AIBU to have no sympathy for people who rushed to book holidays in Portugal...

[ThursdayWeld]

... and are now moaning because Portugal haven't set their travel rules yet?

As soon as the UK announced that Portugal was on the green list, some people booked flights and holidays. Without checking whether Portugal would actually let them in... And now they're whingeing about it in the press!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57107154

I have sympathy because I'm not mean spirited.
It's been an awful time for everyone, but some more than others.
If some people feel they need a holiday abroad and they believe it to be allowed, they will book.

I'm not going abroad, or even trying to. A few days in the UK will do me fine.

The message was clear. The green list is countries you can travel from without quarantining. That’s it.

One of my DC lives in Europe. I can’t visit her because the borders are closed. Unless you’re a resident, you need prior documented approval from the police there to be allowed entry. And there’s no entry for foreigners unless it’s for business reasons, or a few other small reasons. She can visit me, but has to quarantine, because her country isn’t on the green list.

[quote MuddlingMackem]@Londonmummy00 Fri 14-May-21 10:24:44
It should have been made very clear at the announcement that these ‘green list’ countries will have their own rules and to please check before booking a flight/ hotel.

It was in the actual briefing, as I watched it live and noted it was very clear, but it may not have been in all the reportage of the briefing that the people who've booked got their information from.[/quote]
I didn’t watch it live because I was still at work. I’m pretty sure it’s been in every précis I’ve read about the announcement.

I think you’d have to have been deliberately avoiding the information to know that there were 12 countries on the list but that most, if not all of those countries have restrictions on entry.

I have sympathy for people who did it. I’d be gutted. I have less sympathy for people who did it and are blaming others for their error.

People should know they are taking their chances, I just wish they wouldn't moan and complain when things go tits up.

Fwiw I'm in Europe and would love tourists to stay home until more are vaccinated here. You are always told how beautiful, lovely etc. Britain is (and I agree to some extend) but you darn well don't like to stay at home ).

@carcarbinks

I think the message wasn't made clear. Why bother announcing the green list countries when most of them you can't travel to? Greece and Spain also hoping to be put on the green list but we can't travel there anyway.

Because it's not just about Brits going on holiday. We have family in one of the more distant green list countries. Being on that list allows them to travel to the UK and not have to quarantine.

If they did that, they'd obviously have to check the requirements in their home country if they were coming here for a short trip, but they're actually thinking of moving back to the UK, so if they actually went through with this, they could now do this without having to quarantine on arrival.

@neveradullmoment99

Maybe the travel agents should take responsibility. You shouldn't be able to book something that has restrictions or at least be made aware of them.

Or maybe people could take responsibility for themselves?

@Charlieiscool

I do have sympathy for them actually. They made a mistake by assuming that if we could go there then we could go there. I’m not so spiteful that I rub my hands in glee at their misfortune.

The 'red/amber/green' list is about the rules that the UK applies to us on travelling abroad/coming back. It has nothing to do with what rules other countries wish to apply to us.

We went away at Xmas and it was wonderful but also a LOT of stress and expense with the PCR tests, not knowing until the last minute if we'd be able to go, and they changed the rules with quarantine just before we went, so we had to quarantine for 2 weeks when we returned.

It was a wonderful break but it was also extremely stressful and I'm not booking anything abroad until things are a bit clearer.

We knew when we booked that things could change and that our destination country could have changed its rules, as well as the UK changing rules here. We decided we were willing to take that gamble. It was our responsibility, no one else's.

I have sympathy for people who need to go to Portugal to sort out holiday let’s/ second homes that type of thing
Not so much for holiday makers

Yesterday someone told me that a one way plane ticket to Portugal with BA is £500
And the budget airlines that were £40 ish pre covid are now several hundred pounds
If that’s true that’s appalling

What I'm really not liking is the covert schadenfreude going on where people are taking delight in people's inability to travel and the troubles of the travel industry as a whole...

I agree with this

Some people are twits and others may have their own reasons.

We have a holiday in July in Europe - not booked this year ( I would have been wary) but rolled over from last year and i'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll go if I can but accept the directives.

