I am not giving up my 2020 holidays just yet.....

NoodleDoodleMan

Turkey will be a big blow, especially to TUI and Jet2 as that was their last major beach holiday destination AFAIK apart from Cyprus which has the Covid test requirement.

Doshwaster

Ballard said:

ginger_chocolate said:

Ballard said:

This isn't meant as even vaguely critical of anyone but what are the drivers in wanting to go abroad in the present situation? From my perspective I love going abroad. It's the thing that I look forward to more than anything the whole year and I really enjoy travelling through a country rather than going to one place and staying there for the duration. That's the level of enjoyment I get from it.

As soon as it became clear that this was a very serious pandemic I stopped all thoughts of trips overseas (fortunately I was still in the planning stage of this year's main break so hadn't spent any money). I even enjoy flying in normal times but the thought of 10 hours on a plane at the moment doesn't exactly excite me. Being socially distanced upon arrival would mean that bars/restaurants wouldn't be the same atmosphere as normal either. I could be forced to self isolate upon my return too.

Part of my concern is that I travel a little off the beaten track so there would be uncertainty with local lockdowns to consider. Civil unrest in Colombia last year lead to local curfews which was inconvenient for a couple of days (although not terrible). The thought of being curfewed for a couple of weeks doesn't exactly excite me.

I reiterate that this isn't meant as a slight on anyone who is planning/has travelled recently. I'm just interested in people's views.

 Travel is the main source of joy in my life so although I'll do it more cautiously than usual and will stick within the law, not doing it at all makes me really quite miserable - so I'm keen to do it as soon as I can and I'm willing to take a bit of calculated risk to do it. The summer has actually been OK - being able to get out and about within the UK made things more bearable, but the thought of the long winter months stuck in my house is just incredibly depressing.

I can certainly understand this and I hope that it goes well for you. I’m actually surprised at how easily I’ve accepted not travelling. I am moving house soon (first time in 30 years) so maybe that’s taking the attention. 

I've been OK not travelling over the summer as the weather has been nice enough here but I'm starting to full grumpy now that the dark nights are setting in and knowing that I should have been flying to Tenerife this weekend. I've only had 2 nights away from home since March - and one of those was at my mum's house

At least I've got 2 weeks off work from tomorrow and will hopefully be have some days out.

Ballard

Doshwaster said:

Ballard said:

ginger_chocolate said:

Ballard said:

This isn't meant as even vaguely critical of anyone but what are the drivers in wanting to go abroad in the present situation? From my perspective I love going abroad. It's the thing that I look forward to more than anything the whole year and I really enjoy travelling through a country rather than going to one place and staying there for the duration. That's the level of enjoyment I get from it.

As soon as it became clear that this was a very serious pandemic I stopped all thoughts of trips overseas (fortunately I was still in the planning stage of this year's main break so hadn't spent any money). I even enjoy flying in normal times but the thought of 10 hours on a plane at the moment doesn't exactly excite me. Being socially distanced upon arrival would mean that bars/restaurants wouldn't be the same atmosphere as normal either. I could be forced to self isolate upon my return too.

Part of my concern is that I travel a little off the beaten track so there would be uncertainty with local lockdowns to consider. Civil unrest in Colombia last year lead to local curfews which was inconvenient for a couple of days (although not terrible). The thought of being curfewed for a couple of weeks doesn't exactly excite me.

I reiterate that this isn't meant as a slight on anyone who is planning/has travelled recently. I'm just interested in people's views.

 Travel is the main source of joy in my life so although I'll do it more cautiously than usual and will stick within the law, not doing it at all makes me really quite miserable - so I'm keen to do it as soon as I can and I'm willing to take a bit of calculated risk to do it. The summer has actually been OK - being able to get out and about within the UK made things more bearable, but the thought of the long winter months stuck in my house is just incredibly depressing.

I can certainly understand this and I hope that it goes well for you. I’m actually surprised at how easily I’ve accepted not travelling. I am moving house soon (first time in 30 years) so maybe that’s taking the attention. 

I've been OK not travelling over the summer as the weather has been nice enough here but I'm starting to full grumpy now that the dark nights are setting in and knowing that I should have been flying to Tenerife this weekend. I've only had 2 nights away from home since March - and one of those was at my mum's house

At least I've got 2 weeks off work from tomorrow and will hopefully be have some days out.

