Covid era travel

[DCI Harry Batt]

What is it with people "needing" to travel?

I mean yeah there are some things that are important. But not many, not really.

Sorry, I really don't mean to be unfriendly or owt. I just don't get it.

[ursus arctos]

At least in our line of work, one lasting result of the pandemic has been that lots of business travel that had long been considered "essential" turns out to be anything but.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I'll be amazed if we ever go back to dragging ourselves all over the country for face to face meetings. Unless due to some loony Ministerial dictat that in so doing we will be saving the "not renationalised" rail system, or that me buying a pint before I get my train home is going to save the economy of Leeds.

[ad hoc]

What is it with people "needing" to travel?

I mean yeah there are some things that are important. But not many, not really.

Sorry, I really don't mean to be unfriendly or owt. I just don't get it.

This trip is about visiting my mum, which i imagine comes in the important category. But more generally, I do think I need to travel. It doesn't need to be on a plane or anything, but for my mental health going to other places and seeing new things is actually (I believe) important to me. Perhaps I'm just wired wrong and this is a flaw in me, but it really is this way.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Yeah ad hoc, I don't want to be a wanker and dismiss other people's issues because they aren't mine. I don't really believe in wiring. We're all different though, in lots of ways and for lots of reasons.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

On the 'need for travel' bit, while I don't like travelling for work, Gods yeah I want to travel for holiday and relaxation purposes. Who the fuck doesn't? There are at least 50 countries I want to visit yet and I've probably got about 25 years left before I'll not be able to remember going to any of them. There's only one planet to see of much of as I can and it's not all in fucking Chorley.

[Sporting]

On the 'need for travel' bit, while I don't like travelling for work, Gods yeah I want to travel for holiday and relaxation purposes. Who the fuck doesn't?

Me yes but I know people with no interest in travel at all.

[Fussbudget]

On the 'need for travel' bit, while I don't like travelling for work, Gods yeah I want to travel for holiday and relaxation purposes. Who the fuck doesn't?

I get wanting a change of scenery, but it doesn't have to be abroad does it? I could happily never go on a plane again

[DCI Harry Batt]

Yeah it's nice to travel around a bit, I like doing it.

Obviously flying is horrific, but can be worth it in more normal times. Generally there needs to be a fair whack less of it going than was in the beforetimes though.

[San Bernardhinault]

You can still get it and spread it around even if you're fully vaccinated.

But it's much, much less likely. Getting covid is less likely when you're vaccinated. Getting covid is much less likely when you're vaccinated and loads of other people are vaccinated, too. And even if you get covid it appears that because you're less likely to have severe symptoms you're less likely to spread it around.

[DCI Harry Batt]

You're much, much more likely to spread it around if you travel than if you don't. though. Much more.

[San Bernardhinault]

As for travel, the end of loads of business travel is great news on all kinds of fronts - both personal, and in terms of climate, and for a lot of businesses just the drop in costs.

But from a personal perspective, I absolutely love to travel. It's not a "need", but I really, really enjoy it. I enjoy being in places that feel different, that look different, that have different people with different outlooks. Depending on the flight, I sometimes even love being on a plane - mostly for the absolute joy of staring out of the window at the scenery. A transatlantic flight is rubbish, but a flight over the Alps or the Rockies in a clear day is a thing of wonder.

[DCI Harry Batt]

How would the world be if everyone could have one flight a year? Would that mean more flying or less, compared to the beforetimes?

[Fussbudget]

Do you mean one return flight presumably? If so I think that'd triple the amount of flying if I understand the figures correctly (number of passengers carried on flights in 2019 was 4.5 billion which I'm guessing means 4.5 billion single journeys, although that could involve changing flights - there are about 7.5 billion people on the planet so a return flight for each would be 15 billion single journeys)

[ursus arctos]

And those flights are concentrated among a small group (one that included me for many years)

n the US, 12% of people took 66% of all flights, while in France 2% of people took half of the flights, the report says. In China 5% of households took 40% of flights and in India just 1% of households took 45% of all flights.

