Travel to the uk. regs, updates and questions !!
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Morning all. I have got back to Brittany and have got limited wifi to when I visit friends or the supermarket so finding time to look through all of the info can be a bit of a pain.
I was just looking at how to get the day two and the day 8 tests and am getting lots of publicity in my google search of people selling these packages but am still very unsure on where I actually can get the tests done !!
Can I ring a local doctors surgery in the town that I will be travelling to (Pembroke,Wales) and prebook these tests or does it have to be a test centre?
From what I can see on the websites, one can order these tests on line and get them posted to the address where one will be staying and you self test, is that right ? If so that appears silly to me as anyone who has proved to be covid free could take the test for you and they would not know !!!!
Also for getting the pre travel test here in France do I need to get an appointment at a local test centre or can this be done by visiting a doctors surgery?
Sorry if I have missed info regarding this, but as I say my internet time is limited so often have to dash through the info when I have got use of Wifi somewhere.
I am back in Brittany now between Baud and Auray so any info on where to get tested near either of them would be helpful.
I am not planning to travel for another few weeks and hopefully by then France will be in the green list and the quarantine will be gone.
Another concern I have towards travel is that of safety on the ferries !! I was looking at prices for the cherbourg-poole route and see that a lot of the crossings are fully booked and if one can not afford to buy a cabin for oneself then the cheaper option is the shared cabin, which to be quite honest sounds a bit scary to me, especially as I have been making big efforts to minimalize contact with others. Also being in a small space with lots of people concerns me at the best of times,but during a pandemic it sounds quite dodgy to me, can anyone offer me or anyone else for that matter any re-assurances on brittany ferries cautions with regards to keeping safe whilst travelling?
Thanks for taking time to read this and thanks in advance for any responses to my above queries.
Off to my woods shortly to have a bit of a tidy up for a few days and am looking forward to being there to see it all in spring mode as there were no leaves in sight last time I was there. Maybe go for a drive out to the cote sauvage tomorrow too on the presquille de quiberon
I don,t know how crossings like Cherbourg-Poole can be fully booked when nobody knows if these routes will be operating,they have had to keep cancelling the start date,latest was 17th May which is now all off until 6th June,if France is not on the green list at the next review on 6th June,these routes will be delayed again.Can,t believe that they are suggesting sharing cabins,i take it this means that they are still not planning on taking foot passengers,i haven,t seen any info on this,does anyone know?
Jamie, I think you can search, & make a rdv, on http://www.doctolib.com for your nearest test centre/lab.
Good luck – hope you get back to Wales soon!
Lippy
Wish I could see my sister in herefordshire…she broke her ankle last month…fell asleep at the kitchen table at 4am in the morning …woke up in agony on the floor.
couldn’t make her husband hear…so had to call the ambulance herself…the ambulance woke up her husband.
Its at times like this we find out how much Covid has changed our lives.
Has anyone renewed their car insurance since brexshit? Is the UK still included in the green card list of countries covered, being a 3rd Country now I just wondered.
renewed my insurance at the end of last year, and was told that, yes it is still valid for up to 90 days in the UK
I see Macron has announced the “health Pass” for european travel, will be released by 9th June, so hopefully , as long as the UK put Fance on the green list the pass will remove the need for some, if not all of the PCR Tests
Planning to go back to the UK in August for tte first time in a year, so I hope by then things will be a lot simpler
Received this email from the UK Embassy in France. If this link works which am pasting here, it gives the latest info on travel to the UK.
Okay, I am now in the U.K., the 2 day and 8 day test thing is a shambles. Just an operation to funnel money to Tory donors. Why is this not being done by the NHS? There is a very small number of private labs in the U.K., especially compared to france. My wife’s test arrived 4 days late from the government approved company ( so she broke the law), mine took 72 hours to test instead of 48. How they will cope next week I do not know. Serco are being paid billions to send people to check up on you, but nobody is kicking the testing companies.
