Anyone actually gone on holiday?

[Gem8701]

Look at booking a green list holiday!

Those of you on holiday/been on holiday, how long before your flight did you arrive at the airport? I kept hearing of stories of long delays a while ago, but has that died down?

@astuz

Those of you on holiday/been on holiday, how long before your flight did you arrive at the airport? I kept hearing of stories of long delays a while ago, but has that died down?

I didn't go abroad but I have flown, at half term for an internal flight. 7pm Manchester airport terminal 1 on the Friday evening at the start of a half term - deathly quiet. It was quite eerie tbh.

Dd flew on a Friday afternoon to Portugal from Liverpool airport last month, just before it went amber. Again, a very quiet airport. No queues at all, walked straight through passport control.

Randox are the cheapest tests and have a good reputation.

This is the company we had issues with and they were very unhelpful. It was also almost impossible to speak to anyone by phone. It was done via messaging which was quite slow.

When I Google afterwards the reviews had similar issues. Basically all fine if everything goes on. Not good if you encounter a problem.

We used a different company for replacements and the service was so much better. Same price and actually had customer service you could contact and get a reply straight away, by phone and messaging.

As it happens no one even checked up on the day 2 test (faulty so couldn't be sent off) and DD's replacement test wasn't recorded anywhere by us - no way to do so by us or by the company. So could probably just have not bothered paying to replace it and it be fine!

@thereswaldo I'm curious about the green pass. Do you just show it on your phone? Where are yiu travelling from?

@astuz

Those of you on holiday/been on holiday, how long before your flight did you arrive at the airport? I kept hearing of stories of long delays a while ago, but has that died down?

Delays are coming back into the UK not leaving

@WhiteChocTwix so jealous! Who did you fly with?
Our flight to Zante was cancelled with Jet2

[quote Medstudent12]@WhiteChocTwix you've been my inspiration on this travel board the whole time haha. Due to fly tomorrow if all goes well.

@TheExtraGuineaPig we'll be there at the same time, all the best with sorting tests etc.[/quote]
@medstudent12 You're too kind! Have a lovely holiday! Our trip has gone far too quickly, I could stay happily stay here all summer! The weather is still fabulous.

@TheExtraGuineaPig also have a lovely holiday, hope all goes well with sorting the tests.

@Geamhradh Amazing! Where are you off to and when?

[quote MsMiaWallace]@WhiteChocTwix so jealous! Who did you fly with?
Our flight to Zante was cancelled with Jet2 [/quote]
@MsMiaWallace We flew with BA. They have 2 flights going back to Heathrow today from Mykonos. Sorry to hear your flights got cancelled, could you look into going with another airline?

I've been very fortunate that Covid hasn't actually affected my travel plans very much.

Last year I went to the South of France in July for two weeks, and again in August (although the second trip was cut short due to the quarantine announcement - we just made it home in time). We went to Barbados for 10 days in October half term and the Maldives over Christmas / New Year (we flew to the Maldives three days before the lockdown was announced, so were very lucky with the timing!). There was no quarantine requirement for any of those holidays as they were all 'green list' when we went and came back.

All the holidays were a lovely break from the doom and gloom at home, and not at all spoilt by Covid restrictions. The testing requirements to enter Barbados and the Maldives were very strict (especially Barbados, where we had to spend the first 48 hours in a 'quarantine hotel' - which was much nicer than it sounds - it was a lovely hotel and we were free to use the pool / gym etc.) Once we had our second negative PCR result and got to our normal hotel, it felt like a proper holiday but with far less people, which we loved! The Maldives was a resort island (Club Med) so everyone was very relaxed, knowing that there was no one on the island who hadn't had a negative test.

This year we haven't been anywhere yet, although would normally have been to France at Easter and over May half term. We will fly to France on the 14th July (I have a house there), and are planning to stay most of the summer, or until Boris eventually announces that double-jabbed people can come back without quarantining.

We've also booked flights to go to France in October and have booked the Maldives again for Christmas.

