Are we there yet? Your second Travel Megathread (threadbans in OP}

Del Griffith

Hontou wrote: »

Even if the Irish government don't sanction the Green Cert until August, could people travel regardless? With Vaccine/PCR test? If the Gardai are no longer turning people away at the airport.......will there be a new mechanism to stop people travelling or will it simply be advisory not to?

Of course you can travel. No threat of a fine from tomorrow (apparently). Nothing stopping you from getting a pcr test and heading to one of the holiday spots that won't ask covid negative people to quarantine.

The only actual difference before and after the cert for many destinations is that you'll be expected to quarantine at home on return to Ireland before the cert gets here.

Tony will be concerned but it's not as if anyone's listening to that gob****e at this stage.

Happydays2020

Dr. Em wrote: »

What? Please elaborate.

If the UK has a coherent policy in respect to travel and we continue not to have then there will be greater certainty booking from Belfast. More chance the flight actually will go. A negative is that the UK is out of the EU system so good to check policies. BA has flexible flights and a cancellation voucher arrangement.

gozunda

gozunda wrote: »

I'm not sure there is any hive mind of in relation to a common travel approach in countries like France, Spain, Portugal, Italy

Currently the EU has the Traffic light system in operation. Yet both Italy and Portugal have adopted thrir own national classification of risk areas, hence current travel restrictions for Portugal and Italy are not based on the common "EU Traffic Lights" map.

Dr. Em wrote: »

Mmm, border control is a sensitive issue for a lot of countries and a lot of them will want to have their own regulations, even if it makes travel more confusing. After all, of those four countries, only Spain actually accepted the traffic light system. France, Italy and Portugal are all running their own individual systems. Herding cats comes to mind.

Dr. Em wrote: »

France too. Spain is the only one of those four that signed up to the traffic light system.

Spain agreed to the traffic lights as a guideline but operates it's own system as well.

So of the 4 countries mentioned, none actually adopted the eu system but people will still claim that countries can't adopt their own policies.

Happydays2020

Happydays2020 wrote: »

If the UK has a coherent policy in respect to travel and we continue not to have then there will be greater certainty booking from Belfast. More chance the flight actually will go. A negative is that the UK is out of the EU system so good to check policies. BA has flexible flights and a cancellation voucher arrangement.

No different to Dublin. If there's enough bookings, the flight will go. If not, it will be cancelled.

Vouchers as well.

At the moment, there is no advantage to Belfast over Dublin unless it normally suits you.

gozunda

Hontou wrote: »

Even if the Irish government don't sanction the Green Cert until August, could people travel regardless? With Vaccine/PCR test? If the Gardai are no longer turning people away at the airport.......will there be a new mechanism to stop people travelling or will it simply be advisory not to?

As you said there is an Irish Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel.

In the UK it is still illegal to travel abroad for travel or leisure purposes.

Add to that many holiday destination countries have significant restrictions on tourism and internal travel irrespective of the EU traffic light system and I suspect will have a slow implementation of the 'green cert'

And that to reduce the level of non essential travel to keep down the rate of infection whilst individual countries vaccinations programmes are rolled out

Other than those? Not really ...

Travel for tourism will return - many countries are just not there yet.

CruelSummer

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

Spain agreed to the traffic lights as a guideline but operates it's own system as well.

So of the 4 countries mentioned, none actually adopted the eu system but people will still claim that countries can't adopt their own policies.

Looking at Míchéal on the news, he said Ireland would adopt the cert sometime between June - August. That’s great certainty for the people of Ireland & all associated industries, isn’t it? Maybe he should do a Stephen Donnelly on it and say the cert will adopted on JulAugust the 45th.

I take what he said as meaning Ireland will either have to adopt the cert with everyone else if the EU scrap the 6 week lead in time. Otherwise it’s the full 6 weeks for us & not a day earlier. The usual excuses will be wheeled out:
- schools
- abundance of caution
- variants

Not to mention, clearly the Government think families do not deserve a break in the sun or abroad. Only those who are fully vaccinated & can go in Autumn. Those whom we’ve been locked up protecting for the last year. Who said children need vitamin D anyway?

Van.Bosch

gozunda wrote: »

As you said there is an Irish Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential travel

The DFA states for all EU countries “High Degree of Caution”, it no longer states avoid all non essential travel. I’m sure the government would want us all to think that but with the fine due to stop tomorrow and the DFA saying urge caution, the reality is you can go where you are let in basically.

CruelSummer

CruelSummer wrote: »

Looking at Míchéal on the news, he said Ireland would adopt the cert sometime between June - August. That’s great certainty for the people of Ireland & all associated industries, isn’t it? Maybe he should do a Stephen Donnelly on it and say the cert will adopted on JulAugust the 45th.

