Has anyone booked any continental holidays yet?

[anonymous-user]

GreatGranny said:

With AirBNB it depends on the host's cancellation policy.

Some you can cancel up to 1 week before and still get full refund or just move the booking as some of our guests have done when they booked for April this year.

Booking.com have a flexible cancellation policy.

That’s very flexible. Many I saw in Greece you could only cancel with a few days of actually making the booking.

Not sure booking.com is that flexible either.

Many villa booking companies I’ve used in the past were pretty unsuitable in a rapidly changing situation like the pandemic tbh.

Depends a lot where you go. Many in the USA you can cancel just before but places in Greece you can only cancel within 48 hours of making the booking. Even free cancellation often means you have to pay x amount well before and it’s non refundable.

Huge variations here and you absolutely need to read all the small print.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 26th February 08:43

[GreatGranny]

El stovey said:

That’s very flexible. Many I saw in Greece you could only cancel with a few days of actually making the booking.

Not sure booking.com is that flexible either.

Many villa booking companies I’ve used in the past were pretty unsuitable in a rapidly changing situation like the pandemic tbh.

Depends a lot where you go. Many in the USA you can cancel just before but places in Greece you can only cancel within 48 hours of making the booking. Even free cancellation often means you have to pay x amount well before and it’s non refundable.

Huge variations here and you absolutely need to read all the small print.

Edited by El stovey on Friday 26th February 08:43

Sorry realised this was for holidays on the continent.

Not too sure of the policies abroad but with AirBNB they should be similar.

Edited by GreatGranny on Friday 26th February 09:00

[snuffy]

55palfers said:

Press reporting all the main tour operators sites very busy today.

I've booked a trip to Cyprus for December, anyone else taken a punt?

I was thinking of Cyprus in November, but held off so far. But I was pleased the see selecting the same hotel and options came out at a few quid under the price we paid in 2019.

[RegMolehusband]

A nice city centre hotel in Palma - July
An even nicer hotel in Tenerife - October.

Flexible bookings, late cancellation available.

[Royal Jelly]

Looking at the big picture, given the rate at which the U.K. is achieving immunity, the fact remains that in a couple of months it is going to be very difficult for the U.K. to retain restrictions on its people.

If the EU won’t sort itself out (quelle surprise) then we’ll just look further afield.

Demand is going to be staggering.

[Pete102]

Royal Jelly said:

Looking at the big picture, given the rate at which the U.K. is achieving immunity, the fact remains that in a couple of months it is going to be very difficult for the U.K. to retain restrictions on its people.

If the EU won’t sort itself out (quelle surprise) then we’ll just look further afield.

Demand is going to be staggering.

This, in spades.

I live not too far from a seaside resort and I passed by the seafront on a ride today, it was absolutely rammed. Every car parking space taken up, long lines outside of the fish and chip shops / cafes. There may as well not be any restrictions in place, it was like any other normal sunny day - and all the better for it.

The Government need to accept that the battle to keep people following these stupid and unjustified rules is lost. Risk of transmission outside is vanishingly small and people are tired of being cooped up after winter. With rapidly falling infection, death and hospitalisation rates there simply isn't and won't be any justification for continuing them. Expect the media to be full of pictures showing packed parks, beaches etc. tomorrow.

The EU will sort its self out.....but it won't be a collective effort. It'll be the smaller members opening up whilst France and Germany look on in disgust and tut. The tourism heavy countries (Greece, Spain, Italy etc.) will more than likely put in place corridor agreements (or just open up with a negative test requirement). The pent-up demand is an interesting one as potentially its a massive payday for those countries willing to be sensible...or, as you say, we'll simply go elsewhere

[The Leaper]

Pete102 said:

The Government need to accept that the battle to keep people following these stupid and unjustified rules is lost. Risk of transmission outside is vanishingly small and people are tired of being cooped up after winter. With rapidly falling infection, death and hospitalisation rates there simply isn't and won't be any justification for continuing them. Expect the media to be full of pictures showing packed parks, beaches etc. tomorrow.

So, let's all do as you say, with the inevitable rise in CV19 cases and consequences....will you be moaning when lockdown 4 becomes necessary?

R

[Uggers]

The Leaper said:

So, let's all do as you say, with the inevitable rise in CV19 cases and consequences....will you be moaning when lockdown 4 becomes necessary?

