To be completely and utterly drained from all this uncertainty?

[Borisjohnsonshairbrush]

Supposed to be abroad from the 18th Dec to 5th Jan in the far East but I'm dreading it. 4 pcrs each to do. Travel rules constantly changing. My anxiety is through the roof

I'm going to do an Xmas food shop on the 17th I'm case it all goes tits up. I hate all this not knowing I genuinely don't think I can take another year.

I know we should "suck it up" but never having anything to even focus on or look forward to is just utter and pure misery. Life is for living and I'm sick to death of constant bad news about covid etc

I really feel for you op and I feel exactly the same

@grapewine how could anyone feel better in a world where such suffering exists?

Sigh. Some people on here are relentlessly shitty. It’s quite tiring to read.

I’m with you. I don’t know how anxious people are coping as I’m not naturally anxious and I’m struggling. We travel on 18th to see family in USA (moved from summer 2020) and planning it is a nightmare. My head is frazzled. We just booked the tests and the company actually has a Clause that they will refund any unneeded tests if rules change but we’re £500 worse off. People who don’t have family overseas aren’t very sympathetic I’ve found so I can’t even talk about it.

I think YABU - it was pretty obvious that there would be an increase in restrictions come winter, it has been on the cards ever since lockdown ended. Everyone who made plans to travel should have known that there was a realistic chance of disruption. The disruption so far is a lot milder than I expected, if anything. I wouldn't make any travel plans for the foreseeable future, certainly not to travel abroad over the next few years - if you do, they may not come to fruition.

@Prettyplac3

Good idea, on a good note I'm able to cancel my AL at work should the worst happen.

I'm putting my decs up incase we are here for Xmas and having lots of clear outs ready for the new year. Bring on the longer days of day light again too. Deffo helps the mood xx

I do agree that the only way to manage is to make every outcome not a disaster, eg having food in the freezer for Xmas just in case, taking out insurance where you can / need to, having some fun things to do at home etc

I agree it’s awful though, and as it goes on and on our resilience is depleted

We have decorations up and I’ll panic buy food (some kind of roast) if we don’t manage to fly.

I’ve idea what we should suck up seeing family and wait only works if the family isn’t recovering from major heart surgery/elderly and may not be able to wait.

YANBU it may be first world problems to some, but everything is relative.

I need things to look forward to to make me an effective worker, my work ethic has gone somewhat out the window lately as we face the prospect of a second Christmas alone. Without things on the horizon I get gloomy, can't focus and waste time.

From reading MN it's clear that some people really just like staying at home and only speaking to their partners/families or being alone. That's fine. And some people have all their family and loved ones close, that's great too. But for those who AREN'T like that (probably most of us) it's about 2 years of grim anxiety and being kept away from the things we love. I went to an occasion this week and saw several people I hadn't seen for two years, it was lovely but we didn't know whether it was happening til the day before, and those people feel half strangers to me now from being quite close pre-pandemic.

So in short OP YANBU it's stressful and honestly I don't think some people can remember how they felt before their stomachs were in knots. I'm getting that way.

@morningstarling you are certainly right re; not being able to travel but at the same time, countries are opening up ready for tourism, then shutting again. Completely dangling the carrot for family members desperate to see other family.

It's heartbreaking.

Yanbu. I'm due to go home (UK) in 2 weeks for the first time in 2 and a half years. Im feeling so down and on edge that we might not make it. We have our pre-departure test booked, we have our PCRs booked on day 2, just hoping we'll get across and the thought we might not is getting me down. I want to see my family.

Keeping fingers crossed for us all

I wouldn't make any travel plans for the foreseeable future, certainly not to travel abroad over the next few years - if you do, they may not come to fruition."

Obviously that's viable if it's just for a holiday etc but I do wonder whether people who give out advice like this fail to realise they're saying to some "I'd just plan not to see your beloved parent/grandparent for the rest of their life". Most people aren't going to want to do that for the sake of avoiding stress, rather than because it's absolutely impossible etc.

Do your food shop and take any other precautionary measures you want. Well done for decorating for Christmas even though you might be away. I hope you get to your destination and enjoy yourselves.

@FoxgloveSummers yep and sadly we don't have Nostradamus skills or talents of predicting the future. Sadly 2.5 years ago pre-covid how were we to know this would happen and seeing family again maybe out if the question? Xx

The day after NZ announced it was looking at opening up its borders in the New Year, the Ormicon variant was announced. We could have cried. Next year it will have been four years since we were home.

We had our holiday cancelled on the 22/12 one year OP, still managed to get everything we needed for Christmas. fingers crossed for you.

@mbosnz I can't think to imagine what you are going through. Praying you get home to see family and friends soon xx

I wouldn't make any travel plans for the foreseeable future, certainly not to travel abroad over the next few years - if you do, they may not come to fruition."

Why the hell shouldn't we be able to make travel plans?! I have two holidays booked for 2022 and I fully intend to get away if I can. God it's a miserable life if you can't have holidays to look forward to.

Some of us had a thread on living through the pandemic with family abroad earlier this year. Perhaps we need another one as some of the attitudes on this thread are bizarre at best. It is very hard to not see family for over 2 years.

I sympathise, OP. I was in this situation 2 months ago. I coped by being fiendishly organised ( didn't have 4 people travelling though,just me). Made a massive checklist of everything that needed to be done and drove everyone mad by checking it at least ten times. I made it in the end. I hope you do, but it would be wise to stock Xmas food.

TBH, I think the media are loving talking this into a doom-fest.

I absolutely understand that people are disappointed because of travel rules and changes etc, but I do feel they need to happen at this point because of the uncertainty. The government are really damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Because if they did nothing and omicron turned out to be lethal then it would be too little too late, and now that they’ve acted quickly it leads to disappointment on a different level.

But the truth is that omicron is still the unknown. There is as yet no evidence that it is vaccine resistant, or more deadly, in fact evidence thus far is that this particular mutation has damaged the virus and weakened it and that this could in fact be the beginning of the end. We’ve had only 165 cases in the UK so far, in a population of 60 million people, and while of course omicron could become the most prevalent strain, it equally might not. Only time is going to tell.

But the media are all out there working on their panic-grabbing headlines “expert says the next pandemic could be more deadly,” well, it could, but it could also be in 150 years time, but let’s not let that possibility stand in the way of a good bit of panic-mongering on the part of the press.

I’m sorry for anyone whose travel plans have now been altered, and hope that this time next year things will be more normal and less stressful.

In the meantime I would stay away from the press, and as much away from COVID talk as possible, and do hide that ghastly COVID topic….

PS: a good anagram of omicron is moronic.

It’s awful when you can’t see family. I think we’ll be postponing our new year holiday and while I’m slightly disappointed it’s really nothing given everything that’s going on. But my db is supposed to be home this Christmas for the first time in 3 years and I’m very much hoping that he can still make it. My dm would be heartbroken if not.

@HeartsAndClubs thank you xx

Yanbu and it isn't just 1st world problems. We spent the best part of 2 years hardly seeing my parents due to shielding and my dad died of non covid related issues recently. We all feel absolutely robbed. Time with loved ones is precious and not knowing when or even if you will see them again is horrible

I think YABU - it was pretty obvious that there would be an increase in restrictions come winter, it has been on the cards ever since lockdown ended. Everyone who made plans to travel should have known that there was a realistic chance of disruption

Seems unfair given that without Omicron travel would have been okay.

YANBU OP and I worry about how all of this is impacting on peoples MH. The fact the Government seems untrustworthy really doesn't help imo and the terrible leadership adds to the stress.