Well the UK has gone for the travel restrictions in a full blooded way. We started to stop international travel after the virus had been ravaging the world for only 16 months. We stopped the travel from India after only we had signed a trade deal - presumably we also have trade deals with South Africa and Brazil as we waited ages until we banned travel from those countries. If only we were an island - then we could manage our borders easily.

Cynical? Moi?

As we say in England 'plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose'. :rolleyes2:

I can see the good old days riding back over the horizon towards us. It used to be "Fog in the Channel, Europe isolated", now it's vaccine xenophobia. At least they haven't (yet) started melting down the cross channel ferries to make more ventilators.:rofl:

I had totally forgotten that headline. I am not sure it is true but it sums up some inhabitants mentality pretty well.

Well that`s the point exactly, the UK could & should have just closed up shop but they didn't & still haven't.

Poor leadership putting lives over the the almighty dollar, which surprises me because BoJo was real close to copping it himself, you would think he would have learned something with his own experience?

Like i said before, UK born & bred but now living down under & grateful.

Mezo.

Looks like your home secretary is working on a solution for the island problem...

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/...sta-style-visa

Not mine, most definitely not mine. Personally I find the current "government" corrupt, incompetent, and dishonest - others are less charitable. They are messing around with the voting system and constituency boundaries to rig the election their own way - so they are putting forward legislation insisting on photo ID to be able to vote to stop fraudulent voting. At the last general election there were four (4) prosecutions for electoral fraud - however the number of people that don't have acceptable photo ID is around 6+ million.

They are also trying to silence the BBC so that they don't get criticism from that direction and they are already in the back pocket of the printed media. Their aim it appears - and the numbers back this up - is to ensure that the wealthy get wealthier at the poor's expense.

The path they are treading is down the authoritarian route that will do no-one any good in the long term. Hurrumph.

Some time ago someone - I can't remember who - said that Boris Johnson's version of leading people was to listen to see which way the larger part of the crowd were going and then running to the front shouting "follow me". The crowd he was hearing were his own "government" who would throw your mother and mine under a bus if they thought they could make a buck on it.

Got my second shot yesterday. Slightly fever during the night but nothing at all like the first time where I shivered and shaked for several hours and was unwell for 1,5 days. My immune system is definetively activated for the second time, this time by Pfizer, first time by AstraZeneca. I should soon be very safe now!

So now I have done my part, Im ready for the world....:D

Covid 19 vaccination
 

Second Pfizer jab last week - I have had quite severe influenza symptoms for several days. Small price to pay for the hoped for immunity, but for me international travel is off the menu for the foreseeable future. I live in Oslo, where the situation is stable, and I am very happy for that. The "itch" has more or less disappeared, as you all know Norway is a special mc experience, you just have to have weather luck, and a fat wallet!

Sadly I don't think we are finished with the Corona, crossing borders is going to be even more of a hassle, even if you are vaccinated. Bad situation to be trapped in a country with minimal medical resources if you got ill or injured, not just from Corona, and you can't get the help you need because their infrastructure is on the verge of collapse.

Whether the vaccines can be tweaked to counter the mutants that develop is another uncertainty that affects independent travel, people outside of the tourist industry will probably be very wary of travellers.

Stay safe

Peter, in Oslo

So many people I've spoken to think much the same about Boris in particular, that in the solitude of the voting booth he's a Brexit remainer but saw more fame and fortune for him personally if he championed leave. It's Boris no 1 and the rest of the country trailing along somewhere behind. They see that and still vote for him.

When he was our local MP I once spent a morning with him on a kind of ribbon cutting factory tour and found him to be a very personable, likeable and personable bloke, a kind of slightly eccentric and completely chaotic next door neighbour. I can see why those characteristics have propelled him up the greasy pole and he's been able to stay there because most of his reign has been during a 'national emergency' so the normal blood baying from the opposition / media has been reduced. They do say it's better to be lucky than talented in politics and he's been lucky to be around in this era.

The older I get the less 'gravitas' politicians of all sorts seem to have. Back when I was a kid they all seemed far more serious, verging on statesmanlike; people of ability selflessly dedicated to the furtherance of the national good. Now (and I've met a few over the years) they just seem to be people that in the sort of life the rest of us lead would be unemployable.

I am aware that in this moment the world is still fighting to control the outbreak and progression of corona. Vaccines will allow you to travel again but corona will - in what ever kind of characteristic - always be present in certain countries or regions for the near future. There is actually no scientific data existing how long and effective vaccination will work and nobody knows if or how many mutations will be created through different levels of vaccinations allover the world.

