Giantaxe

I've never been back to the UK for Christmas since I moved to the US. I was actually planning to be in Italy Christmas/New Year but gave up on that idea a long while ago. I'm now wondering whether my two month trip around Euro 2020 that I postponed along with that tournament until June 2021 will happen.

retzie

My sentiments exactly.

Not that I actually have a choice, since my lot are in Oz, but I still wouldn't. I have missed a funeral and am shaping up to miss my sister's wedding. The best thing we can do to look after and celebrate each other is stay apart. Gives us all the best chance of catching up when safe and well in future.

Pollyana

thats great when you know you will have the option to catch up later. For many its less clear cut.
All the people I love are in the UK. i'm stuck in Aus with failing eyesight, possibly blind before I can travel home again. So I am unlikely to ever see anyone again unless I ravel now - and the government refuses to let me

Tino

I'm curious to know why the immigration lawyers have advised against travel. What visa are you on?

I left the country in July and returned in September via non-schengen route and was permitted entry fine.

Jerseygirl

the ‘she’ I referred to was moi...she stated she wanted to fly from The NJ/NYC area to Manchester.

retzie

Well, there's an awful lot that can happen between now and whenever I am able to go back (with them and with me). So I'm not counting any chickens
It's also the hugs that are most important.

Can't you not even repatriate from Oz? I can understand them wanting to limit people leaving and coming back, but not letting people leave one-way?

Giantaxe

No change fees are great if your airline still exists when you are able and want to fly down the road. But I certainly wasn't going to take airlines' stupid vouchers for the raft of flights they cancelled on me this past summer. Thankfully all my credit card chargebacks succeeded.

Kooky.

E3. Could be fine, just not prepared to risk it. (Company's immi lawyer advised not to, got independent advice and that was similar.)

Understood - I was just saying it's worth checking if you're determined to go. moi cited this as a concern.

Yes it's a bit scary. We initially took credits for all our cancelled trips but eventually I applied for and got full refunds. (With the ones I've just booked, that we hope not to use, not our money.) As for the half a million Qantas points we have banked up, we were advised months ago to spend those in the online shop. But it's Oz based so all I'd be doing was buying presents for friends there.

The annual travel insurance was a bit of a write-off.

TexanScot

Nope.

I know people here in the US who have died after contracting this from asymptomatic family members, and there's no way I'm willing to risk killing my own family members in the same way.

I can see my family next year, once there's vaccines out on the market and this is all hopefully (somewhat) under control.

Jerseygirl

When we lived in NJ, I used to fly regularly from Newark/Manchester. It is now the only non stop flight from the New York/New Jersey area. A couple of times I have flown via Heathrow, but it puts hours on the journey. When I fly on the red eye the last thing I want is to hang around a busy airport, waiting for another flight, which may or may not be cancelled.

lansbury

I spoke to my DIL by FaceTime Sunday, she is a sister at Bradford Royal Infirmary A&E. She was recovering from COVID. By her own accounts she didn't get it too bad, if that wasn't too bad I would hate to see what someone who was bad looked like. Not only does she work on the front line, she and my son have two little ones 5 & 2, so she is on the go all the time normally, and quite full of energy and life. She looked absolutely worn out and semi collapsed on the sofa and I was shocked by how worn out she looked, and was still struggling to breathe.

Anyway the reason for mentioning that, is having seen and spoken with someone who is recovering from a "mild" case of COVID, it has reinforced my view point, similar to Pulaski's, that nothing comes close to being essential enough to risk getting COVID. Going back just because I haven't been for two years, doesn't even warrant consideration.

lansbury

Normally I would agree with you. But on the present schedules PDX to MAN is a best 21 hours, to LHR best is 13 hours. I can drive from LHR to N Yorkshire and be there before I've got to Manchester. I'm sure unless people are close the Newark, others face a similar dilemma. Not that I have any intention of going anywhere,

Jerseygirl

but moi lives in NJ and wishes to travel to Manchester. Direct flight takes around 6 1/2 hrs.

lansbury

I realized that. I wasn't clear I wasn't talking specifically about moi, but about getting to UK regional airports in the current scheduling mess.

scot47

Covid may be breaking our historically recent addiction to cheap long distance travel.
My mother had siblings who emigrated to the USA and to New Zealand. My father had asister who emigrated to Melbourne. None of them considered visiting the "Old Country" after settling, Of course cost was the principal factor. I am told that pre-1939 a passage to the USA cost the equivalent of a year's waged for a skilled worker. i suspect that was the case right up to the 1970s.

Perhaps Covid-19 is bring us back to Normality ?