riots by August?

Nah, they’ll be too busy at illegal raves and parties

Holiday squatting in vacated boomer’s mansions.

Holiday squatting in vacated boomer’s mansions.

This is actually an issue in Spain, squatting is a real problem and getting it sorted through the courts is a long and expensive process.

There are companies that will ‘get rid’ of squatters for you without going through the time and expence of the court process, I suspect they send the heavies round to kick the living daylights out of the squatters.

I too hope that more will bog off to foreign climes – and leave our family in peace…

That said, in Scotland I am fortunate enough that once you leave the carpark you can find some peace and solitude.

If I can find it on Instagram or some kind of vLogger/blogger site, I am not visiting this year. That’s my planning rule.

A lot of people are putting deposits down on holidays (here & abroad) because most companies have good covid refund policies

Also lots of people have trips fully or part paid & deferred from last year are just rebooking now

I think many are willing to accept it may not happen, but will get it deferred/refunded, even if headline booking figures are up

Tourism/hospitality industries everywhere are in dire straights so Id fully expect some sort of vaccine passport / test to travel scheme to be in place by early summer, even tho vaccination rates won’t really be high enough to justify it.

This means those that can afford it (an extra 2 grand? for a family in testing fees) will get their holiday in the med this year

The rest of us will just have to pray to the weather gods we get another scorchio summer in the UK (tho our place we normally stay it in Cornwall has booked out months earlier than normal some weeks back)

Johnson has said that we will have an “incomparably better summer this year” so expectations will be high

My buddies are all getting a bit carried away that we might make it to the Pyrenees in July.

Thing is at this rate I don’t think I’d want to go, even if there weren’t any additional costs, I’ve already sort of shifted my mindset to a local holiday again, and can’t imagine a foreign trip being very restful, trying to make it through the various transport hubs *JUST* as restrictions are starting to ease.

So I should really put my money where my mouth is and commit to that bikepacking gear I was going to buy, since I don’t imagine I’ll find accommodation where and when I need it in the highlands for my planned trips…

Re vaccine passports and tests – most if not all airlines want a Neg test before you get on a plane at either end. Despite not going, I researched our desired Menorca destination via Jet2 and this was the case with a free test offered at the hotel 24hrs before departure. Jet2 do have a very good :own brand: Covid policy so this will have encouraged people to book.

This means those that can afford it (an extra 2 grand? for a family in testing fees

Our holiday would have only been an extra £200 (10 days all inc. Menorca) but you can book for 2022 and that’s already showing as £800 more.

The rest of us will just have to pray to the weather gods we get another scorchio summer in the UK (tho our place we normally stay it in Cornwall has booked out months earlier than normal some weeks back)

I’m putting the holiday money I’ve saved toward some Ratten furniture…. Like Mr P I’m looking forward to hitting some bike time.

A lot of people are putting deposits down on holidays (here & abroad) because most companies have good covid refund policies

Also lots of people have trips fully or part paid & deferred from last year are just rebooking now

I think many are willing to accept it may not happen, but will get it deferred/refunded, even if headline booking figures are up

This is true for us.
We’ve booked flights and a hotel somewhere warm in late August. We can cancel the hotel up to 14 days before arrival and the flights were cheap so if we lose money on them so be it (though I suspect they’ll either be cancelled with refund or moved).
Car or transfers we’ll worry about close to the time.
It’s something to look forward to and it’s not a huge financial outlay.

Yep same. We deferred our 2020 hol (in Canada) and rebooked it over Xmas to September 2021. We confirmed that the cancellation policies are pretty relaxed so if it doesn’t look sensible then we’ll just reschedule again. By getting in early we got the flights £500 cheaper this year than they were going to be last year…

My magicball foretells a future with lots of whining coming through the media when a lot of people can’t go abroad due to lockdowns/not having a vaccination and that they never took out appropriate (if it’s even available) insurance to cover their losses.

I can see a fair bit of this. Maybe not that they can’t go abroad but that they can’t get back again, having tested positive at departure after two weeks drunken snogging randoms at 3am in a sweaty club.

an extra 2 grand? for a family in testing fees

WTF, it is 35 euros to get a test in Germany, 70 euros if you forget to get it done in advance and get the test at the airport before flying.

What about the Channel Tunnel and ferries?

Will they also have vaccination or Covid negative test conditions of travel?

WTF, it is 35 euros to get a test in Germany, 70 euros if you forget to get it done in advance and get the test at the airport before flying.

these are the current prices for getting a test upon return to England

Get a test before travelling
You must have proof of a negative coronavirus test to travel to England – this includes UK citizens. You must take the test in the 3 days before the service on which you will arrive in England departs.

For example, if you travel directly to England on Friday, you must take the test on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

See the jobs with testing travel exemptions to find out whether your job qualifies for an exemption and what that exemption covers. You may need to show evidence of the work you will be doing at the border.

Book your travel testing package
Everyone must book a travel test package – this costs £210. You must take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 for variant surveillance and a test on or after day 8 to check that you do not have COVID-19.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-quarantine-when-you-arrive-in-england

so if you are blessed with 4 kids like me thats £1260 to come back to UK

and tests for travel to France costs between £89-£295

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/12/test-to-release-price-comparison-/

two weeks drunken snogging randoms at 3am in a sweaty club.

