Will you travel? [Mod Note in Post #1 - Travel Discussion Only! Megathread]

acequion

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

We're travelling to Mallorca on Friday for 9 days.

Reasons we're going:
- Flights were booked January and cannot be rescheduled without serious cost. Besides this we have literally no other options between now and Christmas to fly again due to annual leave, school etc. So we'd lose about €1000 if we don't fly Friday.
- We're not staying in a hotel, we're visiting my wife's parents who live in the countryside.
- We're travelling through Cork airport which has relatively lower human traffic at the moment and seems less risky. Palma Airport seems to have their act together too.
- We won't be doing bars and restaurants over there as these seem to be hotspots for infection despite best efforts.
- We plan to self quarantine for at least a week when we get back (ie kids won't be allowed out with the neighbour kids) and I'm able to work from home. Not so much because we think we're more likely to bring the virus back with us but because we don't want our neighbours to be worried.

We're very conscious that we don't want to be selfish about this decision. I honestly don't see how this trip will be any more risky to us or anyone around us compared to travelling and living within Ireland. The inlaws are feeling very isolated over there and haven't seen any of their kids or grandkids since last summer; they would obviously be at lower risk if we didn't visit them at all but they don't want to cocoon for what could be years due to the virus. A few weeks ago as Ireland relaxed restrictions my own parents were reunited with their grandkids but my wife's parents haven't had that pleasure yet, and they're worried they might not see them at all this year.

The virus is already in Ireland and will spread perfectly fine on its own now that people can travel across the country, and I can't imagine "staycationers" will spread the virus any less than the small numbers of people travelling within the EU. We all have to balance the risk of the virus against living our lives over the medium term. So that's why we're travelling.

I fully agree with everything you write but why do you feel the need to justify your decision so much, especially on an internet forum?

Will all the youngsters congregating in gangs be justifying it. Like hell they will!
Will all the house party goers who will drink a bit too much and forget to keep their distance and not touch? Like hell they will!
What about those who travelled all throughout the pandemic. Same answer.
What about the many who never really obeyed the restrictions? Same answer.

And lest anyone think I'm judging them, I assure you I'm not.The point I'm making is that people will live their lives and there is many a person heading abroad right now who will be far more careful than the one on staycation. Or the one not on staycation just at home.

But the latest in this whole sorry saga is to target and guilt trip people travelling!

Acosta

acequion wrote: »

Thanks for replying Acosta.

However I didn't mean being cancelled by any Govt action. What I would like to know is why there are some flight cancellations at the moment. Would it be because not enough seats are sold on that flight or passengers cancelling? Anyone?

I know a few people who were due to go in July that had flights cancelled by the airlines many weeks ago and even back to early May. You could call them directly I guess? but you'll probably get an answer along the lines of ''As it stands the flight is operating''. Hopefully as it's getting close to your departure, the flight will go ahead.

fisgon

atahuapla wrote: »

You’ve obviously convinced yourself you’ll be fine and no risk to others so there isn’t much point talking to you.
For others reading this - no matter how careful you think you’ll be at avoiding people when you’re abroad, you have zero control over it when you’re in a metal tube in the sky.
26 passengers tested positive after getting off a flight from DXB > HKG last Sat.
Enjoy your Sangria.

By that logic, you should not travel on Dublin Bus, Irish Rail or any form of public transport. There is no difference between a flight from a low infected area and a trip from Galway to Dublin on Bus Eireann. It is exactly the same situation.

If I am not mistaken, DXB is Dubai, right in a part of the world that has a lot of the virus. I am not sure why that is relevant to my situation.

Also, I am not going to bars, beaches, mixing with infected Brits or going to crowded places, and will not be within a hundred kms of a glass of Sangria. What some people don't really seem to get is that some countries - Spain included - have been so rocked by their experience of the virus that authorities and citizens are hyper careful now - much, much more than in Ireland.