@WhiteChocTwix @Medstudent12

i am going to crete on thursday...were it is 32 degrees and i cannot wait
we are all over 16 and double jabbed
i have found it no real drama doing the paper work and we booked with TUI so bought there cheap package and i am waiting to see what happens with travel list before booking a day 5 test to release ( my dsd will need todo that)
I have printed off greek PLF and my covid pass qr code from the nhs app.
all pretty straight forward tbh
definitely do not understand people being scared or hesitant..however very happy if more people stay away and the resorts are quieter..but feel for the countries dependent on tourists

only worry i have is the greek qr code, that get sent at midnight the day before you travel, as we will be in an airport hotel, with no access to printer so will be relying on phone to show it...but hey sure it will be fine

@astuz I flew today. Long queues. Allow 2.5 hours at least. Once you get through the showing covid tests and dropping bags off security was really quick. Plane half empty as I’m in Greece which is amber. Like 20% full so boarding was easy.

@Theredjellybean I showed my code on my phone at the airport, it was fine. It’s beautiful weather here!

For anyone coming from Greece what I wish I’d known before and would have saved hassle:

-Leave plenty of time for airport, extra queues due to covid checks

-Either be double jabbed (at least 2 weeks ago) or a PCR or antigen test

-They got the whole plane to do lateral flow on landing (everyone was negative from what I saw). Once it’s negative you get your passport back.

-Make sure you do your passenger locator form (PLF) in plenty of time. Show it at the airport, midnight (Greek time) the day before you travel you will be emailed a QR code which you show when you board the plane and land

-most airlines once they’ve seen your covid tests or vaccine proof will give you a slip saying you’ve passed covid checks and can just show that at the gate

Rates are high in U.K. so keep yourselves to yourself in the run up to your trip. Not worth being told to isolate because you went to the pub the night before the flight.

I also went away last summer. My recommendation is book annual leave at work. Don’t be fussy about where you go if you just want sun. Follow covid rates in Europe/elsewhere and then 3-7 days before book to go somewhere. No point booking somewhere now for September that could be red by then.

For me so far it’s been worth it. Once you get your head around tests etc it’s honestly fine.

I meant anyone going TO Greece lol can’t type

Nah the logistics of testing, potential quarantine, masks abroad
I have friends in Portugal now and they’re under curfew and restaurants and bars are closing mid afternoon at weekends.

Not spending that much money until I get a carefree holiday

were the long queues in uk ?
we are flying at very early oclock so already getting up at stupid oclock and that is from onsite airport hotel.
was planning on only leaving 2 hrs to drop bags and get through security
plan on on line check in day before...

@Quail15

Fingers crossed I'm off to Tenerife (amber destination) in two weeks. We went to Spain last July and it was lovely, no issues at all. This year it's been a bit of a faff to organise all the tests we need (one to go out, video test to come back, two tests whilst isolating on return) but so far so good.

I'm on maternity leave and my husband works from home so isolating when we get back isn't an issue.

Can I ask how or who you organised your tests with? We are also due to go on Friday the 16th... Thanks!

@astuz

Those of you on holiday/been on holiday, how long before your flight did you arrive at the airport? I kept hearing of stories of long delays a while ago, but has that died down?

I am in Mallorca. Departure airport was pretty quiet, no queues to speak of. Absolute chaos on arrival in Palma as apparently they hadn't added any extra staff despite knowing loads of flights would be coming in. We queued for passport control for best part of an hour. Got suitcase back very quickly though.

We are to Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda via France tomorrow, driving from Belgium. I have my EU Covid passports and the Passenger Locator Form filled in. I don't think I will actually believe it until I'm there.

Medstudent12... thanks for your update.. hopefully our holiday to Crete in August will go ahead.

Happy holidays😊

[quote WhiteChocTwix]@Geamhradh Amazing! Where are you off to and when?[/quote]
I'm in Italy so heading west to Spain at the beginning of August and hopefully Greece late August. I do keep wondering if I should bring them forward...

We are going to Portugal - Porto first in case there is weekend confinement in Lisbon and then Lisbon for the rest of the time. Airbnb prices have fallen so even if it doesn’t work out, we won’t have lost a huge amount. We live in France- far too expensive to holiday here!

Delays are coming back into the UK not leaving

Ours was internal so no issues.

Dd coming back from Portugal on the evening before it went amber was able to walk straight through with no queues. But that was Liverpool airport which is quite small.