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Italy's out: non-corona euro sport destinations?

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 clipstick 09 Mar 2020

Hey,

We had a sport trip booked to Sicily from Friday for a few weeks. Looks like this won't be going ahead due to the pesky COVID-19 outbreak. Does anyone have any recommendations for cheap last minute euro sport climbing destinations? El Chorro is currently high on the list. Who knows though maybe everything will change again in the next few days. 

Cheers,

clipstick

Post edited at 22:37
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 gethin_allen 09 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

We were also due to head to Sicily next week, some question applies for me.

Also, anyone got my idea if we'll get our flights refunded or the holiday insurance will pay out?

 beardy mike 09 Mar 2020
In reply to gethin_allen:

Not sure about flights but accommodation booked through a booking site almost definitely will not that the entire country is considered the red zone.

OP clipstick 09 Mar 2020
In reply to gethin_allen:

The FCO just changed Italy's status to 'All but essential travel'. I have LV= travel insurance. On their document they say :

>If you need to cancel a trip before it begins because of one of the reasons shown below, we’ll pay up to £5,000 if you have an Essential policy or up to £10,000 if you have a Premier policy, for your part of personal accommodation, transport charges and other trip expenses which you’ve paid or agreed to pay, but have not used:

> If the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against ‘all travel’ or ‘all but essential travel’ to your planned destination after you have booked transport or accommodation for your trip, and after the start date of your policy

So I should be able to recoup costs. I know some of my friends' insurance doesn't cover this though, so it's worth checking (from sportscoverdirect).

1
 john arran 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

Life appears to be completely unaffected thus far here in Ariège and the weather is forecast to be fairly settled, mid to high teens with plenty of sun. We even have toilet rolls

 steve taylor 10 Mar 2020
In reply to john arran:

Lucky you. I'm stuck in Saudi and am now "banned" from flying back to France (i.e. if I manage to get there, I won;t be allowed back in to Saudi). I managed to get back in here 18 hours before the closed the door. Gutted.

 Inhambane 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

turkey is still bizarrely corona free

1
 Ally Smith 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

> So I should be able to recoup costs. I know some of my friends' insurance doesn't cover this though, so it's worth checking (from sportscoverdirect).

Just spoken with SportsCoverDirect and they've confirmed that their underwriters are not covering any claims related to coronavirus. 

I urge anyone with an annual policy to check the cancellation wording and consider buying alternate insurance to cover yourself in the event that your trip is cancelled.

OP clipstick 10 Mar 2020
In reply to Ally Smith:

> I urge anyone with an annual policy to check the cancellation wording and consider buying alternate insurance to cover yourself in the event that your trip is canceled.

It's worth noting that sportscoverdirect say on their website that they won't cover anything related to coronavirus if the policy was taking out after 09:00 9th March. This could be the case for other providers too. It'll be a case of reading things carefully. Hoping that we should be able to get refunded for most bits of the trip.

Turkey looks like it could be a good option! Fairly cheap for a month's worth of holiday  

 Ally Smith 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

Worth getting that in writing - I have an annual policy with them and they said over the phone that they wouldn't be paying out on any claims relating to corona virus

Post edited at 12:40
Andy Gamisou 10 Mar 2020
In reply to Inhambane:

> turkey is still bizarrely corona free

No, it's been in turkeys for a while now:

https://en.wikivet.net/Turkey_Coronavirus

1
 Toerag 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

> El Chorro is currently high on the list. Who knows though maybe everything will change again in the next few days. 

Given that case numbers seem to be doubling every 2-3 days, everywhere else in Europe will be at Italian levels by the end of the week and potentially having the same restrictions.  Having said that, Our government classified France and Germany as 'group B' countries when they had <250 cases each, yet they've not classified mainland UK as one even though it's at 320 cases.

OP clipstick 10 Mar 2020
In reply to Ally Smith:

Sorry, I wasn't entirely clear. Sports cover direct won't cover your trip if you need to cancel because the FCO changes a country's status. They also (now) won't cover anything related to coronavirus if your policy was booked after this morning. See this for more details: https://www.sportscoverdirect.com/coronavirus-exclusion/

I'm luckily not with sportscoverdirect (LV='s wording is very clear that they will cover cancellation expenses), but it's the provider we recommended our club members get for this trip which is very unfortunate. Hoping that we should be able to get refunds from the booking and flight providers. 

 Johnlenham 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

I've got a trip booked for el churro in April. Going to be fkin livid if Spain gets locked down in the next few weeks :/

6
 gethin_allen 10 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

Looking at my bookings and insurance, so long as I get a flight refund I can cancel my hire car, travel insurance and car excess insurance all for free, and I hadn't yet booked airport parking.  so will only lose my accommodation deposit which is relatively small.

Still, I'd have preferred a holiday in Sicily.

In reply to Johnlenham:

> I've got a trip booked for el churro in April.

I love those, although I find they are a bit too sweet sometimes

 Johnlenham 10 Mar 2020
In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog:

Ahah 

In reply to clipstick:

Lock down in Catalonia it seems, Here in Margalef crags will be empty in the following days, perhaps weeks. Maybe some Locals from cities around, escaping the lock down in their cities.

Cheers

 Sam Mayfield 14 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

Well The Orange House is staying open if flights allow people to get here.

We had planned to be super busy, however the groups booked were coming from countries with closed borders like Denmark, Norway and Schools. Now all cancelled.

Everyone welcome if you can get here.

Sam 

1
 Daimon - Rockfax Global Crag Moderator 15 Mar 2020
In reply to Sam Mayfield:

Unfortunately I think everyone needs to stay put at the moment.  

 AlanLittle 15 Mar 2020
In reply to clipstick:

Frankly I think even considering non-essential travel right now shows breathtaking ignorance of the reality of the situation. (Ignorance rather than selfishness/idiocy, which is what I initially thought of saying)

Italy as you know has been in lockdown for weeks. Austria was planning as of Friday to close all ski areas at close of business today, and shut down all tourist accommodation tomorrow. Then they decided *this morning*  to close all ski areas at midday and ask all foreign visitors to leave the country today, and are closing the borders tomorrow. I assume something drastic must have changed for them to bring the closure forward at such short notice. Locals I spoke to in Tyrol expect a valley-by-valley quarantine from tomorrow (as has already been in effect since last week in St Anton & Ischgl - Austrian non-locals not allowed to return home)

Germany is asking everybody returning from Austria, Switzerland or Italy to self-quarantine. Berlin has closed all bars & restaurants; I'll be surprised if the rest of the country doesn't follow suit soon.

Kalymnos just closed all tourist accommodation. I'm not familiar with the situation in France or Spain in detail but it sounds like they're taking it very seriously too.

If you imagine anywhere isn't going to declare a state of emergency/lockdown in the next week or two you're dreaming.

1
 Cog 15 Mar 2020
In reply to AlanLittle:

> Italy as you know has been in lockdown for weeks.

I think you you will find it has been five days.

3
 kevin stephens 15 Mar 2020
In reply to AlanLittle:

True but a little harsh considering Clipstick's OP was 6 days ago

 AlanLittle 15 Mar 2020
In reply to kevin stephens:

Fair point. Let's hope s/he has since abandoned the idea.

1

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