Summer holidays abroad?

[TheRedBalloon]

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)

It’s the British weather isn’t it, Not many holidays of any type are enhanced by grey drizzle.

@User133847 why will travel this summer lead to another winter lockdown if we have the vaccine now? So far there has been no evidence that the vaccine won't be effective against severe cases from any strain and only slightly reduced effectiveness (rather than non effective) against mild illness from some of the others.

I think people are total snowflakes about the weather tbh, it really isn't that bad.

@likeamillpond we went to cornwall last summer in a Caravan which actually cost us more than the holiday we had already booked for abroad.
The weather was crap so we were paying up to £100+ per day for things to do indoors.
We have a mix of hilduwys abroad and here but the ones abroad are always much better.

@Jayparrot the last two years before lockdown we had to pack our tent up and come home early due to the weather and the festival we were due to attend got cancelled due to the weather so yes it can be bad.

@Jayparrot

I think people are total snowflakes about the weather tbh, it really isn't that bad.

Do you live in UK? We hardly ever get a full week of sun. Last year bank holiday in August the weather was rubbish in Scarborough you make the most and I had a nice day but it is not the same. We get a few days of Sun if we are lucky! Until it rains again..

the last two years before lockdown we had to pack our tent up and come home early due to the weather and the festival we were due to attend got cancelled due to the weather so yes it can be bad.

Always a risk when you camp though surely. My auntie owns a house on an idyllic Greek island and half of it got destroyed by a storm a couple of years ago. It isn't like this country is lashing wind and rain every other day. We don't really have extreme weather.

Funny that, as I seem to recall it being scorchio last summer 🥵

@Jayparrot but it ruins the holiday. At least abroad when it rains, it's still warm and te kids still can play in the pool.

@likeamillpond
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.

I know - the Brits are like lemmings. If restrictions were lifted they would go in their hoards and meet a grisley end.

@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.

Come on @likeamillpond you know that's not true .

Yes there will be a few people whose only concerns are for their holidays or concerts but for the vast majority of people their concerns are around being able to see their families again and not feel like they are breaking the law to do so. The other major concern is around money and jobs - both on an individual and societal scale .

A lot of people will also be feeling a bit pissed of about their holiday but for the vast majority this is not their main concern .

It ruins the holiday?! That's what I meant re: being special snowflakes about the weather. We always used to holiday in this country as children. I remember my siblings and I running round Devon in the pissing rain, having a wonderful time.

I mean unless you're talking hurricane force winds and blizzards, there is no need for weather that isn't sunshine to "ruin" a holiday.

Funny that, as I seem to recall it being scorchio last summer

It was hot for the UK but by global standards it wasn't extreme.

@Jayparrot

It ruins the holiday?! That's what I meant re: being special snowflakes about the weather. We always used to holiday in this country as children. I remember my siblings and I running round Devon in the pissing rain, having a wonderful time.

I mean unless you're talking hurricane force winds and blizzards, there is no need for weather that isn't sunshine to "ruin" a holiday.

I also remember caravan holidays in the U.K. as a child. Many were wonderful. Once we got so fed up of the pissing rain we came home a week early. Camping in continuous rain is miserable. Especially with small children, it doesn't take long before everything is wet and muddy including beds and you have no dry clothes or anywhere to dry them. And I say that as a seasoned camper of many many years not some 'all the gear and no idea' newbie. Caravan holidays with teenagers playing board games in the rain are ok with your rosy glasses on, but try a wet fortnight in a tourer at Rhyl with two thirteen year olds now and see if you have fun.

Do we think holidays abroad will happen this year ?

I’m someone who absolutely hates U.K. holidays and would never stay put by choice, but even I have to admit that it would be wise to retain restrictions on foreign travel for this summer. I just don’t think collectively we can face yet another lockdown, and if foreign holidays are the price we pay for relative domestic freedom then so be it.

For those asking why people are reluctant to holiday in the U.K... For me it’s because the whole point of a holiday is discovering different cultures, sampling the food and wine, having a go at new languages (Modern Languages graduate) and exploring the unfamiliar. And, yes, the weather - a rainy week in Devon is no fun with small children. We’re not beach people at all; normally it’s European city breaks or lakes and mountains for us, and the U.K. is massively overpriced and just doesn’t offer us what we want scenery, accommodation or adventure wise.

I didn’t go abroad until I was 14 and was so jealous of all my classmates jetting off to Majorca and France while I was being dragged round endless ‘quaint’ English villages in the drizzle - so the prospect of being confined to Blighty for the foreseeable does feel pretty bleak, but hopefully things will be looking up by next summer.

@userxx

Do we think holidays abroad will happen this year ?

I'm pretty certain they will to some extent. However I'm not convinced we will be given enough notice to book anything, or that we won't have to quarantine on return or be able to get insurance, and that people who aren't vaccinated will struggle meaning that lots of families with children may not be able to go.

