Covid travel UK-US ... or not

[disneyholic family]

Your 3rd Pfizer Jab ?

AND loads of people are waiting to get their 1st ?

How come you received your Third Jab ?

I’m in israel where we’ve begun giving a third dose to everyone age 60 and up who was vaccinated in January.
I had my first in December and my second on January 13th.

Our studies have shown the efficacy drops off precipitously to something like 31% for those vaccinated in January.
All the corona experts here have recommended a third vaccine for those 60 and up since that’s the group that has been going critical despite being fully vaccinated.

they’re also pushing hard on getting the 12 and ups completely vaccinated.
And are anxiously waiting for Pfizer’s 5 and up results which should be out by the fall.

We’ve already vaccinated several hundred kids between the ages of 5 and 12, but they were all special cases. We’re waiting for the Pfizer results to open a general program for that age.
But without that, herd immunity cannot be reached.

 

[bex7583]

Eugh it's really not looking likely to any trips this year at all is it

Feel super fed up today as I can't see our preferred spontaneous last minute travel style happening ever again

in Florida, feel a bit bored decide to book a 5 night cruise leaving the next day ...nope

At home , get bored , be in the car within the hour on the way to Dover to visit Disney Paris ..quick detour along the Belgian coast on the way home

Racing down the motorway to catch a minicruise to Rotterdam that we booked 90 mins before schedule departure

We are just not planners at all. Apart from booking and committing to flight dates for Florida / bigger trips we generally only ever book a first night hotel.

Absolutely dying to go away but the thought of the organisation/ red tape and processes to follow just make it sound like work rather than a holiday. Oh and all the testing for 5 of us is so expensive , I can't help compare it to. ..oooh we could have had Busch gardens ticket for that price, or an extra 10 nights accommodation or a nice car upgrade rather than a RAV4 ( sorry rav 4 owners)

Oh and I don't want to take my phone on holiday either I like to leave it at home . So I suppose I will need to print out documents and carry equivalent to the yellow pages around. Or can I just casually sit down at border control and plug my lap top in to browse for all the necessary evidence emails ??

And that's my pointless rant for the day .carry on people

 

[Plague]

Absolutely dying to go away

Though still hoping my October trip will happen I've been casting around for somewhere to get away to this year if it doesn't.
But everywhere seems to be covidated, underwater or on fire
I think it might be the end of days - not just holidays ...

 

[bex7583]

Though still hoping my October trip will happen I've been casting around for somewhere to get away to this year if it doesn't.
But everywhere seems to be covidated, underwater or on fire
I think it might be the end of days - not just holidays ...
View attachment 593694

I know . The goal posts and traffic light rules just change far too frequently for me to feel confident making any plans the new amber plus , red quarantine costs are rumoured to be set to increase even more so worst case scenario and you are somewhere that turned red

I used to live in Mallorca and have lots of friends there still. lots of people in resort currently testing positive and unable to travel home, the designated quarantine hotel was completely full at one point last week it just really puts me off.

I enjoy travel as a relaxing break from work/ real life. Current travel certainly doesn't sound like I will get either of those things and highly likely to return more stressed than I set off

I will stupidly optimistically continue to hope a Xmas trip with no testing, extra admin and restrictions will happen but I also know I'm more likely to fly there on a winged unicorn

 

[disneyholic family]

I know . The goal posts and traffic light rules just change far too frequently for me to feel confident making any plans the new amber plus , red quarantine costs are rumoured to be set to increase even more so worst case scenario and you are somewhere that turned red

I used to live in Mallorca and have lots of friends there still. lots of people in resort currently testing positive and unable to travel home, the designated quarantine hotel was completely full at one point last week it just really puts me off.

I enjoy travel as a relaxing break from work/ real life. Current travel certainly doesn't sound like I will get either of those things and highly likely to return more stressed than I set off

I will stupidly optimistically continue to hope a Xmas trip with no testing, extra admin and restrictions will happen but I also know I'm more likely to fly there on a winged unicorn

i know.....it's all so up in the air, so to speak...
we're booking everything now for july 2022.
My son found incredibly cheap flights via Canada (on Air Canada) and it's all fully refundable...
but i questioned the logic of flying via Canada when until just this week or next week Canada has been completely closed to the US....
who knows what's going to happen next year?

