Will you travel? [Mod Note in Post #1 - Travel Discussion Only! Megathread]

Beasty

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normanoffside

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

faceman

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

Didn't realise Lazanrote was outdoor dining only. I thought cases were better there. My region bars and restaurants have to shut at 5pm now but retail is open normal hours with reduced capacity. The capacity reduction doesn't effect me at this time of year as its a quiet area. we have the 10pm curfew too. Now that the cold weather Filomena brought is gone, its back to t-shirt day time weather. Spend a few hours at the beach today!

Lunchtime is the new dinnertime!

normanoffside

faceman wrote: »

Didn't realise Lazanrote was outdoor dining only. I thought cases were better there. My region bars and restaurants have to shut at 5pm now but retail is open normal hours with reduced capacity. The capacity reduction doesn't effect me at this time of year as its a quiet area. we have the 10pm curfew too. Now that the cold weather Filomena brought is gone, its back to t-shirt day time weather. Spend a few hours at the beach today!

Lunchtime is the new dinnertime!

No, they had a huge spike and moved from 'best in Canaries' to worst in Canaries' in less than a week.
When I booked less than 10 days ago they were at alert level 1 and are now level 3 (maximum)
Locals blame it on excessive Christmas household parties and mingling, same as ourselves.

Ray Donovan

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

What region are you in? Peurto Del Carmen?

normanoffside

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

Yeah, when I went into a bar there with live music, I almost got emotional. It really was a strange realisation of how ****ed up things have been.

normanoffside

Ray Donovan wrote: »

What region are you in? Peurto Del Carmen?

I am Indeed in PDC. If this is their highest level of restrictions I'll take it every day of the week.

Ray Donovan

normanoffside wrote: »

I am Indeed in PDC. If this is their highest level of restrictions I'll take it every day of the week.

I love Lanzarote. Booked for 3 weeks at end of June. When out for a walk/run/cycle will you keep an eye for these places to see if they are open....

Ned Kellys
Peggy’s Snug (Matagorda)
The Bodhran.

3 great spots.

normanoffside

Ray Donovan wrote: »

I love Lanzarote. Booked for 3 weeks at end of June. When out for a walk/run/cycle will you keep an eye for these places to see if they are open....

Ned Kellys
Peggy’s Snug (Matagorda)
The Bodhran.

3 great spots.

I'm at the old town side so I haven't made it up that end but most bars on the strip are open as they all have balconies or outdoor areas.

Ray Donovan

normanoffside wrote: »

I'm at the old town side so I haven't made it up that end but most bars on the strip are open as they all have balconies or outdoor areas.

I really like Fox’s in the Old Town but I know that is closed until middle of the year.

Are you working in a hub or do you have adequate internet in your accommodation?

normanoffside

Ray Donovan wrote: »

I really like Fox’s in the Old Town but I know that is closed until middle of the year.

Are you working in a hub or do you have adequate internet in your accommodation?

Had to pay an extra €10 but what I have now should allow me to work fine from the apartment.

Ray Donovan

normanoffside wrote: »

Had to pay an extra €10 but what I have now should allow me to work fine from the apartment.

Fair play to you and your initiative.

normanoffside

Ray Donovan wrote: »

Fair play to you and your initiative.

Sometimes the best option is to get out of Dodge

dublin_paul

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

Insanely jealous... enjoy!

0lddog

faceman wrote: »

Didn't realise Lazanrote was outdoor dining only. I thought cases were better there. My region bars and restaurants have to shut at 5pm now but retail is open normal hours with reduced capacity. The capacity reduction doesn't effect me at this time of year as its a quiet area. we have the 10pm curfew too. Now that the cold weather Filomena brought is gone, its back to t-shirt day time weather. Spend a few hours at the beach today!

Lunchtime is the new dinnertime!

https://grafcan1.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/156eddd4d6fa4ff1987468d1fd70efb6
gives an amazing amount of data for The Canaries. ( anyone know of similar for RoI ? )
Levels are changing for the islands all the time . Tenerife seem to have the Santa Cruz / La Laguna situation under control
https://www3.gobiernodecanarias.org/noticias/category/consejo-de-gobierno/acuerdos/
and so that island shifts down a level

coffeepls

0lddog wrote: »

https://grafcan1.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/156eddd4d6fa4ff1987468d1fd70efb6
gives an amazing amount of data for The Canaries. ( anyone know of similar for RoI ? )
l

Just in response to the ROI bit - https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/

Bit cynical

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Greece had random swab testing on arrival towards late Summer, then tested all arrivals as time went on..
Other countries, Malta... Belgium.. all had temperature checking at airports...

So, maybe a continuation of the testing on arrival in Greece, Spain, Italy....

