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!

Enjoy your holiday OP. Dont worry about the jealousy on here!

Were off to the peak district in a couple of weeks from the South East. Driven to France loads of times and probably more risk in our drive than yours. And you'll probably have better SD locals at location than we do. Yet because were in the UK most on here consider that ok.

The virus is going nowhere fast. Sod hanging about wasting the next few years. Learn to live with it. If people want to hold themselves up indoors let them.

Enjoy your holiday!

Government have already said France cases are on the rise and its likely to impost the 14 day quarantine on return from France. It could happen before you go or while you are there. Is it worth the risk? We were going camping in France and cancelled b4 lockdown as, working in travel insurance we could see it coming after the Feb half term and yet people were still booking hols to Spain and Italy actually saying to us “no one is going to stop me.” Unfortunately this is the attitude of all those who have booked hols since Feb and are still going now, they are the spreaders. Camping hols sites in France have said restaurants closed and outside service only (queues will be huge) none of the usual facilities running as normal and limited access to tourists in the supermarkets as locals come first

@TatianaBis

I don’t see what the difference is between driving from Newcastle to Cornwall or driving from London to Burgundy. It’s roughly the same distance, same number of stops.

Much of this holier than thou holiday Puritanism is fear rather than virtue.

I don't think going abroad is as much of a problem if you're avoiding air travel and social distancing throughout.

But you're risking being quarantined either while you're there or when you come back, so make sure you have the resources to cover two weeks self quarantine if work won't cover it.

At least if people hadn't understood the risks before they absolutely should be aware now.

I'm sympathetic to people caught out but am surprised they weren't more risk adverse and foreseeing this all could happen. I'm afraid to even book within UK in case we get caught by test & trace, never mind chance of getting extra house arrest problems & rules by travelling abroad. Such a difficult year.

@pinkstripeycat french supermarkets are prioritising locals? Do they check your passport before they let you in? I've asked people on here before (who live there) what the supermarket situation is like and the feedback was really positive, no queues like here.

, 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”

Because if a lockdown is imposed on the French side of the border, you may not be able to access the tunnel.

I feel for you OP. Booked a holiday to Majorca back in November, with a plan to travel next month (so booked long before covid). Was told by the travel agent at the start of this month that holiday was to take place as planned, and to pay the final balance, which I did. I was planning to go and be sensible (I'm a nurse who has worked with covid patients so I was planning to go and adhere to all social distancing, mask wearing etc, which to be honest I've been told has been adhered to much better in Spain than in the UK anyway). Now it's against FO advice, even though Majorca has a lower covid rate than the UK. No idea if I will get our money back as I have a horrible feeling our travel agent are about to go bust (Travel Republic). Can't really go if quarantine rules still in as DD1 is due back at school a few days later, and my work are saying it would be unpaid which I can't afford.

There probably won't be a vaccine for a few years, so all those saying STAY at HOME! need to accept no travel agents, airlines, ferry companies, heathrow, gatwick etc all gone. millions work in these areas, huge number unemployed.... oh and because goods will have to now be bought in by dedicated planes and boats, prices will rise too.

Like it or not CV is here to stay, we need mitigating measures, such as mass testing, not hide away under the duvet.

Totally agree @jasjas1973. All those people snidely making comments about people going on holiday or out to lunch or to a theme park or a zoo etc during a pandemic need to bear in mind that all these industries will collapse if everyone doesn't visit them until the covid situation is under control, which is likely to take months or even years. The mass unemployment and economic effects of that are horrific.

Go on your holiday. We are abroad at the moment and it's amazing here in the Canary Islands. Not just 'selfish british' travellers - lots of families from all over Europe.
Mask wearing indoors all the time - very strictly enforced and no exceptions made here for individuals who can't cope with masks. Strict social distancing at other times. It's nothing like the photos you see in certain newspapers. The covid safety measures here put British measures to shame. It genuinely far cleaner and safer here. Also fewer cases here than in one caravan park in the UK. Government quarantine rules are a farce. We will need to quarantine when we return home but there's far more chance of us catching covid in our local Tesco's.

jasjas I think you are the only one that hasn't come to terms with the reality of this. The rest of us are busy booking UK holidays for next summer.
You can wish the virus away as much as you like, but the rest of us have a much more realistic handle on the situation. The solution is a long way off, and in the meantime we will have to deal with the economic fall out from the collapse of the travel industry. Lets hope many will get new jobs in the booming UK market instead, or will need to retrain.

kit Travelling overseas is NOT the same as going to a socially distanced zoo half an hour from home. The comparison in terms of risk is ridiculous.

