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Original poster

Who else lives away from their family?

40 replies

Thewheelsonthebus23 · 23/05/2020 14:31

I live 4 hours drive away from my parents, brother and extended family. My in laws live just around the corner.
We’ve seen them for socially distant walks. However I have no idea when I’ll see my own parents again and therefore when they’ll see my DS again. It’s really making me sad, because I feel like even when they do lift restrictions on seeing family in their own home or yours, you won’t be able to stay overnight. I doubt B&Bs etc will be open by then either. Then I fear with lifting restrictions there will be another spike and it’ll be lockdown again, before I get a chance to see them.

I know there will be some on here with family abroad too.

OP posts:
SnuggyBuggy · 23/05/2020 14:34

This is upsetting me a lot too. We may well end up breaking the rules.

MooseBeTimeForSummer · 23/05/2020 14:51

We’re in Canada. My sister and my MIL are in the UK. My lovely MIL was due to visit in July for a week or so. Flights are restarting but she’d have to quarantine 14 days on arriving here and then 14 days when she got back.

eilvyre · 23/05/2020 15:01

We are in the same boat with both my parents and my in laws don't live anywhere near us!

I miss our families terribly and I know they're all desperate to see DD again. I have everything crossed we will be able to see them soon Thanks

DramaAlpaca · 23/05/2020 15:04

I'm in Ireland and my elderly parents are in the UK. I don't know when it'll be safe to see them again, they live in a badly affected area. Fortunately they are reasonably fit and healthy.

RainbowCookie · 23/05/2020 15:07

In an 11 hour flight away from my Mum, we are not expecting our peak of cases until around September so I doubt I will see her for over a year now.
1 of the 3 airlines flying the route has gone bust already and the other 2 don’t look much better.

alphabetspagetti · 23/05/2020 15:07

We're 5 hrs from my parents and 4hrs from the in laws. My brother is 3hrs away in another direction!
Given the distances, we don't see each other that often and fortunately had seen everyone in early March but we would have seen everyone again by now and I hate the fact that I don't know when I'll see them again.

ProfYaffle · 23/05/2020 15:09

I'm a 4hr drive from my parents too. Apparently it's OK to drive it if you need child care though ......

Hmm
AlandAnna · 23/05/2020 15:15

Same. 4 hours away for me and worse for my husband whose parents are a 12 hour flight away. No idea when we can see them if we listen to the government. But they just lost all credibility so Hmm

Wouldn’t have dreamt of breaking lockdown to be near them when we have Covid symptoms though. Mind you, I had friends to help.

ladycatlin · 23/05/2020 15:15

Very lucky to be near DH’s family but all of my family are in America. We were all going to fly to Florida and see them in April but now I’m not sure it will happen at all this year. I’ve missed them immensely in lockdown Sad I feel fortunate that my son was born last year and my family could come see him and attend his christening though

thesnoopdragon · 23/05/2020 15:30

I live in France.
Son and his partner in the UK
Daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in Germany
MIL in UK
Brother and family in UK

Hopeful about seeing the German contingent over the summer, but the ridiculous quarantine rule for the UK will make the rest impossible.

We are just emerging from a pretty strict lockdown. Our department has a population of just over 250 000. There have been 5 deaths since February. There are 6 people currently in hospital with the virus.

mindutopia · 23/05/2020 16:19

ILs live 1.5 hours away and my family lives abroad. I'm not particularly sad to not see other of them for quite awhile, but I do have a lovely BIL and it would be nice to see him in the next few months (he's about 6 hours away).

Duggeehugs82 · 23/05/2020 16:22

We live hour and half away from family, everyone around us have seen their parents as live local my girls r small so not able to do social distancing and would love a break , my 3 yr has autism and full on , really want to know when we can get break going into week 10!

