Only one thing from me to add to the above, no need for the French app the uk one generates a vaccination barcode which can be scanned fine by french restaurants etc. You can have the french app if you wish but no need to do so.

I got back from the Alps last week, 3 weeks in the camper, no hassles related to covid – wish I’d stayed longer.

– Day 2 return PCR’s from Randox arrived very quickly before we left the UK. Will have the fun of doing them tonight.

Can I just check something. If we are travelling at the end of September and will be away for about a month, can we order our Day 2 PCR tests now so that they arrive before we travel and can sit here at home in the UK awaiting our  return?

We did. Boots ones.

In other news, has anyone been to Cyprus yet?

I have a friend in Cyprus if you have something to ask?

Flight prices for next summer

Yep. Someone inside the industry told us to wait for last minute deals next year, do not book early. They reckon it’s so expensive the hotels won’t fill and there will be offers.

Can I just check something. If we are travelling at the end of September and will be away for about a month, can we order our Day 2 PCR tests now so that they arrive before we travel and can sit here at home in the UK awaiting our return?

I don’t see why not. I think I would wait a bit personally though, we’ve seen the rules change time and time again so you might not even need them by then! Also I would have thought that prices are only going to go down now that summer hol season has passed.

Euro tunnel into the U.K.!!!! Border farce is a farce, slow and queues. It should be noted I travelled on an Irish passport and I seemed to get through passport control quicker than those around me?

Strange, I uploaded my (vaccine, locator form) docs direct onto the euro tunnel website and went straight through

I don’t see why not. I think I would wait a bit personally though, we’ve seen the rules change time and time again so you might not even need them by then! Also I would have thought that prices are only going to go down now that summer hol season has passed.

Thanks igm and timmys.   I take the point about timing and potential rule changes.

I take the point about timing and potential rule changes.

So far (twice now) I’ve left the booking of any day 2 tests until about 3 or 4 days before I return, just in case the govt change the rules at the last minute. It hasnt been a problem doing it this way rather than booking a long way in advance.

Strange, I uploaded my (vaccine, locator form) docs direct onto the euro tunnel website and went straight through

Yeah, it’s piss easy, and we sailed through once we got to the actual booth. Unfortunately that’s not much help when you are in a queue of 30 cars to get to the booth and seemingly the vast majority of people are incapable of following simple instructions so plenty of cars were taking 10 minutes.

So I’ve a confession to make.

I jumped on an offer an booked a cheap last minute to Menorca during the October half term. We have to either cancel or pay the balance by Saturday. Its with Jet2 who have a pretty comprehensive policy and record of re-booking/refunds.

It’ll be fine… right?

Our decision on Finale in a couple of weeks has been made for us as Abigale broke her leg at the weekend, at Bolehills, as has the trip to Scotland

Heard from two sources that there may well be a ‘firebreak’ around the time of the October half term. What that will mean, who knows, but cases are now a lot lower in Europe compared to the UK.

Perhaps a reintroduction of the farcical 10 day quarantine and testing/homecoming tax?

It’ll be fine… right?

in terms of what will happen in menorca – if its anything like how majorca has been over the last couple of months (i’ve spent a month out there over the summer), then yes, you’ll have a nice time. Its not been too busy , its been a great summer.

Obviously what cant be predicted is what will happen over the next 2 months with regards to changes to the rules and regs. My gut feeling is that the rules will stay the same or be relaxed more, but nobody knows.

I suspect your two biggest risks are as follows:-

1. You or One of your family catches covid in the lead up to the trip and therefore cant travel, so work out what you will do in this situation.

2 . You do need a bit of a backup plan for if any of you catch covid while out there and then cant fly back until you are clear .

Ok thanks.

These…

1. You or One of your family catches covid in the lead up to the trip and therefore cant travel, so work out what you will do in this situation.

2 . You do need a bit of a backup plan for if any of you catch covid while out there and then cant fly back until you are clear .

…are covered by the insurance.

From what I can make out the worse case scenario is that either UK.gov prevents flights out, or Spain.gov refuses Brits in. On that note, Jet2 say and have a record of allowing holidays to be moved our refunded.

My confidence is high TBH, but perhaps naively I didn’t expect the cases to be as high as they might be here, hence the worry. I note in Spain they are falling.

We’re supposed to be going to Mallorca in the middle of October (Scottish tattie holidays).
I’d say it’s 50/50 whether or not we go. Flights will be lost, but accommodation is refundable. Would really like some sun, and the kitchen is being refitted whilst were supposed to be away, but I’m not confident.

Our decision on Finale in a couple of weeks has been made for us as Abigale broke her leg at the weekend, at Bolehills, as has the trip to Scotland

😬 That’s rubbish – I hope she heals quickly.

