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

faceman · 02-04-2021 09:31AM

Dr. Em wrote: »

????
That model is more strict than what Ireland has now.
https://www.covid.is/sub-categories/visiting-iceland

I'm for testing and travel restrictions until the vaccination rollout is complete, but I thought you wanted more travel before then?

Unless they’ve changed the policy in Iceland, it’s a 5 day (enforced) quarantine. You can do it at home or if you are a traveller there is a list of approved accommodations you can book.

Exemptions for vaccinated people and people with recent covid apply.

jsoc · 02-04-2021 09:42AM

Anyone know if travel insurance will cover my now cancelled plans to Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands ? :rolleyes:

Gael23 · 02-04-2021 09:47AM

Ray Donovan wrote: »

So what is the current and possible short term future for us who would like to travel in the EU in the next few months.

So right now we have a not to partake in non essential travel advisory from NPHET/DFA. This has been in place for a year now but has been made even more stringent with a €500/€2,000 fine for attempting to leave the country for non essential travel. Ordinarily this would destroy holiday plans for Summer 2021 but....

The EU are keen to reopen intra EU travel from June and are pushing along the roll out of the Digital Green Travel Certificate which can be obtained by meeting one of the following 3 criteria

1) Proof of vaccination
2) Proof of a positive COVID diagnosis and a full recovery within the previous 180 days
3) A negative test result before travelling.

So the big question remains is what will Ireland’s response to this travel cert be?Personally I believe the non essential travel advisory will remain in place for Summer 2021 but the key for me is what happens to the fine? If the travel cert comes in and the fine goes then that travel advisory is not worth the paper it’s written on. People will travel. However if the fine stays in place then that would really deter people from travelling. But could Ireland justify having that fine yet having the travel cert in place to the EU Commission?

And finally, and I don’t know the answer to this, is the airport fine linked to Level 5? If we leave L5 does the fine go.

I actually predict that Summer 2021 will be quite similar to Summer 2020 from an Irish perspective with a non essential travel advisory in place, but a key difference is the travel cert will be in.

Any more updated info on this?

Klonker · 02-04-2021 09:56AM

Last February when this all kicked off we seen this novel virus killing a load of people in China and then Italy. We thought the death rate was way higher than it actually was due ot very limited testing. We had no vaccine to protect ourselves and best guest was possibly 5 years if ever for a vaccine that hopefully is 60% effective. Our government decided that we shouldn't block flights as it would be a knee jerk and not a proportional response.

Now over a year later, we have many vaccines more effective than we could have hoped for, we know the death rate is a lot lower than we first feared and now we blocking flights because there are other strains that the vaccines might be slightly less effective against though the data on this isn't conclusive yet, no proof it's more dangerous or transmissible (I'm excluding the UK variant as its already dominant here) or the possibility that there may be a new variant that doesn't exist yet that the vaccines might not work against. We already have a requirement for a PCR test pre flight that should first of all catch cases but also a financial obstacle.

It's just is illogical, I can't get my head around it at all. Can anyone explain it to me?

Happydays2020 · 02-04-2021 09:58AM

Klonker wrote: »

Last February when this all kicked off we seen this novel virus killing a load of people in China and then Italy. We thought the death rate was way higher than it actually was due ot very limited testing. We had no vaccine to protect ourselves and best guest was possibly 5 years if ever for a vaccine that hopefully is 60% effective. Our government decided that we shouldn't block flights as it would be a knee jerk and not a proportional response.

Now over a year later, we have many vaccines more effective than we could have hoped for, we know the death rate is a lot lower than we first feared and now we blocking flights because there are other strains that the vaccines might be slightly less effective against though the data on this isn't conclusive yet, no proof it's more dangerous or transmissible (I'm excluding the UK variant as its already dominant here or the possibility that there may be a new variant that doesn't exist yet that the vaccines might not work against. We already have a requirement for a PCR test pre flight that should first of all be catch cases but also a financial obstacle.

It's just is illogical, I can't get my head around it at all. Can anyone explain it to me?

Completely illogical.

Blut2 · 02-04-2021 10:06AM

Theres no logic whatsoever to it.

