So that's it then, France is off! Quarantine from Sunday 4.00am

You can still go!

You just need to isolate when you get back.

Unless of course France retaliates and makes you isolate when you get there .

But weren’t we all advised not to travel?

We should have been flying to Norway on Sunday for a week, but cancelled it in March when lockdown happened and when we needed to pay the balance for the holiday. Very disappointed to do so, obviously, but decided it just wasn’t worth the risk. As one of the posters said, you also have to think of the travelling there/back, possible medical care whilst there etc etc. There would have been the constant feeling of “will this holiday even go ahead” as we got nearer to it. Who wants the uncertainty? Life is uncertain enough. A few days in Norfolk for us in October (not half term week) on the cards for us now. Hope that goes ahead (and that we’re not in another lockdown) or else it will be home sweet home!

I've asked GN to change the title, sorry, I was typing in haste last last night.

I still feel it is important to do your own risk assessments. The guidance on some points is crazy, I can sit in a pub for hours, 1 metre from loads of strangers, drinking till I am not bothered about any restrictions (haven't done it, but understand those that do) but if I go to a huge airy church, and sit at least 2 metres from everyone else for only 45 minutes, I have to wear a mask, even though this means taking communion is an interesting experience. So there has to be an element of common sense applied, I worry that we are all losing the skill of assessing risk.

We're booked to go to Normandy for a few days next weekend. We can 'do' the quarantine here in the UK when we get back, but if France reciprocates our little break is off.

merlotgran

It hasn't gone away. It's still out there.

Don't book a holiday.

Simples!

Exactly!

I see French holidays as being quite unique in their nature. Most people travelling to other European destinations are on package holidays with tour companies. They could hopefully get a refund. France attracts independent travellers who stay in gîtes and in apartments, but I presume there will be no refunds for them. It makes me think twice about how I book holidays in future.

There seems to be a conception amongst some that the infection rate in this country is non existent and it’s only other countries that are getting increased cases. Ours plateau’d ages ago and is now creeping back up. You wait tiall schools go back, it will shoot up even more. As for it being the fault of foreigners that the rate is increasing I think it’s more down to people going to pubs and restaurants, many of which are ignoring social distancing rules etc etc.Oh, and not having a good contact tracing system in place.

I don't understand why people are going on holiday. Is it really necessary? Can't they wait for (hopefully) just one year?

Cancelled our September cottage in France while we could still get a 100% refund but our flight is still booked. We were half (quarter) hoping to still go but definitely not now. Currently planning a holiday in Scotland for next summer but as soon as a vaccine comes along we'll be of ......

MaizieD that is exactly what we were hoping to do. Normandy has a low rate of infection, we were intending to stay at a cottage in the countryside, use our own car, not eat in restaurants, only visit the village shop so no big supermarket visits. Luckily we hadn’t booked, I had my eye on a number of possible cottages on an online booking site, and we would have booked the ferry when we definitely decided to go. You’re right, if France reciprocates the holiday becomes impossible. The fly in the ointment is insurance, we still have an annual policy bought before the crisis, but nonetheless it becomes worthless once government advice to not travel to that country is given.

I’m sorry, but I feel so sorry for my daughter and her family. She is absolutely gutted and needs a holiday so much. They have both worked long and hard through the pandemic, including working with Covid19 patients. Life has been tough for them. For those of us who are retired and sitting at home, it’s pretty easy to be flippant about the need for a holiday. Some people have worked so hard on behalf of us all, and are physically and mentally exhausted from it all. I don’t disagree with quarantine, in fact it should have been done right at the beginning (don’t even get me started on that) but to put countries into a safe to travel to category, which incidentally France was so long as you didn’t go to the Ile de France area, it seemed little different than the UK. My daughter is now frantically looking for a safer place to go to, maybe Norway. She desperately needs a break, and so does her husband. We who have been sitting at home don’t need a break and many have little understanding why some do. When you’ve already been in contact with Covid19 patients, an isolated holiday villa probably seems pretty safe.