Because everybody is speculating about getting back to normal or to prepandemic life I think a stronger future divide between business travels, commercial tourism and individual travelers is imaginable.

Varying levels of restrictions like a limitation of Visas or of destinations allowed to visit could make self organized traveling more hard and of course more expensive.

Entrance at the border with own vehicle could be refused because you need more than a passport and a carnet. A certificate of vaccination could be rejected by the local goverment because you got the wrong shot in their view. Border crossings for private/individual travellers could be denied because of a missing of a valid travel purpose.

Visa valid time could be shortened to a time duration that some destinations will loose attraction for individual travelling people. Stronger regulations for re-entering borders to gain a new travel period could be turned into a tool to limit amounts of travellers
A deposit of cash or an insurance by force to cover healthcare cost in case of an covid related illness could turn into a mandatory measurement for border crossings.

Local social behaviors could change rapidly in the moment when a region is hitted by a new outbreak. Yesterday you where welcomed and today you will be forced to leave. Hospitality by people or by goverment could be refused suddenly because foreign travellers were identified as carriers of a new outbreak. Social media in this regions will provide a dark force of to help spreading rumors and to influence peoples opinions and manner.

Time will tell if my thoughts and imagination will turn into reality. But I still hope that it will be only the worst nightmare I ever suffered from.

This is a valid analysis. As travellers, we need to understand that countries will open up in the order of what's important to them. This means business first, for many developing economies welcoming foreign business people is paramount to growth. Video conferencing does not solve everything, especially when people want to invest money.

Next, the countries with a sizeable tourism sector will open up some touristy areas. This is a sensible approach, it limits the exposure of the society to travellers, while starting up the most important part of the travel economy. I would not be surprised if only package tours were allowed, this would make vaccine passports and insurance easier to handle. Oh, and some kind of confirmation of vaccination will be needed, most of us are good enough people to understand that countries that cannot afford quick vaccination or handle an outbreak are not ours to endanger.

But what about those of us who like to roam free, uninvited and unorganised? Border controls will open up after a time, quarantine requirements will be dropped when vaccine passports start working, etc. But insurance requirements will increase, tests will need to be done (and paid for), etc.

The biggest question on my mind is how outsiders will be welcomed by regular people. Will we be seen as potentially dangerous? In any case, a face mask is something that we should keep handy at all times over the next years to diffuse situations were we're seen as contagious threats. And we should accept this, we will always be the uninvited guests who have to be nice to be accepted into the conversation.

China have already said that they will only accept a Sinopharm vaccine as valid - oddly, that is the one they have developed.

Covid will be around for years - this will impact travelling for years and we will just have to either accept it or stop travelling. I don't see any quick way around it.

Watching Youtubers Itchy Boots and One Her Bike in South Africa and Zambia they seem to be getting on just fine. Biggest problem we're facing with the next trip is if we have to quarantine on our return to the UK.

Hope that's not tears of a clown style travel - smiling to the camera because that's your job but staring at the bottom of a glass in despair afterwards because all your plans are in tatters.

Quarantine is a bigger issue to some people than others. My son will have to quarantine when he comes over here in July but as he works from home at the moment, home is wherever his laptop can be plugged in.

Dunno, they both seem happy enough - I suspect Noraly more than Kinga because Kinga likes being around people more and everything seems super quiet at the moment down there.


Anyway, I've got my flights booked to SA for November. I'm hoping (and so, apparently, is British Airways) that SA comes off the Red List soon-ish because I do not want to have to pay the thick end of three grand doh to quarantine in a hotel when we return in mid December.

Still quite a lot of people travelling in Africa looking at various FB groups, smae with Europe. 6 of the gang I got stuck in lockdown with last year have travlled most of the last 12 month

Today I had my second jab of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. No ill effects. I am still going to wear my mask in shops etc as I could, in theory, still be contagious (though at reduced risk). quite when I will stop wearing the mask is up for debate. -I suspect that there will be some people, probably including myself, that will continue to use them particularly when we have a cold.

:thumbup1: for getting the second jab. I got mine back in April - and had a whole load of side effects, including a multi day headache. The medics took the headache so seriously that I got one of the very few face to face consultations with a GP down at the local health centre and a whole battery of blood tests to check me out. Whether it was an actual AZ headache or a psychosomatic one I invented for myself who knows as it eventually went off of its own accord. My emergency medicine consultant brother in law said though that as soon as the headache symptom hit the press back in the winter they were swamped with people coming in saying they had a headache. Many of them hadn't even had the vaccine.

