Many Britons living and working abroad have been unable to visit family in the UK without quarantining. However, the latest changes to the travel lists saw countries such as Austria, Germany and Norway added to the green list, with France moving from amber-plus to amber.
The Guardian spoke to three people about the changes and what it means for them to be able to travel without quarantining.
‘For the last two months, I’ve not been able to understand the decision not to put Germany on the green list’
Judith O’Higgins, 50, from London is about to return from a one-week trip visiting her parents in Germany. “They are in their 70s and I have not seen them for a year and a half,” said the forensic pathologist.
She has been waiting for Germany to be added to the green list to avoid spending time in quarantine. “It would have made it impossible to see my family,” said O’Higgins. “For the last two months I’ve not been able to understand the decision not to put Germany on the green list – it didn’t make any sense when you take into account the low incidence of cases and the vaccination figures.”
O’Higgins said she thinks travelling for a holiday is “too great a risk” and “now is not the time”. “But I am not critical of those who do go away as I know I am in a privileged position with a nice house and garden,” she said. “Not everyone is so lucky.”
‘I’m really close to my parents so it means a lot to be able to go home’
Benjamin Robson, who works as an associate professor at the University of Bergen, booked his flight on Thursday to travel home to the UK after Norway was added to the green list. “I still have concerns about travelling and see that people are getting less strict about wearing masks etc, but I haven’t been home since Christmas,” said the 32-year-old.
Robson, who has lived in Norway for 11 years and is travelling to the UK on 11 August for two weeks, was considering a trip to visit his family in Somerset before the green list was updated but encountered complications over his vaccination status. “I’ve had one shot of the vaccine and had Covid in January, so Norway considers me fully vaccinated,” he said. “The recent update that fully vaccinated people in Europe could skip quarantine was vague because I didn’t know if it applied to me. Now Norway is on the green list, it doesn’t matter.
“I’m really close to my parents so it means a lot to be able to go home without the added complications around quarantine. I can see the dangers around travelling, especially with new variants, but for me, not seeing family or friends has been the toughest part of the pandemic.
‘It’s been a very strange experience as I’m used to nipping over to the UK for a couple of days’
Margaret, who lives in St-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of Paris, is glad she and her husband, John, are able to travel to the UK to see their children without being “ripped off by the cost of private tests”.
“We travelled in June and paid around £400 each for testing,” said the 65-year-old, who has lived in France for 25 years and has dual nationality. “The costs all mount up and when France was put on the amber-plus list we were really really angry because it’s been a heart-wrenching problem to not be able to see our family.”
Despite both of them being fully vaccinated, they have not returned to the UK since, due to quarantine rules.
Thanks to the latest changes, Margaret and her husband booked the Eurotunnel on Friday for 28 August so they can visit their granddaughter in London, who was born last September. “It feels good,” she said. “It’s been a very strange experience as I’m used to nipping over for a couple of days. It doesn’t help that they’ve not been able to come here. It’s a loss of control over one’s life which is difficult. I hope this is the last time we have to worry about it.”
