or will vaccinated people be exepmt

And will that mean that a family of four with two vaccinated parents and two unvaccinated teenagers be forced to split up both on the way there and on the way back?

Personally I am hoping current restrictions stay in place, Covid rates are only increasing worldwide we have been doing so well why waste all that hard work.

We dont holiday in the UK other than short breaks but will be this year even though we have a timeshare in the US. To be truthful the money is far better spent locally and will benefit us all in the UK in the long term. I know a lot of EU countries will potentially allow vaccinated brits but I am hoping that they are not on the green list.

Still having this debate, what with Son2 studying in Ireland and then Spain. In truth, as I have said previously here, going will likely be OK (and much needed for some economies). Coming home may not. Unless you fancy an extra 10 days in a hotel in LHR. We’ll be in the UK again this year. NEXT year, however, vaccination (ex-UK) will see all those countries on the green list. Iceland already has entry for vaccinated adults.

Personally I am hoping current restrictions stay in place, Covid rates are only increasing worldwide we have been doing so well why waste all that hard work…….To be truthful the money is far better spent locally and will benefit us all in the UK in the long term.

Very much my view this year as far as basic holidays go. I understand people wanting to go abroad, but if you can’t manage 2 years without a beach or foreign culture, you’ve been spoilt in recent years.

Totally accept that some people have genuine work or family reasons to travel, but there will be a lot wanting to turn that to their advantage.

Very much my view this year as far as basic holidays go. I understand people wanting to go abroad, but if you can’t manage 2 years without a beach or foreign culture, you’ve been spoilt in recent years.

And next year when covid still exists then what?

When we’re past round two of our vaccinations in the UK, and much of the rest of the world that we tend to visit on our hols has vaccinated most of their populations? The situation will be quite different. This winter could still get very messy, if we’re not careful this summer.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/03/holidays-abroad-should-be-discouraged-to-stop-covid-third-wave-say-mps

This government seems destined to replay its same mistake over and over….

And next year when covid still exists then what?

Then I will make my decision based on infection and vaccination rates next year. This year I still feel that a foreign holiday is too risky given the level of vaccination rates around Europe, and my own vaccination status. Infection rates are likely to rise as societies open up, that’s pretty much accepted, but vaccination will reduce the chance of it overwhelming the health service.

I’ve missed a lot of riding the last two years after a couple of crashes, as well as Covid restrictions. I have no desire to lose another month or more having caught the damn thing just before the vaccine protects me, thank you very much.

European countries are all getting vacinated at very similar rates and didn’t get into gear until a couple of months after the UK. There’s some catch up but no much. That means that if you cross the Channel in June you’re going back in Covid time and probably with higher rates because lockdowns are easing here now with a lower proportion of vaccinated and higher rates.

I’ll be holidaying wherever I’m allowed in the EU, I will be fully vaccinated by then but that’s stil no guarantee we can’t catch and trasmit. As with last year we’ll be looking after ourselves avoiding poorly ventilated and busy places. We’d like to travel by train but that will depend on rates. If high we’ll take the car, ride bikes or walk.

Whoever of you said there was the prospect of quarantine on return was right.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/03/uk-likely-to-give-green-light-for-travel-to-fewer-than-10-eu-countries

Personally I am hoping current restrictions stay in place, Covid rates are only increasing worldwide we have been doing so well why waste all that hard work.

I’m inclined to agree with this, especially given the relatively low rate of vaccinations outside the UK. I think we’re still in a precarious position, and it would be a shame to slip back for the sake of holidays abroad.

Also personally I don’t fancy that sort of uncertainty and caveats hanging over my holiday plans, so UK holiday and a bit more peace of mind for us this year.

suspect it will continue to be a quickly changing picture for a while yet, but for huge numbers this is actually bringing hope of some return to normality.

Personally I’m outta here as soon as i can tick enough of the boxes

allowed to leave UK
allowed to and can afford to fly,
minimal/workable restrictions on arrival,
allowed to return.

to me if testing is also required beyond proof of double vaccination – then testing needs to be cheap/easy/quick at both ends of the journey, but i think that responsibility currently falls between the cracks of Airport and Airline to be picked up by the traveller.

late Sept seems most likely, just prior to another round of tightening restrictions, but that clearly increases the risk of a quickly imposed “govt isolation facility”…. going to be tightrope all year. Glad that Ive not got a family to disappoint when plans shift – i wouldnt be booking a family holiday abroad this year, given where we are right now.

