Travellers have their say
Britons hit by quarantine ruling express shock and anger
HUNDREDS of people have voiced frustration and sadness following the UK government’s sudden ending at the weekend of the ‘travel corridor’ linking Spain and Britain.
Travellers will now be forced to spend 14 days in quarantine if they make a journey to the UK from Spain.
As a result thousands of Britons have been forced to cancel their trips to the Costa Blanca – and many residents in Spain have lost their chance to visit relatives in the UK.
Some tourists have reported they are now stuck in the Valencia region after airlines pulled the plug on their flights.
Budget airline Jet2 cancelled all holidays and flights to mainland Spain until the middle of August as a result of the rule change over coronavirus. Ryanair has maintained its schedule but some customers have stated that they cannot use their tickets due the quarantine situation.
Many people have taken the opportunity to vent their anger at what they perceive as a kneejerk measure from the UK.
Britons have their say
Tourist Adam Spiby and his partner were hit by the surprise announcement after landing at Alicante-Elche airport.
“We arrived on Saturday afternoon into Alicante and are staying in Santa Pola,” said Adam.
“Now me and my partner, who are both key workers, will have to quarantine on our return next Saturday.
“As we are both clerical rather than clinicians, we don’t qualify (to avoid quarantine).”
Mr Sibley added that ‘Santa Pola has fewer cases than Wrexham, where we are from’.
Joe Jones said he was ‘midflight’ when the quarantine was announced.
“We have had to fly out to sort out a property sale and purchase that was affected during lockdown,” he explained.
“Hopefully we can still get home as planned.
“We have no real issues with the quarantine, other than the area we are in currently has less Covid cases than where we live in the UK.”
Michael Donnelly was also travelling as the rules were changed.
“I’ve now got to isolate when I get back for two weeks and my work won’t pay me and the government won’t even pay sick pay. I now have to try and pay my weekly rent with nothing. I’m a key worker who’s worked throughout this pandemic and this is how I’m treated. Benidorm is one of the safest places in Spain and Spain one of the strictest and safest countries in Europe and this is what we get. It’s an absolute joke. They’re trying to stop us spending our money outside our economy.”
Tracey Harrison flew out on July 16 ‘for my 50th’.
“I work for the NHS as a locum in a hospital and I’ve contacted them and I will have to self-isolate,” she said. “To be honest we knew the risks but it was so much safer here and I definitely needed a break.”
Jo Rivett has been in Guardamar since July 19.
“We feel so much safer than in the UK,” she said.
“Everyone following the rules when walking around, safe distances on the beach, restaurants and bars regularly being cleaned. We fly home Friday and my husband is self-employed and has a contract starting on Monday. We also self-isolated before we came to make sure we didn’t bring anything across with us, now have to isolate when we get back from a part of Spain that is really low on figures.”
Elaine Martin travelled from Scotland to Alicante ‘then on to our house in Jávea once restrictions were lifted’.
“We were to be here for 28 days but once the decision was made to start quarantine we decided to go home on Wednesday.
“There are too many things we would miss, family commitments, etc. that we wouldn’t be able to attend if we stay.”
She added that ‘we will do anything that is needed to help stop the spread of coronavirus but the Costa Blanca doesn’t have the numbers that Cataluña does’.
“Hygiene has been strict here and wearing masks has been compulsory. It’s just so confusing.”
Sue Bathurst had trips cancelled for April, May and June.
“We eventually arrived on July 18 to our beautiful apartment and beloved Murcia. We are astonished and confused by the isolation that will be imposed on us upon return to the UK, given we feel much safer here and your numbers are lower. Our trip to our holiday home may end up costing us in excess of £4,000 if our companies elect not to pay us during the isolation which will be imposed on our return this weekend and we also fear for trips we have planned in September, October, November and at Christmas.
“We also feel for all our Spanish friends in the tourist and travel industries that may not recover from this ridiculous decision by the UK government.”
Cancelled
Tracy Smith was due to fly to Spain tomorrow (Saturday) to complete on the purchase of a villa in Benijófar ‘that was meant to happen in April, but then lockdown happened so we changed to August 1 instead’.
“But now that self-isolation has happened and our insurance is void due to foreign office restrictions, we are unable to fly out to our new build as we can’t get the time off work to self-isolate. Peed off is an understatement.”
