Levelling the playing field

I had typed out a whole piece on how the airlines were a bunch of bastards because whilst taking over £7,000,000,000 of taxpayers money to keep them afloat they then went on to charge £500+ per person to fly to Portugal in economy… with no luggage included. All that does though is allow me to vent my disdain for airlines. Instead, I binned that and decided to run a piece on how you can get even and potentially get away without having to cash in your pension early.

Amber Gambler

Come May 17th, the law clearly states you may go on holiday anywhere in the world. The traffic light system is for when you return.

  • Red means your paying £1750 to stay in an IBIS when you get back.
  • Amber means you’re quarantining at home when you get back.
  • Green means you’re straight off down to the local when you get back.

The GREEN list is shambolic:

  • Australia – Won’t let you enter
  • Brunei – Have to apply for a permit so probably won’t let you in
  • Falkland Islands – Have to quarantine for 14 nights
  • Faroe Islands – Have to quarantine for 4 days
  • Gibraltar
  • Iceland – Only if you’re vaccinated
  • Israel
  • New Zealand – Won’t let you in
  • Portugal including the Azores and Madeira
  • Singapore – Won’t let you in
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  • St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island

As you can see, your choices are Gibraltar, Isreal, Portugal and 2 islands that don’t have commercial flights to them more than once a month.

The RED list:

  • Angola
  • Argentina
  • Bangladesh
  • Bolivia
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Burundi
  • Cape Verde
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Ecuador
  • Eswatini
  • Ethiopia
  • French Guiana
  • Guyana
  • India
  • Kenya
  • Lesotho
  • Malawi
  • Maldives
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Nepal
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Qatar
  • Rwanda
  • Seychelles
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • Suriname
  • Tanzania
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates (UAE)
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

As you may have guessed, the AMBER list is everywhere else in the world not mentioned in the above 2 lists.

My advice based on the fact that airlines have hiked the prices massively to green list countries is to book your holidays for anywhere that is amber. As an example, a week in Portugal for 2 will currently set you back £1,700 that comprises of £1,100 for flights and £600 for an average hotel. Spain on the other hand… £960 comprising of £360 for flights and £600 for a nice hotel. Yes you have to quarantine and you have to pay for a day 2 and day 8 covid test (Even in green countries you have to pay for day 2 test) but if you’re on furlough or you work from home this is certainly the way to go about things.

Two Fingers To The Red List

This option is for the wealthier of people be it time or money. Fly to where ever you like, if it’s a red zone there’s a blinder of a hack which is obvious. Let us say you fly to the Maldives on holiday for a week or 2. Instead of flying back to the UK to spend £1750 on a poor hotel for 10 nights, fly back to Portugal. Get yourself a villa for 10 nights, have an amazing time then fly back to the UK and go about your day as you please. So long as you haven’t been in a red zone at any point in the last 10 days you don’t have to do the whole quarantine in a hotel thing.

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