Summer holidays abroad ‘extremely unlikely’ as third wave hits Europe

If we were only supporting countries that had managed the pandemic well, I would certainly not be holidaying in Britain. Luckily I dont base my travel decisions on such odd criteria.

Urmstongran

GagaJo

What really annoys me is those who are vaccinated and who are now wanting to travel. Just because you are vaccinated, doesn't mean you can't get covid. Just because you had covid once, doesn't mean you can't get it again. (My sister in law has had it twice.)

If you get covid and have had it or been vaccinated, maybe you don't get too ill. But you can still infect others. We ALL need to stay at home to protect others, not just ourselves.

I think if Europeans are deemed ‘at risk’ from any holiday makers surely their governments will protect them - either by banning flights from the UK or demanding a quarantine upon arrival?

Not just them Urmstongran. Brits contracting it overseas and bringing it back with them. On the plane, travelling in the UK.

We are booked to go to Cornwall in June, but out of term time so hopefully it won't be overcrowded. We have self-catering so we will keep out distrance and eat at home. I think England has some lovely coastline and having travelled extensively, I perfer the UK. We are walkers so a bit of rain doesn't bother us. I will not be booking a holiday abroad this year.

Ah well, Boris says a third wave is coming. I bet no flights will be allowed abroad this summer after all. There’s always something. Good news for a while then we get pulled back. This may be the situation for the foreseeable I fear.

I think so too. I know it is sad, but our lifestyle (and I include myself in this, for obvious reasons) of jetting off regularly, is not sustainable. Maybe this is the wake up call we need. Bad for the environment. Bad for humans too now. Not being able to fly when I want to has certainly made me rethink my priorities.

I thought we'd had a third wave. Otherwise why 3 lockdown?

JaneJudge

Dinahmo, why do you think our supermarkets are crowded? or we aren't wearing masks

(this isn't 'an attack or being defensive' btw I am genuinely interested)

When I lived in England, or when I visit and go to a supermarket there are always many people. The only time there weren't any was in the early hours of the morning when occasionally we stopped on the way back from visiting friends or any other reason. I'm afraid I'm one of those people who used to get angry at the numbers of people getting in my way. Thinking about it, you don't see that many people with children in the supermarkets here.

As regards the masks, I have often read on GN and elsewhere people complaining about the lack of masks in supermarkets in England. Here you get glared at if you've forgotten your mask when entering a shop.I've no idea what it's like in Paris but the French do tend to follow the rules, unless they decide to demonstrate - as per the gilet jaune demos. Then they are much more extreme. They will close roads at roundabouts and prevent people from driving down some of the exits. I don't know if you remember in the sixties, when they rioted in Paris the students tore up paving stones to make barricades. I don't remember that happening in London.

JaneJudge

You can get nice food in England. I noticed when we went to Bourton on the water the co-op was FULL of local food. I am extremely lucky where I live that we have farm shops selling local meat and produce. We have locally produced beer and wine too. The pubs are actually the nicest, least boasted about too. But would anyone come here for a holiday?

We have family in Wales and we are able to get local produce too and have nice meals out

I'm not talking about whether the food is good quality. Where I lived in Suffolk there was a local butcher who used to sell game and a wide variety of freshly made sausages for example. There were a couple of wild deer herds locally, hence the game. Plus the shoots of course. It's just that the variety of fruit and veg in some of the markets is astonishing. Not all of them course.

Masks are worn in supermarkets as well as in small shops. As somebody stated earlier, the supermarkets are not overcrowded- the numbers entering are well policed. Have you witnessed this recently? I saw today France may be going on the "red" list so if you do come over here you will at your expense have to isolate in a hotel costing around £1750 for the 10 days.

Still, there is so much you do not like why travel over here?

The thing to remember is that the PM is determined that this should be the last lockdown.
Remember him saying the releasing of restrictions would be irreversible?

He also spoke today of the increase in cases in Europe so that’s the strongest hint yet that holidays abroad won’t be on the cards this year.

I do see both points of view expressed on here though.
I fully understand why some of you are desperate to get on with your lives, including foreign travel but on balance I think a little bit more patience will pay off in the long run.

After all even in lockdown we have a hell of a lot more freedom than many other countries.

Despite what a few on here have claimed, our current situation is most definitely NOT worse than being in prison.

