Should I even bother?

[Blackbird1234]

I really need some advice, please.

I live outside of the UK (although was born there) but a few family members still live there, another family member is travelling to the UK to be with them all for Christmas. I'm currently in another country (EU) and due to travel there myself in a few days with my boyfriend.

I haven't booked anything yet as rules are changing so often. I've just added up all of the costs to get there, plus tests. Tests alone are going to cost €700 for two people. The train will be around €350 for two people. The cost of the hotel if we need to isolate for 10 days will be around €650 minimum - I haven't even added in the costs of food for the 10 days we are there, nor any other public transport like trains/tubes.

I don't know what to do, is it even worth it? Are things in the UK likely to get even more strict between now and Xmas?

Honestly? Unless it is a last Christmas for a relative or something, I wouldn’t bother. Book a trip in advance for the spring and hopefully get better prices when things are less manic. It sounds stressful to me.

@SandysMam It is super stressful. It's not a last Christmas thankfully, but it would be the first time I've seen my dad in 2 years and my brother in 18 months - it just completely sucks.

Yes, it sucks

I don't think restrictions will ease until at least the end of January now.

Whether they become stricter is crystal ball stuff, depending on how many end up in hospital. Even if the proportion is not high, if lots of people are off sick within a short period, it's going to make everything chaotic.

We ended up having a sumner family gathering instead of meeting up at Christmas 2020

@RoseAndRose I feel like the smartest thing to do is to postpone the trip until things calm down and I don't have to potentially pay €700 in tests, but the thought of that is also making me feel gutted.

We are also due to come back to where we are currently staying after Christmas to spend more time with my partners family, but that is at risk if we need to isolate for 10 days once we come back. It's all so difficult and I'm already terrible at making decisions anyway!

I really feel for you OP. It's hard being cut off from family. I have several family members I haven't seen since 2018 and 2019 and who I won't be seeing any time soon (Dec 2022 earliest).

Given the circumstances, testing, etc. I'd hold off until things quieten down. In the best of cases it's going to cost you a fortune and be very inconvenient and in the worst of cases it's going to cost an even bigger fortune and be an absolute flop and prevent you from seeing your partner's family too.

OP where are you that you're paying 700euro for two tests?!

Why would you pay 700€ for tests??

I don’t know anywhere in Europe where you couldn’t get an antigen or PCR test, pre-flight, for less than 30-40€. Then book the cheapest day 2 PCRs you can find, from a company that won’t take weeks to analyse your test. NWP are very reliable and cost £40 per person.

That’s under 200€ in tests.

Can you fly instead of taking the train? It’s often cheaper, sadly.

@EileenGC@Polmuggle I'm in Holland/Belgium on the border, leaving from Belgium. The tests needed cost around €65 for them to be travel approved, the ones in the UK are around £75-£100 for the fast results (otherwise need to spend longer in hotels) and we will need about 6 tests minimum each, potentially 7, so it averages out around €700 total for 2 people with conversion etc - it's not exact math but it's the average as some prices over here are changing so it takes that into account. It's absolutely insane.

Flying is useless to us as although the flights themselves may be cheaper, we would pay excess on luggage to get the xmas gifts etc over to the UK.

The pre-departure tests don’t need to be travel-approved. They just need to have your names, DOBs and basic personal data. That’s what all tests come with anyway. It doesn’t have to be a fit to fly.

Also, you don’t need to isolate in a hotel until you get your day 2 results. You can go straight to family / those you’re staying with. By public transport or a car, it doesn’t matter. (Yes, it makes no sense). You simply aren’t allowed to go out to pubs, theatres, supermarkets… until the results come through.