Category Archives: Travel

England’s last ‘red list’ restrictions confound South Americans

Posted on by

Lingering quarantine rules anger would-be travellers from seven targeted countries

England’s decision to maintain strict Covid travel rules for seven South American and Caribbean countries has prompted further fury and confusion in the nations which remain on the “red list”.

Ministers announced on Thursday that restrictions would be lifted for 47 countries – including Brazil, South Africa and Thailand – allowing travellers to enter England without being subject to draconian and expensive quarantine restrictions.

Continue reading...

Europe’s best walking cities: Seven wonders of the wandering world

Posted on by

From atmospheric Berlin to Joyce’s Trieste, via Marseille’s markets and a wellbeing walk in Copenhagen, city strolls reward the curious rambler

The art of flâneur-ing might be French and its most famous practitioners Parisians, but other European cultures have walking traditions, from the Italian passeggiata and Spanish paseo – social promenades to take the air as dusk falls – to German wanderlust: hiking with desire. Nothing opens up a city like a long ramble on foot. It’s the only way to make a place your own and unearth discoveries not listed in guidebooks or apps.

Continue reading...

Americans are desperate to visit Hawaii – but apparently not enough to get vaccinated

Posted on by

Those travelling to the sun-kissed islands have allegedly faked negative Covid test results or vaccine records

If you’re an unvaccinated American headed to Hawaii, and you want to avoid quarantine, you’ll need to provide the state with a negative Covid test.

Alternatively, you could attempt to fake out authorities – and get arrested for it.

Continue reading...

Covid live: Kremlin pleads for people to get jab; EU regulator backs mRNA booster for those with weak immunity

Posted on by

Russia’s daily cases at highest levels since January; EMA says people with weakened immune systems should get Pfizer or Moderna booster

The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has not ruled out unemployment rising now the furlough scheme has ended. But he told Sky News this morning that the government is “throwing the kitchen sink” at helping people find new roles and learn new skills.

When it was put to him that there might be “significant rises” in unemployment now the scheme has come to a close, he said: “I said right at the beginning of this crisis it wasn’t going to be possible for me, or quite frankly any chancellor, to save every single person’s job.

Continue reading...

‘Renting the Taj Mahal’: the fight to save Darjeeling’s toy train

Posted on by

India’s tiny train has puffed up the Himalayas since 1881 but now the world heritage site is under threat

“Darjeeling ko sano rail, hirna lai abo tyari cha / Guard le shuna bhai siti bajayo” (Darjeeling’s dainty train is all set to chug off / Oh, listen to the guard blowing the whistle): generations of children in Darjeeling have grown up hearing these lines from a Nepali nursery rhyme. Serenading the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), it depicts the close relationship between the “Queen of the Hills” and local people.

However, that relationship has become strained after the Indian government decided to hand over the running of the railway – listed by Unesco as a world heritage site – and oversight of the land adjoining the stations to a private company, threatening jobs and livelihoods.

Continue reading...

‘Volcanic eruptions are like cats’: the La Palma volcano explained

Posted on by

The ongoing eruption in the Canary Islands has raised concerns over cancelled holidays and a potential tsunami. Here a volcanologist weighs the risks

On 19 September, after 50 years of magmatic quiescence, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma roared back to life. Ash speckled the sky, and molten rock cooking at 1,075C (1,967F) oozed from several fresh fissures and cascaded down the volcano’s western flanks in the form of hadean rivers, ploughing through houses and farms with insouciance. Fortunately, thanks to the work of local scientists and emergency services, thousands of people were evacuated ahead of time, and no deaths have yet been reported.

So, what happens next? What new threats will emerge from the volcano? How long will this go on for? And why would anyone want to live in the shadow of such a menacing volcano in the first place?

Continue reading...

UK to slash international travel ‘red list’ to just nine countries

Posted on by

Quarantine will no longer be required for fully vaccinated travellers from 45 other countries from later in October

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, will open up more countries for hotel quarantine-free travel later this week, the Sunday Telegraph reported, saying the UK’s “red list” of destinations would be slashed to nine from 54.

Fully vaccinated arrivals from countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa will no longer have to quarantine in a government-designated hotel for 10 days when they get to England from later in October, the newspaper said.

Continue reading...

‘My future is overseas’: Tunisians look to Europe as Covid hits tourism

Posted on by

As the pandemic deals a death blow to an already struggling sector, former workers see little hope for recovery

The seafront along the town of Hammamet in Tunisia is deserted. Looking out at the bright empty coast from his souvenir shop, Kais Azzabi, 42, describes the crowds that would stroll along the broad boulevards. Today, there is nobody.

“It was very busy here,” he says, gesturing to the street and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. “Since the corona started, everything stopped.”

Continue reading...

‘We feel we’re not going to get really sick’: why the pandemic hasn’t dissuaded ocean cruisers

Posted on by

Travel agents report Australians’ interest in cruising increasing 40% each month since June, with one analyst describing it as ‘the Teflon market for travel’

On 16 September, Miami-based Oceania Cruises, a luxury culinary-focused cruise company that is a division of Norwegian Cruise Lines, set an all-time, single-day booking record. It was driven by the introduction of its newest ship, Vista, due to take its first passengers in April 2023. Nearly half the available inventory of Vista’s inaugural season was sold in one day. These were new cash bookings, 30% of which came from people booking with the company for the first time.

It’s hard to know what this means for Australia. According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), 1.34 million Australians took a cruise in 2018, one of the highest rates in the world by population, yet international travel is currently off limits.

