14 day quarantine on return from Spain
#16
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2012
Location: bute
Posts: 9,740
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
It seemed obvious, to me at least, back in April when releasing the lock-downs was first discussed, that any "corridors" could close as quickly as they were opened, and that reopened business sectors and/or cities/regions could also be locked back down again equally quickly. Therefore, and I said this somewhere on BE, booking international travel and accommodation was going to remain a crap-shoot until this pandemic is over, whether by vaccinations or otherwise. You might find you can travel, but get there and find that bars and restaurants are closed, or have booked accommodation and find that quarantine rules prevent you from leaving your room for the duration of your stay, or you might be quarantined on your return home.
The permutations for things to go wrong in just a few days ahead are considerable, therefore I am astounded that people jumped on airline tickets as soon as travel was allowed, apparently without a second thought, as currently things are developing precisely as I expected.
Maybe I shouldn't be "astounded" though, because if I have learned one thing so far since March, it is that there are even more idiots in the world than I had previously imagined, and they exhibit a whole rainbow of shades and flavours of idiocy.
The permutations for things to go wrong in just a few days ahead are considerable, therefore I am astounded that people jumped on airline tickets as soon as travel was allowed, apparently without a second thought, as currently things are developing precisely as I expected.
Maybe I shouldn't be "astounded" though, because if I have learned one thing so far since March, it is that there are even more idiots in the world than I had previously imagined, and they exhibit a whole rainbow of shades and flavours of idiocy.
#17
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2013
Location: Nr Denia
Posts: 295
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
Easy to say when flights were booked in early February......
#18
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I am in touch with my mother every few days, but she knows as well as we do that travel at the moment is not sensible (that's our opinion, you are entitled to a different one) and so far as she expresses any preference, it is that we don't travel. If it makes any difference to your perception, my mother is of an age where there is a significant risk she won't survive 18 months even if she doesn't catch coronavirus.
I am not sure of the relevance, but I don't have a villa either, and while some things I have predicted correctly, my main point was that nobody knows the future, but some seem to blithely assume that this pandemic will soon be over and everything will "be back to normal", and I would contend that is is they who are the fools!
You don't have to agree with me, but I see no prospect of things returning to normal within 12 months. Without a vaccine it could be 3-4 years before things stabilize, and the situation at the time of stabilization may look a lot different from normality in 2019.
Our flights were booked last year, but our dispassionate assessment in April was that not only was travel going to be impractical for the times of our flights, but that there were going to be too many uncertainties to rebook any flights this year, and so far that assessment has been correct. Hence my post above about people who rushed to the airport, and have now found their plans in ruins (and this was primarily an observation about holidaymakers, hence the reference to restaurants and hotel rooms, not those travelling for work or to return "home").
It was fairly widely reported back in the spring, although buried in a lot of political noise and very poor reporting, that the pandemic would run a 2-3 year course, unless a vaccine was found, and that a vaccine would take until at least Q2 or Q3 of 2021 to be rolled out. As of today, the timescale is still considered to be the most optimistic one. Those aren't my predictions, or those of politicians, but of the medical scientists working on the vaccines and epidemiologists.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jul 27th 2020 at 2:23 am.
#19
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2012
Location: bute
Posts: 9,740
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I had flights booked to visit my grandchildren. I had to cancel. EHIC will not be valid after 31 December. If I want to visit them after that I will have to pay 500 Euros for Dialysis treatment for 3 sessions. I just accepted this although it means it is now unlikely that I will see them again. So it goes.
#21
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,814
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
Not that easy to just stay at home when home and everyone you care about is 12,000 miles away. Hopeully the virus will finish me off before the depression does.
#22
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2020
Location: Valencia
Posts: 504
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I find it very frustrating that UK Plc treat the country as a single entity, rather than highlighting the hotspots. Even in the UK they are highlighting hotspots without narrowing it down to individual sub-areas which is why we see places like Leicester being locked down. My son traveled to the UK on Saturday, luckily, to stay for a week and then bring his sisters back for a few weeks. So far it looks like the inbound flight is going ahead. Easyjet have 124 seats booked on the flight and have hiked the price from 40 to 256GBP so I find it unlikely they will cancel it as they need to get holidaymakers home.
