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UKgov travel advice site

Discussion in 'General Chit Chat' started by Mattecube, Mar 16, 2020.

  1. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

  2. Macchiato
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    Macchiato Member

    This is really tearing with my head at the moment! :(

    My wife is due to fly to Cebu in 6 days, FO now say non-essential travel to everyone.

    This also means, no cover with our current travel insurance plan whilst on holiday - as you've decided to travel against the advice of the FO.

    Decision decisions..
  3. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    my wife had booked her holiday from work to fly home 3 weeks from april 3rd. she never bought a ticket. all off now. i think she will end up living in at her workplace .
  4. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I can understand that and it might be the best way to protect you sir, but it won't be a good experience :(
  5. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Don't let her go, she should not go, she will either end up trapped in her home country unable to return to the UK and/or be at the mercy of an expensive health care system that you can't probably afford between you even if beds and appropriate health care can be found in Cebu, the risk of getting ill there is too great.

    The UK health care system might have a week or two of capacity left but who knows, the odds of getting the infection are probably not that different between the Philippines and the UK at this point but at least for a week or two the UK health care environment will be better.

    Foreign hospital costs could bankrupt anyone, my daughter's birth cost a fair bit over £1000 the consultants usually won't accept a credit card for settlement of their bill although the hospital might accept one for the cost of the room, drugs and nursing care but they have ATM's in the hospital to make sure you can get cash out to pay them and I ended up taking the maximum amount of cash advance I could (argggghhhh) from several cards to meet the bill in July 2008, the armed guards at the door won't let you leave if you can't show the paid invoice.

    Might be different now but that was my experience back then.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  6. Druk1
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    Druk1 Well-Known Member

    I paid for someone's hospital bill in Cebu last December, cost me around 100,000 peso,everything is costed down to the last centavo, from my own experience and observing others I wouldn't allow a loved one to travel without insurance, its asking for trouble at a time like this,and because insurance is now void if travelling to the PI I would cancel the trip unless absolutely necessary.
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2020
    • Agree Agree x 2
  7. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Philippines are now saying departures are ok but arrivals will be subject to strict quarantine rules
    • Informative Informative x 1
  8. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Yeah but you never know if we in the UK will start preventing returns, probably too late for that to do any good at this point but I suppose it could still happen.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  9. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    A copy of notice to it's member from the Nationwide building society


    Important Travel Insurance Update
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    [​IMG]
    As you have travel insurance through your FlexAccount or FlexPlus current account, we want you to be aware that for any new trips booked on or after 18th March 2020, you won’t be covered for events caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

    Insurance is there to help with unknown or unforeseeable events. As Coronavirus is now a known event, U K Insurance Limited, our insurance provider, has confirmed cover will not be available for this.

    If you booked a trip before 18th March 2020, cover is available for claims relating to the Coronavirus pandemic.
    • Informative Informative x 2
  10. Macchiato
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    Macchiato Member

    We had booked the trip back in December, obtained decent Travel insurance in January.

    My wife is on maternity leave and was due to go back to Cebu for 2 months to spend the remaining two unpaid leave with her parents.
    We decided that once she returns to work and our child goes to nursery, the chances of ever having over a month to spend with her parents mid-career were very unlikely.

    The decision taken out of our hands today, anyway. Emirates announced that the return flight would be closed, they're shutting Dubai-Cebu route until Late June at earliest.

    We'll take travel vouchers or a full-refund soon as we can and hope, things & life return to normal soon as possible!
    • Informative Informative x 1
  11. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I am under curfew in my own house, over 65's are not allowed out of their own homes in Visayas.
    So I'm basically stuck here. Exceptions are people with an emergency situation.
    • Informative Informative x 2
  12. Maharg
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    Maharg Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    It's not a hard decision. She shouldn't go.

    We were due to go to Germany at the end of April. We will no longer be going and, thanfully, hadn't booked.

    We also have flights booked for Manila in July. We won't be doing that either. At the moment I can't cancel the flights and get a refund as this only covers flights until the end of May. As soon as possible, though, I will cancel.

    If, in the end, there is no refund available then too bad. I will forfeit the money.

    It's crazy to even consider travel at the moment.

    (Edit - Just read your later post. Not surprising.)
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2020
  13. Aromulus
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    Aromulus The Don Staff Member

    I have to wait until Easyjet cancels our flight to Jersey to be able to have a refund. I can always postpone for free, at the moment for a later date.
  14. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    If you can get any sort of refund..grab it. I doubt if too many airlines will be in business the way its going.
    • Agree Agree x 5
  15. Heathen
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    Heathen Active Member

    We are lucky in some respects, I was toying with the idea of making a solo visit to Phills around mid summer time, the reason it would have been solo is that my wife took compassionate leave to visit her terminally ill brother around christmas time, he passed whilst she was travelling to visit him, and that used her leave up, and because it was a short notice quickly arranged flight our budget :D . I had booked a week in Gdansk at the end of May on the off chance that Wolves might get to the Europa League final ;), however i had not booked flights, so have cancelled the Hotel booking that was made, and been notified by EUFA that Ticket bookings for the final have been postphoned. I really cant see much prospect of anything abroad being available until July/August time.
  16. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    We have a trip planned to rhe west coast of USA in August.. so heres hoping!
  17. Druk1
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    Druk1 Well-Known Member

    I was due in the pyrenees at the moment, toddling along with a rucksack on my back, instead I am walking to Hampton Court Palace and back as my daily exercise
  18. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I have written off any chance of travelling for let's say the next two years, the reason pure and simple there is nowhere where I could afford to pay for the medical costs I would incur after getting Covid-19 illness abroad.

    The only way I will travel is if I get the disease in the UK and I'm still alive a few weeks later.

    The only other way I will travel is if a working vaccine becomes available and the chances of that are low in the short term.
  19. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    I take your point,however I like you am in the autumn of my life and there are things I want to do again.
    Here is a view and to many it may appear cavalier if I do some of the things I want to do and meet the grim reaper while doing them then it is better to of done some than non at all.
    The risk I guess is increased by exposure but we greet exposure crossing the road and doing other daily functions.
    I really sympathise with you and your children's situation, and I guess the call is do I risk exposure and see them, or reduce the risk to myself short term in the hope that I keep going and see them in the long term.
    Not an easy choice.
    • Agree Agree x 4
  20. royal
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    royal Member

    @Mattecube
    Hi. I just read your comment with regard to strict quarantine rules for arriving in the Philippines.
    I am currently planning to join my wife in Manila in early June, and would appreciate if you could enlarge on what this entails please.

    Martin.

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