Portugal was taken off the green list of countries that people returning from do not need to quarantine either in a hotel or at home. Cue shock and horror from the tabloids about ruined vacation plans. A tweet from a disability rights activist summed up my feelings on the subject--'Love the "I'm sorry you don't need to travel but people like me think its important??" Very much the pandemic equivalent of "I'm sorry I'm so beautiful! You wouldn't understand". Some people pounced on her for not distinguishing between travelling to see family and holidaying, but that is a minor point. Her tweet was to do with Portugal been taken off the green list. I am sure some people living in the UK have family living in Portugal but I would be surprised if those people number in the tens of thousands. To be honest, I felt a little amused to see the vacation plans go up in smoke. If you need a foreign holiday so badly you can afford to have the holiday cancelled. If you are stretching your finances to go on a foreign holiday you are an idiot. With what is happening in India, I have absolutely no sympathy for middle-class people crying about ruined holiday plans. And don't even get me started on the passport privileges. I can't go to Portugal on a whim even in normal times. Some newspapers ran stories about people determined to go on holidays despite the government's decisions. More power to them! If they can enjoy themselves amid a pandemic knowing that they are putting themselves and others at risk of infection they must be special people. I'm guessing there is a large overlap between people prepared to go ahead with holidays during a pandemic and people who will break self-quarantine.
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