Please could anyone help with France travel requirements?!

[notamilf]

I'm travelling to France (Bordeaux Airport) from Manchester Airport in a couple of weeks with my husband and 3 children. I've had the 2 covid vaccines but not the booster and my husband hasn't had any of the vaccines. I've been looking on the gov website but still confused as to what we need to do 🙈 I have lateral flow tests at home or would we need to book a private pcr test? I would be so grateful if someone could advise me (I'm aware I probably sound like an idiot) thank you x

If you've had two vaccines the last dose needs to have been less than nine months ago. If it's been longer then you need either an antigen or a PCR test.

You unvaccinated husband needs either antigen or PCR test.

You can't do the test at home because you'll have no proof of what the result is, you need to get it done in a lab with an official test result. It needs to be done less than 48h before the trip if antigen or less than 72h before the trip if PCR.

@Penfelyn Thank you so much! I'm not sure what an antigen test is? I have some of the covid test kits at home, would they be accepted? And what's the difference between antigen test and pcr test? So sorry for bombarding you with questions x

No a home test won't cut it.

I'm not British and english isn't my first language, but I think lateral flow and antigen are the same thing, just different names. The PCR is the one with longer sticks that feel like they're skewering your brain 😂 and they take longer to get the results, and they're usually more expensive.

But either way the test needs to be done by a lab.

Look up labs that do covid tests around your area, they should say on their websites which tests they perform and what the cost is. Tell them you need the test for travel and they should be able to confirm that the test they offer is adequate for that purpose.

To clarify - home tests don't work because they have no way of knowing you did the test properly and didn't fudge the results. That's why you need the lab to send you official test results that you can print and take with you to the airport.

LFT is an antigen test and there are online providers who will supervise you doing one at home (e.g. via facetime) and send you the necessary paperwork for travel.

Also, you could look up if it's possible to do the test at the airport. I did this (different country though) as with the antigen/lateral flow test you get the results usually in less than 15 min.

Obviously leaving it that late is riskier (if the test is positive you're screwed, and you need to be sure the testing facility will be open and the queue won't be overly long). But if you're not able to test earlier it can be a last minute lifesaver.

Didn't know that ! Well, that's probably cheaper so go with that OP. I've tested in four different countries and not one of them offered this sort of services, that's handy !

The worst offender was Finland, where they charged me 250€ for the test and they wanted me to pay for a medical certificate saying I needed the test...