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?

Supposed to be going to Japan in April with DH & DD4, DS7. Pretty sure we'll cancel. More concerned about flights home being cancelled & getting stuck plus everything is closing over there. Our govt has activated it's pandemic plan (oz) so unsure what that means quarrantine-wise.

Insurance-wise..... We'll only get money back if our travel advisory changes to 'do not travel', which is unlikely. I think I might be able to change flights to a later date & will appeal to accommodation, by could be out of pocket up to 7k(£3500).

Those of you avoiding Italy,

I'm no expert but I would say it's inevitably going to reach almost every country in the world.

And - those of you avoiding Italy - you have to investigate what is behind the statistics. It said on the news yesterday that Italy has seemingly more cases because they are testing huge numbers of people, even those who are NOT presenting with symptoms. Is it therefore better to go to France (or stay in UK?) where people aren't being tested as much?

Hoping for a 14 day extension free of charge 😂

I'm currently in Vietnam and in the last 2 weeks have been in South Korea and Singapore, before leaving it never crossed my mind to cancel. Getting back to England with flights from South Korea might be an issue though..

I don’t understand why people seem so sure it will fizzle out in the heat when summer comes. There are cases in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia etc...

@Dennisreynoldsduster most people in these places has caught it from other infected countries tho. i think what people are saying is it may not spread so easily in the heat from person to person. obviously if someone is infected from say japan and go to Australia they are still going to be infected. its when they see wide spread person to person transmission in hot countries that i would be worried.

I'm about to book a blow out, family holiday to Australia. We've never done a big trip, and our eldest is leaving for uni soon - so, it's now or never.

I've noticed the cost of flights is coming down. Presumably there are a lot of people holding off spending their money.

One of our teens is immune compromised, I'm surprised at how torn I am about what to do. We have been saving up for this for years, it's all very exciting and very much longed for...but...

its when they see wide spread person to person transmission in hot countries that i would be worried.

what like in Iran?...

I certainly wouldn't book a holiday involving a flight this year now, but we are in the position where we have some trips already booked - including DSs school trip to Nice in May.

I'm due to go skiing to France mid March and I shall wait and see what happens. At the minute my thought is that I will go unless FCO advice is otherwise and I can get a refund, on the perhaps flawed thinking that if it was a genuine high risk then they would cancel flights. It does feel a bit as if the traveller is the one carrying the load here - if they're advised not to go, but not directly told, then insurance will not pay out. If they really want to stop the spread of this then they need to start banning a lot more travel pronto even though it will decimate the tourism and travel insurance industries.

We go away to Austria in July and have until the end of April to cancel and only lose our deposit after that it is a sliding scale of loss so will just see how it pans out. Insurance does not cover disinclination to travel

It said on the news yesterday that Italy has seemingly more cases because they are testing huge numbers of people

This isn't true - Italy has tested 9462 people. The UK has tested 7132 people. Italy has 655 cases as of last night, 56 of those are in a critical condition, 17 are dead.

What the news story actually was is that Italy is going to stop testing people unless they have symptoms. Previously they were testing known close contacts of those who had a positive test (ie friends and family) even if those contacts did not display symptoms.

This will be party due to availability of testing kits (and lab time) and partly I suspect a PR piece to slow the numbers down a bit.

Those who say they are still going to travel are surely also considering that in some parts of the world lots of places will be shut down?

I would not fly to anywhere currently, even if we had booked and paid for a trip

We are off to canaries next Tuesday. I'm def getting on the plane. They are more cases in the UK than in the canaries can see no reason not go. Also am not losing all the money we paid for a much needed holiday

I am due to go to Costa Adeje in five weeks time. As long as the flight is going, I’ll be on it.

I'm going to Italy in a few weeks (not in the cordoned off area) and still intend to go unless the foreign office tells me otherwise. There are many more deaths from seasonal flu than coronavirus, they just aren't reported.

I’m 17 weeks pregnant, we’d planned a break in May. Unless this all clears up miraculously we won’t be going anywhere: not because of risk of catching it (I work in central London and take the tube daily, if I’m getting it anywhere I’m getting it here) but because I don’t want to be in a foreign hospital while pregnant if I can at all avoid it, I know European hospitals are just as good if not better than UK ones but between the language barrier, getting home etc I just don’t think it worth it. We’ve got a few quid in a savings account, if it’s all ok come May we’ll book a last minute break, and if it’s still a problem we’ll pop it into baby savings and accept our child free holiday days are over for a bit!

have booked for naples in October hopefully will still be able to go

The thing is, It’s all very well saying “x country has less cases than the uk” etc but if people keep travelling that won’t be the case for long will it

We won’t be cancelling unless the FCO advice changes. Can’t afford to write off the cost.

DH due to go to a conference in Germany mid-April. When he told me 2 weeks ago that he’s not sure about booking his flights I thought he’s mad but now I think he’s just realistic.
We also decided to wait a bit with planning summer holidays as it usually involves visit to relatives in Europe. Tbh I wouldn’t mind staying at home at all I would consider this a proper holiday, it’s more about not seeing family.

I wonder if the Olympics in Japan in July will still go ahead

There is more panic on Mumsnet than anywhere else in the world.

HasaDigaEebowai

If that is true about testing in uk - and I am not disputing it as I am just reading the news like everyone else - aren't those figures out of date now? (Genuine question, not being snippy.)

It is saying in the Guardian today that the UK are preparing for a potential sudden increase in the spread of the coronavirus, with officials fearing it could take just 72 hours for an outbreak the size of Italy’s to take hold.

My (badly put) point was that nowhere really is safe because of the rapid spread.