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?

YANBU OP, I know it’s not a popular opinion on here where posters seem to think they are entitled to a foreign holiday but I think it’s unbelievably selfish to go during a pandemic. A holiday is a want, not a ‘need’ and in fact for many people it’s a luxury that they can’t afford even during normal times.

I love foreign travel, but I’ve just accepted it’s not gong to happen during the foreseeable. Planes are hotbeds for spreading virus at the best of times and both myself and DM have caught horrendous viruses whilst travelling on planes that really laid us up. I know I caught it on the plane because a woman sat directly behind me coughed and sneezed the whole way home!

OP. Would you like us all to live in a Police State where we are told exactly what we can or can’t do?
East Germany in the 1980’s might have suited you perfectly?

I am fed up with the rise of judgementalism.

@52andblue

I don't think travel abroad is necessary for most people at present. I would avoid it, certainly for holidays. Planes with recycled air, crammed airports etc in a global pandemic? I would probably privately judge anyone who did 'pop off on hols'.

I'd probably mind my own business, I can't walk in the shoes of another; however I do agree that foreign travel is unnecessary and it will not hurt anyone to go without for a while.

Two of my colleagues have been to France on holiday and have not quarantined on return. I think that is the height of selfishness, if they weren't prepared to quarantine and avoid putting the rest of us at risk then they should not have gone. The quarantine requirement was in place when they went. It's caused a fair amount of friction as one is supposed to sit next to me at work but they have both been told to work at one of the former hot desks instead of 'their' desk. That's the price you pay for being so selfish and for posting your holiday pics all over social media when you are away.

Planes are NOT hotbeds for spreading a virus. What rubbish. The air filtration system will be better than your home!

@userxx whereabouts are you? We're all tanned and our beaches were busy (NW coast)

I honestly don't see why it's any more selfish to go abroad than it is to visit another area in the UK. So you mean in terms of bringing virus home , or taking it to your holiday destination? What is the area where you live has low/average numbers and the destination is similar ?

@Noextremes2017

Planes are NOT hotbeds for spreading a virus. What rubbish. The air filtration system will be better than your home!

You don't fill your home with hundreds of other people at random.

The air filtration systems are not going to miraculously capture enough of the virus particles if the person next to you is coughing and sneezing when you are seated or waiting for the toilet. The virus is going to reach some people before it gets to the filters and that risk is higher if it's an infected person sitting in your row or the row/in front who you will be near to for over an hour and several hours on the majority of flights.

I voted YABU - even though I would not dream of going abroad on holiday doesn’t mean that others can’t.

How far do you want to take it op? I’m off on uk holiday this week - do you want to stop people travelling around uk too? Coronavirus is just as much in this country than others, don’t see what difference it make where people are going in holiday uk or abroad. Just as much chance catching it here or there. I just wouldn’t go abroad as don’t want to be in a situation if not being able to get home or worrying about falling ill abroad.

@yahoosername Greater Manchester. I remember the weather being nice at the start of lockdown but I didn't get any time off to enjoy it. Last holiday I had was December 2019. Am friggin knackered 😞

If the person next to you is coughing and sneezing then a) they should be self isolating and b) in pretty sure the cabin crew will stop them from flying.

You could say the same about the thousands and thousands of people heading (or have been) to Cornwall etc though since July.
I kept expecting to read of huge issues down there, hospitals (hospital?) overrun etc, but that doesn’t seem to have happened.
We cancelled ours, mainly because we couldn’t face hours at an airport/on a flight in masks.

@pickpickledpeppers - you’re not allowed to queue for the toilet on a flight, now - you have to wait until the light shows that the toilet is vacant. As for the people immediately around you - of course you are at risk from them, as there is time for them to infect you before the air is replaced, even though the air is low humidity, filtered and regularly replaced by air that has been drawn from outside via the heat of the aeroplane engines. That’s not hundreds of people, though, is it?! Greater Manchester's problems stem largely from people filling their homes with people, though, if track and trace has any accuracy at all.

@ChangeThePassword

If the person next to you is coughing and sneezing then a) they should be self isolating and b) in pretty sure the cabin crew will stop them from flying.