R

What consequences? Haven't we just vaccinated all the old and vulnerable? Studies have shown they are pretty much Teflon with the vaccine.

So if that isn't good enough I'm struggling to see how do we ever get away from the threat of lockdown?

[Pete102]

The Leaper said:

So, let's all do as you say, with the inevitable rise in CV19 cases and consequences....will you be moaning when lockdown 4 becomes necessary?

R

You're quite welcome to do whatever you want, but I'd ask that you take a good and practical view of the situation. I'm quite open to debate so lets start this off with a few very simple questions shall we?

• Given that the top 1-4 at risk groups have now been vaccinated, and the rest of the identified at risk groups will soon be vaccinated, which is clearly leading to a collapse in death rates (data supported), where is the justification for continued restrictions and lockdowns?
• Lets say infection rates rise, which they invariably will because the kids are going back to school soon and there is a big push on lateral flow testing, is this really a problem if hospitalisations remain low? (which again, they will because the vaccines are proven to be effective and those below age 50 are at minimal risk of hospitalisation)
• Do you think that pursuing a strategy of zero / minimal COVID is justified when weighed up against wider damage to health (missed diagnosis, cancelled operations, mental health issues etc.) and economic impact?

I'm genuinely interested in your response, so please don't take this as an attack back.

Edit to add, I never told anyone to do anything in my post. It was an observation from my day which is no doubt repeated across the country. People are waking up and realising that the risk simply isn't there anymore.

Edited by Pete102 on Sunday 28th February 14:56

Edited by Pete102 on Sunday 28th February 14:57

[The Leaper]

Uggers said:

The Leaper said:

So, let's all do as you say, with the inevitable rise in CV19 cases and consequences....will you be moaning when lockdown 4 becomes necessary?

R

What consequences? Haven't we just vaccinated all the old and vulnerable? Studies have shown they are pretty much Teflon with the vaccine.

So if that isn't good enough I'm struggling to see how do we ever get away from the threat of lockdown?

You said "all" which is not the case. The professionals have already said that the %age of persons who can have the vaccination but are refusing is too large for the vaccination programme to have the full effect that we all hope, so things have to change, which seems unlikely, otherwise we'll lurch from one crisis to the next.

Added to this are the consequences of all those travelling overseas to countries with a poor vaccination record where contagion levels remain high.

Don't get me wrong: like everyone else, I want to see the end of the pandemic, but so far my interpretation of the evidence is that it is on the wane maybe for now in the UK, but nowhere near being eradicated.

R.

[anonymous-user]

Pete102 said:

Royal Jelly said:

Looking at the big picture, given the rate at which the U.K. is achieving immunity, the fact remains that in a couple of months it is going to be very difficult for the U.K. to retain restrictions on its people.

If the EU won’t sort itself out (quelle surprise) then we’ll just look further afield.

Demand is going to be staggering.

This, in spades.

I live not too far from a seaside resort and I passed by the seafront on a ride today, it was absolutely rammed. Every car parking space taken up, long lines outside of the fish and chip shops / cafes. There may as well not be any restrictions in place, it was like any other normal sunny day - and all the better for it.

The Government need to accept that the battle to keep people following these stupid and unjustified rules is lost. Risk of transmission outside is vanishingly small and people are tired of being cooped up after winter. With rapidly falling infection, death and hospitalisation rates there simply isn't and won't be any justification for continuing them. Expect the media to be full of pictures showing packed parks, beaches etc. tomorrow.

The EU will sort its self out.....but it won't be a collective effort. It'll be the smaller members opening up whilst France and Germany look on in disgust and tut. The tourism heavy countries (Greece, Spain, Italy etc.) will more than likely put in place corridor agreements (or just open up with a negative test requirement). The pent-up demand is an interesting one as potentially its a massive payday for those countries willing to be sensible...or, as you say, we'll simply go elsewhere

I was swimming on the south coast yesterday and the beach was really busy there too. Queues to get in the shops and the car parks. Normally it’s quiet when you get out but I found it hard to find my stuff. Absolutely no hint of there being a pandemic whatsoever.

As I was swimming I saw some sort of platform in the sea and then when I got closer I realised it was loads of paddle boarders that had got together and formed some new floating community out to sea, unlikely they were all in the same bubble.

