Summer Holidays 2021 - Who is hopeful?

[Lexmerrie]

Hi,

I am just wondering who is remaining hopeful after the news hot off the press in regards to foreign travel this summer?

Have people been booking holidays for Summer 2021 or are people pushing their plans of a enjoying a lovely margarita on a hot beach somewhere until 2022?

Thanks! xo

Yes we have booked caravan sites, it would be awful to leave it and then not be able to get in anywhere.

We’ve got a holiday transferred from 2020. In more worried that holidays will technically be allowed but with quarantine at both ends. That might mean insurance won’t pay out so could lose a lot of money. I’d rather things were banned than a middle ground that is really prohibitive.

If countries have stormed through their vax programme then I think yes foreign travel will be allowed with home quarantine and testing 3x, which obviously adds to cost.

Those Zero Covid zealots don’t appreciate U.K. is v different to Oz etc. Many families have relatives across Europe, some even custody of children. It’s not all about holidays it’s about family contact so they can’t impose the same rules. Also the compensation to airlines etc too great. Once more vax and other countries have made a good dent in vax their populations I think foreign travel will be permitted subject to above caveats which will make it unattractive/unaffordable to some.

They’re also trying to deter foreign travel by pushing people to book U.K. now due to uncertainty. They’ll try and deter people travelling abroad but for the U.K. to ban foreign travel for an extended period I think is a step too far encroaching on people’s freedoms. Can’t see them doing it. Too expensive too!

I've hedged my bets and booked a UK break on the same dates as our holiday abroad. I don't care which one happens at this point, as long as one of them does!

I suppose things can change but there isn’t going to be any foreign travel until at least July and even then it’s probably less than 50/50. April/May will be a no as the vaccines won’t have been given to everybody and had time to be effective and certainly won’t have been in Europe who seem a mile behind.

Don't have any hope of going abroad this year. I don't see any reason why we won't be able to holiday in the UK from end of May onwards

Have one transferred from last year and two uk breaks. I hope at least two happen.

We have booked a much-needed long weekend in the U.K. (with a flexible cancellation policy) but there’s no way we’d dream of going abroad this year.

@Hollanda40

Unless hospitality opens up nobody can really book anywhere in the UK. It's going to probably be a while before overnight stays allowed anywhere. Possibly after that who knows???

You must be joking - so many cottages and B&Bs are already fully booked for the summer!

Moved 2020 Portugal to 2021 (same week there abouts in august)..... not hopeful. I keep thinking shall I change the flights to October but even that feels like a no go

I can't think of any realistic reason why domestic tourism in the UK should be an issue when it was allowed last year with a later peak and no vaccines. Other than accommodation being booked up and inflated prices...

We're holding fire. Ideally, we'd like to travel to see the ILs for the first time in what would be close to 2 years by that point, but obviously there are variables at our end and their end. Worrying though because 89yos are not famed for their immortality.

Failing that, it would be good to get the tent out this year. We had a caravan last year due to toilet block issues with camping.

@weaverjackie

Then people run the risk of having to cancel if and when the hospitality doesn't reopen or at least opens with such massive restrictions that the holiday is not viable. Cottage holidays for adults might possibly be ok if they allow overnight stays at somewhere other than the house you live in. Not so much in the middle of nowhere with kids. Seaside B and Bs... unless fairs/attractions/hospitality is open what's there to do with kids?

A walk to the beach is ok. Might while away a few hours. Kids get hungry. Nowhere to eat out, still no hospitality. Or at least huge restrictions on numbers (queues) or rules on how you book, what constitutes a meal etc.

Believe me all I want is a week in Butlins like many, but until it's secure and I believe safe to do so, we're staying put. I'll have had my vaccines through work by June but if vaccine passports are a thing, that wouldn't make a jot of difference as DH wouldn't have had his as works in different company. It would be very unfair to families where one parent only has had the vaccine.

It's definitely too soon to even contemplate any holiday at all. Especially given how things have been dealt with so far. Imo. :(

I've got a July holiday abroad booked. Cancelled from last year so all paid for. Will use the money we haven't spent in lockdown and on holidays for testing. I'm going if they let us

Yes I am.

Foreign travel not planning any for 2021, expect there either to be quarantine or restrictions in the country of destination.

Unfortunately if this happens then the people who most of us are glad go abroad (to places we don't) will be in the UK on holiday.

I believe BJs speech tonight was a simple indication that holidays for the foreseeable are simply a pipe dream. Even seeing family overnight isn't a certainty. The kids might possibly not see their 92 year old Nanna alive again. My parents are pushing 70 with health issues.

They're scared to death of somehow still contracting it and I doubt they'll get over that now unfortunately.

Ye it's not what we wanted at all but it is what it is and my MH is at its frayed edges now after a year of buoying up everyone around me and literally ignoring myself. So if I sound depressed or hopeless, I am. I apologise but I simply cannot disappoint these kids yet again. :(

I am so hoping we can go to France in August via Brittany Ferries. I don't mind a test before we go or on arrival and hopefully we will have had the vaccine by then.

I'm hopeful. I'm not in the UK though and have already travelled several times with the added cost of tests and quarantines, albeit at a much lower price than I'd pay if I were in England. I believe I will be able to go away for a couple of holidays this year, on top of all the work travel I still need to do regularly. Where I am the cases are low and the optimism is high.

What I don't hold much hope for, is being able to get into the UK to see my family and friends there . I hope regulations change between now and summer, but otherwise I very much doubt I'll be able to travel to England this year.

I don't even want a holiday in the sun with margaritas, I just want to hug my mum and my best friend. It's been months since I last had a hug or any other human contact... and it's starting to get to me.

Not hopeful for a foreign holiday this year. Even if DH and I get vaccinated by the summer we have 3DC who won't be and all the uncertainty of testing/what the rules will be. Booked a week in Pembrokeshire in July, last summer, and I'm hopeful for that.

@Hollanda40 I wonder what gave you that impression from Boris’s speech? I believe he’s being cautious, but still optimistic about things in this country come summer with the vaccine roll out.
There wouldn’t be justification for keeping people from travelling around and staying overnight once the over 50s are vaccinated. Its simply absurd. Also hospitality will be open by then! I think it’ll be open by late April/early May. That includes cafes, restaurants, outdoor (possibly indoor) attractions and so on.

The other point to is all this concern over imported variants is misplaced. We’re just as likely to grow our own British variants within our own borders, as evidenced in Bath. To keep out “foreign” mutations is nigh on impossible. All the Devi chat is actually SNP politics re Independence if you scratch below the surface. It’s very manipulative.

All I want is my parents to be able to get to us here in Portugal without a hotel quarantine on return, or they can’t. In terms of holidays. I’m not fussed at all

I think the government have swung from 'yeah whatever' to 'shut everything down forever'. The sheer number of deaths has made everyone completely risk averse now!

@SickoftheCword I’d be amazed if hotel quarantine still exists this summer. It’s for political purposes only it does v little scientifically with how it’s set up here (even Oz/Nz it is leaky). I’m sure it’ll be gone by summer.