My wife, kids and I travelled out to South Africa last Saturday to visit family we have not seen for 3 years and after two previous failed attempts (last one due to me getting Covid). Has been amazing to spend precious hours with the family and then Omicrom struck! We are literally stuck here now with no flights home. What’s worse is the UK government support out here is zero! I have written to our local MP for support but to no avail. Trying to stay calm and not over react in what seems to be a very fluid situation. Also hotel quarantine is not an easy option for us with two young children. Anyway, apart from that I rented this originally for the 2 weeks we planned to be here. It’s a great car, really impressed at how well it goes for a 318i, and love the tech. Not sure though if the UK abandons us here I can continue affording to rent that for longer though…..
Sorry to read this Nic, I'd be tearing my hair out in quarantine with 2 younger children, so I completely empathise! Main thing is you and the family stay safe and hopefully you'll be able to make arrangements very soon coming back home.
That is really awful, totally feel for you and the family. Fingers crossed the cretins in power get their act together and help you out asap.
Oh that must be horrible for you all, I do hope you all keep well and repatriation is swift, an awful predicament!
Sorry to hear, hope you get back soon! Do I detect a possible car change to a 3 series in the future? Kev
sorry to hear that you are all stuck in south Africa and hope you do get home soon sadly this is the chance you take with international travel during a pandemic when countries can be returned to the red list at a moments notice. as for any help from your MP not sure there is much that they can do to help you wales has two rugby teams over in SA and yesterday the Newport West MP Ruth Jones stood up and asked the question what the government was going to do to help the 100 players and staff get back home before the Sunday deadline and the answer from Sajid Javid was “As for what can be done to try and get them back before this deadline... nothing." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/rugby-union/59433618 Cardiff said they had a charter flight ready to bring the squads back to the UK but were denied clearance by the Civil Aviation Authority as the UK have closed the borders to South Africa
My wife’s old e91 needs replacing at some point. It’s hard to not be enticed with the new 3 Series. But right now being stuck in South Africa means nothing will happen and funds need to focus on somehow getting us home.
It’s a hopeless situation, there are literally no flights home full stop. Honestly speaking, I don’t feel there is any guidance or support from the UK Government for travellers in this situation. We feel very much on our own in all this.
Throughout this pandemic we have kept rebooking our holiday every time it has been canceled. We are booked for this coming May but to be honest i don't want to go. Your post on here has got me thinking about canceling and just banking the money even tho the incentive i gain for leaving monet with them will be lost. This covid is a long way from over i think. I feel for you Nic and especially at this time of year and do hope they get you home soon. Take care.
I’m not holding my breath. The government are trying to show they are taking the right actions that favour support from voters. I don’t disagree with what they are doing, but I wish those caught up in the travel chaos had some level of support provided (which is completely none existent). Also wish we weren’t regarded as common criminals. Locking a family up in a hotel is just insane….
I understand how you feel and honestly after what we are going through, if we ever get home one day we will feel compelled to be even more cautious going forward. Having said all that there was no indication when we commenced our trip that there were any risks in travelling. So I look back and wonder what I could have done differently, and honestly not sure what we could have done. If I was in your shoes I’d keep your holiday booked, May is still a long way away. You might be fine to go then. Of course if new variants spring up, no one can predict those….
Some folks might think you are not bad off considering. Here in deepest darkest Aberdeenshire we have had no electricity since Friday afternoon due to Storm Arwen. Latest news from the electricity company SSEN is: "We aim to have your power restored by 23.00 on 29th November." No heat - no light - temperature is 2 degrees C and they've provided a 'free' burger van outside Tesco's. I feel for you but you do have some positives - for us none - the burgers are rubbish. Seriously though - the above was meant to make you smile at our much lesser predicament. I hope your problems are resolved soon. Always look on the bright side of Life - as the Monty Python song goes.
I subscribe to numerous international newsfeeds. Just heard this via the Irish Embassy website 9 minutes ago: BA to resume flights from South Africa. Possibly on Tuesday. Irish rugby team Muster and a Welsh rugby team from Cardiff are stuck in SA https://twitter.com/FGilsenanIRL/status/1465026291556659202 https://twitter.com/dfatirl/status/1465060598216077318 And 'confirmed' here: https://www.getaway.co.za/travel-news/flights-between-sa-and-uk-to-resume-next-week/
Fingers crossed for you on Tuesday or shortly after. Get on the first one it could be the last for some time well that would be me.
how are you getting on have you managed to get home yet ? l have seen a few reports of people struggling to book quarantine hotels so not being allowed to fly as they do not have a place to quarantine when the get off the plane
Thank you for asking Mach One! We are stuck, frustrated and weary from the countless phone calls, emails etc to try bring us home without success. I dread to think what our mobile bill will be on international roaming rates whilst sitting in call centre queues for hours on end. Our problem is the same as others, inability to get hotel quarantine accommodation for a family of 4. The government appointed CTM to manage this, and it’s not fit for purpose. We had to cancel our flight on the 4th Dec and now rescheduled for 11th Dec, but as yet still do not have confirmation of our accommodation, so real chance we will have to cancel our flight again. My wife is an NHS worker and is now effectively unpaid, kids are out of school, and we want to be home for Christmas. We are dreading quarantine as it is but accepted we have to do it. But now hearing bad stories of terrible food, long queues and even families being split up hundreds of miles apart and being forced to spend more (as there are no family rooms available). It’s a shambles and we are worried and stressed, but trying to be as positive as we can.
l really do hope that you can get a quarantine hotel sorted for the 11tth so that you can get home and end your quarantine before Christmas they have closed a lot of the quarantine hotels and allowed them to reopen as a normal hotels and then they have told lots of people that they have quarantine when they return to the uk and there is nowhere for them to go the government really got torn apart when the delta variant came to light and they were slow to close borders so they have done the opposite this time and acted quickly but they dont have the quarantine facilities in place for all the people affected. and all the government will do is blame the company that it was contracted out to provide this service good luck for Saturday lets hope you can get on the flight