Having the vaccine and mask wearing do seem to be two different things. Everyone over 40 - round here anyway - should have had / been offered (not the same) the vaccine x2 but mask wearing is still universal in shops etc - because they're insisting on it. At the start of all this last year the 'precautions' lagged behind the actual virus by quite some time. Now it's the other way round, with the removal of restrictions lagging behind what's happening with the bug. I don't see mask wearing being 'derestricted' for quite some time - mainly because it gives a kind of a sense of security to some people + it doesn't really cause much of an economic hit. And it continues this 'national emergency' feeling, so hold off on the divisive politics / strikes and stop complaining about no foreign holidays etc. Vote Boris, he'll see you all right. :rofl:

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...1&d=1623237841

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vac...s?country=~CHE

Too sad to see the values :( I had assumed, that the UK values gets better with a higer vaccination rate.

In switzerland the values gets better, even when skiing was allowed and also the restaurants are open like normal since a week.

Germany has a stronger policy, but too much better values - in direct comparison.

Link to UK News: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833

Surfy

Growing incedents mainly caused by spreading through Delta virus variant (B.1.617.2) since April from Blackburn, Bolton, Manchester, Leicester and areas around of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airport.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-57424534

New infections hit primarly non vaccinated people and people who only got one shot. Which means a lot of schoolkids and teenagers.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulat...o-had-covid-19

The surge in the Delta variant in the UK, despite an estimated 80% of the population having some level of anti bodies, should be a wake up call for any anti vaxers.
But they'll chhose to interpret this, using their twisted logic, to claim that vaccines don't protect us and that they are dangerous.
Go figure.
So that's one reason I can't be bothered to even attempt any engagement. Unfortunately this twisted logic spills over and influences the vaccine hesitant :-(

So here in Australia, today they are now recommending those only over the age of 60 should be given the AstraZeneca jab due to the risk & recent cases of thrombosis (mainly with women) & from now on those under 60 are to be given the Pfizer vaccine.

I fall in to the over 50 but under 60 category who has had their first AZ jab & what the experts are saying (and those are the people i take my advice from) is that if you have had your first AZ jab with no ill effects the second jab is simply a booster and its highly unlikely that you will have any issues.

So no problems so far (six weeks in) and looking forward to the second jab, of course i could be dead in six weeks but if i got CV19 i would be dead anyhow.

For sure i would have prefered the Pfizer vaccine & i did ask but there was no choice as the Yanks have gobbled up the world's supply.

Mezo.

Here are the current Data from the Swiss Gouverment:

https://www.bag.admin.ch/dam/bag/de/...liche_Lage.pdf

It looks not so bad here. A very low hospilisation rate. Restaurants open, Wellness and Sport is open - and new is - that the homeoffice obligation isnt that strict anymore.

In switzerland we had to work at home till last month, if possible - something who was different to other countrys.

https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home...mendations.png

The vaccination rate is still low, compared to the nighbours, but starts to grow too.

Surfy

My wife and I had our 2nd AstraZeneca vaccine a few weeks ago. Zero side effects. One comparison I saw stated the risk as being equal to the possibility of dying when you drive 250 miles on UK roads. And of course all the conspiracy theory anti vaxer middle aged men like to ignore the risk millions of women take by using oral contraception.
Our 23yr old daughter had her first Phizer vaccine yesterday. Sore arm and this morning, she described it as if she'd been drinking too much in the sunbier those nano bots flowing in her blood stream are obviously able to predict the future. Now that I hadn't figured:rofl:
By this afternoon all fine.
I'm now in the process of sorting out our digital Covid vaccine passports. Planing a trip through Europe (even though they hate Brits after Brexit):rolleyes2:

Had my 2nd AZ, slight sore arm. Looking forward to travelling again this autumn.

However, I understand that I might be out of action for a few hours while Bill Gates installs the latest software update to the nanobots.

Did i read somewhere that Morocco is opening uo to fully vacinnated people?
This Delta vairant was another balls up/snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but from what I've observed to date it will also become the dominant variant in Europe

I had my 2nd AZ jab last week and no side effects whatsoever. In and out in less than 3 minutes and then just carried on with my regular daily business. 1st jab I felt very tired the following day.

Yes you did (probably one of my updates somewhere) Ferries not fully running though which is a pain.

Nobody said their ages? im almost 55 (so right in the middle) of this new advice from the Australian medical guys, if you're over 60 it's not an issue they reckon. (for AZ)

Mezo.

