hetismij2

The head of the EU Commission has said do not book or plan any summer holidays thie year, not for July, not for August, not for September. No one can predict what the situation will be by then, but the virus will still be here, and still active and there will still be no cure/vaccine for it.
They may continue to close borders for Non EU citiczens. Now what the UK will do is anybody's guess, but they are in a similar situation to much of Europe, and will probably have a similar view of foreign tourists.
Sorry but this virus isn't just going to vanish because the sun is shining and we all want to travel again.

Odin

Some countries are starting to ease up on the restrictions eg Denmark are going to start allowing younger kids back to school after Easter, Sweden have not had any restrictions to speak of anyway, they follow rules so if their government tells them to self isolate, they will do that without an official lockdown, plus they are masters of social distancing way before COVID-19. They've not had lines at supermarkets, life has pretty much been as usual (as our friends and family have told us in DK & SE). I guess it remains to be seen if their strategy was a good idea or not.

The UK is different, if there is a rule, it will be broken, some people will not follow the government instructions and this might mean we have to be in lockdown for a lot longer. I would not bother planning anything for this year, if you rebook your BA flights, you might find the new booking not covered by the flexible rules that the original booking had (meaning that the fare rules/refunds/changes etc were lightened up due to CV) and will not be covered by travel insurance, as you knowingly rebooked a trip to travel during a known pandemic. It might be best to wait until BA cancels the flights, then decide what to do. I had 4 trips planned between March and July, all have been cancelled and rescheduled (except for the July trip but I am expecting that to be cancelled at some point too).

hetismij2

Just because countries are easing up on some restrictions doesn't mean they will be welcoming foreign tourists later this year., even those from other EU countries.
I expect most European countries will begin to ease up at some point in the next couple of months, if only to see how things go, and to stop people deciding to break the restrictions for themselves. I completely expect restrictions to be reimposed at some point, to some degree, after they have been eased simply to try and contain the hospital admissions at an acceptable level.
whilst the border between the Netherlands and Germany is not closed both countries have been trying to dicourage cross border travel unless for work. Indeed people who have been to the Netherlands from Germany are supposed to self isolate on their return, but I can't see those idiots deciding to shop, or even holiday, in NL this weekend doing that.

I think most people in the UK have been following the advice given, it is just heavy handed policing and over reporting by the Red Tops that gives a different impression. Personally I can't see what is wrong with sitting on the grass in a park or on a beach and enjoying the sun provided you keep your distance from others as advised. We all need some sunshine, and not everyone has a garden in which to enjoy it.

persimmondeb

For the record, while I have no intention of acting irresponsibly, I think it is too early to decide that all European travel will be irresponsible for the entire summer.

If my event is still running, we'll go. I do trust the organizers to cancel if travel is not safe and reasonable. If they cancel, I will wait those few weeks and see what things look like. If most things are up and running, borders are open to US visitors, and flights are operating in a mostly normal fashion, we'll go. If they're not, we won't.

I have decided to call a moratorium on planning at the moment. I might take a look at a few things, but I'm not booking anything, because I figre life is easier if I'm not trying to cancel random stuff, and worrying that I forgot about something.

shelemm

My advice is to hope all you want, plan out a trip in theory, but don't take any action. Don't pull the trigger. Aside from the money perspective (risky), and the health perspective (needing to evacuate) it will put more stress on everyone for now.

Odin

Just because I mentioned some countries easing up restrictions doesn't mean that I meant they would be welcoming foreign tourists. For example, Denmark is not allowing non Danish citizens to enter, regardless of easing up restrictions, even if married to a Danish citizen.

And my comments about the UK are to do with my personal observations, nothing to do with what is reported in newspapers or TV.

jc_uk

Nieces? It was three billionaires (nationalities not confirmed) flying to a luxury villa in Cannes via private jet from Farnborough accompanied by three prostitutes who were described by the billionaires as secretaries, bodyguards and other members of staff (nationalities given as Romanian and Ukrainian) all allegedly to conduct a business deal.

macdogmom

We will not be getting on a plane or traveling anywhere but driving a few hundred miles to the Bay Area to see our granddaughter (probably not until mid summer) until there is a vaccine. Don’t want to get sick or put people in other countries at risk.

Traveler_Nick

Niece would be an euphemism.

Heimdall

I think everyone who isn’t naive knew what “young nieces” meant.

persimmondeb

Update. With no nieces, euphemistic or otherwise.

My event has been cancelled. The organizers didn't think it made sense to wait until June to cancel, and I wholeheartedly agree with that decision. I have canceled everything I have currently booked except the airfare. Most of it was just reserved, not paid for, and I should be getting a full refund on the VRBO. Our flights are still scheduled, so I believe that my only option at the moment would be reschedule/voucher. I'm going to hang onto the airfare for at least a few weeks, in the hope that either it'll look like a sane act to take some kind of trip on those dates, or that one or more of our flights will be cancelled and we can get a refund. ​

We'll probably do something low key by car in the summer, assuming that it seems safe and responsible to do so, but I'm not trying to do any European planning right at this moment.

worldinabag

Good decision me thinks