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?

@Cassilis

But why should people without kids give a shit about your children going to school? Your child going to school doesn’t trump their holiday.

I think we all have to care about everyone tbh. It's clear we are all bound together with this virus.

Of course children going back to school trumps people’s holiday. This is the problem. This “why should I give a shit about other people” attitude. Very prevalent in Britain which is why I think we will continue to manage Covid badly. People’s behaviour needs to be managed by the government who should give a shit about all it’s people.

Of course children going back to school trumps people’s holiday.

We, the two are not mutually exclusive!

They’re paying taxes that subsidise children’s education, child benefit, etc and also not adding to the environmental issues by having children. I think they have done their bit and can have a bloody holiday if they want to!

@Cassilis

They’re paying taxes that subsidise children’s education, child benefit, etc and also not adding to the environmental issues by having children. I think they have done their bit and can have a bloody holiday if they want to!

I think this is a bit petulant, clearly children who need education and people without children both matter.

It’s not just children’s education. They need to be in school so their parents can go back to work.

@joles12

@DelilahfromDevon

Where did you go in Greece?

Why on earth do people thinking me going to a supermarket in Italy is worse than me going to a supermarket in the UK? Or a plane is worse than a bus? It's the same. By the way, the whole way through summer since June, Italy has left its borders with the EU wide open (other than Spain/Greece/Malta now where you need a sierological test on return), their case rate is lower and deaths are lower than the uk me the rest of Europe, despite this. How do you explain that if the problem is the borders? The real problem is the uk are talking a whole lot, and doing fuck all to stop the spread, except the usual xenophobic tosh. See also: school opening. I have people here wringing their hands about people going to stay a week in an isolated villa in France, and meanwhile they are getting on buses and going to pubs.

Well said!

Most of the countries who managed to control their borders from the beginning has a much lower level of Covid. Covid is on the increase again in countries like Spain and Greece that’s why they are added to the quarantine list.
Of course you going to the local supermarket can be seen as necessary to eat. You don’t have to travel to Italy to go to the supermarket. Foreign travel also makes track and trace more difficult.

Planes aren’t even the only way to travel. I travelled to and from France, by car. During travel and during the actual holiday I had no contact with anyone other than in the supermarket where EVERYONE was wearing masks. I am less dangerous to others than people who have been to Butlins or even the local pub.

@MrsMcMuffins - seems to me it is infinitely easier to track and trace other passengers on an aeroplane than other passengers on a train, or people who visited a pub but refused to give their contact details... What on earth makes you think it is harder?!

Also, @MrsMcMuffins, countries like Greece require people entering the country to complete passenger locator forms (airlines do not let you board without one). In Greece they do random covid 19 testing on people when they arrive, too, and anyone testing positive is quarantined at the expense of the Greek state for 14 days, in a quarantine hotel where they are kept an eye on, along with their close contacts. The English approach is simultaneously slack (no testing and no genuine checks on whether anyone is quarantining) and sledgehammer-like (eg quarantine arrivals from an entire country because of specific issues somewhere hundreds of miles from the nearest tourist destination) in ways only an incompetent government could devise!

Most of the countries who managed to control their borders from the beginning has a much lower level of Covid.

Lol - Italy was the only country in Europe to close its borders to China at the beginning of the outbreak

@Walkaround is right iro Greece. Also there is discreet thermo imaging at the airport to detect people with elevated temperatures to facilitate ‘random’ testing

My child won’t be going back for another week because of these families who through their selfish actions have increased the infection risk with air travel

How has their air travel increased the risk of infection? The airport itself is no different from a shopping centre, but there’s hand sanitiser everywhere, everyone wearing masks, extra cleaning patrols. So if you’ve been shopping or to a restaurant to “help out” etc you’ve been at bigger risk of passing it by touch.

As we got on the plane they gave us hand sanitiser and wipes. Everyone kept their mask on except to eat. The air filtration systems on aircraft make the air cleaner than that in your friend’s house or your local restaurant, so if you’re willing to go to either of those places you’re at bigger risk of passing it on via the air.

