Covid restrictions abroad: updates & observations

[Envy123]

I’m staying 11 days in Russia as I’ve been to Turkey. I don’t mind self isolation at my own home, considering I’m a remote worker, but the hotel quarantine sounds like a nightmare.

It was also cheaper to extend my stay, than the whole quarantine package. My grandma owns her place after all.

If at least the hotel quarantine scheme was more reasonable and much cheaper, I would’ve gone back to the UK earlier.

 

[nw1]

I’m staying 11 days in Russia as I’ve been to Turkey. I don’t mind self isolation at my own home, considering I’m a remote worker, but the hotel quarantine sounds like a nightmare.

It was also cheaper to extend my stay, than the whole quarantine package. My grandma owns her place after all.

If at least the hotel quarantine scheme was more reasonable and much cheaper, I would’ve gone back to the UK earlier.

£2000 or so (is that the latest figure) is the sort of money that could bankrupt a person. Furthermore it is completely unnecessary as poorer countries such as Greece offer hotel quarantine at the expense of the state.

It seems to me as if it's a mechanism for the Government to exploit travellers as a way of attempting to rescue the dire public finances. While obviously we do have a major issue with our public finances, bankrupting travellers is not the way to deal with it.

It is particularly galling when the Government lecture us about going abroad, when you get the likes of Raab staying in a five-star hotel in Crete when he should be dealing with the situation in Afghanistan. The real "privileged elite" is, it seems to me, high-ranking members of the Conservative Party.

 

[island]

£2000 or so (is that the latest figure) is the sort of money that could bankrupt a person. Furthermore it is completely unnecessary as poorer countries such as Greece offer hotel quarantine at the expense of the state.

It’s currently £2,285, but payment plans and fee remission are available to those who need them.

 

[kristiang85]

£2000 or so (is that the latest figure) is the sort of money that could bankrupt a person. Furthermore it is completely unnecessary as poorer countries such as Greece offer hotel quarantine at the expense of the state.

It seems to me as if it's a mechanism for the Government to exploit travellers as a way of attempting to rescue the dire public finances. While obviously we do have a major issue with our public finances, bankrupting travellers is not the way to deal with it.

It is particularly galling when the Government lecture us about going abroad, when you get the likes of Raab staying in a five-star hotel in Crete when he should be dealing with the situation in Afghanistan. The real "privileged elite" is, it seems to me, high-ranking members of the Conservative Party.

I think they know its unaffordable and they are simply outsourcing the quarantining to safer countries. I don't understand how anybody in their right mind with the option to go to the UK via a green or Amber country would do a cruddy Holiday Inn and Boots sandwiches quarantine at Ritz rates over doing it elsewhere. My whole 16 day holiday in Romania (flights, accom, food, drink, activities, insurance, etc) has come to less than the mandatory UK Red list quarantine fee.

 

[Bikeman78]

It is particularly galling when the Government lecture us about going abroad, when you get the likes of Raab staying in a five-star hotel in Crete when he should be dealing with the situation in Afghanistan. The real "privileged elite" is, it seems to me, high-ranking members of the Conservative Party.

As I've pointed out before, do as I say, not as I do. Also isn't it strange that the government are willing to throw way billions on lateral flow tests that we are encouraged to take twice a week but we have to pay for tests if we want to go abroad. None of this makes much sense. Covid will still be here next year and the year after that. Will be still have to pay for pointless tests?

 

[Butts]

As I've pointed out before, do as I say, not as I do. Also isn't it strange that the government are willing to throw way billions on lateral flow tests that we are encouraged to take twice a week but we have to pay for tests if we want to go abroad. None of this makes much sense. Covid will still be here next year and the year after that. Will be still have to pay for pointless tests?

No one else in Western Europe does it so why do we have to take tests on returning from Green List Countries ?

 

[kristiang85]

I just paid for my return green test. Its really galling that as a fully vaccinated couple we are effectively paying a £200 tax to return to our own country from another country in Europe....