Makes me laugh because on swimming Facebook groups people are still getting funny about others meeting for a swim, like winter sea swimmers are some kind of new superspreaders that will attract police attention.

Lockdowns end now as soon as the sun comes out. People re gagging to get away now come April and May, there’s no way people will be following the rules in any large numbers especially if infections and deaths are dropping or non existent and blanket restrictions on foreign travel are going to look even less likely.

[Uggers]

The Leaper said:

You said "all" which is not the case. The professionals have already said that the %age of persons who can have the vaccination but are refusing is too large for the vaccination programme to have the full effect that we all hope, so things have to change, which seems unlikely, otherwise we'll lurch from one crisis to the next.

Added to this are the consequences of all those travelling overseas to countries with a poor vaccination record where contagion levels remain high.

Don't get me wrong: like everyone else, I want to see the end of the pandemic, but so far my interpretation of the evidence is that it is on the wane maybe for now in the UK, but nowhere near being eradicated.

R.

Just regarding the bit in bold, elimination isn't possible as admitted by government scientists and politicians. Maybe we could but it would be a scorched earth policy IMO.

The vaccine amongst the old and vulnerable has been incredibly high. I don't really know what you can do for the tiny percentage that refuse but let darwin take its course or rely on them to take what steps they need to make.

The problem of contagian abroad is an issue, but that is an issue they need to solve that we have little control over. But if we can at least open up the UK for domestic holidays, okay it's not ideal but after the winter most will take that for now.

[Pete102]

I'm not sure if this is better placed in NP&E or in here, I suspect we'll get a higher quality of discussion in here! amongst the mire of st on Reddit, this is one of the very few posts that I always find interesting. Its a collation of the change in case rate across various European countries over the last 7 days, I find it gives a good indication of those countries doing well, and those doing not so well (Red bad, green good).



Heres my take away from it at the moment:

• Following a relatively stagnent / slow growth period, both France and Italy are seeing increasing rates. There have been some calls in France to reimpose lockdown / curfew restrictions but these have been resisted so far. Italy has designated a number of additional areas 'Orange' recently, of note is Lombardy (Milan area), one of the regions hit very hard in the original wave.
• Both Spain and Portugal's outbreak have plummeted since they implemented strong measures, potentially good news for those hoping for a corridor.
• Greece showing a slow growth rate, again, with respect to a potential summer corridor lets hope that this is naturally supressed as we move into Spring
• Netherlands and Belgium outbreaks slowing, not quite stagnating but here's hoping they can look to remove some restrictions soon.
• Switzerland has held steady for several weeks now BUT non-essential retail has been closed. That re-opens today so it'll be interesting to see what the resulting change in R is.

The UK variant B.1.1.7 is now the dominant strain in many countries across Europe, it's suspected that whilst rates of the original EU variant appear to have been falling for the last few weeks, this has masked growing rates of B.1.1.7. The increasing rates we are seeing now is potentially the UK variant taking hold and imparting its increased transmissibility. Not good.

Especially not good against a backdrop of poor vaccination take up and supply issues.

[Uggers]

It doesn't look good on a backdrop of poor vaccination rates/uptake on the continent does it?

Portugal is going to stay on the red list whatever their rates I reckon, based on the new P1 variant and their links with Brazil. They seem to be going all out to find the person that's currently missing within the UK anyway so obviously taking it seriously.

My wife was talking to me about the current situation as she's desperate to go on holiday and was complaining about why we haven't booked as everyone else in her work had done so.

I asked if any of them are aware of the £200 per person they'll need for PCR testing before flying out and flying back. Had they also thought about the impact of one of them testing positive and what it means for them all. Because 2 weeks in a hotel room isolating isn't pleasant, I know!

During her pre meet zoom call she mentioned these things to her co-workers, to be met with a mixture of suprise about the tests and denial. That it will all be fine in the end. I guess you take your chances?

Me, I've just bought 3 sit on kayaks and the associated stuff, hopefully we can make the most of the summer in the UK. I'm tired of waiting on the ifs buts and maybes for the last year!

[anonymous-user]

Uggers said:

It doesn't look good on a backdrop of poor vaccination rates/uptake on the continent does it?

