Fly me to the Moon - your 3rd travel Megathread - read OP

This is day 10 of my LA trip. The prices are steep in the states this time for sure. Cheese cake factory restaurants are about 75% higher than Dublin prices on comparable eateries. Same with TGI Fridays. Petrol is running at half our prices however it’s still the most expensive I’ve ever paid in the states for car fuel.

Thankfully I’ve an Airbnb 3 bed villa hired from the same Scandinavian host I’ve used for the last 20 years and he was very fair. $1500 for 10 nights. Woodland Hills area so it’s very competitive price.

Can balance things out by purchasing designer clothes as they’re running a major savings here.

I’m very much looking forward to Thailand getting back to normal as I’ve family based there.

It’s getting easier to gain entry now with only antigen required preflight however you’ve still to stay at a sha ++ hotel for 1st night to await your PCR test taken post arrival to chosen Thailand airport.

Additionally you’ve a very large amount of forms to fill out pre departure along with insurance requirements.

I’ve heard of tourists being potentially infected while on public transport (someone on board has tested positive) and they get pinged on their mandatory Thai travel app to go straight to hospital and hit with crazy overnight bills (regardless of test results …. Just assumed to be infected)

Its all a business over in Thailand since this started. Example,,,,, you face a €100 fine if your medical mask is not fitted properly walking on the outside streets.

I find this guy the best source of Thailand info. He’s an Irish guy from co Meath who is living near Phuket. Always updates on covid rules daily.

https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=thai+expat+daily+show

Only hope of Thailand returning to normal is their competitors reopening and “living” with covid , eg Vietnam , Philippines , Cambodia, Bali etc ….. unfortunately they all seem to be hindered with an unreal / over the top reaction to covid. . It would be a very clinical holiday experience to go to any of them atm.

Hi Stephen. I’ve a brother in Thailand atm too. His reports ally with your friends experience. My bro tells me that there is an air of unknown in the air at all times. As if restrictions could be reimposed at any moment and bars etc told to shut in a moments notice. He’s been there a couple of months. He does reckon July / August the entire country looks likely to be back to almost normal in his opinion.

Could be a safe bet location at that stage and certainly a very affordable and fun holiday in comparison to US or European rip off countries

That's great up to date news Nigel, Thanks,

When I was booking my flights last year, I used travelgenio, as I had used them in the past, and found them OK. Never again though,,,, but I seem to remember seeing an ad from Lufthansa where they guaranteed making the connections, when all flights booked with them directly. Is this arrangement you had booked with them? So even if I was flying Lufthansa, I had booked via Travelgenio, so all connections are at your own risk. But great to hear that all you had to do covid-wise, was up-load your covid certs direct to Lufthansa, and no one even looked for any covid documentation in Belgrade airport...great news!!! That was sure a headache last September. Did you enjoy your visit? Much snow?

I genned up on the covid requirement before I booked the tickets, and the Govt website and they said that one or two hours over the 48 hr requirement would not matter to tourists or others whose flights had been delayed. But when I arrived in the passport / covid check desk, I asked about this exception but was told in no uncertain terms " Not even 2 mins over" !!!, And yet, you just handed in your passport, and straight out the door. Hotel Moscow ( in Moscow, they have Hotel Belgrade) straight across the road from McDonalds,, LOL. So you visited Skadarlija and Kalemegdan Fortress? Did you have time to visit the Nikola Tesla museum? Enough to keep you going there for a few days !!! Lovely old city.

Flew to Edinburgh at the weekend from Dub. nothing required either end.

Dublin airport no masks required, they were required on the plane, at Edinburgh airport I took my mask off.

I was stopped by the police and told to put it on, despite about 30% non compliance. I duly did.

I found from a mask point of view Edinburgh has not really moved on, most people wearing masks in shops pubs etc.

There are signs everywhere saying masks are mandatory. Though there is about only 70% compliance and no one seemed to mind if you were not wearing one.

That just leaves onboard aeroplanes as the only place where masks have an existing mandate. Hopefully that too is removed soon (if not then it brings into question the effectiveness of hepa-filters which are in 95% of all commercial airlines). Personally speaking the wearing of masks on a recent long-haul flight was a very uncomfortable experience and I felt sorry for the airline staff needing to enforce such redundant covid rules.

having just done a recent flight to the states I had no problems wearing the mask long haul and felt safer with it on. And no one else on the flight had a problem either

The requirement for the P. L. F. has already been removed.

You no longer need to fill in a SpTH form if you have a valid EU DCC...from what I can gather anyway.

Yeah, is there anywhere in the EU/UK with restrictions on entering still? How many countries still need a DCC now?