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AIBU?

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Original poster

Holidays - Here we don’t...

171 replies

DadAManger · 03/06/2021 22:09

We are back to where we always feared we would be (again). No more holidays in Portugal. The rest of the green list is a washout, where we aren’t welcome in Singapore or Australia anyway. Now we have a new `Vietnam Variant’ and new “Nepal Variant’ - and we kept the air border with India opened far too long and now we have a spike. Where on earth do we go from here? Skegness again.

Is the Government being reasonable?

OP posts:
ConstanceGracy · 04/06/2021 11:24

[quote SaltAndVinegarSandwiches]@ClaudiaWankleman

Loads of cheap places to go in the UK. We just camped super cheap over half term and it was lovely and cost under £100 for 4 days. You don't have to stay in the centre of St Ives to have a nice holiday.[/quote]
That’s a contradiction in terms for me .. “camping” and “lovely”
Yes camping is really cheap and loads love it but that’s not a holiday to me.

Sirzy · 04/06/2021 11:31

Camping is only cheap if you happen to already have the tent and other stuff needed.

Moomin12345 · 04/06/2021 11:31

Camping is not a holiday. I'd rather sleep in my comfy bed and just open the window and maybe play nature sounds on Spotify. Rain, bugs, tents, mud, more rain. Thanks but I'll take my chances with my lovely foreign holiday.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/06/2021 11:36

Oh, people always through out the camping shit. It's only cheap if you have all the stuff. I have a son with autism who will not do the camping, he won't. The shared toilets and showers are a dealbreaker and no, he won't use a chemical toilet, either. It's a no go. We have a tiny car, too, can't fit all the gear in it.

Abroad it is. At least there's A/C where we're going.

dreamingbohemian · 04/06/2021 11:37

Camping is also not that cheap if you don't already have any equipment and/or a car.

I spent days trying to find a reasonably priced UK holiday so I'm not going to tell people it's easy, we did eventually find something that we're really looking forward to but we have fairly minimal requirements. I'm sure a lot of people will not be able to find something they can afford and I do really feel for them.

NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor · 04/06/2021 11:42

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

lljkk · 04/06/2021 11:45

Is the Government being reasonable?

About what? Confused

Most people want tight covid controls & there are tight controls.
Not tight enough for some & too tight for me others, but about in the middle, which is in line with rough middle-place in public opinion.

I'd say that's very reasonable course to steer (even if it's not what I personally want to happen).

Moomin12345 · 04/06/2021 11:47

Oh you get your own head out of your arse first. People parroting the official party line about variants have no ability to critically analyse simple data. Variants will always be here, end of. We're a bigger danger to Europe than the other way round and the government only cares about keeping the money in the country because they detest Europe.

GladAllOver · 04/06/2021 11:55

We've just got back from a lovely week's holiday. Nice weather, great food. No restrictions on return home - didn't even need passports :)

Moomin12345 · 04/06/2021 11:58

Good for you. I'll be flying back from Portugal on Monday. It was fab too and I'm looking forward to Spain in September.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 04/06/2021 12:02

@NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor

And the “holidays aren’t essential” crowd can fuck off as well. Maybe holidays aren’t essential to those that have spent the last year or so on furlough, or working from home in their nice comfy homes with big gardens.

I've been made redundant twice during the pandemic. DP has been on furlough but 80% and we are eating into savings / overdrafts just to be able to pay bills. Not had a holiday since 2019 and that was a 4 day trip to Poland in the snow. I'd love to class a holiday as essential but it's not for a lot of people who are struggling to make ends meet. So maybe you should fuck off and get your head out of your arse and realise that your essential is someone elses fucking luxury and your judgemental and ignorant views are ridiculous.

Just because you can't afford a holiday doesn't mean other people aren't allowed to be disappointed to not be going on one. Competitive misery at its finest.
osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/06/2021 12:08

@Moomin12345

Good for you. I'll be flying back from Portugal on Monday. It was fab too and I'm looking forward to Spain in September.
We're off on 2 July abroad. It will be sunny and hot. Looking forward to it. Where we're going, no more masks unless you want to, no more restrictions, no more 'social distancing'. I'm counting down the days.
Hallyup6 · 04/06/2021 12:10

We went to Skegness last week and it was bloody lovely, but then I've never been one to need a foreign holiday. Kids were happy, sun was out, toilets were open, and that's all I need.

ImInStealthMode · 04/06/2021 12:11

I've been reading a lot around various opinions on travel (which are all valid, each to their own & I appreciate my own industry bias) but one thing that strikes me is the laissez-faire 'you can just do without a holiday for one year / two years and enjoy the UK for now'.

Do people realise that the longer these wild handbrake turns in policy go on, the less travel companies, airlines, operators and hotels there will be? It won't be a case of 'holding on for next year' - the options for reasonably priced travel just will not exist next year. There won't be multiple flights a day from your local airport, or accommodation to suit all budgets, or tour providers or transfer operators. There won't be restaurants or bars or attractions to enjoy in places that rely heavily on tourism.

