We’re finally on the plane… OMG! We moved out of our townhome on March 29th, put everything in storage (including the car) and have been staying in a little studio hotel room for the last 10 days… No matter how much downsizing and packing we did in advance (we started in late January), we were still stuffing things in our pockets on the way out the door! We thought we’d have lots of space to move around in the storage unit but you can see it’s still a tight squeeze…
We’re headed to the UK, not France. No, the boat is not in the UK, but US citizens can’t fly directly to France, so we’re “stopping” in the UK for 2 weeks. It has been quite a logistical puzzle to even get to this point. Let me back up a bit to February.
We had tickets from Denver to Montpelier, France leaving on March 29th, but the COVID situation has deteriorated in Europe and our original “exemption” to enter France (transporting international goods) is no longer an option. About the same time, the pace of vaccinations started to pick up in Colorado, so we decided to wait and leave after our 2nd COVID shot hoping this will smooth travel in the future. After scouring the internet looking for ways to get to France, we found we could fly to Britain, stay there for 14 days and then try to enter France…. still no guarantees but at this point, it’s our only practical option.
The 1st priority was to get vaccinated, and we spent umpteen hours searching for appointments. They’re much easier to find now but given the 3 week interval between the 1st shot and the 2nd shot, and a 14 day waiting period in Britain, we wanted to get our shots as quickly as possible once our age group opened (March 19th). Luckily, I found a mass vaccination site that allowed us to sign up a few days early, for the 1st shot on the 19th. But there was a slight wrinkle…. The site I found was in Grand Junction – about 4 ½ hours drive each way from Boulder. Every day spent in Colorado meant another day’s delay in getting to the boat, so we signed up. Got our 1st shot on March 19th, and drove back again on April 9th, for the 2nd shot. Crazy, but glad that we are now fully vaccinated!
Getting into Britain came with its own set of challenges! Although the UK is doing quite well with more than 40% of their population with at least 1 shot and a low COVID death rate, their country is still quite locked down and the entry requirements are crazy!!! We must have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of departure, quarantine for 10 days, fill out lots of forms about where we’re staying and take 2 more tests when we get there – on Day 2 and another on Day 8. All for the small sum of 190 pounds per person! And if we are caught violating the quarantine – that’s a fine of 10,000 pounds … each! Oh, but wait…. We can “get out of jail early” by participating in the Test and Release program – and take a 3rd test on Day 5 – for another 99 pounds each. Sheesh! Luckily for us, Anthony’s brother Richard and his wife and son live in London so we have a place to stay.
We have taken 3 COVID tests in the last 3 days, gotten our 2nd vaccine shot and will take 3 more tests in the next 7 days and then a 4th test right before we head to France. Our nostrils might start to bleed…. Ha! Ha! But we’re not complaining. It’s been a wild ride so far and if these are the biggest obstacles we have to deal with…. Then we’ll count ourselves lucky! Stay tuned for our next update from “across the pond”!