 

[Plague]

who knows what's going to happen next year?

After another winter of infections, and likely a new variant or few, we may well have gone through open and back to closed come spring.

I've been wondering when/whether to push my booking to if October doesn't happen, with April in the frame as the weather is similar to Oct (except the UV is a lot higher). But I'm really not sure. I suppose if April 'failed' I could then move it again, but that's another hope/despair cycle on the counter and I'm risking a major fatigue crack in my mental wings, if you'll excuse the scattergun of mixed metaphors

 

[bex7583]

We don't even know what's happening next week never mind next year

I mean I know it's not the end of the world not been able to go on holiday abroad but with older teenagers I just feel so incredibly sad we have missed/ are missing what may have been our last special family holidays together before they are at college/ uni or too busy been independent

Doesn't help our current UK weather is absolute so can't even fake it with a staycation

 

[RossK]

For me, if October doesn't happen, I'll be pushing back to October 2022. I rather expect travel will open up, probably briefly, close again, and re-open, hopefully in time for October 2022

 

[JordanClark9]

For me, if October doesn't happen, I'll be pushing back to October 2022. I rather expect travel will open up, probably briefly, close again, and re-open, hopefully in time for October 2022

Ah that was my thinking last year for 2021, it's a vicious cycle

 

[disneyholic family]

Ah that was my thinking last year for 2021, it's a vicious cycle

someone just said to me that we're going to be in this vicious cycle for 5 years....

we (9 of us - grandparents, parents, children) were supposed to be at WDW now (arriving on July 25th for 3 weeks, followed by a cruise on the disney dream), but last November my son got really nervous and said he couldn't deal with the tension of not knowing if the trip would work out or not, so i cancelled everything.

At the time, we said we'd rebook for July 2022, which is what i'm doing right now (DVC).
This time it's for 25 days at WDW, followed by 4 nights on the Disney Wish.
Half of me is excited, the other half is apprehensive that we'll have to cancel everything again.
To make matters worse, I'm having trouble getting the DVC rooms we need because of the pent up demand for rooms.
Basically, i'm pretty close to being too overwhelmed to deal with all the necessary planning.

Is planning a vacation supposed to be this stressful?
I know.
First world troubles.

 

[bex7583]

someone just said to me that we're going to be in this vicious cycle for 5 years....

we (9 of us - grandparents, parents, children) were supposed to be at WDW now (arriving on July 25th for 3 weeks, followed by a cruise on the disney dream), but last November my son got really nervous and said he couldn't deal with the tension of not knowing if the trip would work out or not, so i cancelled everything.

At the time, we said we'd rebook for July 2022, which is what i'm doing right now (DVC).
This time it's for 25 days at WDW, followed by 4 nights on the Disney Wish.
Half of me is excited, the other half is apprehensive that we'll have to cancel everything again.
To make matters worse, I'm having trouble getting the DVC rooms we need because of the pent up demand for rooms.
Basically, i'm pretty close to being too overwhelmed to deal with all the necessary planning.

Is planning a vacation supposed to be this stressful?
I know.
First world troubles.

When the planning and organisations become stressful it's easy to question what is the point in it all.

25 days does sound wonderful though and gives you plenty of time to recover from the stress of organising it ( until it's time to start testing and preparing to fly home )

 

[Ruttangel]

We’ve swapped WDW for Devon, I just know every day I’ll be wishing I was in Epcot, but heh, it’s better than nowhere.

 

[bex7583]

We’ve swapped WDW for Devon, I just know every day I’ll be wishing I was in Epcot, but heh, it’s better than nowhere.

you get some good weather. We really do have some lovely UK holiday destinations , just the weather that usually let's it down.

We went to Devon last year, booked a 3hour session in splashdown waterpark it wasn't quite typhoon lagoon but we still had a fun few hours and the kids loved it.