November/December is my standard holiday time so being at home all summer is normal for me. I did have a week in Croatia cancelled but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. I may be a bit fed up early December but I’m relaxed about it at the moment. 

Sharon87

Ballard said:

This isn't meant as even vaguely critical of anyone but what are the drivers in wanting to go abroad in the present situation? From my perspective I love going abroad. It's the thing that I look forward to more than anything the whole year and I really enjoy travelling through a country rather than going to one place and staying there for the duration. That's the level of enjoyment I get from it.

As soon as it became clear that this was a very serious pandemic I stopped all thoughts of trips overseas (fortunately I was still in the planning stage of this year's main break so hadn't spent any money). I even enjoy flying in normal times but the thought of 10 hours on a plane at the moment doesn't exactly excite me. Being socially distanced upon arrival would mean that bars/restaurants wouldn't be the same atmosphere as normal either. I could be forced to self isolate upon my return too.

Part of my concern is that I travel a little off the beaten track so there would be uncertainty with local lockdowns to consider. Civil unrest in Colombia last year lead to local curfews which was inconvenient for a couple of days (although not terrible). The thought of being curfewed for a couple of weeks doesn't exactly excite me.

I reiterate that this isn't meant as a slight on anyone who is planning/has travelled recently. I'm just interested in people's views.

I wouldn't go anywhere that required a 10 hour plane journey at the moment! I'd probably put my limit at 2-3 hours flight time. 

I love travelling in the winter to get a bit of sunshine, it's been something I've done for 5 winters in a row, whether it's a weekend away or a much larger trip. I get bad SAD and whilst I have a sunlight lamp and take vitamin D, going on a holiday can really boost my mood for weeks afterwards. I was lucky I got away in January this year - a last minute holiday booked to Spain that cost me maybe £250-£300 in total. 

I've just had 3 weeks off between work contracts and I really wanted to fly somewhere but the places I want to go I can't go without quarantining there or when I'm back here. So I just popped outside the M25 for some hiking at Box Hill instead and 2 nights in Dorking. I do have a trip to Morocco planned in February I'm still holding out hope for, but I won't book any hotels until I'm 90% sure I'm going and make sure that they're cancellable! I don't mind isolating on the return as I could work from home. The flight only cost £90 return, so if I lose out on it, I'm not too fussed!

badger09

Ballard said:

ginger_chocolate said:

Ballard said:

This isn't meant as even vaguely critical of anyone but what are the drivers in wanting to go abroad in the present situation? From my perspective I love going abroad. It's the thing that I look forward to more than anything the whole year and I really enjoy travelling through a country rather than going to one place and staying there for the duration. That's the level of enjoyment I get from it.

As soon as it became clear that this was a very serious pandemic I stopped all thoughts of trips overseas (fortunately I was still in the planning stage of this year's main break so hadn't spent any money). I even enjoy flying in normal times but the thought of 10 hours on a plane at the moment doesn't exactly excite me. Being socially distanced upon arrival would mean that bars/restaurants wouldn't be the same atmosphere as normal either. I could be forced to self isolate upon my return too.

Part of my concern is that I travel a little off the beaten track so there would be uncertainty with local lockdowns to consider. Civil unrest in Colombia last year lead to local curfews which was inconvenient for a couple of days (although not terrible). The thought of being curfewed for a couple of weeks doesn't exactly excite me.

I reiterate that this isn't meant as a slight on anyone who is planning/has travelled recently. I'm just interested in people's views.

 Travel is the main source of joy in my life so although I'll do it more cautiously than usual and will stick within the law, not doing it at all makes me really quite miserable - so I'm keen to do it as soon as I can and I'm willing to take a bit of calculated risk to do it. The summer has actually been OK - being able to get out and about within the UK made things more bearable, but the thought of the long winter months stuck in my house is just incredibly depressing.

I can certainly understand this and I hope that it goes well for you. I’m actually surprised at how easily I’ve accepted not travelling. I am moving house soon (first time in 30 years) so maybe that’s taking the attention. 

Spookily similar.

