[Travel] Holiday plans this summer?

[Herr Tubthumper]

The day 2 test is a ****ing rip off. I have to book and pay for a test even though I’m not mandated to take it.

“If you will be in England for less than 2 days you still need to book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test. You only need to take the test if you are still in England on day 2.”

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Off to Ibiza after the game tomorrow

Oi oi!

 

[Poojah]

How do we see the summer of 2022 panning out?

We promised the kids a couple of years ago that we would do the Orlando thing. Honestly, it's not my bag at all but my mum and dad took me and my sister as an 8 year old in 1993 and to this day I can remember almost every moment of it. Nearly 30 years on I imagine it's got even more to offer kids of a certain age.

The original plan was to go this year, which for obvious reasons hasn't happened. I've been pricing up next year as I'm conscious that as travel opens up prices have the potential to get silly, yet at the same time there remains some uncertainty over whether travel will even be viable. In a nutshell, I can risk a £1,250 deposit and get a full refund it it's cancelled, or get a credit note valid until September '23 of my own volition if we just don't fancy it when the time comes to pay the balance (three weeks prior to departure).

Would you do it? A year's a long time - things in the UK are drastically different to how they were a year ago. At the same time, it's also plenty of time for something to go catastrophically wrong.

The world has to get back to normality sooner or later. Doesn't it?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

How do we see the summer of 2022 panning out?

We promised the kids a couple of years ago that we would do the Orlando thing. Honestly, it's not my bag at all but my mum and dad took me as an 8 year old in 1993 and to this day I can remember almost every moment of it. Nearly 30 years on I imagine it's got even more to offer kids of a certain age.

The original plan was to go this year, which for obvious reasons hasn't happened. I've been pricing up next year as I'm conscious that as travel opens up prices have the potential to get silly, yet at the same time there remains some uncertainty over whether travel will even be viable. In a nutshell, I can risk a £1,250 deposit and get a full refund it it's cancelled, or get a credit note valid until September '23 of my own volition if we just don't fancy it when the time comes to pay the balance (three weeks prior to departure).

Would you do it? A year's a long time - things in the UK are drastically different to how they were a year ago. At the same time, it's also plenty of time for something to go catastrophically wrong.

The world has to get back to normality sooner or later. Doesn't it?

get a refund.

 

[Springal]

Ibiza was fine.

Flight out was about 1/3rd full at best. EasyJet managed flight well, all passengers wearing a mask and enforced well. Ibiza was very busy, but different demographic. Older more mature crowd, a lot of the nice restaurants were very / fully booked. Still 1am 'curfew' and no standing in bars etc which was a bit shit. But we managed to get a 4* hotel for 5 nights, all inclusive, flights bags and taxi to/from airport in August for £600 each which is unheard of. No regrets over going through as have spent more on staycations. Did a 'self' lateral flow test (30 euros) to get home - and PCR at the Brighton Regenerative Clinic for £35 after landing, all fine. Flight home was busier due to end of school holidays - landed into Gatwick and only 1 other flight in a very empty luggage hall on Friday morning. No queues at passport, no checking of forms / paperwork.

Would go again - considering another break early Oct

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Ibiza was fine.

Flight out was about 1/3rd full at best. EasyJet managed flight well, all passengers wearing a mask and enforced well. Ibiza was very busy, but different demographic. Older more mature crowd, a lot of the nice restaurants were very / fully booked. Still 1am 'curfew' and no standing in bars etc which was a bit shit. But we managed to get a 4* hotel for 5 nights, all inclusive, flights bags and taxi to/from airport in August for £600 each which is unheard of. No regrets over going through as have spent more on staycations. Did a 'self' lateral flow test (30 euros) to get home - and PCR at the Brighton Regenerative Clinic for £35 after landing, all fine. Flight home was busier due to end of school holidays - landed into Gatwick and only 1 other flight in a very empty luggage hall on Friday morning. No queues at passport, no checking of forms / paperwork.

Would go again - considering another break early Oct

Good to hear. The Frau and myself were thinking of going in October but elected for Barcelona instead.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The day 2 test is a ****ing rip off. I have to book and pay for a test even though I’m not mandated to take it.

“If you will be in England for less than 2 days you still need to book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test. You only need to take the test if you are still in England on day 2.”

Agreed it's a rip-off, but since hmgov slapped down on the cowboys it's now only a £39 rip-off. And I guess flights do get cancelled or rescheduled, and people do miss flights for all sorts of reasons, so some might end up in England a wee bit longer than they planned. But for sure it's a broad brush approach hmgov has taken

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Seems next review (not green list review) will see the end of the traffic light system and it being based on vaccination status.

The only thing that will remain is red list

 

[dazzer6666]

Agreed it's a rip-off, but since hmgov slapped down on the cowboys it's now only a £39 rip-off. And I guess flights do get cancelled or rescheduled, and people do miss flights for all sorts of reasons, so some might end up in England a wee bit longer than they planned. But for sure it's a broad brush approach hmgov has taken

Doing a 4 night break in Portugal with a group at the end of the month……got to test to go (because we have UK and not EU covid passports), test on our second day there to be able come back, and then test 2 days after getting home……..be interesting to test positive over there. Going going to Madeira later this week……..no test required to enter but still have to do the UK-required tests obviously.

Interesting if any of the the tests conducted whilst abroad end up positive……..10 days in a nice government hotel I imagine

 

[Weststander]

Ibiza was fine.