Me 59. Nothing with first or second dose.
Wife 54. Flu like with first dose. Nothing with 2nd.
Son 31 had AZ. Very high temp. for a few hours. He had Covid pre vaccine and it seems that you do get more extreme side effects if you have had it.
Son 29 AZ. Nothing.
Daughter 27 AZ. Flu like side effects for a day. She had Covid pre vaccine.
Daughter 23. Phizer. Side effects, as previous post

Me (58) AZ 1st dose - slightly woozy feeling for an hour cured with a cup of tea and a paracetemol. 2nd dose - nothing at all but I did make sure I had a cup of tea beforehand just to be on the safe side

Wife, 51 - AZ 1st dose - felt mild flu like symptoms for a few hours - sleep, paracetemol and a cup of tea sorted it. 2nd dose - no reaction.

Daughter, 22 Phizer 1st dose - mild flu like symptoms for half a day. 2nd dose - no reaction

Daughter, 21 AZ - 1st dose slightly woozy feeling for half a day. 2nd dose - no reaction

Son, 17 Phizer - 1st dose - no reaction. Not had his 2nd dose yet

The biggest risks that are out there are minor in comparison to not having the vaccine. The risks associated with oral contraception are far, far higher than the vaccine.

Me (51). Oxford/AZ: 1st dose= Sore arm at site of injection and "hangover" type symptoms the next day (which, to be fair could have been a hangover)
2nd dose= nothing, not even a sore arm.
AND Bill Gates hasn't found me yet!:innocent:

I forgot to mention that I now have really good 5G reception - pity my phone isn't 5G though. Bill says "Hi" by the way, he knows where you are but just hasn't had time to contact you.

Me 54 - AZ - Headache and sore arm 1st jab. Mild fatigue on 2nd jab

Wife 52 - AZ - Similar to above

Daughter 22 - AZ - 1st jab had bad flue symptoms for 3 days. Mild fatigue on 2nd jab

Daughter 27 - Phizer - Mild Headache and sore arm 1st jab. Not had 2nd jab yet

Well that's encouraging, many young people have had AZ vaccine in the UK, here in OZ the doctor said (as i was getting jabbed) your very young to be getting this.

He thought i should wait a few months for the Pfizer vaccine, but there is simply not enough supply, so i opted for the AZ.

The media have done a real good job of scaremongering AZ over here, but we do have the luxury of low covid cases & nobody has died of CV19 since October last year so people are reluctant to get the AZ vaccine.

Mezo.

I'm not dismissing the risks/side effects of the AZ vaccine (stating the bleeding obvious) there's risks with any medication.
There's risks associated with the Phizer and Modena vaccines. Heart inflammation and blood clots.
But the constant negative briefings around AstraZeneca is suspicious. Maybe follow the money? AZ sold at cost, around €5. The others around €30-40

Unfortunately there is no free market, or free discussion about alternatives too from the chinese or russian market. Which vaccination works better, for which age, which health condition?

The real risks of the vaccination arent visible today. Hopefully reports like these - dont get worse:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...89004221001383

https://www.pei.de/DE/newsroom/pm/ja...html?nn=172068

But two alternatives to the normal vaccination are too under developement and near ready for the market: kin001, Sotrovimab.

Sounds like a breakthrough in my ears.

https://www.biospace.com/article/rel...phase-2-study/

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/pres...tment-covid-19

So for me as a mid-ager without beeing in a risk group - is waiting probably still the best option. To be able to use medicine if neccessary - sounds like a good option?

I`m still looking at texas, they are back to normality since march - and the statistics about covid looks better than many other states.

If you compare Switzerland to Germany, you can see that relaxed restrictions did lead to higher cases. But anyway - let us hope that we see the normality soon!

Surfy

https://www.pei.de/EN/newsroom/press...ED.intranet211

For those who haven`t recognized that the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut is offering his website in english too, here is Surfy`s link in english language.

I am pulling my hair out with one of my employees. He has a chronic chest complaint and should be considered extremely clinically vulerable. He is also one of the world's biggest hypochondriac and his wife is worse than him - however he is a good employee and I want the best for him.

His wife had a reaction to the vaccine - Astra Zeneca I think - and so won't have the second dose - my understanding is that the evidence is any reaction to the second dose is less than the first reaction.

He won't have the first dose as he doesn't want a reaction of any sort. He has seen the effects on a family member of Covid, he knows my father in law died from it, another member of staff was really groggy with it and he knows that if he gets Covid he is liable to have, at best, a poor outcome but he will not have any of the vaccines in case he gets a headache. I have offered to take him to the appointment, given him information about the vaccines -I just can't understand some people.