We love travelling, in fact its our main expenditure in retirement. Managed an amazing trip to Australia & NZ for my 70th, arriving home on 11th March. Son flew out from HK to join us for my birthday and best friends from Stockholm came with us.

Since then we've had 2 holidays cancelled and are resigned to no more travel for the foreseeable future. Summer was fine, but by now we'd have been to Stockholm and either been to, or had flights booked to HK. Neither is possible/advisable and its only the prospect of moving house, after almost 21 years, that is taking my mind off it.

Good luck with the house move.

Ballard

Odd that we have such similar things going on. 

I’d put Aus/NZ as my best holiday. I’d been made redundant and took myself off for 6 weeks. I’ll do it again when I retire in about 15 years. I had been planning an expensive trip to Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe & Namibia for this year. It’ll do my expenses no end of good to have a fallow year and I’ll do this trip in a couple of years.

My move is taking forever. I’ve been ready a month and am waiting for my buyers solicitor to get her finger out and finish it off. Apparently she’s expecting it to happen by the end of the month. Hopefully your move is going smoother than mine. 

Doshwaster

This time last year I was on a flight to Singapore then onwards to Cambodia and back home via Bangkok. This year I'm sat at home with it pouring down outside.

Over the last 10 years my big annual holiday has usually been around now except one year I was in the middle of moving house and another where I had just started a new job. Hard to pick which was the best but I've  been to Vietnam twice in the last 6 years (and it was the original plan for this year) which was fantastic both times.

zagfles

smallblueplanet said:

zagfles said:

lady1964 said:

We made it to Rhodes, arrived yesterday for 9 nights. Glorious weather, so far impressed with what we’ve seen. If the FCO see fit to remove Rhodes from the exemption list, so be it 😀

We've just booked - £300 for 2 of us to a top rated hotel...don't care if it gets removed from the exemption list while we're away, don't mind self isolating when we get back as work from home anyway. Just as long as they don't do it in the next 4 days before we go!

Where did you book to go and who with, that sounds a good deal?

TUI, as per PP, just got back, they had some cracking last minute deals to the Greek islands in the travel corridor like Kos, Corfu and Rhodes. They seemed to have dried up now, possibly because Turkey has been removed. 

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Turkey will be a big blow, especially to TUI and Jet2 as that was their last major beach holiday destination AFAIK apart from Cyprus which has the Covid test requirement.

Most of Greece is still in the corridor, except about 7 islands. No test requirement, just a PLF form with the possibility of a test on arrival

zagfles

Ballard said:

This isn't meant as even vaguely critical of anyone but what are the drivers in wanting to go abroad in the present situation? From my perspective I love going abroad. It's the thing that I look forward to more than anything the whole year and I really enjoy travelling through a country rather than going to one place and staying there for the duration. That's the level of enjoyment I get from it.

As soon as it became clear that this was a very serious pandemic I stopped all thoughts of trips overseas (fortunately I was still in the planning stage of this year's main break so hadn't spent any money). I even enjoy flying in normal times but the thought of 10 hours on a plane at the moment doesn't exactly excite me. Being socially distanced upon arrival would mean that bars/restaurants wouldn't be the same atmosphere as normal either. I could be forced to self isolate upon my return too.

Part of my concern is that I travel a little off the beaten track so there would be uncertainty with local lockdowns to consider. Civil unrest in Colombia last year lead to local curfews which was inconvenient for a couple of days (although not terrible). The thought of being curfewed for a couple of weeks doesn't exactly excite me.

I reiterate that this isn't meant as a slight on anyone who is planning/has travelled recently. I'm just interested in people's views.

I wouldn't go long haul at the moment, wouldn't go anywhere that required quarantine or OTT restrictions when there, or where the FCO are advising against, wouldn't book more than a week or so ahead and wouldn't commit any significant amount of money up front regardless of refund guarantees etc. Wouldn't travel around too much on public transport when there and would avoid anywhere crowded.

So different type of holiday - eg the week we've just had in Greece - beach bumming on virtually deserted beaches, swimming & snorkelling in warm clear sea, open deck boat trips, restaurants mostly open but not busy, and nearly always sat outside. so not too risky overall IMO. Even the flight I don't think was massively risky, this article is interesting

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/coronavirus-plane-flight-stay-safe-ill-seat-covid-face-mask-a9595366.html