I'm sure they will realise how absurd this really is but since they seem unable to admit mistakes or fine tune things, they will hold it for three weeks rather than back down.
I'm sure they will realise how absurd this really is but since they seem unable to admit mistakes or fine tune things, they will hold it for three weeks rather than back down.
#23
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I had flights booked to visit my grandchildren. I had to cancel. EHIC will not be valid after 31 December. If I want to visit them after that I will have to pay 500 Euros for Dialysis treatment for 3 sessions. I just accepted this although it means it is now unlikely that I will see them again. So it goes.
Poll. You feel that bad , you get off to the quacks pronto , right now, no messing. Have a big think. Maybe now is the time to just go home. That will be tough but you would be where you wanted to be & I am sure your lovely family will help you work everything out somehow.
Otherwise as Lion says we all just KBO until we find our assorted individual solutions or acceptance .
#24
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I find it very frustrating that UK Plc treat the country as a single entity, rather than highlighting the hotspots. Even in the UK they are highlighting hotspots without narrowing it down to individual sub-areas which is why we see places like Leicester being locked down. My son traveled to the UK on Saturday, luckily, to stay for a week and then bring his sisters back for a few weeks. So far it looks like the inbound flight is going ahead. Easyjet have 124 seats booked on the flight and have hiked the price from 40 to 256GBP so I find it unlikely they will cancel it as they need to get holidaymakers home.
I'm sure they will realise how absurd this really is but since they seem unable to admit mistakes or fine tune things, they will hold it for three weeks rather than back down.
I'm sure they will realise how absurd this really is but since they seem unable to admit mistakes or fine tune things, they will hold it for three weeks rather than back down.
I think the problem with hotspots is that hotspots can pop up anywhere at any time from anyone from anywhere. One wants no community transmission but some countries haven't adopted this approach & so the people are now reaping the result of that.
#25
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2013
Location: Nr Denia
Posts: 295
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
Yes, travel is a risk. It always has been, but it's not stopped people doing it.
To blithely say that we should learn to travel less or stay at home is a simplistic, blanket approach, much like the UK government's that provoked this thread.
We all choose to travel in the manner we do for our own reasons. There will be some who took themselves off on holiday at the first opportunity and others who have long standing arrangements who have chosen to cancel them.
We make our own choices based on the information available at the time
To blithely say that we should learn to travel less or stay at home is a simplistic, blanket approach, much like the UK government's that provoked this thread.
We all choose to travel in the manner we do for our own reasons. There will be some who took themselves off on holiday at the first opportunity and others who have long standing arrangements who have chosen to cancel them.
We make our own choices based on the information available at the time
#26
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 5,623
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
I couldn't agree more also everyone has different circumstances and needs when it comes to needing to travel. Holidaying is one thing but not the only requirement to travel between the UK and Spain or elsewhere. We do have to accept the fact that things can change very quickly re travel in these times of covid. However the 2 week quarantine may be acceptable to some to actually achieve what ever they need to achieve in the other country. That is down to the individual to assess and decide on. The world is not going to simply close down in a permanent lock down for the next 18 months.
#27
Banned
Joined: Aug 2018
Location: Sotogrande
Posts: 182
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
The whole quarantine thing is an absolute con and simply Boris and Rishi trying to make U.K citizens holiday and spend its money in U.K. But LozzR still back n fore to France with lardboi but borders not closed yet.
#28
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 660
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
[QUOTE=thegolfer;12887956]The whole quarantine thing is an absolute con and simply Boris and Rishi trying to make U.K citizens holiday and spend its money in U.K. But LozzR still back n fore to France with lardboi but borders not closed
So why did they create air bridges in the first place if they wanted everyone to holiday in uk?
So why did they create air bridges in the first place if they wanted everyone to holiday in uk?
#29
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
On the Beeb this morning New York was mentioned in conjuction with Florida as an example of highlighting hotspots, so similar to above fly to Miami take an internal flight to New York or even hire a car etc.
#30
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2020
Location: Nerja
Posts: 600
Re: 14 day quarantine on return from Spain
When you return to UK, you have to complete UK locator form, and one of the questions is to list every country you have travelled through in the last 14 days. So you have to lie if you were in Spain prior to catching your flight in Gibraltar.