I repeat, everyone, almost all the time (even on the streets) is wearing a mask. Their virus levels are now comparable to Ireland, and the people are much more careful.

faceman

stephenjmcd wrote: »

Irish times headline quite misleading here

"Ireland left out as EU opens borders to 15 states including Australia, Canada and Japan"

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/ireland-left-out-as-eu-opens-borders-to-15-states-including-australia-canada-and-japan-1.4292678?mode=amp&utm_source=upday&utm_medium=referral

Headline should read

“Despite all the noise for citizens not to travel, Ireland opts out of closing its borders for risky countries blaming the U.K. instead”

Acosta

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

We're travelling to Mallorca on Friday for 9 days.

Reasons we're going:
- Flights were booked January and cannot be rescheduled without serious cost. Besides this we have literally no other options between now and Christmas to fly again due to annual leave, school etc. So we'd lose about €1000 if we don't fly Friday.
- We're not staying in a hotel, we're visiting my wife's parents who live in the countryside.
- We're travelling through Cork airport which has relatively lower human traffic at the moment and seems less risky. Palma Airport seems to have their act together too.
- We won't be doing bars and restaurants over there as these seem to be hotspots for infection despite best efforts.
- We plan to self quarantine for at least a week when we get back (ie kids won't be allowed out with the neighbour kids) and I'm able to work from home. Not so much because we think we're more likely to bring the virus back with us but because we don't want our neighbours to be worried.

We're very conscious that we don't want to be selfish about this decision. I honestly don't see how this trip will be any more risky to us or anyone around us compared to travelling and living within Ireland. The inlaws are feeling very isolated over there and haven't seen any of their kids or grandkids since last summer; they would obviously be at lower risk if we didn't visit them at all but they don't want to cocoon for what could be years due to the virus. A few weeks ago as Ireland relaxed restrictions my own parents were reunited with their grandkids but my wife's parents haven't had that pleasure yet, and they're worried they might not see them at all this year.

The virus is already in Ireland and will spread perfectly fine on its own now that people can travel across the country, and I can't imagine "staycationers" will spread the virus any less than the small numbers of people travelling within the EU. We all have to balance the risk of the virus against living our lives over the medium term. So that's why we're travelling.

I would suggest spending as little time in Palma Airport as possible as that will probably be the most risky place you'll be, surrounded by people from other countries. And have the Covid 19 locator forms filled out(or do it online) before you land back in Cork so you won't be held up at immigration. But if everyone was as careful as you intend to be when going abroad for a holiday this summer Dr. Tony won't need to worry so much.

Spanish Eyes

NotMOL wrote: »

It circumnavigate the globe because it was imported from regions with high number of cases and we didn't no how to contain the spread...there was literally no mask usage.

But if an airport contains just nationalities from countries with low number of cases then how is the risk increased? The risk of course would be increased if Americans and Brazilians etc are going to be in the airports but right now they are not included on EU travel list.

That's a fair enough point, however what about the hub airports like Schipol and Heathrow, Dubai, Singapore etc. Unless we are banned from travelling to anywhere other than EU and UK well I don't know, that's a lot of mingling with international travellers, masks or not. I'm not nit picking, but maybe the EU statement later will clarify things.

wheresmybeaver

acequion wrote: »

I fully agree with everything you write but why do you feel the need to justify your decision so much, especially on an internet forum?

Will all the youngsters congregating in gangs be justifying it. Like hell they will!
Will all the house party goers who will drink a bit too much and forget to keep their distance and not touch? Like hell they will!
What about those who travelled all throughout the pandemic. Same answer.
What about the many who never really obeyed the restrictions? Same answer.

And lest anyone think I'm judging them, I assure you I'm not.The point I'm making is that people will live their lives and there is many a person heading abroad right now who will be far more careful than the one on staycation. Or the one not on staycation just at home.

But the latest in this whole sorry saga is to target and guilt trip people travelling!