We’ve cancelled 6 foreign holidays (all ski or mtb) over the last 2 years – all but one of them COVID cancellations.

The UK is ok for a couple of days with children, but is too expensive and doesn’t hold the attention for much longer at the level all four of us can ride at.

late Sept seems most likely, just prior to another round of tightening restrictions

And you’re not seeing a possible link between the two activities?

Over in Ireland atm, spending a few days fixing up our house which has been empty since September or so. First day getting the boiler to work and some heat in the place. Things are starting to open up here a bit but very much at the start of th the process. We have to quarantine for14 days but we’re in the middle of nowhere and only here for four days so that’s fine. Our postponed Canada trip will be postponed again so it’ll be summer in Kerry.
In summer, atm , it’ll be another 14 days but after five you can get released if you pass a pcr Covid test so that will make things a bit easier
Off to chop wood and dig out a ditch in the sun now.

Just pressed the button and postponed our euro road trip to Lake Garda again to 2022.
It looks like even if Italy + France make it onto the green list by August there will still be the requirement for PCR tests which i feel is dead money for a family of 4.
We also don’t know what the situation will be when we get there – will everything be open?

I think the government are probably regretting telling everyone foreign leisure travel can restart from 17-May and are now trying to work out how to limit it as much as possible.

We’ll possibly try and do something in the UK but i’d rather stay home than spend silly Money on a holiday rental in the UK where we’ll potentially spend a week dodging the rain.

Roll on 2022.

MCTD – quite right, loosening restrictions will have an effect, we are currently just starting to see the effect of allowing the schools to go back.
dont forget, not all restrictions and liftings impact everyone evenly…

Not EU, but still…
My SIL returned from Egypt (teacher) at Easter for the first time in 15mths. She had CV19 back in Feb, but still had to test on departure, test on arrival LHR then quarantine in her flat pending test results, her 5th day test delivered the results on her 11th day in the UK, giving her one day to see her mum before having to return to LHR for the overnight test before returning. believe she got a bit of DIY done in the flat – ive no idea of the total cost of her trip

Will be in France for all of August if at all possible – looking more and more likely I would think…

How do the government actually intend to make the quarantine system work? You vaccinate a large proportion of the population and then tell them to quarantine….. hmmm…..

You would need to implement a robust, working and effective program to track people as they come into the country and as they travel onwards within the country. It would have to be funded properly ad staffed by enough competent people with enough of a remit to make evasion/avoidance all but impossible.

You’d also need to enforce it properly and make the fines punitive so that people would not even try. Maybe make hotel stays cheaper so there was less of a reason to try and skip.

Most of all, you’d need to have politicians that had the balls to suggest something like this and actually carry it through.

We’ve cancelled 6 foreign holidays (all ski or mtb) over the last 2 years – all but one of them COVID cancellations.

The UK is ok for a couple of days with children, but is too expensive and doesn’t hold the attention for much longer at the level all four of us can ride at.

Wow, it’s all good, but that post does make me realise how much expectations have changed over the last 20- 30 years!

Well, I’ve got three UK holidays this years for about 50% of the cost of the Menorca all inc (2020 prices) that we would have gone to.

On that note and including tests, that Menorca trip if booked today would cost us £6250 for a family of four for 10 days in August, ouch.

expectations

..are being lowered!

My Greece sailing trip was booked last summer when cases were low & expectations good. My flights were a bargain and I received a 20% discount on the boat for booking early.

I wouldn’t book in the current market, but I’m still waiting to see what happens. I don’t see it as particularly high risk – everybody on the flight will be tested and masked up. Probably vaccinated too. We are on a boat by ourselves and will eat outside at Tavernas. Very much a socially distanced holiday.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/03/uk-likely-to-give-green-light-for-travel-to-fewer-than-10-eu-countries

Senior UK government sources said the number of destinations to which Brits can travel quarantine-free from 17 May could be in single figures….. A significant number of countries on the list are unlikely to be major holiday destinations, one source warned

If it’s based on case rate then Portugal and Malta look like the best bet at present for European summer sun destinations…. ?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1139048/coronavirus-case-rates-in-the-past-7-days-in-europe-by-country/

but that post does make me realise how much expectations have changed

How the other half live, huh? That’s more foreign holidays than we have had this century.

