To think our London trip won't happen

[ShittingHell]

Supposed to be going to London at the end of March/beginning of April. Was booked last year. Never did I think it might not happen....
Hotel is paid in full but can amend. No trains booked yet. Family ticket booked for Warner Brother Studio Tour (Harry Potter)
Should I cancel now or live in hope? As I'm from up North don't know how covid rates compare in London to my area but would expect that when lockdown is over both will be at least tier 3 so won't be able to go anyway. There's no way London will be in tier 2 by then is there?

What’s the harm in waiting to see what happens?

I wouldn't think so. Can you defer 6 months?

Absolutely no way. I'd be changing it OP. Sorry.

See if you can change the date. Were far from being out of the woods yet and poor old London seems to be in a terrible state.

I'd hang on and hope for the best. We flipped from tier 2 to lockdown within a couple of weeks - might flip back again just as quickly.

I would probably put off as even of hotel is open other stuff may not be? Can you maybe move to the summer with no charges?

I would contact HP Studios first and ask what their policy is on moving / cancelling under the circumstances.

Slightly different but I had friends there were due to come to London in May and they have cancelled, its different because they were coming from another country

It will happen - unless something goes very wrong with the vaccination schedule by then its down to personal choice

It might be okay, but personally I would contact HP studios and see if you can change to later in the year, and then change the hotel too so you aren't as worried about it?

It’s in the papers likely that schools will be closed until Easter.

Government has said schools will open before anything else so I’m using that as my guide to plan things.

We will probably get leisure things open by the summer, another eat out to help out!

Local authorities are prepared for another year of dealing with covid at least. The Spanish flu took 3 years before things started to settle, modern technology means we should get a handle on it a bit quicker doesnt mean to say we will.

Lockdown looks set to be in place until 31st march but no one knows when in march things may ease (even boris probably doesnt) , and what that means.

They dont know what protection the vaccine gives, with only 5 months of data it's impossible to know and Not everyone will be vaccinated by April. (Let's not get into the anti vaxxers)

Yes over 70s can now be vaccinated however in areas which have an older population they are still trying to get through the over 80s, also some areas had delays in getting the vaccines, so not everywhere is up to speed and if backlogs start its takes a few weeks to then catch up again.... if they can .

Government will want to open the economy again but I strongly suspect many areas will be tier 3 and potentially stronger measures in other places at higher risk.

Personally I would defer to at least end of june/july at the earliest so you can enjoy the experience more than you would in the spring.

But then it also depends on how worried you are about covid and the risks of catching it and not much being open as a result or not as easy to freely go to restaurants etc without pre booking

Harry potter is great but it is mainly indoors and you inevitably end up near people as you are all looking at the displays.

Hope you have a great time whenever you go op

Things might be better by then, but I think you will enjoy it more towards the end of the year with less restrictions, so I would to the summer.

It might be ok. the second peak is here now, the vaccine roll out is going pretty fast and the weather etc will be getting warmer by then. You’ll always get some people who think we will be locked down into forever but it will end.

Thanks. The tickets can be refunded or exchanged but the problem is I have no idea when to change it to as have other things hopefully planned for future school hols. I can at least wait though so that probably is better than cancelling now just in case. Fingers crossed but I think it's a long shot!

I would wait and make changes a couple of weeks before, when you'll have a clearer picture of what local restrictions are like. No one knows what London will look like in 2 months.

Gone are the days of planning years in advance. I booked my Christmas flights on the 8th Dec to leave on the 20th, as that's when it was clear I could travel to/from my destination and what restrictions would be in place on the way back (Allowed where I live, before people jump on me).

I would re-book for Oct half term, it is mosrly indoors and London is not weather dependent Imo.

No. Won't happen. Sorry.

@MissBattleaxe

See if you can change the date. Were far from being out of the woods yet and poor old London seems to be in a terrible state.

Cases are falling across all boroughs though, so if I were you OP I'd wait until the end of next month and then decide.

Just cancel and rebook once everything's back to normal.

I don't understand why you would keep the bookings when things are so uncertain, I certainly wouldn't.

You could get there and then there's another lockdown whilst you're halfway down there.

I'd leave it for now. If anything I think London will recover quicker than other parts of the country, like in the first lockdown as a) London and the South East are likely to peak first (as the new variant started there), b) rates have been so high that there will be a certain amount of herd immunity amongst the more highly exposed section of society (i.e. keyworkers with lots of contact with the public).

I'd just cancel, it's not relaxing wondering if it will happen..well that's me anyway

Was HP open in the summer?

I'd cancel it now. HP will let you. I've had an email from them to say they don't expect to open their doors anyway until end of April at least (they cancelled me twice last year) so they'll be expecting it anyway.