2 . You do need a bit of a backup plan for if any of you catch covid while out there and then cant fly back until you are clear .

…are covered by the insurance.

Obviously policies differ but mine only covers hospital stays, so if I have to sort my self, not covered.

Bigger problem and not policy related is how you find that place to stay (given a +ve test) and how you deal with not being able to return to work for potentially quite a long time given you’re unlikely to be able to provide a negative test for over a month after testing positive.

…are covered by the insurance.

From what I can make out the worse case scenario is that either UK.gov prevents flights out, or Spain.gov refuses Brits in. On that note, Jet2 say and have a record of allowing holidays to be moved our refunded.

My confidence is high TBH, but perhaps naively I didn’t expect the cases to be as high as they might be here, hence the worry. I note in Spain they are falling.

all sorted then, you cant control the case rates, or the govt (either spain or uk) changing the rules, so no point worrying about anything between now and then , if you get to go then great…..I think theres more than a reasonable chance you will go, but my opinion is worthless.

Spain and Portugal are both well over 70% double jabbed, if that makes a difference. 5th wave is on the turn, according to pressure on hospitals, daily new cases. However most kids won’t go back to school til tomorrow or Monday so we shall see.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58532433

So it looks like it was worth hanging on before booking our 2 day pcr tests. We return from Basque on the 25th Sept so should now be quite legally allowed to use private PCR tests at less than £68

Next question is therefore who to use. Being very rural we would need postal tests with postal returns if possible. Any recommendations from those who have already done this?

Expert Mdical seem to be the cheapest at £28. It was here when I returned and you post it off at a priority post box. It took a while to get the results, but that is pretty much immaterial, as it’s a box ticking exercise anyway.

Expert Mdical seem to be the cheapest at £28.

I thought I had read recently that they were no longer an approved test provider.

Yeah I’d read something, but worked fine for me and they are still offering the same price package.

There’s a announcement today which could mean you need less tests if vaccinated. I would not buy anything until you’ve heard that although I suspect the outcome isn’t going to prevail until October.

Ah crap. We’d booked for Portugal on the 1st of Oct but I managed to catch Covid last week. I can’t find any proper info but I’m assuming that when I take a lat flow before leaving (and in resort) and a PCR when I come back they’ll show positive? We’re booked with Jet2 so it’s not like I can even ring them and ask for advice as they don’t answer their phones…. Any advice folks? Is our holiday broken?

@chrispoffer,

I am not telling you to do this, just telling you why i am very wary of flying in general and also feel that the testing scheme is a scam.

If you take a lateral flow test kit, but don’t use the swab, and simply add the testing fluid to the correct area you will get a negative result. So if you do the test badly whilst positive you get negative results. Further there are kit providers that will trust you to self administer the test with no witnesses.

Any advice folks? Is our holiday broken?

You’ve still got 2.5 weeks, you should be OK and assuming you have their £36 insurance it’ll cover you if you are positive for Covid before the flight. That doesn’t help the fact you might not be able to go on hols though.

Also, and I appreciate the horse has bolted on this one – phone and book your holiday don’t book it on the website. When you do that you get a personalised Sales Rep phone number and email address and despite the fact they will be-asking if you want any extras (they are Sales reps after all) every time you phone, they will be more helpful than the generic phone number because they got/get a direct commission from you.

If you take a lateral flow test kit, but don’t use the swab, and simply add the testing fluid to the correct area you will get a negative result. So if you do the test badly whilst positive you get negative results. Further there are kit providers that will trust you to self administer the test with no witnesses.

Please consider your morals of spreading a potentially deadly virus before you consider that.

Please consider your morals of spreading a potentially deadly virus before you consider that.

I am not arguing that, as said it is why i am very wary of flying, people will abuse the system. The current system is little more than a money making scheme and not about public health. The government have decided to get everyone infected and to hell with the consequences.

We’re booked with Jet2 so it’s not like I can even ring them and ask for advice as they don’t answer their phones…

3hrs on Saturday to change a flight in response to the schedule shifting 🙁

OTOH they won’t speak to you about the covid testing etc beyond saying “here’s the govt advice website”

I managed to catch Covid last week

You’ve still got 2.5 weeks, you should be OK

Touch and go but you might be clear, unlikely you’ll test negative inside of a month from a positive though. That said this should (along with the don’t test for a month advice) be in the info following your positive test result (assume you’ve corroborated with a pcr not just an lft)

It’s about 50:50 that you’ll be positive again on a PCR 21 days after a positive. After that time you’re highly unlikely to be contaigeous unless still showing symptons.

And – the rules could be different on October 1, keep an eye on todays announcement.

Our thoughts on The Sun’s political leaning and opinion pieces aside, they have been fairly good at predicting reproducing the “official” government leaks before anyone else throughout the pandemic.

