Am I mad to book a UK break in July

[ivegotdreadfulpmttoday]

I was meant to be going to Spain in July - now thinking of booking a UK break if only to have a different four walls and view.

Am I mad?

I think so. Sorry

I think it’s risky. I have a holiday booked for October and I am now in serious doubt over that (have been fairly positive till this last week) I do understand that technically a self catered AirBnB house in theory isn’t an issue, especially if you can get a food delivery and just want a different view. But I think July you will just end up throwing your money away.

I know what you mean though. Just a break from my own home would be lovely! See how July unfolds and go with the flow from there. May be able to get something in.

No I think it will be fine. As long as you're okay with pubs and restaurants not being open.

I'm desperate to see family even from afar and am thinking of booking an Airbnb for August where they are. We would drive, take food and get deliveries and be no problem to the locals. Or I'm hoping to book camping locally- good for social distancing. Again taking food to cook and supplies so wouldn't really have to go near anyone else.

If you are booking self-contained accommodation, I guess it's possible it might be allowed by July. Scotland and Wales are (rightly in my opinion) much more cautious of lifting lockdown, so my guess would be rules might be relaxed in England first.

Completely

I agree that self catered accommodation might be ok. It's still a risk though so I'd only book of I was willing to risk it being cancelled.

I wonder whether the German idea of immunity passports might be worth revisiting now that we apparently have accurate antibody tests?

I'd hold off on booking anything for the time being, but I don't think it's mad/ impossible, as they're hoping to begin re-opening hotels in July, so I would have thought self-catered accommodation might be OK.

@girlofthenorth I'm hoping to book camping locally- good for social distancing
How is camping good for social distancing? Children playing out together, shared showers, loos and washing up sinks?! Unless you're taking go your own caravan and not venturing outside of it.

I've just had my UK holiday at end of June cancelled so I wouldn't bother if I was you.

Agreed Spider. We have a camping trip planned to France in August but due to the very nature of camping we are pretty sure it’s not going to happen this year. Shared sanitary and kitchen facilities, playgrounds, bars, etc do not make for social distancing!
Air Bnb is more likely to work out but who knows what the rules are going to be..

We have a caravan on site, they are anticipating opening in July but who knows !

And that keeps changing.

If you can book something with a cancelleble rate I'd go for it.

With another 2 weeks of lockdown and then strict measures for June, the virus will be almost erradicated by July. It won't ever be erradicated, but it will be down to very low numbers.

I would check your insurance or credit card terms to make sure you don't loose out financially if it gets cancelled. Some places will re-book you for another date if travel restrictions aren't lifted.

I have written off our UK summer holiday in July although it isn't officially cancelled yet. Instead we have booked a Christmas break but deliberately put it on the Amex so we know we will get the money back if it doesn't go ahead.

I would be wary as a fair few UK based operators aren't offering refunds without a fight - just rescheduling or vouchers.

If its not something you'd be likely to reschedule, you may end up losing money.

For what it's worth, I think that self catering is more likely than not to be open in July - but maybe only just!

I've seen some glamping sites offering very generous cancellation policies - book now for any time in 2020, cancel at any point for any reason for a full refund. As long as you don't expect to actually do much apart from long walks, playing outside, etc, and can cancel easily if more restrictions are in place, it's not necessarily a bad idea.

We have written of the summer holidays and booked a Christmas holiday away instead.

@ivegotdreadfulpmttoday I think it depends who you book through. For holiday cottages, I know cottages.com is only allowing vouchers if you aren’t allowed to travel. Totally PITA. I have a holiday cottage and anyone who booked via HomeAway and AirBnB and Booking.com prior to lockdown and was unable to travel could cancel without penalty so that’s really good - I don’t know if this has changed now though because you are making the booking in lockdown - needs to be checked. For my customers booking directly fortunately nobody has actually asked for a refund they have all wanted to move their booking to a different date next year etc but if booking directly with someone just check before you do what owners policies are. I would be happy to offer refunds if someone couldn’t / didn’t want to move to move their booking to different dates but as this is so unprecedented everyone’s views are different. The opening of holiday accommodation is in the final phase of the governments plan and as long as we are on track / no second lockdown etc should be sometime in July but who knows when. I’m hoping by the end of July we should be able to reopen.

@bananaskinsnomnom I think your October booking will be absolutely fine.

If you can get fully cancellable, then worth going for it. I think/hope that self catering is more likely to be available, rather than hotels. We have a house booked in Ludlow third week of July with SIL and family- I really hope we can go, but if not we didn't pay a deposit as we have been there before.

We've also moved an Easter booking to October half term in the Lake District. I'll be gutted if the summer one and that one don't happen. I know holidays are a frivolous non-necessity but actually it's more about spending time with the wider family and having a change of scene. I honestly wouldn't care if all the restaurants and attractions were closed. We usually do mostly walking anyway.

I had an email from haven saying our July holiday with be greatly affected. There'll be nothing open apart from the shop and launderette.

We are due to go at the end of July. Park is currently closed until 5th July so not looking likely.

If it is open we might end up losing the holiday as we are due to be going with family, if we can’t see family by then we won’t be able to share holiday with them.

We are relying on test, track and trace, but realistically that is going to be impossible with the amount of movement people want to do.

How enjoyable is any holiday going to be, even going for all day outings means that you'll have to go the toilet outside, ir queue for a long time to get into a supermarket etc.

Areas that haven't got high rates of infection will get them.