Support thread for those with family abroad

[Schulte]

Anyone interested in a support thread for those of us who have family abroad, and don't know if we can see them this year? I had started to feel all positive and optimistic about going back to my home country this summer to see my parents, but it's now looking far from certain and I'm feeling increasingly depressed.

I thought maybe we can cheer each other up and share the latest on border openings, how and where to get tests for travel, etc.

Anyone?

I don’t know if all of those of us living overseas would agree but it really does feel like the uk is being ultra ridiculous!
In France, the mood is positive, the media isn’t forever doom and gloom, restrictions have lifted early and there is a real expectation that the vaccination program will be enough to allow things to mostly go back to normal. School trips have returned, live music is back in the streets and almost everything is open with no mention of autumn or winter problems.

Why does the U.K. insist on continuing the fear campaign, desperately searching for cases and keeping everyone stuck in the country? This is despite a world leading vaccination uptake. It makes zero sense and seems so far removed from the way most of Europe is moving forward.

I said earlier on in this thread when I could see the uk’s obsession with Delta starting to cause some other countries to worry that they should just shut up about it and move on. From what I can see from here, it seems they are determined to carry this thing on all the way through summer and into next winter!!

for both of you. It feels like life has ground to a halt and I’m just waiting, waiting for good news... that may never come.

Is there no scaremongering over the delta variant in the French press then? The Germans are all over it with their doom and gloom...

The Delta variant has been found here but is a very small percentage of detected cases so far so they are watching it but there’s no doom and gloom. It is conveyed as noted but not a cause for worry.
That’s bad news about Germany though because if they start making a big deal of it, france does have a tendancy to follow suit

I'm joining you late in the thread (although I think I posted at the beginning) to add my sadness.

I am a Scot living in US. Typically would go home 2 or 3 x yearly, to see family, including my DD. DM died early 2019, so I went for funeral and frankly, was working up the courage to go back early 2020, knowing it would be so different (I usually stayed with her) and sad and hard. Of course, that did not happen, and now I have not seen any of them for just on 2.5 years. I am so sad, so homesick, so lonely. It is also making the reality of losing my DM much harder to accept - in some ways, she won't really be gone until I see her house is now someone else's; that she is really gone. We also boxed up so much of her 'stuff' to go through once we were stronger. That's all just sitting there, waiting. Making it harder for my siblings. What a mess.

We are now talking about planning (half planning) for September, but would need to go to London as well as Scotland, and that in itself is problematic. Both of us are fully vaccinated, so fingers crossed for some changes with that.

All restrictions have been lifted locally - Northern California - so it feels even MORE like this is possible, but I can't bear to get my hopes up too much.

For those of you looking at quarantine, my heart goes out to you. I researched it earlier in the year, including looking at daily menus (!) and was ready to do it if need be. Was not looking forward to it, though.

That sounds incredibly tough... I hope you get to travel and find closure... so hard!

206 cases in Greece yesterday 7 day average 450.

Got my fingers crossed so so hard.

I am sad today as my grandmom passed away in India. Not covid related. Just old age. But I would have liked to go as she was my last surviving grandparent and very good to me. Would have also liked to support my mom through this. My mom will be going to the small funeral but now am worried she will catch Covid.

Oh @MareofBeasttown I’m so sorry . Is your mum vaccinated? Does she have family nearby to support her?

sorry about the news @MareofBeasttown , hope you can be by your family near time

Yes my mom is double vaxxed, as are all her family. She has sisters nearby for support though sadly both me and my sister live far away from her. It was fine until Covid came along as she is very active and independent. Thanks all. I am grateful my gran died peacefully in her bed with no suffering.

Hope you don’t mind posting this.
Petition for fully vaccinated UK citizens arriving from red list to have home quarantine.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/588072

@MareofBeasttown

Just curious, does anyone know whether this will cover foreign travellers coming to the UK (such as my family from the US!) who are double vaccinated, or only UK residents returning? Sorry if this has already been discussed on the thread before now.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/22/ministers-planning-quarantine-free-travel-for-fully-vaccinated-in-england-says-hancock

Can't wait to go back to Spain to see my eldest son, I haven't seen him since October 2019. I've been vaccinated with the AZ vaccine, something I said I'll never do, just to be on the starting line of the international flight queue the moment Australia opens borders.

