No sympathy for people who booked a recent holiday

[fairparie]

Headlines this morning have got me cross. People who are 'devastated' that their holiday to Spain that they booked last week won't go ahead as they can't quarantine on return and lost all their money.
How stupid to book a holiday when you know it is a risk. We were going to go away and had not booked anything as was leaving it till the last minute. . We still could but I would not expect my work to pay for me in quarantine on top of two weeks away. It is understandable if I had booked before the pandemic but why should a firm pay for quarantine for those who knowingly knew it may be a risk.
I have full sympathy for those that booked before the pandemic and at least they will be insured. But c'mon how can you be upset that you have lost your money for a holiday you booked last week and now can't go on due to quarantine?

*gloating

@fairparie

I am not gloating. I am saying they knew the risk so can't be surprised when they have lost their money.

Most people will get their money back. Main company’s like TUI made a COVID-19 promise not to fly to any destinations needing quarantine. So they will owe people a lot of refunds.

@Staplemaple

She's not being nasty, just honest. It is stupid to have booked a holiday abroad last week.

Yes she is. The mere decision to start the thread was nasty.

TUI must be doing better than many to deliver on so many refunds. Just recently talking about surge in booking to Spain. Going to be tough financially.

No one needs a holiday in Spain, unless it's to see family and then even then they knew the risks.

I’m not sure why OP is bothered. It sounds like bitter grapes in all fairness. You don’t know why someone may have booked a holiday in recent times. Does the world have to grind to a haunt because of a virus that has killed some people.

I agree with you OP. The level of entitlement on MN is astounding. Covid is still raging in most parts of the world, why would anyone even consider going to another country - especially given that the virus has gone around the world with travellers. Why people can't stay in their own country for a while is beyond me.

Well said @giggly

@Kurtain

what do you suggest *@itsgettingweird*

Firstly that we accept we - as humans - can't control everything.

We do have to make sacrifices and they won't always be the option we'd choose.

That we aren't entitled to a break because of a hard time.
That we are responsible for protecting our fellow humans and in this case it's making sacrifices to Kurb a pandemic.

And I say that as someone who in past 2 years has had both parents diagnosed with cancer, both treated, 1 diagnosed now as terminal and a child diagnosed with a degenerative condition similar to MND.

Also as someone who was meant to fly to Spain in next few weeks and needed the break. This was booked before pandemic.

But truth is - my week away wouldn't have changed any of that.

And I've used the money to book and do other things closer to home to still enjoy the time I have with those closest to me.

people didnt know,
the quarantine was lifted
now it is back.
my dd is trying to organise herself a holiday, Make sure you have insurance is my advice to her but tbh she is a student so for her quarantine will be ok

@GilderoyLockdown can you explain how it's nasty? Pointing out that some people have behaved really stupidly isn't nasty. Some people need to know they're stupid because the world is full of enablers telling idiots that they're 'quite right' when I'm actual fact, they're really not.

Booking under the current circumstances is nothing short of utterly ridiculous. Pointing that out isn't nasty.

I booked my holiday to Spain (should’ve been flying Weds) last August so we can budget.

I wouldn’t have travelled but TUI offered a free amendment so I moved it to next year. We were lucky, other tour providers were not offering amendments or refunds. I booked Tavel insurance prior to the pandemic and it would pay out but only if foreign office advise against all but essential travel. This wouldn’t apply to those travelling to the islands.

Our holiday cost 4K, it’s a bitter pill to swallow to lose it. But when we were facing that prior to offering the amendment, DH said ‘I would rather lose 4K than potentially lose you or the children’.

What a bitchy, sanctimonious post. You may not have chosen to take the risk yourself, but to post about how unsympathetic you feel is unpleasant. I presume you also feel the same lack of sympathy when people who do dangerous sports accidentally paralyse themselves, because they knew the risks??

