TUI ground all flights to Spain....again.

If anyone was optimistic enough to book a holiday to Spain right now....tough. The main holiday company TUI will not be flying there for at least a fortnight.
Anyone who is on holiday there at the moment, may carry on, but will be required to quarantine for 2 weeks when they return.

Groundhog day??

https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/incredibly-disappointed-tui-airline-cancels-22416659


"The UK government tonight issued a travel warning for all of Spain except the Canary and Balearic Islands.

It also imposed a 14-day quarantine for all UK travellers returning from any part of Spain, including the islands.

The airline said it was 'incredibly disappointed' at the short notice, as Brits' summer holiday plans are thrown into chaos after travel ground to a halt during the earlier stages of global coronavirus lockdowns.

The UK government was forced on to the back foot tonight after reports emerged it was planning to close the 'air bridge' with Spain.

TUI has slammed the government's sudden decision- saying holidymakers' plans will be thrown into disarray.

The travel operator's chief said TUI is proactively contacting all customers to either arrange refunds and rebooking options."

Syl wrote:TUI has slammed the government's sudden decision- saying holidymakers' plans will be thrown into disarray.

Don't think they have much of a choice. Would they could ask the virus for a 2-week advance notice.

Original Quill wrote:

Syl wrote:TUI has slammed the government's sudden decision- saying holidymakers' plans will be thrown into disarray.

Don't think they have much of a choice.  Would they could ask the virus for a 2-week advance notice.

I agree for mainland Spain, but people on holiday in Majorca and Minorca for example, are also having to quarantine and those islands have not had an upsurge.
I'm not blaming the government for being cautious, they did say if and when they thought the lockdown rules should be changed they would have no hesitation in changing them without notice.

Spent part of a summer in Mojón, once.

Original Quill wrote:Spent part of a summer in Mojón, once.

I think we talked about this ages ago Quill. Mojon is mainland Spain isn't it? My sister in law lives in Murcia, she has been there 20 odd years.
I prefer the islands, Majorca is my favourite.

I've no sympathy for these "holiday makers"...serve em right if they dont get a penny back.

they are of the same intelligence and mien as all the other "covidiots" we have heard about, I mean.... who the hell in their right mind goes abroad when a global pandemic is still active, especially to one of the worst hit countries....

travel and holiday in your own country OR DONT have a holiday for once...wait till next year FGS.

these "entitled idiots forget ...they are NOT entitled to a holiday

you are entitled to days off work yes
you are NOT entitled to a holiday abroad.

Syl wrote:I think we talked about this ages ago Quill. Mojon is mainland Spain isn't it? My sister in law lives in Murcia, she has been there 20 odd years.

Mojón is on the eastern tip of Menorica.  Maybe you are thinking of Majones, in Aragon, north of Zaragoza.
http://trip-suggest.com/spain/aragon/majones/

Zaragoza is beautiful. I've been there, but only for work. Old town, beautiful French flavored architecture.

Quill, do you mean Mahon? 
If you do...I love it there, spent many happy hours round the harbour.

Syl wrote:Quill, do you mean Mahon? 
If you do...I love it there, spent many happy hours round the harbour.

Yes, Mahón, on Menorca.  It's one of the largest deep water harbors in the world.  Did you see the old pirates' caves?  

Also, a great night club up on the bluff, called Restaurant Cova Sa Nacra.  You walk down the face of the cliff, on steps built out, to natural caverns in the cliff face.

Yes we have been on quite a few boat trips leaving from the harbour there, very interesting if you have a knowlegable guide.
I think I know the club you mean, very unusual, looking down to the sea on several levels.

There is a great floating restaurant just along from Mahon harbour, eaten there a few times too.

Yes, that's the place. Acrylic dance floors, with colored lights beneath. A bunch of caverns making up different rooms.

I can understand people being fed up with staying at home and wanting to get away but really??? Did they think it had magically gone away? Do they not understand the science behind this?

We currently have a young friend cavorting about in Italy. His videos, while beautiful and making me jealous, also horrify me. Other friends are holidaying around the UK or here in the states. While I’m happy for them, I still don’t think it’s safe, but it’s better than going to another country that has been a hot spot and was going to be one again when restrictions were lifted.

Unless it’s a family emergency, like Ben and Eddie, nobody should be traveling abroad right now.

As much as it pains me because I miss him so much, I hope junior gets a job in the UK instead of trying to come back in September when he finishes his masters. The thought of him on an airplane and having to do multiple stops makes me ill.

It's the travelling by plane, and the procedures at airports that I find the biggest worry....even at the best of times tbh, they are a hotbed for passing germs around..
No point travelling to a place even if the corona figures are low, you still have to travel to and fro.