Charleygirl
I think you must have read someone else's post. I have not said I dislike anything at all. I did say say that holidaying in Northumberland was a bit of a disappointment because the food in the shops was pretty much the same as in other shops throughout the country. I also said that whenever we go back to England the first meal that we have is fish and chips and a pint of beer, both of which we miss.

I suppose the supermarkets are not so crowded at the moment because of on line shopping so people don't need to go. I honestly cannot say when I last witnessed people not wearing masks. Since I don't live in the UK it's unlikely that I have witnessed that. However, friends have told me about it. One friend was barracked by a group of men outside a super market in Sudbury for wearing a mask which he'd put on before entering the shop. I have also read and seen on the television that checkout staff won't tell a person to put a mask on because they're too scared and that there aren't security guards at all the large supermarkets to stop people from going in without a mask. And this is English media not French.

I have no desire to go to England at the moment with the covid situation. I am fully aware of how much it costs from when Johnson introduced isolation for people entering the UK.

Finally, perhaps you might like to tell me what it is I don't like about the UK.

Well I have to admit that I’ve not seen anyone not wearing a mask at the supermarket, but having said that, I don’t go very often as we started doing Click and Collect right back at the start of the first lockdown. We do pop in sometimes for a few items, but not often.
We saw a man in the bank a few weeks ago, wearing his mask under his chin, and my husband told him that’s not how it should be worn, and the man pulled it up.

I have no desire to go to England at the moment with the covid situation
I hope others think like you, Dinahmo; it's very worrying to see the situation in France with cases on the rise again and the new variant found there too, just when we may have signs of improvement here.

Goodness knows before we will be able to travel freely again. Holidays are one thing but so many of us are missing our families.

Gosh, I've not seen anyone maskless in my area for a very long time.

Friend of mine got thrown out of the Post Office. She'd parked the car , dashed into the shop and was almost kicked out again. She'd forgotten her mask.

But I think those stories of staff in shops not telling me to wear a mask are from months ago. Not many stories along those lines now.

Most are responsible.

Of course we do have anti mask/lock down protesters but I believe they exist in France and most parts of the EU

Callistemon I don't know anybody who wants to travel from France to anywhere else at the moment. The majority of English here are retired with families in the UK and other countries. One friend, who is American, married to an Englishman but they lived in Australia for many years now divide their time between France and Thailand. She has a sister living in Rome and a daughter in Poland who has covid. Another friend has a son living in Mexico City. No one is expecting to go to the UK or elsewhere anytime soon.

We have decided to swap houses for a couple of weeks with my sister & brother-in-law who live in Surrey, we are in a seaside resort in Devon. Our grandchildren live in Surrey so ideal.

maddyone

Keeper I’m the one that’s speaking of civil liberties. I’ve already been seriously ill with Covid, as I described up thread. Civil liberties mean you should, now the numbers are dropping, but more so because 50% of the adult population have had their first vaccination, you should be able to see your family, and go on holiday from the designated date, which is May 17th. There should be no more talk of extending the lockdown. If you want to lock yourself down Keeper, no one is stopping you. You can stay locked down for the rest of your life if you want to, and so can all the rest of those who want to curtail everyone else’s activities. But please leave me alone to go on holiday if I want to. I’ve had the virus, I was extremely ill, I got it from my mother who got it in hospital after a fall. I was in a support bubble with her so simply followed the rules, but I still got bad Covid. Now I’ve done everything I was told to do for a year, I want to go on holiday. I don’t live in a dictatorship, and therefore the right to free travel is important to me and to many others.
For everyone who doesn’t want to travel, or who wants to remain locked down, no one is stopping you. Please respect my choice to travel if I want to.

????????????Well said Maddyone

Gannygangan I think that there are anti-maskers here in France but we haven't come across any. I live outside a small village and everybody we know has been very strict about self isolating.

In England we're so used to having vaccines and the flu jab that for most people it's not a problem to have the anti covid jabs. What I don't understand is why so many of the Europeans are reluctant. Did they not have vaccinations when they were young? They must have because you don't hear about people people with tb or polio.

Last autumn was the first I think when there was a run on flu jabs. The take up here was much higher than in previous years. I think it's because the flu vaccine was believed to have some protection against covid.

Callistemon I don't know anybody who wants to travel from France to anywhere else at the moment.
Some of our relatives are there and would probably like to come over here in the summer to see their family so ?. They have had the vaccination.

