Returning to Portugal?

[sue2215]

On a positive note on arrival sailed through London Luton airport in record time, very well organised!

[Geoff]

Thats going back to uk presumably...how about entering portugal?

[sue2215]

Geoff, yes going back to UK. Arriving in Faro 2 weeks ago was fine, very quickly through.

[PTBUXTON]

Sad to say we have just altered our end of June flights to the end of August hoping against hope that the queues and the price of the PCR testing will have come down some what, I cannot do with queuing at the best of times, I'm becoming a right old GRUMPY B-----D IN MY OLD AGE

[Farol]

Just a warning to allow plenty of time at Faro airport. Chaos here this morning, massive queues at bag drop to check Covid test results & passenger locator forms, a few not having completed theirs. Even if you just have cabin bags you still have to go to bag drop!

Which airline were you flying with?
How did you know to go to bag drop?
How much time did it take from airport arrival to departure lounge, ie to clear all obstacles?

[sue2215]

[quote=sue2215 post_id=273110 time=<a href="tel:1622451966">1622451966</a> user_id=8574]
Just a warning to allow plenty of time at Faro airport. Chaos here this morning, massive queues at bag drop to check Covid test results & passenger locator forms, a few not having completed theirs. Even if you just have cabin bags you still have to go to bag drop!

Which airline were you flying with? EasyJet
How did you know to go to bag drop? Emails from EasyJet
How much time did it take from airport arrival to departure lounge, ie to clear all obstacles? Approx 1hr 30 mins
[/quote]

[Braken]

Leaving the UK.

PCR Test: Randox NI £60 with easyJet discount. Placed in Randox "Drop Box" @ 4:30pm yesterday. Result email at 6:30am today.

Excellent service would definitely recommend. Will be using on return.

[Geoff]

Placed in Randox "Drop Box" @ 4:30pm yesterday. Result email at 6:30am today.

That's good...the Bristol Randox last drop off time was 4pm though....

[Geoff]

Luton was excellent yesterday afternoon, very quiet. EJ checked everything , but bit surprised they also handed out locator forms on plane to anyone who didn't have them...there were a handful of takers.
Faro was very busy, with only 4 passport control channels open : good job there weren't lots of flights. Took about 20 mins to clear. They only wanted to see Passport ( to stamp) and PCR form , not locator one!

Lovely to be in the sun today, & glad to be back!

[Braken]

Portugal to be in Amber from the 8th June.

Piss up & brewery springs to mind!!

[Geoff]

Portugal to be in Amber from the 8th June.

...twas beginning to think it was too good to be true....

[PaulGoode]

If we keep mass testing healthy people and the media spreads panic and fear every time we have a new variant (natural mutation) then we will NEVER escape from this hamster wheel. If they are hitting the panic button in the Summer when the government has ‘convinced’ millions of people to get vaccinated, the chances of travel in the Autumn and Winter will be zero. The headlines regarding the number of cases rising is meaningless without context. The incidence of serious illness and hospitalisation is the key metric and the vaccines are supposed to prevent this from happening! Zero Covid is an impossible objective as is zero Flu. Covid is now endemic as is flu so unless we can live with it ‘normally’ any other policy to suppress it will destroy the travel industry and everything else that relies on the industry to survive. These are sad times indeed!

[Lowthian]

It seems very unjustified for Portugal to be moved to the amber list when the rate of infection is on par with that of the UK.
People returning to the UK having had a negative test before boarding a plane, and a PCR test after 2 days, are already a far lower risk than the rest of the general population.

[PaulGoode]

I think it is clear from the global response and draconian measures that are destroying life as we knew it that this is no longer about a virus!

[Striderman]

Absolutely. How is the UK ever going to move forward when we're continually running scared? We're decimating not only our own travel industry but the lives of all those who depend on tourism in Portugal and all over the world! It is such an insular and selfish behaviour, I can honestly say that I'm embarrassed to be British. Regardless, we are still coming out (flights permitting) tomorrow and we'll just take the extra testing and quarantine on the chin when we get back. It's got to the point where we can't let the clowns in Westminster continue to treat us like naughty school children. Rant over