Mixed messages from several governments has led to confusion over whether it is safe or appropriate for people to travel abroad to an amber list country for a holiday. So let me answer that for you: No and No. Spain is still on the UK amber list, and as of yesterday, hey so is Portugal. So all the people presently holidaying in Portugal have to get back home lickety-split, or else face expensive testing and quarantine. Some are having to now pay quadruple for their brief holiday in the sun, rebooking flights etc.

Meanwhile, Spain very stupidly and selfishly (gotta get those tourist bucks, who cares if we die?) opened its borders to all UK travellers on May 24th, allowing them to come here without any sort of testing or proof of vaccination, while the “Indian variant” (now known as Delta) makes up more than 75% of the new cases in the UK, and has been shown to be far more contagious and more resistant to the vaccines we have been using. Meanwhile we require EU travellers to show proof of vaccination. WTF?

I’m hoping that the prospect of having to get tested twice and also quarantine upon arriving back in the UK will discourage most from coming. But it still floors me that anyone would even consider going to another country without being tested and vaccinated first. You’d almost think they don’t give a shit about possibly transmitting the virus to us.  Here’s hoping that by September we will have a clearer idea of what’s what. Until then I’m staying put.