The long and winding road
Ever-changing Covid travel restrictions made our columnist’s route home fom the Continent a particularly scenic one
DEREK PIC O T A HOTELIER FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS AND AUTHOR OF THE HOTEL DETECTIVE AND HIS LOVER
L
ike many people, last year I became an expert in Covid quarantine rules and how to obey the necessary protocols without becoming
completely housebound. And so, in my bid to get home from Europe last November I found myself driving rather than flying. At the time, only certain countries were
on the permitted “travel corridor” list and it felt as though the lights were going out across the Continent. Having been in Italy for 12 days, I started my journey home from Milan, calculating that I could drive through seven countries in a circuitous two-day route to Boulogne and thus complete my 14 days’ quarantine as I reached the Shuttle. One small issue – France and Belgium
were not on a travel corridor. So I called Eurotunnel and asked whether, if I filled the car to the brim with petrol in Aachen, Germany and travelled nonstop through Belgium to France, I could drive straight on to the train without getting out of my vehicle. “Yes,” the reply came, “but don’t stop at the terminal – drive straight on and only climb out of the car in Folkestone.”
TOP GEAR Off I went. It was an interesting route – a sort of Grand Tour without much of the sightseeing. On the Italian-Swiss border I instantly received a message on my phone saying that if I stopped at all I would have to lay over for seven days’ quarantine. No pausing for a fondue lunch, then – instead, I pressed on to Liechtenstein for a brief sojourn in its capital, Vaduz. Not a
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
place that many business travellers are likely to have visited unless they are bankers or Swiss watch salespeople. It’s a lovely town that, when I visited, enjoyed the benefits of no mask wearing and low Covid rates. Having overnighted and filled the car, it
was back to Switzerland for a quick drive into Austria, with a similar message appearing on my phone en route. Here, HM Government had not permitted
I calculated that I could drive through seven countries in a circuitous two-day route to Boulogne
“It’s the same for people from Ireland,”
the stern receptionist explained by way of an apology. “But I come from Liechtenstein!” I cried. “Oh!” replied the receptionist. “Your English is excellent for a German speaker.” Tus avoiding further cross-
examination, we – unlike the unlucky couple from Nazareth – avoided the stable. Te next day I crossed into Belgium for the final 350km stretch, skirting around Brussels then on to the coast and the French border. Te prospect of home had rarely seemed so inviting.
UNION FLAGS Since then, of course, everything has changed again with the new border restrictions brought about by Brexit. In future we will each have to consider the impact of the 90-day limit on stays in the Schengen zone in any 180-day period. Spend too long and you could be fined for overstaying your welcome. In our household, the Irish branch of
quarantine-free travel so there was no stopping until I reached the German border. A safe haven – or so I thought, until we got to Cologne. Checking into the Courtyard by
Marriott, I was asked if I was British, for if I was I would not be allowed in owing to new restrictions brought in that day. Arrivals from west of Germany had to go straight back home.
the family tree means my wife and our children will be able to apply for Irish passports. I am sadly excluded so if I want to go over the 90-day limit in, say, France, I will have to apply for an annual extended-stay visa – all rather painful and merely adds to the current general levels of misery. Still, the speed with which the vaccine
programme is being rolled out is certainly a cause for optimism. I hope that by the time you read this you or your loved ones will have had the chance to be inoculated and to meet up once more – and even, before long, to take to the skies again. BT
M AY / JUNE 20 2 1 73
BENJAMIN SOUTHAN
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