is pretty stupid in these Omicron times. You may easily end up stranded. Lots of people stranded in SA for instance. You may also end up in a quarantine hotel and so on.
The UK has never done that except for 3rd world countries. Current regime is LFT (plus vacc) to get into Italy, LFT before the return flight home, and a Day 2 PCR test on return; isolation until negative result.
The key thing is to have flexible accommodation arrangements. We are staying in an apartment which is off the market and can stay as long as we want. It would be really terrible to be stuck in Cervinia for weeks 
In January I will do it in the TB20, if it is still possible. The way the new variant is going, no evidence of serious effects, and vaccines apparently effective, so I am not predicting widespread political panic, especially in countries which need the international business.
As it kept NZ from experiencing several waves
Same with Antarctica – that maybe has a similar level of tourism to NZ
Peter wrote:
so I am not predicting widespread political panic
…except for the current one…
Most people do not have the resources of flexibility to bear the risk of not being allowed to return home after a positive test.
I won’t risk going anywhere where I’m required to get a pre-departure test: if it’s positive you now not just have the problem of being stuck away from home, you now have to find accommodation at very short notice which will accept someone who has tested positive for covid. Plus the hassle factor of getting tests on top of the existing hassles of airline travel.
alioth wrote:
I won’t risk going anywhere where I’m required to get a pre-departure test: if it’s positive you now not just have the problem of being stuck away from home, you now have to find accommodation at very short notice which will accept someone who has tested positive for covid.
Alas, this seems to become the norm for travel. The US has just initiated a new policy where the test cannot be older than one day (would need to double-check if that’s 24 hours or one calendar day). This has prompted us to postpone a planned trip to Costa Rica, as at the moment it’s unclear if we could get a test there within this time frame.
Peter wrote:
The UK has never done that except for 3rd world countries. Current regime is LFT (plus vacc) to get into Italy, LFT before the return flight home, and a Day 2 PCR test on return; isolation until negative result.
The current regime changes faster than a normal person changes underwear. And you are now totally in the hands of not one, but at least two completely nonsensical and whimsy set of politicians
It’s doable of course, it’s more a matter of how much grief you can tolerate during a holiday IMO. How much time you are willing to lose.
I think it’s much better to just walk outside, put on skis, and go skiing
alioth wrote:
I won’t risk going anywhere where I’m required to get a pre-departure test:
Which for several countries is everywhere. E.g at the moment you are required to get a pre-departure test and another 4-7 days after arrival for Switzerland for all countries.
I agree, won’t do it either.
I try to avoid all tests but I am triple vaccinated. So I probably need to.stay in France until things change.
In general a pre-departure test is not a bad idea, anyways – not only because one enters into a different country but also because one plans to spend multiple hours in close proximity to other people. And yes, despite the early rumors that the virus is scared of flying and therefore you can not infect yourself on board we see examples of large shares of pax of a single airplane got infected (much too high share to explain that by individual infections before boarding the plane).
172driver wrote:
The US has just initiated a new policy where the test cannot be older than one day (would need to double-check if that’s 24 hours or one calendar day).
Business idea: Let’s open a test center in Greenland! With a one day policy even with tests in Iceland (as one does today) ferry flights are difficult to plan ;-)
Malibuflyer wrote:
Let’s open a test center in Greenland!
Probably too late. I am sure the larger communities have one. After all, they also need to test their own folks in case of suspicion.
Malibuflyer wrote:
With a one day policy even with tests in Iceland (as one does today) ferry flights are difficult to plan ;-)
Commercial air crew are often exempt from testing. So another non-starter. Ferry pilots go as commercial.
Malibuflyer wrote:
In general a pre-departure test is not a bad idea
From a medical point of view no question. From a tourist point of view, many will shy away because it means they get stranded and possibly ill in a foreign country.
The answer to that is easy but not what anyone wants to hear.
There are many thousands of commercial airliner flights daily in the US, none of which require passenger
testing and it’s not proved to be a significant problem.
@172driver, one solution to your problem returning from Costa Rica is to fly into Tijuana on e.g. Volaris or Aeromexico, and walk through the airport to the US side terminal & parking via the CBX bridge. No test required to do so.
Returning from Germany last time I found the pre-departure testing issue to be the least of our hassles on the trip, and I do think testing makes a lot more sense than worrying about vaccination status of foreigners entering the country. It’s not particularly relevant how sick they might ultimately get if infected with a contagious illness, what’s arguably relevant is whether they are, now.
