2021 holidays

[Applejack87]

Hi , are people actually booking holidays this year whether it be abroad or in the Uk ?

[Cornelius9696]

I think about booking a vacation to Turkey for my mom and me. It's not that I don't see the sea here in UK I just want the water to be warm and the sand without stones :). At the beginning of the year, given the pandemic I thought I would have to forget about trips abroad but has not gotten as bad as I was expecting. Might as well get vaccinated in order to ease the process of travelling process. I got too bored of the weather in UK I want a little sunlight in my life. I heard Turkey has the best sandals resort for honeymoon which is perfect as I am going to propose to my fiance soon.

[Cornelius9696]

I think about booking a vacation to Turkey for my mom and me. It's not that I don't see the sea here in UK I just want the water to be warm and the sand without stones :). At the beginning of the year, given the pandemic I thought I would have to forget about trips abroad but has not gotten as bad as I was expecting. Might as well get vaccinated in order to ease the process of travelling process. I got too bored of the weather in UK I want a little sunlight in my life. I heard Turkey has the best sandals resort for honeymoon which is perfect as I am going to propose to my fiance soon.

[Silkiescat]

We just did 2 weeks in UK in the end - Isles of Scilly and North Devon, get a helicopter there and small plane back so kids are happy. DS is ASD and would struggle with the testing for abroad plus I don't want to be uncertain if we can go right up to flight and risk losing money again and it adds £1k for tests. At least we did lots of lovely holidays abroad before last year and never did UK so fine for a while but hope can go abroad in 2022 and DH also needs to see MIL in France. She has been vaccinated at least now. Think given cost of tests he'll probably go alone when he's allowed.

[MaryShelley1818]

We've booked a week in the Lakes for end of June in a Parkdean Caravan.
A week in Menorca in September.
A week at CenterParcs in December.

Cautiously optimistic for all 3 of them.

[BlackLambAndGreyFalcoln]

A week in Devon at the start of the summer holidays and then a week mid-August in Germany. I am reasonably optimistic about the Germany trip. The only issue I can see is a potential quarantine requirement. I can't imagine Germany imposing a requirement on the UK if our rates stay low and the vaccination rollout continues as planned. If they do then we'll just move the flights (this trip was originally booked for April 2020 and we've moved the flights 3 times already!) Quarantine on the UK side is perhaps more likely. I won't go if there's a hotel quarantine requirement in place (will move the flights again) but will go if we have to quarantine at home. We've deliberately booked the trip for mid-August so there is time for us to do any required quarantine at home on our return before the school term starts. Yes, there might be an outside chance that we go and a hotel quarantine requirement is brought in whilst we are away, but it's a risk that we'll have to take.

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Been invited to a friend in Scandinavia's house in august, where are people finding out the info about whether we'll be allowed to go?

[reluctantbrit]

@AvonCallingBarksdale

I am not sure there is any country in a postition yet to have a tourist season. DH has work links to the US and they are cautiously talking about returning to work at the end of the year and their situation is as dire as many European countries.

Other countries have severe restrictions of letting people into the country without a quarantaine.

I am desperate to go away, we had nice breaks last year in Scotland and Cornwall but I just want to go out.

[reluctantbrit]

We moved our 2020 August holiday to Majorca to 2021 but haven't booked a flight yet. At the moment we start looking into UK instead, fully prepared to loose the money but I can't see the hotel (booked directly) is willing to move it again if they open the resorts.

We will most likely have the jab (DH is booked for June for his second and I am in the 40+ group) but unless the numbers go down drastically abroad the UK will not entertain returns without quarantaine and that's not what I am willing to do. I am also not really into spending two weeks in an area which may be back in lockdown or has severe restrictions.

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

You’re right, cataclysmiclife I know. Maybe next year 🤞🏻

[cataclysmiclife]

I really want to go away and do want to support the travel industry as otherwise we will lose it. I keep looking to book but I'm torn as there is not yet clarity around quarantine requirements, vaccine passports or travel corridors, testing requirements before travel or after and the cost of travel insurance. That's not to mention all the restrictions once you are away, will there be restaurants open or places to visit? Then there is the risk of bringing some new variant back. It's such a shame

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

What about travel outside of Europe by August? DH and I have had an awful year (as have so many others) and I can’t bear the thought of more time at home. Feeling v despondent today so am dreaming of a trip away.

[MirandaMarple]

I meant to add, do staff want to fly without the vaccine too?

[MirandaMarple]

Overseas travel is looking less likely now isn't it? Especially for the majority of the Summer. The general holiday (package) looks like it's not going to happen at all.

Are airlines going to let staff (who are mainly in the last groups to be vaccinated, mostly aged 18-35) fly/go back to work without a vaccine?

[vinoandbrie]

Have booked Cornwall for early July and Greek island for late August. I’m happy enough that Cornwall will go ahead, but who knows about Greece.

DH and I will be fully vaccinated by then, happy for DCs to take tests before going, but major concern is that we’d have to quarantine on return😭😭

[Ellmau]

Less confident about abroad this year than last. Have booked Cornwall.

