Express & Star comment: Stay close for summer holiday
With the summer, comes the holidays.
Summer holidays. It’s virtually one word. But what about having the summer without the holiday? For a lot of people, that is unthinkable.
You are going to have to think about it though because coronavirus has put the lid on a lot of options. Air travel – depending on who you listen to – is likely to remain a problem, particularly given the suggestions of a 14-day quarantine for travellers.
Oh yeah, what a great prospect. A fortnight’s holiday abroad, followed by a fortnight banged up in your own country on your return home.
The greatest holiday in the world isn’t going to compensate for that, so only the truly desperate to go abroad – if they are allowed to in the first place – are going to do so.
There is also that risk that if you are able to go abroad, the situation might change while you are over there, and an unexpected lockdown will prevent you from getting back.
So those Stay At Home and Stay Safe messages which have been drilled into us may prove to be watchwords for the summer holidays as well.
Staying at home in this context means looking at permitted options within Britain, and the staying safe part is that you are unlikely to get stranded and if you, or others in your group, fall ill, there will always be the NHS safety net.
So how about the UK? Many families will be eager for something to look forward to and so the idea of camping may suddenly become more attractive.
If it is safe to go on holiday in this country, there is no shortage of stunning locations – and of course our tourist industry will be keen to restart.
While the Welsh coast doesn’t beckon at the moment, being replaced by a vertical palm to stop English seaside lovers crossing the border, the coronavirus situation may in coming weeks improve enough to allow a relaxation of the restrictions.
It’s all ifs, buts, and maybes.
Yet while we don’t know what’s going to happen, we do know a holiday would make a lot of us feel a whole lot better.