@jasjas1973 I was having a conversation with a friend about this yesterday. If we knew for sure that things would be back to normal by say next summer, we'd be fine with forfeiting all plans in the interim, but nobody knows.
If it's going to continue for another year or more, then I'll grab what I can get when it's available. I won't break rules, but equally I feel this sacrificing yourself for the greater good is running out of steam for me, particularly as we think we have had it.

madbird

When you say rest of us I assume you mean aside from the millions that are still either travelling abroad this year or booking holidays for next year?

Also the risk isn't worse just because you travel further away. You think being half hour from home at a theme park in a place with more cases makes you safer than a drive to France staying in a place with less cases?

@PinkFondantFancy

Oh, didn't realise that hotels, bars and swimming pools are so different here. My bad.

Well the swimming pools and nightclubs are still closed so yes, they are different. You also don't need to spend several hours confined to a small tube with other passengers if you holiday in the UK.

madlady Actually, i think this virus is going to be around for many years and a vaccine won't be available for 2 possibly 3 years (if at all) due to regulatory approval and 2 or 3 years would unprecedented in terms of speed in bringing a brand new vaccine to the public.

Soooo... what to do? live our lives afraid, hide away, accept millions unemployed, no public services... schools closed, only the wealthy kids getting an education?
We need mass testing, local restrictions and bans on large gatherings such as a sport and nightclubs.
for overseas travel we need testing on departure, multiple tests on return & enforcement of quarantine.

The UK hasn't capacity for all of us to holiday at home, either in accommodation or transport and what happens when Cornwall or the Lakes has to be locked down because CV has been bought here from another part of the country and you have to isolate for 14 days after your week in Newquay?

Just wanted to pop on to say that we're currently on a eurocamp style site in the south of France.
Levels of panic MUCH less than in UK . No queues or security guards or arrows at the supermarket. People are wearing masks and keeping distance but the atmosphere is more like pre-covid than in the uk. Everyone is very chilled out and welcoming.
Everything is outside so tables set a metre plus apart , queues for the waterslides. Went to the beach and it was big enough that there was 2-3 m between each family.
Apart from masks in shops you forget about coronavirus.

And a return to near normality and some sunshine had a massive impact on how happy we all are!

Here for 2 weeks. We're working on the assumption we need to quarantine when we get back and for us it's worth it. Things are going o be like this for a little while and I'm fed up of living my life in fear all the time.

French supermarkets prioritising locals? Any evidence? I am in a tourist spot in France and certainly not here and cant imagine that.

Because if a lockdown is imposed on the French side of the border, you may not be able to access the tunnel.

Why not? The tunnel remained opened during the last lockdown didn't it? Or didn't it, I don't know!

Government have already said France cases are on the rise and its likely to impost the 14 day quarantine on return from France.

Do you have a link for this. Obviously it's a possibility, but has the government said its 'likely' to happen?

This thread is starting to feel a bit like people are just chucking stuff out in the hope that something sticks! French PM has already told Brits not to come? Locals being prioritised in supermarkets? Etc

Yes I agree @ kings .Yes the eurotunnel remained opened during the lockdown but travelling was very restricted but possible under certain circumstances.

@KingFredsTache good question. I don't know the answer. Although I guess that other rules during lockdown such as essential travel, no staying away from home only etc etc would have meant that even if the tunnel remained open, it would only have been used for essential reasons.....

Now it's a free for all.

We're meant to be going to France this weekend to a self catering place we've been to for years. Think posh camping. Pool is open, restaurant is open, children's activities still on. Mask needs to be worn going into the restaurant. Friend is already there and says all very pleasant and normal but people respecting social distances. Supermarket fine, locals welcoming etc etc.

Just back from short holiday to France on the tunnel, it was lovely. Very welcoming, no problems in shops or restaurants. So glad I went! Hope you get to go, @stopitkenneth

@madbirdlady22 I love the idea that everyone holidaying in the UK, or nearer home, is safer. Because obviously half the country trying to all pack into Cornwall, Brighton etc at once is going to make social distancing easy isn't it? Those resorts aren't set up to manage the sort of numbers that they are likely to get this summer. Seriously you just have to look at pictures of Brighton beach etc during recent heat waves to know why holidaying in the UK is unlikely to be the solution.

And most people commenting about not being able to socially distance on a plane clearly have no concept of how air filtering on an aeroplane works. It is certainly safer than being on a bus or train.