We have a collection of island countries with total populations the size of small towns in the South Pacific (Wallis and Futuna Islands: population approx 12,000), European microstates that keep no record of people entering/exiting (Andora/San Marino/Monaco), Carribean nations some of which have had literally no recorded covid cases in months (Bonaire: last confirmed covid case January 6th), and Israel of all places. The idea that someone arriving from Israel, whos already been vaccinated, and who has a negative covid test taken less than 72 hours before their plane touches down in Dublin on top of that for extra safety, is of any risk is particularly statistically insane.

Hellrazer · 02-04-2021 10:17AM

I cant get my head around Israel either - theres usually a fairly big cohort of Irish citizens out there training in the Intel plant if I remember right.

This government are going to absolutely send our country back to the 1980s with these ridiculous restrictions.

But there was a huge call for this quarantine from the public- its going to bite them in their asses in a few months time.

Micky 32 · 02-04-2021 10:21AM

:rolleyes:

Hellrazer wrote: »

I cant get my head around Israel either - theres usually a fairly big cohort of Irish citizens out there training in the Intel plant if I remember right.

This government are going to absolutely send our country back to the 1980s with these ridiculous restrictions.

But there was a huge call for this quarantine from the public- its going to bite them in their asses in a few months time.

It starts to beg the question will the government give us our normality back post vaccination. Restrictions never lifted or very limited lifting.

Regarding biting them in the ass i doubt it. The public will accept anything the government throw out to them. Sure it’s for the greater good :rolleyes:

02-04-2021 10:22AM

I like the quote from someone on the radio this morning. I think he was from the IDA or something similar thankful for more sensible voices stepping in to stop “the department of health writing cheques that the country cannot cash”

normanoffside · 02-04-2021 10:23AM

Greece and Cyprus have lifted all travel restrictions for Israeli tourists. No tests, no restricted movements, nothing

The same day Ireland puts them on the mandatory quarantine list.

https://twitter.com/IsraelinIreland/status/1377566771947966465

seansouth36 · 02-04-2021 10:24AM

The government have jumped the shark with this new list of countries. We have been told constantly for the past year that public health is the main consideration. Yet we are now being told that an unvaccinated teacher living in France does not have to quarantine but a vaccinated teacher in the UAE does have to quarantine. Has any journalist asked a government representative why this makes sense?

How can they expect the public to take them seriously when their policies don't stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever. Maybe if our esteemed fourth estate wasn't so busy apologising to ministers or deciding which emojis to use in their latest tweets, they would ask some hard questions...

Donald Trump · 02-04-2021 10:52AM

Klonker wrote: »

Last February when this all kicked off we seen this novel virus killing a load of people in China and then Italy. We thought the death rate was way higher than it actually was due ot very limited testing. We had no vaccine to protect ourselves and best guest was possibly 5 years if ever for a vaccine that hopefully is 60% effective. Our government decided that we shouldn't block flights as it would be a knee jerk and not a proportional response.

Fairly revisionist there. In reality it was a different world before the first cases arrived here in terms of many people's perception of the potential seriousness of it to us. You can go back to the first boards thread on it to see plenty of people making jokes about it.
The first official case recorded in Italy was February 21st 2020. I was in Italy at the beginning of Feb and I seem to remember there being reports of cruise ship passengers having tested positive down the South at the time. I think that they later just turned out to be regular flu. In mid Feb a friend of mine travelled to Italy. There still wasn't overly serious concern in the average population although we were a little more aware of it then. But you have to remember that in Ireland, at the time we locked down around Paddy's Day a month later, there were still people going to, and coming back from, skiing trips to Italy.

At the time, for most people, Covid19 was just a story of something happening over in Asia - the same as SARS and MERS and people complacently assumed it would stay there. Plenty of people assumed it would go away in the Summer. ONe exceptionally intellectually gifted, very stasble genius, President even said it would magically disappear by Easter 2020. Others pointed to the Spanish flu abating during the Summer and coming back with a vengeance in the second round.