Probably not in Ireland, I can't imagine NPHET telling FFFG to drop the requirement for Negative PCR on arrival this year... So the Irish tourism sector will have to rely on limited domestic tourism...with social distancing and reduced numbers rule staying in place.

We need a certain level of infections in order to justify shutting down businesses and restricting people's movements. People entering the country are a good way of achieving this.

the explorer

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

Do you know if many activities are operating, such as scuba diving, bike hire, surf lessons etc? I was planning to book for next week a few days ago but got cold feet after level 3 was announced, sounds like things are not so bad. Maybe I will go the following week as presumably the post Christmas case surge will have dropped off after the restrictions are reviewed on the 28th.

Are there many tourists around to keep activities open?

RobitTV

I regret changing my dates (again) when I saw that the cases in Lanzarote were quickly rising, I knew immediately that the regional government were going to impose the toughest level of restrictions on the island. So I then decided to change my dates from January to March for St Patrick's week.

Now I have heard that the increased restrictions on the island are still good for normal activities and 100000x better than in Ireland :pac: you can still go to a bar until they close at 9:30pm (10pm curfew) and it appears the barbers and hairdressers have remained open. Along with non-essential retail.

Meanwhile in Ireland they have come to the conclusion that shutting down everything until late March (and beyond) is the only solution, over and over again, endlessly yo-yoing in and out of lockdown with the same results just like a broken record that has yet to be recovered and repaired.

Lanzarote saw a spike in cases and people over there can still lead some sort of a normal existence, even with more restrictions they learn to coexist with the virus while maintaining social distancing and washing hands and wearing masks when required. They don't jump the gun and shut down society and play the blame game and get the pitchforks out.

faceman

The clowns in government are considering tightening restrictions for inbound travellers

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/government-to-consider-stricter-regime-for-inward-bound-travellers-1.4460696

Which is farcical when you consider that they dont even enforce existing measures. (It emerged Brazlian and UK visitors in the past few days had no PCR test and were not followed up on nor fined.

This is the governments problem all long, all noise and no substance. If they enforced existing measures such as the need to arrive with a test (which most countries have being doing for months) then things would be a lot better.

But what do we expect in a country where they have never enforced mask wearing, social distancing and currently defaulting to tokenism of fining the least risky of all categories, families going for a walk in the mountains or forest :rolleyes:

gmisk

Northernlily wrote: »

Yeah, when I went into a bar there with live music, I almost got emotional. It really was a strange realisation of how ****ed up things have been.

My folks have been in Lanzarote since start of November.
They are getting on brilliant.
Big thing is my dad can play golf!
Doubt they will be back for a good while yet!

They are seriously strict with masks etc my folks have seen plenty of people fined on the spot...bit of a contrast to here!

tiger_cub

faceman wrote: »

The clowns in government are considering tightening restrictions for inbound travellers

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/government-to-consider-stricter-regime-for-inward-bound-travellers-1.4460696

Which is farcical when you consider that they dont even enforce existing measures. (It emerged Brazlian and UK visitors in the past few days had no PCR test and were not followed up on nor fined.

This is the governments problem all long, all noise and no substance. If they enforced existing measures such as the need to arrive with a test (which most countries have being doing for months) then things would be a lot better.

But what do we expect in a country where they have never enforced mask wearing, social distancing and currently defaulting to tokenism of fining the least risky of all categories, families going for a walk in the mountains or forest :rolleyes:

It’s just PR spin so when someone comes knocking on doors looking for votes in 3 years time they’ll be able to say they looked into it / tried. There’s no legal way, even in a pandemic, that the Irish government can charge EU residents arriving from another MS a couple of thousand euro to quarantine in a hotel. It’s too prohibitive.

Outside the EU, ok we can do it but given how much we rely on FDI I don’t see us doing it for US etc. The Gov are too spineless.

Edited to add that I haven’t seen my German partner or been in our owned apartment there since October so blood pressure is through the roof with all commentary on this today!

faceman

faceman wrote: »

The clowns in government are considering tightening restrictions for inbound travellers

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/government-to-consider-stricter-regime-for-inward-bound-travellers-1.4460696

Which is farcical when you consider that they dont even enforce existing measures. (It emerged Brazlian and UK visitors in the past few days had no PCR test and were not followed up on nor fined.

This is the governments problem all long, all noise and no substance. If they enforced existing measures such as the need to arrive with a test (which most countries have being doing for months) then things would be a lot better.

But what do we expect in a country where they have never enforced mask wearing, social distancing and currently defaulting to tokenism of fining the least risky of all categories, families going for a walk in the mountains or forest :rolleyes:

I think you are being a little unfair. The Spanish system is no different. You 'may' be asked to produce evidence of a test and if you do not have one, you 'may' be issued a fine.

