To assume families with children too young to be vaccinated won’t be able to holiday overseas for years?

[ohcarolina2001]

So various countries are welcoming vaccinated people. By autumn my partner and I should both have had both vaccines, but our 1 year old DD is not eligible for a vaccine and by the time all the trials etc have been done on progressively younger people, we are years away from her being vaccinated. AIBU to assume we can’t take her on her first overseas holiday any time soon, because there is no exemption for unvaccinated children who can of course still spread Covid-19?

The only possibility I can see is going to a country which doesn’t require anyone to be vaccinated - but surely these destinations are a much riskier prospect (with an unvaccinated toddler licking everything and no vaccine 100% effective anyway).

Looking at holiday websites, most package holidays seem to be sold out for autumn already. These can’t all have been bought by couples without kids and older couples with adult children, surely? Have families with kids who won’t be vaccinated booked too and are hoping for positive news that kids will be exempt from the requirement to have their vaccines before entry?

@Livelovebehappy

I think young kids don’t really get an awful lot out of travelling abroad for holidays anyway. From what I see a lot of the time it’s about what parents want, not children. There’s often not a lot for kids other than sitting on a beach or by a pool, which is okay for a couple of days, but often it’s a week or more of that. There are a lot of lovely places in the UK, which are going to be a lot more interesting for children, and it’s not going to be too much of a hardship surely in the short term.

Totally respect your opinion but kids get loads more of other countries than what you think. In their day to day life we do things with them that they get nothing out of it and yet we carry on doing it.

But I’m happy with all those saying travelling ain’t for kids , it’s risky , irresponsible. Less people on the plane and the destination. Nicer ig like pictures with less people around for those of us that love travelling (my son has got 19 flights and it’s going to be 3yo. Only COVID has stopped him nothing else)

It isn’t currently possible to move around within the schengen area, the border between Spain and Portugal is closed at the moment, unless you have Portuguese residency/citizenship

@Racoonworld my holiday was booked in January 2020 and the balance isn't due until June, so I will plan to go until I'm not 🤷‍♀️

This is not a miserable country! It's lovely, interesting and beautiful and there are some marvellous beaches. We usually have several weeks of sun too

I don't get the constant knocking of the UK as a shit place to have holidays, either, @jessstan2. Beautiful countryside (which is also remarkably varied for such a small island), quaint towns and villages, loads of history, and nowhere is much more than an hour's drive from a beach.

My DSS, now 30, reckons the best childhood holiday he ever had wasn't Florida, Italy, Greece, or Spain, but the week they spent on a narrowboat in the Midlands.

A 1 year old doesn't care about going on a foreign holiday anyway.

Sorry not RTFT.

It’s not just about holidays though. We have family overseas and when DS was 7 months old MIL got a devastating diagnosis. We literally dropped everything and jumped on a flight. She died within 4 weeks. If we hadn’t been able to do that she’d never have met her grandson and we wouldn’t have been there when she died.

It’s not just about a wee jaunt overseas sometimes.

@Mabelene

It isn’t currently possible to move around within the schengen area, the border between Spain and Portugal is closed at the moment, unless you have Portuguese residency/citizenship

Portugal has already said they’re opened for the uk from the 17th may Greece the same Iceland the same Cyprus the same Spain is in talks to open to the uk (their biggest tourism is British )

A 1 year old doesn't care about going on a foreign holiday anyway.

A 1 year old doesn’t care about going to nursery
A 1 year old doesn’t care about going to the park
A 1 year old doesn’t care about seeing nanny or not
A 1 year old doesn’t care about many of the baby activities we do
A 1 year old doesn’t care about so many things and we still do them ... because even if they might not care it’s good for their development. Travelling won’t damage their life , in fact it’ll make it richer. But ... continue with your mantra. Again ... for those of us that love travelling , the less people around the better

@LakieLady because I haven't been able to leave for 2 years, Covid has brought out the utter worst of people and Brexit. The weather makes me want to cry. My Timehop right now is showing me photos 2 years ago of me driving across the Nevada desert in blissful sunshine, all I can see outside right now is white miserable cloud. We went to the Isle of Wight last year, it was lovely, nice few days away, but it does not compare to the experience of getting away, being somewhere warm, and different, and experiencing new things. I am desperate to get on a plane and escape all things British just for 2 weeks because I feel totally trapped and overwhelmed.

@EasterIssland yes they’ve said that which is great, but the UK haven’t yet said what requirements we will or won’t have for travel. Currently 10 days (or 5 with a test) isolation is required on return, and hotel quarantine for some destinations. That’s as well as two tests per person on different days in return, and a negative test before entry. We have no idea what will be needed in summer, if quarantine is still needed or will stop a lot of people travelling.

Has this been said by any government or is it conjecture?

