The Ultimate Guide to Travel Covid Tests

 

Are you confused by all the different types of COVID tests for travel? I'll explain everything you need to know. Also coming up in this episode of the travel pro show of a visiting, the world's most jaw dropping Starbucks, we'll show you an app to help you choose the best seat on every flight. And we'll also reveal seven advanced packing secrets. I promise you've never seen before. I'm Andrew luck. And this is the show that she has the seat.

Hello, and welcome to the show. I don't know if you saw this news report recently, but shortly after takeoff from Denver airport on the way to Honolulu a passenger recorded this video wow. Considering what was happening, that footage was really calm and stable. Wasn't it. As you know, flight attendants are notoriously irritated by passengers using the cold button overhead. But I think in this case, it's justified. "Oh, hi. Yeah. Um, I'm not an expert or anything, but I think the engine just fell off and the bit that's left is like glowing a lot." Thankfully, the pilots averted disaster and were able to safely land back in Denver, but not before the community of Broomfield, Colorado got rained on with bits of engine, a United airlines flight three 28, which was taking off from Denver international airport. Uh, the FAA says that it's suffered a right engine failure shortly after takeoff.

It was en route to Honolulu, uh, and was able to turn around and land safely. But in that ensuing time, pieces of debris from the plane falling onto several residential streets, Ooh, I mentioned opening your door and seeing this on your lawn. The homeowner was shocked to say the least and thought it was an entry into the Guinness book of records for the world's largest wedding ring. Meanwhile, back at Denver airport, passengers were of course were happy to have survived the ordeal, but then they would treat it to this rather casual message in the United app. Your flight is canceled because your plane needs repairs. Yeah, you're no kidding. A missing engine definitely comes under the category of needing repairs. You can just imagine the scene that United engineering.
Hello is that Pratt and Whitney. Yeah. About our extended warranty..."

Unsurprisingly the media was all over this story. And my favorite coverage was from Fox news where, when they showed viewers what had happened, they felt it was necessary to put a red circle around the engine that was on fire. Yeah. I think we can figure which one has the problem all in all. It was quite a spectacle and it's so great that everyone was able to stay safe.

If you've been on a plane recently, I'm sure you're aware that COVID testing for travel is a mess. There's two reasons for the confusion.

First of all, there's so many types of tests. And second, the goalposts keep changing. My co-host Gabriela was flying from England to Copenhagen recently. And when she tried to check in, they told her she needed a COVID test because the rules have changed two hours earlier. I've been told on three separate occasions by British airways, a first-class check-in staff that I couldn't travel. And they only relented after I showed him, prove to them that I knew the regulations better than they did. Well, there's not much we can do about the frequency of the changes, but let's look at the types of tests. And let me preface what I'm about to say by reminding you that I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. Although I think I could do it.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do for him. His insurance has expired." Okay. Maybe not.

There's currently five different COVID related tests, PCR, NAAT lamp, antigen, and antibody for travel purposes. We can roll out the antibody tests because they're designed to detect if you've had COVID in the past. I think China's the only one ask him for that. Goodness knows why. As they say in China, "one party, one leader, what virus?" As for the remaining tests, there's two categories. First, those that have to be sent to a lab, which include the PCR and net tests and the second group, which give foster results.

Those are the antigen and lamp tests. You're with me so far? For the lab tests, the challenge is the time that it takes to get the results back from the lab. The majority of lab cite processing times have between two to four days. Unfortunately you're only allowed to use a test that's taken three days or 72 hours before you travel. So if you get the result back on day three or four, you'll have missed your flight. It's a big problem. And sadly, it means that many passengers either have to cancel that trip or be subjected to forced quarantine at their destination. The good news is that both the us and UK now are accepting the rapid and cheaper antigen style tests for entry into those countries. That definitely makes life a lot easier, but frankly, the communication around this is an Epic fail. For example, the UK government's website gives the following instructions for people traveling into England under the section test providers and type of tests, it says, "the test must meet performance standards of great to the 97% specificity, greater than 80% sensitivity of viral loads, above a hundred thousand copies, a milliliter." I don't speak 'scientist' and I barely passed basic maths at school, let alone figuring out the percentage viral loads of COVID tests. It gets worse.

The same website says "this could include tests such as a nucleic acid test, including a polymerase chain reaction test or derivative technologies, including loop mediated, isothermal amplification tests, or an antigen test, such as a test from a lateral flow device."