Its shame when you have a situation like that, no easy way round it.

I've had both mine, AZ, first I felt crap the day after and if that was a very mild experience of COVID, I certainly don't want the main thing. 2nd dose was much better with no real reactions.

Unfortunately we live in a world where fake news and conspiracy theories take precedent over actual science. Brexit, Trump and now COVID have revealed how quickly people will believe the fake information spread so widely.

I`m still wondering that the EM Championship (congratulation to the uk) is running near normal, where the as "delta" named variant starts to get the leadership in many countries.

And it seems that too the full vaccinated people can get it.

Germany starts to get travellers from portugal to quarantaine, vaccinated or not. In Israel the masks get their revival.

Translated from:
https://www.srf.ch/news/internationa...delta-variante

for your employees -maybe this helps:

Attachment 25315

https://www.swissmedic.ch/swissmedic...ty-update.html

As a men any risk seems to be much lower!

But for shure, the swiss officials still didnt approve the AC vaccination (for a reason?), so the statistic may be looks different in the UK.

But anyway, the UK did a good job for vaccination: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833

Surfy

Fully vaccinated people can certainly get Covid...

My mate and his wife had a weekend away in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago and a few days after returning they both tested positive for the the delta variant... Both of them had received their 2nd phizer jab over 2 months ago. He had fairly mild symptoms but his wife was quite poorly for over a week. Both still in isolation.

In South Glos UK where I live, there were 421 new cases last week which is a 70% increase from the previous week

I expect with all the footy going on and social gatherings etc.. its only going to get worse..

While it's unfortunate to get COVID once vaccinated, the "good" thing is that there's no risk of getting seriously ill or dying after being vaccinated (twice). I'm curious though how the delta-variant will develop, it's supposed to be a LOT more contagious.

Switzerland has a very cool new website about the hospitalisation:

https://www.covid19.admin.ch/de/hosp-capacity/icu

4.9% used for covid patients - it looks pretty good actually. Bad thing is, it look near similar one year ago.

Lets hope that it will be less harmful too with "Delta", because most of us are vaccinated or cured from covid.

Surfy

We're controlled and manipulated by 3 word slogans:rolleyes2:
The latest fake news is that the majority of people dying from Covid are double vaccinated.
So easy to manipulate data to portray this. People dying usually have several and severe underlying health issues and are 60yr old plus. So yep, lots are double vaccinated. No vaccine is 100% effective.
So if we all get vaccinated 100% of deaths can be claimed to be either due to the actual vaccine or the vaccine being ineffective:censored:

Anyway. My hamster died 3 days after I had the AZ vaccine. Big pharma kept that side effect well hidden

Where have you read such a claim? I've seen literally dozens of articles from different sources claiming that the vast majority (95%+) of new COVID hospitalisations are unvaccinated. Here is just one such story: https://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ne...n-unvaccinated
"Of the 63 new COVID cases recorded during the weeks ended June 13 and 20, only two were in fully vaccinated people"

and another: https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid...e-unvaccinated
"Of more than 18,000 people who died from COVID-19, for example, only about 150 were fully vaccinated. That's less than 1%."

I certainly wasn't implying any credence to this.
I hang around some American forums. Need I say more?
Occasionally I follow the links, it usually takes 4 or 5 seconds to determine the latest "expert" is a fraud. Last one was a former UK Doctor Alexander who was struck off for creating false claims about the mmr vaccine. Mostly it's just out of morbid curiosity.
When you've vaccinated 90%+ of the vulnerable (UK numbers) it's easy to put a negative spin when some of these die.
The Daily Mail chose to run a story implying this, so not even some loony toon conspiracy theory source. Just a politically motivated rag of a news paper.

And let's not forget that when someone writes: "150 people out of 10000 die after vaccination", it looks like it was because of vaccination/COVID but people can still die of other sources.

Also, talking about untruthful media/press/stupid people: https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...nto-crocodiles

It´s an absolute needless discussion if people who died on covid19 were half/fully or not vaccinated. The number of people who will die from covid19 without a vaccination will always be higher than the number of vaccinated people. And yes, vaccinated people who suffer from pre-existing illnesses will have a higher risk to die. And yes again, a vaccination always includes different kinds of risks of adverse effects.

But every vaccination independent of what vaccine is used will drastically reduce the risk of dying from covid19 and prevent growing virus mutations.

