AIBU to ask whether you have cancelled or postponed travel/holiday due to Coronavirus

[croon979]

Up until this weekend I was relatively relaxed about Coronavirus. However, I was due to go to Dublin with work this week for a conference and my organization (global business) has temporarily banned attendance at conferences and all non- essential business travel due to Coronavirus.

It has caused me to read up a bit more about it and I am feeling a bit more anxious about it all. I am a chronic asthmatic very prone to chest infections which usually result in one hospital visit a year.

I am meant to be going to Lanzarote with my family including mum, brother, my husband and children for holiday in early April, a little over a month away. I see there is now a confirmed case in Tenerife!

I mentioned to my family that we may need to keep an eye on it and could need to cancel postpone if things escalate. Most thought this was an overreaction. Maybe it is. I wasn’t saying we definitely should but just wanted to put on their radar that we may need to.

Has anyone else postponed travel or holiday plans in light of this virus?

Just got back from a 4 day visit to Spain. Never considered cancelling at all. Would only cancel if the government told me not to go.

We are going to Florida in 10 weeks, hoping it's all calmed down by then.

We're travelling to Australia via Singapore early April - will go as long as BA do!

Warning re. insurance though.
DD had a trip planned to go on a tour of the Philippines - her flight was via Hong Kong. The President of the Philippines has banned travellers from China, HK and Macau, meaning that she can't take the trip.
Her insurer - AXA - won't refund the money, as on the foreign office website they are happy for people to travel to the Philippines. The fact that the President would stop her entering is irrelevant to AXA! I do wish that these big companies could think outside the box occasionally, and try to look at the full picture.

I'm certainly holding off booking. I take an immunosuppressant so don't want to take any chances.

Luckily we have the scope to book at short notice / aren't set on a destination / can go anytime between May - Oct.

Just come back from Florence and Pisa. We are planning a German tour of Saxony and Bavaria in April. My main concern is that they shut borders down but still intending on going.

My OH was going go he attending an international scientific conference in India next week.

The conference has been postponed as India has refused visas for anyone from China or who has recently travelled to China.

I am hearing of more and more conferences being postponed

I suppose no organization wants to be headline news for spreading the virus!

I'm not particularly worried about catching it but I wouldn't want to pass it on to anyone vulnerable and I think there's a good chance that an airport would have infected people passing through so best avoided really.

How hot does it have to get to kill the virus? It's already thriving in some pretty warm places isn't it? The UK is unlikely to top temperatures in Italy, Lanzarote and Africa.

We are delaying ours, more due to the issue of being stuck, kids were going to stay with grandparents and we may not get back for them and school which my parents couldn't do due to where they live and my mum can't manage stairs in our house so can't come here. Gutted but it is what it is and no doubt we'll find a county pub that weekend to have some us time. Those poor people stuck in tenerife fills me with horror

It's not necessarily the heat but UV levels that will be key in killing it off

Im not sure that will be the case. Its thriving in Iran

I worry about getting stuck too and not sure travel insurance covers another flight back if caught in a lockdown somewhere or refused a flight as you have a temperature.

Well two other colleagues have also postponed their European holidays which were meant to be over Easter (Italy and Germany). More and more seem to be thinking long and hard about it all

The UV levels are still quite low in Iran at the moment. It is February

I've cancelled flights to China but am going to Greece next week, not too bothered personally unless it's an area where it's confirmed and widespread

I think the insurers are being typically shit.
Advice is to self quarantine if you fly back from any affected areas.
But not, don't go in the first place. Without the home office advising people not to go, the insurers won't pay out for cancellation, rebook or transfer.
Some responsible airlines are allowing you to do this but many are not.
So pop to venice for a week, not see any key visitor destinations, then spend two more weeks at home.
It's pants.

Im cancelling northern Italy weekend as it was near Milan with a 2yo who tends to get fever every few weeks. It’s not worth the stress and worry

I’ve Japan booked in November and hope by then it’s died down the virus

My DH is currently in Amsterdam with work, he phoned me today to say he’s been sat in a meeting all day with a guy who just flew in from Hong Kong. It makes me worried as FIL is nearly 90 and lives nearby and we have DCs. Am due to go to Barcelona in May, it’s now making me nervous. SIL is due to go on a cruise from Dubai in a couple of weeks. I think if I were her I would cancel as the thought of being stuck on a cruise ship in quarantine is scary.

I'm meant to be flying to Australia via Hong Kong in 3 weeks, I don't know what to do

Cases confirmed in the hospital 5 minutes away from my house. They have received many quarantined patients over the past few weeks. I saw the news that some were confirmed just after travelling to London and spending the evening backstage after a show with the very high profile band. I'm now home and don't feel worried in the slightest. The panic in the media is uncalled for.

Having been stuck in Gran Canaria when the volcano went up so flights were cancelled for days. Then being stuck again in Gibraltar when Monarch went bust. I would happily cancel the holiday and lose the money. Being stuck somewhere you no longer want to be, not knowing when you can go home is hell.

My mum was due to go on a cruise next month, but the cruise company have cancelled it and refunded them. She’s v relieved, as she’s 70 and her partner 71, and they’d begun stressing about going.

We're booked for Northern Italy at the end of May.
The situation will either be done and dusted and we'll go as arranged or the whole of Europe will be plague ridden and no one will be allowed to travel anywhere and we'll get refunded.

Not a great deal anyone can do about it anyway really is there?

@Dowser - it wasn’t AnyFucker stuck in Lanzarote it was me - got home at 4 am today finally - shattered but good to be back. The air in Lanzarote was clearer by the time we left , wind had dropped. I’m sure it’ll be fine and clear for your holiday.