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Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:20 pm
by shpalman
Portugal now ok and Austria not ok as far as the UK is concerned (and Switzerland not ok as far as Scotland is concerned).

Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:59 pm
by Bird on a Fire
Yay! I haven't seen my mum since Christmas and this does make it easier for her to visit me :)

Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:24 pm
by Turdly
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:59 pm
Yay! I haven't seen my mum since Christmas and this does make it easier for her to visit me :)
You know that half of this forum is planning on visiting you now?

Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 9:00 pm
by Bird on a Fire
Turdly wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:24 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:59 pm
Yay! I haven't seen my mum since Christmas and this does make it easier for her to visit me :)
You know that half of this forum is planning on visiting you now?
You'd all be welcome (but perhaps not all at once)!

Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 9:43 pm
by Squeak
I still can't travel interstate without at least one set of two weeks' quarantine, let alone overseas (which requires interstate travel first).

I *might* get to see my family in Adelaide for Christmas, if they open the borders in December.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:28 pm
by FlammableFlower
Well, I'll have the fun of finding out what UK quarantine is like soon... We're in Italy having got here via France and Switzerland.

Visited Venice today. Kept mask on the whole time except to eat and drink. For Venice it was extraordinarily quiet, but still no way you get around without needing one on. Although the train from Mestre to San Luca was also quiet. About half of people took the same decision it seemed.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:57 pm
by shpalman
I moved my flight back to Italy from Saturday to Tuesday; it turns out that it's not so late in the day so the trains are better at the Italian end.

It would be annoying if a new rule came into force over the weekend.

I'll fill in the form for the trip back but I don't think I need to.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:05 pm
by headshot
Frau HS and I are looking into options for driving to Dresden to see her family at Christmas.

It’s all very simple, but factoring in winter tyres adds quite a bit to the cost!

Re: International travel

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:14 pm
by shpalman
shpalman wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:20 pm
Portugal now ok and Austria not ok as far as the UK is concerned (and Switzerland not ok as far as Scotland is concerned).
Switzerland now not ok and neither are Jamaica and Czechia

Re: International travel

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 9:00 am
by shpalman

Re: International travel

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:56 am
by FlammableFlower
Ok, partially "asking for a friend"...

The 14 day self isolation:

Ok, so, according to the Gov website, if you visit a country not on the travel corridor list, but then go to a country that is on the list before you return to the UK, then you're time in the ok country comes off your quarantine time (their example is you visit a non-except country, then spend 4 days in an exempt one before returning to the UK, so you have to quarantine for 10 days on return).

But if a country is taken off the travel corridor list even after you've been there, do you still have to consider it?

I.e. did all those people rushing back from France and Croatia then still have to quarantine/self-isolate on return? In which case, what's the point of rushing to hit a 4am deadline when it'll save you all of a day or so?

Re: International travel

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:51 pm
by sTeamTraen

Re: International travel

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:06 pm
by shpalman
sTeamTraen wrote:
Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:51 pm
Strange reporting. Did he get the text while he was sitting in the plane and put his hand up?
Seems like it, which was the decent thing to do. He could have just pretended to have gone to airplane mode already and ignored it.

Re: International travel

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:32 am
by shpalman
Coronavirus: 'Covidiots' criticised on Tui flight from Zante to Cardiff
"This flight was a debacle. The chap next to me had his mask around his neck. Not only did the airline not pull him up on it, they gave him a free drink when he said he knew a member of the crew

"Loads of people were taking their masks off and wandering up and down the aisles to talk to others.

"As soon as the flight landed, a load of people took their masks off immediately. The flight was full of selfish 'covidiots' and an inept crew who couldn't care less."
Health officials say seven people from three different parties on Tui flight 6215 from Zante to Cardiff on Tuesday have tested positive for Covid-19

Re: International travel

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:46 pm
by Brightonian
Am in an airport now, and when I checked in my bag I was told my mask (one of these) wasn't suitable, and that I had to get a "surgical mask".

So I nipped round to the pharmacy and got a pack of so-called surgical masks. However, these fit less well than my original one which fits my face much more closely. What gives?

Re: International travel

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:20 pm
by bob sterman
Brightonian wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:46 pm
Am in an airport now, and when I checked in my bag I was told my mask (one of these) wasn't suitable, and that I had to get a "surgical mask".

So I nipped round to the pharmacy and got a pack of so-called surgical masks. However, these fit less well than my original one which fits my face much more closely. What gives?
There is some evidence that non-woven surgical masks are more effective than woven fabric masks - i.e. more effective at blocking droplets emitted by the wearer.

