The big Coronavirus thread

TheBigBean

When is everyone expecting to be able to book holidays to anywhere without having to think about covid? Really doubt it will be 2022, so I guess hoping for 2023, but that seems far from certain to me.

pblakeney

I had been hoping 2022. Booked up on that basis.
Fingers crossed that the faff will have been reduced by then. "Normal" 2023?

briantrumpet

It's dem kids, innit?

Rates picking up, but mostly driven by outbreaks in schools, I think, which will have some way to run, I suspect, as autumn weather kicks in, and people start closing windows and doors because they like sitting in greenhouses with smelly children, with no ventilation.

elbowloh

Not banking on going anywhere abroad in 2022.

Not so much concerned about holidays as seeing family. My dad lives in Malaysia and has never met either of my two kids yet, he missed my brothers wedding also. Ditto for my sister in Bangkok. Mum passed away a couple of months before my wife got pregnant for the first time, so the kids have really missed out on meeting my family.

kingstonian

TheBigBean said:

When is everyone expecting to be able to book holidays to anywhere without having to think about covid? Really doubt it will be 2022, so I guess hoping for 2023, but that seems far from certain to me.

The big hope we have as a family is to be able to get over to Holland a few times - my father in law is ill, unlikely to recover, and we want the ability to get over there on a few occasions without the worry of self-isolation restrictions etc.

On the holiday front, we have a ski holiday scheduled for Easter next year - it was originally booked for Easter 2020, then delayed to Easter 2021 and cancelled again. Hoping that goes ahead as we are also using it as an opportunity to meet up with 2 families we know out there.

Am also hoping to book a couple of other trips next year (mainly to France) but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

briantrumpet

If things don't go pear-shaped through the autumn/winter, I'm hoping my escapes to France will become more like they used to be... have taken a punt on flights to Paris over Christmas, but will get refundable TGV tickets from there to the south, in case. Hoping then Easter, possibly June half term, then summer, but after the past 18 months, I'd not be entirely surprised if aspirations are dashed somewhere along the line. No way do I want to be driving 1700 miles every time for the return journey, so will be hoping that planes & trains will be deemed relatively risk free.

Having said that, and despite case numbers going up again with the return of schools, the ability of the vaccines to massively reduce hospitalisations does seem to be promising a somewhat less turbulent outlook, and easier for planning stuff, even if not as easy as BC.

Pross

Travelling to Venice for a few days next week, even though things will be slightly easier by then I'm not sure it is worth all the hassle but as with many people travelling now it was a pre-pandemic booking that has been rearranged several times. Hopefully it will be a nice trip (never been before).

pblakeney

Venice is nice and I'd like to stay when all the day trippers have left (like Capri) but it may not all be open yet. I was going to recommend a restaurant but they are not opening until the end of October.

elbowloh

pblakeney said:

Venice is nice and I'd like to stay when all the day trippers have left (like Capri) but it may not all be open yet. I was going to recommend a restaurant but they are not opening until the end of October.

Had a great day at Capri, as we spent it on a small boat just going round the coast and swimming off it through the caves. We didn't really bother too much with the town, apart from a quick scoot round.

Ben6899

TheBigBean said:

When is everyone expecting to be able to book holidays to anywhere without having to think about covid? Really doubt it will be 2022, so I guess hoping for 2023, but that seems far from certain to me.

Just back from 3weeks in Germany.

Getting out there was straight forward - had to prove vaccine status and present a "statement of honour" (French requirement for vaccinated travellers to promise they're not experiencing symptoms or been in contact with any cases in the preceding fortnight) at Eurotunnel. The experience on the day, at the border, was like any other time. We also had to register that we were entering Germany - all online and easy.

Coming back a little more onerous. Needed a negative non-NHS Lateral Flow test and pre-booked non-NHS PCR in time for border control checks. Accredited LFs in Germany are free, the UK PCR cost £43 each, but then again German MPs don't allow their friends to exploit the general public in times of crisis.

I'd head out again next week, given the chance, wouldn't let any extra checks deter me.

pblakeney

elbowloh said:

pblakeney said:

Venice is nice and I'd like to stay when all the day trippers have left (like Capri) but it may not all be open yet. I was going to recommend a restaurant but they are not opening until the end of October.

Had a great day at Capri, as we spent it on a small boat just going round the coast and swimming off it through the caves. We didn't really bother too much with the town, apart from a quick scoot round.

Some of the outskirts are very scenic and Anacapri is stunning but a nightmare 11:00-17:00. Good excuse for a trip down memory lane.

rick_chasey

Pross said:

Travelling to Venice for a few days next week, even though things will be slightly easier by then I'm not sure it is worth all the hassle but as with many people travelling now it was a pre-pandemic booking that has been rearranged several times. Hopefully it will be a nice trip (never been before).

It's like a medieval manhattan. It's a weird weird place. Amazing. But weird.

Any memories I have of the place feel like a dream.

One piece of advice, which anyone will give but it's a cast iron rule - if you want to eat at a restaurant in the evening you must book and the sitting is at 7pm or 9pm. No exceptions.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

Travelling to Venice for a few days next week, even though things will be slightly easier by then I'm not sure it is worth all the hassle but as with many people travelling now it was a pre-pandemic booking that has been rearranged several times. Hopefully it will be a nice trip (never been before).

It's like a medieval manhattan. It's a weird weird place. Amazing. But weird.

Any memories I have of the place feel like a dream.

