To be annoyed with people online saying you were stupid to think holidays abroad in 2021 would even happen.

[katedan]

Like lots of people we booked our summer holiday for 2020 to Europe in December 2019 with no idea what was to happen, we could not obviously go last year so agreed to move to 2021 as we had hoped this would be better by then. Now all I read is how stupid people are for thinking holidays abroad would ever happen in 2021 and it is there own fault they are unlikely to happen. Lots of people like us booked ages before COVID was even heard about. TBH we were stupid to not book a package so cant get our money back but I think it is unfair to assume everyone with holidays booked for this summer booked them in the last couple of months.

Well, the optimism in our house is my 18 yr old applying for a gap year at a school in Australia in the hope that she might be able to get there in July ...

To be fair, they've asked her to apply asap for consideration, as others are having to change their plans, and since she has dual citizenship she might be allowed into the country. Apparently they've just had someone make it out from the UK. If she does get the offer then we will start figuring out how eyewatering the flights might be and if it is actually viable.

And I can't tell you how many times I've been thankful we went to visit their grandparents in Dec 2019 rather than waiting for last summer. The clincher at the time was all the summer courses our teenagers were interested in going to ...

I think if planning something it's worth making sure that you are covered for refunds/changes if transport is running but borders are closed. Travel is as much a lottery of international rules as personal risk appetite right now. I've seen lots of people on here stuck because their flights are going but they're not allowed to be on them!

We are in a similar position. Booked July 2019 for August 2020. Transferred to August 2021 back in April last year. Didn't imagine it would still be so unlikely.

I bet UK holidays for summer 2021 will get very expensive now.

The last few days I’ve been looking for summer hols to Cornwall, we go every year and I usually book totally last minute with no problem - well, there was almost nothing! Thank god I managed to get a lovely property in the area we want, paid for it this morning, but it was about a third more than we’d usually pay and it was literally the last thing available and I had to scour the internet for ages. I’ve also got to take youngest dd out of school a few days early!

So, if you want to book for summer in the Uk - get on it ASAP!

We went to France in July last year. Have booked Eurostar tickets for this July too - may we can go or maybe not, but it’s worth a punt! I don’t think it’s stupid I think it’s getting prepared but keeping an option of being flexible.

We're booked for the end of September. We know it might not happen, but we know we can also change it if need be. I don't think it is daft to try and keep positive about getting some normality back.

Well there are lots of people that rely on the tourism industry for jobs, we need to get back to normal as soon as possible.

Did people have to isolate last year on return ? I don't remember. We have a holiday booked in June and I so hope we can go. We haven't been for 5 years and I just can't spend 10 days in Travelodge with two young children on return. I don't mind staying at home and will probably need a rest. Don't know what DH's work will say about it.

Air corridors changed at the last minute last year, so lots of people were left quarantining on return because their destination was safe when they left but didn't stay that way. But that was quarantine in your own home, so free, and probably more spacious. Now the threat is quarantine in a hotel room, with (I suspect) crappy food, all of which you have to pay a lot of money for.

@katedan I do feel for people who booked in 2019 for 2020 for sure. They could never have predicted what was going to happen.

However, I don't feel sorry for anyone who booked a holiday in the 'window of freedom' we had between July and October, (for a holiday during those few months,) and was affected by the Government changing the rules every week, OR those who booked in late 2020 for 2021.

With the worst pandemic in anyone's living memory, it was foolhardy to book, and pay for a holiday for 2021. (Or those few months last summer, in the middle of it all.)

I don't think they're stupid, and I am not laughing at them, but I don't feel sorry for them either.

Me and DH have a big anniversary coming up this May. (30 years married,) but no WAY will we be booking anything. We will do it when all this is over, even if it means doing it a year and a half late.

We’ve booked 3 holidays for this year, 2 in Europe and 1 in the U.K. (May, August, September)

If we don’t get to go, we don’t get to go. That’s the chance we took 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don’t think it’s stupid to hope?
We went to France last August in that tiny window of joy when we had about 3 weeks when we were allowed to have lives. I’m so glad we did. Would do it again 100 times. The memories have helped through this grim winter!

Still only January. I remain hopeful.

It's up to individuals if they want to book in advance, but I doubt any foreign holidays will be worth having for all of this year, and would not book myself.

In fact at present I don't think going abroad on holiday should be allowed at all.

Do you people make any connection between your holidays and the second wave? Most of the world looked on in utter disbelief when you failed to lock your borders, kept your pubs and schools open, kept trains running with packed carriages, had summer holidays in Europe, didn't bother with masks, ate out to help out and had the Christmas gathering thing. Nobody in the UK seems to have realised they were in the middle of a pandemic.

@Rangoon

Do you people make any connection between your holidays and the second wave? Most of the world looked on in utter disbelief when you failed to lock your borders, kept your pubs and schools open, kept trains running with packed carriages, had summer holidays in Europe, didn't bother with masks, ate out to help out and had the Christmas gathering thing. Nobody in the UK seems to have realised they were in the middle of a pandemic.

People in other countries were going on holidays abroad too... UK fucked up compared to many other countries, but in this particular thing, we weren't special (for a change).

Most of the world looked on in utter disbelief

No need to exaggerate
The UK has made questionable choices, but you are talking nonsense.

If Brits "had summer holidays in Europe", clearly someone else didn't close their borders either

It's a pandemic, not WW3, life doesn't need to stop entirely, sorry to disappoint you.

Pretty sure holidays will be going ahead over the next few months, but with extra measures of course.

Easyjet cancelled April and I heard even May from someone.