Oh bollocks, I'm really nervous about my holiday now!

[stopitkenneth]

We're due to head to a French campsite in four weeks (driving all the way). We've cancelled two holidays due to COVID, Malta at Easter and Mellorca now. We decided a couple of weeks ago that we'd try for France as quarantine had lifted and I was able to get comprehensive insurance.
But now I'm really worried about needing to quarantine when we get back!

I know, I know, booking anything now was optimistic and a bit stupid. But we really REALLY want to get away (I'm frontline NHS,I need a bloody holiday). And it's hard to see how rates in France could be worse than what we've got here.

At no point have my workplace says that we shouldn't be booking holidays abroad. So if I do have to quarantine on my return, then I'm hoping they'll either support me to work from home, or I'm happy to take the two weeks unpaid. I'm hoping that because I booked it during the time that there was no quarantine, they can't come down hard on me. But I'm now really worried.
Argh!

I’m surprised your NHS health board hasn’t provided advice. Ours has been clear for months that any foreign travel booked after 9 June means you are liable for any quarantine measures and you will not be allowed to work from home or use special leave so annual leave or unpaid leave only

This is a bragging post.

I'm also frontline staff and wouldn't dream of travelling for any distance anywhere.

We're ALL desperate for a holiday and expecting someone else to pick up the slack for you if quarantined is frankly disgusting.

You should know better.

Employment lawyer just been on news regarding this very thing. This is what she said...Employers do not have to pay you while in quarantine, .Statutory sick pay is not available to those in quarantine, employers can dismiss you if you can not go to work, if been working for under 2 years, you can be dismissed from your job with no employment rights or unfair dismissal rights.

@Barney60

Employment lawyer just been on news regarding this very thing. This is what she said...Employers do not have to pay you while in quarantine, .Statutory sick pay is not available to those in quarantine, employers can dismiss you if you can not go to work, if been working for under 2 years, you can be dismissed from your job with no employment rights or unfair dismissal rights.

Wow. I ❤️ Britain sometimes. That's brutal.

Technically your only bothered because if you come home and have to quarantine for 2 weeks then your only bothered if your going to be paid for it or not, which your not by the way, frontline staff or not.

Do a risk assessment and make a decision... if you go abroad expect to have to isolate on return. Uncertainty is all round us atm.

Equally holiday abroad and you could risk being isolated there due to localised lockdowns in France/Spain or wherever. You may have to cost in an extended stay.

Imo we all have to decide what risk we are willing to accept and take into consideration the worst possible scenario. Any travel overseas is a risk atm and many countries consider Brits a risk to them..

But don't expect the British public to cover repatriation costs or cover loss of earnings for two weeks isolation on return.
East Anglia is lovely....

@Barney60 So what happens if you have to go into quarantine through track & test, or there is a local lockdown in your town and you work in a different region?

As with other pronouncements it is utterly unenforceable. Gov totally on side of unscrupulous business owners.

@FelicisNox

This is a bragging post.

I'm also frontline staff and wouldn't dream of travelling for any distance anywhere.

We're ALL desperate for a holiday and expecting someone else to pick up the slack for you if quarantined is frankly disgusting.

You should know better.

Hear hear! We all need to consider the outcomes three months hence when the flu season starts to pressurise the NHS with the added pressures of potential Covid increases. Please let's all consider our actions carefully.

shortsaint, Ive no idea tbh, my ears pricked up as id just read this post. Suppose its down to each employer, i suppose lawyer quoted worst case scenario.

Apparently there is an exception clause for registered health workers (I.e: doctors, nurses, AHPs). Good luck.

@sona2025 yes, there are exemptions for front line workers.
Understand the frustration OP, we cancelled France and were due to go same dates as you. Couldn't be doing with the cab we go can't we go, quarantine or not. I am front line too and would love to get away from it all but I don't think you can get away, reminders are everywhere. Also if quarantine introduced, kids can't go to school and they really need to go back if they can

Holiday in the UK. Don't go abroad.

To all the posters saying no one should be travelling, I really don't see why driving to France via the Eurotunnel and staying in a low Covid area in self catering accommodation is any worse that driving to the Lakes or Cornwall etc.
Saying it was the skiers who brought it here in Feb ( and they certainly weren't responsible for the all the uk cases) and therefore travel should be banned is completely oversimplifying it. No one properly understood the virus then and we are now behaving in a different way.

I’ve been driving through France last week- we stopped twice, once for lunch (food brought from home) and once for the loo. Everybody seemed to be extremely respectful of rules, even young kids had face masks, the route through the services had one way we’ll marked and hand sanitiser in multiple locations. It felt very orderly and very organised. In comparison, Switzerland was a jungle ;-)
I honestly think taking a break is not synonym with taking different risks at home. There are probably less people with masks and keeping distances where I live in England than where I am now.

