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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Holidays abroad - anyone booking?

136 replies

Soulstirring · 13/08/2020 06:27

Very tempted to book Turkey for this month. Wondered other people’s thoughts/experiences of travelling abroad?

OP posts:
spaghettihoops16 · 13/08/2020 06:44

Ha! There was a thread similar to this earlier in the week...

Let me grab the popcorn...

bert3400 · 13/08/2020 06:48

I live overseas, we have had a few visitors and all have said they felt very safe flying and at the airport. You have to do what you feel comfortable with.

Friendsoftheearth · 13/08/2020 06:49

Nope, no way not this year.

Rebelwithallthecause · 13/08/2020 06:50

Friends have been abroad already and are going again in a weeks time

Both times to turkey

They have felt safe and have had a good time

It is different from your usual holiday though with the extra measures in place

KatherineJaneway · 13/08/2020 06:52

No. Will do next year though.

Blankscreen · 13/08/2020 06:56

Dh had to travel.woth work last week. He really didn't want to go.

He said the plane was jam packed with people all sitting next to each other.
So in the airport you have to socially distance from one another but on the plane you don't.
Needless to say we're not going on holiday.

Honestly don't go. Spend your money here and help the UK economy

Absolute nonsense.

Original poster
Soulstirring · 13/08/2020 07:15

@spaghettihoops16 ahhh I missed it, take it it was blood bath 😂.

More than happy to support U.K. tourism. We did do a week camping in Cornwall earlier this month which was lovely but weather was hit and miss. Also a very busy and full on week so not feeling relaxed at all.

The plan was to miss this years sun holiday but I’m tempted.

OP posts:
Friendsoftheearth · 13/08/2020 07:17

Why does anyone need to go away because of the weather - it is 33c and boiling hot, and has been for a week now!!! No respite in sight either...

Roselilly36 · 13/08/2020 07:23

No wouldn’t go abroad this year, no way could I wear a mask for all those hours on a plane, all the extra rules, flights being cancelled at the drop of a hat & changes in quarantine, local lockdowns.

Summer in the UK is lovely, I have never understood why going abroad during summer is a thing, but great for me, I like a winter sunshine holiday but won’t be having one this year and that’s fine with me.

Original poster
Soulstirring · 13/08/2020 07:24

@Friendsoftheearth I’m working unfortunately and not able to enjoy this glorious weather until evening. It’s Sod’s law on my week of it’ll pour down

OP posts:
spaghettihoops16 · 13/08/2020 07:33

[quote Soulstirring]@spaghettihoops16 ahhh I missed it, take it it was blood bath 😂.

More than happy to support U.K. tourism. We did do a week camping in Cornwall earlier this month which was lovely but weather was hit and miss. Also a very busy and full on week so not feeling relaxed at all.

The plan was to miss this years sun holiday but I’m tempted.[/quote]
Yer, some poor poster got it in the neck about potentially booking a holiday at Xmas. I semi got it attacked by saying how much I'm window shopping for holiday ideas and saying with was good for MH: Ha! Made me laugh, I've had a great week cruising Booking.com's free cancellation hotels :)

Friendsoftheearth · 13/08/2020 08:10

I think you should go if you want to, but be very careful to know the risks.

No travel insurance company will cover localised lockdowns or repatriations any longer. So when you book now, you are essentially on your own in the sense that if you get stranded or become so ill you need to be flown back, the cost will be on you.
Fine if you are extremely wealthy, not so fine if like others you need to crowd fund your way home.

You book with your eyes wide open on the risks, potentially being extremely ill in a Turkish hospital, lockdowns either side, flight cancellations, hotel closures and all the rest. If once you have weighed up and have a plan for all of this, and still choose to go, then have a lovely time! I personally can not think of anything worse being on a packed plane, flying out to somewhere with substandard healthcare and would not find any of it 'relaxing' but each to their own.

Pootle40 · 13/08/2020 18:49

Summer isn't hot or lovely in all parts of the uk! We've had a handful of days above 20c otherwise it's 17/18 every day.

Friendsoftheearth · 13/08/2020 19:15

33c here every day for over a week. Before that 23-25c or hotter every day over July and August. Next week's forecast 22c every day for the next ten days minimum. It has been roasting this summer!! Too hot!

Are you in Scotland pootle?

Bananabread8 · 13/08/2020 19:19

TUI/FIRST CHOICE are offering good deals. They have a COVID-19 promise too.

