Portugal back

Surely when you make a decision to live in a different country from your family, you accept there may be reasons that you can't visit your loved ones?

Yes, you do have to accept that.
We've had to accept we can't visit loved ones in hospital, care homes and family members across our own country. Sadly many of us have had to accept the death of vulnerable family members from Covid. There is no coming back from death.

GrannyGravy13

Portugal is moving to the Amber list next week, (Tuesday 8th I believe).

At least it gives folks on half-term breaks time to return without facing quarantine.

You mean like all the football fans that swarmed there last week ?

I agree that the traffic light system is absurd. What is the point of amber? "You can go but please don't go?" How many people going to places like Portugal are going to self-isolate when they get home? Particularly if they have taken a fortnight off work for their holiday - will their employers allow them to take another 10 days?

At least with red and green, you know where you are. You know that you shouldn't go to a red country and you will have compulsory isolation when you return. So you can take that into consideration when deciding whether to travel.

I think that overseas travel should be banned at the moment, except for emergencies. That includes business, which can be largely transacted via phone or Zoom. The more that people travel internationally, the more the virus will mutate and spread. We need a worldwide programme to bring vaccines to everyone, including the poorest people, before international travel is safe. I believe that a decision is being made soon about waiving the patents to make vaccines available to the poorest nations. I hope that the UK votes in the right direction.

I understand that people want to travel. I want to see my family in America. I think that we have to consider the possible outcome. A couple of missed holidays in the sun won't kill anyone, which is more than you can say for a mutating virus.

Rather think this was on the cards. Only wish it had been implemented from midnight rather than waiting until next Tuesday. I fully appreciate that this accommodates people but I suppose Covid will enjoy the extension too.

We are currently in Portugal and feel a lot safer here. Everyone takes the restrictions far more seriously. We came out here in good faith. We are not tied by half term but find it ironic that the government have decided to bring in the amber after half term.

Do we think this is a Plan?

Could the government be attempting to restrict the outflow of sterling to Europe etc. to keep the trillions of quantitative easing, furlough etc money from going abroad?

Other than a deliberate act of sabotage to the international travel industry to please the climate gods, otherwise known as the WEF, I'm struggling to understand what the hell is going on, given a 99.7% recovery rate from Covid and mass vaccination!

If it seriously is a plan, it must be one dreamt up by a 15 year old on work experience with not a clue about currency markets.

Interesting Urm, I was wondering if it was a sideswipe at people to further 'convince/persuade' them that it was too risky to travel afar.

Okay growstuff. Well could it be ‘staycations all round’ this year so we spend money here supporting our economy instead of converting it to euros to spend in Europe? The Costas are decimated business-wise without UK holidaymakers.

The cost of a holiday in Britain is very off putting for many people because rental property owners have hiked their prices.

I thought it was Amber list - when did go to red?

homefarm

I thought it was Amber list - when did go to red?

It didn’t except in the OP.

As you were

Well, to those who say that amber is meaningless, there is a distinct difference between red and amber re quarantining on return. After much huffing and puffing Portugal was rated green. The people who took advantage of that shouldn't be blamed or called stupid. Most unreasonable.

StoneofDestiny

Travel to and from abroad should be banned, and should have been from the beginning.
Too many people have paid a heavy price for the lax attitude of this governments behaviour.
Holidays abroad are not essential.
Too many people are citing 'special circumstances' to get on flights. Marriages abroad can wait, funerals are not essential to attend - we can pay our respects in other ways.
There are people still travelling to and from India for ridiculous reasons - and coming back via other routes to avoid the quarantine regulations. We are like a leaking sieve.

We all want to get back to 'normal' and we'd have got there a lot quicker if our islands had been shut down - so easy to do in island nations.

Perhaps you think we should all just stay at home all the time and have done with it!
People travelling to India were actually travelling illegally. Foreign travel was illegal until May but whole families still went. I wonder if they were fined the £5000 that was cited. It would be interesting to know if that happened.

Leaving people to self isolate on returning from an amber rated country is a waste of time in the UK it is so open to being abused. A country should be green or just banned.

I listened to reports this morning that basically said that people were being denied their holidays abroad, since when did going abroad become a "God given right"? People go abroad if they can afford it, and why does everyone want to go abroad? We have lovely places in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, why can holidaymakers not stay in our own country for a short time at least? I know we don't always get the weather that people want, but we can't have everything. I also noticed this morning that an advert in our local paper was advertising British holidays for 7 days, (but the price was extortionate, in my opinion) for £800/£900, if the travel industry wants people to holiday at home this year, they would most probably get more bookings if the price was more realistic. I realise that hotel owners have lost a lot of money and bookings over the past 18 months, but others have lost jobs and livelihoods etc.

4allweknow, a strict 'either green or red' is too black and white in my view! I think there is room for grey areas where concern is not so rife and that people quarantining at home are on the whole likely to make a valiant effort. Many of them will be double jabbed and that ought to make some difference.

A lot of holidays have been carried over from last year at the same cost but making properties covid safe and being deep cleaned between rentals is now very expensive.

People travelling to India were actually travelling illegally

No, people citing 'special circumstances' like weddings and funerals went and got Embassy permission. Bonkers.

Oh I see, thank you StoneofDestiny. I honestly don’t think weddings are special circumstances. After all, wedding guests were limited to six here in the UK for a long time. The same with funerals, although the number for those gradually rose. In addition, I don’t suppose any proof had to be provided. It was absolutely crazy allowing thousands of people to travel to India for family visits, when it was illegal to travel abroad for holidays, and then to let them all get back without enforcing quarantine. Now the numbers are rising and those who obeyed the law in the Spring and didn’t travel anywhere are paying for the selfishness of others who travelled and brought the Indian variant into Britain, because those people who respected the law are now being told they cannot travel for their holidays.

I don’t understand why people are in such a rush to go abroad. They make a booking knowing what the risks are, the virus situation is constantly changing, there are no guarantees about anything. People should stop whinging when a situation changes part way through their holidays, they knew it could happen, like it or lump it!

The UK has some beautiful places to visit, let’s support our home businesses and stay here!