Just being honest and decisive and closing everything until 2022 / 2023 with proper industry support might save some businesses who could then hunker down and mothball themselves to a degree, but to keep us in a constant cycle of hope and despair, sales and then refunds, paying for marketing and then having to pull it, buying in stock and then watching it rot, hiring staff and then laying them off, scheduling routes and then cancelling them, getting dormant aircraft ready to fly and then not going (and many other knock on effects) is destroying the travel industry beyond all repair.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/06/2021 12:11

NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor, maybe you should back and read the Talk Guidelines. Your last post violates them.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 04/06/2021 12:12

@Hallyup6

We went to Skegness last week and it was bloody lovely, but then I've never been one to need a foreign holiday. Kids were happy, sun was out, toilets were open, and that's all I need.
We have just had a week in Minehead. DS loved it, I enjoyed it but I'm hankering after a bit of culture! Grin
Nowstrong · 04/06/2021 12:13

Haven't seen my family in the UK since the beginning of all this. Plans are made, only to be shattered by one side or the other, changing "the rules".

RuggerHug · 04/06/2021 12:15

@Moomin12345

Oh you get your own head out of your arse first. People parroting the official party line about variants have no ability to critically analyse simple data. Variants will always be here, end of. We're a bigger danger to Europe than the other way round and the government only cares about keeping the money in the country because they detest Europe.
We're a bigger danger to Europe than the other way round This is what I can't figure out if the whingers don't understand or if they really just don't care.
SlipperyDippery · 04/06/2021 12:23

We're a bigger danger to Europe than the other way round This is what I can't figure out if the whingers don't understand or if they really just don't care

The issue for me isn’t who is the bigger danger. The relevant issue is does allowing foreign travel present a danger of needing to lockdown to deal with an imported variant.

If the answer to that is no, there is no evidence at all that allowing international travel will materially increase the risk of a lockdown, then that’s one thing (I’m not sure that is the case).

If the answer to that is yes it does increase the chance of a lockdown, then that’s the point I’m interested in, not whether our risk to them is greater, because that’s their problem to deal with.

moomin I agree variants will always be here, but allowing people to fly around the world and spread them is posing a problem. I think that’s evident.

Put shortly - I sympathise with why people want to travel abroad but I am not prepared to have domestic restrictions in place as a result of international travel.

QueenofDestruction · 04/06/2021 12:31

People are thinking only of themselves but some countries have not had so many vaccinated as the UK what about when the tourists come and spread into the unvaccinated, My cousins town in spain has gone from very low levels of infections to high levels just as the number of UK and German tourists have increased.

EasterIssland · 04/06/2021 12:35

@QueenofDestruction

People are thinking only of themselves but some countries have not had so many vaccinated as the UK what about when the tourists come and spread into the unvaccinated, My cousins town in spain has gone from very low levels of infections to high levels just as the number of UK and German tourists have increased.
is that the responsibility of the British people/goverment to take care of or should the governments take care of their own citizens?

Where your cousin lives is not the fault of the British people or the German but Pedro Sanchez's fault for opening borders with no measurements. But tourism is an important income in spain and the government never learns their lessons. Also a month ago spain reopened so people have been mixing more hence why the cases are going up, not only cuz of the British

Moomin12345 · 04/06/2021 12:36

So the choices are either keeping the borders shut to tourists forever (Brexiters, rejoice) or accepting the that we'll all eventually get some variant of covid but vaccines will improve our odds of survival. Then get over the variant scaremongering and enjoy hols until there's one that actually increases mortality to 90%.Grin

loginfail · 04/06/2021 12:39

@ImInStealthMode

I've worked in travel all of my life and it's worse now than at anytime since March 2020. My colleagues and I are all hanging on to our sanity (and in some cases our homes) by a thread.

Really sorry to read that..FWIW I'm now ex the travel industry and I'm still in regular touch with many people in the sort of situation you describe....I can't begin to describe how angry many of them were after yesterday's announcement.

Many feel Mr Shapps (and others) have thrown the whole industry under a bus for various reasons..some of being Covid related, some of it being pander to certain lobby/pressure groups, and also some believe there are other forces/departments/Ministers/possibly unions playing politics here and not really caring about the wider consequences.

Certainly if UK Gov keeps locking down borders at the first hint of one new variant or an uptick in Covid rates somewhere overseas that has a very low base rate there really is no way out of this for the UK travel industry. Never mind, I'm sure some of the foreign big players will be happy to come along and pick up the pieces in a year or two.

SlipperyDippery · 04/06/2021 12:39

@Moomin12345

So the choices are either keeping the borders shut to tourists forever (Brexiters, rejoice) or accepting the that we'll all eventually get some variant of covid but vaccines will improve our odds of survival. Then get over the variant scaremongering and enjoy hols until there's one that actually increases mortality to 90%.Grin
It’s not about odds of survival. It’s about making sure the NHS isn’t overwhelmed - hopefully the vaccine will ensure that it isn’t but we have to tread a bit carefully for now to ensure that the easing of domestic restrictions isn’t jeopardised.
JellyTumble · 04/06/2021 12:41

Or course the government is being reasonable. If it isn’t safe, it isn’t safe.

Anyone thinking they could go abroad (for whatever reason) without the possibility of it being cancelled was a fool.

Book by all means, but don’t expect it to be guaranteed or that you won’t have to pay out extras for tests/quarantine etc.