We should have been having a road trip around England and Wales right now, places are reopening, but we wont be going.

I prefer to stay in my own little bubble as much as possible, time enough for travel when all this is over.

we now travel to our wood in wales,
BUT....we can do the trip there and back without refueling or interacting with anyone, and once at the wood are really isolated, so ideal.....
If we DO need to fuel up we go to a Tesco station, which has "pay at pump" option...job done with no interaction...handle pump with disposable gloves on, use card in machine, wash card with alcohol, gloves off and in bin, wash filler flap with alcohol, wipe door handle with alcohol....jobs a good un....

I so miss Wales one of the most beautiful countries in the world ...so many hidden gems.
As soon as possible we will go back.

You can still get nice parcels of woodland in wales for about £10,000 per acre.
but you have to be choosy...a lot of it is mountain goat territory...all very well if you are a fit youngster but...........

we visited and assesed 14 places before we found ours, and that was almost accidental, since we had gone to look at on patch in a bigger wood, of about 1.5 acres, but it was too steep, the selling agent emailed me after to ask what i thought so i told him nah...too steep, and gave him a set of criteria that we wamted, so he suggested we went back and looked at the piece on the other side of the track through the wood, which wasnt yet up for sale but could be made available if we wanted...

It was just right, fairly level throughout, plantation on ancient woodland that was regenerating ....mainly coppice birch and hazel with patches of young douglas fir and some over mature fir that needs felling.
3.3 acres

we got it for considerably less than £10,000 per acre becasue they didnt have to market it, and it put a purchaser in the wood, thus increasing its draw for others....

we have improved the parking area and are slowly turning it back to properly managed coppice (which is a fantastic wildlife habitat) and the old fir I'm felling gets turned into either fuel wood or, if its a good tree it gets milled into planks/spars for my carpentry.

we have improved diversity by planting oak holly maple and rowan, some of which will be allowed to grow to full size as "sentinel trees" again improving the wildlife habitat...its a slow but rewarding task and our wood is now valued at 40,000 and increasing...

I "manage" 4 other areas in that bigger wood (belonging to other people) for pest control, keeping grey squirrel and crow numbers down (bang) a necessary job both to protect the trees and the songbirds, whos numbers have increased steadily.

we have a number of "red list" endangered species of birds and invertebrates, and I am constantly adding to the species list I have started.


and our woofits just love it

woofits in the wood

https://vimeo.com/412413647

Cass wrote:I can understand people being fed up with staying at home and wanting to get away but really??? Did they think it had magically gone away? Do they not understand the science behind this?

We currently have a young friend cavorting about in Italy. His videos, while beautiful and making me jealous, also horrify me. Other friends are holidaying around the UK or here in the states. While I’m happy for them, I still don’t think it’s safe, but it’s better than going to another country that has been a hot spot and was going to be one again when restrictions were lifted.

Unless it’s a family emergency, like Ben and Eddie, nobody should be traveling abroad right now.

As much as it pains me because I miss him so much, I hope junior gets a job in the UK instead of trying to come back in September when he finishes his masters. The thought of him on an airplane and having to do multiple stops makes me ill.

Two things that RW'ers don't seem to grasp.  They don't seem to grasp the idea of proportional numbers.  Trump keeps referring to whole numbers: "we have tested more than any nation on earth", without acknowledging that we are one of the largest nations on earth.  They seem never to have gone beyond 4th grade arithmetic in school.

The second appropriate thing they can't grasp is, the idea of transmission, or spread of a disease.  They understand an individual being sick, but they can't wrap their head around the idea that one person transmits a disease to another.  Hence, they say well, I tested positive, but don't feel bad, so I guess I'm OK to go out.  Then they go out and spread the disease around. Trump echoes this in his argument against testing: "They test positive, but they feel fine...so let the kids return to school." Sure, go to school, where they will spread the virus all around to others.

This intellectual density seems to be highest in the southern US, and of course the numbers bear that out.  The southern states have spread the virus around like they were sowing a field.  I always said southern minds were atrophied.

Victorismyhero wrote:You can still get nice parcels of woodland in wales for about £10,000 per acre.
but you have to be choosy...a lot of it is mountain goat territory...all very well if you are a fit youngster but...........

we visited and assesed 14 places before we found ours, and that was almost accidental, since we had gone to look at on patch in a bigger wood, of about 1.5 acres, but it was too steep, the selling agent emailed me after to ask what i thought so i told him nah...too steep, and gave him a set of criteria that we wamted, so he suggested we went back and looked at the piece on the other side of the track through the wood, which wasnt yet up for sale but could be made available if we wanted...