That's it exactly, there have been pitchforks out in the last few days for international travel and it has us in knots. I also made the mistake of reading the comments on a journal.ie article. I suppose I'm attempting to gauge the mood and justify the trip.

Acosta

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

That's it exactly, there have been pitchforks out in the last few days for international travel and it has us in knots. I also made the mistake of reading the comments on a journal.ie article. I suppose I'm attempting to gauge the mood and justify the trip.

Never a good idea no matter what the article is about.

bladespin

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

That's it exactly, there have been pitchforks out in the last few days for international travel and it has us in knots. I also made the mistake of reading the comments on a journal.ie article. I suppose I'm attempting to gauge the mood and justify the trip.

Don't do that, posters will generally be very polar on their opinions, do a risk assessment and make your own decision, sounds like you're not leaving much to chance IMO.

Ladylouth

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

We're travelling to Mallorca on Friday for 9 days.

Reasons we're going:
- Flights were booked January and cannot be rescheduled without serious cost. Besides this we have literally no other options between now and Christmas to fly again due to annual leave, school etc. So we'd lose about €1000 if we don't fly Friday.
- We're not staying in a hotel, we're visiting my wife's parents who live in the countryside.
- We're travelling through Cork airport which has relatively lower human traffic at the moment and seems less risky. Palma Airport seems to have their act together too.
- We won't be doing bars and restaurants over there as these seem to be hotspots for infection despite best efforts.
- We plan to self quarantine for at least a week when we get back (ie kids won't be allowed out with the neighbour kids) and I'm able to work from home. Not so much because we think we're more likely to bring the virus back with us but because we don't want our neighbours to be worried.

We're very conscious that we don't want to be selfish about this decision. I honestly don't see how this trip will be any more risky to us or anyone around us compared to travelling and living within Ireland. The inlaws are feeling very isolated over there and haven't seen any of their kids or grandkids since last summer; they would obviously be at lower risk if we didn't visit them at all but they don't want to cocoon for what could be years due to the virus. A few weeks ago as Ireland relaxed restrictions my own parents were reunited with their grandkids but my wife's parents haven't had that pleasure yet, and they're worried they might not see them at all this year.

The virus is already in Ireland and will spread perfectly fine on its own now that people can travel across the country, and I can't imagine "staycationers" will spread the virus any less than the small numbers of people travelling within the EU. We all have to balance the risk of the virus against living our lives over the medium term. So that's why we're travelling.

Have a lovely trip!

Dante7

What NPHET are doing here is setting up the ordinary punter to be the fall guy and take the blame for their lack of foresight. International travel is opening up and there are no appropriate procedures in place to deal with it. Their only solution is to cry, "don't travel, stay at home". And when the inevitable cases do arrive, it won't be the families returning from Spain and Greece that bring the cases, it will be the arrivals from Brazil, South Asia, Middle East and Africa who are still only faced with the same wishy washy 14 day self isolation advisory as the family coming from safe zones. If they were serious about reducing the risk from travel they would implement a strict ban from areas that are currently badly hit. They can **** off if they think they are going to guilt trip me into not travelling due to their lack of planning.

Mr rebel

The main headline on the RTE news bulletin this evening was Tony’s “do not travel” message, and then the first programme on right after the news was Getaways, a programme about celebs discovering different foreign travel locations lol

Royale with Cheese

Will you travel? Yes I will.

acequion

Dante7 wrote: »

What NPHET are doing here is setting up the ordinary punter to be the fall guy and take the blame for their lack of foresight. International travel is opening up and there are no appropriate procedures in place to deal with it. Their only solution is to cry, "don't travel, stay at home". And when the inevitable cases do arrive, it won't be the families returning from Spain and Greece that bring the cases, it will be the arrivals from Brazil, South Asia, Middle East and Africa who are still only faced with the same wishy washy 14 day self isolation advisory as the family coming from safe zones. If they were serious about reducing the risk from travel they would implement a strict ban from areas that are currently badly hit. They can **** off if they think they are going to guilt trip me into not travelling due to their lack of planning.

