I very much understand why people were been disappointed when their holidays were cancelled this year. Who wouldn’t be? You wait all year for the best day of the year, which is the day you go on holiday, and a silent killer arrives on your island, turning your plans into dust. We have been in the number of people who are disappointed, but I draw the line at words like gutted and devastated. Devastated, a much overused word in my opinion, suggests real tragedy like the death of a loved one or a natural disaster. The cancellation of a holiday should not mean someone is devastated or overwhelmed. Perspective, dear boy, and all that.
Given the odds of science coming up with a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year are in the region of 5%, according to many experts, and only between 10% and 20% by this time next year, I’m afraid this is something we are going to have to get used to.
None of this is to attempt to belittle those of us who like our annual trip to what we consider to be our little paradise, if you will, or our bolthole from where we can close out the rest of the world and dare to dream for a week or so. I would have no problems travelling to Spain next month to see a close family relative if travel advice was changed by the government (it won’t be) because I don’t believe I would be any less safe. In any event, I can’t think of anywhere less safe than my local branch of Tesco where I have just been to carry out a small shop and social distancing was non-existent. I am told by friends who have recently returned from Greece, which to be fair has done far better than the UK in dealing with the virus, that at no point did they feel threatened or unsafe and felt, and probably were, safer there.
In the likely event that this pesky coronavirus hangs around for the long term, I’m starting to think about future holidays. And taking holidays in the UK instead of abroad is a strong possibility. I know that the reason most of us head to Greece, Spain and the like is for the weather and the odds are high indeed that a British holiday will be spent under thick cloud and rain, a bit like today, really. But if I can acquire accommodation that keeps me warm and dry, is close enough to civilisation that I can find some shops and a pub and where I can go for a log walk, read a book and listen to some music, I’ll be more than happy with that.
By next year, other factors will affect our choices when it comes to holidays. Who knows if the travel companies and low cost airlines will still be around by next summer if passenger numbers don’t increase dramatically? We know that millions of people are about to lose their jobs and thousands of companies will go to the wall as the recession bites deeper and, from 1st January 2021 the transition period following our exit from the European Union will have expired and Dominic Cummings’ preferred no deal crash out will pour fuel onto an already raging fire. With all that’s coming down the track, my holidays are very low in my list of priorities which at the moment start and finish at the well-being of society in general and my family and friends in particular.
My feeling is that we should not feel self-pity because our foreign holidays have been cancelled but instead feel sympathy with those people whose livelihoods are threatened by the economic effects of COVID-19. Look at every aspect of your holiday, from leaving your house to staying in your resort of choice and here are real people whose jobs and businesses are on the line. And then hope that things will get better. In the meantime, all we can do is carry on with our lives. Other than self-pity, there is no alternative.