Wow, it’s all good, but that post does make me realise how much expectations have changed over the last 20- 30 years

For some… For many it’s still a once a year at best. Myself personally it’s once every few years.

Surely the current restrictions are a non-starter and will have to change, unless the idea is to prevent foreign holidays except for the very rich? A trip to Greece for example will require 5 tests per person, so that will be the best part of 500 quid each on top of the price of a holiday. Plus how does it work that tens of thousands of people in their holiday destination have to arrange covid tests? Unless clinics pop up next to the beach bar is seems a little unrealistic.

Surely the current restrictions are a non-starter and will have to change, unless the idea is to prevent foreign holidays except for the very rich?

No, I think you’ve pretty much figured it out.

By June they will all have magically turned green.

Ryanair are doing pcr tests for 60 quid per test, and I’m sure I read somewhere that the govt are aiming to get the costs down to around 45 quid per test.

Even if your going to a green list country, you have to do a test 3days before you come home, and another 2 days after you arrive back, so it’s not like a green list country is free and easy. And that’s before you consider entry tests that might be required to get into the green list country.

Tui have some detail on tier arrangement:

• GREEN – £20 per person. Contains 1x pre-departure antigen (rapid flow) test for your journey back from your holiday destination and 1x PCR test for day two after you return home.
• GREEN+ – £60 per person. Contains 1x PCR test for your journey to your holiday destination, with courier costs seven days a week included, 1x pre-departure antigen (rapid flow) test and 1x PCR test for day two after you return home.
• AMBER – £50 per person. Contains 1x pre-departure antigen (rapid flow) test and 2x PCR tests for days 2 and 8 after you return home.
• AMBER+ – £90 per person. Contains 1x PCR test for your journey to your holiday destination, with courier costs seven days a week included, 1x pre-departure antigen (rapid flow) test for your journey back from your holiday destination and 2x PCR tests for days 2 and 8 after you return home.

And Jet2:

“That’s why we’ve worked hard to secure specially discounted PCR (swab) COVID-19 tests from third party providers from just £75, if the country you’re travelling to requires a negative PCR test result. Simply arrange yours with enough time before you’re due to travel.”

Gives you an example of what to expect.

Why are we charging for testing when we have this massive T&T operation already set up? Prevalence is low so let’s use our official testing capacity.

How much are the govt paying per test? I doubt it’s over £10.

Just so I am clear, If you travel to the Schegen in the summer it is looking like no testing will be needed to go, then on the return there is a test before you start your journey home, then a couple of tests when you get home?

The pre departure test, can it be a lateral Flow as per the kits the government are giving away like sweats? Or are they expecting PCR tests to be sorted whilst abroad. Reading the notes it seems to suggest you can do a lateral flow, but that you need proof you did it?????

Why are we charging for testing

You know that the majority of planes have been grounded for more than a year? Well, maybe there’s a revenue gap… just a thought. Certainly the price rises in some of Ryanair’s ticks that were in the papers – Portugal £27 to £73 iirc, are then doubled once you buy their £70 test kit.

Re the government throwing them about, surely a defense against all the money they gave their mates; “All those billions? Yes but look all the millions of free test kits the public have received!” Not to forget its tax payers money so if you haven’t all ready paid for it via HMRC you soon will.

Anyone know what the exact criteria is for a country to get on the Green list?

Anyone know what the exact criteria is for a country to get on the Green list?

I think preferably it needs to be current or ex Commonwealth, thousands of miles away, who aren’t letting anyone in or has naff all to do. Portugal aside as a token offering to the masses.

To be fair, Portugal has suppressed Covid far more in the recent wave than the rest of Europe. It’s rates are lower than ours.
We will see France/Spain/Greece added but not until Jun 21st. Another 5 weeks for our vaccination programme to progress even further first.

I don’t think it is the airlines making money out of testing (although I wouldn’t put it past RyanAir.) As usual it’s a sop to private healthcare companies. I’d love to see what links there are to the government from some of the private testing co’s.

Majority are private companies registered through HMRC I believe even though this is now in place we all know government preference is for us not to travel why make it easy. I am sure charges will be cheaper once we have more countries on the green list and more travellers.

we all know government preference is for us not to travel why make it easy

I suspect that is a key factor