 

[Envy123]

I think they know its unaffordable and they are simply outsourcing the quarantining to safer countries. I don't understand how anybody in their right mind with the option to go to the UK via a green or Amber country would do a cruddy Holiday Inn and Boots sandwiches quarantine at Ritz rates over doing it elsewhere. My whole 16 day holiday in Romania (flights, accom, food, drink, activities, insurance, etc) has come to less than the mandatory UK Red list quarantine fee.

Exactly my thoughts. They just don’t want to admit it.

 

[Mag_seven]

I just paid for my return green test. Its really galling that as a fully vaccinated couple we are effectively paying a £200 tax to return to our own country from another country in Europe....

Just done one as well - what is really galling is that the testing kit provided is exactly the same as the free NHS kit. The government are really taking the proverbial here.

 

[kristiang85]

Just done one as well - what is really galling is that the testing kit provided is exactly the same as the free NHS kit. The government are really taking the proverbial here.

They really are. To summarise the COVID admin to travel:

From UK to Romania (and the UK is on Romania's red list, with around 30,000 cases a day on average), I needed:
- Proof of vaccination
- A completed passenger locator form (which took 2 mins to fill out)

To get from Romania to the UK (and Romania is on the UK's green list, with around 500 cases a day on average), I need:
- Proof of vaccination
- Negative test (£35 at the airport)
- Proof of booking day 2 test (£60)
- Filled out passenger locator form (which takes about 10 minutes)

It really is utterly ridiculous.

 

[Smidster]

It seems to me as if it's a mechanism for the Government to exploit travellers as a way of attempting to rescue the dire public finances. While obviously we do have a major issue with our public finances, bankrupting travellers is not the way to deal with it.

While I will never defend Hotel Quarantine, or any policy relating to travel, it is not a money making scheme.

We are talking about the Government renting entire hotels for months on end with only a limited idea about how many people are going to be confined there at any one point and it won't be easy for them to flex up / down capacity as well as all of the other costs they will have like security etc.

Doesn't make it right but this is another very expensive thing to be doing.

Personally I strongly believe that if you are vaccinated then there should be no rules on entry around testing etc - I also think that would be a massive incentive for the hesitant to get vaccinated as right now they tout the benefits of travel but it is still a massive pain to do so.

 

[Jamiescott1]

They really are. To summarise the COVID admin to travel:

From UK to Romania (and the UK is on Romania's red list, with around 30,000 cases a day on average), I needed:
- Proof of vaccination
- A completed passenger locator form (which took 2 mins to fill out)

To get from Romania to the UK (and Romania is on the UK's green list, with around 500 cases a day on average), I need:
- Proof of vaccination
- Negative test (£35 at the airport)
- Proof of booking day 2 test (£60)
- Filled out passenger locator form (which takes about 10 minutes)

It really is utterly ridiculous.

£60 seems excessive for a day 2 test.

The UK passenger locator form asks for seat number.
Ryanair moved me whilst on the plane yesterday.
Also with Ryanair, if travelling on a non UK or eu passport you can't use a mobile boarding pass so don't get given your seat number until checking in at the airport. You can't check in at the airport without your UK passenger locator form (which needs your seat number).

 

[kristiang85]

£60 seems excessive for a day 2 test.

I couldn't find any cheaper than that? (apart from some dodgy sites that just crashed everytime I filled in their form, so I gave up).

I had to add postage etc too.

 

[Watershed]

I couldn't find any cheaper than that? (apart from some dodgy sites that just crashed everytime I filled in their form, so I gave up).

I had to add postage etc too.

They're available from £20, albeit that's only on a drive-in basis. The cheaper postal day 2 tests start around £35-40.

Either way, it's indefensible (how many other countries make their citizens pay this tax to enter if they are vaccinated?) and has no discernable epidemiological benefit at this stage in the pandemic.

 

[kristiang85]

They're available from £20, albeit that's only on a drive-in basis. The cheaper postal day 2 tests start around £35-40.

