Holidays - will you be booking one?

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

Just wondering what people are intending to do about holidays. When the government announce the air bridges/travel corridors will you be booking a holiday?
Do you think it is wise?

Cases of covid 19 arereally low where I live in Scotland, I know people really want a holiday but it feels like all the time spent lowering transmission, then for folk to travel, will mean schools not reopening full time in August. It's hard because I own a cottage which is a big part of my income normally but its just all a bit shit and there are no good options.

I'm desperate for a holiday - thinking somewhere in the UK, but I'm worried about hostility from local people not wanting us there.

I had got very excited that Jersey is reopening its borders next weekend to tourists and was planning a trip during July. But they are testing on arrival and you have to self-isolate until you have the result which I suppose is ok if you are going for two weeks but we were planning maybe 4 nights so don't want to spend the first 24 hours in a hotel room. And they also test you again at 4 and 7 days, so it would be very disruptive. It's fair enough they've only got one active case I think, so they're obviously going to be careful but not so great for short holidays.

So I think it is better for us to wait. Perhaps procedures will have eased some more by August (though the weather may not be so great by then).

We are currently booked to go long haul in October. We go away the same 2 weeks of the year due to a painful family anniversary and we fully intend to still go.

Although it looks unlikely that TUI are going to be flying to our destination so we are planning to call and amend to an alternate destination next week. Still long haul but to a destination they are taking bookings for and a hotel we have previously stayed in where we know they will be taking proper precautions and we would feel secure.

Unless there is a complete travel ban in October we will be going away, even if we have to isolate upon returning.

By god it’s tempting but no. I can feel my nerves vibrating at the thought of getting on a plane. We may do a simple short U.K. beach break at some point but we’ve pretty much written this year off in terms of luxuries like holidays or entertainment trips that aren’t outdoors. It’s grim but it really isn’t forever.

Every time I think I’ve reconciled the thought though there’s a pang when I see reports like this.

Staying in the U.K. hoping for a short break in the lakes end of July. Will see what happens for our sept break but it won't be abroad. I'm not confident cases won't rise and countries close borders. Also the thought of being on a plane ... no thanks!

We didn't get the insurance at the time : we always do it separately but all reports suggest they wouldn't cover it anyway.

OP, some companies may be easier but ours do not answer phone or reply to emails! Ideally, yes, we'd move it to next year.

Maybe.
A short haul flight with masks and no in flight service doesn’t scare me too much.
There’s no way I would stay in a hotel though because of the multiple routes of potential transmission.

We have rescheduled for next year (Southern Spain). As much as I would love to go i just don't trust systems to be organised in time and for the attractions we want to go to to be fully open. I want procedures at the airport to be well established and have a bit of confidence how it will all work. Queuing and distancing is becoming second nature now but I would feel nervous about different rules and wouldn't be able to relax. I don't feel relaxed walking around my own home town at the moment so probably just not ready in myself yet.

Yep. Booking for late July/early August to France or Portugal (if the latter is on the air-bridge list!). Will stay in a villa and keep ourselves to ourselves (which is what we usually do anyway!). Also booking for a Europe city break with friends for the beginning of October.

DH's job means that if we don't go this summer, we won't have another chance for ages.

We've moved our Spanish holiday in August to next summer. Will hopefully be booking a week in Cornwall but won't book until about a week before we want to go in case Cornwall locksdown again.

Yep, I've got two in the uk booked and if things go ok for the next month I'll book abroad for October.

Booked France from 9 July, going in our camper van and expecting availability etc to be much better there than it currently is in the UK.

Have already had one booked for the last year so if it's on then we will have to go as just cancelling ourselves because we don't fancy going means we can kiss goodbye to a few thousand 😐 Currently thinking our destination is going to be on the red section of the Governments traffic light system though. ...

Tbh I can cope with wearing masks on the plane and in shops and restaurants. I see so many people complaining they don't want to do this. The fact we're practically the only country not enforcing mask wearing speaks volumes.

self catering in sicily on the seafront, short flight and sicily seem to have everything sewn up, also european medical cards will cover covid, inhalers can be purchased over the counter too. I moved the flights from october to september to attempt to avoid the possible second wave when the weather changes.

Piggywaspushed that's a shame. Don't give up maybe time to turn up the heat on the company then.

I am sure there is advice out there on how to do that in a polite assertive way.

Even with a penalty, it seems it would be worth it as you have DH at risk and you don't feel comfortable.

The fact we're practically the only country not enforcing mask wearing speaks volumes

Well it might, if it were true. But it is not true.

SorrelForbes Partyforone and any others out there looking at Spain or Portugal - do you book places with a private pool? Thats the only way I could see it working for us and even then I am not too sure about the whole thing.....

I'm just a bit sceptical as to why they are putting in the air bridges in place for holiday travel when we have only just been allowed to have 'non essential' shops open and not even pubs or restaurants as yet..... It just feels like we're not out of the 'danger zone' here yet.

No. We’re doing up the garden with the idea that we will be spending much more time sitting in it.

As much as I would love a holiday abroad, either this year or next, we won't be going anywhere. Before all this kicked off I'd just booked Zante for next year but as things progressed and the travel industry was hit I cancelled as I couldn't afford to risk losing money and I hadn't bought travel insurance at the time to maybe cover any cancellations. We won't be holidaying in this country either as we are keeping away from others as much as possible.

I have a holiday to Majorca in August, booked before this, intend on going if it’s going ahead.
Also have a holiday to NZ and Fiji in Nov but no way will they let us in so need to ask the travel agent if we can change destination before paying the balance as it’s a lot of money to pay for uncertainty.

We didn't get the insurance at the time : we always do it separately but all reports suggest they wouldn't cover it anyway.
If you'd paid for insurance when you booked the holiday then the policy would have covered covid cancellations (presuming holiday booked before March?). They can't change their contract with you once it's in place. Always book insurance at the same time for this reason.

... our Saga policy coughed up for a staycation cancellation

icedpurple I know it's not true of every country, but there are plenty of countries where not wearing a mask literally means you won't be allowed in, shops, restaurants, public transport etc. Over here we've never been encouraged to wear them. I'm not saying they're foolproof, but they will certainly help.

I know it's not true of every country

You said practically every other country, which means almost every other country. That is quite simply false.

Over here we've never been encouraged to wear them

Not sure what you mean by 'over here' but masks are now mandatory on all public transport in England.