@Lockheart Yes, that too.

I have no sympathy for those with second homes.
I do have sympathy for those with family that cannot see their loved ones.

You are always told how beautiful, lovely etc. Britain is (and I agree to some extend) but you darn well don't like to stay at home

Yes the UK is lovely. But it's also crowded and expensive and the weather is unpredictable.

I don't want to spend thousands to rent a property elsewhere in the UK and then find the weather cold and rainy so I'm either sat inside my expensive holiday property doing pretty much the same as I could do for free at home, or spending even more money for indoor attractions to get out of the rain.

Even more so in COVID times when you have to book everything in advance and you just know that the things you've booked for outdoors will be on the rainy days and the things you've booked for indoors will be on the sunny days.

I'd much rather either go abroad, where I know what the weather will be like or save my money, stay and relax at home. It can still be a break if you don't have to go to work, visit local attractions and have some treaty food and drink.

I feel more sympathy for the people in Portugal who rely on income from tourists. You could argue that there should have been more clarity, but nothing is clear. Things are changing on a daily basis.

I think we are just not going to go on holiday.
Its far too expensive now.
I haven't seen my older ds for 2 years now.
Ive never met my grandson.

It's a form of hubris. "Oh, well, the UK government says its okay so obviously everyone else will just fall in line." I don't think this is a uniquely UK thing though.

But its just the way it is. I have to accept it.
I would love to take my younger children on holiday but I just can't see it here in the UK either. Prices have tripled.

I’m also wondering how people who are adamant they don’t want a vaccine passport - will cope when they go abroad and find their destination requires a vaccine passport too, including for domestic hospitality.

I can understand being desperate for a holiday but anyone rushing out booking something departing in the next couple of months is insane imo

I did have a holiday in Lanzarote booked for early Dec last year. The rules changed so many times between booking and our departure date and we ended up missing our flight due to the problems with some OCR testing companies being overwhelmed and being unable to get results back within the timeframe.

So with me its a case of once bitten and I will be very wary about booking anything any time soon

I think the ones on tv and social media moaning about how they booked a holding for next week within minutes of the green list being announced without checking any further information don't deserve sympathy tbh

Maybe the travel agents should take responsibility

Don't many people organise their own holidays, without the assistance of a travel agent?

I’m also wondering how those people who are against vaccine passports will cope when they travel abroad and find their destination country also requires a vaccine passport to access domestic hospitality.

Oops - posted same thing twice!

^Yesterday someone told me that a one way plane ticket to Portugal with BA is £500
And the budget airlines that were £40 ish pre covid are now several hundred pounds
If that’s true that’s appalling^

Always the case. You don't think airlines can profitably run a flight where people pay £40 a ticket do you? Especially when £13 of that is tax.

When Monarch went bust 2 days before we were due to fly with them, I was lucky to have the time and the foresight to book replacement flights as it was being reported on during the early morning news. A few hours later when everyone else had caught up with the impact, return flights to Mallorca were over £1k pp, so the same sort of price.

You only have to look on Twitter threads around this topic to see the shocking lack of comprehension from many of the British public. It's actually quite worrying

Every announcement is followed by a wave of "but does that mean?" "but am I allowed to?" "but where can I get a test?". A lot of people are too lazy to read the information that's readily available and have some sort of aversion to googling simple things, so I'm not surprised they've sleep walked into potentially impossible holidays.

@Londonmummy00

It should have been made very clear at the announcement that these ‘green list’ countries will have their own rules and to please check before booking a flight/ hotel.

We looked at Singapore briefly (didn’t book) before MIL text it wasn’t letting us in.

But…surely people do research? I’m sure it was clear in Portugal.

The rules of my country do not dictate the rules of the country I want to visit? This is surely common sense?

No sympathy here, people are in too much of a rush, I don’t want to seem mean but I am quite amused by the whole situation, we have had foreign holidays rescheduled and cancelled and now are not going to bother with a foreign holiday until 2022.

I know the UK weather is unpredictable but we are staying here and going to Cornwall and Wales.

@HelpMeh ‘disingenuous’ - my favourite word! People claiming to know less then they do...