Shinamae

maddyone

Keeper I’m the one that’s speaking of civil liberties. I’ve already been seriously ill with Covid, as I described up thread. Civil liberties mean you should, now the numbers are dropping, but more so because 50% of the adult population have had their first vaccination, you should be able to see your family, and go on holiday from the designated date, which is May 17th. There should be no more talk of extending the lockdown. If you want to lock yourself down Keeper, no one is stopping you. You can stay locked down for the rest of your life if you want to, and so can all the rest of those who want to curtail everyone else’s activities. But please leave me alone to go on holiday if I want to. I’ve had the virus, I was extremely ill, I got it from my mother who got it in hospital after a fall. I was in a support bubble with her so simply followed the rules, but I still got bad Covid. Now I’ve done everything I was told to do for a year, I want to go on holiday. I don’t live in a dictatorship, and therefore the right to free travel is important to me and to many others.
For everyone who doesn’t want to travel, or who wants to remain locked down, no one is stopping you. Please respect my choice to travel if I want to.

????????????Well said Maddyone

It's not well said though, is it Shinamae

It's now deemed illegal to travel abroad unless it's for exceptional reasons. £5000 fine.

It's all very well people banging on about their civil rights. I have worked throughout this whole palaver.

I am not frightened as has been suggested. In fact my life hasn't changed very much at all in lots of ways.

I can only assume those of you who want us to respect their wishes to travel, ( this comment would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic) have not lost loved ones. Have not seen what happens in a hospital. Have not seen a relative struggling with long covid

To compare this to flu is pathetic.

I'd love to take you to work with me. To an end of life ward. See how you feel then with your big exclamations of human rights and dictatorships

And do watch the Kate Garraway documentary. I think it airs tomorrow.

I've just been looking at some statistics which make interesting reading. The total number of cases in the UK, France and Italy are just over 4.3 million, just under 4.3 million and 3.4 million respectively. The active cases are UK 481,600; France 3.9 million and Italy 563,000. Why should this be? For France to have so many active cases. The UK still has the highest number of deaths at 126,127, France 92,621 and Italy 105,328. Given the rate of vaccination in the UK and the slow rate in France it looks as though France might overtake the UK in the number of deaths.

I hope they speed up the vaccination programme now. Are they going to do it in age groups?

GrannyGravy13

Aveline

Holidaying in the UK this year supports the hospitality industry and lots of related jobs. No need to go abroad right now.

What about those of us with AC, GC and other family members living abroad?

If we have had both vaccinations why should we be prevented from visiting them?

Because too soon and you will be risking maybe bringing back a nastier version of covid for those of us working in supermarkets who won't have had the vaccine as yet as we are deemed waaay down the important list and yet still have to face non mask wearers etc every day, I am sure there are plenty of other occupations in the same risk boat as I though. Please remember there is a large army of folks who have been unable to shield from this terrible thing, it has cost a lot of us financially though extra precautions we have to take and emotionally through not feeling safe to be able to see our own families..... and as for the luxury of affording and being allowed the time off for a holiday...

"So let those of use who are not afraid of catching or transferring the virus get on with our lives."

And this here is why I am getting more and more stressed and frightened in my public facing job.....there are soo many where I am who think and act like this, or its all a government conspiracy, etc, pure selfishness and self entitlement IMO, I am sorry but it is.
This pandemic has really shown what a two tier nation we are, them that can sit at home safe and secure and all those poor souls who have no choice but to potentially risk both theirs and their families lives.... just remember this next time you're in a supermarket, or a doctors surgery, or a hospital , or needing your dishwasher repairing, the list is pretty endless really, the service staff aren't quite revolting yet but the attitudes and sheer self entitlement of the "top tier" really is starting to look revolting

It may well be possible to holiday abroad to some destinations - those that have low levels of covid and/or are well advanced with their vaccination programmes. I would warn those who have chosen not to be vaccinated though - its highly likely other countries will want proof of vaccination before you can travel there. We don't holiday outside the UK in any event, my husband's health issues make it too risky. We will not go on holiday at all this year but looking forward to visiting local attractions and visiting our closest seaside resort (Weston-Super-Mare). Maybe an overnight to London to visit the theatre at most. I am just looking forward to being able to go out in April for al fresco lunch and cocktails. Its been months since we have gone anywhere - last time was - August/September 2020 and we stuck to al fresco then as well.