There’s been a lot of talk about things returning to normal now that America is freeing itself from the shackles of the coronavirus.
The vaccinated can go maskless anywhere but on public transportation and in medical facilities, you can eat out in restaurants, go to the movies and soon go to the theater. You can hop on a plane and travel anywhere within the U.S. without having to quarantine.
Like most of you, I hope, I’m enjoying my newfound freedoms and plan to make the most of them.
Of course, everyone’s “normal” is different. In my case it means being able to fly back to England whenever I like or welcome family and friends over here. Assuming my planned trip to the U.K. in August goes ahead, it will have been 687 days since I’ve seen everyone. That’s a long time when your youngest granddaughter is only 3 years old.
Now don’t get me wrong, we knew what we were signing up for when we moved to Naperville 14 years ago. We accepted we were going to miss a whole lot of birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. Who knew if we’d get sick and be unable to travel or could no longer afford the ever-increasing costs?
But no one could have foreseen the pandemic that led to lockdowns around the world. We all know of someone who fell victim to this terrible virus. My daughter admitted to me recently that she wondered if she’d ever see us again. It’s a sobering thought.
When the vaccines were rolled out, I naively thought that once we had ours, we’d been able to book a flight without any problems. But as it turns out, the COVID traffic light system that England uses is only slightly less complicated than a day out at the driver’s license facility here. As I write this, the U.S. is still an amber country and we’d really hoped to be green by now. After all, if President Biden and his entourage can have a jolly old visit for the G7 summit without quarantining, why can’t we?
I read this week that President Biden is facing mounting pressure to allow travel between the U.S and the U.K. for the vaccinated. That’s the first piece of almost encouraging news I’ve read about it in 16 months. I cannot imagine how long it will take to go from “mounting pressure” to “the flight now departing.”
We were really trying to wait until this was all over, but our son is getting married. When he and our lovely future daughter-in-law announced their engagement back in May 2020, we thought a wedding in August 2021 was very sensible. Plenty of time for restrictions to be lifted. We were so confident we even booked a pre-wedding trip for early July to “meet the parents” in person but ended up having to cancel.
Now we know the wedding is allowed our trip has become essential. So now we’re swamped with conflicting advice about what kind of COVID-19 test to take when, where and how.
Rather than keep the hours and hours of research I’ve done to myself, I thought some of you might appreciate this handy guide in case you’re thinking of flying across the pond yourself.
1. Take a PCR test no less than 72 hours but no more than 71 hours unless it’s a Tuesday. A negative result (which is actually a very positive thing) will give you a Fit to Fly certificate. I’ve often sat next to passengers who I would never consider fit to fly (body odor, man spreading, screaming baby, snoring, etc.) so I’m actually hoping they keep this one permanently.
2. It goes without saying that you’ll need to wear a mask from the moment you step into your American airport and out of the English one. I’ve actually thought of a way around this inconvenience. Once on the plane you don’t need to wear one while eating. I’m going to carry on a 5-pound bag of peanuts and eat one half every minute, remembering to chew it slowly. That means I won’t need to put my mask on until we land approximately eight hours later unless it’s a Sunday, when the flight lasts nine hours.
3. Once you’ve passed through customs (any time between one hour and three weeks apparently), you can actually seek out your mandatory day two test at a booth in the airport. Obviously, it won’t actually be day two, but you can take it up to any time four weeks before you fly unless its Easter, which, because of the lockdown in England, is being celebrated with Christmas this year.
By the way, the COVID tests over there are a little different than those here. As well as sticking a swab up your nose, they also poke one down your throat. Not sure if this is the same swab or which they do first if it is.
4. Before you leave the U.S., you’ll need to book a day two and day eight test, even if you’re staying six days. (This may sound like a joke, but sadly it isn’t.) You can bundle that with a tour of Buckingham Palace and a guided tour around the shoe department at Harrods.
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5. The good news is since this system was put in place, the U.S. has always been amber. In the horrible event we suddenly turn red, you’d have to quarantine for 10 days in a tiny cell beneath the Tower of London with no hope of parole.
6. So, and I hope you’re keeping up, you do still have to quarantine for up to 10 days if you’re amber and don’t care to see any of the sights. The good news is you can take yet another test on day five. If that’s negative, again really a positive, you can show your “test to release” papers to the Grenadier Guardsman who will standing guard outside your hotel/family member’s home for your entire trip.
However, I wouldn’t book your day six tour of Windsor Castle just yet. Although the results may come through by 10 p.m., the small print will warn you the actual result may not be with you for 48 hours, by which time you could have caught COVID so you’ll have to start all over again.
Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007.