It was already known that 10% of people in England took more than half of all international flights in 2018. A global study reported by the Guardian in November found that frequent-flying “super emitters” who represent just 1% of the world’s population caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in 2018. Almost 90% of the world’s population did not fly at all that year.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-environmental

[Balderdasha]

Some interesting research on frequent flyers here: https://partner.sciencenorway.no/cli...er-fly/1773607

About 89% of the world's population rarely fly. 1% of the world's population account for 50% of emissions from flying.

[Balderdasha]

Also, the world's population is now closer to 7.9 billion than 7.5 billion, so one return flight each would mean 15.8 billion flights per year, or roughly more than 3.5 billion tonnes of CO2.

Some good data here: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emiss...he%20mid-1980s.

Some of the problems with aviation are the other pollutants that are released, the fact that they're released high in the atmosphere, and the fact that it's seen as particularly difficult to decarbonise (no-one is anywhere close to creating a solar or renewably powered passenger jet).

[Balderdasha]

I say all this as someone who adores travelling and has done far more than my fair share. I can't promise to never fly again. At the moment I aim for only one return flight every two years and then holiday in the UK or do train travel in the intervening year (pre-Covid, now just getting on a train to the next town is a rare novelty).

[Uncle Ethan]

At some point don't we need to accept that people who are not vaccinated have chosen* not to be and that their decision involves an assessment of the risks they face when society opens up more.

I would like to be able to travel when I am fully vaccinated and go to destinations where there is the opportunity for all who selected the option to get a vaccine.

I see no reason to have to justify traveling when it is safe to do so. I have friends in other states and other countries. I want to see them again.

*Other than those who for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated or where for some other reason vaccines are not available.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I get wanting a change of scenery, but it doesn't have to be abroad does it? I could happily never go on a plane again

Yes. Yes it does. Getting away from British people is 90% of the attraction.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Yes indeed, a return flight. So one each every four years would mean no massive increase? So to reduce air travel, which obviously has to be done, everyone needs to do less flying than one return journey every four years.

Happy to do my bit.

[hobbes]

Yes. Yes it does. Getting away from British people is 90% of the attraction.

This.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Yes. Yes it does. Getting away from British people is 90% of the attraction.

I am starting to really need the same thing, where I live is so lacking in diversity than when I went to Wales recently, i was elated to hear two cab drivers having a natter in Welsh..

[ad hoc]

So, I have obeyed all the rules regarding quarantine/testing etc including self-administering a test on Saturday, following all the instructions to the letter. I sent it off in the envelope provided on Saturday morning (the post is picked up at 11.30 here and I posted it at 10.30). Still no results. Yesterday I emailed the company and they claimed it hadn't yet arrived (it's first class post and as I understand it they're doing covid related deliveries on Sunday, but even so it should have arrived on Monday at the latest.) Today when I got my test and trace call from the NHS I reported this, and they said they'd make a note of it but the best thing to do would be to contact the company again. So i did. They've just got back to me and said it's still not there. There are 3 possibilities as far as I can see
1. It got lost in the post somehow
2. It got lost by them when they received it
3. They just bin some of the tests to save money (they've already been paid for and I presume the actual testing is the biggest cost)

1. seems possible but pretty unlikely
2. seems more possible than 1
3. I probably wouldn't even have considered previously, but with this government and their awarding of contracts to thieves and incompetents, I'm leaning towards that.

[jwdd27]

We took our first train journeys since January 2020 yesterday and today, with changes at Leeds and Donny en route from Huddersfield to Scunthorpe.

Train travel in the Covid era is a refreshingly pleasant experience, almost wholly because the trains are half empty - it's like being in provincial Italy, except the tickets aren't as cheap and over here we do put a few signs up to tell passengers which town they are pulling into.

Transpennine Express (legs 1 and 3 of the journey) demand that everyone sits in window seats, meaning reserved seats are facing each other. Reservations aren't mandatory with them though. They are mandatory on LNER, but there was little enforcement and nothing to stop the maskless scratters travelling between Donny and Wakey jumping on, although not in our carriage. We had tickets inspected just once on the six trains over the two days which makes me think fare dodging will be rife, but you can understand it's preferable to keep people safe and let ticket barriers pick up the slack (although they were only operational at Huddersfield and Leeds).