Stop it! Please.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

I get it. Really I do. The holiday industry is on its knees: book now to support them; don't book now they aren't currently legal and aren't essential. Choices!

But can we stop bright, shiny people on the news burbling that they've already postponed their summer in the sun twice and it's not fair, they need, they want, they deserve....

It ain't essential. You can choose to book or not to book.

But stop trying to equate it to mental health crisis, losing access to routine medical treatment etc. It just isn't.

And breathe... maybe browse holiday cottages that accept dogs...

I think though for many people who have had to literally slog it out at work - where their work load has doubled and their stress relief taken away that having a holiday gives motivation and hope

Really Max that's what you want to lead with?

I'm not the boss of you? OK!!!

And again... wanting, booking, anticipating a holiday wasn't my point!

It is not about the holidays. It is about month after month after grinding sodding month of having nothing to look forward to, of being unable to plan anything. People are at breaking point.

Personally, I don't care about hols. I focus on other stuff - days put with mates, dinners out etc. But as I say, it's not about the actual thing, it's about the prospect of many more months of life that for many feels increasingly like it is not worth living.

We can take this to all kinds of degrees, can’t we? Focus on anyone complaining about an aspect of their life we don’t think is worthy of sympathy. Affluent, middle class Brits wazzing on about their mental health being in crisis because they’ve not seen their mum in ages and have to supervise their kid receiving education on Zoom? To fuck with you, cop on and get over yourself. There are people with actual real problems in the world, don’t you know.

Everyone thinks their own hardship is the worst. Castigating people because you don’t think the hardship they’re experiencing is complaint worthy isn’t going to get you anywhere.

I’m pretty sure people who work in the travel industry whose jobs are in doubt and entire careers possibly down the drain might be having mental health crisis as well. But as long as they all shut up about their suffering, it will be ok for you!

Their industries have been absolutely destroyed to keep other people safe. They are allowed to know when (or even if!) they are allowed to start their businesses again. Stop being so self involved

I can see I'm going to have to accept that holidays are more important than I thought.

I don't get it. I can't stand the equating a temporarily missed holiday with a real crisis. It offends my idea of what actually is important in life.

But I shall keep that to myself, remember that it's an unpopular opinion here.

@Lissy23

Having every single thing you looked forward to taken away is torturous. Most people were hoping Christmas would be a time where we could get together with friends and family, but of course it wasn’t to be. We’ve been told vaccines are the way out of this, but to act as if we’ll be unable to have a holiday, even domestically come summer is going to push people over the edge. It’s 4-5 months away! People are losing it now and I don’t blame them.

If that's your idea of 'torture' you've lived a blessed life.

Yes, I'd live it to be safe enough to spend a couple of months in a France this summer as I usually do. I really missed it last year. I've already said I won't be going this year. It's not right (IMO) for people to be flying around taking different strains of Covid all over the place.

It's disappointing, but is certainly not torture. Try saying final good byes to loved ones on a video call.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I can see I'm going to have to accept that holidays are more important than I thought.

I don't get it. I can't stand the equating a temporarily missed holiday with a real crisis. It offends my idea of what actually is important in life.

But I shall keep that to myself, remember that it's an unpopular opinion here.

As usual, I agree with you!!

Crazy I think you'll find I said that in the OP, and repeated it later. It helps to read the whole thread before defending something that hasn't been said!

And I love the idea that thinking that gnashing of homebound teeth is self involved, but going on national tv to bemoan the temporary loss of a holiday somehow isn't. 😁

No, you can’t stop people on the news from saying things you disagree with.

Thanks Bluebell I'm glad I asked! 😁

I don’t get it.

Do you have family abroad, OP? Do ALL of your friends live in a different country to you?

Mine do. I couldn’t care less about going out for coffee or ditching my face mask, or being able to shop for clothes. Those are not essential to me. I can easily live without them.

But I’m starting to wonder how much longer I can go without seeing my loved ones. You mention mental health - my best friend is at breaking point with an ill parent and no real life support and my first priority when lockdowns are over is going to visit her and give her a hug, no matter what the rules say about hugs.

I don’t want to jet off to Ibiza for a week. I just want to go home and see my parents, laugh with my siblings in person not over FaceTime, hug my friends. So to me travel is much more of a priority than coffee and Primark. Oh, and also my workplace opening up because I don’t know how much longer we’ll survive when we can’t have an audience in the building.

But if the news item was about holidays then people had been asked their views on summer holidays .

If the news item was about medical procedures being cancelled a different set of people would have been asked different questions and the discussion would be completely different.