Flight out was about 1/3rd full at best. EasyJet managed flight well, all passengers wearing a mask and enforced well. Ibiza was very busy, but different demographic. Older more mature crowd, a lot of the nice restaurants were very / fully booked. Still 1am 'curfew' and no standing in bars etc which was a bit shit. But we managed to get a 4* hotel for 5 nights, all inclusive, flights bags and taxi to/from airport in August for £600 each which is unheard of. No regrets over going through as have spent more on staycations. Did a 'self' lateral flow test (30 euros) to get home - and PCR at the Brighton Regenerative Clinic for £35 after landing, all fine. Flight home was busier due to end of school holidays - landed into Gatwick and only 1 other flight in a very empty luggage hall on Friday morning. No queues at passport, no checking of forms / paperwork.

Would go again - considering another break early Oct

I did the same as you, but 4 weeks earlier. At that time a young demographic everywhere, Ibiza Airport and Ibiza Town for example, wall-to-wall people 18 up to 30’s. I put that down to being Covid non-worriers at that age. Big numbers of Germans, also lots of young Spanish from the mainland and quite a few Brits.

BA flights great value for August, 4* hotel very nice.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Looks like the new review will see the removal of the traffic light system and just have a red list

The removal of the costly PCR tests to get back in and on arrival replaced with a LFT for the vaccinated.

 

[The Wookiee]

Looks like the new review will see the removal of the traffic light system and just have a red list

The removal of the costly PCR tests to get back in and on arrival replaced with a LFT for the vaccinated.

When is the review ?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

When is the review ?

1st October I believe

 

[Weststander]

Part of an excellent article in today’s Telegraph by the historian Guy de la Bédoyère, about the irrational and hugely inconsistent controls over our lives and travel.

 

[dazzer6666]

Been in Madeira this week……..first time abroad for about 18 months. Thoughts :

-entering Madeira was simple. No tests, upload vaxx cert etc to a local website, checked on check in for flight and entry on landing, no queues either end
-lots of mask-wearing locally, mandatory indoors and maybe 50/50 outdoors but no real hassle at all. Everyone considerate and respectful
-otherwise things seem normal
-hotel full, restaurants busy
-bought a tour co package for UK testing requirements, £20 each for two tests (test to return, and day 2)
-very simple upload of test results to website to get certified for return flight
-uK passenger locator is a 10 minute job

Overall, probably 30 minutes of faffing about between us for a fabulous week in the sun. Worth it ? Hell yes, been far too long.

I’m going to Portugal at the end of next week for a few days…..which requires more testing obviously. The only real nervousness we’ve had is what happens if any test returns positive………..

 

[dwayne]

Really hope they scrap the pre departure test. That's the one that fills me with dread. In Greece I had the feeling I would be carted off to a prison resort if it was positive.

Interestingly in miami they actively encourage you to use the local free PCR tests for pre departure rather than shelling out a fortune for a private one.

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

 

[mwrpoole]

I’m going to Portugal at the end of next week for a few days…..which requires more testing obviously. The only real nervousness we’ve had is what happens if any test returns positive………..

We had a couple of weeks in Cyprus and pretty much had the same experience as you.

We'd been home for 4 days when Test & Trace contacted us to say someone on our flight home had tested positive in their 2 day test. I don't know if the entire plane gets contacted or just those in a few rows around the positive person. You have to declare your seat number on the locator form so I would expect only those within a few metres get contacted. Anyway we had to go the T&T website and enter our details and fortunately as we are double vac'd we didn't have to isolate but just take a PCR test. Could have gone to a Test centre but nearest was about 15 miles away so opted for home test. That arrived next day, did the test and sent it back - results back early next morning and all negative. It did prove the system works.

As for the pre-departure test in Cyprus, loads of pharmacies doing them for 10EU. The unvaccinated locals have to have them every 7 days if they want a pass to go to bars/restaurants so quick & easy to do. I would say that where we were you are very unlikely to get a positive test, the 'tester' literally just touched the swab on my nostril and that was it. I just surmised that they don't want anyone testing positive and having to delay going home as it's bad for business!

 

[dazzer6666]

Really hope they scrap the pre departure test. That's the one that fills me with dread. In Greece I had the feeling I would be carted off to a prison resort if it was positive.

Interestingly in miami they actively encourage you to use the local free PCR tests for pre departure rather than shelling out a fortune for a private one.

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

As [MENTION=17301]mwrpoole[/MENTION] suggests it’s quite possible to ‘make sure’ it’s negative, even more so if you do it yourself. Just buy one of the kits available online (Chronomics for example) and take it with you to do the pre-departure test……

Incidentally I got contacted by T&T whilst in Madeira as I’d been to lunch with a group of mates a few days before we left and one of them tested positive (he’s blaming Brighton races). I did a LFT that was negative, then did another for the pre-departure certificate - advice is to do a PCR if possible of course.

 

[Icy Gull]

Really hope they scrap the pre departure test. That's the one that fills me with dread. In Greece I had the feeling I would be carted off to a prison resort if it was positive.

Interestingly in miami they actively encourage you to use the local free PCR tests for pre departure rather than shelling out a fortune for a private one.

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

How did you wangle getting into the USA?

 

[Bozza]

How did you wangle getting into the USA?

Anyone can get into the US, you just need to go via one of the (many) countries not on the US banned list and stay there for two weeks before your onward journey to the US.

Brits aren't banned from entering the US, non-US nationals that have been in the UK in the preceding 14 days are banned from entering the US.

Common stop-off points are Mexico, most of the Caribbean and Croatia.

We were close to doing it this summer, but staycationers had booked up all the dog-sitters. Dogs ruin everything - don't get one!