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

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• MT says:

  3 Jul3 July 23:35

  Interesting the Maldives didn’t make it!

  • JP_MCO says:

    4 Jul4 July 06:51

    That’s what I was thinking! Would have seemed like the ideal destination.

• Alan says:

  4 Jul4 July 00:46

  No immediate travel plans for me – don’t really see the point when there’ll be so many restrictions/closures in the destination countries. The downside to countries coming off the FCO list is they also won’t be covered for cancellation. I’ve got a USA trip booked for September that won’t be happening – given how things are going will be interesting to see if they’re off the FCO list by then or not!

  • Jeff 99 says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:25

    Same for me. I’ve been off work for three months and the weather has generally been good so I’ve enjoyed myself. It’s also easy enough to find things to do (if you’re capable of adapting/using your initiative) so I don’t feel like I need a trip abroad.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:37

      +1 will be a different story if the virus lashes back in winter especially as the economic damage will be coming through then

• Jamie says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:19

  ‘ These rules only apply for residents of England. If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland different rules will apply, and are likely to be more stringent. This means that you may prefer to fly from an English airport.’

  Even if you fly into an English airport and return to Scotland you would still need to quarantine of it on the Scottish list. The quarantine list isn’t about port of entry, it’s about where you have been. The Scottish FM confirmed yesterday that people failing to quarantine after flying into England and travelling to Scotland and not quarantining would be breaking the rules.

  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-in-scotland-travellers-dodging-quarantine-rules-face-5-000-fine-dwgp8gn8l

  • Andrew says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:28

    £480 fine.

    £5,000 is only if you are a persistent offender, get reported to the procurator fiscal for potential prosecution, and are fined by the courts the maximum £5,000

    I doubt if there’s going to be much opportunity to persistently travel abroad without quarantining.

    • Jamie says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:11

      I guess my point was it would be against the rules. I hope people don’t read this article and think it’s ok to just fly back to Newcastle and head up the road and carry on as normal as it wouldn’t be right. Sounds like the SG are going to assess the list from a public health perspective – who knows what Boris did…

• Phil Gollings says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:33

  So we can return from the Seychelles without quarantine but won’t be insured as it’s not on the second list.
  Just like registering as many deaths to Covid as possible, this does not make sense

  • Nick_C says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:06

    Sitting in a confined space with a crowd of strangers for 12 hours during a pandemic is what doesn’t make sense.

    • TripRep says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:32

      +1 – Nailed it Nick

• Simon Cross says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:40

  I completely fail to see the point in a country being removed from the FCO no non essential travel list (so presumably “safe” in uk gov eyes) but NOT being included in the uk gov list where you don’t need to guarantee on your return (so presumably not safe).

  This just makes this even more confusing and absurd.

• Michael_s says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:50

  Can an American citizen with an American passport now travel from UK to Greece and back on a direct flight? Will she be allowed to either country or refused / required to quarantine?

  She does not have UK or EEA residency but hasnt been to US for years

  • bookish says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:25

    If not living in the USA, where does she have residency now? And is that country on Greece’s list of accepting visitors?

    • Michael_s says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:39

      No residency, just extended sabbatical. Will travel from australia to UK but unsure if she can travel further onwards

      • bookish says:

        4 Jul4 July 07:45

        I’d think that without a government issued residency permit from a country that’s on their list, she would struggle to get into Greece and possibly even the plane. She could always contact the Greek consulate and ask given her circumstances.

  • Chris says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:21

    There are no direct flight from UK to Greece at the moment as there is a ban in place imposed by Greek Government; they will reconsider it though over the next few days. Having said that, all citizens can travel to Greece via other airports (I.e. Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam etc)

• Simon Cross says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:50

  Biggest issue with any potential travels is the apparent fact that travel insurance will NOT cover cancellation is you have to cancel due to catching covid here in the uk before departure on the grounds that this is now a known risk.

  I see no difference between this “known risk” and the “known risk” of contracting any other disease – such as cancer, flu, breaking a leg, etc.

  This seems manifestly unfair especially given the now relatively low incidence of new cases here in the UK.

  Only way around this seems to be by only booking fully refundable trips (e.g. using avios and independent hotels on fully refundable rates through hotels.com) and NOT buying packages unless the package has some special refundable deal.

  • Phil Gollings says:

    4 Jul4 July 06:58

    That is definitely the way forward.
    Using Emyr Thomas for hotel bookings has been very useful as they have all been cancellable as well as getting the extra benefits when you get there

    • Simon Cross says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:08

      Unless you don’t have enough avios or you want to fly somewhere BA does not go to.

      I have so far been extremely lucky having had 2 big and extremely expensive trips booked for this year on this basis long before covid was a twinkle in the eye which I have had to cancel.

      While it was a major hassle having to deal with multiple suppliers I have managed to get full refunds on the first trip (£14,000 in Latin America) and am in the process of doing the same now for Papua New Guinea and indonesia.

  • Nick_C says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:41

    “This seems manifestly unfair especially given the now relatively low incidence of new cases here in the UK.”

    Relative to where? Sweden? We still have one of the highest incidences of Covid-19 in Western Europe.

    • Rob says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:54

      Depends where you live. Lambeth in London is zero cases, the City is zero cases, my bit is 8 per 100k. You should move!

      • Jeff 99 says:

        4 Jul4 July 09:38

        Pretty much no one lives in “the city”.

        The rest is correct though.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      4 Jul4 July 09:57

      4th in Europe for total new based on yesterday’s reporting by John Hopkins.

      If you then adjust by per 1m residents then we fall to 24th out of 48 european nations

      Below Portugal, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France as well as many others.

    • Simon Cross says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:16

      Relative to the case rate in the uk a few weeks ago.

      Anyway – the point is curtailment cover if available for any other illness or accident reason preventing one travelling so why not covid?

  • Frenske says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:50

    Knowingly travelling while having Covid is strictly forbidden. Knowingly travelling with flu is allowed. It is illegal and you can get penalties for it. Should insurance cover travelling with illegal substances too?

• Qwertyknowsbest says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:08

  Has anyone obtained any clarification from Amex platinum insurance re medical cover (not concerned about cancellation) for travel to countries no longer on the foreign office advisory list?

  I have called Amex twice and received vague answers.

  Thanks

  • Sandgrounder says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:56

    https://secure.axa-travel-insurance.com/OLC_V3/portal/amexuk/login hit the red ‘find out more’ button.

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