Travellers’ fury at last-minute holiday U-turn
TRAVELLERS yesterday reacted with anger at the short notice at which quarantine was reintroduced.
Nurse Abbie Carrasco, 32, and partner Ryan Connery, 33, were flying to Alicante to visit family with their children, Mason, aged seven, and Alba, aged two.
Their travel plans in April were cancelled and they were looking forward to a two-week break after working through the lockdown in Edinburgh.
Miss Carrasco said: ‘We were a bit angry, to be honest. I think they need to do specific areas of Spain, like Barcelona and Madrid, but places where we are going do not have a high incidence.
‘It was either go or lose £900, but it could all change while we are away.
‘How stringent are they going to be? Are they going to put measures in place to check people are quarantining?’
Miss Carrasco said she had already had coronavirus, and added: ‘It has been really hard the past few months, we just want a break.’
Mr Connery, a postman, said: ‘If we were going to a hotel, we would have cancelled but we are seeing my mum and dad.’
Teacher Cristina Beltian, 44, was returning from a trip seeing family in Spain, where she has stayed since July 5.
But she only found out about the quarantine rules the night before flying from Malaga to Glasgow, where she lives.
She said: ‘It was a shock when I found out. I have to go back to work on August 10, just after the quarantine finishes.
There was no warning, I would have got an earlier flight if I had known. Giving people no notice gives nobody the chance to change things.’
Carol Morrison, 38, only flew out to Malaga on Tuesday having booked a flight the night before.
She had planned to stay in Spain for another week but decided to come home early to Glasgow.
She said: ‘Last night I booked a flight to come home, I’m a bit disappointed.
‘The place where I was staying they haven’t seen many cases. It was a tiny village near Granada with less than 1,000 people.
‘I emailed work last night, I’ll be able to do some stuff from home. Just to have added them and removed them so quickly seems odd. I worked through lockdown. It was good to get something of a break. A lot of people on the flight didn’t even know there was a quarantine.’
Housewife Hazel Buchanan, 50, was returning from Malaga where she had been staying with her husband John-Paul, also 50, who lives there and works in the Merchant Navy.
The mother of one said she only learnt of the quarantine decision on Saturday night via social media.
Mrs Buchanan, from Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, said: ‘I had quite a few plans for the next few weeks.
‘I definitely will be staying in. I think it is quite worrying it was so quick. I found out on Twitter and through friends sending messages.’