Either way, it's indefensible (how many other countries make their citizens pay this tax to enter if they are vaccinated?) and has no discernable epidemiological benefit at this stage in the pandemic.

Ah we don't drive, so that was an issue.

But yes agreed, it is ridiculous. If they insist on using this system, there should be standardised pricing. Or to be honest I'd be happy for them to add it as a small extra tax in tickets and let us use NHS services. But considering how much we pay in NI, it should be OK to use NHS tests anyway to travel if you are a UK citizen.

 

[Yew]

Indeed, it's crazy that you can have a test for free because it's a Tuesday and you fancy one, but not if it's a Tuesday and you've been to Turin.

 

[kristiang85]

Indeed, it's crazy that you can have a test for free because it's a Tuesday and you fancy one, but not if it's a Tuesday and you've been to Turin.

Yes that's what irritates me most. The amount of wastage of tests for frivilous means in the UK, yet we can't use them for a valid reason such as coming home from abroad.

 

[Butts]

Yes that's what irritates me most. The amount of wastage of tests for frivilous means in the UK, yet we can't use them for a valid reason such as coming home from abroad.

Yet most people in surveys (probably not travellers) approve of this ludicrous situation.

When will common sense prevail ?

 

[Bantamzen]

Yet most people in surveys (probably not travellers) approve of this ludicrous situation.

When will common sense prevail ?

As you say, most people who take part in these surveys. But as we have speculated, these surveys are not necessarily a representation of what the wider population think. Of course that's not to say that there aren't some people who fully support all these travel restrictions, for various reasons. But these surveys need to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

Incidentally, I've just signed up to YouGov partly out of curiosity. I wonder if I'll ever get invited to any of these types of surveys based on my honest answers?

 

[nw1]

As you say, most people who take part in these surveys. But as we have speculated, these surveys are not necessarily a representation of what the wider population think. Of course that's not to say that there aren't some people who fully support all these travel restrictions, for various reasons. But these surveys need to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

Incidentally, I've just signed up to YouGov partly out of curiosity. I wonder if I'll ever get invited to any of these types of surveys based on my honest answers?

The biggest problem with travel restrictions is the prejudice and inconsistency of it, w.r.t. travelling within the UK.

You are treated with paranoia if you come back from some country with a low infection rate on a plane where everyone was tested (doubtless at much less expense than the UK, that was certainly my experience earlier in the year) before getting on it.

If you travel to an area with a high infection rate *within the UK*, you don't even have to take the simplest of precautions and travelling on an overcrowded train without a mask is perfectly fine. BTW I am not suggesting, for a second, more restrictions within the UK - just pointing out the illogicality and inconsistency of it all - though I have to admit that I personally am avoiding overcrowded trains right now, and would be more worried about boarding an XC to Manchester than a plane to the Mediterranean. Half-empty Basingstoke to Bournemouth stoppers will do me for the moment. But that's my personal choice.

It's the hypocrisy of it. Fear of the 'other'.
Covid has done even more for xenophobia than Farage ever did - and that is saying something. And it's got the left signed up to xenophobic attitudes now, rather than just the right; look at how Sturgeon is even more paranoid of foreign travel than 'Boris'.

 

[Richard Scott]

It's the hypocrisy of it. Fear of the 'other'.
Covid has done even more for xenophobia than Farage ever did - and that is saying something. And it's got the left signed up to xenophobic attitudes now, rather than just the right; look at how Sturgeon is even more paranoid of foreign travel than 'Boris'.

To be honest don't think she's paranoid just using it as an excuse to further wield her new found powers that she's reluctant to give up. She can use the excuse of keeping everyone safe when, in reality, I doubt that's her real agenda.

 

[kristiang85]

Covid has done even more for xenophobia than Farage ever did - and that is saying something. And it's got the left signed up to xenophobic attitudes now, rather than just the right; look at how Sturgeon is even more paranoid of foreign travel than 'Boris'.