A PCR test taken at plouescat at 0930, got the lab results that afternoon – cost – zero.
To get a PCR test to return to France that will be less than 72 hours old when you arrive in France is quite difficult unless you pay a fortune.
I have calculated that a U.K. subject visiting France will end up paying close to £600 per person minimum, and take ten days off work when they return.
Hi Tony , thanks for sharing your personal experience info with us, it is very helpful and gives an idea of what one may expect.
Could you tell me-us please where you got yout test; ie doctors surgery,test centre, pharmacy etc ! Also did you have to book the test in advance ?
I ask this as a it will be nice to get some good and simple go to responses on here so that people can quickly go through the responses on this thread and find the answer that they are looking for.
I am sorry to hear that you got messed around with the test results coming back late as that must have thrown more stress into a situation that was already stressful enough.
Jamie,
Things are changing all the time but we have travelled into the UK twice this year.
First stage, book a Covid test to travel. we used a clinic and booked in advance through doctolib
As we are not full time residents we do not have a Carte Vitale so had to pay 45€ each.
The test is to be taken 72 hours before you board the ferry. When you know you are “Negative” the
Next step is to fill in the UK Government’s Passenger Locator form,
but in order to complete that form you need a reference number from the purchase of 2 more Covid tests to be carried out during your mandatory 10 day quarantine.
I tried using CTM on the Government approved list to buy the 2 tests, they took my money (£210) but never provided a receipt so I had to buy from another company, NWP, they seem efficient.
My Bank eventually got CTM to refund my money.
Only essential travel is permitted at present and there are not many ferries running.
Brittany Ferries are operating only from Caen/Ouistreham. If you choose the overnight crossing you would need to fill out an Attestation for travelling after the 7pm curfew and another one to leave France.
Passports have been stamped at the French border since January 1st showing when you arrived and when you left.
Today, as I write is Day 135. Brexit means EU Schengen rules now apply to non residents.
Without a full time French resident’s permit you are only allowed to stay in France for 90 days out of 180.
If you have used your 90 days you may not be allowed back within the following 90 or even worse !
A visa may be required.
The Passenger Locator Form changed between our two trips.
It is not well thought out and where it asks what country your passport was issued in there is no ability to say, United Kingdom. It thinks your country is “British Citizen” ?? !f you are not quarantining at your own home, and it does ask you that, but doesn’t have a space for the phone number you will be at.
I have received calls each day from different people working from home all over the UK checking I’m still isolating. They all read the same script with varying degrees of clarity but don’t appear to have access to the Locator Form.
To return to France, Boots in my local High Street provided Tests to Travel at £99 each.
Good luck !
Thats a very helpful post and thank you for taking the time to share it
Is the passenger locator form is one that can be downloaded and printed out ?
I am waiting until after the 19th before I start booking things up so that I have got more info with the relaxation of the covid regulations kicking in a bit more on both sides of the channel.
Lucky enough I have got friends nearby where I can come and use the internet and they have also got a printer, as 99 percent of all the wifi spots that I normally use have been closed since last autumn meaning I have to be even more organised than normal in making things flow the right way.
As a Nomad who has been registered as an itinerant artisan within EU laws, it has been a complicated time to try and sort things out as both covid and Brekshit and chucked plenty of spanners into the works and to be of no fixed abode without a smart phone has also meant that lots of boxes can not be ticked. I need not tell people on here how France struggles with a situation that is outside of the norm !! Not grumbling however as my chosen lifestyle still throws much more happiness and positivity at me than it does throw problems at me, and problems are just challenges to be beaten
I thank all of you for sharing you experiences on here and ask you to please keep doing so as your expereiences are so very helpful towards giving a bit of clarity to others who will be doing cross channel travelling and no doubt this coming week will see a lot of new and relative info being made public so there will be much more for us all to learn.
