Travelling during a pandemic!

Well, well, well, back here and writing my blog! This can only mean one thing; I am back travelling the world again!

It has been a hard 18+ months for a lot of people. My husband (yes, we managed to get married during the pandemic !!) and I were fortunate enough to be able to keep working, although one of us was furloughed/part furloughed during that time. Lots has happened, but the most important bit - particularly for this blog, is that we can resume travel and reignite my travel bug! I hope over the course of this blog, I can give some good, clear advice for travelling during a pandemic. The information can be quite hard to find if you don’t know where to look.

The first trip on the cards was Dubrovnik. Now, although this was a postponed trip that Tristan and I were meant to take, I actually ended up going with my Mum and Sister, with the latter kindly paying for my accommodation and flights. I am a very lucky human! The second trip, this time with Tristan, was to Mallorca and we stayed in Ses Cadenes, near Palma, in between Ca’n Pastilla and S’arenal.

Now I am not here to tell you about either place, but if you are interested, they were both perfect. Croatia was beautiful, warm, and reminded me a lot of Italy. The food was delicious! Mallorca was peaceful, relaxing and the perfect place to practice the Spanish I had been improving over the numerous lockdowns!

So how did we plan these trips? We researched. When we went to both places, the traffic light system was in place - Green, Amber and Red. Croatia was on the green list and Mallorca on the amber. We needed to find countries that we felt were unlikely to go onto the red list, as we couldn’t afford the quarantine if they moved to red when we were out there. To achieve this, we booked the trips after the 3-week window of government announcements on colour changes. This ensured we had a window of opportunity to get there and back (both trips were less than a week long). We also kept a watch on COVID-19 infection rates for each country to see if the UK Government might be looking to change its colour status. We also had to check that the country we wanted to travel to was accepting UK residents as well. It’s not as simple as just going where you want, some places don’t want us!

Secondly, we researched the countries and the rules. What tests do we need to get in and out of the country? Again, really important, as you don’t want to have to be sorting that out while you are away. This also includes checking the rules when out there – do you need to wear a mask inside, on transport, etc? Don’t forget it’s still mandatory to wear masks at all times in airports and on planes unless eating or drinking.

For Croatia we needed an antigen test before going, an antigen test to come back and a day 2 PCR on return. Mallorca was the same without the one going out. These nuggets of information can be found on the government website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england

Further information can then be found by searching the place you are going:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements.

I found typing the country name and ‘COVID travel rules’ into Google brought up the information I needed to know, you then unfortunately need to read thoroughly to find out exactly what the requirements are.

We used different companies for the antigen tests, but the same company for the 2-day PCR tests. I can recommend City Doc (https://www.citydoc.org.uk/) for the antigen tests. They were simple to do and came in small boxes which were easy to pack in our carry-on suitcase. At the time of buying, they were the cheapest option in the UK. For the PCR tests we used Randox (https://booking.randox.com/) this was the cheapest by far at the time of both trips. At the time of writing this blog, I am still waiting on a reply from them regarding a missing part of the pack, meaning one of the tests has yet to be completed. However, they have been simple to complete at home and there are multiple drop off places around the UK.

Lastly, you need to check passenger locator forms. Does the country you are travelling to require you to fill one in? You also need to make sure you fill the UK one in when you fly home. Again, this information can be found on the links/suggestions above, but for ease the UK one can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk

Both Spain and Croatia required us to fill in forms and the UK when we returned. To complete the forms, you need proof of your booked PCR test waiting for you at home and your passport and accommodation details. To get in/out of some countries you also need the proof of your negative antigen tests. As this is a lot of paperwork to carry with you, I used screenshots on my phone which were nice and simple to show at the passport gates.

So, there you have it, a lot of things to think about; it’s not just hopping on a plane anymore unfortunately. However, Mallorca was easier than Croatia to sort and I put that down to practice, so I think it will continue to get easier each time we travel.

To summarise:

- Research the country you are going to visit thoroughly. What are their entry requirements? Is it likely to change to a red county? (check stats on COVID-19 infection rates). Use the government website for this which I linked above.

- Research what you need to get in and get out – antigen tests, PCR tests (we were double vaccinated so didn’t need the extra 8-day PCR for either trip). Spain wanted proof of double vaccination on arrival, Croatia didn’t. Search in Google – country name and ‘COVID-19 travel/rules’.

- Search around for test manufacturers, they all do the same thing, so try to find a cheap but reliable one with good ratings. I can highly recommend City Doc from my experience. Hopefully Randox will get back to me soon about the missing piece of the test, but they were brilliant and easy to use after the Croatia trip.

- Complete the passenger locator forms! The amount of people we heard whilst in the airport that didn’t do this correctly was ridiculous. Pay particular attention when coming back into the UK – you need to do one per person!

Our next trip is going to be our honeymoon!! We are waiting until 1 or 2 weeks before to book it, so the suspense and excitement of where we might go is building. I look forward to updating you on that in my next blog. In the meantime, stay safe travelling and don’t forget your mask!!