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?

Sorry for typos, my phone has changed keyboards!

I can't see how anyone going abroad for a holiday will have any bearing on other people's children returning to school, or am I missing something? People have been stuck inside, lost their jobs or have loved ones be ill or pass away, so I wouldn't begrudge anyone a break to wherever they choose.

or am I missing something?

Yes clearly you are.

I guess we won’t all agree on this issue. I love going on holidays and have missed out this year but am happy to do so for the greater good.

And no I am not miserable and bitter, I’m looking forward to our 6weeks in Spain next year. Equally, I am not staying at home, we have been going on daily adventures and trips, spending money in outdoor restaurants etc

I guess we won’t all agree on this issue. I love going on holidays and have missed out this year but am happy to do so for the greater good.

But that's your issue to miss out on a holiday.

I have cancelled my holiday abroad but that's my decision. That doesn't make me any better than those who have decided to go on theirs. And I certainly didn't do it for the 'greater good'.

@Sirzy

So your making yourself decider of who deserves a holiday and who doesn’t? Whose mental health is important and whose isn’t?

Exactly this.

We went away as a large family group. A friend told us they didn’t think we should go, said we may need to quarantine, things would be closed, had we thought about it properly etc.
We went, had a lovely time, felt safe. No issues whatsoever.
Came back, friend rang me and told me they were self isolating as a colleague had tested positive!

I think you're being a bit unreasonable, OP. People need to be getting on with their lives and getting away for a holiday is a great tonic for most people.

I'm still a bit too nervous to go abroad at the moment - but I'm rather envious of those who do get away! I'm toying with the possibility of biting the bullet and just going for it. Almost booked a flight yesterday but chickened out!

I personally think it’s bonkers, however I wouldn’t say that to a friend who was going. I’d bloody love to be in Portugal now, but I’ll stick to the U.K. for the time being.

Planning Egypt for 2-3 weeks in October to see boyfriend.. LDRs r hard so yes.. and yes we will quarantine if needed. Not selfish to have a break, has been a hard year for everyone

People’s mental health may need it.
People’s physical health may need it.
The British economy needs it.
You do you and stop judging other people and calling them names, please.

@OverTheRainbow88 yes YABU! My husband and I are both NHS nurses and we have worked our asses off the past 6 months . Our holiday is booked for November to Disneyland Paris with our 2 teens, I honestly can’t wait to go (fingers crossed that it goes ahead!). My youngest she is 16 has been back to school for 4 weeks now and after the exams fiasco totally deserves it. My eldest who is 17 is autistic and has been away from college since March has not coped well with everything and also thoroughly deserves a break. So if you think I’m being selfish the go ahead but I feel we deserve our little holiday!

@OverTheRainbow88 - well there you see where people disagree with you. I do not for a second believe that what you did this summer was for the greater good. What you did was a personal risk analysis and you came to the conclusion you felt safest with. You are clearly no more competent at factoring all the competing health, economic and societal risks into your decisions than any other human being. You just like thinking your judgement is superior.

YANBU.

Economies and personal wants are not more important than lives but this is MN so prepared to be told to mind you're own business.

Obviously everybody's decisions affect others, but surely it's also selfish to want an entire nation to never go to a restaurant or take a trip abroad because 'you' believe 'you' are particularly vulnerable.

This.

We’re going camping in UK next week not had a holiday in over two years more like 3. It’s needed. We’re taking precautions. We don’t do pubs or restaurants. We’re camping with our own toilet.
People on planes can’t avoid it if it’s there.. so I personally think it’s higher risk but some people do what they want.
Not everyone is flying though which is sensible.

No one is saying that you can never take a trip abroad ever again. Surely everyone needs to pull together to reduce the infection rate right now. People have made much bigger sacrifices than a holiday this year. There is something quite selfish about thinking your situation is “special” and surely those working for the NHS would be the first to understand that? I remember the “you stay at home, we go to work” slogan. Has that changed now it’s holiday season ?

Surely people need to do what's right for them as long as it's legal . Surely in a developed nation and democracy people largely select the job they do without believing they are owed anything other than the remuneration they receive for performing the job. Surely life is not a quid pro quo.

@MrsMcMuffins

No one is saying that you can never take a trip abroad ever again. Surely everyone needs to pull together to reduce the infection rate right now. People have made much bigger sacrifices than a holiday this year. There is something quite selfish about thinking your situation is “special” and surely those working for the NHS would be the first to understand that? I remember the “you stay at home, we go to work” slogan. Has that changed now it’s holiday season ?

Yes things have changed to some degree. Schools are going back. So are some people to their offices. We cannot just grind to a halt. People have got tired of staying home.

Writing this from sunny Spain no one will be surprised I've voted YABU. To explain our rationale, we have a place here that we've not been to since October-19 and were desperate to check nothing has broken while we were away - not least as I'm due my first in March next year and we're not sure how we'll find travelling around that time. While here, we have met up with a British family that had COVID in March and were getting cabin fever stuck in a flat with their 2yr old. What I'm trying to say is there can be mitigating circumstances. If you are abroad it does not automatically mean you are locking your kids in their bedrooms and hitting Space after dark.

I have been wfh since March which is giving me aches and pains everywhere, suffered the loss of FIL in May, and thanks to 3 holidays being cancelled earlier in the year didn't manage to have a single day off yet apart from to attend the funeral. We did consider cancelling Spain to go for a break in the North of Scotland (flying via Aberdeen), but at that moment Aberdeen got locked down. This led us to conclude the UK is neither safe, and we may as well head to Spain which we thought may have improved by Sept while the rest of the UK may have gone the way of Aberdeen. I also didn't wnt the hassle and disappointment of trying to get refunded for yet another holiday.

To add to this, we are being super careful out here given I'm pregnant and I was already telling people off on the 3/4 empty flight for not wearing their masks, so I don't expect to be a huge threat when we return - especially as we will spend 14 days in quarantine. Whether we flew to Scotland (2 flights) or Spain (1 flight) I felt the biggest risk for us would be the planes and airports, and therefore saying that people holidaying abroad are automatically selfish to my mind is off the mark. It's quite possible to behave utterly selfishly in the UK - going out and about without a mask, attending raves, flying to domestic destinations, travelling on public transport.

We are definitely better off in Spain where we can sit outside all day and not see a soul than trying to staycation in London just as schools start up.

Of course it's not sensible and I can't think how anyone can argue with that but people want to so . . .

Arthur Miller would have had a field day on this thread!

@MrsMcMuffins - if you want to reduce the infection rate now, then stop students going back to university, do not reopen schools, do not allow people to visit friends and family, arrest and severely punish people who break the rules, and close down all but essential workplaces again. Is that what you want?

@Sorberret

Of course it's not sensible and I can't think how anyone can argue with that but people want to so . . .

No one needs to argue, it's not a debate. Peoples' lives are not democracies. Travel is a legal activity. Those who don't like that will have to get over it.

Schools are going back but the virus is not gone, so maybe Disneyland can wait for now?