Re: International travel

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:08 am
by FlammableFlower
Got back from a marathon dash from Italy (making fuel & toilet stops in Italy just before border before non-stop through Austria (nice services), overnight stay in Germany, and then again Germany before non-stop through France (grim truck-stop that shouldn't allowed to be called a services). Got to the tunnel with 15 miles worth of petrol apparently left in the tank.

UK customs bloke: you've filled in the form, yeah?

Me: yes

Him: ok

Wasn't interested in seeing it at all.

The form itself is really annoying. There's lots of guidance on the page before you start to fill it out, but then it's not there available whilst competing it (at least easily when on a phone). Also, it's not clear for families, who is filling in what and for whom. I started and got to the bit about "give details of anyone under 18 who is travelling with you"... fine, but MrsFF has to complete a separate form for herself, but there's no indication as to whether she should also include that info as well.

Re: International travel

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:26 pm
by Brightonian
Arriving at UK airport yesterday, stopped by border person asking for passenger locator form. I had it on a screen on my phone but on flicking through it seemed I'd swiped that screen away somehow, so then tried to find it again. In my addled state I couldn't remember whether it was in an app or what, then when I remembered it was in an email it took a while to find my email app (new phone) and after searching I realised I was in the wrong email account, so swapped to the right email account, searched, found the email, waited for ever for Acrobat Reader to load the PDF, the border person looked at the form for three seconds and said "yes, fine" waved me on.

Re: International travel

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:00 pm
by shpalman
I didn't get asked for the (paper) Italian form today at any point.

The flight was half empty.

There are people who can't follow a simple instruction to sit the f.ck back down but it wasn't as bad as when arriving in Nottingham two weeks ago.

Re: International travel

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:31 pm
by sTeamTraen
Brightonian wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:26 pm
Arriving at UK airport yesterday, stopped by border person asking for passenger locator form. I had it on a screen on my phone but on flicking through it seemed I'd swiped that screen away somehow, so then tried to find it again. In my addled state I couldn't remember whether it was in an app or what, then when I remembered it was in an email it took a while to find my email app (new phone) and after searching I realised I was in the wrong email account, so swapped to the right email account, searched, found the email, waited for ever for Acrobat Reader to load the PDF, the border person looked at the form for three seconds and said "yes, fine" waved me on.
This was such a perfect description of life trying to use technology under stress that I tweeted it, without any identifying information but unfortunately without remembering to ask for your permission. https://twitter.com/sTeamTraen/status/1 ... 48321?s=20
Please let me know if you want me to either delete the tweet or credit you appropriately.

Re: International travel

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:44 pm
by Brightonian
sTeamTraen wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:31 pm
Brightonian wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:26 pm
Arriving at UK airport yesterday, stopped by border person asking for passenger locator form. I had it on a screen on my phone but on flicking through it seemed I'd swiped that screen away somehow, so then tried to find it again. In my addled state I couldn't remember whether it was in an app or what, then when I remembered it was in an email it took a while to find my email app (new phone) and after searching I realised I was in the wrong email account, so swapped to the right email account, searched, found the email, waited for ever for Acrobat Reader to load the PDF, the border person looked at the form for three seconds and said "yes, fine" waved me on.
This was such a perfect description of life trying to use technology under stress that I tweeted it, without any identifying information but unfortunately without remembering to ask for your permission. https://twitter.com/sTeamTraen/status/1 ... 48321?s=20
Please let me know if you want me to either delete the tweet or credit you appropriately.
No problem at all, no need to credit, cheers for asking anyway. 🙂

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:50 am
by Gfamily
I was just on a work call, and one of my colleagues (who returned from holiday in France yesterday) had to break off to take a call to confirm his location etc.

We'll be returning from France next week, so we'll see how it goes for us.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 1:39 pm
by headshot
Frau HS and I have decided to bin our Christmas trip to see family in Germany. Too many variables, including a risk that Germany will demand we self-isolate for 14 days when we get there.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 2:28 pm
by Bird on a Fire
I think I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and visit the UK sometime this year. I've spent a couple of lengthy periods not seeing my mum - when I lived in the US, and again when I lived in Brazil - but it seems crazy when I'm only 2.5 hours away. She's not getting any younger.

The only problem is isolating on arrival after travelling through airports and London public transport - 14 days in a hotel is prohibitively expensive. I guess I could camp somewhere?! Which would be a fun way to spend a fortnight in December.

Re: International travel

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:11 pm
by shpalman
shpalman wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:00 pm
I didn't get asked for the (paper) Italian form today at any point.

The flight was half empty.

There are people who can't follow a simple instruction to sit the f.ck back down but it wasn't as bad as when arriving in Nottingham two weeks ago.
The train from Lincoln to Nottingham passes through Newark, though, which is a noted hotspot, and two youths in sports kit got on, one of whom was obviously embarrassed about not having a mask.