To think it’s dumb that international holidays are being encouraged in the middle of a pandemic

[Redolent]

AIBU to think is probably the part of the coronavirus pandemic that will lead to WTF reactions in future history books? A world clinging desperately to its globalized ways and unwilling to countenance altering them even in the midst of a crisis like this.

European countries have just gone through months of brutal economic and social lockdowns, with the goal of suppressing the virus. They’ve just experienced, at a huge cost, what it’s like to have the virus slowly and imperceptibly land within their borders via air travel.

And yet, just as the virus starts circulating at low levels, they all decide to open up their borders to each other again, in these supposedly safe ‘air corridors’. Enroute to their destinations, their citizens flock to public transport, then to busy airports and planes, where they sit for hours in the midst of other passengers, then on to their destinations, where they mix with other citizens coming in from all over the world too, in social and alcohol-fuelled conditions. In the meantime, governments - like the UK - have vowed that any outbreaks in other countries will mean that returning tourists may have to suddenly quarantine for two weeks upon their return home. It’s a panicked and volatile strategy, subject to a monitoring of the spread of the virus in multiple other countries. Of course it’s bound to go wrong.

TLDR: close the borders. Internationalism can wait.

It's all very well the UK government ditching the quarantine requirements for people coming back from holiday from "safe" countries but nothing has said about whether these "safe" countries have ditched (or will ditch) their quarantine requirements for UK travellers. I live in one of them and we certainly haven't and I very much doubt that the government will suddenly say that people can come in from the UK willy nilly. The UK is still listed as being at the highest travel warning level.
This country has imposed a corona testing requirement on all travels coming in from Nordrhein-Westfalen because of the outbreak there. Travellers have to present a certificate saying that they are Corona negative or they have to go to one of the drive-in testing centres here on arrival and pay for a test (ca. 180 Euros).
I just hope all those people who were rushing to book holidays at the weekend checked what the requirements are of the countries they are going to.

Anyway, everyone is free to make up their own mind as to whether they think a holiday now is the right thing to do. I won't be going on holiday this year. I don't feel it's safe enough yet and there are so many restrictions in place that it won't be like the holidays we are used to.

No one is saying you have to travel but some of us want to see our families and go on holiday. Now there are air bridges it’s a personal choice.

I feel there are too many people that believe if we all do " as we are told" then the Corona virus will go away . That will never happen , maybe not for many years yet.

Nobody knows if it will go away or not. It may become less severe. There may be a vaccine.

People are flocking to the beaches & few are wearing masks in the UK.
The English going to EU are more likely to infect the hosting country's population than vice versa.
I am amazed that British are being accepted.

Apart from the obvious dangers of spreading the virus, with the knowledge that the virus spread so quickly in the western world because of global travel, many people are about to come off furlough into unemployment, possibly without even getting redundancy payments.

You would really blow all your money on a holiday before facing such uncertainty? I'm seriously? If they were UK holidays, then maybe I could understand the economic argument. But no one is going to come to the UK as our numbers are too high, and how does supporting southern Europe help the UK economy?

It's utter madness.

We will look back in a year at this cluster fuck and ask what were we thinking?

The English going to EU are more likely to infect the hosting country's population than vice versa.
I am amazed that British are being accepted

We spend a lot on travel to Europe (don’t know breakdown).

If we spent all that in U.K. would it be greater than what we get in, I’m guessing not.

It's not just aircraft. What about all the queues/congestion at airports - check in. security, border control, dep gates, baggage reclaim, buses between airport & aircraft, bars & shops in airports. It'll be ok at first as few will be travelling, but once it gets busy, it's a perfect breeding ground for virus spread.

I’m one of those selfish travelers (hopefully). I’m supposed to go and see my family back home in August. If the plane will take off and I’m not sick then I will be on it. I have already had two trips back home cancelled during this pandemic and it’s now been a year since I saw them. A lot of people on here were complaining that they couldn’t see their parents for weeks when lockdown was at its strictest, imagine how I feel. I’m used to seeing them at least 3-4 times a year, not zero times a year. I will be staying for a few weeks though to make up for it.

It's all very well the UK government ditching the quarantine requirements for people coming back from holiday from "safe" countries but nothing has said about whether these "safe" countries have ditched (or will ditch) their quarantine requirements for UK travellers.

Several European countries have indicated that people in the UK will be allowed to visit next month. The news talks about little else but "air bridges" at the moment.

It looks like FCO advice hasn’t changed (I just checked one country as wasn’t sure) so the implementation of quarantine then release has seen a spike in buying.

We haven’t always had it have we? Just for a short period.

@Quarantimespringclean

I’m in two minds about this. The fact is that CoVid is everywhere so assuming that people want a break away from him it doesn’t make a lot of difference whether they take that break in Spain or France or the U.K., they stand as much chance of picking up the virus in one place as another. If it’s true that hot weather lessens then it’s actually more sensible to holiday somewhere warm.

OTOH I definitely wouldn’t want to travel by plane ATM. They are hermetically sealed petri dishes of bacteria at the best of times. Normally that doesn’t bother me. I have a robust constitution and think exposure to germs only strengthens it but with CoVid around I am more cautious than normal. And if I do catch it at some point in the future I would want to be at home with my comforts around me and medical staff who speak the same language as me.

Actually, planes have medical grade filtration systems that mean they aren't the petri dishes we think they are. There's far more chance of catching Covid at the airport waiting to get on the flight, but actually airports are now stringent about social distancing.