When I booked my trip the air corridors were in place and it seemed safer to go to our own accommodation in France , which as I mentioned before, is in a remote area. than it would be to go to any of the crowded beaches in the UK. Or anywhere in the UK really. We travel by ferry, with no stops either side of the channel. We take our own provisions and use the local supermarket which is far quieter than the ones at home. I do not think there was much risk involved to me and my husband or to anyone else. We see less people on that type of holiday than we do when we are at home. Each to their own though. We all have to decide what is right for ourselves.

Foreign office advice for months has been no travel abroad unless necessary and the government clearly stated that things on all COVID related rules that they could be reversed in an instant. If people choose to do something else, that’s their risk.

I think the advice from Boris (although he ums and ahs a lot) is to holiday here. It is certainly the advice from Nicola in Scotland. We have clearly been told there is no guarantee that anywhere is always going to be quarantine free so why people are stressing about trying to go places abroad is hard to understand. There are many lovely places to go here. Although of course you could plan to go somewhere and get a local lockdown like Aberdeen of course. We are still in a pandemic and our numbers are fragile. I think we need to have more patience. Last year I booked holidays for this year and have had to cancel and won't be booking anything else until things are more certain.

We were going to have the same kind of holiday you mention anna, but not to our own villa. I would have sanitised al, surfaces upon arrival. But I’m not concerned about us, I’m concerned about my daughter who desperately needs a holiday.

My son was looking at transport ideas, last night, with the notion of visiting some friends in France. They live in a very quiet place, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of him going. Just after he decided to ‘sleep on it’ the quarantine newsflash arrived. He is SO glad that he didn’t book a flight. He is an agency worker, so doesn’t get paid when he’s not working. He could afford to lose three week’s salary, but it would have turned out to be a very expensive visit.

France is no longer on the list of countries that are exempt from government advice against "all but essential international travel".
DH has cancelled his planned fishing trip as this is not "essential" and has managed to get refunds/deferrals.

I believe it's 4am SATURDAY, not Sunday, isn't that right?

well I feel a lot better about the thoughts I have been having about holidays abroad!

but then it is easy for me as I don`t go on holiday!

I feel for everyone, but it`s fact...

I hope your daughter manages to find something maddy one. We are retired so if we dont have a holiday so be it but I feel very sorry for younger people who maybe desperately need a break. My son is a key worker and he and his young family are away at the moment. I dont blame them a bit.

humptydumpty

I believe it's 4am SATURDAY, not Sunday, isn't that right?

As I understand it - it begins four hours into Saturday, not Sunday - so you're right.

You are so right H1954. People should have a bit more sense and patience and think just a bit about this pandemic. It is not nice. A lot of people have died and many still suffering the after effects not knowing how long it will take for them to recover.
We all have to do our bit and use common sense. Hopefully it will not last for ever and a vaccine may be found.

Oopsadaisy3 - yes you could still go but if you go against Foreign Office travel advice any medical insurance you have is invalid. Probably not a good idea to travel without health insurance.
I don't think France has put in place reciprocal quarantine measures yet, have they?

As there is a kind of informal poll going on here, I'm adding to the posts asking why people can't just stay at home for once and that official advice has been don't travel for some time.
I have NO sympathy, whatever the excuses if people are now in trouble. As long as people keep moving around, the virus will proliferate.

Quarantine returning from France was always a possibility. It’s a chance you take. What really riles me is that the second this was posted airlines quadrupled their fares. I know they’re having a hard time at the moment, but that seems so greedy.

Maddyone why can’t your daughter have a holiday in the UK? There are some beautiful places to get away from it all without the problems and uncertainty of travelling abroad. I am sure she and her husband richly deserve a break and to get away without all the problems of foreign travel would do them more good than worrying about flights, ferries, etc.