To think 2021 holidays are doomed?

[YellowEllis]

Been on the phone to TUI again this morning trying to find out if the free amendment policy is going to be extended past April. They're insistent everything will be normal. Surely not? How with everything ramping up again can 2021 holidays possibly go ahead?

Abroad I mean obvs

@VinylDetective

I was planning a trip to India this time next year. Realistically I can’t see it happening until 2023 at the earliest. So sorry about your wedding *@YellowEllis*. Can you get your money back?

Not yet as according to TUI it's still going ahead as planned. Just atm we'd have to isolate for two weeks - can't get enough leave for that. Parents have pulled out - don't want to get married without them there. Those who are still happy to go don't want it to get cancelled as they're excited for a holiday after all of this. Hearing horror stories about the airport out there doing random rapid tests with a high false positive rate and forcing anyone who tests positive to isolate until they test negative meaning we could miss our own wedding if that happened to us. Just so many risks and our hands are tied. It's a horrible.

I meant to add that I'm not considering booking abroad for next year.

I think it will be 2022 before things start to go back to anything resembling normality holiday wise. I'm writing off 2021 for holidays and if the situation changes will book nearer the time.

@ZaraW

I've cancelled my trip to Australia in February. My Australian friends are looking for alternative places to travel to for the first quarter of 2021.

I don’t think any of us will be leaving Australia in early 2021

FWIW some parts of the world (including some Caribbean destinations) are already accepting tourists from the UK, subject to pre-departure test/tests/and other protocols ( and of course the requirement for quarantine on return).

It does however look like Australia is off limits at least until Summer 2021.

We were due to go to Malaga June next year, with Jet2holidays cancelling flights till feb 21 I'm not taking the risk of it been cancelled by them and have booked to go to centerparcs instead, when the 22 holidays come out I'll move the Malaga one to then.

Quite a few of my friends travelled to their home countries or holidayed in Europe this summer, so I think you are a bit quick to write everything off. The need to generate economic income will still be there, even more so for those countries. My friends picked their moment, went before/around restrictions or just at the last minute.

I honestly think it will be pretty shit next year. Hopefully it won't be worst than having to quarantine on the way back, I am preparing for my kids to have to miss school for a decent holiday, we can't go on like that forever.

It's still a massive gamble about being even allowed to leave this country, and be accepted in the holiday destination!

We have a holiday booked for next summer (exchanged from our missed holiday this year). I’d be hopeful by then it will be possible. Feb half term into Easter seems risky though.

I have Iceland booked for January but I think it's very unlikely that we will be going.

I had re-booked a trip to Dubai and Mauritius that was cancelled this year. I re-booked for March but I have cancelled it as the flights were moved.

I am going to book flights to New York for September 2021. The flights are really cheap and have a good Covid cancellation policy

Seems to me that the country is split in two. One half think 'we have to live our lives, and can't be controlled by a virus' (or the law!). The second half think we can't go outside our immediate garden or speak to anyone

Nah - the vast majority are in the middle, doing the best they sensibly can. Mumsnet seems to attract the extremes - ie the cunties who couldn’t give a fuck about spreading covid, wont self isolate when they have symptoms and give fake details to track & trace; and those cowering

I had a holiday booked to Barcelona at the end of March - it was rebooked from the same week this year following cancellation.

I received an email two weeks ago from jet2 saying it’s now cancelled. I was surprised to see a end of March holiday cancelled so soon.

A couple I know who had flights booked for August with jet2 have also had theirs cancelled too.

Rapid testing is becoming more available. By next summer at the latest it will be possible to turn up at an airport, pay for a test, get the result a maximum of 2 hours later and board a flight noting everyone on it has tested negative.

Cant say what countries will agree to let you in or what difficulties you may face getting back but anyone thinking this is forever really needs to follow the science a bit more.

Which airline is that with @uggmum?

We book in January for a summer holiday fitting it around 11 of us. We cannot do that this year so we won't be likely to be going anywhere [ which will save me a small fortune... every cloud.... and the planet will be glad too - fewer flights]

As a child until I was 10 our holidays were not just in England but 100% sleeping at home - we called them Holidays at Home - just going out on day trips. I loved them. People don't have to spend nights away to have a happy holiday.

I think the problem is Xenia, even if you holiday at home with day trips, many of the places you might want to visit are not open 'as normal'.

Small sacrifice to make I suppose.

I'm supposed to be going to the Caribbean in February. I'll wait until nearer the time before I decide what to do. They are planning on opening up with rapid testing from the end of this month, but if I have to quarantine on return I can't go.

@RedComb
It's with British Airways. As cancellation/amendment policies go, it's one of the best I've found in terms of flights.

I found return flights from Heathrow to New York for £331 each.

Here is the info from their website

I have holidays booked late spring. I am going.

I was very much keeping up with restrictions etc, haven't seen my family, won't see them fir Christmas either as none of us dares to guess if flights will be ok and quarantine reqs dropped.

But I am bloody going on that holiday next year even if I should bloody walk there!

We were just talking about this and thinking about booking for next summer, however my worst fear would be not being able to cancel ( lose the money if we do), having to go but little open at the other end. That would be such a waste.

I have a (rebooked) holiday in Portugal in the early summer and I'm going if I have to swim there.

TBH I think there'll be more normality around tourism than you might expect by summer 2019, partly because the alternative is mass destitution in heavily tourist-dependent countries and regions, partly because Covid fatigue will be really really biting.

I won't be booking anything. I will see how the situation pans out and then book something nearer the time - I'm in Central Europe - and I'll go somewhere I can drive to. I did that this year and booked a holiday apartment for a week - it was nice to get a change of scene.
I think it's a risk to book somewhere now as who knows what might happen before then.
If there's a vaccine for example, some countries might insist on you having the vaccine before travelling there. There might be difficulties with getting the vaccine as it is supposed to be going to be rolled out to health care workers, the elderly and the most at risk first. I am way down on the list so do not expect to be able to access it easily before next summer. So in other words, I book a holiday, I have to have a vaccine and can't get one, can't go on holiday.

Also with all the testing going on at airports, what happens if you book your holiday and test positive at the airport. Back home and into quarantine you go. Do you get your money back for the missed holiday?

RE; the skiing holidays. I live in a ski resort. They are putting all sorts of measures in place to keep people safe. But this basically means all Apres Ski is banned. There will also be issues when you want a lunch break because there are going to be very strict limits on how many people can be in mountain restaurants etc.
I'd say that using the lifts and skiing for the day would be safe and if people are happy to miss out on all the rest of it - the parties etc, then they could still have a good holiday BUT they should definitely go into quarantine when they return to the UK.

I will be going on holidays next year. Absolutely. This can’t go on.