Traffic Lights, the United Kingdom policy of how international travel will return, promised an exciting summer during 2021. However, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. After a year of restrictions, a “world-beating vaccine campaign,” a current COVID mortality rate lower than most other western states, and an asymptomatic testing program larger than nearly every other state, it feels we are back to square one. Due to fear of the Delta Variant, the United Kingdom has closed down, and a return to normality has been paused. Whether this decision is right or wrong isn’t the remit of this blog. However, it has meant that Britain has closed up shop for the summer.
It also isn’t the remit of this blog to discuss whether the United Kingdom was right in ignoring its own traffic light system in recent weeks. Plus, who knows what influence this has had on the decisions of other states. However, all our summer 2021 plans are now canceled, and we will not be visiting Orlando! The border to the United States remains closed to the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe. Hopefully, it will be open in time for our next planned visit in October.
I will hold back many of my frustrations in this post. However, being fully vaccinated for several months, it is incomprehensible why we cannot travel outside the United Kingdom when other countries can. Even if we can visit another country, 10 days of quarantine for a fully vaccinated traveler when returning to the United Kingdom feels like an injustice. I hope our colleagues in other countries enjoy their greater freedom during the summer months.
It has been difficult to be motivated to keep this blog up to date in recent weeks with all these changes. However, 2021 is the second year of the Staycation, and we have some exhilarating adventures coming soon!
Regular readers of this blog might remember this article I wrote in 2020. A year is a long time, and my opinion has changed. Adventures coming soon might even feature this and this! We might not be visiting Universal Orlando this summer, but perhaps we will be visiting here?
Summer 2021 isn’t going to be how we planned it, but there are going to be some exciting adventures here on ModernLifeisGood.
Keep positive and safe!
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