Are you going abroad this year ?

It is a serious contributor to climate change - flights are damaging - we should not be doing it unless there is NO alternative. Flying for a holiday abroad is a destructive luxury. Sorry to rant. www.bbc.com/future/article/20200218-climate-change-how-to-cut-your-carbon-emissions-when-flying

I'm single (widowed), know myself well and have no interest in travelling abroad to spend my time reading, punctuated by reading while eating. I can do that with very little expense here at home. When my husband was alive we would go abroad and bicker at each other a fair bit. We could have done that at home too but he preferred to get right away from work. I disliked everything about being abroad and I couldn't wait to get home. I think I may be in a minority here! ?

The media are adept at hyping up the drama. I’m sure some people have hit problems at the airport, but we just walked through last month in 15 minutes as usual. DD2 and family flew from Manchester on the same day as the papers were carrying pictures of queues snaking round the building. They were so stressed beforehand, wondering whether to drive down and check in their luggage the night before, etc, etc. They booked FastTrack but didn’t need it as there were no hold ups at all - they were through security in no time and then had to entertain two lively boys for two and a half hours before their flight time.

Some interestingly responses, thanks everyone. We too have been away, once to Cyprus held over because of covid, once to Kos and back to Cyprus last year.

Lots of hoops to jump through re paperwork when we went which I found very stressful!

It’s just in the current economic climate and problems with flights, trains etc I was wondering if those issues were affecting decisions re holidays.

We had plans to go away in October but those have been shelved because of the operation and I’m advised not to fly for 3 months. Plus it’s another hip replacement so I would need to be sure I could manage stairs, distance in airports etc.

The same hotel from 3 years ago is now £250 more pp.

With increasing costs our friends we usually go with will find it a stretch I know. We will be fine I hope but the increase in cost of living is certainly food for thought.

The airports put me of, so no, not going abroad this year.

I’m going to Sardinia in a few weeks time, on my own and looking forward to it. I did go to Turkey last year for an op, couldn’t wait anymore than the 2.5 years I’d been waiting on the NHS. I will try to go abroad for medical in the future. I’ve worked for the NHS for 30 years and it’s become a disgraceful and shambolic mess… thank you government and senior NHS managers! ??

No, staying in N.Ireland and heading up to the North Coast to a pet friendly holiday home so plenty of beach walks with the dogs, well weather permitting. The weather here in N.Ireland is so unpredictable, although hot this week.
The beautiful scenery and great food, I'm really looking forward to it, plus no queues at airport and cancelled flights either.

River cruise in November. We have also planted 100 beech saplings along the drive. Still more to go in. our contribution to offsetting.

Have never been abroad apart from day trips to France. I get so anxious about going on holiday in England that I really don't fancy going through all the worries with airports and everything else.

I went to Normandy in May on a coach trip which worked out well especially as I got to practice French, first time for years.
Eurostar is another option if you don’t want to fly and once over in France French trains are comfy and spacious for legs and luggage.

Yes, Eurostar to Paris is amazing- and then you can link up with fast (or slow) TGV trains to all over France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy, and more. So easy and relaxing.

Only issue is the short journey between Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon, in Paris- if not confident or mobility reduced, just take taxi. <3

We had two holidays abroad booked in 2020 to celebrate our golden wedding, one to Majorca with best friends who married a couple of weeks after us. We went at the end of June, I was dreading the airport but going was ok but coming back was a farce. We did enjoy it while we were there.

The other holiday is to Menorca with our family, 10 of us in one big villa. It’s in a couple of weeks and I’m wondering how that will go! TBH if they hadn’t already been booked I really don’t think we would have gone. I feel we’ve become very set in our ways since lockdown. We also like our own bedrooms which of course makes it more expensive.

We’re fortunate to have travelled to just about everywhere we’ve wanted to. If I could be beamed up to one more destination it would be the pacific islands.

Wouldlove to go ,but cost of travel insurance is almost prohibitive.
Does anyone have a good company for an 84 year old ,. I really would welcome some advice.

The ferries were fine midweek last week when I came over. It seemed nearly empty considering other times. Didn’t travel P&O. There were no queues and no traffic to speak of from Versailles. I was pleasantly surprised.

No

I made a vow not to fly a few years ago - a token gesture for my grandchildren's future. 'Not attempting to be a virtue signaller - my halo is already very badly tarnished. Also it wasn't much of an effort as I detest airports, the queues and the related waste of life involved with flying. Living in a lovely part of the country I have everything I want around me; perhaps I am becoming content with less, perhaps I'm a 'can't be bothered bore', but I'm a happy bore and offer my place in the check in queue to someone else. It will save them ten minutes at least.

My passport ran out in lockdown and I’ve not renewed it. My holidays are travelling up and down country to visit my grandkids lol

We flew to Faro the week after half term, loads of horror stories about awful queues at Gatwick where we flew from as well as other airports, but like Maggiemaybe up thread we were so lucky absolutely no hold ups, an hour or so delay coming back, but on balance nothing to moan about. Collection of baggage wasn't a problem either.

Going to Seville in October, hope we are lucky then too, sometimes the palaver surrounding plane travel is so off putting I could happily stay right here, we have had some great breaks in both Devon and Wales during the past two years before air travel really got going again.

What puts me off the Eurostar (esp. after doing Dijon to London on my own) is the ghastly Gare du Nord. Dijon station is a paradise by comparison. (Ditto St Pancras of course ?)
Still preferable to all the tedious faff of airports though, I suppose.

I chatted to a girl serving me in one of the duty free shops, on the way out, she did mention the media crank up horror stories, on the other hand she did say so many were laid off during the pandemic and the recruitment of new staff is a long drawn out process considering how many are needed in the various aspects of the day to day running of airports.

Flew back from Nantes then Paris.
On arrival at Manchester just one person informing a full load of passengers no luggage was on board now three weeks later I’m still waiting for it to be returned. Absolute chaos.

I'm off on a cruise in November. My daughter booked it last year but didn't tell me til my 70th in April. Caribbean figure of 8, 14 days flying to and from Jamaica. ? I'm covering 3 of my bucket list in one go. 1. Cruise, 2. long haul (somewhere I've not been) 3. different countries.

westendgirl

Wouldlove to go ,but cost of travel insurance is almost prohibitive.
Does anyone have a good company for an 84 year old ,. I really would welcome some advice.

We are planning a holiday in the USA year and I have just started looking at costs. We will be 79 when we go and DH now has Type 2 Diabetes and Atrial Fibrillation to be declared. I did a search with Money Supermarket and the cheapest quote was £778 for the two of us. Then I looked at Columbus Direct who we have used in the past, they have three categories of insurance _ bronze, silver and gold and the bronze came out at about £475 for the two of us, without the medical conditions it was about £340. They are a reputable company and when we cancelled our last holiday to California due to COVID they refunded us the cost of the policy in full. I was unfortunate enough to be hospitalized for 10 days in the USA in 2005 and they paid all expenses apart from the excess. You can get a quote online and I do recommend them.

I haven't been abroad since 2016. My husband's disabilities mean that most hotels and self catering are just not suitable. He cannot manage steps, but is not a wheelchair user - and a disabled room is unsuitable because everything is too low. He can't bend very much and struggles to stand up and sit down, so needs high beds and chairs.

Yes we are. We love our holidays and are back to normal this year thank goodness. Have been to Amsterdam and Sardinia this year already and will be going to Cyprus for 2 weeks in September.