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Travel restrictions/Europe

nerodog

nerodog

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
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Location
Portugal
www.afar.com

Europe’s Entry Rules Just Got More Confusing

Thus far, Sweden and Bulgaria put in a ban, Netherlands added a quarantine, and unvaccinated travelers are no longer allowed in Italy, Germany, or Spain. Are you keeping up?
www.afar.com www.afar.com


Hope this is updated..things change so fast.
 
nerodog said:
Just saw FRANCE restricting to only US vax. Tourists.
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I don't mind the restriction to only those who are vaccinated, but I do have trouble with the 10 day quarantine in the Netherlands, even if you are vaccinated.
 
Luanne said:
I don't mind the restriction to only those who are vaccinated, but I do have trouble with the 10 day quarantine in the Netherlands, even if you are vaccinated.
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Me either... agree w/your thoughts... its overkill. I wish Portugal would do the same. The govt is allowing unvax and vax in with testing. There go our numbers and hard work.
 
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Just returned from 10 days in Portugal. Travel was far easier than I had anticipated. Hotels took temp and asked for Vax card. Some restaurants asked for Vax card or Tourist QR code from safe travels. Masks are worn in every indoor space and on all public trans. Several places had enforcement of mask use upon entry. Didn't experience any closures or delays any of the places we visited. 5 days in the Algarve, 1 in Evora and 4 in Lisbon with a day trip to Sintra. Beautiful, diverse country with friendly people and great food. For return to US, we used the binax self test with Emed proctor. Our friends used Synlab locally and it was very easy and fast with Synlab locations everywhere. They had results within 30 minutes for about $35.
 
stslc said:
Just returned from 10 days in Portugal. Travel was far easier than I had anticipated. Hotels took temp and asked for Vax card. Some restaurants asked for Vax card or Tourist QR code from safe travels. Masks are worn in every indoor space and on all public trans. Several places had enforcement of mask use upon entry. Didn't experience any closures or delays any of the places we visited. 5 days in the Algarve, 1 in Evora and 4 in Lisbon with a day trip to Sintra. Beautiful, diverse country with friendly people and great food. For return to US, we used the binax self test with Emed proctor. Our friends used Synlab locally and it was very easy and fast with Synlab locations everywhere. They had results within 30 minutes for about $35.
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Wonderful, lucky you. Portugal is currently considered one of the safest places to travel within. If I could tolerate that flight masked up (no way), or if a trans-Atlantic airline enforced vax + negative tests for all crew + passengers, I'd be on my way tomorrow. We spent a month there in 2016, and yearn to return. If I ever feel I must emigrate, it's #1 on my wish-list.
 
Portugal and Scotland are on my bucket list. We have a business trip from last summer re-scheduled to Feb to UK, France and Switzerland to ski Zermatt. Hope it won't be cancelled due to complex travel rules again.
 
Portugal is pretty much open and welcoming visitors. Still need to show a recent COVID test unless you have EU passport. The restrictions are almost normal.
 
A few days before we arrived in The Netherlands the gov't put new restrictions into effect for anybody without an EU Vaccine proof or those who are not fully vaccinated. Even though we are fully vaccinated we need to get a (free) rapid Covid test at an approved site that is good for 24hrs and allows us to eat inside a restaurant, attend a concert or other indoor gathering (like my niece's wedding) and any indoor gatherings where there will be crowds. Museums, outdoor patios, public transit (including canal boats) and some tourist attractions. We were going to eat at an outdoor patio the other day and were denied access to use the bathroom because we didn't have the QR code. When we said we would then find another place to eat if we couldn't even go in to wash our hands, the manager allowed us to enter the restaurant for a few minutes.

After getting the rapid test, they text your cellphone with a code that you need to input into the email they also send then copy and paste the QR Code it creates into the Dutch Corona Check app. This was a major problem for us and many of my niece's friends who don't live in the EU as the testing lab will only text a Dutch cell phone number, which none of us who are just staying a week or so have. My poor niece and her friend were very busy in the days leading up to the wedding accepting texts from the lab and forwarding the code to our and others' emails so we could copy the QR code into our apps as all the guests needed the code to attend the wedding.

One of my niece's friends who lives in England had to arrange to arrive early since England is not part of the EU so she and her DH had to quarantine for 5 days. They had booked an Airbnb and thought they would just get food delivered but several restaurants and food delivery services refused to deliver to them when they found out they were in quarantine. Both are fully vaccinated and had a negative test before leaving England and had to be tested again on day 3 in The Netherlands. They also had problems with not having a Dutch cell number and my nephew-in-law ended up getting them a cheap pay as you go SIM card which they gave to us when they left last Sunday. It makes getting our tests a little easier but for the most part we are just avoiding doing anything that requires a test.

