Here are the countries where you can travel without quarantine …. if they let you in

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• Jeff 99 says:

  4 Jul4 July 14:53

  “ The government in Spain’s Catalonia region has re-imposed coronavirus controls on an area of 210,000 people after a sharp rise in infections.
  President Quim Torra said no-one would be allowed to enter or leave Segrià, an agricultural area west of Barcelona which includes the city of Lleida.”

  I can imagine this being a bit of a mood killer if it happens in a place whilst you’re on holiday. Not a ridiculously unlikely possibility….

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 15:01

    I’m presuming you will be taking your bucket and spade to Blackpool this year Jeff.

    Or may be you could ring up BBC Radio 5 Live and express your outrage that we aren’t all to be prevented from going abroad for many months more or that pubs have now been allowed to reopen.

    Then when you get on air on BBC Radio 5 Live I can switch straight over to BBC Radio 4 Extra, as I often currently have to do to avoid another “we can never unlock as it may not be safe” COVID moaning minnie.

    • Jeff 99 says:

      4 Jul4 July 16:00

      “ Or may be you could ring up BBC Radio 5 Live and express your outrage that we aren’t all to be prevented from going abroad for many months more or that pubs have now been allowed to reopen.“

      Not really. It’s great that pubs have opened and that people can go on holiday.

      Not really sure what you’re on about to honest.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 16:44

        You complained about the Spanish letting Brits in again on holiday and I think almost nobody else here would support you on that.

        Brits and Germans account for the vast majority of foreign tourists in sunny beach parts of Spain and July, August and September are the peak tourism months. So by suggesting the Spanish ban Brits for the rest of this year you are suggesting areas almost wholly dependent on tourism like the Balearics, Canaries and most of Southern Mainland Spain at least halve their annual income, leaving aside what they have already lost and can’t get back with excessively cautious people already scared out of going on holiday abroad for the rest of this year like my sister (who unlike me never exceeds the speed limit and also thinks its unsafe to use a fully installed manufacturer hands free mobile phone installlation).

        Your suggestion that lots of other people than Brits (who you wrongly seem to imagine are all drunken larger louts) would fill the place of British tourists in this year of all years are also wildly and totally unrealistic. Building up new groups of tourists who visit a country regularly takes many years rather than months.

        You were basically suggesting that Spain loses half of its tourist market for the rest of this season for no apparent reason other than excessive caution on your part.

        • Jeff 99 says:

          4 Jul4 July 16:49

          “ So by suggesting the Spanish ban Brits for the rest of this year ”

          I can’t find anywhere where I said that?

        • Julian says:

          4 Jul4 July 17:06

          Jeff 99 if I may quote you exactly a few posts above :-

          I’M SURPRISED SPAIN HAVE LET BRITS IN THOUGH. We obviously account for a big chunk of tourist spend BUT IF WE WEREN’T ALLOWED IN THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE AN INCREASE IN NUMBERS FROM DOMESTIC TOURISTS OR TOURISTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

          THERE’S SURELY PEOPLE WHO DON’T GO TO SOME OF THE ISLANDS IN SPAIN BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO BE SURROUNDED BY 18-30 HOLIDAY LOWLIFES FROM ENGLAND URINATING IN WATER FOUNTAINS.

          IBIZA, FOR EXAMPLE COULD REINVENT ITSELF AS A DESTINATION FOR NON-IDIOTS NOW THAT CLUBS WILL BE SHUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. IBIZA FOR EXAMPLE COULD REINVENT ITSELF AS A DESTINATION (misspelt I note as Designation, the kind of error that surely only a drunken uneducated chav of the kind you clearly despise would surely tend to make) FOR NON-IDIOTS NOW THAT CLUBS WILL BE SHUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR (I’VE NOT BEEN BUT APPARENTLY ITS ACTUALLY QUITE A PICTURESQUE PLACE)

          But if you actually had been then you would know that only San Antonio Town was really ever full of drunken yobs (and even then only at night in a couple of streets where the clubs are) and there literally used to be broken glass all over the ground in some of those streets the following morning but that was the 90s and even by the 10s that was no longer true.

          Also the rest of the island is full of quiet and scenic family resorts and the island of Cabrera off the south coast of Ibiza (that you can only get to by Hydrofoil or boat from Ibiza town) is now an extremely expensive upmarket destination full of overpaid British and German city types where most hotels cost several hundred pounds a night, even though I preferred in in the 90s when it was full of chilled out ageing hippies who had been going since the 1960s.

          Perhaps next time actually research a place or better still go there before you start making comments based on a narrow stereotype from the past that was never true of the vast majority of the islands of Ibiza.

        • Julian says:

          4 Jul4 July 17:21

          See this article at http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/formentera-mediterranean-holiday on unspoilt 15 mile long Formentera that you only get to through Ibiza.

