Eagerly anticipated, Monday was the day international travel was allowed to restart. With so many different rules and regulations stating what you need to do before, during, and after your holiday, Jackie decided it would be extremely helpful by experiencing the whole process for herself. Travelling with her was Julia Lo Bue-Said, Cheif Executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, of which we are a member.
After making sure we had all the correct paperwork to enter Portugal, arrange a test for when we were in Portugal as well as the ‘Day 2’ PCR when coming home, we were all set to leave Luton Airport on Monday morning.
At the airport not much has really changed since last summer. Yes, you have to follow all the standard current Covid rules when you are inside the terminal building. This means wearing a mask when you’re not eating or drinking and using a hand sanitizer. Security was a little slow, given how few flights there were operating at the time, only three out of the over twenty stations open early in the morning at Luton. The airline also double-checks your paperwork – so the PCR certificate and the Portuguese Passenger Locator Form.
The experience onboard the aircraft is very familiar and hasn’t changed dramatically since last summer. Again, just as you would do in the airport, everyone wears masks – unless you are eating or drinking (there is a drinks and snacks service – at least there was on easyJet).
The arrival at Faro Airport was superb. Not only did it take just 90 seconds to make our way through passport control, but they had plenty of cheery and helpful staff to make the whole process as simple and easy as possible. Once on the other side, we had a great welcome from the Algarve Tourist Board, as well as a number of film crews and photographers documenting the day as well.
