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...

@HopelessBlue192

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?!?!?!

If you think it was ever going to be that, more fool you.

It was always said by scientists in this field it would be 12 to 18 months...

Ok so i have booked a holiday with a friend who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and who knows how many holidays they may be able to have , so yes this years holiday is very important to us and i put it in front if going for a coffee , everyone has different priorities and different things that might help them get through

I'm frustrated that I am likely to lose £1500 of my hard earned money and there is nothing I can do about it (not everyone will refund holiday deposits/flight costs). Not much I can do about it but I am upset. I booked 2 years ago and moved it from last summer to this (at increased cost) and can't move it again due to personal reasons so I just have to write it off. Depressing.

I booked mine in 2019 for 2020 and changed it for this year. People have absolutely nothing to look forward to, I'm working 50-60 hours a week and see nothing positive happening in the future and like many people I've had enough.

I don't think it's people being selfish I think it's people wanting some sign that we could have the slightest bit of freedom this year at some point. It's dark, freezing cold, miserable and summer seems so far away at the moment and there's still no guarantee we'll get to do anything or go anywhere. It's no one's fault but it's human nature to want to see an end to this situation and if booking a holiday gives people that let them be.

There is a veneer here that you are better than "them". You don't think that this is important, so they shouldn't either. And all similar comments. Ah well! Had you actually read ALL that I typed you'd see you are barking up the wrong tree.

My point was possibly poorly made, but, as I have explained, I am annoyed at the self absorbdness. Holidays have been uncertain for a year now. Changes to movements across the country, let alone the world, are regularly changed. The clue is in the world 'global and pandemic'.

But all railing at me for my being superior, judgemental about people having every right to want a holiday are making my point. I am not pissed off because people want a holiday!

Yes, have a holiday. Had you read my post/s you'd see I have had a holiday on the last year - in the UK, if you're interested, Pembrokeshire is lovely! But if/when it is cancelled just bloody accept it. Don't go on national tv, having made an appointment to do so, and complain about the entirely foreseaable cancellation being grossly unfair, taking away our freedom, etc etc.

Nobody can give you a date for a bit of freedom. Nobody can promise you a time a holiday will definitely go ahead. Book it, see what hapens but please, don't pretend it is vital. It is want not a need and equating it to needs is selfish and distasteful!

But I can see I am, at best, in a quite silent minority on this!

People are very entitled and well within thier rights to moan about the impact this is having in them.

I can't think of anyone happy with the current situation. I feel for people there are some terrible stories out there.
These people thrust into op's line of sight are chosen by someone in TV and perhaps do not bear relation to actual major concerns of UK population. So op in blaming is picking these particular targets when I see it as an editing issue.

I listen to science podcasts and avoid the news as it's usually ridiculous. Last night my OH was watching and it was Duchess and the Mail: to me that's not news.🤷

Everyone has a right to their feelings. Even the ones you disagree with.
If you don't like, turn over. I do that and it helps.

@Chimeraforce

Everyone has a right to their feelings. Even the ones you disagree with. If you don't like, turn over. I do that and it helps.

I have taken that advice since another PP gave it to me upthread.

It seems the most sensible solution.

Thank you for reminding me

The pandemic and lockdown have cause misery. We don’t know the circumstances of many people who are on the tv discussing their holiday - they have the right to complain just as much as anyone else.

Everyone has a right to their feelings. Even the ones you disagree with.

Well quite, even the OP is included in 'everyone' though.
I rarely have holidays, financially constricted. And yes I feel frustrated that people are saying they're essential, because I've always just carried on without. And that's always seemingly been ok, my problem and I should deal with it without moaning. 🤷
Can you imagine if I'd started a thread pre covid about how it's massively unfair that I can't afford a holiday? That said holiday is essential to my mental health and it's so unfair that I can't afford one? That it's taken away anything I have to look forward to? That it's my employers fault because they don't pay me enough? It's the government's fault because they don't insist on a higher nmw so I can have a holiday?
What do you reckon the answers would have been?
Probably along the lines of get a better job!
When you've got people who have had their ability to live affected by this, for whom a holiday was a pipe dream anyway, yes it's frustrating to hear how someone else not being able to have a holiday, temporarily, because of this pandemic, is so hard done by. Especially when they have a choice over whether they get to book one at all, whether they decide to err or the side of caution and wait, or go ahead and book taking the risk.
It seems some have the idea that it's everyone for themselves until it affects them then suddenly it's all unfair and someone else needs to do something about it.

@TooManyPlatesInMotion

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.

I agree with this totally. I realised a few weeks ago that I have nothing, not one single thing, to look forward to until October and even that might not go ahead (and yes it is a holiday!)

I also have SAD so yes, holidays in the sunshine do affect my mental health.

@Hitchyhero

Simple clear messaging from the government would be helpful.

❌ January 17: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told LBC people should not be booking holidays yet: “I think at the moment it’s too early. Until we’re in a position to give the reassurance, I think it’s very difficult to plan.”

✅ January 18: Health Secretary Matt Hancock completely contradicted Raab at a Downing Street press conference: “I’m going to Cornwall. And I have said before I think we’re going to have a great British summer.” His remarks led to hotels and holiday companies urging people to book for the summer as soon as possible …

❌ January 26: Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi then directly contradicted Hancock, telling Sky News he “absolutely” wouldn’t be booking a summer holiday yet as it was “far too early” to do so.

✅ January 31: Holidaying Hancock doubled down, telling BBC Politics East: “In six months we’ll be in the middle, I hope, of a happy and free Great British summer.”

❌ January 31: The same day, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss shot Hancock down, insisting quarantine measures and restrictions on travel would be in place for the foreseeable future, and that “it would be very dangerous for a government minister to make promises about people’s summer holidays.”

✅ February 1: On a visit to Yorkshire, Boris Johnson was asked whether the U.K. could have a “happy and free summer,” and said “I am optimistic” about the prospect of summer holidays, with the caveat that the vaccination program had to go well.

❌ February 10, 8 a.m.: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps contradicted Hancock on the BBC’s Today program, warning: “People shouldn’t be booking holidays right now, not domestically or internationally.”

🤔 February 10, midday: Asked about the conflicting advice at the daily Lobby briefing, the prime minister’s official spokesperson produced another line, saying the decision on whether to book a holiday was “a choice for individuals.”

❌ February 10, 5 p.m.: In the evening presser, the PM stressed it was illegal to go on holiday either at home or abroad and seemed to strike a more cautious tone: “I am afraid it is just too early for people to be certain about what we’ll be able to do this summer.” The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg is caught on a hot mic complaining that Johnson “didn’t answer the question.”

✅ February 10, 5 p.m.: At the exact same time as the PM’s presser, Hancock inexplicably once again told Tory MPs on a Zoom call that he’d booked a trip to Cornwall, and shared jokes with Devon MPs who wanted him to holiday in their constituencies, HuffPo’s Arj Singh reports.

This ^^

It is annoying when people go on about holidays when theres so much else going on but people want something to look forward after a year of misery.