What?! I know I'm from the country that invented English, but even I have no idea what language that sentence was in. I can't tell if they're talking about COVID tests or teaching me to fix my car. If the government don't know, how did they expect us to know? Imagine grandpa Chuck and grandma Betty from Arkansas, trying to make sense of all. This is mission impossible isn't it? No wonder travelers are so confused. It used to be the all you needed to fly was a possible or an ID. Now it seems like you need three years of med school. All I can say is to triple check the requirements several weeks before you travel and book your test as soon as you can, because many travelers are reporting that they can't even get the test that they want because all the appointments have been taken up. By the way, if you've been vaccinated, you might think that you can avoid all of these tests, but sadly, that's not the case right now at the moment having the vaccine makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to the test requirements for entry into these various countries. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

It feels a bit like when the light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be an oncoming train, Oh, and I didn't even touch on the miserable situation of people who've had COVID. Some people keep getting a positive result for months after they've recovered. Many airlines don't understand this. And so they're unfairly turning perfectly healthy people away. It's enough to make you cry into your travel pillow. If that describes your situation, make sure you get a letter from your doctor who can confirm that you've already had. COVID recently. Now, needless to say, we really, really, really need a better perhaps even universal approach to testing for travel. It really is a mess. Hopefully the situation will improve over time, but for now it's a real roller coaster for everyone involved. Um, when I say rollercoaster, I mean that type, where you get sick, you then get stuck hanging upside down and then all your money falls out of your pockets. as a travel pro, how have you been affected by all of this? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

And now let's hear from Gabriella who has a resource to help you choose the best seat on every floor. Right? I learned fast as a travel pro, is that not all seats on a plane are created equal, even within the same cabin.

Some give you a lot of space and comfort, whereas others are definitely duds as I call them. So how do you know before you go enter Seat Guru, it's a free app. That'll tell you what seats are the best and which ones to avoid. Let's get started and I'll show you how to use it. Enter the airline. You'll be flying on the date of the flight and the flight number. And alternate way to search is to click on route at the top and then select the airline date and where you're flying from. And to, so for this example, let's say we're flying on Delta airlines on June 23rd from JFK to London Heathrow. Once we've entered those details, we click on find seat map and see group will show us a list of flights for that day. We'll select the L two and the seat map for that flight loads. For us, as we scroll down the page, the yellow seats mean that there are aspects that you should be aware of. So for example, for C one eight, it says it's a standard seat, but proximity to the galleys might be bothersome. So if we chose that seat would probably be first to be served, but it might be a bit noisy if we carry on scrolling at 15 a you'll see there's a red seat, which is definitely one to avoid.

If we click on it, we can see there was a whole bunch of reasons to avoid that seat. Some flights have green seats, which of course are very desirable because they give you extra leg room, extra storage, or extra comfort. If you want more information about the flight, you can click on info and photos. One detail to be aware is that some roads use different planes or equipment. As they say in the bales, we can see that's the case. It says there are two versions of this aircraft. So first check your booking where it should tell you the aircraft type. And then you'll be able to look at the relevant layout. So my friend that is seeker, let me know in the comments, if you already use it. And I would, of course, love to know what other apps you are using. So please share those too. And now it's back to you, Andrew.

Thank you. Gabriella great stuff as always, if you're enjoying this episode so far, please consider becoming a subscriber so you can continue to enjoy the episodes. And now for something completely different, let's talk about Starbucks. The only place in the world where a tall is a small and a grand day is a medium. And yeah, you know how it is. It's good to see the Starbucks baristas are now wearing masks or as call them coffee filters. Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.

For the most part, when you visit a Starbucks, you know exactly what to expect, but that isn't the case in Dubai, where they have a Starbucks unlike anything you've seen before. So of course I had to go and check it out. when you think of Starbucks, you might think generic, boring, bland or Dell, but here in Dubai, even Starbucks gets a Royal middle Eastern makeover. Check this out. Have you ever seen a Starbucks that looks like this before? Now it might look like I'm inside a Persian palace, but I'm actually inside the world's largest themed mall called IBN Battuta on the Southern side of Dubai, just past Palm Jumeirah. Inside are 6 themed areas based on India, China, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Andalusia. I think even the most jaded shopping, hating husbands would find something to enjoy here. And of course, if you really don't like shopping, there's always this magnificent Starbucks. Okay? If you want more travel tips for getting perks, upgrades and VIP status, I encourage you to visit www.travelproshow.com where you can also grab the nifty free guide seven top travel hacks to save you money on your next flight. It's the ultimate blueprint for getting the best deal every time, even if I do say so myself.