I take what he said as meaning Ireland will either have to adopt the cert with everyone else if the EU scrap the 6 week lead in time. Otherwise it’s the full 6 weeks for us & not a day earlier. The usual excuses will be wheeled out:
- schools
- abundance of caution
- variants

Not to mention, clearly the Government think families do not deserve a break in the sun or abroad. Only those who are fully vaccinated & can go in Autumn. Those whom we’ve been locked up protecting for the last year. Who said children need vitamin D anyway?

I presume we will adopt it eventually but again, I dont know where this mandatory 6 weeks is coming from as it hasnt even been agreed yet.

Im assuming that I will need to PCR test for my next flight. Maybe I will get lucky and be vaccinated and thats accepted but I wont rely on it.

and yes, as Ireland wont be reducing the private tests or offering free ones for travel, its gonna be an expensive event for families if they decide to travel.

Lot of people will take the kids from school though

ngunners

Dr. Em wrote: »

France too. Spain is the only one of those four that signed up to the traffic light system.

France is moving to a traffic light system and have already announced that they’ll be accepting tourists this summer. Macron even appeared on American news a couple of weeks ago to encourage vaccinated Americans to book their holidays to France.

Dr. Em

ngunners wrote: »

France is moving to a traffic light system and have already announced that they’ll be accepting tourists this summer. Macron even appeared on American news a couple of weeks ago to encourage vaccinated Americans to book their holidays to France.

Oh? I hadn't seen that. Are they going to adopt the EU traffic light system, or make a new one with their own criteria?

Ray Donovan

Van.Bosch wrote: »

The DFA states for all EU countries “High Degree of Caution”, it no longer states avoid all non essential travel. I’m sure the government would want us all to think that but with the fine due to stop tomorrow and the DFA saying urge caution, the reality is you can go where you are let in basically.

Exactly this!! And travel insurance becomes valid under this advisory too.

For EU travel this seems to be the case for holiday destinations like the Canaries:

Airport Fine: Sorted
Travel Insurance: Sorted
Entry into destination: Sorted (PCR)
Return to Ireland: Not sorted (14 day or 5 day quarantine + negative PCR) For a lot of people this isnt an inconvenience.

I just dont get all the negativity here with people saying travel wont be available until August or later. Dont believe the spin the government puts on it and independently check the regulations and you’ll find the reality a lot different to what Micheal & Simon want you to believe.

I’m out of here June 29th and expecting no issues whatsoever.

ngunners

Dr. Em wrote: »

Oh? I hadn't seen that. Are they going to adopt the EU traffic light system, or make a new one with their own criteria?

The EU one as far as I’m aware. But from what I read it will apply to all countries not just EU ones. The government want French citizens to be informed of the risk of travelling to specific countries but other than that they have been extremely positive about reopening this summer.

Dr. Em

naufragos123 wrote: »

Thank you Dr Em. Has anyone any advice on the best way to not get caught with a cancellation? Fly capital to capital? Early morning or weekend perhaps better than midweek? Booking at the last minute? Or fly from Belfast?

If you have a permanently available place to stay on the other side and flexibility to travel, booking last-minute would be my suggestion. Otherwise, just check the refund/change policy and be prepared to change plans last minute if needs be. As other posters have said, the easier it becomes to travel, the more reliable the flights will be. It is also a good idea to keep an eye on developments in the destination country.

Marcusm

braychelsea wrote: »

Think it's up to the countries to decide. People are quite negative in this thread but I could see some Med countries not even needing a PCR test or green cert for travellers from countries with low COVID rates in late summer.

I'm with you on this one except that I would date it to 1 July. Portugal will get a boost from being the only mainstream summer destination which the UK has included on their green list. Spain, Italy, Greece etc will want to catchup. None of these required POCR tests etc last Summer. This Summer they will have 70% pr so vaccination (one dose only perhaps) by 1 July and will want the economic boost. They will, in my opinion, drop the PCR requirement unilaterally.

gozunda

Van.Bosch wrote: »

The DFA states for all EU countries “High Degree of Caution”, it no longer states avoid all non essential travel. I’m sure the government would want us all to think that but with the fine due to stop tomorrow and the DFA saying urge caution, the reality is you can go where you are let in basically.

Are you absolutely certain about that? The text in my previous comment is taken directly from the DFA website

Viz

There is a Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel. Travel restrictions are in place to protect public health and to mitigate the risk of new variants of COVID-19 entering the country. 

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/general-covid-19-travel-advisory/


Substituting supposition for reality doesn't really cut it tbf.

Valhallapt

braychelsea wrote: »

Think it's up to the countries to decide. People are quite negative in this thread but I could see some Med countries not even needing a PCR test or green cert for travellers from countries with low COVID rates in late summer.

This. The EU is vaccinating at the same rate, 75% will have had at least one jab by mid June, so everyone will relax and I can see Spain and Portugal relaxing all their pcr green cert requirements

Marcusm

CruelSummer wrote: »

Looking at Míchéal on the news, he said Ireland would adopt the cert sometime between June - August. That’s great certainty for the people of Ireland & all associated industries, isn’t it? Maybe he should do a Stephen Donnelly on it and say the cert will adopted on JulAugust the 45th.

