Tales of people standing cheek by jowl for eight hours waiting to be screened at the UK border was a big reason we've held off travelling. As it turned out I was off the aircraft and into immigration quickly. The new regulations require the airlines to disembark the aircraft in small groups. This worked well for me. At immigration the passport e-scanner rejected my first attempt but was more welcoming on the second - do remember to take off your mask ! There must have been 30 scanners working. Seems the trick is to download your 4 page locator form with the UK government website in good time. From arriving at immigration to leaving ? - the grand total of 93 seconds. Could have been quicker were it not for the mask thing.
I'd reckon 30% of folks in London are wearing masks. In open air restaurants this falls to 1% - namely Angus. There are many, many more open air restaurants and they are all busy.
The streets seem emptier and the hotels definitely so. Very few Americans, even fewer middle easterners, quite a lot of double vaxxed Europeans but huge numbers of Brits from out of town enjoying cheap hotel rates. At breakfast time the staff outnumbered this solitary eater by a ratio of nine to one.
The quiet street mantra is as true in the West End as it is in Chelsea.
Heathrow was busy but the desks were well staffed and check in was fast, efficient and friendly. Mask wearing at the airport is obligatory. The Brits are following this rule while others seem to be less observant. On the Miami and Dallas flights I noted that the queues at check in were largely made up of school parties of US teenagers. They seemed to be of the opinion that mask wearing is for the over 30's. Security was quick, or would have been ,had it not been for the New York lady two ahead of me. She insisted on drinking her bottle of Gatorade rather than have security throw it away. 'I've paid for it. I'll drink it'. She was gloriously indifferent to the build up of travellers behind her.
The airport is still making some attempt to control behaviour.
The whole travel process was smooth and efficient. Coming back into Toulouse was the same. No queue at immigration, the French vax app scanned and my passport and Carte de Sejour checked. 3 minutes from deplaning to being landside. On both legs the flight was jam packed with Brits and French flying, anywhere, to get some sun or a change of view after 18 months in lockdown.
5 comments:
Interesting and encouraging. Thanks for the information, a good counterbalance to some of the more hysterical reporting I've read elsewhere.
It looks as though now is the time to visit London, looking at the empty streets- rather like Paris in August! I should imagine that more popular seaside type holiday destinations, like those here in Spain, Turkey, Greece etc., would attract larger numbers of holidaymakers, and local airports would be busier.
Pleased to hear that all went smoothly for you.
Welcome back! It was surprisingly exciting to read your report - actual travel!
Sounds like a quick trip, welcome home. I am taking the train next week, first out of town trip in over a year.
It seems to have gone much smoother than (I) expected. My recent (short) flight to Wash DC, Dulles, was essentially seamless, with the exception of the flight attendants having to tell passengers (the flight had originated in Florida) to use their masks to cover their noses.
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