Remember when we thought that travel was going to be much easier in 2021? Oh, how naïve we were in 2020. With more possibilities for testing, you would think that travel would be possible with less restrictions, but the opposite seems to be happening. Travel advices can change weekly in your home country and your country of destination and you have to be super vigilant that you comply with all the regulations. For young (Dutch) travelers vaccination does not seem to offer much of a solution in the short term as it will take some time to become fully vaccinated. By the time you read this I hope to have arrived to the Canary Islands! Read all about our struggles for traveling in 2021 in this blog and I might offer some solutions too! Luckily we did receive some more good news in the past week as Italy, Germany and Austria are now included on the safe to travel list 🙂
Our first foreign destination of 2021: the Canary Islands
Since the summer of 2020 the Canary Islands have been a pretty safe destination to travel to COVID-wise. Because it is a group of islands it has been easier to contain the number of cases and even during the winter of 2020/2021 it was possible to travel to the Canary Islands. Years ago, I visited Tenerife and was very impressed with the moonlike landscapes. So, when the Dutch government relaxed the travel advice to the Canary Islands again from May 15 2021, we were quick to book a flight to Lanzarote. We paid a little extra to be allowed to do flight changes until 48 hours before flying, just in case that the Corona requirements would change again. When we made our booking you needed one of those: proof of being fully vaccinated, a PCR or antigenes test that was not older than 72 hours or proof of having recently recovered from COVID (within 180 days) upon entry of Spain. These rules do not apply for visitors until 6 years old. Unfortunately, on June 7, Spain changed the requirements for the negative test to 48 hours before arrival. This only shows that you have to be on top of the requirements until the last minute, as you might not be able to go if your test is deemed too old. The consequence of this change was that it would be impossible to enjoy the free cancellation on our hotel and car rental, because we could only cancel 48 hours before. When you factor in the time that it takes to receive your COVID test results after doing the test, the cancellation securities that we built in became useless. Luckily, we do work from home, posing less of a contamination risk for COVID, so we can assume our test comes back negative.
The inconsistencies in travel policies during COVID
Even though I get that it’s hard to create the right set of restrictions during a pandemic, the constant inconsistencies surrounding travel are really starting to weigh on me. At times I just don’t understand the restrictions anymore…
The Dutch government is pretty strict when it comes to travel advice and you don’t have that many options for travel right now, while The Netherlands is one of the worst performing countries of the EU when it comes to COVID cases. If the holiday destination wants to receive travelers with a negative test or proof of vaccination, I don’t get why we have a negative travel advice to destinations that have way less COVID cases. In The Netherlands I see friends all the time and Hugo’s daycare also provides some risk, so traveling abroad actually provides less of a risk of contamination.
Also, COVID cases are decreasing in the whole of Europe and people that have a higher risk of ending up in the hospital due to COVID have been fully vaccinated in most countries. At times I find it pretty hard to see that lots of Americans are traveling to Europe again, but traveling from one EU country to the other is still highly restricted. With more opportunities for testing becoming available, the risk of contamination during your travels has also highly decreased. I also don’t get how all travels are treated as having the same risk. We recently converted a van into a campervan, offering a really safe way of travel. In the summer of 2020 there were daily flights to party capitals such as Chersonnisos and the Costa Brava, creating several superspreading events. The travel advice for solo travel in the mountains is exactly the same as for a student going to a party hotspot. Of course, this is very hard to control, but it feels unnecessary harsh.
Another thing that made planning hard is that I didn’t know when I would be fully vaccinated. Hielke and I were able to plan our vaccinations for the end of June (first) and end of July (second). This did not interfere with our travel plans. We hope to get the vaccine passport two weeks after our last vaccination, decreasing the costs and hassles of continuously having to do PCR-tests. We finally have finished our van and we want to do a European road trip in summertime, fingers crossed that it will all work out!
Solutions and how to travel in 2021
Be flexible: This is another year where you have to be super spontaneous with traveling and need a flexible mindset. It is hard to plan travel with the ever changing restrictions, but you can research a few destinations and pick the best option by the time you are about to go. In August-September we will have three full weeks off to travel and we have several options that we would love to go to: the North of Spain, the Dolomites, Poland, Scotland and Portugal. Let’s see where we end up. I usually have my travels planned a year in advance, but that is not realistic anymore.
Insurance: Update your insurance to cover for COVID related costs, or use the opportunity to book flexible flight tickets and late cancellations for hotels.
Self quarantine: A travel advice is exactly what it says it is: an advice! You can easily travel to countries that have a negative travel advice, but you have to keep in mind that your insurance won’t cover certain events in case something goes wrong. This is mainly a financial risk that you could factor in upon choosing a destination. After traveling to a country with a negative travel advice you are advices to self quarantine for five days and if you have a negative PCR test on your last day you are free again. For us this is not an easy option as it means we cannot bring Hugo to daycare when we would have to quarantaine. But if you don’t have kids and work from home this is a very realistic option to increase your travel opportunities!
Go now: If you are one of those people who didn’t travel last year because it would probably be easier in 2021 you might regret this decision now. We went to France, Italy, Germany and Austria last year and I was super happy with our spontaneous trips. I am never one to postpone plans and will always do my best to make things happen and this is a good mindset if you want to travel during a pandemic. The restrictions are easing up so now is the time to travel! We don’t know what is still waiting for us in fall, so I would not recommend to postpone any longer. If you don’t have any big health issues, you shouldn’t be holding back from traveling right now. The moment that a country reopens for tourism is the best time to enjoy otherwise popular destinations with less tourists.
Where to go now
This list is ever changing of course, but right now you have several options to travel to that are considered safe by the Dutch government and that don’t require quarantine upon arrival. I always check this website for up to date information.
Austria: If you love to hike Austria is the perfect summer destination. I loved our hike to the Olpererhuette last year, you can find my blog here.
Dutch Antilles: This is THE time to check out Aruba, Bonaire or Curacao.
Germany: Germany really took me by surprise last year. I must admit that I wasn’t very interested in Germany pre-COVID but I found Germany a surprisingly diverse and colorful travel destination on our road trip last year. Germany has several hidden gems such as Rothenburg an der Tauber, Esslingen, Fuessen and Freudenberg. You can find my Germany blogs here.
France: let’s hope we can go to France again soon, hopefully just in time for the lavender fields, but now you can safely visit Corsica: the perfect off the beaten path destination.
Greece: the travel advice for the Cyclades changed again, but you can still travel to the other Islands groups of Greece (not the mainland).
Iceland: if you are fully vaccinated Iceland is an amazing option to travel to. It is the perfect summer destination as you can take advantage of the long days with sunlight. Check out my Iceland blogs here and here.
Italy: COVID cases in Italy are rapidly decreasing and you are allowed to travel to good old favorite Italy again from June 10.
Portugal & Madeira: currently, no restrictions on Portugal. You don’t have to quarantine on arrival anymore. Check out my blogs on Lisbon and enchanting Sintra for inspiration.
Malta: this one is still high on my bucket list so I will try to go there in July or August.
Spain: the Canary Islands and the Ballearic islands (Ibizia, Mallorca etc) are good options if you want to enjoy time in the sunshine!