Simon Gould should have been coming out today (Friday) for 14 days.
“Four of us were joining my wife’s mother slightly northwest of Valencia in a ‘rural-ish’ area,” he noted.
“We weren’t planning on going to local bars this time, just pool time and an occasional supermarket shop.
“Less risk than exposure in my fire service job!
“We’ve not seen mum-in-law since mid-February. We are gutted that we can’t travel.
“The flight is on, but we have no insurance now.”
Mr Gould criticised the UK government’s ‘sweeping act, not taking into account the regional variations’.
“We are now about to spend my two weeks’ leave avoiding all the holiday makers descending on Devon/Cornwall, so not happy.”
Verity Memmott was due to fly last Friday to visit her parents ‘who I haven't seen since early this year’.
“I had to move my flights because of passport delays so rescheduled to August 20 and now I won’t be able to go at all,” she said. “If I was there when this was announced I could deal with the quarantine, but with the government advising against all but essential travel, going now would mean no travel insurance.
“I’m pregnant and therefore can’t take the risk, nor can I travel any later in the year.
“It’s very upsetting for me and my children. Those who have families abroad will understand this. I should also say that my parents live in a remote area, far away from the outbreaks.”
Becky Jones ‘was meant to be driving to Cabo Roig on August 7’.
“Due to the quarantine we now can’t go as my company have brought in a policy that says we have to take the two weeks’ annual leave or unpaid,” she said.
Kay Roscoe was supposed to be travelling to the Costa Blanca on Sunday, ‘but the FCO decision advising UK travellers to avoid the whole of Spain except for essential travel has made our travel insurance useless’.
“So, despite the very low incidence of Covid-19 in the region we are destined for, and the 14-day quarantine on our return not being a problem for us, we cannot go due to the travel insurance problem. “Annoyed is not the word!” Mari Collins was due to fly out with her family on August 2 for a couple of weeks.
“But due to the quarantine rule now we had to cancel flights,” she said. “Where we were staying would have been very safe, it’s fairly quiet area.
“We have a pool and I can cook. Plus I was desperate to see my daughter who lives there, so I’m gutted.”
Glynis Thomason explained that her daughter, son-in-law and their four children were due to arrive at the beginning of August.
“As a self-employed person, he cannot afford to take an extra two weeks off work when he gets back home, so they will not be able to have their holiday. It is such a shame because after all the months of lockdown, and my family have always followed the rules, they really needed a holiday.”
Still hopeful
Claire Lesley is due out on August 17.
“We are visiting family,” she said. “My dad was ill at the start of the year and we really want to see him. We are waiting to see if things change.
“I work in a school so isolating isn’t an option. It’s very sad because I worked all the way through with key worker children, including the school holidays.”
Kirsty Saunders is due to fly next week.
“As long as flight goes ahead I will be going,” she said. “I haven’t seen my parents for eight months. If I don’t take this chance and this gets worse again God knows when I will see them.”
Going the other way
Kathy Clements, who lives in Alicante province, stated: “We have been affected as we have a flight booked to Bournemouth on July 31 to visit family and attend our grandson’s baptism.
“All the focus seems to be on UK holiday makers and I suspect there are a lot of expats and Spanish nationals who have plans to travel to the UK who are weighing up if it’s now worth travelling.”
Denise Leach explained that she was due to go to UK on August 18 for six days ‘to see our new great grandson George’.
“He was born at beginning of lockdown and we had to change our flight from March to August. We are gutted we can’t go. Ryanair are saying the flight will go ahead so we will lose our money. What a total shambles, we have had no cases of Covid where we live.
“The consequences of this are going to be dire.”
Denise Johnson lives on the Costa Blanca and ‘was due to fly to UK next week with my son for five days to visit my elderly parents.
“We are absolutely gutted,” she said.
Jet2 cancels flights
Nigel Hobman is a Spanish resident stuck in the UK.
“After an hour waiting on the phone I was told they are bringing UK holidaymakers home from Spain but not taking any Spanish residents back from the UK to Spain, so my only option was refund the return flight. I rebooked with Ryanair, a similar price thankfully and will hopefully get home on Friday evening. I am disappointed Jet2 had not contacted me but contacted someone else on the same flight.”