Honest opinion on April 2021

[landandword17]

Have booked August 2021 deposit only with BA. Nothing to lose. Nice to have something on the horizon but not doing my usual serious planning yet. Waiting to see who wins the US election and how we go with the virus over winter. I think where we are on Jan 1 will tell a lot. If I was booked for April then Jan would be my decision point. At the moment refunds are getting a bit easier. Virgin is now paying out for June so not as bad as it was. I'd relax and not worry until the new year.

[Gemini157]

It's so difficult isn't it?

We are in a similar position. We should have been there this year for the school Easter holidays. The first time with the grandchildren.
We got our flights refunded (eventually) from KLM.
We lost our villa deposit but got the rest back.

We then booked another villa for the end of March next year, school Easter holidays again as we have to work around the grandchildren and school.
We haven't booked any flights yet.
Now it is only 6 months way. I want to believe things will be so much better for us all by then. My head and gut instinct say postpone until spring 2022, which really isn't what my heart wants.
I am waiting to see what the rest of the family think on this. If they agree I will ask the villa owner if we can move our booking.

[magickate]

Have to admit I've wimped out of our Easter trip already, pushed it back until August in the hope the extra few months give us a better chance.

[Bozza]

Originally Posted by loldis

If Trump gets re-elected and they have a rough winter, I could see him keeping them closed for quite some time.

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The borders aren't shut though, are they? Any of us could travel to the US right now, we'd just need to go to A.N.Other country first for 14 days, and then fly from there to the States.

Back on topic: yes, it's really difficult. We're still waiting for our October half-term trip to be canned. I was going to line up a series of bookings for next year - Feb half-term, Easter, May half-term and Summer in the hope of having something in place for when we can all get moving again.

My view on the likelihood of a Feb trip going ahead has diminished somewhat, so I'll not be booking anything for that now.

I'd have greater confidence about Easter, but I'm not sure the odds of that are even as great as 50/50 right now.

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Bozza

The borders aren't shut though, are they? Any of us could travel to the US right now, we'd just need to go to A.N.Other country first for 14 days, and then fly from there to the States.

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I didn't bother going into loopholes as they're effectively shut to us. Very few people can practically do the workarounds that would allow for valid entry. With quarantine on return as well, that's 6 weeks required for a 2 week trip. I have a very understanding manager and a job I can do remotely, but there's no way I'd get company approval for that just because I want (not need) to go to Florida.

If he wins and US cases ramp up further over winter, I'd actually expect more border restrictions and possibly even a blanket ban to come in. Especially with his viewpoint on this being entirely a foreign problem. But I don't want to make this thread too political so won't say more on that.

[alysond]

We pushed our May 2020 trip back to May 2021. The condo owner was great, and at that point ( March 2020) I was sure we`d be going. However at the moment I`m 50/50. My heart says yes all will be fine, but my head says don`t get your hopes up. We have a BA voucher but as yet we`ve not even looked at flights. It all just feels too uncertain. Maybe after the election we`ll think again, but at the moment I just can`t face having another trip cancelled

[Mickie]

Well “honestly” I hope you’ll be fine but as you said I’d have serious concerns about anything in the next 6 months. I’d love to book something for next year, but insurance issues amongst everything else make me hesitate and when restrictions are lifted I’m worried I’ll be crushed in the stampede to book. We’ve had a Disney trip to look forward to ever since 2015 and we are really missing not having anything to look forward to.

[mason1]

I’m starting to feel more pessimistic over Easter. We’ve currently got New York booked for December (this won’t go ahead). We’ve also got West Coast booked for Easter. It’s booked on deposit with BA, but still need to sort another 3 hotels as part of the trip. The 6 months thing yesterday has made me wonder if this will go ahead - I think I’ve resigned myself to it not happening.

We’ve also got Florida booked for August - which I am hoping will go ahead.

Looking at what we’ve got booked, I think this whole situation has turned me into a serial holiday booker!

[Taffy1959]

We’re booked for early May and I’m less and less confident of going.
I’m just annoyed at not taking the refund on the Disney tickets when it was offered I wanted a refund but DH was confident that everything would be ok by May so we kept them 🙄

[irnjaw]

I am keeping my sight firmly set on October 2021. Will be booking the best flydrive deal I can find early November because I fear that once the borders are open the prices will sky rocket. If we have to cancel, so be it, but I hope we don't have to. And I hope the OP gets their trip in March.

I keep reading these forums and searching for anything positive to make me feel better about it all. Someone reckoned the borders will open after the US election - I'm not sure why - but I'm not taking any chances, and I'm thankful that I can book my flights the day before the election *fingers tightly crossed*