The_Diamond_Z

It doesn't look like much fun to dash from point A to B very fast, while people from point B dash to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.

I am now primarily a leisure traveller, and I look at it this way. I'm okay where I am; I'd love to be in other places, but it's more of a headache to get there and back than it's worth at the moment. And when I get there, everyone else is probably there too!
I cancelled a recent trip right after the news of the latest variant. I admitted to myself the trip was really about maintaining my BA status, but it's not worth getting trapped by the reaction of not one but two governments and an airline.

Everyone has different needs, levels of tolerance and risk judgements. I sense a shift from worrying about getting sick to getting back to normal. I'm not saying we're anywhere near either end of the spectrum, but we're not in the same position we were in a year ago, and I hope a year from now we're closer to normal, but I suspect we still won't be "normal."
At some point, I expect it will be "worth it" for each of us, and that's a calculation that covers more than just the virus.

Until then, I hope BA extends my status again.

londonba2014

Subject to no rules changing, I'm planning on heading up to Glasgow this weekend for a city break. Pretty confident it'll be my final trip for some while, but with a very quiet December thanks to most parties being cancelled - feel relaxed about heading.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi.

I would keep an eye out on the news this afternoon as the first minister is due to speak to the Scottish Parliament re potential restrictions. I think she is due to speak around 230pm .

Regards

Tbs

T8191

It would seem (BBC) that the Red List has been discarded, thus avoiding Foreign quarantine issues emerging at no notice, Of course, testing will remain in force. At least that mitigates the risk of being stuck abroad at great expense.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-59646151

ratechaser

Aw hell... lots of ski bargains out there, so looking at the direction of travel (so to speak), if my household is still covid-free in a week or so, we might just rebook and go for it...

Globaliser

The language used by some reports is more nuanced and, to my mind, more plausible: the red list is being emptied.

If the red list system itself is being kept, then there will still be a possibility of quarantine on return to the UK being reintroduced at no notice, just like it was on 25 November.

Ldnn1

The vast majority of youngish people at least, certainly in London, have done just that for pretty much the past six months. Unfortunately the way things are going right now means it's not even a choice we have at the moment - the walls on normal life are closing in as we speak.

Lefly

I did not travel at all from March 2020 to May 2021.
Now... I'm vaccinated, waiting for my turn to get the third shot. Husband got it already. Kids are vaccinated too. We follows rules, we use masks (even when/where not mandatory) we do not go to events or similar.
And I'm not cutting travel anymore. It's not like if I'm on vacation I'm doing so many different o riskier things compared when at home... so... as long as borders are reasonably open and airlines don't cancel too many flights, I'm happy to go.

Of course BA has already tried to derail our holidays visit to grandma (3 times vaccinated and very eager to have us this year), but so far we managed to save it moving to IB.

Fruitcake

Mrs Fruitcake and I spent last weekend in New York, and lovely it was too. And we have just received our negative arrival PCR test results, so out of isolation.

It was really nice to be on a different continent again, and the Big Apple was buzzing. We quite liked the vaccination checks there for restaurants, Lincoln Center etc. The NHS pass was just fine.

So, yes, I would be doing USA travel again certainly, and plan to do so again in January.

BA did well too. Lounges at LHR and JFK, flights, catering, on-timeness, all very good.

binman

my reluctance to travel, particularly short weekend breaks, has nothing to do with the risk of getting Covid. It is entirely due to the chaotic and arbitrary changes to rules here in the U.K. IfI cannot be confident on the rules, I am not taking the risk of ending up in some 3rd rate quarantine hotel for 10 days.

From the outset the U.K. response has been muddled, at times irrational and the outcomes disastrous in terms of death and hospitalisation.
Vaccination is key and the public clearly have a appetite for it, but the government don’t want to make it mandatory which seems quite mad. The French have shown that mandatory covid passes drive vaccination rates and this seems entirely sensible, if unfashionable approach.

the810

What worries me are the long term implications of this. For now, I have no desire to travel anywhere outside Sweden (where I'm temporarily based during the pandemic) due to all the restrictions. But I have no idea what I'll do after the pandemic.

When it's all over, how will countries react to random new virus/mutations appearing somewhere? This happened many times prior to this pandemic and most of the world didn't even notice (SARS, MERS, ....). Now we may see knee-jerk reactions every year or so, which makes me very worried about taking trips without car.

Unless there will be a clear consensus that what we did in 2020/2021 was wrong, I'll remain reluctant to take any longhaul trips for decades to come.

w3andw4d

Booked for a week in DXB (Ras Al Khaimah) from ABZ next month.
2.5 years since last holiday abroad.
Boosted, insured and recently retired.
The balance needs to be paid this weekend.

Stick with it or bail?

argonath

I would go, I have a feeling that any further restrictions are just around the corner so I would go just to escape and recharge the batteries.

londonba2014

Thanks for the flag, seems I'm still on for now..

Am pretty certain it'll be the last trip for a good while now, before new restrictions are brought into place - so gonna crack on with it - subject to a lot of NHS Lateral Flows being taken!

Exsilver

I’m booked for DXB on January 12th ex-EDI and still planning to go.