They gambled and lost. Had I done the same, I’d be feeling pretty upset. But we are not going anywhere. I am not allowed to fly anyway due to needing surgery but even if I were, it wouldn’t be wise imo due to COVID-19 spread. As is I have to pay a substantial amount on surgery I desperately need and cannot wait 2 years. Things are going downhill and I’m becoming more and more disabled. People need to be sensible even though Spain is / was offering holidays for a pittance.

Everyone who’s following the instructions to get back to normal are the Canary’s down the mine.

The next person who tells me they need a holiday I’ll happy swing my 7 hours a day PPE at them.

what a ridiculous post. So you expect people to stay locked at home all summer? Because that's a healthy move for everybody, who have been on lockdown for months or have been working ridiculous hours.

So if you are not rich enough to afford the inflated prices of your fully booked country, or get private transport, you have no right to have a life?

So it's ok to HAVE to commute in trains and tube, but you don't allow plane travel?

There absolutely is a sense of entitlement and self importance especially on this thread, but it's not coming from people who are trying to have a life whilst respecting all guidelines and legal requirements of the time.

Yes, there is a risk. There's a risk in many things. It's a shame things are getting so bad so quickly, but instead of being vile towards normal people, why not asking government to increase protection for this country...

@Dotinthecity

I’m sympathetic to anyone who has a holiday booked, whether they booked it ages ago or more recently. People have been through a very tough time and it’s not very nice to gloat at their misfortune. Whether it was wise or not, to book something so recently, they were just trying to salvage something of this summer and many of them will have disappointed children. 🙁

It was pretty risky of anyone to be booking a foreign trip in the middle of a pandemic. There was always a risk that travel would be disrupted, therefore a risk some were and some weren’t willing to take. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t have any sympathy for anyone caught up in this. It is what it is. Are people not watching the news? Spain has been having increasing Coronavirus cases so there was always a risk that this would happen.

I too think it's a bit mean.

Even recently Dh got offered a great holiday at a fab price, and because things were getting better, we thought about it, considered it, and it ended up that Dh said he wasn't sure. So we never booked. Which tbh I was a bit peeved about. Now? How right he was, and how wrong I was!

The issue is

"We are entitled to a break" is seen as equating to a holiday in Spain.

A break and Spain are separate entities.

What a bitchy, sanctimonious post. You may not have chosen to take the risk yourself, but to post about how unsympathetic you feel is unpleasant. I presume you also feel the same lack of sympathy when people who do dangerous sports accidentally paralyse themselves, because they knew the risks??

Hardly comparable. A life changing injury v lack of holiday.

In your hypothetical scenario are these injured thrill seekers furiously speaking to sky news about how it was a disgrace nobody warned them of the dangers?

The next person who tells me they need a holiday I’ll happy swing my 7 hours a day PPE at them

Oh FFS. I'm a key worker in healthcare and I NEED a bloody holiday. Ive worked really hard without a break over the last few months and I need a break. Frankly, I dont give a flying fck that this bothers you.

"But we need to stop being so human"

I hold the general public in a higher standard than most Tory MPs

People will hook holidays but it’s a risk to take. There’s no doubt government changes things suddenly wrt travel.

Holidays abroad are non essential trips. I feel for the people affected by the measures but then, I also think it is stupid and irresponsible to fly abroad for non essential reasons given that the virus is still as infectious as it was at the beginning of lockdown. Sitting 3 hours in a plane as sardines with another 120+ people is not safe no matter how tired and over worked you are.

I guess everyone who chose to have a holiday abroad had a chance to assess the risk and take decisions, they now just need to deal with the consequences of those decisions.

Booking under the current circumstances is nothing short of utterly ridiculous. Pointing that out isn't nasty.

why ridiculous?

Currently it only means that you have a 2 weeks quarantine when you are back. For many people who have to WFH anyway, it actually doesn't impact that much on their daily lives that they need to cancel their holiday.

Being on lockdown in your holiday accommodation is also a risk, much worst. But even on lockdown your country didn't close the borders to their own citizens, you can always come back.

So for most people who are currently enjoying themselves, it was definitively worth it.

There's as much risk to catch Covid in the UK, what is surprising is that foreign countries freely accept brits, they're mad!