Covid and travel discussion

Tricky one. We like to go to the Somme in the summer and it is quite literally miles of rolling countryside where you may or may not see another couple in the distance but not more than maybe 10 people in a day. So sleepy. Truly open and as quiet as could be. Our local park...rammed. We have booked a non-refundable Eurotunnel for August...a small gamble but if France travel.opens up, the tunnel will be in big demand.
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frothy said:
We had 2 weeks in Greece booked for the beginning of June with Jet2, booked it in September think we will just get a refund and leave it until next year now
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Ditto although rearranged from last June. We will just accept the refund this time and look at the options come October/November for winter sun depending on the situation at that time.

does seem odd that they are being so ott on travel when at Christmas people were flying wherever they wanted.
 
5 Hit Gibbon said:
Agreed. Generally the purpose of having a holiday is to get away from the stress for a short time, if going away is actually more stressful than not going then it negates the purpose of going in the first place.
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Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
The Jet2 news sums up what the travel companies think. The risk of moving from green to amber and having to quarantine is simply one I can’t take.
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Correct.

the task force report still said that countries could shift from green to amber or red at no notice although there would be a green “watch list” of countries at risk of going amber or red.

just unworkable. Particularly for hotel quarantine. People could possibly accept home quarantine risk.
 
ctwrd said:
Ditto although rearranged from last June. We will just accept the refund this time and look at the options come October/November for winter sun depending on the situation at that time.

does seem odd that they are being so ott on travel when at Christmas people were flying wherever they wanted.
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Just last week an extra 30 flights were chartered to bring people back from Pakistan before the hotel quarantine at 4am.
 
paulchapo said:
It's too unpredictable at the moment. You could fly out on the Monday and on Tuesday find out the country you're in has been moved into a different catagory so you have to quarantine on your return. Lots of countries have their own restrictions in place as to who can come in, what tests are required, curfews, mask wearing etcetera it's just not worth the stress.
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the unpredictability is fucking pissing me off. Was planning a trip for this Easter but the flights were cancelled the week before. I've not been home since November 2019.... travelling the other direction to most on here, but you catch my drift.
 
KPXBLN said:
the unpredictability is fucking pissing me off. Was planning a trip for this Easter but the flights were cancelled the week before. I've not been home since November 2019.... travelling the other direction to most on here, but you catch my drift.
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Yes it's a tough time, fingers crossed it ends soon.
 
An interesting thread on Twitter here from someone who travelled from Spain to U.K. and back. The cost and ballache involved with the testing just isn’t worth it. I don’t think we’ll go away until all that is removed

 
andyhinch said:
You planning a holiday in Bangkok ?
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Been there, done that ;)

This 2 test requirement for summer travel, although not unexpected, really needs to be looked at what test type they accept.

If they don't permit the lateral flow tests, then something needs to be done to make PCR testing more affordable.
You cannot expect travellers to be coughing up around £125 a pop for a PCR test, particularly when they can be done abroad for a fraction of that cost.

If nothing changes on that front then things like short breaks, weekend City breaks just aren't gonna happen, as who is gonna pay £250 for 2 tests for a £300 short break to Spain?

Myself and a mate have got a week in Kos booked for the August bank holiday weekend...7 nights, all inclusive...£565pp. A lot can obviously change between now and then but should testing still be averaging about £125 a test, I'm not sure paying 250 quid to go on that holiday is worthwhile or not. By August I'll be desperate and will likely just pay it, but if the holiday was a little cheaper then I don't think it would be worth it.
Likewise if the holiday was more expensive and the tests represented a smaller %age of the overall cost then it would likely be worth it.

It's really bad for families with older children.
 
Grant Shapps really is starting to out perform even Johnson in the useless **** stakes, he’s muttering on about looking what he can do about reducing the price of PCR tests, months to do this shit but no let’s do it just as we are looking to open up for travel. Private companies absolutely scamming.

Jet2 as ever top notch in dealing with this stuff, 4th time my cycling trip to Majorca has been binned, booked again for September hopefully all should be clearer by then, also got a booking for Barbados next March and have struck lucky we booked before the announcement of the dates for England touring there for the cricket, so all being well we get to take a day or so at the cricket.
 
feedthegoat27 said:
Been there, done that ;)

This 2 test requirement for summer travel, although not unexpected, really needs to be looked at what test type they accept.

If they don't permit the lateral flow tests, then something needs to be done to make PCR testing more affordable.
You cannot expect travellers to be coughing up around £125 a pop for a PCR test, particularly when they can be done abroad for a fraction of that cost.

If nothing changes on that front then things like short breaks, weekend City breaks just aren't gonna happen, as who is gonna pay £250 for 2 tests for a £300 short break to Spain?

Myself and a mate have got a week in Kos booked for the August bank holiday weekend...7 nights, all inclusive...£565pp. A lot can obviously change between now and then but should testing still be averaging about £125 a test, I'm not sure paying 250 quid to go on that holiday is worthwhile or not. By August I'll be desperate and will likely just pay it, but if the holiday was a little cheaper then I don't think it would be worth it.
Likewise if the holiday was more expensive and the tests represented a smaller %age of the overall cost then it would likely be worth it.

It's really bad for families with older children.
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I’m just going to take my holidays in GB this year, can’t be arsed with the hassle.
 
discopop said:
Grant Shapps really is starting to out perform even Johnson in the useless **** stakes, he’s muttering on about looking what he can do about reducing the price of PCR tests, months to do this shit but no let’s do it just as we are looking to open up for travel. Private companies absolutely scamming.

Jet2 as ever top notch in dealing with this stuff, 4th time my cycling trip to Majorca has been binned, booked again for September hopefully all should be clearer by then, also got a booking for Barbados next March and have struck lucky we booked before the announcement of the dates for England touring there for the cricket, so all being well we get to take a day or so at the cricket.
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You’ll love it I was over there for the World Cup.
 
andyhinch said:
You’ll love it I was over there for the World Cup.
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It was a stroke of luck with the dates Andy, staying in St Lawrence Gap, flying Virgin, hotel bang on the beach, when we took the punt in Jan we got the package for around £2k for the two of us, prices already £400 up on that, price gouging is going to be horrible as we come out of this.
 
andyhinch said:
I’m just going to take my holidays in GB this year, can’t be arsed with the hassle.
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I think a lot of people will do likewise.
Many already were planning to, and no doubt some people on the fence are probably now leaning towards domestic holidays.

I've got various things lined up from August onwards. If the testing situation doesn't change (IE approx £125 a test x2) then I'll likely have to reconsider some of them.

Kos - August - 7 nights - probably go but not sure yet
Marrakech - September - 4 nights - nope (BA holiday so worst case scenario can get a credit for deposit)
Turkey - October - 5 nights - nope (Easyjet holiday so as above for credit for deposit as worst case scenario)
Dubai cruise and stay - November - 9 nights - definitely go if able to
Bali - Christmas/New Year - 2 weeks - 100% going if able to

This is why booking responsibly using reputable and flexible tour operators/agencies is key, as it really limits your liability should you wish to cancel something that you had hoped to go on.
 
Was going to book a week in Greece in September but we’ve decided not to now and have booked a week in England instead.
 
Booked two weeks for the family in Tenerife in 20l9 for summer 2020 before covid. It was cancelled. Let the money roll on to Turkey August 2021. I cannot get my money back now as the government says I can go as long as I get tests done which will cost me about £1200 to these robbing cnuts who do the tests.
 
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