Yes, they should be self isolating but you've only got to see how selfish people are on threads on here refusing to wear masks and not socially distance to see that most people are ignoring what is sensible. I'm not convinced cabin crew would stop them from flying, if they stopped every person with seasonal allergies from flying because they were sneezing and coughing we'd have seen a mass of sad faces in the Daily Mail.

@ChangeThePassword

*It does, whether you can see it or not.

My activities do too.

I'm not picking on you. It is just a fact.

The more we do collectively, the more transmission*

Well, I don't go to pubs. Haven't been to a restaurant since before lockdown. The only people I visit are family, and obviously I would be quarantining if required. I rarely use public transport. Go to the shop when needed, but would get a contactless delivery if I had been away instead.

I can't see how me taking a trip away would affect community transmission more than someone that has been home, socialising with people in pubs and taking advantage of the eat out to help out scheme.

My one (fictional) trip away with masks and social distancing is much less of a risk than what is going on in this country.

Whether you can see it or not.

I didn't say it would affect it more than someone that has been socialising etc, I said it would affect it more than not doing it.

I didn't say it was more of a risk 'than what is going on in this country' whatever that even means.

@pickpickledpeppers - there have been articles about people being chucked off planes for refusing to wear masks. And I think constant coughing and sneezing would probably elicit a similar response. It’s not exactly the norm for seasonal allergy sufferers to have completely uncontrollable symptoms.

Don’t go then OP - I did - had a fab two weeks in France - didn’t come back with anything but a tan and a sense of well-being and I don’t feel the tiniest bit guilty

@Rhubardandcustard

I voted YABU - even though I would not dream of going abroad on holiday doesn’t mean that others can’t.

How far do you want to take it op? I’m off on uk holiday this week - do you want to stop people travelling around uk too? Coronavirus is just as much in this country than others, don’t see what difference it make where people are going in holiday uk or abroad. Just as much chance catching it here or there. I just wouldn’t go abroad as don’t want to be in a situation if not being able to get home or worrying about falling ill abroad.

It depends where you are going. We have been away for several long weekends but have camped in small campsites which are unpopular with many campers who are not experienced as they are nothing more than a farmer's field. We've taken our own food to avoid local shops and have taken our rubbish home with us and cooked over a fire pit which we took with us. The ethos of our camping is to leave no trace, the only sign we have been there is flattened grass and a few holes from the tent pegs. We have used the time to relax at the camp site on go on long walks, usually without seeing another person less than tens of metres away. It's possible to go on holiday considerately. Obviously our way is not for everybody but it's not contributing to spreading the virus.

52andblue

It's perfectly possible to go on holiday abroad without using a plane or airport.

Why is it okay to holiday by train and car within England but not abroad? Where is the big difference?

This thread makes me think of Oliver Cromwell and his attitude to Christmas.

Did you not get absolutely loads of sun up until very recently in this country? It was boiling hot for weeks! There are plenty of nice, uncrowded places to go on holiday here and this year (and last), we've had amazing weather.

Yes thanks but I want some more and a change of scenery. I didn't realise I had to get your permission before I booked my original holiday prior to lockdown.

Stay at home then OP and stay alert

Just back from two weeks in South ofFrance, I’m Strictly in quarantine and feel that’s a fair trade: We had a lovely time.

[quote Walkaround]@pickpickledpeppers - there have been articles about people being chucked off planes for refusing to wear masks. And I think constant coughing and sneezing would probably elicit a similar response. It’s not exactly the norm for seasonal allergy sufferers to have completely uncontrollable symptoms.[/quote]
I can control my coughing due to allergies but can do nothing about my sneezing and loss of smell. I haven't been able to smell anything for several months. My asthmatic MIL can't control her coughing. It's a good job we haven't tried to go on a plane!

I think you are being unreasonable in deciding this for others because it's so complicated and everyone's circumstances are different. For example if people aren't yet having a mental health crisis but feel like they're on the verge of it - then what? On the whole for people who see holidays abroad as truly optional then I agree that it's best to wait.

I would personally also hate to waste a lot of money if I get stuck somewhere or if I am unable to enjoy the place the way I was expecting due to restaurants closed or something like that.