Frankly, I'd rather take my chances in a country like Greece where infections have been low and strict social distancing measures are still in place than attempt a staycation that involves cramming onto a British beach as thousands were doing last week and having to walk past burger boxes filled with excrement after packing up our towels and windbreaker at the end of every day.

Marsha, I was referring to health not the economy.
however, most people whatever their nationality are being advised to stay home this summer, so they will also be spending their money at home.

(But I'm not planning to go anywhere, before a MN pile-in starts.)

Yes I know you were. But economic factors are overriding health.

If we spent all that in U.K. would it be greater than what we get in, I’m guessing not.

We spend far more abroad each year than we get back from overseas tourists. It's a bit laughable that people talk about "saving the economy" by travelling. Whose economy do they think they are saving?

As some posters have said, driving to France for instance and staying in self catered accommodation is very different from flying to an all inclusive hotel.

Lots of people booked their holiday pre-Covid and don’t want to lose the money.

And think of everyone who has relatives abroad, who haven’t seen their loved ones for months, and who don’t know if they’ll see them in autumn or winter in case there’s a second wave and another lockdown.

I would like to see flights banned for the foreseeable future from the countries that have been identified as ‘red’ rated.

It’s not as simple as ‘not booking’. I’d never actively book to go abroad knowing the situation, but I’m already committed to a holiday that is expensive - and with airlines now running their flights and countries opening up, if we don’t go, we lose the money. So it’s not a question of choosing a holiday in the U.K. instead, holiday budget is already spent.

@user1497207191

It's not just aircraft. What about all the queues/congestion at airports - check in. security, border control, dep gates, baggage reclaim, buses between airport & aircraft, bars & shops in airports. It'll be ok at first as few will be travelling, but once it gets busy, it's a perfect breeding ground for virus spread.

The queues ( if any) will be socially distanced. Pretty much every aspect you’ve mentioned is no different from a large supermarket shopping experience atm. Oh and transport isn’t bus for us it’s a car. Which like many others we will be driving to a house with a private pool.

Absolutely drives me bonkers the assumption that everyone going on a plane will do it only to go on holiday! I haven't seen my parents since February and my mother in law hasn't been over since last year. We were supposed to go see her in April and she was supposed to come in May but of course that got cancelled. My parents would have normally come over in March at least. So I welcome the opportunity to maybe see them this summer! My girls could really do with a few weeks in France with their grandparents after putting up with the lockdown.
I also understand people wanting a holiday mind.
Given where things are with the virus I don't see a problem with international travel. If anything it's maybe the other countries that should ban us for a bit longer but if we're allowed to fly then I'm all for it.

It’s not as simple as ‘not booking’. I’d never actively book to go abroad knowing the situation, but I’m already committed to a holiday that is expensive - and with airlines now running their flights and countries opening up, if we don’t go, we lose the money. So it’s not a question of choosing a holiday in the U.K. instead, holiday budget is already spent.

Fair enough but the question is whether travel advice should change so that people are encouraged to go abroad in the first place. I was able to cancel my holiday because travel wasn't advised. You would probably be able to get a refund too if advice was that people shouldn't travel.

Absolutely drives me bonkers the assumption that everyone going on a plane will do it only to go on holiday! I haven't seen my parents since February and my mother in law hasn't been over since last year.

You don't have to fly to visit your mother in France. You could get a boat/drive.

I think I'd be worried about getting stuck in a hotel for quarantine if someone was diagnosed with the virus while you were there.

Or, for example, if a local lockdown were imposed here. For example, f you live in Leicester, I'd be thinking twice about booking anything at the moment as the Sunday Times was taking about a local lockdown being imposed there.

You don't have to fly to visit your mother in France. You could get a boat/drive

Yeah because we all love driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Not a chance!

Train might work, if the pp's mum lives somewhere on the rail network.

Ok so for all the dumb brits that choose to fly for example to Spain each and every year spending lets say for arguments sake based on my last holiday,£5000 plus maybe £1000 spending money on bits and bobs and another £1000 in this country on clothes before they go,most of which is paid upfront a year before,,,do I loose that and stay at home to holiday this year or do I book a caravan in a shitty seaside town with the masses here performing as they have this past month shitting on beaches,vandalising everything,queueing inseccently and the weather being less than co operative,paying over inflated prices to stay in a country that has been one of the worst affected in the world and is still to be honest lagging behind most of europe.?See in my view the risks are just the same.I priced up Butlins the other day..now believe me it would not be by any stretch my first choice of venue for a break but you know for the kids fair enough I could put up with it.Nearly 1000 quid for a turn around room,no meals,limited use of entertainment venues,limited use of everything,pools could still be shut,,and it could pee it down all the time we are there,bearing in mind all the people who are holidaying there will be in the same boat struggling for space in an already confined place,now that seems madness to me.So I have decided if our goverment say we an go abroad ,having already paid for it then I am going.The risk to me is less going abroad than staying here where the virus is more prevelent anyway.This virus is not going anywhere soon.We have to learn to live with it.Nothing is risk free here.We go to work.we shop,we live.We cannot stay home 24 hours a day,When the schools go back and open again the risks will not be lessened.It will still be here in the population,same as anywhere else in the world.I am happy to take that risk of going abroad.They will do everything possible to minimize the risks for tourists as it is in their interests to do so.Would I trust a dodgy campsite or caravan park here to do the same? No I wouldnt.No one wants to die of this but UK PLC will be glad and are ready and willing to accept the money from visitors here from abroad and it will be reciprocated in their countries.The problem is not the virus,the problemi s we are a service ecomomy thats the real problem and until we move from being a service industry we are shafted eonomically every which way up.