          And this article on 10 unspoilt beaches in Ibiza at http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/13/10-best-hidden-beaches-ibiza-spain-bays-coves

          Or this National Geographic article at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/intelligent-travel/2013/08/20/the-quieter-side-of-ibiza/

• Russell says:

  4 Jul4 July 18:39

  What about Albania?

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 18:49

    See http://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/albania

    The Foreign & Commonwealth Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel.

    Albania also not listed as one of the countries you do not have to self isolate or quarantine for 14 days after your return on the goverment exemption list of countries at http://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors#travel-corridors-countries-and-territories-exemption-list

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 18:51

    Albania not recommended as safe to visit by Foreign & Commonwealth Office and not on the issues list of countries now exempt from the 14 day self isolation or quarantine list.

    I tried posting the links but this annoying and never improved online blog chat system refused to let me publish them and says they are awaiting moderation (which in my experience can go on for many days or weeks).

    • Rob says:

      4 Jul4 July 19:23

      If you put 2+ links into a comment, it automatically goes into moderation. All your comments today with had to be rescued had 2 links in them.

      This is because most spam comments are simply robo-posted lists of backlinks to junk sites.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 19:35

        I hadn’t realised it was posting two links (rather than one) that caused the post to be placed in the moderation tray.

        Proper internet discussion forums tend to work on a trust basis where someone who is a new member can’t post any links, those who have belonged a while can may be post one and those who have belonged for ages can post as many links as they like…………

        • Alex Sm says:

          5 Jul5 July 01:05

          This forum needs an upgrade for a long time… The two most important features which are still missing and have not been added for ages are (1) notifications about replies to your comments (I can’t understand how people should know that someone responded to their comments, tbh) and (2) ability to edit/delete your own comments (this would help a lot with typos, duplicates, unfinished comments etc). @Rob and co. – can you look into this at some point?

• Roberto says:

  4 Jul4 July 21:15

  Spain on the Costa Del Sol is policed well with bars and beaches in areas like Fuengirola being well run and enforced by local councils and the civil police force. Drones flying over beaches linked to traffic light systems highlighting which areas have availability of sunbeds. Extra toilets and washing facilities with pedestranised one way systems that work.

  I went over the boarder into Gibraltar yesterday and its a different world with little masks and social distancing. I wandered past a complex of 5 bars and there must have been a thousand people in an area the size of 5 or 6 tennis courts..

  Dont knock what Spain is doing , its probably much better run than your local town.

  Of course that could all change once the Brits hit the towns but the police are well used to dealing with idiots….

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 22:25

    Spain is probably doing things in a far systematic way than say the Maldives or wherever it is that Jeff 99 considers is exclusive enough to avoid encountering British Lager Louts…………….

    • Julian says:

      4 Jul4 July 22:28

      Having said the above although the Spanish authorities have had the situation under control in Magalluf in Mallorca for quite some years only recently did they apply sufficient manpower in the Playa De Palma and Arenal areas of the island to bring unsavory elements drawn there by the more loutish end of the German tourist market properly under control.

• Princess says:

  4 Jul4 July 21:50

  Good evening everybody! Any view or idea when China will reopen their border? Recently China has seen few new cases but mating major…
  I haven’t done a deep research, apology if I’m missing something obvious…

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 22:22

    Historically China always tends to be rather easier to enter than it is to leave, especially if you contract COVID-19 from one of their many statistically undocumented carriers of the disease.

    They have a billion people and had a massive outbreak in Wuhan but some how strangely they claim that almost no one has died from the disease there. And yet for some odd reason they still aren’t at all keen to let foreigners with plenty of money enter the country……………………..

    • Julian says:

      4 Jul4 July 22:31

      See for instance https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/can-chinas-covid-19-statistics-be-trusted/

      • Princess says:

        5 Jul5 July 07:09

        Thank you! Great read

        • Lady London says:

          5 Jul5 July 10:39

          +1

• Alex Sm says:

  5 Jul5 July 01:02

  The first list oddly starts with Andorra, then Germany, then goes again to Andorra and further on…

• Kalsang dhondup says:

  6 Jul6 July 15:56

  Great news to know can be traveling abroad! In summer! Good to go to summer holidays

• hdr.partridge says:

  14 Jul14 July 17:09

  I have just filled in the immigration data provision form on the government website for the first time – will be returning to the UK tomorrow. It asks for a good amount of personal data incl. home address, passport details, date of birth, specific travel details (incl. flight and booking ref.). So easily enough for anyone to access my flight booking with the airline and also a pretty good start for anyone to build a profile for identity theft. Fair enough for tracking and tracing though and I thought I can rely on decent data privacy protocols.

  Was therefore pretty pi**** off when the government emailed the whole lot back to me after submission in an unencrypted pdf file “for reference”.

  Is this a known issue?

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