Spain, just like Ireland cannot stop residents from returning so any fine would be after the person has entered the country anyway. You are not refused entry for not having the test.

as for the 'going after the weak' People were fined for driving in dangerous conditions and then ****ing off into the mountains despite the restrictions and despite a weather warning. They were correctly fined.

I by the way, have yet to see a person fined or even challenged in Spain for not wearing a mask but I am sure it happens. Likewise you cannot say that its not enforced in Ireland

normanoffside

the explorer wrote: »

Do you know if many activities are operating, such as scuba diving, bike hire, surf lessons etc? I was planning to book for next week a few days ago but got cold feet after level 3 was announced, sounds like things are not so bad. Maybe I will go the following week as presumably the post Christmas case surge will have dropped off after the restrictions are reviewed on the 28th.

Are there many tourists around to keep activities open?

Yep, I was walking around just now and all those watersports shops are opened and doing business. Some restrictions on numbers and groups I would imagine.

RobitTV

I'm just at the stage where I will be getting back to some sort of normal living by March and I don't care who calls me 'selfish' - How can you possibly still be selfish after a whole year of lockdown / restrictions? you tell me.

It's weak arguments like that which are getting increasingly tiresome. People have the the right to feel disheartened and fed up after living life like this on a daily basis. Some people don't mind living like this, good for them, but please don't expect others to continue on like this throughout 2021.

I will play my part until March and get through this current lockdown. But seriously, people need genuine hope instead of the government moving the goal posts every week. Give us a plan and a timescale on how you see the restrictions being reduced and people might be more willing to keep going for a little longer.

I'm not cancelling Lanzarote in March, this time I will be going and I will be starting the process of living my life once again. By March the situation will be much better, so there is no reason to keep yourselves hidden away.

faceman

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

I think you are being a little unfair. The Spanish system is no different. You 'may' be asked to produce evidence of a test and if you do not have one, you 'may' be issued a fine.

Spain, just like Ireland cannot stop residents from returning so any fine would be after the person has entered the country anyway. You are not refused entry for not having the test.

as for the 'going after the weak' People were fined for driving in dangerous conditions and then ****ing off into the mountains despite the restrictions and despite a weather warning. They were correctly fined.

I by the way, have yet to see a person fined or even challenged in Spain for not wearing a mask but I am sure it happens. Likewise you cannot say that its not enforced in Ireland

Just to clarify I have no issue with the testing requirement. However the suggestion of a mandatory quarantine facility is just ridiculous

Just on the mask thing in Spain, i saw it quite a few times during the summer. Haven’t seen it in recent times but compliance is very high in my area.

Scoondal

normanoffside wrote: »

Checking in from sunny Lanzarote. Had to show a negative PCR test at the gate on Saturday and again at Lanzarote Airport.

Otherwise I was nervous before travelling as Lanzarote had moved to Maximum level of restrictions* on Friday and I wasn't sure if the flight would go ahead as a results (due to a spike after Christmas like ourselves).
But once arrived the local taxi driver and hotel were delighted to se we had got here.

*Maximum restrictions here means that all bars and restaurants can only serve outdoors and there is a 10pm curfew. Otherwise all shops including hairdressers are open as normal. The only pain is having to wear a mask on the street (but this was here even in low level alert).

Just back to the apartments after watching the match, had 5 pints and a feed for €15. Feels great to be acting as normal again. I don't mean this post to wind up people but honestly at one point today I had a lightbulb moment and realised this was the most normal I have felt in a year.

Now to WFH from tomorrow...

Thanks for your information. It gives me a glimmer of hope. I am booked for Easter.
My flights can be changed free of charge but the accomodation is non refundable. I have the "travel insurance" scam that covers me if everything is okay. If I need to claim, I know they will refuse it. As always.

faceman

faceman wrote: »

Just to clarify I have no issue with the testing requirement. However the suggestion of a mandatory quarantine facility is just ridiculous

Just on the mask thing in Spain, i saw it quite a few times during the summer. Haven’t seen it in recent times but compliance is very high in my area.

While I agree that introducing such a system now, a year in borders on ridiculous, it's possible.

A few countries managed it back last March but it's a short term option and as soon as those countries started to relax, numbers went up. It's really not a viable option for a virus that's not going away within a short period of time.

I think most have copped on to masks. Those with them under the nose, it's like an idiot sign now.

smurfjed

#Dubai hotels report 71 percent occupancy in December, the highest level since the start of the #coronavirus pandemic in January last year.

smurfjed

smurfjed wrote: »

#Dubai hotels report 71 percent occupancy in December, the highest level since the start of the #coronavirus pandemic in January last year.

What are their COVID border controls? Just a test?