It was just right, fairly level throughout, plantation on ancient woodland that was regenerating ....mainly coppice birch and hazel with patches of young douglas fir and some over mature fir that needs felling.
3.3 acres

we got it for considerably less than £10,000 per acre becasue they didnt have to market it, and it put a purchaser in the wood, thus increasing its draw for others....

we have improved the parking area and are slowly turning it back to properly managed coppice (which is a fantastic wildlife habitat) and the old fir I'm felling gets turned into either fuel wood or, if its a good tree it gets milled into planks/spars for my carpentry.

we have improved diversity by planting oak holly maple and rowan, some of which will be allowed to grow to full size as "sentinel trees" again improving the wildlife habitat...its a slow but rewarding task and our wood is now valued at 40,000 and increasing...

I "manage" 4 other areas in that bigger wood (belonging to other people) for pest control, keeping grey squirrel and crow numbers down (bang) a necessary job both to protect the trees and the songbirds, whos numbers have increased steadily.

we have a number of "red list" endangered species of birds and invertebrates, and I am constantly adding to the species list I have started.


and our woofits just love it

It all sounds idyllic, and exhausting.

Original Quill wrote:

Cass wrote:I can understand people being fed up with staying at home and wanting to get away but really??? Did they think it had magically gone away? Do they not understand the science behind this?

We currently have a young friend cavorting about in Italy. His videos, while beautiful and making me jealous, also horrify me. Other friends are holidaying around the UK or here in the states. While I’m happy for them, I still don’t think it’s safe, but it’s better than going to another country that has been a hot spot and was going to be one again when restrictions were lifted.

Unless it’s a family emergency, like Ben and Eddie, nobody should be traveling abroad right now.

As much as it pains me because I miss him so much, I hope junior gets a job in the UK instead of trying to come back in September when he finishes his masters. The thought of him on an airplane and having to do multiple stops makes me ill.

Two things that RW'ers don't seem to grasp.  They don't seem to grasp the idea of proportional numbers.  Trump keeps referring to whole numbers: "we have tested more than any nation on earth", without acknowledging that we are one of the largest nations on earth.  They seem never to have gone beyond 4th grade arithmetic in school.

The second appropriate thing they can't grasp is, the idea of transmission, or spread of a disease.  They understand an individual being sick, but they can't wrap their head around the idea that one person transmits a disease to another.  Hence, they say well, I tested positive, but don't feel bad, so I guess I'm OK to go out.  Then they go out and spread the disease around.  Trump echoes this in his argument against testing: "They test positive, but they feel fine...so let the kids return to school."  Sure, go to school, where they will spread the virus all around to others.

This intellectual density seems to be highest in the southern US, and of course the numbers bear that out.  The southern states have spread the virus around like they were sowing a field.  I always said southern minds were atrophied.

Part of the virus has been politicized for sure, but not every person who has gone is on the right. Most of my friends who have gone away are on the left/middle. There’s plenty of people I know who vote Democrat who are vocal about not masking up. My father, who voted for Trump, masked up at the first suggestion. There is no hard black and white to this.

Well, it's hard to generalize from specifics. Not many Democrats in Arizona. Only Tucson is a liberal, university community. But, maybe the ones that are just buy into Ducey's dismissive attitude.

I think the majority of people are followers, no matter what their political stance is.
If it seems people are donning masks when outside, others will follow, if they aren't.....people will follow.

Syl wrote:I think the majority of people are followers, no matter what their political stance is.
If it seems people are donning masks when outside, others will follow, if they aren't.....people will follow.

She Who Must Be Obeyed has taken to wearing one of those quite brilliant British Wildlife Centre face masks of a particularly aggressive Scottish wildcat in in full open-jawed attack mode and is absolutely reveling in being the centre of attention among passers-by who come up to her in the street (suitably socially distanced, natch...) wanting to know where they too can get one.

I am trying to summon up enough confidence to mutter from the sidelines "Ah, happiness is...a warm Scottish MacPussy..."

Scottish wildcat? I think I've met her.

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

Syl wrote:I think the majority of people are followers, no matter what their political stance is.
If it seems people are donning masks when outside, others will follow, if they aren't.....people will follow.

She Who Must Be Obeyed has taken to wearing one of those quite brilliant British Wildlife Centre face masks of a particularly aggressive Scottish wildcat in in full open-jawed attack mode and is absolutely reveling in being the centre of attention among passers-by who come up to her in the street (suitably socially distanced, natch...) wanting to know where they too can get one.

I am trying to summon up enough confidence to mutter from the sidelines "Ah, happiness is...a warm Scottish MacPussy..."