[SJaneS49]

At this point, I don’t think so. I was hopeful until this week but with new lockdowns across Europe, variants spreading etc it does seem unlikely. I’m not going to cancel and re-book just yet and we will wait and see but I do have an internal ? about the potential bringing back of variants when our recovery programme is going pretty well.

We’ll call it mid July I think with the most likely route being cancelling and booking somewhere in the U.K. Knowing our luck, there won’t be many reasonably priced cottages left at that point!

[carrottopper]

We have our Tui holiday to Spain moved from last august to this august. Neither I of hubby have been vaccinated yet and we have 2 kids. Not much chance of us going is there?

[NCTDN]

We're meant to be going to Austria this summer (carried over from last summer). I'm desperate to go but even if we're allowed, the rates over there may be too high.

[FoonySpucker]

@Silkies I hope you manage to get something sorted. I had a quick look at that website and nearly threw my ipad through the window in frustration. Goodness knows how people are supposed to navigate it!!!

Things do seem to be progressing on the vaccine front though, so hopefully it will all fall into place soon.

My MIL is in the UK. My OH hasn't seen her for over a year. She is in her 90s and lives alone. I know he will be on the first available plane when restictions are lifted.

I hope you can manage to get over here safely soon.
We are all hoping for a more normal summer.

[lalafafa]

Ive moved our Xmas holiday to Easter and then again to Xmas 2021,i asked travel agent who called if kids would need to be vaccinated to travel by Xmas. She said she didn't know but did mention we'd probably need a Covid passport.

[Silkies]

Thanks Foony I just asked DH and he said he pointed that site out to her a week or so ago (she can't use internet much) and said he could book her appointment at a local hospital using it from here and he mentioned it also said GP so she said no to hospital and she was going to the GP but not sure if that's a quick option. Its very difficult as she's in her 80s alone and doesn't drive but she does have a sister thankfully not too far away who drives and is in her late 60s who would take her if needed. I think DH will just have to see if she can get GPs appointment next week and if not get her sister to drive her to hospital though his Mum can be very stubborn and she may insist on GP. Hope you can see your family soon - we aren't allowed over there atm and DH hasn't been able to see her since last Feburary (the grandchildren and I are previous October or so) - think there was a time in the summer we could have gone but DH was worried about taking covid over.

Though our French niece has had school since September over there which is 3 months more than mine have had in UK between lockdown and close contact school isolations (where almost whole year gets sent home with 1 case for 2 weeks) and they travelled to second home for Christmas with 2 families whereas we have not been allowed out of our village. Hopefully it will be back to more like normal before too long.

[FoonySpucker]

@silkies

Several people that I know have had their vaccinations by registering at their local pharmacy. I am not sure if this applies to the over 65s, but it may be worth asking.

There is a website for booking appointments if you are eligible (and she certainly should be) It doesn't seem the easiest site to negotiate but it might be worth a go. It does say that the over 75s can now be vaccinated by their doctor and will be contacted, but I have seen that people are booking via the site. www.doctolib.fr/

Someone else local has said that they popped into to the doctor's on an unrelated matter (just to drop off a form) and the receptionist asked them if they wanted to book a vaccine appointment.

It all seems a bit hit and miss and different areas are taking different approaches. I hope your MIL can get something sorted soon.

@Stokey Thanks. It could be worse. All I want is the opportunity to see my children and grand-children (who don't live in France).

[Silkies]

My husand's family are French and their vaccine rollout seems far slower than ours - his Mum lives alone in her 80s, very much wants the vaccine and has not been able to get it yet. It looks like its imminent but a couple of months behind here. Only a third of their healthcare workers are vaccinated. Whereas here all healthcare are vaccinated, my husband has been vaccinated and its moving at the third fastest rate in the world and on to the 55-60s with no health conditions.

[Stokey]

Fingers crossed that things start improving soon @FoonySpucker. It sounds really tough.

[FoonySpucker]

@Stokey

It's most definitely not a Brexit thing.

We live in an area that depends heavily on tourism over the summer and I am pretty sure that all of the people who rent out their properties/do the chageovers/run wedding venues/offer catering/work in the performing arts would absolutely love to welcome visitors.

A lot of the local restaurants have been offering a take away service to try and keep themselves ticking over, but the 6pm curfew has played havoc with that and how many of them manage to survive remains to be seen.

It is clear from many of the current holiday threads that a lot of people are under the impression that countries outside of the UK are more or less back to normal, but that is definitely not the case.

Also worth adding that masks are compulsory everywhere outside. No sauntering across the car park and reluctantly popping a mask on when you get inside the supermarket. The mask goes on before you open the car door.

I really hope that I can come back on this thread in a few weeks and say that everything has changed massively, but nobody here is very hopeful at the moment.

As @BG2015 says, the vaccine rollout is nothing like what is happening in the UK. Yes it is happening (and thankfully the advice about not using AZ vaccines for over 65s has now been reversed) but the French, on the whole, are quite averse to vaccines so it is likely that uptake will be low.