Vaccination will prevent symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in significant numbers. The probalitity that fully vaccinated persons will be shown as positive through a PCR test is very low. Means numbers of this is never zero, there is still a possibilty existing that fully vaccinated persons can get an infection.

In what kind of ratio and risk a fully vaccinated person is able to transfer the virus to another person is still not detected and proven by medical evidence. What is clear up to day by medical evidence data is that fully vaccinated persons show a much lower number of viral load. This results in a shorter time and amount of expulsion of viruses and in less perilous courses of disease for fully vaccinated persons.

That´s why we still have to keep on hygiene rules in our social periphery if there are so many people around without being vaccinated in times where delta variant is still spreading faster and faster. It`s not the delta virus who spreads around, it us the un- and vaccinated people who spread the virus mostly without recognizing it.

This we should keep in mind when we watch EM soccer championship with overcrowed stadiums in the tv. And this we should keep in mind if times of travelling will return to a world where for several reasons we will never find a region or a country with a 100% vaccination rate. It´s up to us to proof and ignore spreading rumors from doubtful sources, to trust science more than politician partys and to take respectful care of eachothers as we would belong to one family.

Think, we all got impressed sometime by the experience of extraordinary hospitaly and altruistic help from foreigners we met randomly in their country. Let us be and act with same behavior like them to get together through this pandemic.

The world is full of nice people. If you can`t find one, be one.
(Nishan Panwar)

Finally got my second AZ jab today (well happy) now i`m going to cough all over the anti vaxxers. :thumbup1:

I did ask for a lolly back in April, the nurse didn't think it was that funny? and today i asked if i was getting a lolly? same response.

So the Yanks are given Pfizer & a lotto ticket, here in Australia all we get is AZ & a grumpy nurse & a digital certificate. WTF?

So to all the Aussies sitting on the fence, no you don't get a lolly but you get a jab that can save your life, get it done & stop getting your news from FB. https://www.tenere.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/rtfi.gif

https://i.postimg.cc/j2fWRF7L/vax-cert.jpg

Mezo.

Nicely done and Happy Birthday for the other day.

Wow - you received quite a fancy certificate there. All I got for my two Moderna needles was a standard-size business card with some hand-written scribbles with the lot numbers and dates. I suppose the good thing is that it fits easily in my wallet.

Sounds much like mine. But to cross the border I'm going to have to upload a photo of this rather unimpressive document to some sort of governmental website, yielding a still-unimpressive digital copy. I expect you'll have to do the same, except that in your case you'll be waiting on Mr. Biden, while I'm (thankfully) not.

It`s just a PDF doc, not sure why they called it digital? i converted it to a jpg & sent it to my phone.

It doesn't open any doors here in Australia, when the order is given to mask up whether your vaccinated or not everyone has to mask up.

Mezo.

To clarify, I was responding to my neighbor brclarke. But in any case, anything not printed on actual paper is “digital.” If it’s on your phone, it’s digital; a .jpg is digital until you print it. Feeding it manually into the scanner it’s not digital, but the product stored on phone or computer certainly is.

I just got back from a trip to Germany. Going over there, I uploaded my vaxx cert and they took a quick look at it at the airport (no test needed). Coming back, regardless of the fact that I've been vaxxed, I had to get tested...at the Frankfort airport they barely glanced at the test. You can get tested right at the airport if you want.

The UK is now open to those from the EU (except France) and the USA that have been fully vaccinated (two doses for Astra Zenica / Pfizer / Modena and a single dose of the Johnson - I am not 100% on the Johnson single dose vaccine so worth checking before buying a ticket etc).

Whether you will be allowed to go back is another question entirely.

The UK has just started to deliver the first doses of vaccine to Covax - the UN body sorting out vaccines for the parts of the world that are unable to afford the vaccine. The UK have promised to deliver 100 million in the next year - hopefully they will not just deliver that 100 million but significantly more and the equipment to administer the vaccines safely.

It's over an hour long which makes me reluctant to sit through it, particularly as I've never heard of either of the people involved. However, anything that claims to 'expose the truth' in its strap line is more likely than not to be pushing some fringe agenda based round some kind of conspiracy in my experience.

If it's not, and it's a worthwhile debate about the science surrounding Covid, vaccinations, or even a reasoned discussion about sociological consequences of the pandemic then let me know and I'll make the time. On the face of it though it seems far from that. The people involved must have some kind of public face (in the US I guess).

A post on this thread included a link to a video about which I know nothing. After clicking on the link and reading a few of the supportive comments which followed it, I've placed that post (and mine responding to it) into moderation. That means they're invisible; Grant and moderators will decide whether or not to allow them here.

