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?

@GilderoyLockdown no sorry you just referred to circumstances... I was trying to think of circumstances that might be requiring of special consideration from the OP as you suggested. If you didn't mean things like that I apologise. What did you mean?

And trying to explain it to disappointed children would be really difficult*

Sure would! Which is why they shouldn't have booked it in the first place maybe.

@jasjas1973 everyone with an internet connection, the ability to read and an ounce of sense.

I have.symapathy for them. The government (well Boris) deliberately went about trying to not mention the risk of further waves and went for a big."moving back to normal" message. So those who didn't see through that are inevitability going to be taken by surprise by further restrictions here or abroad.

@Raimona as lovely as that may be, that to me is not a holiday. It's a normal weekend.
I need a change of scenery to recharge. I'm not going abroad anymore. Our three weeks in Florida has turned into two weeks camping in the UK. Not my first choice but it's a break.

@sonicbook

Nobodies laughing. The government said that rules could change at any time without notice and Boris the great idiot himself even said not to book holidays due to uncertainty.

Let’s not be goady. The governments advice has been pretty shit the whole way through. They know full well what they are doing. Giving indirect advise so they don’t have to be accountable for the rise of COVID-19 but in my eyes they are because they allowed travel essentially. They said people can travel at their own peril. Nobody who has chooses to travel has broken the law. The government gave the go ahead.

Sure would! Which is why they shouldn't have booked it in the first place maybe.

Oh don’t be so sanctimonious. Christ this pandemic has brought out the worst in people, and I really don’t mean the mask refusers and toilet roll holders.

@mccavitythethird

Oh FFS. I'm a key worker in healthcare and I NEED a bloody holiday.

Then have one - in the UK. Either booked away in the UK somewhere or stay at home and spend the extra cash you save on accommodation on some great days out.

You tell that to locals from Cornwall, Devon, around Mount Snowdown who are delighted to be absolutely flooded with tourists, nationals or not

Might as well go abroad for a real break frankly.

Absolutely agree with you OP. Anyone daft enough to risk making arrangements to travel during a global pandemic when we’re only just coming through the first wave, with further waves expected must be deluded and to be frank, desperately stupid. This is the first of many sudden changes to travel guidance I expect.

Don’t be left high and dry by making plans to go abroad this year, it’s simply not worth the risk.

@SantaClaritaDiet I think you'll probably find more are happy that some money is going back into their local economy and people can work again, having income going into their homes.

@giggly exactly that!!

@sonicbook You missed my point, England has as high if not higher infection rate, yet there appears to be little or no action on that.

On my riverside walk last night bumped into a lovely family from Stevenage, they told me they were so pleased to be away from that town as apparently there has been a spike in infections..... lovely for us down in cornwall.

People have been obeying the law, no one should be gloating at their misfortune.

But even if people had looked at the number of cases, they may well have assumed that based on the genuinely low numbers on the Spanish islands, these would be exempt from mainland decisions.

We had moved some previously cancelled flights to Majorca, but I moved them again to 2021 because of fears about quarantine when we got back as didn't want DS to miss school. It was a gamble and I'm glad we didn't take it in the end. But I don't judge those who did go. Although I might if British government ends up paying for flights to bring them home.

supersonicginandtonic
you should read some of the threads about it... many locals are NOT happy and haven't been for months! Even people who own a place are not welcome.

And it's not just about the disgraceful behaviour of some idiots who left rubbish everywhere either.

You tell that to locals from Cornwall, Devon, around Mount Snowdown who are delighted to be absolutely flooded with tourists, nationals or no

Yes, I am chuckling at that too following multiple threads from people who live in Cornwall or Devon telling people to stay the fck away and how selfish and gross and ignorant anyone is for wanting to holiday there.
Yeah, SO welcoming! lol

[quote sonicbook]@GilderoyLockdown no sorry you just referred to circumstances... I was trying to think of circumstances that might be requiring of special consideration from the OP as you suggested. If you didn't mean things like that I apologise. What did you mean? [/quote]
Well I purposely didn't specifically define anything because there could be any number of reasons why people booked. I'm not necessarily privy to them any more than OP is. People have had all sorts of different experiences and responses during the pandemic. Which is why it isn't particularly bright of her to make assumptions, for someone so bothered by other people's perceived stupidity.

There isn't really the bright line you're drawing between seeing relatives and having a holiday either: the fact is that people sometimes blend both in one trip. I shall be doing that myself in fact, in England, in a fortnight or so.

Nobody needs a holiday, it’s a modern luxury.

Exactly that.

And why not remember that all the airplane flights contribute in a major way to global warming?

Oh - because it's easier just to have what you want.

I do have sympathy with the people returning it's a horrible thing to have to self isolate even if they can wfh.

But dare I say it many of your 'Stag&Hen-Do type Benidorm Brits' will just ignore the quarantine as it's incredibly unlikely anyone will be policing the 14 days anyway!

Oh FFS. I'm a key worker in healthcare and I NEED a bloody holiday.

So am I. So I took a fortnight annual leave, got my house deep cleaned by a professional company, kept the kids in nursery and slept!

@sonicbook

Grant Shapps is beyond stupid. HTH

Just about to post that

@Raimona - are you, as a taxpayer, willing to bail out all businesses ruined by everyone holidaying in their own homes? Or do you think a higher number of businesses should go bust, millions be unemployed, and key workers still get pay rises? Everyone knows it’s a tightrope the world is walking, and being sanctimonious doesn’t help anyone, nor does it change behaviour, it just alienates.

were you cross when we all worked through all this as key workers as well?

my holiday is hopefully still going ahead to balearics - extra two week holiday once we land so fingers crossed.

I wonder if our kindhearted OP will be back, or if she just fancied starting a bunfight and fucking off?

I notice no one claiming it was stupid to go to Spain has addressed my point that Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is in Spain and will need to quarantine on his return. Nor have they explained why they are holding the general public to a higher standard than the man responsible for transport in the UK.

Because the government are incompetent fools. The prime minister caught covid and nearly died from telling us to continue shaking people's hands FFS, another drove to check his eyesight- anyone who holds them in higher regard than others is quite frankly also idiotic.

Ohhhh you can just smell the schadenfreude can't you