Anyone actually gone on holiday?

[Gem8701]

Look at booking a green list holiday!

@pinkhousesarebest-Porto now has the same restrictions as Lisbon. TBH everywhere is set up for delivery/takeaway so not a massive problem.

We’re in Lisbon and heading north shortly. Leaving UK and entering Portugal very easy and no big queues/delays.

@Medstudent12

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.

Great summary! I totally agree with all of this! Hope you have a great holiday.

So we arrived in Majorca today from Edinburgh. Airport in Edinburgh wasn't as quiet as I expected but wasn't 'busy' either. Check in and security took about 2 minutes each. I had my Covid test on Saturday morning and got my results 12 hours later.

Flight was great and no issues at Palma. It did take 40 minutes to get through security but bags were there and car hire was done in 5 minutes flat. They did have a very brief look at the Covid paperwork.

Worst thing about it ....wearing a mask on the flight. That was it. So glad we did it.

It is worth it to relax in the sun and see my boys playing in the villa pool for about 4 hours today.

We're in Kefalonia at the moment. Flew out of Gatwick last weekend. All very straightforward- we arrived 2 hours before flight as usual and had plenty of time. J had organised all our paperwork and had copies for me and my OH and we got through very quickly - really no different to normal. A few people in the queue ahead of us didn't seem to have any idea what paperwork they were supposed to have! We presented with passports, pdfs of our vaccine status and a greek PLF with the required QR code (which came through about 10.30pm the night before we flew)
We were masks on the plane and when we landed we all had to do LFTs. NY the time we got to our hotel we had received a text with the negative result.
The island is virtually covid free (2 cases as of today) - we have a hire car and we eat outside (it's 30°+) so we haven't needed masks while we're here.
On Friday we will do our antigen tests for our return to UK (€20) and quarantine as required. It has been so worth it though - we're having a wonderful time and it was all.mych more straightforward than I expected

It's great to hear these lovely stories, thanks @Pootle40 and @99victoria!

The Greek plf, is this on Greek government website or airline? We have done airline only

I'm going to Crete next week.

We are off to France next week on the ferry. Really looking forward to it, both double jabbed and got our COVID tests ready to do. You can either do a PCR up to 72 hours before arrival in France or a LFT 48 hours before. We are using Randox.
DH is french and I have dual nationality so we are not anticipating any problems.
We are prepared to quarantine on return but hope the rules will have changed by then so we don't have to.

What are you all doing about travel insurance? The FCDO is still advising against all but essential travel to many places and so many insurers won't provide cover.

@Bichette

What are you all doing about travel insurance? The FCDO is still advising against all but essential travel to many places and so many insurers won't provide cover.

I got travel insurance for a family of 4 for £40 to go to Majorca on the green list. It covered all the usual stuff about people testing positive for Covid.

I think it's more likely that some of the holiday destinations will start putting the UK on their red list soon the way our cases are rising.

Ha tried to book a villa today via Tui to menorca... loads of availability
Not one left this afternoon 😱

@Pootle40
Yes but what about amber destinations?

Fcdo not advising against travel to Greece and canaries..
We are at Gatwick now for early flight to crete.
Just waiting for Greek plf qr code to come through.
It has been a faff with paperwork but once you've logically worked through it, it's pretty straightforward.

I am due to take my DC's to Greece soon (Rhodes). Is there a website which lists all the things I need to have for entry because I am getting confused and I am terrified of getting it wrong and getting turned away.

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece/entry-requirements

[quote Bichette]@Pootle40
Yes but what about amber destinations?[/quote]

We went to Majorca when it was still Amber. Our standard travel insurance which we have via our bank account covered it. Because the advice was "against all but essential travel" and not "against all travel" they were fine.

Or you can find specific insurance. I've seen posts on other threads, sorry can't remember the names of the companies.

Government website has been updated. Yeah!!
Should be easier to get insurance now

They've done the same for Spain as well. Does this mean France and Spain are now on the green list then or not? Or are they just changing this bit of the guidelines to make it easier for double vaccinated people to go?

The latter. No changes to colour status, just changing what the rules are within the colour status if you're double jabbed or a child under 18.