Mark

And the posts are gone.

Here's a quote from a site that rates sites on media bias:

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/bitchute/
"Overall, we rate BitChute extreme right and Questionable based on the promotion of conspiracy theories, propaganda, hate speech, poor sourcing, fake news, and a lack of transparency. This source is not credible for accurate information and may be offensive to some (most)."

Trustpilot also gives it a poor rating. 52% BAD.

Dailydot: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/bitchute/
"Since January 2017, BitChute has fashioned itself as an independent news outlet, but also welcomed the kind of misinformation videos that YouTube has been battling; the partisan, racist, and far-out absurdities that YouTube has tried to smoke out. Just how far can it really stretch its “freedom of expression” mission?"

And my own review says same thing - NOT acceptable, NOT helpful in any way, and contributes to the growing divisiveness and hate / propaganda / fake news that's getting completely out of hand.

Remember politics is BANNED on this forum except where it affects borders and our ability to traverse / visit a country.

On a lighter note. Just got my 2nd shot. The two week countdown to my Cyprus trip has begun.

:scooter::scooter::scooter::scooter::scooter:

So there may be a longer delay to easy global travel than we were hoping for as it would appear that the rich nations have hogged the vast majority of the vaccines so far. Much more detail here.

The long and the short of it is that whilst the west has promised to deliver lots of vaccines to the poorer nations the promises have not yet been delivered plus India has stopped exporting vaccines whilst they sort themselves out - hopefully this will be sorted quickly so we can get the vaccine roll out globally done as fast as possible.

Mind you, there are still the people that refuse the vaccine in every country, some cannot have it due to medical conditions - and that I understand - I don't include Stupidity in the group of understandable medical conditions.

Jab 3 coming to a clinic near you shortly (my daughter gets hers this week), so I wonder whether part of the hoarding has been in anticipation of this going ahead. I have wondered whether there's a foreign aid budget analogy element to this, where the vaccines have been used - like money usually is - as a political influence stick to beat people with.

As for vaccine 'refuseniks', my sympathy gene seems to have run the whole gamut over the last year or so from 'they don't understand' through 'we need to convince them' to 'on their own heads be it'. I had a friend in the US email me a few days ago and mention that his next door neighbour's live at home son has just caught it. Both parents are unvaccinated by choice and all three of them are now quarantined together at home. It'll be interesting to see how that one works out. On the other hand, one of my wife's medical partners has just caught it as well and is confined to her house. She's double vaccinated and (so far anyway) isn't that ill with it. Because the practice is so overwhelmed with work she's still having to take patient referrals by phone / zoom while trying to recover.

I suspect that there is a large element of retention for the third jab going on - they have been talking of the booster jab publicly for some time so behind closed doors for longer than that. However, there should be sufficient to start to deliver on the promises. .

Actual travel on a bike in Europe 2021
 

As this thread is supposed to be about travel ON A MOTORCYCLE during these times I thought that I might make an on topic contribution.

Unlike most of the people who have contributed to this thread I have actually recently traveled in Europe (about a month ago) on a motorcycle and can therefore provide factual information.

During August 2021 I traveled from Poland to Spain via Germany and France.

Despite the false and or inaccurate media stories about restricted borders, COVID test requirements, vaccination proof etc. etc. I can state the following FACTS.

There were no border checks OF ANY KIND at any of the borders of the above mentioned countries.

I stopped in service stations in all four countries and bought petrol without the need to show any proof of vaccination or otherwise.

I took overnight accommodation in all four countries without the need to show any proof of vaccination or otherwise.

I sat in cafes and bars in all four countries without the need to show any proof of vaccination or otherwise.

I hope this information is helpful.

A bit late now, but on-topic:

If you have a Janssen vaccine (1-shot) it's best not to ride a motorbike afterwards for a good long time - I waited the prescribed 15 mins to see if I might keel over, yet felt fine. But then on the way home (only about 25kms) I started to feel dizzy and by the time I arrived I really wasn't safe to be on a bike.

As for travel restrictions, Spain doesn't have a "covid passport" in effect within it's borders (it was ruled unconstitutional) so once you're here that's it. My understanding is that in France they may restrict nightclubs and other things where crowding may happen.

I came back from France about 10 days ago and while I can't comment on cross border checks within the EU as I didn't do any, my experience in France was not quite the same. Getting into France from the UK only needed an 'honesty declaration' - a form you filled in on line saying that you didn't have Covid. French passport control at Dover wanted to see it (not trusting my phone I had a paper copy).