I don't think anyone is saying that a cancelled holiday is as important as a lifesaving operation being cancelled .

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Thanks Bluebell I'm glad I asked! 😁

I am here for definitive answers on all things!

Eileen all of my family are hours away, many abroad too.

I am REALLY not moaning about people wanting to travel!

I use to travel a lot but after getting a email while on holiday in Thailand saying my return flight was cancelled and they will be giving me a refund which was only a voucher which took 8 months to be processed and then going through booking 2 alternative flights that also got cancelled before finally getting one that got us home I’m in no hurry to go anywhere soon in case it happens again countries will just close their borders with little notice and you could get trapped there or end up coming back to the uk and end up in quarantine in hotel for £1800.
Is it really worth it for a week in the sun?

Maybe the news media could stop asking the general population for their opinions, unless they fit in with an approved list of subject matters.

These people would not have expressed their view on holidays, or anything else, if some reporter hadn't stuck a microphone in their face and started asking banal questions.

How have we got to the point where posters on here, and elsewhere, are nitpicking what other people say and how they express themselves. It is a possibility that many people equate relaxation and holidays with their mental health. Who are you to say it doesn't?

You can comfort yourself OP with the thought that there is a distinct possibility that none of persons questioned will be going on holiday this year. You can cheer yourself up with that idea at the same time that you are congratulating yourself on your overuse of exclamation marks.

!!!? I do love a good exclamation!!!!!! Grin 😁😁😜

And again, you have missed my point.

And they weren't walk by interviews either.

Well what point are you trying to make? That you are cleverer that those people who were being asked? That you would not dream of admitting that you wouldn't mind two weeks in Benidorm and a kiss me quick hat as a souvenir?

Try and imagine a scenario where everyone does not think in precisely the same way as you. Just because you don't find something important that is not to say that they agree with you. I would hazard a guess that some of these people are on their last nerve with all of this and are trying to find a pinprick of something to look forward to. But you can't just let them be can you?

So what if it wasn't a walk by interview? Does that make their views any less valid?

There is a veneer here that you are better than "them". You don't think that this is important, so they shouldn't either.

Just bloody book something if you want to!

Hoonestly the idea that the government can guarentee travel anywhere is nonsense. Everyone should have the good sense to grasp this.

The government can not say we can go overseas. They don't know themselves. That decision is 50% dependant on what the policy of what other countries is going to be - the government don't decide the policy of other countries - though this may come as a surprise to many by the sound of it. Leaving EU transition further complicates this as EU states have less of an obligation for early opening of borders to British citizens.

We also do not have a clear view of what the situation will be like in the summer. At the moment we are currently waiting on the first set of data on how well the vaccines are performing in the population as a whole. At the press conference the other day one of the scientists said we are unlikely to see this until next week. We really need a few weeks of a definite positive trend before we start making firm decisions about anything. Thats really a few weeks off. Being impatient and throwing a strop about it, is deeply unhelpful. More so than the government failing to tell us these things - they are simply unable to do so in a responsible manner. Premature decision making leaves us at risk of fuck up and more ridiculous (and expensive u-turns).

I just wish someone who tell everyone to belt up and be patient. We will have a better idea in a few weeks.

In the meantime, if you want to take the gamble you are completely free to do so. You are aware its a gamble. You are capable of deciding whether its worth doing so.

This isn't anyone's fault. The government can't announce policy right now for good reason. Follow that good reason. Make your decisions based on that reasoning. Be aware that the situation will change in the coming weeks. And even then it is subject to potential problems because thats the nature of the situation. There are no guarentees. No one can offer you one.

And get travel insurance and check you are covered whilst you are at it if you do decide to book.

I don't know what people want or expect.

I am not one for defending the government but ffs stop asking them to promise something that they can't for perfectly legitimate reasons.

This year will be different. It may mean last minute bookings or alternatives for holiday plans. It make mean staying in the uk and not being able to go to your preferred destination. Get it into your heads thats the reality. Politicians making promises will not change things. They can't guarentee anything. Whatever they say will make little difference because 'events' and 'other countries' are out of their control right now.

OP, you saying part of your objection is because its a "temporary loss" - what part of "3 weeks to flatten the curve" extending to almost 1 years worth of restrictions with no end in sight have you missed?!?!?!

There’s a whole industry at stake here OP - stop the judgement; I want a sodding holiday!

I agree. It's all going to far now. At what point will it end. Where is the goalpost??

My only thought is now they know the South Africa variant is spreading and they are shitting it.

I really really hope I'm wrong tho.