Which countries do you think will end up on the green list by end of July?

[nancysblush]

I know it’s dependent on various things, but what situation do you think we’ll be in for travel in the height of summer this year?

Battleface provide cover for all places regardless of traffic light designation. I used them last year and probably will for my next trip. But indeed, wise to double check.

@ineedaholidaynow

Will people need to check their insurance if they travel to an Amber country for non-essential reason? Assume you might not be covered.

I’m not covered by mine (Columbus) however there are some others which will cover me so if I end up going to Spain then I’ll get one of those for the holiday

It’s not the unvaccinated that’s causing this Avoncalling, over 70% and still rising of the uk’s population have taken at least one dose so far. Why is that not enough? This is political and the blame lies only at the feet of the government. Do not turn on each other, turn on our “leaders”

@EasterIssland Indians are travelling not for "xyz" but to cremate their dead and be with the bereaved . You are allowed to travel to an amber country for far less important purposes. You just have to quarantine in your own home, rather than in a hotel.

The hospital admissions are very low.
The Indian variant is being managed.

I'm struggling to understand what the reasoning for these decisions are. It's damaging for our mentality, our general recovery, businesses recovering.

@AvonCallingBarksdale

This is beyond farcical now - the photos of people at UK beaches is very much less than enticing and I’m not paying top dollar to stay in some spit and sawdust shithole in the UK. DH and I are both double-jabbed we have a villa booked on its own - why can we not go?? I have no patience with those who’ve chosen not to be vaccinated - why should we curtail our lives further for conspiracy theorists? Also, infection rates are not the important bit - it’s the hospital admissions. What a total shambles. Again.

Well the government seems to have done it’s job very well there. You see all the fault of ‘people’ and nothing to do with the government.

Never mind that most people who are entitled to have the vaccine have (many haven’t been called yet).
Never mind that the reason we have the Indian variant in the U.K. is because of government policy (of not closing the corridor betwen the U.K. and Indian much much sooner)
Never mind that we end up with our own variant because we let the virus run rampant in the country.

Nope. It’s all the fault of individuals for not ‘staying within the rules’ (that aren’t adequate to protect you anyway)

About time the government were given credit for acting quickly.

Maybe people should have used common sense and seen how awful the situation was in India and not travelled there before the ban came into place.

It's interesting how many people wish we were more like Australia and New Zealand and had a travel ban early on, and then be able to live a pretty normal life with the odd lockdown (which are triggered with very small number of cases) and now the Government are getting their arses into gear with travel bans people are complaining. They can't win.

Erm @User135644 are you actually serious? You want to congratulate the government for keeping the citizens of the U.K. imprisoned for even longer? That’s after we all locked down, we all wore the masks, we all waited homeschooled, closed businesses and didn’t see our families. Then we all did what we were told to save Christmas, then waited to save Easter, then the summer, then holidays and we are all getting the vaccine. What else? It’s beyond time to give everybody their lives back and fuck off quite frankly, their job is done.

There is now a Vietnamese variant and a Nepali variant as well. A bunch of Everest climbers from Western countries are now barred from returning home. So this could continue forever, as variants arise across the world and formerly green countries move to amber or even red.

I am no virologist, but now that vaccine uptake has been so good, I think its time to just open things up to the vaccinated.

Spain.
We are booked. If it's amber I'm going. We will both be double jabbed, we will have insurance, we will pay for all the tests, we will self isolate and follow all the rules of the country. Unless it's banned I'm going. I don't want to go on holiday here.

But it's not just this country @Lostinacloud.

How many countries actually want us or other travellers anywhere near them?

@DreamingNow, I can’t tell if we’re in the same page or not To be clear, though, I lay the blame for this squarely on the government’s shoulders.

And meanwhile all those of us who have previously enjoyed holidaying in the UK are dogged with beautiful twee seaside towns full of people who haven't the decorum for holidaying in the UK and should be in an all inclusive in Benidorm. I can't bear Norfolk this half term, it's full of horrible people, which is such a shame as it never usually is.

