AIBU to be sickened by the attitude towards stranded Brits

[millerjane]

"They saw this coming so they should've planned accordingly"
"well I cancelled my holiday..."
"They should stay put we have enough on our plates"

My relative had a hellish journey home from NZ (over 56 hours to get home). She would have been stranded had she not bought a ticket and defied the orders of her company to hold station and wait for Head Office to make a decision. She's a young girl straight out of university. Have some empathy.

She is now helping elderly neighbours with food and medication if that makes a difference (it shouldn't).

"ha ha serves them right"

nasty people

YANBU. I wish people would be a bit kinder to/ about people during this crisis.

To be fair, most people have had plenty of time to cancel flights/change their arrangements. This has been on the cards for 6 weeks at least. Most of us who cancelled our Easter holidays weeks ago

Not everyone is a holidaymaker who is showing hubris. My relative begged her company for weeks to make a decision. The situation evolved so rapidly.

I think some people are just astounded at the complete lack of common sense shown by individuals who went on holiday in the last two weeks. I heard an interview with a backpacking couple in Peru. While I am sympathetic at their plight I think they were incredibly irresponsible traveling when they did and not monitoring the situation more closely. (They were on a 36 hour bus trip with no phone service when the country closed its borders).

My ex works for FCO and they are working their ass off repatriating stranded brits. Yes some of them should have cancelled their holidays as this is a hugely expensive effort to bring everyone back now. Anyone who went in the last 2wks really should have though twice about it.

Not everyone is a holidaymaker who is showing hubris. My relative begged her company for weeks to make a decision. The situation evolved so rapidly.

I have a friend who went to turkey just as this was brewing. Her refund flight was cancelled and she was flown into a Scottish airport then bussed to Birmingham. Yes, I have an attitude and I judge her and people like her. I am not judging your relative. There is a difference and people see it.

Her RETRUN flight

Jesus. I’d have stayed in NZ. They’re taking it FAR more seriously.

She is now helping elderly neighbours with food and medication if that makes a difference (it shouldn't).

I hope she self isolate for two weeks before showing such kindness.

How are you, OP? Must be nice to have a break from all your other dramas during this time.

i have to admit as a not traveled person I don't get it. unless these people were traveling for months, why did they go? I assume to save money(as I said I don't know) but we all saw this coming. so why did they travel?

@mouthbreathingrage
😟

"How are you, OP? Must be nice to have a break from all your other dramas during this time"

?

A lot of people have no idea how difficult it is to get flights/get to airports at the moment. On top of that you have uncertainty with regards to transit and visa restrictions. It took us two weeks to sort out flights and visas. In that time Irgun and destination countries both introduced restrictions on movements. It all happened very quickly too so from day to day we weren’t sure what our position was.

I do have some sympathy with those that were on holiday when things suddenly turned very serious and flights being cancelled etc.

When you’re in that holiday bubble and things feel very removed from you, I can imagine that it didn’t seem to be that serious as when you left the U.K. a few days ago or whatever, things were just as normal.

The people who left when it was obvious that things were taking a turn and flights were cancelled, borders closed etc, then no I don’t have much sympathy.

As with 'stockpiling' and taking 5 hour walks/cycles there is a mixed bag of people some who deserve support and sympathy others who deserve to be shamed.
My PIL were in Spain, my DM and DSF in Orlando. DM listened, behaved sensibly, contacted airlines etc and left asap.
PIL refused to leave, accused everyone of hysteria, went to church 3 times a day sharing communion cups, became very nasty when told to leave by hotel, accused people of scamming and ripping them off, demanded that they were, and I quote "wined and dined for free" until the hotel shut, whereupon TUI told them if they did not leave they were risking arrest. They then had a huge tantrum on the plane demanding free food/wine because of 'inconvenience' and only stopped when threatened with arrest. When they got back they were furious that their holiday had been ruined. They are complaining to TUI and demanding a full refund.

So yeah, some deserve no sympathy and some have done their best.

@Samcro a lot of people travel for essential reasons. We have one family member stuck overseas after going there for business reasons well before this kicked off and not making it out in time because a lockdown was very suddenly called. Other people have family overseas (I’ve had to jump on a airplane last minute for example when a family member was I hospital). The wirld is far more globalised these days, not everyone still lives in the same village as their grandparents were born in.

Wow fuckinghell, your in-laws sound like right charmers!

@fuckinghellthisshit Your ILs sound hideous!

It really depends
Let’s face it this has been brewing for a while

I remember the threads on here with people
Deciding to go or not even a few weeks ago.... hopefully they heeded the advice

One of my colleagues went to Australia last Sunday. They tried to get back on Wednesday. But couldn't. They knew the situation was getting worse and it as likely that flights would be cancelled. I can't say I'm very sympathetic to be honest.

We have friends that went on a 5 week holiday to Australia at the end of Feb.

They're now stuck and unable to get a flight home. I feel sorry for them.

Must have been very scary to feel trapped the other side of the world with this unprecedented situation. Especially being young, working and waiting for the company to say it's ok to come home. I can't imagine how glad her family are to have her home. My daughter is working in another part of the country and stuck with no friends or family near and that is hard enough.

It's different though isn't it? Your relative has been working there since Christmas, and faced issues with her employers etc.

Somebody who went on holiday, with full knowledge of the situation.... I have absolutely no sympathy for, and quite frankly, I think they're idiots.

All the people who are stranded trying to get to their families have my sympathy, but if you decided to go on holiday to a destination that was already struggling with a pandemic or take a cruise after you saw cruises be ridded with it... I think the government shouldn’t waste valuable budget on rescuing you from your own selfishness and stupidity.