2 minute read
ROGER’S RUMINATIONS
BY ROGER WHEELER
Travellers’ Tales
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Suddenly it’s autumn, not many people had a summer holiday, not that there was much summer weather. But we can now all start planning foreign holidays, but it isn’t going to be very simple. The ill-fated traffic light system is flashing all sorts of colours. We are advised to avoid all red list countries, but they can change colour overnight. The rules governing vaccine passports are confusing, but it is a good plan to get an NHS Covid Passport, but not all countries accept them.
Conflicting reports are arriving from all over Europe of some airport staff vigorously checking every bit of documentation, particularly in Easten European airports, whereas in Germany and some parts of Spain no one is particularly interested. Some people are getting through airports faster than ever before, Gatwick in particular. There’s no rhyme or reason.
Arriving in Gibraltar en route to Spain, the carefully prepared online entry forms for Spain are waved aside, the airport authorities now want an entry form. Gibraltar has now effectively become part of the Schengen Area although part of the UK, which in effect means that flying to Gib technically allows you access to virtually all of Europe. But don’t try it, a border guard somewhere won’t like it.
No doubt we are all upset by the news that the EU has banned all travellers from the USA as well as several other countries. The British are very welcome in France and most if not all the European countries. The EU updates its travel recommendations every two weeks, based on Covid-19 infection levels. To be considered ‘safe’ a country needs to have no more than 75 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the 14-day period.
The good news is that most tour operators, holiday companies and travel agents are now offering fully flexible options meaning that there is a very low deposit and it is all fully refunded if you decide not to travel. Although the EU speaks on behalf of all its member countries their opinions are not binding on any of the national governments.
Denmark, France, Germany along with many other EU countries have abolished nearly all controls for fully vaccinated visitors from the UK. But you need to check each government’s website as they will all need some sort of declaration of your vaccine status. Canada has now relaxed their restrictions, so long as you have been fully vaccinated you can now enter the country with no problem.
The view of the World Tourism Network is that no one knows what the world of tourism will look like in six months, a year, or two from now. It is impossible to predict if international travel will ever fully recover, but in the meantime, so long as you carefully and fully research what various protocols, if any, exist, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t go wherever you would like.
Health warning: All these notes were correct at the time of writing, September 1, but be prepared for changes.