 

[Plague]

it’s better than nowhere

just the weather

I don't expect any sympathy for this, but being retired on the edge of the New Forest makes a UK holiday seem a bit like being at home ... but without the facilities I'm used to.
And before you say it, we lived in Cheshire for 29 years before coming down here, so Lakes, Dales, Peak Dist, Yorks and North Wales all done to death

I really, really want to go somewhere else, even if it's 'only' DLP, though guaranteed warm and sunny would be nice.
I was thinking about Israel a few weeks ago, but even they've lost it from what I've seen and I think may be closed for now. (Maybe disneyholic family can fill in there.)

 

[disneyholic family]

I don't expect any sympathy for this, but being retired on the edge of the New Forest makes a UK holiday seem a bit like being at home ... but without the facilities I'm used to.
And before you say it, we lived in Cheshire for 29 years before coming down here, so Lakes, Dales, Peak Dist, Yorks and North Wales all done to death

I really, really want to go somewhere else, even if it's 'only' DLP, though guaranteed warm and sunny would be nice.
I was thinking about Israel a few weeks ago, but even they've lost it from what I've seen and I think may be closed for now. (Maybe disneyholic family can fill in there.)

we're now "enjoying" the delta variant along with the rest of the world.
our numbers are up to over 3,000 new cases a day.
Fortunately, those who are vaccinated aren't going critical, so it's not as bad as it could be without vaccines.
But the authorities are discussing various measures to try to combat the wave

I haven't been following air closures, as we're not planning on traveling overseas until next summer, but there are countries that have been put on the "red list".
Although somehow people manage to fly in from those countries anyway.
In fact, our delta outbreak was the result of two families that flew back from a red listed country (India) and then proceeded to violate quarantine (they sent their kids to school, resulting in hundreds of sick kids that snowballed).
From two stupid, irresponsible families, we have this major outbreak. Unbelievable.
And why would anyone vacation in India in the middle of a pandemic????

Bottom line, i wouldn't advise international travel to anyone right now.
It's a shame, as Israel is an amazing place to tour.
We spent last week up north hiking and kayaking (on the Jordan and Snir rivers).
It's gorgeous, if hotter than hades.
But it will have to wait for those coming from other countries.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

you get some good weather. We really do have some lovely UK holiday destinations , just the weather that usually let's it down.

We went to Devon last year, booked a 3hour session in splashdown waterpark it wasn't quite typhoon lagoon but we still had a fun few hours and the kids loved it.

Aww that sounds like you had a great time
I decided to visit York for the past 2 days and although only an hour away from where I live, have never realised how many harry potter shops and activities there are.
We did a Harry Potter escape room and mini golf yesterday then today went to the shops and bought some butterbeer, brewed a "potion" (lime slushie ) and some HP themed candles. Sounds silly but made me feel a bit like being back in Universal surrounded by all the merchandise

 

[Plague]

I decided to visit York for the past 2 days and although only an hour away from where I live, have never realised how many harry potter shops and activities there are.

What on earth (or in imagination) is the connection between Harry Potter and York?

 

[bex7583]

What on earth (or in imagination) is the connection between Harry Potter and York?

I think the Harry potter town of hogsmead was inspired by the shambles in York or something similar.

We live pretty close to York. The chocolate story is worth a visit too.

 

[bex7583]

I don't expect any sympathy for this, but being retired on the edge of the New Forest makes a UK holiday seem a bit like being at home ... but without the facilities I'm used to.
And before you say it, we lived in Cheshire for 29 years before coming down here, so Lakes, Dales, Peak Dist, Yorks and North Wales all done to death

I really, really want to go somewhere else, even if it's 'only' DLP, though guaranteed warm and sunny would be nice.
I was thinking about Israel a few weeks ago, but even they've lost it from what I've seen and I think may be closed for now. (Maybe disneyholic family can fill in there.)

I have always preferred to follow the forecast and book any UK trips very last minute when the sun is guaranteed. Obviously at the moment everybody is on a staycation so finding availability same day or very late is near impossible.

What about the isle of wight? Or jersey? The ferry ride can trick you in to thinking you are going abroad

 

[Plague]

Or jersey?

Hmm. That's an interesting suggestion. Have to do some research.