@Lostinacloud

This news is utter bollocks! I’m in France and this wave is due to the uk variant, currently around 72% of all positive cases nationwide. I believe the same variant is also causing most other European country flare ups. Since the vaccines appear to work against the uk variant and this variant has already been around the uk and caused a wave, could anyone in this power hungry government explain to me what exactly is the problem with uk citizens travelling to Europe at least? Especially as the roadmap says it’s still 2 months until international travel is potentially allowed. With the arrival of spring and natural progress of a covid wave, chances are Europe’s third wave will be over by May before the uk’s travel restrictions are even lifted.

So utterly pissed off with the doom mongering scientists whispering in the government’s ear and on a personal level, acutely sick of the suggestion that my DC won’t get to see their grandparents for yet another year

I feel this way exactly. Just had my dgm crying on the phone that she thinks she'll be dead before she sees me and the dc again. She's already vaccinated ffs.

I find this superior attitude of those looking down on people who would like to holiday abroad a little odd. In hardly any other part of life would it be considered unreasonable to say you prefer having choice and variety. It's not broad-minded to say 'why are people so upset about not going abroad?', in fact it's the opposite.

We holidayed in the UK last year, it was amazing. But we usually have a mix, of UK and overseas holidays, and we prefer a mix. Variety is good, variety helps us learn and grow as people. I think if you apply the travel restriction principle to other areas of life, say for example we are all only allowed to eat meals that consist of meat and two veg for a year, or we're only allowed to watch one type of TV programme or read one kind of book or listen to one kind of music or play one kind of game or sport for a year.... people would rightly feel very restricted because of that (regardless of how creative one can be with meat and two veg). Why is it ok to sneer at those who are upset at having their travel choices restricted? Not all holidays abroad are family club med types either. People like to explore and experience new things, people like to visit family, use new language skills, and much more. Yes, we can't do it this year. Looking down on those who are again disappointed says more about the lookers down than the looked down upon.

@Jayparrot

It ruins the holiday?! That's what I meant re: being special snowflakes about the weather. We always used to holiday in this country as children. I remember my siblings and I running round Devon in the pissing rain, having a wonderful time.

I mean unless you're talking hurricane force winds and blizzards, there is no need for weather that isn't sunshine to "ruin" a holiday.

Absolutely agree.

My children have been used to going abroad each summer holiday but last year we went to Devon instead. The best days were the drizzly days as the waves were so better for surfing. They’re looking forward to doing the same this year.

I never went abroad until I was 22. I have lovely memories of seaside holidays. A holiday is what you make it. Yes I would have preferred to have not moved our abroad holiday again, but a holiday should be relaxing and enjoyable and I would experience either travelling outside the UK at the moment.

I am not banking on a summer holiday abroad this year, no matter how much I would like one. I just think it's unlikely

With regards to UK weather, I live on the south coast, away from the major holiday destinations, so I admit I am terribly spoiled. I can arrange a few days or a week off with mates and we can meet up and have meals and drinks in the sun, and do whatever else is open to us at the time.

However, I do not have primary age DC, and I think part of the issue is that the summer seems to start earlier and finish earlier than when I was a kid. I would never plan a UK holiday for August, as the sunny days are mostly May - July.

@HeddaGarbled

Funny that, as I seem to recall it being scorchio last summer 🥵

It's so changeable though, we went away for 4 nights in July to somewhere by the sea. We arrived in torrential rain, the next day was dry but overcast and windy so we were sand whipped, the next day was cool but sunny, perfect for exploring, the day after was overcast and rained on and off, the final day was scorching and not a cloud in the sky. We have UK holidays at least twice a year as well as go abroad so we were prepared clothing wise but it's so much easier when every day is almost guaranteed sunshine and shorts and tshirt weather.

i remember my siblings and I running round Devon in the pissing rain, having a wonderful time

You might have done. I absolutely loathed it, to the point that I eventually started lying to my friends about where I’d been on holiday to make it sound slightly less grim compared to their infinitely more exciting foreign trips.

@Jayparrot

It ruins the holiday?! That's what I meant re: being special snowflakes about the weather. We always used to holiday in this country as children. I remember my siblings and I running round Devon in the pissing rain, having a wonderful time.

I mean unless you're talking hurricane force winds and blizzards, there is no need for weather that isn't sunshine to "ruin" a holiday.

Can you really not grasp that people are different!

Food on holiday? Irrelevant to me. I don’t drink and eat just for fuel. For others, and I totally get it, it’s very very important.

Guaranteed sun? Irrelevant to others, you included, very very important to me.

Why is it ok to sneer at those who are upset at having their travel choices restricted?

I am not sneering, I do go abroad, but the fact of the matter is that it is essential that people stop doing it so frequently, or, again, it is our children who will face the consequences.

I really think people are in denial about this one tbh.