Help! Do I cancel surprise trip?

[hoolydooly]

Sorry in advance for another coronavirus thread! Struggling with a decision and wondering if people can help me decide...

So, one week from now we are due to go on a trip to Japan, booked last September. DH and I lived there many moons ago and I booked this as a surprise - a huge surprise as we're more "camping in Cornwall" types rather than big international jetsetters! Going with 4 children in tow (youngest age 5).

Enter coronavirus. Japan has 20 cases so far. They are asking Japanese nationals they have repatriated to self-quarantine, rather than imposing quarantine as we have in the UK. Japan gets huge numbers of Chinese tourists, and has only restricted entry to those from Hubei province. According to this map (gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6) there are 5k cases elsewhere in China.

If we do go, we will be in Tokyo for a few days and will likely come into contact with a lot of travellers from China. I want to stress I am in no way being racist here (I have seen accusations of racism being bandied about on other threads). It's just a fact that there are more cases in China right now, so contact with Chinese travellers poses more of a risk.

So...now I am worried. I can't discuss with DH as he doesn't know about the trip! I really don't want to cancel. We'd get no money back, and it cost a fortune! But the thought of something happening to our children (or us) is giving me pause for thought. I suffer from health anxiety so perhaps I am worrying too much.

What do you think?

YABU = you're being silly, go and enjoy yourself
YANBU = not worth the risk - cancel your trip

If IABU, please be gentle! ;-)

Go, I wouldn’t ruin the surprise

Go! As you've said, no underlying health issues. As long as official guidance says it's ok then do it. If not then hopefully insurance will cover it.

YANBU to worry but I think you should go, as long as there is no travel advisory not to go. I have the same situation with India trip coming up. However I have checked with travel insurance and they told me nothing to do with coronavirus will be covered as it is now a 'known event', if you buy now. If you already have it, might be different, depending on when the FCO put the coronavirus advisory on the website, think it was last week.

I'd definitely go. If I knew there was an outbreak in London where I live I'd still go out but just take basic precautions, so I don't see why this is any different.

I do already have travel insurance, purchased way back in September, but I can't imagine they will cover any cancellation as there is currently no advice to avoid travel to anywhere except China.

If there's no advice not to travel, you'd lose all the money. For that alone, I'd go.

What are your friends in Japan saying about it? If people on the ground are saying 'come' then I'd go. Take little ziplock bags with you so you can carry soap around and pay much more attention to the DCs handwashing than you normally would - they're not 'at risk' more but their hygiene doesn't tend to be as good as adults on high-alert.

Travel insurance will cover any illness whilst there but fear of pandemic is excluded in every policy.
I would go.

I would go - but I'm not in a position of having young children to worry about.

If you know you won't get money back, why not leave off cancelling - I know it's just a week away, but you have lost nothing if you leave your cancellation till the day before - or even the morning of your flight.

There may be a ban on travelling, and then you can claim on insurance.

I also say go! Just obviously be sensible if the FCO advice changes in the next week.

You said you are meeting up with old friends? If they are already in Japan then I am sure they would be straight on to you if the internal advice was not to travel/be out etc. I would contact them for reassurance if you need to.

I think you are more likely to find far fewer tourists In Japan that have come directly from visiting/living in China than usual because they are the ones that will be given pretty stringent checks when trying to travel. It is a 14 day incubation period and those checks have already been in place for a while.

Usual precautions about washing hands and using masks on public transport/airports is far more normal in Japan than it is here anyway so I would pack some of those for peace of mind if nothing else.

Make sure you are all healthy, taking your vitamins etc and anything else you would do to stave off a cold/flu.

If anything changes in the area you are visiting whilst you are on the ground, then take sensible precautions to stay indoors or away from problem areas.

We lived and travelled a lot in Asia when we were kids and our main problems were disappearing transport or hotel issues rather than sickness but my mum always packed plenty of wet wipes (or these weird impregnated flannels really!), a ton load of sealed snacks, a couple of packs of cards and some new books to break out in case of long confinements.

Go, have a fantastic holiday and let us know how the surprise bit went!

Ah I see why you're pausing for thought. However, I work in a university department with loads of Chinese students, many of whom have probably just been back for Chinese New Year with their families. They are supposed to self quarantine if they've been near Wuhan, but given that it's exan period I could forgive them for not doing so. I'm probably more at risk of coronavirus here than you will be in Japan!

We had similar with a long-planned, long-awaited trip to Japan when I was pregnant with my first - it ended up being just after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear leak. We read all the travel advice, weighed up the risks objectively and decided to go in the end.

I'm pretty sure I would go, if things stay as they are now, but good luck with your decision!

Some useful info from Friday's 'More or Less' programme on R4 about the statistical risk of catching it - might help you make up your mind. Basically, risk of catching it is lower than we might think from media info atm.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p081yn19

The options I see here are

1. don't tell him yet, proceed with your surprise

1. tell him now and decide together

1. cancel and try and claim insurance/be prepared to lose your money

1. I don't think anyone has suggested this, but can you move your travel dates back by, say, 6 months/1 year and go when it's safer?

I'm in the ' Go' camp.
Trust yourself, look at guidelines and make adjustments if necessary.

I wouldn't be worried about going, as such. My worry would be that travel restrictions would change while I was away and we wouldn't be able to get back home.

If the U.K. stopped accepting flights from Asia, or HK stopped releasing flights for example, you might be stuck. Have you enough money to cover hotels etc if your stay had to be extended?

I'd still go unless govt advice changes, although personally I'd like the opportunity to look forward to the holiday, as that's part of it for me.

I'd check current advice from the Foreign Office and unless that says don't go I'd be going!

@Teenyearsparent Nice idea about postponing and thanks for outlining the options. Unfortunately I can't postpone due to work commitments and also that a big part of this is going to some winter festivals where we used to live, which are now or never. (I doubt airline would allow me to postpone a whole year.)

I have half an eye on the rugby build up so haven't RTFT, sorry.

My DH is flying to Tokyo on Sunday for 10 days. I'm mildly worrying about it, but the company have risk assessed and decided its safe (they have cancelled an onward part of the trip into China), so I have to trust them, and him.

Have an amazing time!

I'd go, op. A friend went last week, with no second thoughts. If you're that worried, I'd say bring lots of hand sanitizer and be very ontop of it with hand washing.

Unless FO recommendations change beforehand - Go! And have an amazing time.

I'd hate a surprise like that
I think you need to tell him

Japan tends to be ever so clean, I wouldn't worry as long as you're all using hand sanitiser. The plane journey each way would give me a little pause for thought, to/ from anywhere because of the proximity. I'd buy proper masks, you don't have to wear them but if things get worse then you might be grateful for them on the way home.

I have a similar problem - booked trip to HK in a few weeks. Think we’ll go with the FCO travel advice at the time.

Just wanted to say that I have just come back from 2 weeks in Japan and it was fine. Everyone was wearing face masks, including a lot of white tourists too. I'd take hand gel because you'll want to use it before eating and after using the subway. There was thermal scanning while entering at the airport also to screen people with fevers.