100% agree. People need to recognise this guilt tripping for what it is.A cynical ploy by the likes of NPHET, bullshyt begrudgery by your average journal.ie commenter or finger pointing from those who have all the family in Ireland, never go abroad and fail to see how important connectivity is to so many on our island and to the overall economy.

atahuapla

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

I will, my son will be in the middle, my girlfriend one side me the other.

My Parents and brother have booked the seats in front of us.

You know you can pay not to sit beside a stranger.

Can you pay for Johnny coughsalot in the seat behind to sit somewhere else? Good luck to you mate, you have it all worked out.

fisgon wrote: »

By that logic, you should not travel on Dublin Bus, Irish Rail or any form of public transport. There is no difference between a flight from a low infected area and a trip from Galway to Dublin on Bus Eireann. It is exactly the same situation.

Not that I'd be going anywhere near a domestic bus or a train, it's not in any way comparable to getting into a cramped, poorly ventilated 737 out of a foreign country.
You don't have to queue for security for a bus or train, you're also not checked into a tiny stairwell before you board and you have the option of opening a window in these two modes of transport.

Anyway, this thread has turned into a place where people come to feel good about their decision to travel internationally again.
As for me, as someone that boards about 80-100 flights every year for the past 13yrs, I'm happy to wait for a vaccination or at least for airline CEOs to take social distancing seriously.

Boggles

acequion wrote: »

100% agree. People need to recognise this guilt tripping for what it is.A cynical ploy by the likes of NPHET,

Sorry, you think NPHET have hatched a cynical ploy to stop people going on holidays by guilt tripping them?

That's fúcking next level tin foil.

faceman

Boggles wrote: »

Sorry, you think NPHET have hatched a cynical ploy to stop people going on holidays by guilt tripping them?

That's fúcking next level tin foil.

NPHET have no authoritative power, they can only influence. So yes their choice of words is important

stephenjmcd

stephenjmcd wrote: »

Irish times headline quite misleading here

"Ireland left out as EU opens borders to 15 states including Australia, Canada and Japan"

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/ireland-left-out-as-eu-opens-borders-to-15-states-including-australia-canada-and-japan-1.4292678?mode=amp&utm_source=upday&utm_medium=referral

Handy for the government that they can hide behind the UK in not agreeing to participate in the arrangement with the list of countries. See, the UK is sometimes the useful idiot

ZX7R

atahuapla wrote: »

Can you pay for Johnny coughsalot in the seat behind to sit somewhere else? Good luck to you mate, you have it all worked out.



Not that I'd be going anywhere near a domestic bus or a train, it's not in any way comparable to getting into a cramped, poorly ventilated 737 out of a foreign country.
You don't have to queue for security for a bus or train, you're also not checked into a tiny stairwell before you board and you have the option of opening a window in these two modes of transport.

Anyway, this thread has turned into a place where people come to feel good about their decision to travel internationally again.
As for me, as someone that boards about 80-100 flights every year for the past 13yrs, I'm happy to wait for a vaccination or at least for airline CEOs to take social distancing seriously.

Dr Margret Harris from the world health organization stated today on rtes drive time.
She stated that the world health organization has not seen any transmission directly related to traveling on a plane adding the quality of air conditioning on planes to be of a very high standard.
On reports from the who also states that airlines have decreased the duration time of the air to such an extente that with the other safety protocols in place that travelers will be in a very safe environment

Spanish Eyes

ZX7R wrote: »

Dr Margret Harris from the world health organization stated today on rtes drive time.
She stated that the world health organization has not seen any transmission directly related to traveling on a plane adding the quality of air conditioning on planes to be of a very high standard.
On reports from the who also states that airlines have decreased the duration time of the air to such an extente that with the other safety protocols in place that travelers will be in a very safe environment

Pity that the virus travelled all over the world within weeks through International Travel, even though presumably the air filtering system was as good as it is now.

