Holiday to Egypt

[VioletRose91]

Hi all need some opinions really, booked a holiday that’s departing on the 10th to Egypt for my 30th, now with this new variant I’m terrified it will go on the red list and il either get stuck or end up in a quarantine hotel and miss Christmas.
We booked through TUI and I’m concerned I can’t get a refund (if anyone works for TUI help me out lol)
Honestly I don’t want to loose all our money - we lost our honeymoon and loosing this will just be the icing on the cake.

Is anyone else going away and worried sick!?

Due to fly on early hours Wednesday morning, got everything sorted but worried sick we will have to go into a quarantine hotel which we can’t physically even afford (it’s like over 1k for each person…..)

This is my worry, did you book through TUI? We have been offered a amendment but will have lost the money for the lateral flow tests ect!

@VioletRose91 no we aren’t through TUI , we do everything separate through air bnb etc! We have also lost money from the lateral flows, about £40 in total, just forked out another 100 for PCRS ahhhhh :(

I wouldn't risk it. I just cancelled a trip to Spain which in hindsight now seems like a bad idea (quarantine at home or even over there wouldn't have been that much of a hassle) but I would not want to be so far away from home at a time when rules seem to be changing very quickly in response to a new variant. How much would you really enjoy it if you were checking the news constantly for updates? Can you push it back to after next spring?

I feel happier knowing Downing Street declined the day 8 isolation/pcr test. Don’t have much faith it’ll stay that way though

I'm booked to go 30th December with TUI.

You can amend free of charge inside 28 days of travel and that's as far as I've got.

I'm at the point of cancelling altogether and taking a loss on the chin. Can't be faffed.

I’d move it to a later date if there’s no amendment fee. No way I’d feel comfortable travelling abroad over the next few weeks.

@VioletRose91 did you cancel in the end? Obviously your decision, we took the risk and went, currently in Lanzarote and all is well! I’d say the only thing to be concerned about right now is potentially having to do another day 8 test and isolation till then, apart from that I think you’re pretty safe from it being cancelled etc

I wouldn't cancel. Can't see any reason for Egypt to suddenly go on the red list. I've just come back from a great holiday ; having to do extra tests was a bit of a faff but it was still very much worth it. I don't think international travel is going to be back to "normal" in a hurry so if you want to travel, you need to accept that there will be some aspects that are less predictable than usual; the upside of this is, there are some bargains to be had. I am very much in favour of seizing the day while we can.

Still hoping to travel on 30th December.

Have I got this lot right?

Before
NHS covid pass (app/QR code)
PCR test within 48 hours before departure? (Not sure we have to do this?)
Health declaration form for Egypt (find it online, printed copy)

During
PCR test within 48 hours before departure (pre order in UK and take with us)
Passenger locator form within 48 hours of departure (complete online on GOV website, no paper copy required)

After
Day 2 PCR (pre order so we’ve got it when we get back)

@trickytrudy that all sounds good and correct. Only thing I’m unsure of is the pre departure test to Egypt? I thought it would just one for 2 days before you return back to the UK but I might be wrong.

They didn’t even check our passenger locator at stansted, hundreds of people just passed through border control as usual with no checks.
They’ve definitely still used the info from the passenger locator though as we have just been pinged!

@trickytrudy

Still hoping to travel on 30th December.

Have I got this lot right?

Before
NHS covid pass (app/QR code)
PCR test within 48 hours before departure? (Not sure we have to do this?)
Health declaration form for Egypt (find it online, printed copy)

During
PCR test within 48 hours before departure (pre order in UK and take with us)
Passenger locator form within 48 hours of departure (complete online on GOV website, no paper copy required)

After
Day 2 PCR (pre order so we’ve got it when we get back)

Not quite -

1. Before you go -

You don't need a PCR test to visit Egypt if you're double - vaccinated www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt/entry-requirements Strongly recommend printing off a copy of your vaccination certificate or PCR result if you're not vaccinated.

1. During.

Your pre-departure test to return to the UK would normally be a lateral flow test so that you get an instant result. Eg Chronomics pre-departure return to UK test Other than that all looks good!

@DivorcedAndDelighted @Holzawolza thank you both, very much appreciated.