Portugal holiday makers.... OOPS .

[Dave7]

I understand that some people feel they simply MUST get away for a holiday.
We had a fab holiday in Alvor and would love to go back......same hotel, same room even, but there is no way we will do it until (if) Covid is completely under control.
I find it difficult to have sympathy for those people affected when the possibilty was so obvious.
I wonder if they could have even been insured ?

 

[Sharky]

We've got a nice little place where we will be this Summer. Just about 260 miles north of Paris.

 

[dodgy]

This story is full of accounts of how awful it was and the resulting grave inconveniences. If only they had seen it coming, eh?
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/portugal-amber-travel-list-holiday-b1860800.html

 

[matticus]

There is enough spite and schadenfreude in the world.
<ignores thread>

 

[Milkfloat]

Whilst I have no intention of booking anything this year, I do have some sympathy with those that did. The vaccine rollout has been going well and rates were pretty low in both countries. In addition, the government has not exactly been clear with travel advice and plans especially when people started booking holidays a while ago. It would have been simpler and safer to just ban non-essential foreign travel for everyone.

 

[Tenkaykev]

I was looking at the Flightradar App yesterday ( Hurn Airport is about six miles away and it’s interesting to see what air traffic is doing) A couple of day’s ago I noticed several flights from different airports heading to Faro, all in a line as it where once over the Channel. I wondered why they were all heading there.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I've got some sympathy for those that traveled, people do want to get away after the last year and I understand that. But the virus is still around, still changing, the Government's travel advice policy is a mess, so there are known risks to travelling overseas right now, and it's not like this change in country advice has never happened before.

When you travel in these times, if you have any sense, you simply have to be spending a few minutes on a basic assessment of worst case scenario... "What if it changes and I have to come back? Could I even get back earlier? Or could I afford the time at home to do the quarantine? Or maybe I can afford the costs of the 5 day test to release?" Weigh those up, and if the answer is that you can't afford to quarantine, change plans etc, then you really shouldn't be going beyond Brighton. If you can live with the risks then go, but these are things you should be considering before you take the risk.

For those who weighed up all the potential problems and decided they could absorb the challenges, I've got respect, you tried, it went a bit awry, but you thought about it and you've got a plan B. To the other ones moaning about the queues at the airport, or the lack of customer support that comes with that 40 quid Ryanair ticket, I've got less sympathy for... not none, but certainly less.

Oh, and travel insurance. Buy it, and make sure it covers costs brought on due to Covid travel advice, it costs next to nothing compared to the holiday.

 

[lazybloke]

Interesting quote from the Independent article that @dodgy linked to: "We wondered what we would do; when we would get home; how we would do the school run. Our kids were waiting for our return".

If so worried about your young children, why go on holiday without them?

 

[vickster]

I can think of a gazillion reasons not to go on holiday with young children...or any children. i wouldn’t go during half term though obviously !

 

[fossyant]

Just a shame the Government didn't shut down India as fast, but then again, they all came home via indirect routes. The whole policy is a mess, and I'd not trust it. Can't even guarantee you'll be able to keep travelling into Wales - there are all sorts of noises in the Welsh press about us 'English'. Just not worth the hassle flying many thousands of miles then Boris and his chums changing the rules, when infections over there are better than here ?

 

[byegad]

BBC R4 were interviewing people who had returned from Portugal in the in the early hours today.

There were several bemoaning their fate, one blaming the UK government and one, at the end, who was very understanding of the need to change travel advice according to perceived threat.

I for one wouldn't dream of going abroad at the moment but I'd be the last guy on Radio 4 today saying I understood why the 'traffic light' changed if I did.

 

[a.twiddler]

Wasn't the message "essential travel only" and "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"? God knows, the government have shown plenty of ineptitude over the past year but I don't think you can really blame them this time.

Any of the destinations could have had their status changed at any time and travellers would (should) have been aware of that. There are those who realised this and on the balance of probabilities decided it was a risk worth taking and there are those who just felt they were entitled and went anyway. It's not exactly a surprise. It's been tough for everyone since the restrictions began.

I do have sympathy for Portuguese tourism and the travel industry having hopes raised and then snatched away again but in a continuously changing situation these things are likely to happen.

 

[Milkfloat]

Wasn't the message "essential travel only" and "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"? God knows, the government have shown plenty of ineptitude over the past year but I don't think you can really blame them this time.

I think that depended on which minister spoke at a particular time, the messages were very confused, conflicting and continually changed.

 

[Drago]

There is a worldwide pandemic, the worst in over a century.

They knew the risks, but went anyway.

They gambled, they lost.

Sympathy quotioent = zero.

 

[postman]

I am at a loss to understand how holiday makers have rushed home when para cyclists have an event beginning in Portugal tomorrow for five days.How does that work.