Their current line on foreign travel is:

International travel
No 10 is keen to simplify travel restrictions and ditch the requirement for costly PCR tests, and the PM may shed more light on his plans.

Boris is looking at proposals to replace the traffic light system which has confused sun seekers with multiple categories.

In future there could just be two lists – one with countries people can travel to and anther for those they can’t.

Mr Javid has also vowed to get rid of the need for PCR tests which can add hundreds of pounds onto the cost of a family holiday.

But Ms Coffey said ministers will have to take time to ensure that’s safe, as the gold-standard swabs are used to track variants.

Reply from NHS T&T Service below when I asked about recent Covid diagnosis and testing for holidays:

Upon arrival of England, all international arrivals are required to take PCR tests on day 2 of arrival even if they have had Covid-19 previously. This is to ensure potential Covid-19 variants of concern (VOCs) are identified promptly, minimizing the spread of infection with these potential variants to the population.

The International Contact Tracing, run by Public Health England have protocols to follow when a positive case is identified from a day 2 PCR test, the decisions are made on a case by case basis. Any information regarding previous positive tests would be taken into consideration at the time of their decision

Covid-19 Recovery – Pre departure testing

If you have had Covid-19 in the last 90 days we would recommend that you select a lateral flow device (LFD) for pre-departure testing, as LFDs are significantly less likely to give persistent positives for someone who has tested positive within the previous 90 days. Further information on the types of tests that meet the criteria for pre-departure testing are listed on gov.uk – for LFDs, these must meet the minimum standards of 80% sensitivity and 97% specificity.

If you have recently recovered from COVID but are no longer infectious, you should use a lateral flow device (LFD) test. LFD tests have a lower sensitivity than PCR or LAMP tests, so they are less likely to return a positive result from a historic infection. The LFD test must meet the minimum performance standards as set out above.

Back from France via Brittany Ferries. Some slightly fiddly paperwork, to the extent we printed everything to save phone scrolling confusion, but other than that and the pharmacist who went about his work with considerable vigour, shouting something like “celui-ci est pour la france bâtard d’anglais” whilst shoving a cotton bud thing via my nose into the lower reaches of my brain, all was really pretty smooth.

Getting on and off the v quiet ferry and through police etc was quicker than in usual busy times new forms regardless. Kind of don’t want to say that as now everyone will want to go and we’ll be back with busy.

PCR 2-day booked before leaving with Randox (thru Coop website initially). Not the cheapest at 50 something quid. Did tests yesterday, dropped off at a pharmacy a half hour drive away, got results (-ve) this lunchtime. The end.

Main thing I was worried about was getting covid and having to isolate over there. Would not have been a minor inconvenience.

Well, my last day of Covid Jail was yesterday and 2 magical things have happened today.

The first was that my NHS app which had made all my vaccine records disappear while I had the lurgy has now sorted itself out and is showing my vaccine records, test results etc.

The second is that I took my third LFT of the week and it came up clear, no faint red line anymore. This makes me think that there’s a good chance that my travel LFTs will be clear for Portugal too so there’s a good probability of getting on the plane at both ends.

Huzzah!

Been to Portugal and france this summer
Both very easy…

Used the Klarity app Lateral flow test last week. You just record video of yourself doing the test on the app and then send picture of test result…frankly could have been anyones..fit to fly letter sent 10 minutes later. avoids going to any local pharmacy etc..

[strong][/strong] wrote:

Back from France via Brittany Ferries

Good to hear your report as we sail with them tomorrow.

Looks like big changes being announced today, with lateral flow replacing PCR and the list being go/no go to replace the traffic lights.

Well, they mange to make it easier but not very clear:

a) There is only a red list, everywhere else you can go to
b) If vaccinated, you don’t need an in-bound to UK test anymore

c) Do you need an outbound test? Who knows, but maybe it depends on the destination.
d) Do you need a day 2 test from October 4th? I think so, but not clear, yet from October 30th you do and this can be a Lateral Flow test.

I think.

c) Do you need an outbound test? Who knows, but maybe it depends on the destination.

Depends on destinaton and your age/vaccination status. The country you are visiting sets these rules.

d) Do you need a day 2 test from October 4th? I think so, but not clear, yet from October 30th you do and this can be a Lateral Flow test.

From 4th Oct you don’t need to take a pre departure test 3 days before you fly back to UK, but you still need to do a pcr test on day 2 after you get back.

After end of Oct you don’t need a pcr test on day 2,but need to do a lft on day 2 instead.

After end of Oct you don’t need a pcr test on day 2,but need to do a lft on day 2 instead.

Yes is all becoming a bit clearer now. I’d love to know the the date – I don’t think Schapps provided one – as half term returnees will want the the cheaper option. I believe he said “…near the end of October…”