Flew out from London Stanstead on Saturday to SW France for two weeks on Ryan Air. FCO advice was we could go, so we did.

Airport experience was fantastic and really super quick at both ends. No issues with people not wearing masks. Lots of hand gel. Everyone on the plane with masks. Plane toilets use by buzzer only (not that we needed them).

Picked up sanitised hire car when landed. Supermarket shopping experience in France better than UK. Everyone masked up including very young kids (And none of this not covering your nose with your mask stupidity that I have seen in the uk) and trolleys being sprayed.

Booked into a cottage, don’t care if we we don’t go out (other than to supermarket), just grateful to be here.

COVID is going to be an issue into next year. As long everyone follows the FCO and hygiene rules, and you have plenty of hand gel can’t see the issue.

We are in the middle of nowhere enjoying a holiday. Save for the
supermarket shop and our return flight we are basically self isolating but in France.

@NotAJammyDodger if you think that a regular mask and hand gel will reliably protect you from coronavirus on a plane, and moving through the various parts of an airport etc., then you are deluding yourself.

As opposed to going to a supermarket then. Which is cleaned how often versus a plane being wiped down after every flight. Ooh all those shelves and things people touch.

@NotAJammyDodger sounds lovely, but also, you are kidding yourself a bit there

@NotAJammyDodger I don't think supermarkets are particularly safe either. I've not been in one for a long time. However, touching something will not automatically give you coronavirus unless you then touch your mouth, nose or eyes without washing or sanitising.

The more people you come into close contact with the more likely you are to contract coronavirus, especially in a relatively small shared space like a plane, or an enormously busy place that processes lots of people like an airport. It's a simple case of statistics, plus being unable to keep a decent distance from other people.

If you feel confident that planes are safe and adequately cleaned then good for you, but I wouldn't feel this way.

You'll more than likely be lucky and be just fine. But it's not a risk that I'd be prepared to take right now. Airports and planes are risky as far as I'm concerned and I'm more than happy not to take that risk.

@Auckland11 I was quite clear in my OP that I would be happy to take unpaid leave if I had to quarantine so I'm not sure why you think I'd expect to be paid? If my trust allowed me to
work from home during that time (which is possible) then I would obviously expect to be paid.

OP I hope you manage to get away and have a lovely holiday.

There are some people who won't be happy unless everyone in the UK is isolating in their own homes. Unfortunately most of these people seem to be on MN at the moment .

My main worry wouldn't be quarantine, I think you have to accept the risk of that if you go abroad now. It would be the chance of getting stuck in a localised lock down, or worse, getting the virus and being stuck in a foreign country, with possibly inadequate or zero health insurance. One of my (idiot) cousins got stuck in Bali for a week before finding hugely expensive flights out, as he ignored advice to leave while he could. It was a very frightening and expensive lesson for him, as their insurance was invalidated by FCO advice, and he was terrified he would get sick.

Decision made for us tonight. We were all for booking a last minute to Turkey but honestly, I can't imagine getting all packed, kids in bed all excited then having to say "we're not going"

Why in earth should your employer need to point out what you should/shouldn’t do on your holiday? As an adult, you should be able to make reasoned decisions on your own and be responsible for your own actions. That includes knowing the government always said the travel bridges were subject to change We know the virus isn’t gone. We knew there’s always the chance of outbreaks and lock downs.

So if you choose to book a holiday, be it in UK or abroad, booked after March, you have to accept consequences.

Your employer should not have to deal with offering support to work from home. Your suggestion of two weeks unpaid is more valid. But you’re then also putting your employer and co-workers who have to cover for you in a difficult spot.

@alwayscrashinginthesamecar1

My main worry wouldn't be quarantine, I think you have to accept the risk of that if you go abroad now. It would be the chance of getting stuck in a localised lock down, or worse, getting the virus and being stuck in a foreign country, with possibly inadequate or zero health insurance. One of my (idiot) cousins got stuck in Bali for a week before finding hugely expensive flights out, as he ignored advice to leave while he could. It was a very frightening and expensive lesson for him, as their insurance was invalidated by FCO advice, and he was terrified he would get sick.

This.

Dh and I have been toying with the idea of booking a week.on Greece in September. We were thinking of booking the time off but waiting until the last minute to actually book something.

We would be fine if we suddenly had to quarantine on return. Both of us now wfh. However the idea of going and then finding that a local lockdown is imposed would be horrible - no cafes or restaurants, no beaches open etc.

I think at the moment, anyone going abroad has t be aware that things could change overnight and make their own risk assessments accordingly.