COVID hasn't created the xenophobia; it is the politicans and media who have done it. And the irony is that most of those responsible are those who strongly denounce and disassociate themselves from Farage and his ilk...as you say, mostly on the left.

 

[VauxhallandI]

COVID hasn't created the xenophobia; it is the politicans and media who have done it. And the irony is that most of those responsible are those who strongly denounce and disassociate themselves from Farage and his ilk...as you say, mostly on the left.

Yep we keep hearing "because of Covid" when in fact most of the statements are "because of Governments' reaction to Covid"

 

[LAX54]

Yet most people in surveys (probably not travellers) approve of this ludicrous situation.

When will common sense prevail ?

Its the 'Fear Factor' !

 

[Mag_seven]

When will common sense prevail ?

Those of us who can think for ourselves have been asking that question since March 2020.

 

[Bantamzen]

The biggest problem with travel restrictions is the prejudice and inconsistency of it, w.r.t. travelling within the UK.

You are treated with paranoia if you come back from some country with a low infection rate on a plane where everyone was tested (doubtless at much less expense than the UK, that was certainly my experience earlier in the year) before getting on it.

If you travel to an area with a high infection rate *within the UK*, you don't even have to take the simplest of precautions and travelling on an overcrowded train without a mask is perfectly fine. BTW I am not suggesting, for a second, more restrictions within the UK - just pointing out the illogicality and inconsistency of it all - though I have to admit that I personally am avoiding overcrowded trains right now, and would be more worried about boarding an XC to Manchester than a plane to the Mediterranean. Half-empty Basingstoke to Bournemouth stoppers will do me for the moment. But that's my personal choice.

It's the hypocrisy of it. Fear of the 'other'.
Covid has done even more for xenophobia than Farage ever did - and that is saying something. And it's got the left signed up to xenophobic attitudes now, rather than just the right; look at how Sturgeon is even more paranoid of foreign travel than 'Boris'.

Indeed, and worse still its state sponsored xenophobia. We saw examples of it during the Brexit campaign, but covid allowed a whole new level of it. Even people who would usually be fiercely anti-xenophobia suddenly started demanding the borders be slammed shut least a nasty foreign variant be let in. Of course when you put it to them that what they are actually saying is "foreigners might give us covid", they retreat back into their bunkers. Sadly the net result of all this is that prejudice is far more deeply engrained than we would like to admit.

 

[Butts]

Ah we don't drive, so that was an issue.

But yes agreed, it is ridiculous. If they insist on using this system, there should be standardised pricing. Or to be honest I'd be happy for them to add it as a small extra tax in tickets and let us use NHS services. But considering how much we pay in NI, it should be OK to use NHS tests anyway to travel if you are a UK citizen.

Air Passenger Duty is already collected on most UK Departures - why not use this for an Aviation related matter ?

 

[adc82140]

So the planets seem to be lining up. I have time off work, France is on the Amber list, France is allowing us in, I have my paper vaccine certificate, I have the French Covid app, I have my "sworn statement", I have my proof of property ownership (thank you Brexit), Shapps is unlikely to change the status of France today, and I go in less than 3 weeks.

What a ruddy faff to cross the Channel. I used to go on the spur of the moment.

 

[kristiang85]

So the planets seem to be lining up. I have time off work, France is on the Amber list, France is allowing us in, I have my paper vaccine certificate, I have the French Covid app, I have my "sworn statement", I have my proof of property ownership (thank you Brexit), Shapps is unlikely to change the status of France today, and I go in less than 3 weeks.

What a ruddy faff to cross the Channel. I used to go on the spur of the moment.

What are the regs for entering France at the moment? Is it simply a proof of double vaccination and a locator form, or is there more to it than that?

 

[bramling]

Yep we keep hearing "because of Covid" when in fact most of the statements are "because of Governments' reaction to Covid"

Same could be said for the terrorism and security, which has of course been the thing for the last two decades. A good lesson from the past in needing to move on from this now before some of these undesirable aspects of the Covid response become too ingrained.

Like security before it, “because of Covid” is now the answer to everything.