Would the government have blocked the Italian flights/passengers for the cancelled rugby match if they could go back in time now? Would they have blocked travel to/from Cheltenham ? I'd be fairly sure that they would if they could. Those decisions were the height of stupidity. Not reasonableness.

(I am assuming you mean Feb. 2020 when you say "last February)

Donald Trump · 02-04-2021 10:59AM

normanoffside wrote: »

Greece and Cyprus have lifted all travel restrictions for Israeli tourists. No tests, no restricted movements, nothing

The same day Ireland puts them on the mandatory quarantine list.

https://twitter.com/IsraelinIreland/status/1377566771947966465

No point scouring the internet or twitter to find someone else agreeing with your viewpoint. That is just confirmation bias.

A look at a map might give a hint why Cyprus might be allowing Israeli's to enter easier.

Why do you give that much of a shit about Israeli's having to quarantine? As someone else pointed out above, there are certain sections of the population over that part of the world who are somewhat blockaded from receiving vaccination. They are depending on the Russians and Iranians getting them in for them.

MarkY91 · 02-04-2021 11:18AM

We're even adding obscure micro islands in the Caribbean that nobody knew existed to the list now. Jesus christ all I can do is laugh at this government at this stage.

Father Hernandez · 02-04-2021 11:35AM

Donald Trump wrote: »

No point scouring the internet or twitter to find someone else agreeing with your viewpoint. That is just confirmation bias.

A look at a map might give a hint why Cyprus might be allowing Israeli's to enter easier.

Why do you give that much of a shit about Israeli's having to quarantine? As someone else pointed out above, there are certain sections of the population over that part of the world who are somewhat blockaded from receiving vaccination. They are depending on the Russians and Iranians getting them in for them.

I have a massive issue with Isreal being on that list because there is no defined reason for Isreal to be on that list.

Having emailed numerous departments, the official line I have been given for MHQ introduced in Ireland is "there are variants of Covid 19 virus that present a particularly high risk to Ireland and these countries have been placed on the category 2 list."

This has since changed in literally a week to include countries that have high cases of Covid19 but the countries added are laughable including Israel where it's probably one of the safest in the world from Covid right now.

I have a vested interest in MHQ as half my family is from a country on the list and should anything happen (touch wood), where we need to travel, we either have to make a decision not to travel or be subjected to a 2 week stay in the Crowne Plaza and fork out €2k. I have still yet to get an answer for countries being on the list and the data we should be looking out for for countries to be removed. In essence, we cannot plan ahead should we need to travel for an essential reason.

I firmly believe this should've been brought in 12 months ago to all countries, introducing this now 12 months later and putting countries on it that are extremely low risk in comparison to other countries shows up this decision to be the absolute farce that it is. It's nonsense and as it stands, we have zero idea if these countries will still be on the list by June 2021 or June 2022 and beyond.

MarkY91 · 02-04-2021 11:39AM

Donald Trump wrote: »

No point scouring the internet or twitter to find someone else agreeing with your viewpoint. That is just confirmation bias.

A look at a map might give a hint why Cyprus might be allowing Israeli's to enter easier.

Why do you give that much of a shit about Israeli's having to quarantine? As someone else pointed out above, there are certain sections of the population over that part of the world who are somewhat blockaded from receiving vaccination. They are depending on the Russians and Iranians getting them in for them.

Go away outa that with your political ****e. This is a thread about travel during coronavirus and Israel rightfully should not be on the list

stargazer 68 · 02-04-2021 11:51AM

Maybe they are doing it like a raffle! Put all the countries in a hat and take turns to pull a winner. The prize is mandatory quarantine!

Happydays2020 · 02-04-2021 11:53AM

MarkY91 wrote: »

Go away outa that with your political ****e. This is a thread about travel during coronavirus and Israel rightfully should not be on the list

Agree.

Wallander · 02-04-2021 12:00PM

New quarantine list is going down well internationally:

https://twitter.com/mishtal/status/1377929587540291584

02-04-2021 12:02PM

Wallander wrote: »

New quarantine list is going down well internationally:

https://twitter.com/mishtal/status/1377929587540291584

Wow. Some of those comments! Difficult to blame them TBH

Tenzor07 · 02-04-2021 12:06PM

Ok so adding one of the worlds most successful countries in the race to vaccinate is completely illogical...