Friendsoftheearth · 13/08/2020 19:33

You might want to read this first:

www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/How-France-s-coronavirus-numbers-compare

Bearbehind · 13/08/2020 20:29

@Friendsoftheearth I’m not sure what your motives are for scare mongering on all the travel threads is

Life needs to move on as Covid is going nowhere - we need to find ways to live with it

People need to risk assess their situation and if they decide to travel abroad then that’s fine

It being hot in the UK is generally shit as we’re not set up to deal with it - no air conditioning, very few pools etc

The pictures of overcrowded UK beaches as there’s fuck all else to do, is a great argument for going abroad

zafferana · 14/08/2020 12:32

I've booked flights to Italy for October OP. Right now, I think there's more chance that Italy will close its border to the UK than the other way around, but two months is a long time, so we'll see. I can change the flights to later dates if we can't go and our Airbnb is cancellable up until the day before we go.

Friendsoftheearth · 14/08/2020 12:41

bear I am not scaremongering at all, but it is interesting you see it that way. I am simply stating the facts and attaching the information, why would it matter to me if other people go on holiday I don't even know them - it is a bizarre comment.

I feel people should make informed decisions though, and given the gross lack of facts that are often a feature on these threads at the moment, I would say it was very necessary to counter the 'I feel safe in bars in Spain' brigade with the solid facts that the bars in Spain are currently very unsafe given the surge of infections they are now experiencing.

I have a pool, I live within driving distance of beautiful beach, and it is not crowded, I know I am lucky. We live on an island everyone can get to the beach, lakes and be outside this summer. Everything is now open, so I am not sure why you are bored, but perhaps look for something to do rather than swearing on internet forums.

123sunshine · 14/08/2020 13:54

I was due to go to France Saturday morning to a rural gite travelling on the eurotunnel all low risk and safe in my opinion. However with the requirement just announced for quarantine on return from France we can no longer go due to requirement to start a new job on return from holiday. Very unlikely i'll see the money that we've paid out for the gite and I feel for the gite owners to, its rubbish all round. In answer to your question no I won't be booking any more holidays anywhere. We had 3 separate trips cancelled earlier in the year also due to covid situation. It's not the risk of catching covid that bothers me, I assess each situation on its merrit and tend to avoid busy overcrowded places anyway; it's the constantly changing environment, the disappointment of cancelled holidays and the battle for refunds and possible loss of money. The changing restrictions means that in my opinion it is impossible to book anything or make plans with confidence.

Bearbehind · 14/08/2020 13:58

@Friendsoftheearth I have no idea why you’d think you’ve views are welcome in the travel section when you have no intention of travelling anywhere and you’re just offering what you believe to be your superior advice 🤔

You lost most of us at ‘I have a pool’

That’s not exactly the situation most of us are in so, unsurprisingly, we may make different choices to you

KoalasandRabbit · 14/08/2020 14:04

We had an original holiday for Thailand and Malaysia booked for now, booked a year ago which couldn't go ahead - have had big battles getting money back and around £1600 will probably need to be written off. Insurance won't pay out anything as FCO says can travel even though countries won't let you in. Had battles with the refundable ones in some cases, got it back after social media (but got attacked for asking) and then had to wait 2 months. So not inclinded to book anything else abroad until situation is resolved.

We went to North Devon this year and had a lovely time, weather was low 20s and sunny 7/9, beautiful sunsets, we are not beach / hot weather people anyway so that was fine for us. Though it is solidly booked up now. Very glad hearing all the quarantines being announced at short notice we didn't chose abroad but sorry for DH who is French - he chose to stay in England though but his Mum in her 80s is their alone. She has other relatives close by and he thought risk of us taking it to her was too great. If its same next year will do Devon again though surely situation can't be economically sustainable so hoping its over by next summer - its only partly covid and largely the chaos/lack of notice that goes with it and lack of refund risk.

exiledfromcornwall · 14/08/2020 14:06

A rare voice of reason 123sunshine . We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we are going to have to write off a whole year of our retirement, which never really got going properly due to family problems. It is nearly a year since we last had a holiday, and that was in the UK. It seemed to risky earlier in the year to book a foreign holiday, and it still seems to risky now. Someone said 2 months is a long way away, but 2 months ago 2 months seemed a long way away, and look where we are now.

KoalasandRabbit · 14/08/2020 14:06

I've very jealous of the own pool Grin though covid did mean in Devon we got the pool to just us for 2 hours a day. That I would be happy to continue.

exiledfromcornwall · 14/08/2020 14:06

too risky - sigh!