I take what he said as meaning Ireland will either have to adopt the cert with everyone else if the EU scrap the 6 week lead in time. Otherwise it’s the full 6 weeks for us & not a day earlier. The usual excuses will be wheeled out:
- schools
- abundance of caution
- variants

Not to mention, clearly the Government think families do not deserve a break in the sun or abroad. Only those who are fully vaccinated & can go in Autumn. Those whom we’ve been locked up protecting for the last year. Who said children need vitamin D anyway?

What he means is quite simple. He needs to keep prevaricating on outbound tourism until enough people are holidaying at hiome and supporting the local tourism industry while at the same time reducing the restrictions on inbound tourism so that it encourages high spending visitors, especially the grey haired Irish Americans desperate to see the old sod for one last time.

Intellectually, I hate this approach; pragmatically, it is the right one.

gozunda

Marcusm wrote: »

What he means is quite simple. He needs to keep prevaricating on outbound tourism until enough people are holidaying at hiome and supporting the local tourism industry while at the same time reducing the restrictions on inbound tourism so that it encourages high spending visitors, especially the grey haired Irish Americans desperate to see the old sod for one last time.

Intellectually, I hate this approach; pragmatically, it is the right one.

Ireland remains on the US "Do not travel" to list ...

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/ireland-travel-advisory.html

patscott27

So as of tomorrow no 2000 euro fine for non essential travel to any place that will accept you. For example if visiting UK you can fly there and.then return via Belfast without compulsory quaratine. Just to get that straight.

Ray Donovan

gozunda wrote: »

Are you absolutely certain about that? The text in my previous comment is taken directly from the DFA website

Viz



https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/general-covid-19-travel-advisory/


Substituting supposition for reality doesn't really cut it tbf.

Every EU country on the DFA website has “High Degree of Caution” rather than “avoid all non-essential travel”.

Ray Donovan

patscott27 wrote: »

So as of tomorrow no 2000 euro fine for non essential travel to any place that will accept you. For example if visiting UK you can fly there and.then return via Belfast without compulsory quaratine. Just to get that straight.

We think that is the case yes. Unless a renewal of fine comes overnight or early in the morning.

Marcusm

patscott27 wrote: »

So as of tomorrow no 2000 euro fine for non essential travel to any place that will accept you. For example if visiting UK you can fly there and.then return via Belfast without compulsory quaratine. Just to get that straight.

Nope, returning via Belfast does not relieve you of your obligation to quarantine at home. It just means that you are not recorded as needing to do so. If you have been in any of the specified territories within the prior 14 days then you need to quarantine irrespective of your port of arrival,.

jn123

What about travelling from a 'red' country to the UK, and then onto Belfast. Does NI not have mandatory quarantine as well?

patscott27

patscott27 wrote: »

So as of tomorrow no 2000 euro fine for non essential travel to any place that will accept you. For example if visiting UK you can fly there and.then return via Belfast without compulsory quaratine. Just to get that straight.

Why do you think there is no quarantine?

gozunda

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Every EU country on the DFA website has “High Degree of Caution” rather than “avoid all non-essential travel”.

The text on "high degree of Caution" hasn't changed btw.

The previous poster claimed the there was no current Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel. 

There is.

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/general-covid-19-travel-advisory/

So in addition to that advisory for those that have essential reasons to travel - there is a "High Degree of Caution" advisory for listed countries.

So yes the advisory agsinst all non-essential travel remains in place.

stephenjmcd

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Every EU country on the DFA website has “High Degree of Caution” rather than “avoid all non-essential travel”.

The high degree of caution is in relation to essential travel.

The avoid non essential travel advisory is still in place

Queried my travel insurance and they've said I'm covered for essential travel as per government guidelines, not covered for non essential travel as per DFA advisory

titan18

As long as the home quarantine is in place too, some peoples work will look very negative on any decision to travel and then arrive back into the workplace afterwards in that period. As long as there's a requirement for that and PCR tests, travel isn't very feasible tbh

Ray Donovan

stephenjmcd wrote: »

The high degree of caution is in relation to essential travel.

The avoid non essential travel advisory is still in place

Queried my travel insurance and they've said I'm covered for essential travel as per government guidelines, not covered for non essential travel as per DFA advisory

Is there anyone out there who would insure someone as things stand? Surely someone would if COVID 19 cover wasn’t included.

stephenjmcd

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Is there anyone out there who would insure someone as things stand? Surely someone would if COVID 19 cover wasn’t included.

No mention of covid in my policy.

Simply not covered for anything if my trip isn't essential

Whole point is that yes the advisory is still in place.

Del Griffith

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Is there anyone out there who would insure someone as things stand? Surely someone would if COVID 19 cover wasn’t included.

Just get an EHIC if you're moving within the EU.