I am off back to my woods for a few days now as have got a fair few jobs to do there before I head over to wales so will check in on here later in the week before I start to book up everything that is needed to head over to the little island
Bon Dimanche beautiful people xx
All the best Jamie! What part of wales are you going to?
Thanks Paul. Back to my birth town of pembroke when my mum still lives. Looking forward to seeing her as it has been a while since I last got back and also looking forward to getting in some good miles of walking along the stunning pembrokeshire coastline which I always remember fondly:-)
Hi Jamie,are you going back to the UK while all the covid testing rip off and quarantine requirements are still in place?We,like a lot of people are waiting for restrictions to be lifted.BF seem to be doing the same thing,putting back the reintroduction of all their other routes,next review date is 06th June.
Jamie,
Things are changing all the time but we have travelled into the UK twice this year.
First stage, book a Covid test to travel. we used a clinic and booked in advance through doctolib.fr
As we are not full time residents we do not have a Carte Vitale so had to pay 45€ each.
The test to be taken 72 hours before you board the ferry
Next step is to fill in the UK Government’s Passenger Locator form,
https://www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk
but in order to complete that form you need a reference number for the purchase of 2 more Covid tests to be carried out during your mandatory 10 day quarantine.
Only essential travel is permitted at present and there are not many ferries running.
Brittany Ferries are operating only from Caen/Ouistreham. If you chose the overnight crossing you would need to fill out an Attestation for travelling after the 7pm curfew and another to leave France.
https://www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus/ressources-a-partager
https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/L-actu-du-Ministere/Attestation-de-deplacement-et-de-voyage
Passports have been stamped at the French border since January 1st showing when you arrived and when you left.
Today, as I write is Day 135. Brexit means EU Schengen rules now apply to non residents.
Without a full time French resident’s permit you are only allowed to stay in France 90 days out of 180.
If you have used your 90 days you may not be allowed back within the following 90 or even worse !
A visa may be required.
The Passenger Locator Form has changed between our two trips.
It is not well thought out and where it asks what country your passport was issued in there is no ability to say, United Kingdom. It thinks your country is “British Citizen” !f you are not quarantining at your own home, it does ask you that, but doesn’t have a space for the phone number you will be at.
I have received calls each day from different people working from home all over the UK checking I’m still isolating. They all read the same script with varying degrees of clarity but don’t appear to have access to the Locator Form.
To return to France, Boots in my local High Street provided Tests to Travel at £99 each.
You will receive a barrage of phone calls now to check that you are self isolating,the UK Government has recruited an extra 7000 call investigators who are getting paid £65 ph to check on people,they are also on a massive bonus if they pass on the details to the doorstep investigators of anybody who is then caught not self isolating and who will be subject to a fine of up to £10,000,that,s nice!
I am guessing that you mean “That’s Nice” in a mrs brown sort of way
The curfew if now 9pm not 7pm.
Hi Jamie,are you going back to the UK while all the covid testing rip off and quarantine requirements are still in place?We,like a lot of people are waiting for restrictions to be lifted.BF seem to be doing the same thing,putting back the reintroduction of all their other routes,next review date is 06th June.
Like everyone else my fingers, toes and everything is crossed in the hope of France getting the green zone approval at the next review !
Bf are taking bookings from the 7th June and I hate to use them as I think that they are well and truly proffiting with their booking scheme ranging from economy to a flexi fair. One should get the same type of treatment with regards to cancellations and changes no matter what one pays.
Last time I tried to get over I had booked the cherbourg – poole crossing and my cambelt snapped about twenty miles away from the port and I lost the entire cost of the booking which was getting on for near to 300 quid. That still leaves a sour taste !!
Must admit though that it is nice to be here near the coast with this lovely breeze blowing the cobwebs away. There is always a positive or two to be found in every situation
Exactly Jamie,the two words that Mrs Brown replaces with “that,s nice” would be more appropriate to describe the situation,but of course they are unsuitable for a public forum
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