Portugal is going to stay on the red list whatever their rates I reckon, based on the new P1 variant and their links with Brazil. They seem to be going all out to find the person that's currently missing within the UK anyway so obviously taking it seriously.

My wife was talking to me about the current situation as she's desperate to go on holiday and was complaining about why we haven't booked as everyone else in her work had done so.

I asked if any of them are aware of the £200 per person they'll need for PCR testing before flying out and flying back. Had they also thought about the impact of one of them testing positive and what it means for them all. Because 2 weeks in a hotel room isolating isn't pleasant, I know!

During her pre meet zoom call she mentioned these things to her co-workers, to be met with a mixture of suprise about the tests and denial. That it will all be fine in the end. I guess you take your chances?

Me, I've just bought 3 sit on kayaks and the associated stuff, hopefully we can make the most of the summer in the UK. I'm tired of waiting on the ifs buts and maybes for the last year!

Not sure where you’re getting all this about hotel quarantine and PCR tests.

This is beginning of March I can’t see your predictions happening at all in summer.

Your Mrs will be scowling at you in a few months when her friends are all going away, might be ok if she’s on your kayak as you won’t see it though.

[irocfan]

One of our holibob ideas was a med cruise - issue being that you fly into and out of Rome. If Italy slips back again that rather large issue

[Uggers]

El stovey said:

Not sure where you’re getting all this about hotel quarantine and PCR tests.

This is beginning of March I can’t see your predictions happening at all in summer.

Your Mrs will be scowling at you in a few months when her friends are all going away, might be ok if she’s on your kayak as you won’t see it though.

Fair enough, I like to be pessimistic on this based on the last year, maybe they will suprise me for a change

If they get on top of things in the UK, they won't want to import variants which is why I can't see Portugal coming off the list.

Likewise the government won't want to be seen as going soft on other countries with higher rates than us. So the current controls will remain in place whilst CV-19 s merrily doing the rounds around the rest of the world. Is it that long ago people forget about the case rates that determined if a corridor opened or not and the race to get back into the UK before restrictions came in?

I'm really not going to miss travelling abroad this year, was never pleasant and now with the way things are they notched it into the category of just not worth the hassle.

All IMO of course

[Pete102]

Uggers said:

Fair enough, I like to be pessimistic on this based on the last year, maybe they will suprise me for a change

If they get on top of things in the UK, they won't want to import variants which is why I can't see Portugal coming off the list.

Likewise the government won't want to be seen as going soft on other countries with higher rates than us. So the current controls will remain in place whilst CV-19 s merrily doing the rounds around the rest of the world. Is it that long ago people forget about the case rates that determined if a corridor opened or not and the race to get back into the UK before restrictions came in?

I'm really not going to miss travelling abroad this year, was never pleasant and now with the way things are they notched it into the category of just not worth the hassle.

All IMO of course

Any countries with a spicy variant is unlikely to come off the red list any time soon, not a chance, especially with what we are seeing with the Brazilian and South African variant efforts. As I mentioned previously, the B.1.1.7 variant is doing the rounds across Europe and America which does the travel industry a favour in 'levelling the field' somewhat.

Already within Europe there are internal border closures going on Germany to France and Austria, Belgium, Holland etc. Its pretty obvious that this is going to open up a 'whack a mole' type travel scheme similar to what we saw last year and the opening / closing of travel corridors, the only time I see this getting largely relaxed is once there is wide-spread vaccination.

Still, wouldn't surprise the early candidates to be UAE, Israel and some of the EU members further along in their programs, smaller Spanish islands and nations (Swiss only have 12M to vaccinate, for example).

Edited by Pete102 on Monday 1st March 17:34

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Booked for Cyprus in July...

The flights were booked in 2019...

Last year I had to pay to move them...

Hoping we will be able to go but time will tell. I wouldn't book anything at the moment

[z4RRSchris]

UK in talk with EU regarding joining in with the EU Vax passport scheme, this will be a key to opening up travel for your holibobs in mallllagga

the big elephant in the room is that the UK wont be able to accept the standards of such an EU digital passport, we will harp on about human rights, microsoft trcking us, data privacy etc.

next dates for your summer hol planning...

17th march EU publishing paper re passport format - will include vax data, test data and if you have had covid before.

24th March EU Summit re use of such passports