Let me tell you about founder's card, the best tool for savvy travelers. With a modest annual fee, founder's card members get discounts with airlines like Emirates, American, United, BA, Singapore, and Cathay Pacific, as well as with hotel chains like Marriott and Hilton plus car rental companies like Hertz, Avis and Sixt. So as an example with Hilton, not only do you get discounts on every booking, you get instant, gold status without having to meet any of the normal state requirements. That means you can get a free room upgrade, free breakfast, free, late checkout, free high-speed wifi access and an additional 25% bonus points, not too shabby, right? There's hundreds of discounts and perks to choose from. There's also member networking events. You get a sleek metal membership cart flashed in front of your friends. I mean, who wouldn't want that? And as a member myself, I love it again, head to the founder's card.com, where you can get a lot more perks and discounts when you travel.

There's no shortage of packaging tips on the interweb, but let's face it. Most of them are common sense. So we decided to go down the rabbit hole and find seven advanced packing secrets that most people don't know ready for this let's get started at number seven, instead of taking all the usual containers of gels, pace and lotions that take up a lot of space. Instead transfer a small amount into one or more contact lens cases. You can get them at the dollar store or pound land. If you're in the UK, they're the perfect size for a short trip. And you'll save a lot of room. Remember too, you can always buy more supplies at your destination if you need to. It's much better to go light than be weighed down with large containers of gloop that you probably won't use. Along similar lines, transfer pills and medication from larger bottles into small plastic bags or a daily dispenser like this one. And number six, place belts inside the color of your shirt or blouse. Not only is that normally wasted space, the best part is it also helps to retain the shape of the collar. Clever, right? Number five is also about using normally wasted space, place, socks, or other small items inside your shoes. Then place your shoes inside a shower cap. This uses the space smartly and protects your clothes from getting dirty. At number four, always pack a universal travel adapter. That includes multiple USB outlets. The latest ones even include USB-C ports.

And this type of international adapter means all your gear can be charged from one outlet. So you won't have to pack lots of connectors, cables, or adapters. At number three, use packing cubes for your clothes, these nifty inventions, cleverly squeeze your clothes into a tighter space. So you'll be able to take more, not only that, but when you reach your destination, you can simply transfer the cubes from your suitcase to the dresser drawers. And you're all set. The best packing cubes are made from parachute fabric and have a mesh top and super strong zips. So they won't break. Even when you load them up full and number two, always carry a portable USB power bank. These days, we rely so much on our devices that when the juice runs out, Murphy's law says that we'll be in a place where there's nowhere to charge up, avoid that frustration by carrying a high quality USB power bank. You'll be really glad you did. And finally, our number one, advanced packing tip is simply to add a couple of dryer sheets to the top and bottom of your bag. This simple step costs a mere few pennies, and it will keep your clothes smelling nice and fresh throughout your trip. So then you have seven advanced travel packing tips, perfect for travel pros.

If you have another packing secret you'd like to share with us and your fellow viewers, we would love to hear about it in the comments below, we really look forward to reading all of those tips. In fact, we'd love to hear your opinion and feedback about any aspect of the show below, including your experiences with COVID test. Sorry, COVID testing for travel. As we talked about earlier in this episode, incidentally, we greatly appreciate it when you share this show with your travel buddies. So thank you very, very much for doing that. And I'm sure they'll thank you too. For more travel tips and inspiration. Check out the YouTube channel tips for travelers by cruise expert, Gary Bembridge I don't know about you, but I used to cruise regularly before the pandemic and I really miss it. Gary filled some of that void for us with his excellent videos, including updates on the current state of the cruise industry. You can also find his content on his website with the same name tips for travelers.com on Instagram checkout at do you travel from professional photographer, Jack Morris. He's really talented. His photos are inspiring and I'm sure they'll make you want to travel more. We'll put links to both of those resources below, so be sure to check them out. Join us again next time when I'll be sharing a new resource that will save you a lot of money on COVID tests. We all need that.

We'll also review Delta airlines, amazing business cost suite. Gabriela has another top travel app review and I'll share a clever tip to save you money on every trip. And finally, here's a lost in translation side from my travels. This one's from Norway where apparently they don't realize the international implications of naming a bread store, "Molde Bakery." Who's going to tell them - you or me?! Something's definitely lost in translation, isn't it?! Please continue to check out our other videos and we'll see you on the next episode.