Who's currently cancelling their holiday to Portugal then?

[diggingatrench]

@AfternoonToffee and the reason it wasn't in the UK was because they wouldn't agree to not having press,media crew etc from other countries quantining on arrival. Whereas Portugal said come on over.

I agree @strangeshapedpotato I'd love to go abroad at some point for deeply shallow selfish reasons, but we're not fully out of restrictions in the UK - it just would have seemed sensible to get some relative stability here before willingly introducing new variants (literally).

Iced purple.

Sure, if it’s for the good of public health. Plus l wouldn’t go anyway.

I think there are a lot of people who only have holidays to look forward to. People are working longer and longer hours with less downtime, for many there is little hope of ever owning a home, holidays are what people live for. It might not be what everyone does but it’s certainly what a lot do and mocking people for their personal priorities is pretty shitty.
I haven't had more than one day off in a row since Christmas. I'd love a holiday. I'm just not fool enough to trust our government and get on a plane and go overseas right now.

Sure, if it’s for the good of public health.

How do you balance the loss of a pretty fundamental freedom, not to mention the huge economic fall-out, with the 'good of public health'? Banning lots of things would be for 'the good of public health' but we normally compromise with other priorities.

Plus l wouldn’t go anyway.

So now we get to the crux of the matter.

We have to do what it takes.

The world wouldn’t end if holidays were put on hold for a few years.

No, l don’t feel my freedom is being curtailed. Boris is a Libertarian so probably hates doing anything that curbs freedom. We’re in an emergency situation, which means we have to do what it takes.

If you can’t see beyond going on holiday as a right, then this is why the world is in this mess.

We have to do what it takes

Which means...what exactly?

Just sounds like another empty platitude, along the lines of 'the good of public health'. If you're going to deprive people of a fundamental right and the ability to earn a living, you need to provide a proper risk-benefit analysis. Not just talk in cliches and add that you're not bothered about it at any rate, so why should anyone else be?

The world wouldn’t end if holidays were put on hold for a few years.

And yet another meaningless cliche. Of course the 'world won't end.' But millions of people's livelihoods will be destroyed, not just in Britain but in poor countries which are heavily dependent on tourism.

If you can’t see beyond going on holiday as a right, then this is why the world is in this mess.

I didn't say going on holiday is a 'right'. I said the ability to leave your country is. You're happy to suspend that right indefinitely because, hey, you're not much bothered with travel. Happily, not everyone is so blase about the loss of fundamental human rights.

🥱

@strangeshapedpotato

By the current logic, banned travel isn’t one more year- it’s the foreseeable future.

Err no - it SHOULD have been banned completely until the UK had completed its vaccine program, and then allowed with proper restrictions.

But instead we had the ridiculous duality of the government both telling everyone it was fine to go abroad for holidays, and simultaneously advising them not to.

I’m confused about how you think vaccines will help, if the concern with travel is due to unknown foreign variants with the potential to get round the vaccines? Can you explain?

The world wouldn’t end if holidays were put on hold for a few years

Although that's true Arse and I agree that going abroad this year is out of the (Co-Op?!) window, it would be a big deal for some people not to be able to go abroad for a few years as it might mean they never go abroad again. For example, my DH is not in the greatest of health and probably only has a few years of being able to travel abroad. The thought of us never being able to go overseas again as a couple makes me terribly sad. A first world problem, I know.

@IcedPurple

Sure, if it’s for the good of public health.

How do you balance the loss of a pretty fundamental freedom, not to mention the huge economic fall-out, with the 'good of public health'? Banning lots of things would be for 'the good of public health' but we normally compromise with other priorities.

Plus l wouldn’t go anyway.

So now we get to the crux of the matter.

Exactly - so many people are all about doing things "for the common good" when it doesn't actually inconvenience them in any way at all 🙄

@Gilly12345

Why is everyone so surprised when holiday lists change?

We were all advised that foreign holidays this year was not advisable.

Flying abroad in the middle of a pandemic for non-essential reasons is idiotic. Lying on a beach isn't essential.

@Puzzledandpissedoff Looks like you are getting proved right already. Someone has just retweeted this into my feed.

twitter.com/JuliaHB1/status/1400759626589683720?s=20

There was nothing clever about my foreseeing that, MercyBooth - it was bound to happen, rightly or not, when you subject folk to this half life for so long

4 tests and quarantine sounds like an awful lot of faff for me.

YY @Puzzledandpissedoff i said the same thing about two months ago. Its the conclusion that people will reach.

Why does everyone assume people going on holiday ‘want to lie on a sun lounger?’

I can’t think of anything worse.

Some people really lack imagination.

This is true. They are letting people come in from red list countries who are not British returning home. They are visiting. I couldn't believe it.

I couldn’t enjoy holiday abroad … too much hassle … very fluid situation … put ours back for next June .. …. I don’t know why people are up in arms … anything the government does is wrong …. Ok let the new variants come and wreak havoc ..
That makes sense

So are all those wringing their hands about the travel industry going down the tubes got anything to say about the loss of retail and hospitality Jobs? Car plants closing? (or maybe closing)? No? Is it because you don't holiday in Sunderland?

@Brefugee

So are all those wringing their hands about the travel industry going down the tubes got anything to say about the loss of retail and hospitality Jobs? Car plants closing? (or maybe closing)? No? Is it because you don't holiday in Sunderland?

How is concern about the travel industry mutually exclusive from concern about other industries? Everything needs to get going again.

I love the idea that people genuinely think that what we’re doing is anything to do with zero covid.

Is it a sort of top secret zero covid plan that involves identifying a more transmissible variant circulating in some areas, relaxing restrictions, allowing people to mix more freely and then just watching and keeping an eye out while the strain becomes the dominant strain and cases are increasing at quite an alarming rate while maybe suggesting there might be a delay to the further relaxations proposed next month.

Tbf to the government, it is a very cunning disguise for a zero-covid plan.

brefugee personally I have opinions on a variety of topics. I just didn’t think voicing my concerns about the uk automotive industry was particularly relevant to a conversation about Portugal being suddenly moved to the amber list for travel.

I feel really sorry for anyone who was flying to see family and friends. Anyone who just booked a holiday knew it was precarious. It's disappointing but it can't be a huge shock.

I ask about the other industries because whenever they get mentioned it's "shrug shrug" but now they can't go on holiday...

And yes, I'm aware that people can be concerned about more than thing at once.