We won't have visited my overseas parents for three years by this summer. I realise a lot of you think of overseas trips as 'unnecessary' but to some of us, they are very necessary. And I would hope they'd accept me being vaccinated and DS just having a negative covid test, because it makes far more sense health-wise for a 12 yr old to fly than a couple of 70+ yr olds.

@HeartsAndClubs

As for people feeling depressed that they can’t travel abroad, how about holidaying in the UK and helping out our own economy before flitting off somewhere else.

And what about the UK industries hit by the travel ban?

Everyone bangs on about hospitality but there has been barely any flying for a year (compared to normal years) which has hit 1000's of people hard. Hopefully bookings in the UK and abroad will be up this year and next while we try and struggle through.

I am desperate to get on a plane and escape all things British just for 2 weeks because I feel totally trapped and overwhelmed.

Completely agree - I just want to get away from home and the UK; the lockdown anniversary next week has made me realise that I have cooked 365 dinners non-stop, not to mention lunches which I never did before! However, I am not prepared to sit on a plane going to, say, the USA, with a mask on for over 9 hours, so won't be going this year even if it is possible. I don't holiday in the UK because for me it's just not a 'holiday'. You get the same old food, or if self-catering the same old supermarkets, and it more than likely will be either cold, raining or windy!

There's a streak of self-flagellating puritanism a mile wide on this thread; actually, on MN as a whole.

At some point the world will open up again and travel will be a possibility. Those who want to stay in the UK need to grab their cagoules and crack on, but stop peeing on the chips of people who want a different experience.

There are some beautiful places in the UK and we've had some fantastic holidays here and will hopefully have more but I also want to explore more of the world as a family. Plus my aging parents are in Cyprus and on their last legs so it would be good to get there sooner rather than later.

@Mabelene

It isn’t currently possible to move around within the schengen area, the border between Spain and Portugal is closed at the moment, unless you have Portuguese residency/citizenship

It is, the Portuguese border closure was due to the Portuguese variant. The French/Spanish border is open (the source of many Spaniards' frustration that they aren't allowed to move across Spain but the French keep driving in!

I'm amazed people aren't taking more responsibility. It's all well and good assuring your own health, but travelling to a country where vaccination is low will be very irresponsible.

Some counties are requiring only those over 12 to be vaccinated in order to skip quarantine so I think there will be holiday options.

Turkey plans to let people in without any checks.
I'll be going as soon as I can

My thoughts exactly, but I fear Turkey is heading for a third wave, the cases are rising fast so I can't see how they will let unchecked Brits in in the summer. I cannot afford to holiday in the UK.

Turkey might let us in unchecked but I doubt the UK will let those who’ve travelled there back into the UK without strict quarantine and multiple tests of cases in Turkey are high and they are largely unvaccinated.

@londonscalling

We are booked to go away with the kids. The issue we have is that our 19 year old is meant to be coming too. He will need to have had his jab but sounds like he won't be getting it until July!

And then it depends on whether one vaccination is sufficient or whether he will need to be fully vaccinated or fully vaccinated + 2 weeks. If the first one is July, you are actually looking at October

I think kids will be exempt. I've moved our foreign holidays to next year as I don't know if I will have had both vaccines by summer (healthy 30 year old).

[quote Racoonworld]@EasterIssland yes they’ve said that which is great, but the UK haven’t yet said what requirements we will or won’t have for travel. Currently 10 days (or 5 with a test) isolation is required on return, and hotel quarantine for some destinations. That’s as well as two tests per person on different days in return, and a negative test before entry. We have no idea what will be needed in summer, if quarantine is still needed or will stop a lot of people travelling.[/quote]
Sure. But the fact boris will speak about international travel in a couple of weeks hints what is in place at the moment won’t be in the future. It doesn’t make sense to quarantine from Iceland for example where they’ve controlled very well the virus and they will be all vaccinated by June unless they’ve a huge spike. It does make sense to control travel from any country that will have problems (I.e Brazil at the moment )
Most of the airlines are giving facilities to cancel last minute

I'm hoping they will expand compassionate reasons to include travelling to see sick relatives before they die.

I'm sure my mil would rather see her grandchild again than have them at her funeral.

I suspect most countries will not require kids to be vaccinated tbh. I suspect most people won’t get their kids vaccinated if it’s ever available.

We have booked to go abroad in the Oct half term, we can cancel, looking at the States early next year and have a cruise booked next summer -the cruise might be out as P&o currently banning anyone without 2vaccines (many other cruise liners aren’t).

@ConfusedBear

I'm hoping they will expand compassionate reasons to include travelling to see sick relatives before they die.

I'm sure my mil would rather see her grandchild again than have them at her funeral.

Exactly. If we hadn’t been able to travel to see MIL it would have been devastating.

The “well you moved overseas” nonsense can fuck off.

My DH moved here 8 years ago. Im sure he didn’t foresee this happened.

We got to comfort a wonderful woman in her final weeks. It made such a difference to her and us.