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