Welcome to Mumsnet's holiday forum. Discuss all international travel here, including both shorthaul and longhaul trips. Related topics: UK holidays & day trips, skiing, camping & campervans.
Welcome to Mumsnet's holiday forum. Discuss all international travel here, including both shorthaul and longhaul trips. Related topics: UK holidays & day trips, skiing, camping & campervans.
Holidays
Has anyone survived an all-inclusive so far this year?
Ticksallboxes · 30/07/2021 17:47
In a couple of weeks time we're due to fly to a lovely Tui resort on a Greek island for a fortnight. We're doing it mainly for our teenage DCs as they've both had a pretty rough year this year. I've bought the insurance and ordered the required testing packages, we're all being super-vigilant about contacts and I was starting to get in the mood.
I then read the entry requirements again on the Government’s Foreign travel advice page for Greece. It seems that, in addition to the test our DCs need to take 48 hours before flying, we all 'may be required' to take an antigen test on arrival. If any or all of us test positive we will have to self-isolate in Greece at a quarantine centre (and not be able to use a pool) and probably miss our holiday.
Tui’s covid cover means they will pay up to £250 per family per night to quarantine, but crucially we won’t get any money back on the holiday we’ll be missing!
Also, if anyone who was on our flight tests positive either at the airport or during their stay, we may also have to then self-isolate at a quarantine centre (and again lose the rest of the money spent on the holiday).
I’m just worried that there’s a chance we may lose everything and is it worth it for such an expensive outlay. I wonder if I’ll be able to relax at the resort wondering if we’re going to get pinged at any minute and we’ll have to leave and waste all that money.
Has anyone recently returned from a holiday similar to this that went smoothly (and I’m hopefully therefore over-reacting)? Or are a lot of you experiencing the kind of disaster I’ve outlined above?
Ticksallboxes · 01/08/2021 12:30
I didn't know it was only Greece that tested on arrival. We got seduced by their Atlantica resorts.
At least if you test positive I the UK prior to departure you can just postpone the holiday until next year, but if you test positive in Greece you get taken to a quarantine hotel for up to 10 days and you won't get your money back on your holiday. Although our resort may have isolation facilities itself.
Hanging on to the 0.014% testing positive figure I read earlier...
Ticksallboxes · 01/08/2021 14:12
@Movinghouseatlast Last week 11 people tested positive on arrival.
Do you mean of all the people tested at airports in on arrival worldwide in one week or just in Kos?
Ticksallboxes · 01/08/2021 23:39
I've found the Kos Airport testing Trip Advisor thread that was mentioned by a PP. One of the latest posts on it says that a family reported there was no testing at the airport when they arrived about a week ago, so maybe now more people are going on holiday now schools have finished, they can't cope with the numbers. Fingers crossed!
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g189444-i437-k13600275-o60-TestingIsolation-KossDodecaneseSouthhAegean.html
HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 02/08/2021 00:10
I also went to a Greek island. Nobody was tested on arrival, though this was in June.
You do have to plan for the worst case scenario. One guy tested positive the day before our flights (when we did our pre-flight lateral flows) and he and his girlfriend were taken to a Greek quarantine hotel for 10 days. Separate rooms. I'd planned for that potentially happening to me and wouldn't have gone if it would have caused major problems.
Travelling in a pandemic, you just have to accept that the worst really could happen, either having to quarantine out there or getting COVID and being hospitalised in a foreign country.
Movinghouseatlast · 02/08/2021 15:22
There is no rule as to who I'd tested. There are lots of people on trip adviser reporting that some people are being tested at the airport.
As I said it isn't worth trying to cheat the system as you could be tested and end up in a quarantine hotel on arrival or departure.
Hohofortherobbers · 02/08/2021 15:40
No random testing on arrival in menorca, I got home Saturday. It was with tui and all very efficient. Airports weren't busy, paperwork easy to complete and quickly processed at Spanish and English border control
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