So you think we will able to travel abroad in the summer?

[katie20202]

Hi

I've got a holiday booked in august and I'm just wondering if any one else has a holiday booked? Do you think we will get to go? Oh I hope so! You read all the supposed plans like need a COVID test or be vaccinated!

That's interesting @Zodlebud. What about DC of vaccinated parents though? Does that mean that no DC will be allowed to travel, even if they are US citizens (which mine are)? DH and I will both be fully vaccinated before our trip is due to take place, but the DC obviously won't be.

I have no idea! They are not vaccinating kids in the USA at the moment so I guess it would just be a negative test but who knows.

@Zodlebud that’s interesting. I’m due to visit the US end of July however due to my age - I’m very much unlikely to be fully vaccinated by then (unless the J&J is approved and I receive that one). I will have to wait to see what our government and the US government say about travel.

A lot of people have the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which currently isn’t approved in the US and doesn’t look to be approved anytime soon. How would that work?

We've gone for the UK again as think it will be allowed but you will need negative covid tests adding £1k to the bill for us and adding uncertainty plus you may get quarantine here, there or both.

@Hairbrush123 I really don’t know. My employer hires a lot of international seasonal employees each year and they are trying to work out whether or not we can get over there this year. They have made the decision to just hire within the USA this year due to the uncertainty.

I think, like the U.K., they don’t really know yet how things would work. Vaccination is key though so any US employees they are hiring this year have to quarantine for 14 days on site (it’s in the hospitality industry) unless they have received both doses of the jab. They are going to make it mandatory to be vaccinated to work there but will offer everyone hired a vaccine once they arrive if they haven’t had one. Obviously it’s going to be down to individual employers whether or not they do the same.

They are part of a trade body lobbying for more information. The vaccination for entry thing has come from trickles of info they are getting. Who knows whether or not it’s true but it’s what employees are basing their hiring decisions on as that’s all they have to go on.

We have Israel booked.. here’s hoping.

The lack of information is so frustrating. I think that's been one of the worst things about this past year - the inability to plan or know what the situation will be from one month to the next. Barring a new world war I never thought that we could be BANNED from going to a country of which we are citizens

The lack of information is not due to someone not planning or hiding anything from us though. It’s because they really don’t know. Look at what’s going on in India right now. Nobody knows where in the world the next variant will pop up. So they can’t possibly say now what countries we will and will not be able to visit in three months time.

I think we could all desperately use a trip to the sun or to see relatives abroad we haven’t seen in well over a year. I, personally, can wait another year though if it means the U.K. can get totally back to normal. I really can’t face another lockdown. Neither can my kids.

I really hope that it will be safe to do so to some destinations and with some safeguards - if only so it might free up some availability in the UK if people then cancel UK bookings they are holding in reserve just in case they can't go abroad.

I think we could all desperately use a trip to the sun or to see relatives abroad we haven’t seen in well over a year. I, personally, can wait another year though if it means the U.K. can get totally back to normal. I really can’t face another lockdown. Neither can my kids.

I suffer from chronic depression and I can go years without a breakdown as I’ve learnt to manage it, but I’ve recently hit rock bottom due to not being able to travel and visit people. I don’t have a single friend or family member in the country I’m in. I live completely alone. I can face lockdowns, what I can’t face is any more time apart from the people I love. The people that keep me alive. I honestly don’t know if it’s worth waiting it out, I can’t live like this. It’s time we start opening up and let people live.

Do not discount the cost of covid testing for a holiday. You can’t just grab a LFT or stop by your neighborhood testing center. For now anyway you have to book it all in advance with specific vendors and they are not cheap. Recently my family and I had to travel abroad for an urgent matter and we spent more than £2000 on testing. We were away for six days. There are five of us and we each needed a negative PCR the day before we left, another one the day before we came home, then again after returning on days 2, 5, and 8. We did choose to test out on day 5, which is optional and added to the cost. But still.

The rules may be different in the future or for different places but we were very taken aback. The covid testing almost doubled the cost of our trip.

We should all just wait for the travel announcement. From what I read - quite a few countries will be on there (the green list) and Grant Shapps has promised to help lower prices for PCR tests. We’ve done an excellent job here in the UK and let’s not ruin it. I am so desperate to travel again however I wouldn’t want it to hinder our hard work we’ve done here. I am optimistic about quarantine travel after June though.

The lack of information is not due to someone not planning or hiding anything from us though. It’s because they really don’t know. Look at what’s going on in India right now. Nobody knows where in the world the next variant will pop up. So they can’t possibly say now what countries we will and will not be able to visit in three months time.

Yeah, I know, but I HATE uncertainty. I like to PLAN and look forward to things and know that in x months' time I'm going to be able to do y. I realise that a pandemic is no-one's idea of fun and that the frustrating lack of information is not deliberate. I can still hate it though!

@Ibizafun

We have Israel booked.. here’s hoping.

I imagine it will be safe from covid if they let you in.

@zafferana I hate it too. We had the trip of a lifetime to Asia booked for last summer which we shifted to this summer in the hope we’ll be able to go. We won’t have had the second dose of the vaccine by the departure date so I can say without fail we won’t be going (but we knew that anyway). Total first world problem.

I do think it’s more important though that I get to see my parents who live over 200 miles away and have been shielding.

As for planning, we have booked a few nights in some swanky five star hotels in London - there’s some cracking deals available at the moment. Have booked nice restaurants, theatre tickets (in August), Harry Potter Studio Tour and Madame Tussaud’s - all of which we’ll be able to enjoy without hoards of international tourists.

It’s not the same but it feels REALLY good to have things in the diary.

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-nhs-app-to-be-used-as-covid-passport-for-international-travel-grant-shapps-confirms-12289071

Here’s the latest news. Apparently which countries are in red, amber and green is due to be announced on 7 May but you’d then need to check the requirements for the country you want to travel to.

I upgraded our holiday today 🤞

From what to what @name674398? I just want to talk about holidays

@zafferana 😂 so we booked an AI hotel in Kos for August back in Jan 2020, we had a family swim up room, it was going to be £1000 to upgrade to a 2 bedroom suite so we didn't back then, logged in yesterday and it was only £400 so went for it. Sea views, swim up, and a separate room from the kids- bliss 😂 closer to the beach, water park and a new restaurant too! Oh I soooo hope we can go!!

Oh well done @name674398! I love it when something like that happens. I hope you get to go too. Sounds lovely!

@zafferana thank you, we've only done AI once before we usually like to explore but have to say an AI pool/beach holiday is just what we need after this year. Hope to plan something more adventurous next year!

Am waiting to hear which countries are in which of the travel lights before booking.

@name674398 We've only done AI once before too, but I have to admit it was very relaxing. We're all so starved of a beautiful view, lovely weather and, above all, someone else doing the cooking and cleaning. The thought that we might just get that this summer is intoxicating!

@Parker231 where do you want to go?

@name674398 god that sounds bloody amazing!!