I’ve changed my mind, I do want to go abroad. Where do I sign up for this?

so ive worked straight through since Jul* last year covering for those unavoidable gaps and now no chance to get away this year as i just cant hope to meet the costs.

any spaces at that £35/night hotel you were talking about?

thanks.

DONT EVER USE OPODO.

If people are happy to take the financial risk booking a holiday now then they can go ahead with no argument from me. What I won’t like will be the people who book a holiday then do this:

My magicball foretells a future with lots of whining coming through the media when a lot of people can’t go abroad due to lockdowns/not having a vaccination and that they never took out appropriate (if it’s even available) insurance to cover their losses.

I can see a fair bit of this. Maybe not that they can’t go abroad but that they can’t get back again, having tested positive at departure after two weeks drunken snogging randoms at 3am in a sweaty club.

Those people can go swivel, they should know the risks as it’s blatantly obvious with even the most basic of research. There will be lots of them come September, crying that it’s unfair that their kids can’t go back to school etc all because of their ‘right’ to have a holiday abroad.

I’m thinking much the same as Kryton here. I really am hoping that people do go abroad so I can ride my bike in peace. I’m not planning on going far this summer at all.

Same here. I’m hoping to do a camping trip or two this year at most, using scotroutes’ plan of going to the lesser known places which won’t appeal to the masses. I did have a trip planned with friends to the Alps but we’ve moved that back a year or more now. I could still do a solo trip myself (much easier to deal with delays, tests etc) but I don’t have the drive to do so as it’s not really the same. If I can do my originally planned SDW ride this year and have a few days riding with mates somewhere (even if it’s 2-3 day trips) then I’ll consider this year a success holiday-wise.

We have booked the channel tunnel in mid July. It was a really good deal so took the risk. Fingers crossed we can travel sensibly. E we also have a trip to Andorra in September carried forward from last year. Let’s hope the other countries let us in

There will be no normal international holibobs before September. And then it will require PCR both ways and vax.

Damn I should be Prime Minister – this is easy.

Those people can go swivel, they should know the risks as it’s blatantly obvious with even the most basic of research. There will be lots of them come September, crying that it’s unfair that their kids can’t go back to school etc all because of their ‘right’ to have a holiday abroad.

Wait till they see the queues at the “all other countries” passport desk. 😀

They’re in for a world of pain.

Wait till they see the queues at the “all other countries” passport desk. 😀

They’re in for a world of pain.

I’ll be one of them, but it will be totes funny!

EDIT- Untill Chantelle from Burnley has a ruckus with security. then it’s not so much fun.

I’ll be one of them, but it will be totes funny!

As the last tweet on a humorous Twitter thread I read said, “oh and your Irish mate, he’s in arrivals having a pint and he’ll see you in half an hour…” 😀

I rolled my booking from last summer forward to this year, it was all paid for so long ago it feels like a free holiday now as I would usually be putting the money aside now.

I’m optimistic it might happen, I’ve had my first jab of the vaccine, kids will be being tested for school, wife is due a jab soon. If the chance is there to get away then I will take it. If not then it will get rolled forwards to 2022

I’m pretty much in the position as Steve-G – holiday rolled over from last summer – not sure if it’ll be possible or not (Road-trip to Lake Garda) i’m going to wait and see how things are looking late April/early May and make a decision at that point.
We should be able to roll it over again so no issues.
My wife has had the first Jab, and at 48 i’m hoping i should be done in April/May so that may not be a barrier, however I’ve got absolutely no intention of £800+ on testing for a family of 4 so that might be the deciding factor.

Posted this in the main thread but it’s equally applicable here:

So the plan to put arrivals in Quarantine Hotels is going as planned then: (from the Guardian Live feed)

Around 99% of daily arrivals in the UK are not going into hotel quarantine, MPs have been told.

The home affairs select committee were told by the Border Force director general, Paul Lincoln, that there are around 14,000 to 15,000 people arriving in the UK through all ports each day, of which around 150 a day are going into mandatory hotel quarantine. There are currently about 1,100 to 1,200 people in total in hotels since the requirement was introduced 10 days ago.

British and Irish nationals or UK residents arriving from a list of 33 countries are now required to book a 10-day quarantine package costing £1,750 per adult. Lincoln told the MPs that Public Health England are due to publish a figure on the proportion of Covid cases believed to be coming into the country from overseas. He said previously it was estimated to be 0.5% of domestic cases but he understood it was now significantly lower.

The chair of the committee, Yvette Cooper, asked what the compliance rate was for the 99% of arrivals who were required to quarantine at home. Lincoln said the latest assessment by the police is around 85%.

Defending the whole policy, the home secretary, Priti Patel, said nearly 8,000 sample calls were taking place every day to ensure travellers were self isolating. “I would like to put this in wider context of the measures in place, this is a layered approach,” she said. She went on:

“People are now familiar with the testing prior to travel, passenger locator form, all the measures put in place to give assurance … this is all about managing the risk.”

