To think going on holiday at the moment is selfish and unnecessary

[OverTheRainbow88]

I think it’s totally unnecessary and selfish for people to go abroad on holiday at the moment. I’m not talking about people that need to go abroad for other reasons, such as ,work or to see ill relatives etc. I think getting our children back to school trumps a holiday.
However, lots of family and friends are going away abroad for holidays, do others agree with me or am I being unreasonable?

At least if you are going to take the risk, and put others at risk at least have the courage to OWN it. I really can't stand the endless excuses that somehow YOUR circumstances are so much more important than everyone else's. Your risk was lower. Your chosen country is better.

Most people are probably aghast at the level of self entitlement and selfishness, I think that is fair enough in the middle of a pandemic when your poor decisions can kill people. Then it does become a society problem, and not about your own personal freedoms.

The very nature of the virus means that we all have to live with the consequences, and that is why people feel animated about the subject. You are taking a risk for all of us, including those that have cancer, and are very compromised.

I went on holiday to a part of Lancashire with the additional restrictions. Perfectly allowed even though case rates there are similar to those in Switzerland.

I don't think I was selfish for going. It made me feel a lot less lonely (live alone and this was the first time I allowed myself to completely abandon social distancing with the friends that I bubble with).

@DdraigGoch "The key bit is how you get there. If you are travelling by plane or on public transport then you potentially have a superspreader event. By car is less risky."

But what about climate change? Surely bus/train > car??

@Lockheart

Going on foreign holidays is always unnecessary. They're luxuries, not necessities.

And yes, it can be selfish. Our demand for affordable, frequent foreign holidays hollows out and destroys local economies, environments, and cultures. Mass tourism is a scourge, not a boon. We ruin places with high rise hotels and cheap restaurants because we want a nice week in the sun, and then tell ourselves we're doing them a favour by propping up the economy which wouldn't need propping up were it not for our demand for holidays.

I'm not saying we should never go on holiday but we need to have a serious rethink about our attitude towards them.

Speak for yourself! This doesn't sound like any holiday I've ever been on

I am working abroad until Christmas, while my husband is in the UK. I flew back to the UK in July to see him, and he'll probably fly out to see me next month. The country I live in has a similar infection rate as the UK, so the only additional risk comes from flying here and back. Then again, unless things change, he will have to quarantine for 2 weeks when he's back in the UK. So even if he were infected, the risk of him spreading Covid around the UK is pretty minimal. Would we manage if we couldn't seen each other until Christmas? Sure, but given the above (small-ish additional risk + quarantine), we decided the journeys are worth it.

@SantaClaritaDiet

yes, because absolutely packed overprices damp UK campsites are a good alternatives

Holidays are very good (essential even) for most people, and a necessity for your mental health. Others prefer to stick to shops, local soft plays... (reopened btw) and crowded parks. No need to be superior.

When you see how many people are bitter and jealous, they clearly are missing something. I pity them.

£10 a night camping to camp in a large field, there was one other tent further down the hill, three caravans at the bottom but we couldn't see them from our tent as it was round a corner. The next night there were 3 more tents further up field behind ours about 30 feet apart.

It was a great holiday and really benefitted our mental health. All in all it's been a great summer, the DCs have said how much they enjoyed it. Bitter and jealous? Far from it, we've had a great time.

@Crawlbee

Interesting that camping in France helps with PTSD, but somewhere else in the UK wouldn't have the same effect. I'll have to be sure to let the patients know.

As a camper in both France and the UK I am almost 100% sure camping in France would be my choice

We’re going away in the U.K. - is that really any less selfish?
We’ll be staying in a hotel, eating out every lunch and dinner.
We’ll visit some ‘sights’.

@ChangeThePassword

the flights, busy packed and hot airports, transit buses and the sheer volume of people in one place

Everyone I know that has flown recently has remarked on how quiet the airports are and how few people are on the flight.

I live 2 miles from an airport, and flight numbers are still well below what they were pre-lockdown.

This.

I've been travelling for work and holiday. Airports are dead. Hotels in airports are dead. My flights have been not even a quarter full. I have no idea where these supposedly heaving transit locations are!

Going on foreign holidays is always unnecessary. They're luxuries, not necessities.

That comments are ridiculous.
Technically enough gruel and a shelter are necessities, everything else a luxury . Life is too short to make it only about a miserable survival, what's the point?

