it was suffocating. It made you feel faint and dizzy. 

Sally Urwin, 49, and her two sons, aged 16 and 13, decided to cut short their holiday to Rhodes after temperatures soared to above 40C. Pictured: The swimming pool at the hotel where the family were staying 

Sally complained that their hotel on the Greek island turned into a ‘giant oven’ due to the sweltering heat – and said it’s ‘lovely to be back in a rainy, wet and cold UK’. Pictured: Sally with her husband Steve Urwin, who stayed in the UK on the family farm 

Sally described being at the beach in Rhodes as ‘unbearable’ due to the heat

‘It could make you feel unwell and we lost our appetites – we couldn’t eat much.’ 

The heat became so unbearable at 43C that Sally booked an early flight home and landed back in a rainy UK on Sunday – three days before they were supposed to return. 

READ MORE: Tourists on the Mediterranean are told to avoid the beach and stay indoors during heatwave Charon 

‘It was lovely to be back in the UK – it’s rainy, wet and cold, it’s refreshing to be back,’ Sally said.

The mother-of-two, whose husband Steve – a farmer – had stayed at home instead of going to Rhodes, said temperatures were around 43C when they left Rhodes. 

She said that the only bearable time of day when temperatures were low enough to leave the hotel were between 6.30am and 8am and after 7pm. 

Sally said: ‘It was at least 43C by the time we left. The way hotel was designed was all faux marble and was like giant oven.’

After posting about her experience online, she said internet trolls suggested she had ‘never been abroad before’ or that it was ‘just a normal summer’ – but Sally disagrees.

Sally said: ‘When we got there it was hot. I’ve been a lot of hot holidays, but it got hotter and hotter.

‘We were all covered in sunblock and the only way we could stay cool was sitting in the water.

‘The kids were so bored because we couldn’t do anything. I felt a bit worried for some of the older British people out there, some were a bit frail and not going outside at all.’

Tourists across the Mediterranean have been told to stay indoors and avoid the beach during the hottest hours of the day, with experts warning that temperatures could break the 48.8C record and pose a health risk to holidaymakers. 

British tourists and locals in southern Europe including Italy, Greece and Spain are  being warned by the United Nations of the life-threatening dangers of the blazing sun after dozens collapsed and fainted due to the heat.

Sally said the sweltering heat she has experienced in Rhodes has meant she will now book her future Mediterranean holidays for May when it won’t be as hot.

Sally sought refuge under a parasol while on a beach in Rhodes during her family holiday 

Sally said that the only bearable time of day when temperatures were low enough to leave the hotel were between 6.30am and 8am and after 7pm

She said: ‘In the future if I went somewhere in southern Europe I would go in May and avoid July and August.

‘Especially with children, I’ll definitely change my plans in the future and avoid places like that this time of year.’

It comes as the UN weather agency warned temperatures in southern Europe could even break the 48.8C record set in Sicily in 2021 as desperate scientists urged the public to understand the ‘peril’ the world is in due to climate change.

NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus warned: ‘Most people still don’t know what peril they are in. This will be the coolest summer for the rest of your life, and that shouldn’t be just a meme – it should be actually terrifying. The only path out of this heat nightmare is to end fossil fuels as soon as possible’.

Concerns are growing that the heat, which has already claimed lives in Italy, will cause a spike in deaths. ‘Heatwaves are really an invisible killer,’ Panu Saaristo, emergency health unit team leader for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said today. ‘We are experiencing hotter and hotter temperatures for longer stretches of time every single summer here in Europe.’

In response to the potentially record-breaking heat, Red Cross teams in Italy are checking on the elderly by phone while in Italy they took to social media to tell people not to leave pets or children in parked cars.

In Greece, volunteers handed out drinking water, while in Spain they reminded people to reminded people to protect themselves from breathing in smoke from wildfires that are ripping through the country.

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