Fancy A Holiday?

[diddlydo]

In case anyone is thinking that they can just nip abroad after 17th May - they might want to look at the government list of "green" countries and compare them with the entry requirements for the intended destination as, from an article in the Times today, none of the green list countries will accept British nationals on a holiday jaunt!

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england

Another joke concession from this so-called government.

[ToraToraTora]

You'd have to radio to go on hols this year. I'll wait until 2022.

[brainiac]

This 'so-called government' has managed to organise the first vaccinations of over 35 million people in the UK, and nearly 17 million (including me, yesterday) second doses. You can't say that's not impressive, and without it nobody would be contemplating any kind of foreign travel.

[ToraToraTora]

You'd have to be radio to go on hols this year. I'll wait until 2022.

[ToraToraTora]

well this is a "so called" government they've just spanked Labour good and proper! PMSL!

[diddlydo]

Why bother handing out the carrot of the "green list" when no British tourist can go to any of those places? Underhand and deceptive as one might expect from Boris and Co in the hope of giving people a "feel-good factor".

[ToraToraTora]

"Why bother handing out the carrot of the "green list" when no British tourist can go to any of those places?" - what do you mean? surely they can go, that's the point.

[diddlydo]

TTT - they can't go because none of the countries on the green list is allowing British leisure/holiday travellers to enter!

[teacake44]

Carrots are for donkeys, and Boris and the cons have got lots of donkeys following them at the moment. Boris is the sort who can get away with murder, and has done, now and in the past, but sooner or later the sh*** will hit the fan, and the donkeys will then discover what damage they have done, but to late.

[THECORBYLOON]

Is it not only Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and the Faroe Islands on the list that won't accept vistors from England still?

[teacake44]

If anyone had got any brains at all no one would be going anywhere at the moment, not for holidays, I can understand if you have family that you've not seen, but other than that, crazy!!

[roslyn251254]

From the Times:
Going green
The countries and regions the government has put on the green list for travel
Region Cases per 100,000 people Current travel restrictions Flight cost
Australia 1 Borders closed to most international visitors.
Iceland 24 Non-essential travel currently banned for UK citizens. Most arrivals need a negative PCR test taken up to 72 hours before arriving plus two more – one on arrival and another 5-6 days later. £48
Israel 6 Foreign nationals will not be permitted to enter unless they are Israeli citizens, with some limited exemptions. Anyone permitted to enter must quarantine for 14 days. Borders will reopen to tourists with vaccine certificates from May 23. £34
New Zealand 0 Borders closed to most international travellers. £629
Portugal 28 Only essential travel from UK currently permitted. Negative PCR test must be taken up to 72 hours before departure. £68
Singapore 4 Visitors able to enter only with government permission. Negative PCR test needed before travel plus 21-day quarantine, including three further PCR tests. £357
Faroe Islands People vaccinated can enter, those who have not been vaccinated are required to quarantine for four days and take a test, which costs about £40 £117
Gibraltar Currently only registered Gibraltarians, residents of Gibraltar, Spanish nationals and residents in transit to Spain, and those working in Gibraltar are permitted to visit £64
Brunei 1 Entry is severely restricted and permission is needed from the PM’s office. Negative PCR test is needed 72 hours before departure. Travellers from the UK are subject to border screening, testing and quarantine requirements at a government facility for up to 14 days. £404
Tristan da Cunha Visitors to Tristan are currently restricted to returning Tristanians and expatriates on contract to the Government of Tristan da Cunha.
Falkland Islands Tourists currently not permitted. Eligible travellers must self-isolate for 14 days.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Visitor permits required.
Saint Helena All arrivals must have a negative Covid test 72 hours before departure and there is a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Ascension and Tristan da Cunha All eligible arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days

[woofgang]

Grant Shapps clearly said yesterday that these were only the British requirements and he could not comment about what the countries themselves would allow or not. Does nobody actually listen?

[New Judge]

Of the twelve countries on the green list only two – Portugal and Gibraltar – will allow UK tourists to enter without a quarantine or vaccination requirement. Two more – Israel and Iceland – will allow those who have been vaccinated.

Of the other eight, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore remain closed entirely to UK tourists. The Faroe Islands requires people to isolate for 10 days on arrival, or four days after taking a PCR test. Brits landing in Brunei will need to quarantine for two weeks and fork out £188 for a test.

Of the remaining three tourist hot spots, I would be surprised if too many people would be able to locate them on a map of the world, let alone visit them. The RAF operates a twice-weekly “air bridge” from Brize Norton to the Falkland Islands via Ascension Island. It is usually aboard an air tanker and the cost is £2,200 one way. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are only accessible by sea (more than 900 miles from the Falkland Islands) and the usual mode of transport is aboard a fishing boat. They have no permanent residents and no visitor accommodation. The British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, and Ascension and consists of volcanic islands in the middle of the South Atlantic. Only St Helena has scheduled commercial flights (once a week from Johannesburg, 2,100 miles, six and a quarter hours’ duration). Ascension Island (famous for its “staging post” role during the Falklands conflict) only has links from the UK provided by the RAF (see above). Tristan de Cunha is only accessibly by sea, 1,750 miles and six days from Capetown. I haven’t looked at the entry restrictions to these places as I imagine that would be the least of any intrepid travellers’ worries.

Quite frankly the “green list” is a joke. Of the 9 countries to which tourists can travel without quarantine on return, only one (Portugal) is a tourist destination of any significance to UK travellers. To include the last three which I mentioned is an insult to the intelligence. They are not tourist destinations, getting to them is a logistical nightmare and quite why time was spent assessing their suitability for inclusion is mysterious as it served only to up the number. It provided no practical benefits to tourists or the tourist industry.

[Mamyalynne]

No thank you.

[emmie]

not now, perhaps never again

[New Judge]

I have a holiday to Greece booked for next month which I have had booked for sixteen months. I'm quite prepared to go, looking forward to it in fact. However, I don't know whether I can be bothered to fanny about with tests and I certainly cannot be doing with ten (or even five) days of quarantine when I return.

My island destination has had fewer new cases in the last month than have been seen in my Local Authority (and they are few enough as to be insignificant). I have villa accommodation where only Mrs NJ and I will be resident. We will be eating in outside eateries. Mrs NJ and I are both double jabbed. Quite honestly I have more chance of contracting Covid in Tesco's than on holiday.

I shall wait to see if the Greece's "amber" status remains after the first review in three weeks' time. If it does I may develop a mysterious illness.

[teacake44]

Its the Yorkshire Dales for me, as soon as there is a weeks good forecast, fueled up, gassed up, and powered up, ready to go at a moment. Then off to Scotland.

[diddlydo]

What was the point of Grant Shapps listing countries that are effectively out of bounds to British tourists? Please read the "Best Answer" carefully as it's verbatim from today's Times. Even Portugal is "essential travel" only so forget sunning yourself on an Algarve beach.

[teacake44]

Not that I'm bothered about hols abroad but I think it is a kind of control now, forcing people to spend their money at home.

[bobbinwales]

Its a starting move diddlydo. Would you prefer it if they said no green list so no travel indefinately?? Someone's got to make the first move, surely thats obvious or travel will never restart. If we say we'll allow them here they might allow us to go there. Small steps .