…A MILLION LITTLE
THINGS…
The cavalier attitude to carefree jet-setting around the world is no longer a reality for your favorite dilettantes. Sadly, it hasn’t been carefree for a long while, what with security constraints and now all the COVID protocols and steps one needs to tick off just to be allowed to travel.
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| Remember carefree travel? |
The cavalier attitude to carefree jet-setting around the world is no longer a reality for your favorite dilettantes. Sadly, it hasn’t been carefree for a long while, what with security constraints and now all the COVID protocols and steps one needs to tick off just to be allowed to travel.
It used to be a
passport was your ticket to anywhere else. I once showed up at the gate in JFK
airport and bought a stand-by ticket and patiently waited until they called my
name and soon, I was in Europe.
That doesn’t happen anymore.
ABIDE
TSA pre-check and
Global Entry passes have made security compliance a bit more palatable, enough
so that we don’t hardly ever complain about the $100 fee…good for five years.
And, unless they come up with another COVID “sub-variant” to further scare the bejesus
out of the world again (think Double Secret Probation from Animal House), we
are getting to travel again.
Red tail lights heading
for Spain
We are leaving for
Spain soon and we just finally packed our bags. That’s because we have been too
busy having to get our paperwork in order. Sadly, Spain was supposed to be
easy, especially as we are fully vaccinated.
Where to start?
First off get
vaccinated and get the booster shot. It makes your traveling a lot easier. I
won’t even bother going if not vaccinated, and this isn’t a blog about your misgivings
about getting a vaccination anyway.
Regular readers of this
blog know that we praise the SHERPA APP and the VERIFLY APP. With Sherpa you plug in your dates,
destinations and vaccination status and Sherpa will tell you what your
paperwork requirements are to enter that country. After cobbling together that
information go to Verifly, plug in your countries and it lists what you need
and you manually put it in. i.e. your
picture, your vaccination card, passport number and any forms necessary for
this relaxing trip and puts into one convenient location.
Still, print out
everything to have a hard copy, just in case your iPhone dies.
Here is the link to the
invaluable Sherpa App and these are our instructions for Spain.
Verifly for Apple
products:
Sherpa instructions for
our trip to Spain:
We are fully vaccinated,
but there is a tab for non-vaccinated folks. As US citizens we do not require a
visa.
1 - Mandatory
– Proof of vaccination. Verify will have you take your picture and a picture of
your vaccination card.
2- Recommended –
A contract tracing app administered by the Spanish government.
3- Mandatory - A Health Control form administered by the Spanish government. This can only be completed within 48 hours of departure. You receive a QR code and that goes into Verifly, BUT, you must also print out a hard copy to present to agents in Spain. Do not forget to do this.
4- Mandatory – Masks in public areas.
5- Mandatory – Health screening on arrival, including a temperature check.
For you Luddites out there (me)
Again, print out hard copies just in case and make sure you take along your vaccination card.
Also, we are flying Iberia Airlines from Madrid to Tenerife and the only way to get a boarding pass ahead of time is to (shudder) put it in your Apple wallet That is anathema to my psyche so I let Janet to it all...come to think of it Janet has done all the necessary paperwork.
I've spent all my time thinking about Sangria.
Remember, things are constantly evolving with this COVID, so be sure to use this blog entry only as a guide in how to proceed planning for your own travel
Thanks for reading.
Love Janet and greg
© 2022 by Gregory Dunaj
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