1% of arrivals in the hotels, the rest being trusted to isolate at home with a check-up phone call? They need to get this whole system running smoothly before the hoardes go on their hollibobs.

British and Irish nationals or UK residents arriving from a list of 33 countries are now required to book a 10-day quarantine package costing £1,750 per adult.

what are the red list countries? perhaps it is a sufficient deterent to stop them coming at all. given the amount of warning they had, likely most people in those countries either got in before the hotels went live, or have decided to delay their journey home.

what are the red list countries?

Currently:

Angola
Argentina
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cape Verde
Chile
Colombia
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ecuador
Eswatini
French Guiana
Guyana
Lesotho
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores)
Rwanda
Seychelles
South Africa
Suriname
Tanzania
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Aside from Portugal, I don’t imgaine theres a huge amount of traffic.

Still sitting waiting patiently/impatiently to see what the next 3-4 weeks brings in terms of our trip to Portugal.

The infection and deaths are dropping massively in Europe but there does seem to be concerns of following infections.

Then you get this

As we reported earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been speaking during a visit to a Covid testing facility in Glasgow.

Asked about travel restrictions, Hancock says he hopes as lockdowns are lifted across the UK people will be able to travel between the different nations.

“I’m confident because of the vaccine we will be able to make that progress and then be able to, all of us, to travel freely wherever we are within these islands,” he says.

“I’ve said before that I’m optimistic for a great British summer and I’m now more optimistic about having a great British summer than I have been at any time, thanks to the speed and the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout.”

He adds the travel rules for Scotland are a matter for the Scottish government.

Which very much gives the implication that the Gov are seeing Europe as a no-go.

Matt Hancock has lied his way through quite a bit of the pandemic so wouldnt necessarily take what he says at face value!

that the Gov are seeing Europe as a no-go

Its not just their choice, other may not want us dirty Brits in for a bit. They’ll be balancing the cost of UK Tourism income with our propensity to over populate beaches and get pissed in large sweaty groups before puking and dancing in the streets.

Its not just their choice, other may not want us dirty Brits in for a bit.

GThats fine with me if thats the rules put in place. At the moment i’d just like to know.

They’ll be balancing the cost of UK Tourism income with our propensity to over populate beaches and get pissed in large sweaty groups before puking and dancing in the streets.

You’d think after nearly half a century of cheap package holidays, Spain and Portugal would have that cost / benefit calculation nailed.

You’d think after nearly half a century of cheap package holidays, Spain and Portugal would have that cost / benefit calculation nailed.

Now theyll have to factor in cost of associated covid surge etc

Realistically its going to be carnage

After a year of being cooped up in lockdown, the country is desperate for a holiday, the smaller your house, the more densely populated your local area, makes it even more so.
But those areas the most deprived & they can less afford the extra costs that will be required… Testing fees, vaccine passport & possible post holiday quarantine

Where as better off can both better absorb cost of those extras & more likely to be able to wfh during a post holiday quarantine..

On top of that many UK sites already booked out and this will force up prices at home, not to mention means a quiet get away to the beach/lakes will mean queues of traffic….

Government will be balancing risks with damage to holiday firms (even holidays abroad bring in UK revenue & employ UK staff)

On top of that many UK sites already booked out and this will force up prices at home

I had a quick look at a campsite I have been to before and to pitch my tent on a square of grass this coming July is listed at £81 a night. A couple of years ago I paid £48 a night which I thought was expensive back then. I have said it before but I think this summer will be spent close to home. I have had plenty of holidays over the past 10 years so I won’t feel cheated if I don’t have one this year.

Tunnel booked for 25 june, its on a flexible ticket so ill just move it, i’ll keep the van packed & ready to go soon as im able

I’m expecting to do very little trade abroad this year. The chance of getting straight into EU without 10 to 14 days isolation on arrival is too great. We may be able to get into southern Italy, Valencia and Portugal for quarter 4 but we’re not holding our breath.

Had a useful chat with the organiser of our late-July trip to the French Pyrenees (Sportive Breaks).

They expect a government update April 12th which will spell out the UK government’s approach to foreign travel.

They also expect that trips will be able to resume in June, and are optimistic about our trip in July.

They obviously can’t speak for foreign governments so that remains up in the air.

They did concede that if, e.g. a costly restriction still remained such as £1750 10 day quarantine in hotels, then they would probably cancel trips.

The grey area is perhaps the cost of a negative test certificate or similar.

This is positive from the perspective that trip might still go ahead.

Less positive is that if restrictions have eased enough that airlines and tour organisers can still offer trips then likelihood of full refunds if e.g. you just don’t fancy it because of risk or remaining low level restrictions, then cost is on you.

Personally I’m not really sure I fancy it, but right now that looks like it could cost me £500 in cancelled flights and non-refundable deposits, so is a tricky one.

Ayia Napa, Ayia Napa…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56289054

By the looks of it South West will be rammed full of staycationing grockles this year.
Yay! Please come and breath all over us.

Ouch

lookd like holidays will be available only to the well off

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/03/uk-seaside-accommodation-prices-surge-for-summer-dates/

Bugger, I’m booking my Cairngorms trip now!