IgnoranceIsStrength · 23/05/2020 16:24

4 hours as well for us and it is steadily killing me. We usually meet up every 6 weeks or so but haven't seen my parents now since Christmas. I am finding it really hard as I can't see an end in sight either

wherethewavesarehighest · 23/05/2020 16:28

Mine live 3 hours away. It's getting quite hard now I must admit. I'm feeling quite jealous of my sibling who will get to see them first Blush

Pipandmum · 23/05/2020 16:44

My parents have passed away but I live in a different country from where they did and also from my sisters and niece. In laws about 70 miles away, and some extended family about 120 miles away.

As I don't see any of them on a regular basis I don't miss them.

elp30 · 23/05/2020 16:46

I'm in the US and I live with my husband and adult children.

My nearest relatives reside in my hometown and that is 750 miles away.
My only sibling lives in another state and is 1500 miles away with her daughter. My nephews live 4200 miles away in Alaska.
My husband is English so all his family are in England.

I'm in a position where both my parents are deceased but my husband is so desperately sad. His mother is ill and we don't know when he or our children will get to see her again. He was due to fly out in a few weeks but now we don't know.

We've been talking about returning to England "sometime in the future".
I'm thinking it's going to have to be done as soon as possible.

Living far from family is a bit shit, to be honest.

girlicorne · 23/05/2020 16:58

My mum is 160 miles away, it’s shit. In laws are around the corner but are shielding so we don’t see them either. They aren’t bothered so we aren’t either, I really really miss my mum though. My cousin is the other family member I am closest to and she is also 160 miles away but in the other direction, we had lots of plans this year but so many cancelled already, I don’t know when I ll see either of them, it is very hard.

Emmacb82 · 23/05/2020 16:59

I’m a 3 hour drive away from my parents and one of my sisters. I’ve got a 3 week old baby they’ve never met and have no idea when they will 🙁
I know people have it lots worse and shouldn’t complain as we are all safe and healthy but can’t help feeling down about it and no end in sight

Cornettoninja · 23/05/2020 17:04

We’re about a 3 hour drive from the majority of our families and a two hour drive from others. We considered meeting up a point half wayish but we’ve a 4yo and frankly it’s cruel to take her to see people for such a short time that she can’t go near and then stick her back in the car for another journey.

We’ve also been working as normal and using childcare throughout lockdown so I am concerned the chances of us passing something on are slightly higher than if we’d been at home.

Original poster
Thewheelsonthebus23 · 23/05/2020 18:46

Thanks everyone, I’m glad (well obviously not glad) that there are others in the same boat.
We also think we already had it just before lockdown, but haven’t had a test to be sure. Hope to get antibody testing eventually.

OP posts:
Mcmole · 23/05/2020 18:50

I'm 500 miles from mine. Obviously we don't get together that much, due to the distance, but they would visit us several times a year and we'd meet for holidays and now I'm really anxious when we're next going to be able to see them. They are both 70+ too. Like others have said we've had to cancel our plans this year and it's been making me really miserable this weekend.

Original poster
Thewheelsonthebus23 · 23/05/2020 19:54

Thanks everyone, I’m glad (well obviously not glad) that there are others in the same boat.
We also think we already had it just before lockdown, but haven’t had a test to be sure. Hope to get antibody testing eventually.

OP posts:
Original poster
Thewheelsonthebus23 · 23/05/2020 19:56

We were also all supposed to be going on holiday together at the end of July, but no idea if that’ll still go ahead. (UK holiday)

OP posts:
Mangofandangoo · 23/05/2020 20:01

MIL lives in Spain, we usually see her in the U.K. several times in the year and we visit her also.

We haven't all been together since Christmas. DH is handling it very well as if it were my mum I'd be a mess

Spoons1988 · 23/05/2020 20:05

It’s so so hard. I think we’re edging closer to breaking the rules purely because it’s taking a huge toll on mental health. My family live 4 hours away but we’d always go and stay for a long weekend every 4-6 weeks. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was other social distraction, but it’s just this daily emptiness I wake up with that is making me go a bit crazy. It’s not helping seeing people with family nearby meeting for walks or garden parties. I’ve also been very surprised to not see a sharp rise in cases since the VE weekend, and I think that’s giving me a (perhaps false) sense of security.