AIBU to consider booking a holiday abroad for august?

[HippoNamedBooBooButt]

What do you all think? Have any of you booked a holiday abroad for this year? We are looking at Jet2 holidays and have to pay a minimal deposit. By the end of may when we have to pay the full amount could we be be in a better position to know if it will go ahead? Just feel like I need something to look forward to, but just don't know if I should do it.

@StripyHorse

* Especially when you consider that less affluent areas are hit harder - people less likely to have gone abroad.*

That surely contradicts your viewpoint re foreign travel increasing cases then?

We’ve rolled over a booking for Italy from last year.

Dh was talking to someone yesterday who’s parents live near Rome. It sounds chaos. They’ve been delivering the vaccine at the wrong temperature. No one will have the Oxford one. Bars and cafes have closed completely due to insufficient bail out and the governments falling apart ( although the last one is kind of normal for Italy) Many tourist areas still in ‘red’ zones, and hardly anyone vaccinated😢

We have a week in Spain booked for August. It's refundable and changeable so I'm not really worried.

Even last August with nobody vaccinated, the rate was extremely low. By this August, every UK adult who wants to be will be vaccinated. That leads me to believe that we and our money will be very welcome to holiday in countries like Spain. I imagine Spain might not be as advanced in vaccinations as the UK, but we will be outside for eating, the beach, pool, etc so I'm not that worried.

I have been extremely careful this past year: no holidays anywhere, shopping delivered, not breaking any rules at all and not even visiting friends when allowed last summer. But once we are vaccinated and restrictions are lifted, life must go on.

For all those considering holidays abroad, you really need to keep an eye on the restrictions in the country you plan to visit.

It is all very well saying that you will be vaccinated etc etc but you would still have to comply with local restrictions.

The daily infection rates here in France are still very high (20k plus) We have a 6pm curfew and all bars and restaurants have been closed since October. Masks are compulsory everywhere outside.

It doesn't seem that things will change for the better any time soon and there are rumblings of another lockdown being on the cards. Some areas already have stricter measures in place.

Last summer was reasonably "normal" although masks and social distancing were required. It would be great to think that 2021 will be the same (or better)but it's not looking good at the moment.

Fingers crossed I can come back to the thread and eat humble pie.

@FoonySpucker

For all those considering holidays abroad, you really need to keep an eye on the restrictions in the country you plan to visit.

It is all very well saying that you will be vaccinated etc etc but you would still have to comply with local restrictions.

The daily infection rates here in France are still very high (20k plus) We have a 6pm curfew and all bars and restaurants have been closed since October. Masks are compulsory everywhere outside.

It doesn't seem that things will change for the better any time soon and there are rumblings of another lockdown being on the cards. Some areas already have stricter measures in place.

Last summer was reasonably "normal" although masks and social distancing were required. It would be great to think that 2021 will be the same (or better)but it's not looking good at the moment.

Fingers crossed I can come back to the thread and eat humble pie.

Last summer in France - rates will, in all likelihood, be higher than they will be this summer given the vaccine. And summer holidays went ahead.

Just heard a radio interview about this. It was thought that Greece would be ok to let U.K. holidaymakers come but doubts about Spain and France agreeing without a vaccine passport.

I honestly think it’s a very bad idea. There’s a much bigger picture than just losing money.

You’ll need to make sure you can afford to and plan for quarantining 2 weeks before you go and 2 weeks on arrival to the UK (at least) at a moments notice. Things can change very quickly and you may get caught in the crossfire.

You need to be prepared that vaccine passports will be essential for the country you’re travelling to. This means you’ll need to be fully vaccinated obviously but also that you have enough time between applying for the passport and receiving it. We’ve never done anything like this before, there will be hiccups.

We have no way of telling whether unvaccinated children will be permitted to travel.

You need to be prepared for local restrictions. Many other counties aren’t doing as well as we are with vaccination programmes and will be in and out of lockdowns for the foreseeable. How disappointed are you going to be if you spend that money, travel all the way and can’t do anything.

You’re going to need watertight holiday insurance and pay for it. You’re knowingly travelling during a pandemic. How sympathetic do you expect travel insurance companies to be when one of you is taken unwell?