Continue reading...

EU fears citizens will be barred from flights to UK due to rules confusion

Posted on by

Airlines may turn away EU nationals with settled status due to complex residency rules, says Brussels

Concerns have been raised that EU citizens living in the UK may not be allowed to board flights into the country because of confusion created by new government rules over ID cards and passports.

From 1 October, EU citizens who do not have the post-Brexit right to live in the UK will not be able to use EU, EEA or Swiss national ID cards to enter the country.

Continue reading...

Tell us: how will you be affected by France’s new vaccine passport rules?

Posted on by

From 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a vaccine passport to access most public places in the country

From 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a “passe sanitaire” (vaccine passport) to access most public places in the country. Previously, this was only required for people aged 18 years and older.

The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) does not recommend that most 12 to 15-year-olds get vaccinated and, for the time being, is only backing offering a first dose to 16 and 17-year-olds. This may pose practical problems for many UK-based parents, whose only option would seem to be paying for PCR tests.

Continue reading...

Warriors, cathedrals and carnivals: Spain’s best smaller cities, chosen by readers

Posted on by

Medieval plazas, fortresses like film sets and seafood straight out of the net feature in your pick of these lesser-known destinations

I stopped in Salamanca for lunch when driving from Madrid to Lisbon and ended up staying there for a week, caught up in the lovely atmosphere of the city. Its graceful red sandstone architecture, with two cathedrals and splendid university buildings dating from the 15th century, gives the city the quality of an alfresco cultural living room – where academics, students and locals live on a sort of dreamy, theatrical open-air film set. Street names are hand-painted in scarlet on signs and the youthful population creates a hedonistic vibe at night when darkness descends. By day, check out the Plaza Mayor and the lovely Doll Museum.
Yasmin Cox

Continue reading...

What are the changes to Covid rules for international travel?

Posted on by

Overhaul in England aims to simplify travel by scrapping traffic light system and changing testing requirements

An overhaul of England’s Covid-19 rules governing international travel has been announced by the Department for Transport, scrapping the traffic light system and signalling changes to requirements to undergo PCR testing on arrival.

The aim, according to the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is to simplify rules and decrease the burden on people travelling by replacing the system with a single red list and one for the rest of the world.

Continue reading...

Half-term holiday bookings expected to surge after England scraps amber list

Posted on by

Traffic-light system replaced, with foreign countries now listed as either ‘red’ or OK for travel

Half-term holiday bookings are expected to surge after ministers unveiled a simplification of Covid foreign travel rules, replacing the traffic-light system with a single red list and bringing in a laxer regime for tests.

But while MPs and some travel groups welcomed the new system, airlines voiced anger that fully vaccinated travellers returning to England will still have to take a test after they return, even if this will be changed to a cheaper lateral flow version.

Continue reading...

Is it ethical to travel right now? Experts on flying in the age of Delta

Posted on by

Questions to consider before you inflict the ‘moral injury’ of a risky, nonessential trip

A new season is here and, with it, seedlings of holiday escape plans to some sun-drenched beach or snowy mountain ski slope. In view of passenger data from the US and the UK, air travel is on its way toward recovering from the slump of a pre-vaccine Covid-19 pandemic – despite the rise of the Delta variant.

But does that mean it’s a good idea to buy that plane ticket, even if you’re vaccinated? And if you’re comfortable assuming some degree of personal risk, is it unethical to do so?

Continue reading...

‘I was sliding towards the drop and couldn’t stop’ – the writer who fell from a mountain

Posted on by

It is every climber’s worst nightmare. In this extract from his thrilling book about the glorious – and treacherous – Cuillin Ridge on Skye, Simon Ingram recalls the day its wild peaks almost took his life

I had been out of signal for most of the day, so when my phone suddenly stirred in my pocket, I decided to have a look. Remembering a climbing maxim – “Don’t try to do two things at once” – I shouted for my friend Kingsley to hang on, stopped and took out my mobile. The message was junk, but I took the opportunity to send some that weren’t and then check my voicemail.

Wandering absent-mindedly to where a boulder jutted off into the mist, I noticed Kingsley moving down the path. Shouting to alert him that I’d stopped, I brought the handset up to my ear and looked out at the cloud hanging off the Cuillin Ridge, waiting for the phone to connect. I took another step, just a small one to the left. And then everything went wrong.

Continue reading...

Home Office says delays at Heathrow are ‘unacceptable’

Posted on by

Border staff left dealing with backlog of travellers as reports emerge of people fainting in three-hour queues

Delays at Heathrow airport have been described as “unacceptable” by the Home Office, af reports of passengers fainting in queues of up to three hours.

Border staff were left dealing with a huge backlog of travellers, with witnesses saying they had seen people – including a pregnant woman – passing out while queueing.

Continue reading...

Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash

Posted on by

Embracing its strange past is a blessing for Trasmoz as thousands flock to its witchcraft attractions

Tucked into the foothills of northern Spain, the village of Trasmoz attracts thousands of tourists each year. For many, the allure is not its half-ruined castle nor stunning mountain backdrop but rather a curious quirk of history: Trasmoz is Spain’s only excommunicated and cursed village.

“So far, being excommunicated and cursed hasn’t been bad for us,” said Lola Ruiz Diaz, one of the 47 or so people who live all year round in Trasmoz, some 50 miles north-west of Zaragoza. “It’s turned out to be a point in our favour.”

Continue reading...