Masks, it must be the newly introduced masks, that can be raised or lowered depending on your intake of food or beverages.

LOL. Airline funds incoming to WHO.

Tenzor07

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Pity that the virus travelled all over the world within weeks through International Travel, even though presumably the air filtering system was as good as it is now.
Masks, it must be the newly introduced masks, that can be raised or lowered depending on your intake of food or beverages.
LOL. Airline funds incoming to WHO.

never read such garbage...

Spanish Eyes

Tenzor07 wrote: »

never read such garbage...

Thank you kindly. Must have hit a nerve

joseywhales

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Pity that the virus travelled all over the world within weeks through International Travel, even though presumably the air filtering system was as good as it is now.

Masks, it must be the newly introduced masks, that can be raised or lowered depending on your intake of food or beverages.

LOL. Airline funds incoming to WHO.

I think the who have been consistent since the start that closing borders is not worth the benefit. Making the population more resistant to transmission I guess is more important than trying to isolate countries since that is almost impossible. These guys did many pandemic simulations over the years and now they have evidence from track and trace that air travel is not a big transmission vector, therefore I would believe them. Also I tend to side with people who sacrifice their entire lives in persuit of saving human lives, noone really does medicine for the money, if they do they are complete idiots, it is a 24/7 job for most

Dante7

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Pity that the virus travelled all over the world within weeks through International Travel, even though presumably the air filtering system was as good as it is now.

What? Do you think that the HEPA filters in airplanes remove all traces of viruses from the passengers? That'd be great. Instead of admitting patients to hospitals we could just pop them on a plane for half an hour.

Tenzor07

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Thank you kindly. Must have hit a nerve

There aren't enough :rolleyes: emoji to express how dumb your statement is...

Flyer1

Will be heading for Sunny Spain at the end of July - 2 weeks, maybe 3.

Might chance a weekend of two somewhere else in August.

Can't wait to escape the nonsense here. Friends from all over Europe appear to be getting back to life (albeit with extra precautions).

Strazdas

I think Dr. Holohan has totally dropped the ball here, glibly announcing that Irish people should not leave the country and should cancel any holidays already booked, without thinking through the massive implications of this for Irish tourism, aviation and assorted sectors of the economy, not to mention the ordinary consumer.

He's speaking about this as if it is a minor sector of the economy such as nail varnishing or landscape gardening. It's no wonder his comments have caused total confusion in the travel and airline industry.

faceman

Strazdas wrote: »

I think Dr. Holohan has totally dropped the ball here, glibly announcing that Irish people should not leave the country and should cancel any holidays already booked, without thinking through the massive implications of this for Irish tourism, aviation and assorted sectors of the economy, not to mention the ordinary consumer.

He's speaking about this as if it is a minor sector of the economy such as nail varnishing or landscape gardening. It's no wonder his comments have caused total confusion in the travel and airline industry.

Tbf it’s not their job to be thinking of economic implications. But you’re right, direct and indirect economic implications are huge and it’s not just tourism.

Tenzor07

Strazdas wrote: »

I think Dr. Holohan has totally dropped the ball here, glibly announcing that Irish people should not leave the country and should cancel any holidays already booked, without thinking through the massive implications of this for Irish tourism, aviation and assorted sectors of the economy, not to mention the ordinary consumer.He's speaking about this as if it is a minor sector of the economy such as nail varnishing or landscape gardening. It's no wonder his comments have caused total confusion in the travel and airline industry.

The CMO of a country wielding such power over massive parts of the state, its economy and people is what's more concerning, didn't they just swear in a new Government or is Taoiseach Martin happy to let Dr. Holohan have such massive power?

Beechwoodspark

Dr Holohan is dead right to advise against non essential travel. He is the expert, he sees all the reports and stats.

We are happy to take his opinion over politicians or god save us, randomers on boards.