Masks are no longer required except when riding public transit. We will still need to mask up for the flight home as well.
We have our PCR Tests scheduled for tomorrow in preparation for our return to Canada on Sunday. At least they arent quite as expensive as we anticipated.
We've had a good time, but we will be glad to get back to Canada, especially my 90 yr old dad!


~Diane
 
Interesting move by the Netherlands. I wonder if they'll remove the mandatory quarantine before Spring? A lot of European cruises go out of there, including one I booked for May. I'm pretty sure many US-based cruise lines won't be able to fill their ships if that rule is still in place for American citizens. It doesn't apply to Canada (at the moment at least).
 
marmite said:
Interesting move by the Netherlands. I wonder if they'll remove the mandatory quarantine before Spring? A lot of European cruises go out of there, including one I booked for May. I'm pretty sure many US-based cruise lines won't be able to fill their ships if that rule is still in place for American citizens. It doesn't apply to Canada (at the moment at least).
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The Netherlands has since dropped the quarantine requirements. Cruises- both ocean and river- have resumed operation in The Netherlands. The nutty requirements only lasted a couple of weeks. Yes, a QR code OR your CDC card will gain you access to all the indoor dining, transport, museums, etc. that EU citizens enjoy. You will find masks generally worn indoors and mostly outdoors unless you can be well spaced. We found in France and Spain in Aug & Sept that we were warmly welcomed and that there were very few N. American & Asian tourists. Enjoy it while it lasts.
 
Okay, I am reading old web pages then. A map of the world was mostly shaded in 'orange', which meant those countries had to quarantine. Canada was shaded neon yellow (not our best colour). Thanks for the update. Strangely, I am trying to get my 'travel in' as much as possible while people are still staying at home. There are certainly a lot of hoops to go through, but for the most part I have felt very safe. I'm glad your trips went well.
 
Passepartout said:
The Netherlands has since dropped the quarantine requirements. Cruises- both ocean and river- have resumed operation in The Netherlands. The nutty requirements only lasted a couple of weeks. Yes, a QR code OR your CDC card will gain you access to all the indoor dining, transport, museums, etc. that EU citizens enjoy. You will find masks generally worn indoors and mostly outdoors unless you can be well spaced. We found in France and Spain in Aug & Sept that we were warmly welcomed and that there were very few N. American & Asian tourists. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Yes only folks that haven't been vaccinated with an acceptable vaccine still need to quarantine. My niece's friends were able to get out of quarantine a couple of days early when the rule changed.
We have discovered a couple of restaurants that didn't demand the Dutch QR code if we show them our vaccination proofs. I think they are in the minority though.
Masks are not required in museums, including the Anne Frank House that we visited last night. We have reservations for a canal boat tour today in an enclosed (WC accessible) boat and we were told masks are not required there either.


~Diane
 
Wow! I have the EU code/passport so it sure comes in handy! Flying back from USA required no test..just my EU card!! The EU is taking serious precautions which people adhere to . 85%of Portuguese population is vax so restrictions are lifting. People still wear masks inside stores etc , outside its mixed.
 
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We just arrived in Croatia. I was pleasantly surprised by how seamless travel was to get here. We simply had to upload a photo of our CDC vaccination card and contact information along with passport details, and we were good to go. Our connection through Amsterdam was a breeze.
 
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Dubrovnik is open for business, but it felt like we had the old city to ourselves. They’ve kept restaurants and shops open past the normal tourist season to try to make up for lost Covid revenue.
 
F98B30C1-CDEE-4393-A538-0A8B45CA87E3.jpeg

Platvice Lakes and Split were a bit busier this week, but not crowded by any means. We noticed a lot of Americans on a Holland American cruise ship that came into Split. Fully vaccinated people are starting to travel again!
 
I suspect that by next Spring, the word will be out and the crowds will be back. It's been so magical to have Europe's treasures for ourselves. The REAL Payoff for heading to Europe as soon as we could. It will never be like that again in our lifetimes.
 
Silversea, Holland America, and MSC ships were all in Trogir. What a difference the crowds make!
 
France is now requiring tourists from outside the EU (think USA among others) to have a negative Covid test prior to arrival. (Source France 24, the French version of the BBC). Before this recent change, you needed to have proof of vaccination, but not a recent negative Covid test.
 
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