Travel to Europe April 2022

In April of 2022 Donna and I traveled back to Europe for the first time since the end of 2019. We visited the United Kingdom and specifically the country of England. We flew into and out of London Heathrow airport. We took a tour in the West of England and went to museums in London. We also had the chance to talk to people about a variety of topics that concern travel to Europe and beyond. Here is what things are currently like if you decide to head over to the United Kingdom anytime soon.

Pre-Departure and Arrival to the United Kingdom

Throughout Europe and much of the world it is becoming much easier to travel now as many countries are doing away with Covid-19 travel restrictions. For travel to the United Kingdom there are no restrictions and its back to the way it was before the pandemic started. We were not required to take any tests (we took antigen tests ahead of time as a precaution) or fill out any type of paperwork. All we needed to do was present our passport to the airline (British Airways) and then use the automatic passport gates at Heathrow to scan our passport to enter the country. There is no mask mandate for flights or anywhere in the United Kingdom but we still wore our masks anyway unless eating on the plane. It felt like it was pre 2020 again when traveling to Europe aside from Donna and I wearing a mask.

Our Time in the United Kingdom

While in the United Kingdom once again things seemed to almost be back to normal. All businesses were open with no restrictions. People were enjoying their time taking tours, visiting museums and eating at restaurants. Outside of us wearing masks and probably less than 50% of other people wearing masks you would not really be able to tell that the pandemic had even occurred. On our first day we visited the Imperial War Museum (free admission!) where we saw great exhibits on WWI, WWII and many other conflicts the United Kingdom has participated in. The museum was pretty crowded and some were wearing masks and others not. We didn’t have to have a reservation for this museum. The following day we spent our time in the humongous British Museum that has the Rosetta Stone that was used to translate ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, the beard of the Sphinx, panels from the Parthenon in Athens, a full Greek Temple and so much more. We did have to get reservations as they are limiting visitor entry to certain times. We got to the museum by Uber and there was a huge line to get in as it had not opened that was more than a block long. Once inside the huge size of the museum allowed for pretty good social distancing but in general most people paid no attention to Covid related matters and were back to normal. We took a bus tour at night that was an open air double decker bus. It was decently full with people from around the world including people from Scotland, France and other locations. Only a few people were wearing masks. On our final full day in the United Kingdom we took a bus tour that started at Victoria Station and went to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the Ancient Roman Baths in the city of Bath. On the bus a few people wore masks but most did not. There was quite a bit of coughing going on but like in the US pollen was very high in England. At Windsor they heavily recommended mask wearing so while touring the elegant Royal Apartment many more people wore masks but some did not. Outside of that all was back to Normal. The same can be said for Stonehenge as most people did not wear masks including us when we were outside away from people. Finally at the magnificent Ancient Roman Baths where we saw the ruins of a huge spa fed by hot springs they were limiting the number of people by requiring time slot reservations. We go there 1 minute before our scheduled time elapsed due to traffic. They were quite strict about the time so we got very lucky. Inside mask wearing was moderate and it was crowded at spots. Restaurants and businesses were all back to normal. We continue to eat inside our hotel room with to go orders just to be safe.

Conversations with Locals

Like we always do when we travel anywhere we like to talk to locals to get their thoughts about current events, their culture and just things in general. On this trip we got a chance to talk to quite a few different people from Uber drivers and to others we ran into while on our different adventures in the UK. Here are a few of the topics we talked about and what people thought.

Covid-19

We talked to a good number of people about the vibe and thoughts about Covid-19 in the United Kingdom and in Europe in general. The general consensus from most of the people we talked to is that the Covid-19 pandemic is over and its time to move on. While some are still wearing masks they generally believe its time to move onto a new more normal time. I could tell that is the attitude of most people in England and most likely in Europe in general. There were plenty of tourists from around Europe in London as I was hearing French, German, Italian and other languages as we walked around town and on our tours. I did meet a few other Americans while we traveling but not as many as usual. We passed by some anti-vaccination protestors camped out in front of parliament and a UK local mentioned he’s not sure why they are still protesting as most people are vaccinated and no one really cares about the virus anymore here. Its interesting to see how far things have come in Europe now.

The Crisis in Ukraine

While the United Kingdom is in complete solidarity with the US, I asked a few different people their thoughts on a worry about WWIII breaking out with Russia. Its a concern many have in the US and a reason I have heard travel from the US to Europe has slowed. I’ve talked to many people who have said things like “I wouldn’t get anywhere close to Europe now since its not safe”. The general consensus from at least the people I talked with is that they are not concerned about any kind of large scale war and Ukraine while concerning is a long ways from the UK (similar to a conflict in Central or South America). They do not seem to have the same level of fear that we have about the conflict escalating outside of Ukraine and further into the West.

The Cost of different Things

One of the larger concerns just like in the US is inflation and especially the cost of fuel. One person told me they were paying around $7.50 a liter for gasoline which is an extreme cost. We had discussions on the cost of medical care in the United Kingdom compared to the US. As expected the cost is much lower for pretty much everything in the United Kingdom. They have public hospitals covered by universal healthcare but they also have private hospitals you can pay to go to if you do not want to use the public hospitals. I find most people in Europe are relatively surprised at the cost of our health system and they are always interesting conversations where I learn a lot.

Returning to the United States

While many countries have loosened or removed Covid-19 travel restrictions completely the United States has not changed anything as of the writing of this article. The only policy change was the removal of the Mask Mandate due to a court order. The testing rules have yet to change for re-entering the US so we took our online proctored tests that we packed and got our negative test results. We also filled out the contract tracing form that I have to wonder is even used and the attestation form that confirmed I am presenting a negative test one day before our flight home. The flight home was normal other than wearing our masks during the flight. When we arrived in Houston the CDC had medical personnel right at the aircraft door and every few feet up the jetway watching and pulling people aside to confirm their Covid tests and vaccination status. They did not stop us as we walked out into the terminal. The rest of the process was the same as always entering the US with passport control checking our passport, asked us about our imports and letting us pass.

While I understand in the past the need for the international pre-departure testing rule and the other forms, but now I really do not see the need to continue this rule and I have even contacted the offices of US Representatives and Senators to voice this opinion. Entering the US is now much harder than entering some of the formerly strictest countries in regards to Covid. Most have dropped the testing requirement for at least vaccinated people and dropped the many forms needed. The US so far has stubbornly held onto these rules while it has never stopped a variant from entering the US, most everything in the US has opened up already without testing, the land and sea borders require no testing and many other countries have dropped the test. While I do support vaccination, the CDC and mitigation measures but I think this rule provides little value now and should end very soon. Its much more nerve-racking coming back home than it is leaving the country with these restrictions.

In Conclusion

We really enjoyed our trip back to Europe and it was great to see a place that is generally back to normal. While Donna and I still are wearing masks and taking precautions like getting take out and eating in our hotel room on trips we are so glad to get back to Europe and explore further. The main anxiety with international travel now days is coming back into the United States due to the continuing holding of the strict testing and entry rules for everyone regardless of citizenship and vaccination status. I really hope there will be a change soon in that regard that matches other countries rules. We look forward to a continually brighter travel picture that is becoming sunnier every day!