I miss him so much.

Spain is doing extremely well with vaccines. Over 30% of the population have been fully vaccinated, and over 40% have received one dose.

I just want to see my son. After two years it's beginning to impact me big time.

My deepest sympathy to Mareofbeastown. How long can this go on? Are we supposed to readjust normal life directly after our long hoped for reunions? It’s not only the separation but also the constant stress of not being able to help each other in times of crisis.

We haven’t told our families this yet (because they would worry but not be able to do anything) but my DH has a cancer scare and minor surgery in the last 18 months and we have been at the edge of our ability to cope for months, maybe even 1 year. I don’t think I will be able to move on from this period any time soon. It feels like this will affect me for months or even years. I’m sorry if that sounds dramatic I don’t know if I’m just becoming overly emotional.

I'm so sorry about your grandmother Mare It's awful that you can't be there with your family.

2018 I can't imagine how hard it must be to have not seen your family in so long. I'm curious as to why you say London will be an added complication if you're visiting Scotland though? Travel between the two is quite straightforward with no restrictions.

Wolf I had taken it to mean all travellers to the UK - it would be pretty controversial if not.

I must say it's absolutely barking mad that as a UK traveller we can go to much of Europe without quarantining, even without being fully vaccinated, but if we visit a country with significantly lower incidences of coronavirus, even if fully vaccinated, we must quarantine and do endless tests on our return. It makes no sense.

My husband seems to have got hold of an idea that the EU countries which still have restrictions for UK visitors will relax them on July 1st. I think it's very unlikely - they'll be opening up internally as far as I understand, but there'll be no real reason for them to rush to welcome UK visitors, especially if we don't green-list them. Anyone have any theories?

Children included in plans for quarantine-free travel from amber list countries, ITV News understands

www.itv.com/news/2021-06-22/covid-government-working-on-plans-for-quarantine-free-travel-from-amber-list-countries-matt-hancock-says

Would be great if that happened but I have no insights! I’ve gone and booked a cheap and cheerful apartment in my home town so we can quarantine away from my parents for two weeks before we start our real holiday with them. DH not pleased.

so sorry about your news, @MareofBeasttown. That's really difficult, and sad.

@QuimReaper there may be no added complications, but I'm just anticipating the worst, if you know what I mean. Uncle in London has been alone throughout, is 88 and very lonely. If we don't go see him it will be awful, so we need to be able to stop there when we go. Poor guy, I can't imagine the loneliness of all of this time without seeing friends.

I've looked at the house I want to book. I'm mentally taking steps!

Has anyone worked out yet what the EU digital ‘green pass’ is actually good for? I understand that as an EU citizen I can actually get that pass even though I live outside the EU now. But, with the travel rules as they are, would there be any benefit in having the pass?

My embassy hasn’t actually worked out yet how I’d get this pass in practice... but do I even need or want it?

@Schulte

Has anyone worked out yet what the EU digital ‘green pass’ is actually good for? I understand that as an EU citizen I can actually get that pass even though I live outside the EU now. But, with the travel rules as they are, would there be any benefit in having the pass?

My embassy hasn’t actually worked out yet how I’d get this pass in practice... but do I even need or want it?

Not sure whether we can have them but tbh it's not much different to the ones that the NHS has got n the app (in fact the British app has got more info than the documentation I've seen from Spain)

It's not a requirement to enter the EU, just facilitates traveling around as our NHS app does.

What would you want it for that the NHS app doesn't do?

@EasterIssland I guess the question is if you need a green pass to access certain services in any of the countries. E.g. Hungary introduced a full-on immunity passport scheme. People without an immunity passport have to quarantine on arrival, and even after the quarantine they cannot enter restaurants, hotels, spas, etc.

Continued:
The NHS app is not accepted as proof of immunity, because the UK does not accept theirs.