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Original poster

Summer holidays abroad?

544 replies

TheRedBalloon · 20/03/2021 11:08

I've just been reading that various Sage members have said international travel is unlikely this Summer.
We booked our holiday for the end of July to the Canaries (booked it last Summer.) Just wondering has anyone else booked for abroad and still expects to go, or is it more likely to be cancelled? DH and I have both had our first jabs and will have had both in May/June. We booked through TUI so I know we'll get a refund but the thought of going away has kept me going through lockdown!

(I know this is trivial compared with the illnesses / deaths due to the pandemic)

OP posts:
Blueuggboots · 21/03/2021 08:17

Every holiday area in the UK is going to be deluged with holiday makers - great for business of course but shit fir social distancing but I don't fancy it myself - the weather in this country is too unpredictable and I'm not paying more money than it would cost me in Greece where I'll get pretty much wall to wall sunshine for 2 weeks....
Yes, we were foolish enough on a grey January day to hope we might be able to go to Greece this summer so put a small deposit on a 2 week holiday. It has to be paid for by 24th April so hoping they make a decision one way or another.......

StepOutOfLine · 21/03/2021 08:17

@Thewiseoneincognito,

Do tell me when you'll give me permission to at least visit my mother's grave? Y'know, what with not being able to travel when she was dying and watching her funeral via webcast.

likeamillpond · 21/03/2021 08:34

The whining about covid is mainly about the same two things

My life is ruined!
I can't go abroad!
I can't go to concerts!
Really?
Ffs what is it with Brits and this obsession with having to go abroad every year? confused
Holidays Abroad only came into being for the masses roughly 50 years ago.

supersonicginandtonic · 21/03/2021 08:37

@likeamillpond do you know what it is? Me and my partner have worked throughout the pandemic. We're knackered, we're exhausted. Our children have been massively affected. My 13 year old, confident, social butterfly is now an anxious recluse. My DSD is severely dyslexic and fallen behind at school. She's self-harmed on several occasions.
I have my nephew with me because my sister tried to kill herself during the first lockdown and is still not well enough to have him home.
My toddler is terrified when people come onto our house, screams the place down.
So if it's ok with you, yes I would like something to look forward too. Wether that's a festival or getting on a plane.

May17th · 21/03/2021 08:37

@likeamillpond it’s the weather, the atmosphere of no rushing around and the people. There’s no UK holiday that compares to a Caribbean destination. People who don’t want to travel don’t have to and they don’t have to moan about others wishing to go away. How selfish just because it’s not your cup of tea!

likeamillpond · 21/03/2021 08:39

@toodleloooo

If it is a choice I'd much rather we get and keep things as close to normal here even if we have to forego summer holidays. I'm late twenties, at low risk of the virus and would love nothing more than to get away. But I'm not sitting at home for another year, going six months + at a time without seeing family and friends, with the economy gone to absolute shit, just for people to have a week away in the sun.
I agree. I have complete sympathy with people who have close relatives living in another country. But this business of the year being ruined unless a person is able to Go Abroad to lie on a sunlounger and fry for 2 weeks. A case of mad dogs....
EasterIssland · 21/03/2021 08:40

@likeamillpond

The whining about covid is mainly about the same two things

My life is ruined!
I can't go abroad!
I can't go to concerts!
Really?
Ffs what is it with Brits and this obsession with having to go abroad every year? confused
Holidays Abroad only came into being for the masses roughly 50 years ago.

My Xmas but I want my family Xmas wirh all my family

What’s wrong with the British that can’t have a quiet Xmas ! They need to have a busy one every year ! And what about the pubs ! What’s the obsession of the British wanting to go to the pubs as soon as they’re opened !

My obsession is being able to hug my nephew. My obsession is to be able to show to my son that there is people around the world that have different culture to us and that we can learn from them.

May17th · 21/03/2021 08:41

Weather people cluster together in the pool in Spain or at the pool at Centre Parcs it’s very similar thing and that’s exactly what will happen. So either way it’s as broad as it is wide.

EasterIssland · 21/03/2021 08:42

@May17th

Weather people cluster together in the pool in Spain or at the pool at Centre Parcs it’s very similar thing and that’s exactly what will happen. So either way it’s as broad as it is wide.
And in fact people might go with a pcr to Spain and back ... but how many will get a pcr for going to center parcs?
Itsalonghaul · 21/03/2021 08:42

super that sounds really really hard, and no one in the world can blame you for needing a break from it all. I hope you find some peace, relaxation and down time in some form or another in the coming weeks and months.

likeamillpond · 21/03/2021 08:47

[quote May17th]@likeamillpond it’s the weather, the atmosphere of no rushing around and the people. There’s no UK holiday that compares to a Caribbean destination. People who don’t want to travel don’t have to and they don’t have to moan about others wishing to go away. How selfish just because it’s not your cup of tea![/quote]
Rubbish.
There are beautiful places in this country if people coyld be bothered to explore.
Give me the wild, constantly changing and imo more interesting waters off Cornwall over the boring sameyness of tbe Cariibean sea any day.

Guess were all different

likeamillpond · 21/03/2021 08:49

Posted too soon.
Been to both Carribean and Cornwall.

User133847 · 21/03/2021 08:51

@toodleloooo

If it is a choice I'd much rather we get and keep things as close to normal here even if we have to forego summer holidays. I'm late twenties, at low risk of the virus and would love nothing more than to get away. But I'm not sitting at home for another year, going six months + at a time without seeing family and friends, with the economy gone to absolute shit, just for people to have a week away in the sun.
Is a week in Benidorm really worth another winter lockdown? It was the mass travel in the summer that bought over a second wave here and through Europe and variants.