But at the same time there's extremely few Irish citizens in Israel...
There's direct flights to or from Israel...
There's no way Irish citizens are going to Israel without an extremely essential reason...which I don't think even includes work...

Apart from the fact that Israel doesn't want a plane load of non-Vaccinated Europeans landing in their country...

suicide_circus · 02-04-2021 12:07PM

Wallander wrote: »

New quarantine list is going down well internationally:

https://twitter.com/mishtal/status/1377929587540291584

No need to reach for the antisemitic card when the incompetence card is right there

Wallander · 02-04-2021 12:13PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

No need to reach for the antisemitic card when the incompetence card is right there

Yeah totally over the top, but try explaining the reasoning for this move to Israelis who are often on the lookout for hostility/bias towards them. I'm yet to hear any half convincing explanation why Israel is on the list. I'm seriously wondering if some NPHET figure deliberately added it to try to temper hopes of vaccines opening up travel ("ooh, look Israel is on the bad list even though they're completely vaccinated, maybe I better not plan that trip to the US/UK this summer!")

M_Murphy57 · 02-04-2021 12:25PM

seansouth36 wrote: »

The government have jumped the shark with this new list of countries. We have been told constantly for the past year that public health is the main consideration. Yet we are now being told that an unvaccinated teacher living in France does not have to quarantine but a vaccinated teacher in the UAE does have to quarantine. Has any journalist asked a government representative why this makes sense?

How can they expect the public to take them seriously when their policies don't stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever. Maybe if our esteemed fourth estate wasn't so busy apologising to ministers or deciding which emojis to use in their latest tweets, they would ask some hard questions...

French people still need to quarantine on arrival, just not in covid prison like the Israelis now do. And the vast swathes of southsea islanders that arrive on our shores daily.

The French can quarantine in a private home or a hotel of their choosing (and a price of their choice)

WallyGUFC · 02-04-2021 12:39PM

MarkY91 wrote: »

Thank **** Mexico wasn't added. I. Headed there in a month.

You lucky man. Do you mind me asking what the requirements are for travel to Mexico at the moment, PCR tests and all that?

faceman · 02-04-2021 01:02PM

Wallander wrote: »

New quarantine list is going down well internationally:

https://twitter.com/mishtal/status/1377929587540291584

While Israel shouldn’t be on the list, I’d give zero credibility to that racist clown

General Toilet · 02-04-2021 01:43PM

Does anyone know the situation with someone travelling from Bulgaria to Belfast via Heathrow? Is it just a PCR test?

IQO · 02-04-2021 01:47PM

WallyGUFC wrote: »

You lucky man. Do you mind me asking what the requirements are for travel to Mexico at the moment, PCR tests and all that?

Mexico doesn't require anything, but as there are no direct flights you need a transfer somewhere - it's possible that the transfer country requires you to have a negative PCR test.

Gael23 · 02-04-2021 02:36PM

General Toilet wrote: »

Does anyone know the situation with someone travelling from Bulgaria to Belfast via Heathrow? Is it just a PCR test?

Yes I believe so. What I’m not sure if you need a second PCR test in Heathrow or not

02-04-2021 02:50PM

General Toilet wrote: »

Does anyone know the situation with someone travelling from Bulgaria to Belfast via Heathrow? Is it just a PCR test?

Just a PCR test. But try to make sure you’re on a connecting flight to Belfast, so that you connect airside. The queues to get through immigration are 2 or 3 hours as a standard (have been up to 7 hours recently), even for UK / Irish citizens. So you’ll likely miss your Belfast flight if you have to go landside. Everyone is in the same vast queue.

If you’re lucky you can blag your way to the front (with proof of another flight) as my partner did recently on a return from Serbia, but it’s incredibly awkward and you’ll need a friendly member of staff

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-56209431

Edit: just in case anyone is nervous, if you’re flying from Ireland you miss all that - you still go through the domestic channel straight to baggage reclaim

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

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