Hotels / supermarkets /motorway services etc were not bothered about Covid status - you could book them / walk in and out etc and nobody was bothered - as long as you were wearing a mask. I was 'reminded' a couple of times when I was browsing in some smaller shops and forgot to put a mask on. Cafes and restaurants however wanted to see your French covid passport before they'd let you in. No UK stuff worked on their system and no QR code on your phone meant no entry. I didn't find a single cafe that didn't insist on the code before letting you in, and as I didn't have one it meant no leisurely lunches etc The only exceptions were restaurants in hotels you were staying in - breakfast mostly.

Coming back to the UK needed a test done within two days of your arrival at Calais. Finding a test centre locally (near Grenoble) wasn't hard with a couple of them operating a no appointment needed, just walk in, schedule but the test I used came with me from the UK. You buy it in advance, take it with you and email the company to make a Zoom style call on your phone at a suitable time. They then watch you taking the test in real time, and you hold the test strip up to the camera so they can see if it's positive or negative. If you pass they email you the cert. That worked perfectly via 4G on my phone (much to my surprise!)

You need the cert to fill in the passenger locator form, something that only have been devised by a bureaucrat with too much time on his hands. It assumes you're only visiting the UK and wants (amongst other things) to know when you're leaving. The on line version won't take nonsense answers either so it took a while to find made up answers it would accept. Trying to fill it in came close to causing me to miss the ferry. Much to my surprise it wasn't immigration that wanted to see it but the ferry co. Presumably they get fined if you don't do it.

I never heard anything from track and trace - the form is supposed to put you on their radar, but I was talking to someone a few days ago who had also come back from a euro bike trip at about the same time. He got home late in the evening and had someone from track and trace banging on his door at 7.00am the next morning. He was told where to stick his form in very short order :rofl:

Back from Spain, Andorra and France a few days ago.

Arrival in Spain, no covid checks, I guess because its done before you board the ferry in the UK. No controls crossing in or out of Andorra or into France.

In France I had to show my covid passport at some places but not everywhere, it was a bit hit and miss. Get the French COVID app and upload you vaccination cert, its much easier to use than the UK one, which like the Passenger Locator form has been designed by an imbecile.

Coming back to the UK was interesting, I didn't have a ferry booked. You can't book a Day 2 test without a flight number or ferry name, you cant fill in a passenger locator form without your day 2 test booked. The staff at Dieppe ferry terminal wouldn't sell me a ticket without a negative test and a completed Passenger locator form doh. I could however book the same ferry online with no paperwork.

Had a slight hiccup when I got me pre travel test results as the DOB was wrong, but quickly corrected by the people who did the test.

Of course if you have booked your return travel before leaving the UK and take a Antigen test with you its more straight forward

Another European Update
 

I have just traveled by road from Spain to Poland (January 2022)

No checks at any borders.

Only problem that I encountered was when I went in to Italy and reached the city of Parma, both the hotel that I had booked and a nearby McDonald's would not allow me to stay in their respective establishments without a "Green Pass".

I decided not to find out if the rest of the country was going to be like this so I decided to take my wallet elsewhere and left Italy by the fastest possible route.

Austria and Slovakia were only open for transiting which I did but there was no one at any border or any other place on the roads checking anything.

their country
 

Their country their rules.

I joined this forum to obtain information from other bikers that would be of use me to me in my travels. I always felt that in return I should contribute and thereby hopefully provide information to other bikers might find useful on their travels.

However, recently I have been questioning whether or not I should continue contributing as it appears to me from a lot of the comments being made, not just in response to my own contributions, but also in response to contributions by others, are becoming less cordial and occasionally border on hostility.

I value the contributions made on this forum and I hope that the civility and the respect that previously existed in this forum for the opinions and or experiences of contributors returns.

Madbiker, thanks for your comments, much appreciated. I apologize for the behavior of a few idiots.

To be clear, there is no room here for hostility or anything but friendly and respectful, supportive comments. We take such issues very seriously.

ANYONE - if you see any comments that don't meet those standards, PLEASE REPORT THEM by clicking the "Warning Triangle" on the appropriate post and it will go to all the moderators and myself and we will quickly respond to the best of our abilities.

EVERYONE - please take note that we WILL NOT TOLERATE hostile behavior; you will be warned, and we WILL BAN you if it continues.

Madbiker - I hope that you will help in reporting, and will hang around to enjoy the 99% of people here who ARE helpful and friendly. Sadly there's always one or two...