Just open up domestically and keep the borders closed.

User133847 · 21/03/2021 08:53

@Delatron

If you told me last April I’d be on a beach in Menorca in July I wouldn’t have believed you. Even in June it wasn’t looking likely. Then everything opened up. Even if it was briefly.
Maybe they'll learn from that mistake.
EasterIssland · 21/03/2021 08:55

There was no mass travel mart year.
Spain was added to the quarantine list in July which meant many people didn’t go to Benidorm.
Many people brought it back from Greece but not that many flew over there last year.

If it had been the mass travel what caused last winter then the kent variant would have been all around the country

megletsecond · 21/03/2021 08:56

I don't think it will be easier to transmit the virus going on holiday in this country, even if Cornwall is packed. You don't get in a plane to get to Cornwall for a start.

Beaches are low risk. Takeaway food is low risk. If you self cater and can get a supermarket delivery you can avoid crowds.

EasterIssland · 21/03/2021 08:58

For boarding the plane you’ve to

  1. Be vaccinated / carry a negative pcr
  2. Wear a face mask (I’ll be wearing ffp2)

I followed last year what happened with the planes that had Carrief positive people in and nobody apart from those that were positive got it (if they had the news would have reported it ) going on a plane is not dangerous. It’s more the mixing you do with other households

User133847 · 21/03/2021 09:01

@EasterIssland

There was no mass travel mart year. Spain was added to the quarantine list in July which meant many people didn’t go to Benidorm. Many people brought it back from Greece but not that many flew over there last year.

If it had been the mass travel what caused last winter then the kent variant would have been all around the country

Large numbers went abroad and few quarantined.

I'm near Bolton where some bright spark came back from Spain with Covid and went straight to the pub and ended up infecting half the town which has been in lockdown ever since.

There was a strain detected from Spain which caused a huge wave in the North West in September/October, directly attributed to people going off on foreign holidays.

BarbaraofSeville · 21/03/2021 09:02

^There are beautiful places in this country if people coyld be bothered to explore.
Give me the wild, constantly changing and imo more interesting waters off Cornwall over the boring sameyness of tbe Cariibean sea any day^

Have you really got such a limited imagination to think the Carribbean is 'boring and samey'?

The variety of sealife is vast and different to what you find in Cornwall for a start, plus the big draw for the Caribbean, and the Med and a lot of other overseas places for that matter is that, for a large part of the year, the weather is pretty much guaranteed to be warm and sunny, and the sea will be warm, clear and calm, which is either impossible or pot luck at best in the UK.

Even in August, cold and wet is not unusual, which does put a dampner on being outdoors.

Plus, seeing some of the prices people pay to go to Cornwall, it's more expensive than going abroad, especially when you end up paying for indoor activities to get out of the endless rain.

dcb2 · 21/03/2021 09:09

Cornwall is beautiful (as is the Caribbean). We had a week in Cornwall last July, lovely to have a change of scene... but it was freezing all week. The kids enjoyed surfing in wetsuits but It was really cold and windy sat on the beach, even wearing as many layers as we could.

We've had numerous family holidays in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall but the British weather is still a lottery. One of the appeals of a holiday in Portugal, Greece or the US is the hot weather, particularly if you like swimming and eating outside in the evenings. You can have a hot week in the UK but I've had plenty of summer holidays where it's been cold and rainy.

Appreciate that there's a valid question around the logic of allowing international travel after the winter we've had and the risk of endangering the vaccine programme, but it's also understandable that not everyone would choose to holiday in the UK if they had the choice.

Sansaplans · 21/03/2021 09:11

Holidays abroad will depend more on the countries people want to travel to than whatever decisions our government makes imo (aside from high risk counties perhaps). I do think probably this year it won't be possible for a lot of people, but I do believe by next year things will feel a lot more 'normal' as vaccine programmes around the globe catch up.

May17th · 21/03/2021 09:11

@likeamillpond

Posted too soon. Been to both Carribean and Cornwall.
@likeamillpond where in the Caribbean did you go? Perhaps it is you that is “boring” rather than the Caribbean itself.

I haven’t been to Cornwall as it’s too far from where I live. I have Butlins booked and I am going to embrace it as it will be my first time. I suppose it depends what you like. The majority of people pay for a holiday to secure good weather I don’t see how Cornwall or Skegness compares.

To the other poster talking about self catering.... lots of people will be hoping to use to restaurants at places like Centre Parcs/Butlins. We also will be hoping to use the pool facilities and all the other children activities hence booking going away in the first place.

We can do an Aldi shop at home and go for a local walk IF that’s all you want.

Jayparrot · 21/03/2021 09:12

International travel in the way we were used to can't continue. It isn't sustainable. If we ignore it then our children will be facing a much worse situation than the one we are in now.

Jayparrot · 21/03/2021 09:13

I'd just rather know for sure-we haven't had a holiday abroad since 2019

Cry me a river Hmm

tappitytaptap · 21/03/2021 09:19

I’m by no means a lockdown enthusiast and think there are a hard core of very risk averse people on mumsnet that I have very different views from, but I just can’t see a holiday abroad being massively relaxing this year (felt the same last year and was glad we didn’t book as a couple of friends had theirs cancelled last minute). So have booked a couple of UK breaks - but agree with everyone else - so expensive! - and a trip to Greece for August 2022. Hoping that will be more realistic and I think if it isn’t we won’t have a travel industry anymore as it will have gone under. Also hoping for a couple of nights away in the UK rolled over from Xmas 2019 gifts we were bought by in-laws to give us a break from the kids .... that worked out well didn’t it!