The country I’m currently visiting requires a negative CV test on arrival (guests have to quarantine until the results come in the next day) so there’s next to zero risk of anyone having brought it with them.

All restaurant and shops here spray your hands for you AS YOU ARRIVE! They don’t ask politely that you do it, they just do it. No shops in the UK doing that.

Honestly, with the extra precautions being taken here, I feel much better protected here than at home, and having had a negative test I’m not a risk to anyone else.

However I’m glad that many of you aren’t travelling as everywhere is really quiet. I feel sorry for the restaurants trying to entice passers by into their premises. Every time I see an empty one I feel guilty for not going in!

I’ve just got back from Italy and had the most amazing time! I felt far safer than being being squashed on a beach in the UK. We had amazing food beautiful wine took the kids to see historic sites and sat by a pool in the beautiful sunshine and after this year it was very much needed and we have all come back in such higher spirits.

@overtherainbow Not sure how your 'daily adventures' and visits to restaurants are any less risky than my 2 weeks in Brittany by car.

We stayed in the cottage with private pool. Drove there and back. Minimal contact with anyone and everyone wore masks. I actually think your trips out probably exposed you to MORE people and thus had a greater potential for spreading the virus.

Generalisations and judgemental attitudes - crap combination imo.

I don't know about abroad being selfish, it's just a risk to those that go as you don't know what the Govt. will announce when quarantine-wise However those in the UK coming to Cornwall and Devon I'm surprised at as the whole country is made up of tiny narrow streets and tiny high streets (if you can call them that), where social distancing is impossible (and no one is bothering anyway). I have rubbed past about 200 strangers this morning going to Boots to pick up essential medicine. Many locals not leaving their homes (what you hear on news is by no means an exaggeration). Both my parents are over 70 and they currently can't come and visit me as it's too packed/dangerous. We also have one hospital in the whole county so we're not equipped if the locals and tourists get sick. I'm not one of those locals who hates tourists btw, I'm from London, so used to vibrant busy tourist-packed places but at this time it's scary tbh. I wish people had thought about avoding the smaller towns down here.

@Margerine78

I don't know about abroad being selfish, it's just a risk to those that go as you don't know what the Govt. will announce when quarantine-wise However those in the UK coming to Cornwall and Devon I'm surprised at as the whole country is made up of tiny narrow streets and tiny high streets (if you can call them that), where social distancing is impossible (and no one is bothering anyway). I have rubbed past about 200 strangers this morning going to Boots to pick up essential medicine. Many locals not leaving their homes (what you hear on news is by no means an exaggeration). Both my parents are over 70 and they currently can't come and visit me as it's too packed/dangerous. We also have one hospital in the whole county so we're not equipped if the locals and tourists get sick. I'm not one of those locals who hates tourists btw, I'm from London, so used to vibrant busy tourist-packed places but at this time it's scary tbh. I wish people had thought about avoding the smaller towns down here.

This is what is driving me mad. We are currently quarantining after getting caught out in France. Kids missing first days back (very first day in fact of secondary for one). However we visit relatives in Cornwall when easing started and it was mobbed. Far riskier than the remote French village we are now having to self isolate because of.

@MarkRuffaloCrumble

Did you go to Madeira?

I am not even slightly ashamed of my trip to Venice in July. I had never been. The planes were nearly empty. The city was quiet and very welcoming and it helped us all enormously.

@Cismyfatarse

Do you know if Venice is still quiet?

There's definitely no logic to it. A close friend of mine is currently quarantining after staying in a French cottage in the middle of nowhere, yet no one is having to quarantine when they come back from Newquay which is a melting pot of people from every UK town and city across the UK squashed into one tiny high street. I forsee a flurry of local lockdowns across the country post-summer due to it. Hopefully Autumn will be quieter and you can see your folks soon.

@MarkRuffaloCrumble Where is that ?

We visited Venice. Once in a lifetime opportunity it was quiet.