Anyone been to / going to Greek islands?

[Twobigsapphires]

Due to holiday on Greek Island in 2 weeks. Really anxiety inducing, anyone in the area boat or can offer reassurance?

We made it to Zakynthos! Smoothest airport experience ever. Stayed last night at the Premier Inn at Gatwick and just walked across the road at 4.45 this morning. By 4.55 we were through bag drop and security and sitting down to breakfast.

Arrived in Zakynthos and it was a quick check of passports at one counter and then the next one was doing PLF and vaccines. Saw a couple of people being tested but not many.

@fizzypink that's fantastic. Our flight is at 6:40 from Gatwick so we'll follow your timescales but 20 mins earlier. Enjoy your holiday!

[quote iwantavuvezela]@Summersdreaming - Skiathos town will be in full swing and you will have lots of food options - if you need a quick delicious snack then head for Noname who do gyros/salads/ etc, delicious and cheap (I think Noname is open until 4am!) and then you should be able to finish with an ice cream

For anyone in Skiathos I have been (reliably) informed that at the Port in Skiathos town you can get free tests to return home with fit to fly certificate (otherswise 20 euros if you want to pay at airport or local health clinic)[/quote]
Fab, thank you for the recommendation! So there is no curfew in Skiathos then? I think pp mentioned a curfew in Crete upthread and there was a curfew in Corfu last year but I can't see anything on Google about Skiathos..

Have a fabulous time. We’re at the airport waiting for the call to the gate. It’s all been pretty relaxed so far. Even the kids noticed that ‘airport grealishhairband’ hasn’t made an appearance (I get stressed at the airport in normal times)

[quote iwantavuvezela]@Summersdreaming - Skiathos town will be in full swing and you will have lots of food options - if you need a quick delicious snack then head for Noname who do gyros/salads/ etc, delicious and cheap (I think Noname is open until 4am!) and then you should be able to finish with an ice cream

For anyone in Skiathos I have been (reliably) informed that at the Port in Skiathos town you can get free tests to return home with fit to fly certificate (otherswise 20 euros if you want to pay at airport or local health clinic)[/quote]
OMG !!!!

DH and I still talk about the NoName gyros 20 years ago!!!!

@rufus77

We made it!!! Landed in Rhodes late last night from Manchester. Manchester airport was really quiet and so easy. Flight was probably 75% full, no fizz which was the biggest disappointment!! There was wine though From landing in Rhodes to getting in the cab it was about 20 minutes! Only our flight landed at that time (around 11pm). Straight through passport control the. A quick check of our plf and vaccines docs and that was is. Taxi was waiting (Rhodes transfers - highly recommend) saw one or two people getting tested, not sure if they were unvaccinated so can’t comment on that but they were 20’s. Taxi to Princess Andrianna Hotel in Kiatori was about 50 minutes. It is absolutely beautiful! The sun is shining, it’s hot hot hot and I’m finally relaxed (although shattered) You need to wear masks inside but that’s all. Everybody is so friendly and happy to see visitors. I’m so happy I can’t tell you, all of the stress was so worth it!

Thank you so much for this positive update @rufus77 We will be joining you this weekend! Everything crossed for a smooth entry into Greece.

Do we need booster seats for car journeys in Greece? Esp Rhodes as it's a long drive on what looks like a motorway..

We made it too! The build up was by far the worst bit. Once at the airport everything went extremely smoothly, it was so easy. Very straightforward once landed, very prompt through passport control (definitely print all your docs ... PLF, Covid vaccine certificates and negative LFT certificates), collected hire car and on the road within 45 minutes. The Greeks are so pleased to see us and we are so very pleased to be here. The stress has literally disappeared and we're having a fantastic time. Now we're here, everything feels extremely safe and apart from hand sanitiser everywhere, and the odd person wearing a mask, you can almost forget Covid exists. We saw two people randomly selected from our flight for testing and they were back in the queue within minutes. For all those stressing, be assured I was VERY anxious but would do it again in a heartbeat.

Dh and I were debating booking a week in Crete in September. We've decided to do it - villa and flights now booked. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly

@EmmaGrundyForPM hope it all works out just don't whatever you do use chronomics for your testing. They may seem cheap but they don't deliver in time. I'm about to pay an extra £64 for emergency tests for my kids at the airport! We also may now have to buy tests to return once We are in Greece.

We arrived back in UK last night after a fab 2 weeks in Zakynthos. I had an email from Chronomics to say that our day 2 tests ‘may be delayed by a day’.

I’m not quite sure what to do about that - I can’t find any info online about whether we can use that as an excuse for not having done them on day 2 or should get other tests. If it’s just a day then hopefully it won’t matter - we are fully vaxxed so no isolating - but I can’t understand why it would be delayed by a day and also do not trust this company one bit, they seem very last minute.

@Dontrainonmyparade

We did neither day two or day eight tests due to complete balls up by chronomics.
This was when we still had to do ten days of isolation.
Each day I had to explain the saga to track and trace when they phoned... They couldnt have cared less. Clearly your results are not linked to your plf that t and t can see...

At one point t and t suggested we just pop down to our local test site and do it there.
But honestly they didn't seem to care and after day 10, when we still hadn't done any tests they stopped ringing

@Twobigsapphires

Due to holiday on Greek Island in 2 weeks. Really anxiety inducing, anyone in the area boat or can offer reassurance?

Went for a week in June, felt safer over there than I did in the uk! Go and have a good time, if you have any questions feel free to msg me

Thanks @Theredjellybean that’s helpful. I won’t stress over it too much then.

@Dontrainonmyparade

Our Day 2 tests turned up on Day 3 and we didn't get the results until Day 6! I sent a scathing email and haven't had a reply. Nobody contacted us about them, which I think proves the whole thing is about making money... Have a fabulous holiday!

@Dontrainonmyparade sorry, just seen that you are back from holiday - we went to Zakynthos too and loved it 😊

How much should these day 2 test cost?

The one I found is £79 each. Is that about right?

@Adelphia1977 - the cheapest postal one I found was £55 with TheMontagueClinic. And £89 from c19. Not decided which one to go with.

My Randox day 2 was £43. I know they’ve had bad press but you really only need the code for the PLF. We don’t get back until next Tuesday and they’ve already sent them out..
Also was easy to order. You could put 4 in your basket and checkout, many of the others you have to do 4 separate orders and I just couldn’t be arsed..

Yay! My chronomics tests have finally arrived just as I was giving up all hope and preparing for a dash to Stansted to do drive thru tests!

Going to test the kids this evening and hopefully then we will know for sure sure that we are going to Corfu!!!

NWP is £40 for Day 2 test

I ordered about two days before we flew home and they were waiting for us when we got back

You don't need to put the booking ref in for any DC you are adding to your PLF.....

Just had our first full day. I can only echo what everyone else has said about how worth it all the stress has been. The hotel is super hot on wearing masks when moving about and there is alcohol gel everywhere plus little measures like disposable gloves to use the serving ladles in the restaurant. Feels really safe. And the weather is FABULOUS.

@GrealishHairband glad you are enjoying it. Have a fantastic time.

Just got our fit to fly certificates through so after a week of stressing it looks like we are actually going to Corfu!

Yeah I can echo what others have said about chronomics.
They left it until the last second for our fit to fly.
And our day 2 test which was sent Friday... we have still not had the result..
I ordered randox for my youngest DC and sent it Friday
Had results saturday.

I've arrived!! Both airports were an absolute breeze, very quiet, the only people tested from our group were unvaxxed.. Happy holidays everyone, I shouldn't have stressed