holidays
Cancelled
We are a nation that love to travel and holiday overseas. In 2019 more than 70 million of us took trips abroad. But in March 2020, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against ALL non-essential overseas travel. This devastating news was accompanied with frightening terms that many of us had never heard in our lifetimes. Countries were ‘closing borders’ and movement was ‘restricted’.
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olidaymakers were brought home early, and in some cases people were stranded after their original flights were cancelled – and huge demand plus general confusion made it impossible to rebook. Between the end of January and early May, 30,000 residents had been brought back to the UK thanks to almost 150 special government charter flights from 27 locations. When take-offs tentatively restarted in summer, many travellers were surrounded by chaos once more. Due to renewed coronavirus concerns in holiday hotspots like Spain and France, the government began introducing rules that those returning from certain countries, after specific times, would have to self-isolate. As the summer went on, more countries were added to the list. Many people were forced to cut their getaways
short to avoid having to quarantine – which would have meant an untenable loss of work and income. At one point 20 per cent of adults questioned had cancelled their travel plans due to quarantine fears (ons.gov.uk). Booking a break in the UK became plan B for many, but availability could be hard to come by. We spoke to some holidaymakers about their ill-fated travels in 2020. A magical 12-night cruise of the Norwegian fjords was much looked forward to by Simon Sleight and his family. Along with his father Brian, who used to teach Geography at Spalding Grammar School, his brother Stephen and sister-in-law Catherine, Simon was due to set sail from Southampton in late July. Simon told us, ‘we picked this type of holiday
Simon and his family enjoying their staycation. 34 | SIMPLY SPALDING | www.simplyspalding.co.uk
hoping that it was going to be both scenic and suitable for my dad, who is slowing down a bit now he’s in his 80s. ‘He really loves Norway, having taken scout groups there a number of times when he was a scout leader. ‘We were at the point of renewing his passport when plans changed, and after lots of deliberation, we decided to postpone the cruise until next summer and go somewhere a little closer to home instead, that could be easily reached by car. We selected Shropshire, as my dad thought it might be a little off the beaten track compared to the national park areas, while still offering some lovely places to explore. A holiday cottage seemed like a sensible alternative, and we were lucky to find one with such character and facilities. It was located beside a canal towpath and within walking distance of both an aqueduct and a viaduct, and beyond that the pretty little town of Chirk.’ Simon and his family very much enjoyed their staycation in this idyllic location, and it has gone some way to make up for missing out on the stunning Norwegian fjords.