Some people eat out, go to the cinema, go shopping, others go on holiday. Good for them. As long as they respect the current guidelines and don't break the law, they are doing nothing wrong.

@Walkaround

There are zero recorded incidences of superspreading events on aircraft. People should stop making up science for themselves. And if tourists were the main cause of Spain’s problems, then why were the main issues not on the tourist islands and in the South?? Something tells me Spanish citizens’ behaviour contributed to Spain’s problems. Maybe allowing nightclubs to reopen was a bit f*cking dim. As for selfishness, someone who seems to think the only issue the world is facing is covid 19 and that therefore there are simple solutions to the issues we face, is a selfish, blinkered idiot, too.

Totally agree!

So many MH professionals on here telling us what is and isn't good for our MH.

Surprised that there is a MH crisis with so many "experts" here on MN.

@MarkRuffaloCrumble

I’m going on holiday next week. The place we’re going to is an island with a low rate of Covid. They ask for a negative test result from the last 72 hours before letting anyone in, so they know the likelihood of anyone being infected is actually pretty low.

People cite being on an aircraft as a risk because everyone is breathing the same air, but HEPA filters and a complete turnaround for 100% new air every 3 minutes means that the air on a plane is cleaner than your friends house or a restaurant, which I’m assuming you’ve made your peace with.

And at the airport we’ll be in the first class lounge, so no standing packed together in queues for security and check in, plenty of space to socially distance while waiting etc.

I’m in more danger of catching Covid popping into the petrol station on the way to the airport for travel sweets!

This!

YABU

I think we all need it

@SantaClaritaDiet

Going on foreign holidays is always unnecessary. They're luxuries, not necessities.

That comments are ridiculous.
Technically enough gruel and a shelter are necessities, everything else a luxury . Life is too short to make it only about a miserable survival, what's the point?

Some people eat out, go to the cinema, go shopping, others go on holiday. Good for them. As long as they respect the current guidelines and don't break the law, they are doing nothing wrong.

I didn't say they have done anything wrong.

And yes, foreign holidays ARE luxuries. As indeed is being able to eat out in restaurants.

Rest and relaxation is essential. Going abroad to rest and relax is not.

I'm not saying we should never go on holiday but we need to have a serious rethink about our attitude towards them.

You go ahead and have a rethink about them; 'we' will do that for ourselves and need no input from you.

@Ylvamoon

A lot of selfish people on this thread forget that the virus spread so fast due to international travel...

Total straw man. Virus travel between people by their very nature. The fact that this has happened across borders is because people move across borders all day every day. The virus is already global. Do you plan to close all borders permanently now so we all become little islands of segregated communities with our own viruses and immunities? Where do you draw the line?

People go abroad for all sorts of reasons. All of them are valid. They're not essential to you, grand, you crack on.

@Taylrse

I went to the lake District in July and came into contact with loads of people.

I recently returned from Italy where I stayed in a private apartment and hardly came across anybody. People I did see all wore facemasks, even walking down the street.

Our holiday photos - empty beaches, empty shops and streets vs our family (who went to a UK tourist spot) and we're surrounded on little beaches by other families, crammed into busy pubs and supermarkets where SD wasn't maintained?

I kind of agree. I haven't been on holiday.

Did you not get absolutely loads of sun up until very recently in this country? It was boiling hot for weeks!

I was busy WFH when it was hot in thr UK. Being productive, not sitting in the garden enjoying the sun. Believe it or not!

Do you plan to close all borders permanently now so we all become little islands of segregated communities with our own viruses and immunities? Where do you draw the line?

Some people would love for this to happen, it would make their xenophobic wet dreams come true. Wait till they see how that plays out with no deal Brexit.

Going on holiday is always unnecessary and selfish. No one needs a holiday abroad, they don't just die if they don't get one. They have them because they want them and they like how they make them feel. No one goes on holiday to benefit other people.

Did you not get absolutely loads of sun up until very recently in this country? It was boiling hot for weeks!

I'm so fed up of people assuming if they had nice weather then everyone had nice weather.
We had lovely weather at the height of lockdown. When we couldn't go anywhere and we were trying to homeschool and wfh full time.

Since mid July the weather here has been horrendous apart from a few nice days a couple of weeks ago. We've had weeks of torrential rain and wind . It's dry here today but is unlikely to get warmer than 11degrees. It's hardly the Costa del sol .....

People travel abroad for many reasons. Some are quite necessary.