One piece of advice, which anyone will give but it's a cast iron rule - if you want to eat at a restaurant in the evening you must book and the sitting is at 7pm or 9pm. No exceptions.

Thanks. The wife has been before and knows a few places. Hopefully it will be relatively quiet at the moment whilst still having decent weather.

laurentian

Just got back from a week in Portugal. Had an excellent time and, although a little time consuming, well worth jumping through the hoops. There was only me and Mrs Laurentian and so certainly not as much hassle and expense than if we were travelling with children.

Registration and posting of pre-travel PCR test needed as well as passenger locator form all to be presented at check in along with passport, boarding card and NHS double vaccination certificate.

Had to take a LFT in Portugal two days before leaving and to complete another passenger locator form for where we were going to be in the UK when we got back.

The main problem was on checking in to leave, 95% of people had the LFT result, NHS Vaccination certificate, passenger locator form and boarding card on their phones for the check in staff to check. Each time one of these was requested, the traveller had to scroll through, find the necessary email with result or certificate or boarding pass on to present to the check in staff. This took so long that there was an enormous queue at the three desks for the four easyJet flights and all of those flights were delayed due to the backlog of people waiting. We had our stuff printed out and got through very quickly. Having them on your phone causes a huge delay. There was even a couple in their late 60s/Early 70s who hadn't got their passenger locator form done and stood at the desk holding everyone else up (reducing the number of available desks by a third!) for 25 minutes while they completed it in order to present to the check in staff.

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

Ben6899

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

laurentian

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Now that would be ideal! Mate and I were discussing excactly this yesterday. Same format for every passenger - this should be adopted universally. I didn't realise that such a portal existed anywhere

Ben6899

laurentian said:

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Now that would be ideal! Mate and I were discussing excactly this yesterday. Same format for every passenger - this should be adopted universally. I didn't realise that such a portal existed anywhere

Very impressed with Eurotunnel. I don't want to jinx future travels with them, but it always goes so smoothly.

surrey_commuter

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Are you sure all these gentlemen in the toilet were having their covid docs checked? or have I missed a euphemism ?

Ben6899

surrey_commuter said:

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Are you sure all these gentlemen in the toilet were having their covid docs checked? or have I missed a euphemism ?

To be clear, there were two queues.

One on the way to the toilets: covid document checks
One in the toilets: handjobs

surrey_commuter

Ben6899 said:

surrey_commuter said:

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Are you sure all these gentlemen in the toilet were having their covid docs checked? or have I missed a euphemism ?

To be clear, there were two queues.

One on the way to the toilets: covid document checks
One in the toilets: handjobs

they should look at combining the queues

briantrumpet

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Now that would be ideal! Mate and I were discussing excactly this yesterday. Same format for every passenger - this should be adopted universally. I didn't realise that such a portal existed anywhere

Very impressed with Eurotunnel. I don't want to jinx future travels with them, but it always goes so smoothly.

Yes; brilliantly efficient with the forms... all uploaded, automatically ratified, and check in was by ANPR and a confirmation button on the machine that I was the sole passenger. 30 seconds.

TheBigBean

Would anyone like to recommend an Oct half term holiday?

pblakeney

TheBigBean said:

Would anyone like to recommend an Oct half term holiday?

Stay at home. A proper staycation.
The roads will be rammed.

briantrumpet

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

Ben6899 said:

laurentian said:

So, my advice would be to print out your documents . . . and hope that others have.

The pre-travel tests and the two day test were sent as a pack from Randox.

I popped to the toilet while waiting for our call to board the train in France, and there was a huge queue of people getting their covid-19 documentation checked... I guess because they hadn't used Eurotunnel's very handy upload portal which attaches the documents to your booking for pre-travel validation.

So I totally agree: get organised.

Now that would be ideal! Mate and I were discussing excactly this yesterday. Same format for every passenger - this should be adopted universally. I didn't realise that such a portal existed anywhere

Very impressed with Eurotunnel. I don't want to jinx future travels with them, but it always goes so smoothly.

On the other hand... (wrong thread, I know...)

Ben6899

As long as they don't do it next summer...

Pross

I had a PCR test on Tuesday morning as I'd had a bit of a cough with no other symptoms to suggest a cold. They said I should get results within 24 hours and to call 119 if I hadn't heard within 48 hours. The 48 hours expired so I called and went through about 20 options to get a message saying they won't chase results until after 72 hours! I'm 99% certain now that it is a cold as the cough has gone but I have classic head cold symptoms but it's really annoying as if positive day 10 would be the day after I'm due to fly to Venice so I would have to cancel and we also need to order our pre-flight and day 2 tests but I don't want to do this until I know I'm all clear to avoid the potential of wasting money.

TheBigBean

Wrong thread.

surrey_commuter

Pross said:

I had a PCR test on Tuesday morning as I'd had a bit of a cough with no other symptoms to suggest a cold. They said I should get results within 24 hours and to call 119 if I hadn't heard within 48 hours. The 48 hours expired so I called and went through about 20 options to get a message saying they won't chase results until after 72 hours! I'm 99% certain now that it is a cold as the cough has gone but I have classic head cold symptoms but it's really annoying as if positive day 10 would be the day after I'm due to fly to Venice so I would have to cancel and we also need to order our pre-flight and day 2 tests but I don't want to do this until I know I'm all clear to avoid the potential of wasting money.

schoolboy error

Pross

Negative luckily.

Pross

Slightly surprised how many people were still on furlough. Trying to think what businesses aren't fully open again and could only think of travel and events (corporate stuff).