Those are just my first thoughts but unfortunately I agree with PPs, a big part of why winter was so terrible was that the world and his wife were taking holidays abroad in the summer. Only a year down the line, there’s not a chance I’d be sharing recycled air with 100 other people. Having said that, I do understand the desperate need. It’s tough.

[quote rookiemere]@tinytemper66 yes I'm already over a certain holiday that has been rescheduled 3 times. It's a family group holiday last week of June in UK though so we might be able to go this time, if not I'm going to suggest we take the money and look for something else as I really don't fancy going in Summer 2022 which is next available slot.

We went to Sorrento in the October break a few years ago. It was still lovely and warm, but not overly hot for sight seeing if that time of year is an option?[/quote]
We could only go in half term as I am still a few years away from retirement...am 54 so about 4 years left. Would it be "open" or would the season have already closed as it were?

I've booked a refundable holiday for the summer and I'm 80% sure I'll be going. I'm banking on touristy countries allowing in vaccinated tourists by then.

It makes so sense that winter was bad because of summer holidays.

Most people had returned from their holidays by end of august.

Covid doesn’t lie in wait for weeks on end to then contaminate people. There was no peak in summer.

@Chewingle

It makes so sense that winter was bad because of summer holidays.

Most people had returned from their holidays by end of august.

Covid doesn’t lie in wait for weeks on end to then contaminate people. There was no peak in summer.

But:

A) people were still travelling abroad throughout September into October.

B) COVID symptoms can not show until up to 2 weeks after you have come tracked it.

C) People remain asymptomatic.

D) New variants were brought into the country by people travelling in and out before we had a robust action plan. This is also still a high possibility.

Come tracked it = contracted it obvs.

people were still travelling abroad throughout September into October.

A fraction of the number in July and august. Very few school age children holiday September in to October.

Most people had returned from their holidays by end of august

And as a lot didnt quarantine they spread the virus throughout the community which caused the Autumn spikes.

The time line doesn’t tally.

Latest you could return before school was, say 31st august.

There was NOT a spike mid September

My friend is a travel agent.
She is taking bookings (with a full money back guarantee) but she says she isn’t booking for herself until September

@Chewingle

*people were still travelling abroad throughout September into October. *

A fraction of the number in July and august. Very few school age children holiday September in to October.

It doesn’t matter. It was enough and school aged children have nothing to do with it. A big part of the terrible winter we’ve just had was down to new variants that entered the country by people travelling back and forth. Have you seen the panic in the last week over tracking down ONE person with a confirmed new variant in entering the country?

Honestly, sometimes reading these threads makes me wonder if people have actually been following what’s going on and if they have, whether we have learnt anything from the last year at all.

I am far from a lockdown enthusiast, next year you can fill your boots with travel by my reckoning but this year is far too precarious and has a higher probability of causing more damage than not.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-54205353

And the more it spread, the more it caused the spikes. It didn’t happen straight away.

I thought it was common knowledge that opening up Europe and air travel was the cause of the rise in cases. Even though it didn’t happen in August or September.

It is common knowledge @ArseInTheCoOpWindow, people just want to ignore it.

* It doesn’t matter. It was enough and school aged children have nothing to do with it.*

It doesn’t matter

Nope. It takes one person. ONE. As evidenced over the last 14+ months and this last week on particular. Honestly, I thought even the people with the smallest possible clue understood that now.

If you book a holiday this year you must have more money than sense.
I'd be dubious about getting a refund say these companies went under?
I'm waiting till next year we are by no means out of the woods yet.

And who wants to go abroad with half the facilities shut or compulsory mask wearing? Takes the fun out of a holiday imo.

For all that says other countries are not as fast as the UK for the vaccines, you must remember something.
Other countries in Europe have vaccinated less people compare to the UK, while this is true other countries in Europe have however vaccinated more people with both jab per hundred thousand.

So be mindeful before booking abroad: you might find that you havent got yet your second jab.

I know Spain and Greece are eager to get the tourists back but it might not be the safest thing to do let alone the tight thing to do.

@ThrowingAShellstrop

Nope. It takes one person. ONE. As evidenced over the last 14+ months and this last week on particular. Honestly, I thought even the people with the smallest possible clue understood that now.

Oh goodness, this made me chuckle