Wow there are some pretty off views either way.
People who "cant bear" to holiday in the uk, as if they're special and need to go abroad to have a "proper" holiday.
And the above...who think they're superior because they do holiday in the uk!!

We normally holiday in the uk due to budget more than anything else, although weve been to a caravan or camping in France a couple of times.
I dont understand people complaining about hiked up prices in the uk - the amount of tests needed for going abroad will surely not make it that much (if any) cheaper....especially as there wasnt the opportunity to book well in advance. We normally spend somewhere around 1k on uk accommodation. The last time we looked at booking a holiday abroad in the school holidays, the flights for 4, alone cost nearly that.

I’d say that by the end of July they’ll be a fair few extra countries added but by then we’ll have 4-6 weeks left of tourist season...

I honestly think they underestimated how many people wanted to travel, hence snatching Portugal away, and they certainly thought the amber restrictions would put people off to a greater degree.

I have a trip to France at the end of August and I still fully intend to go, amber or not. I guess everyone will just have to make up for it with lots of city breaks towards the end of the year!

I'm going to Menorca on Monday. If my flight isn't cancelled I'll be going.

Are France letting us in @User1234123?

Aren't we always going to have various strains, the virus will always mutate isn't that what they do? So how long will the gov keep us in this hamster wheel? I've followed all the rules but I am so over this now I'm starting to feel very hemmed in and my freedoms all but removed.

@ineedaholidaynow

Maybe people should have used common sense and seen how awful the situation was in India and not travelled there before the ban came into place.

It's interesting how many people wish we were more like Australia and New Zealand and had a travel ban early on, and then be able to live a pretty normal life with the odd lockdown (which are triggered with very small number of cases) and now the Government are getting their arses into gear with travel bans people are complaining. They can't win.

Everyone has a different version of Common Sense, it doesn't exist!

Australia and NZ handled the pandemic well last year but now we have vaccines that work against all known variants and are stopping almost all serious illness (with 2 doses)

If we cannot start to return to normal now that europe and UK have very high vaccination rates and falling hospitalisations, then we never will, Covid is here to stay, like Flu Pneumonia, Polio etc etc.

What you and others seem to want is a state of constant fear and restriction? Maybe you don't realise that but thats what you are asking for.

@TheSaucepanMan

Aren't we always going to have various strains, the virus will always mutate isn't that what they do? So how long will the gov keep us in this hamster wheel? I've followed all the rules but I am so over this now I'm starting to feel very hemmed in and my freedoms all but removed.

I'm completely with you in this. When will it be over? I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I feel like there is definitely another agenda at play now.

@nancysblush

I know it’s dependent on various things, but what situation do you think we’ll be in for travel in the height of summer this year?

The bigger risk is that the UK ends up being on no one's green list before the end of July.

It's not where you'll be allowed to go to, it's where you'll be allowed in when you get there.

There was talk of a possible US-U.K. travel corridor being announced when Biden is here for the G7. Do we think that's now unlikely as it seems rather irrelevant if the green list is so restricted?

I dont understand people complaining about hiked up prices in the uk - the amount of tests needed for going abroad will surely not make it that much (if any) cheaper....especially as there wasnt the opportunity to book well in advance. We normally spend somewhere around 1k on uk accommodation. The last time we looked at booking a holiday abroad in the school holidays, the flights for 4, alone cost nearly that

I’m happy to spend much more on a holiday abroad than one in the UK. The UK is not a different holiday experience for us - same language, same food, same culture, same weather. For me, a holiday is a break away from the norm. So I’m happy to pay more for that.

Re: saucepan man. Yes I agree. We all been following all the rules and yes this virus is gonna mutate . I don’t want to holiday in uk. Price and weather being a factor . It would be nice to have places to go in europe without them being snatched away. I never travelled when I was younger through no fault of my own . Suffer mental heath issues And I feel the government is punishing people with the least amount of money. We should still mask and wash and sterilise our hands . But let us have freedom. Everyone I know is feeling very down.

Does anyone know when the next review of the green list will be?