Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Do you know traveler who has been quarantined in Europe?

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Do you know traveler who has been quarantined in Europe?

We’re due to fly to London and Lisbon in one month, and one of the major things giving us pause is the possibility of getting stuck there. You read things in the newspaper about US travelers unable to come back because they tested positive - but what’s the actual likelihood for those of us who are triple vaccinated, wear masks religiously, and attempt to have meals outside or away from others?

Have you, or anyone you know, been caught and unable to return? Are you a travel agent and hearing anything? Particularly interested in locations, as of course risks vary by area.

Thank you so much!

No, but I read a few accounts early on in the pandemic. I'll see if I can find them.

A few recent cases:

https://www.kxan.com/news/stuck-in-q...ting-covid-19/

https://www.reuters.com/world/couple...on-2021-11-29/

Oh Lord, I originally had written “anyone” and changed it to “traveler”....consider this an edit of the title: "Do you know any travelers who have been quarantined?”. Duh.

Thanks, Melnq8 for the links.

One of our Melbourne sports journalists who is fully vaccinated and would have been mask wearing etc as she was in lockdown many times here has tested postive in Amsterdam. She is visting family so is able to quarantine with family..

One of my colleagues who is Italian has a mother living in Italy who visited her other daughter in the Netherlands in early 2020 and got stuck in lockdown transiting through Germany on the way home. She spent several months there. The same colleague has just gone back to visit her mother (who made it back to Italy last year), and with the current situation we are wondering if she will get back to us, or whether she will be stuck and have to teach on Zoom next semester. She was on maternity leave for most of this year and because she had an extended period away from the workplace, she and her husband put all their belongings in storage for the trip. Their apartment was being let, or sublet, I don't know which, so I guess if she does not return, they will just keep letting their apartment. At the very least she will have to quarantine on return, as we have just started doing that with recent returnees. So yes, people do get stuck, but if you see the writing on the wall and you know lockdown is coming, you leave in a hurry!

Lavandula

I have friends who got stuck in Australia for months but home now

Yes, we hear regularly about people trapped in the wrong state here in Australia - not only do we close the national border (most recently to 9 southern African countries because of Omicron), but also state borders. My husband had a colleague who went to South Australia on a caravanning holiday and got trapped there last lockdown. He had to do his job remotely (like many of us), from his caravan at the SA/NSW border. Particularly Queensland does not let through compassionate cases, they are very strict. And on the news the other night there was a 3 yr old girl whose mother sent her to her grandmother in New Zealand and now she can't get back to Australia because the NZ border is closed. The mother is trying every legal means to get the daughter back. So we have a lot of it happening here and it is just starting to become part of the landscape. Our national borders are open to most countries but I am sure they will not hesitate to snap them shut again if there is an outbreak somewhere overseas that causes concern.

Lavandula

Iwan2go,
Before we went ona 5-week trip to Croatia and Italy this past fall, I was extremely anxious that, somehow, we would test positive before we were to return and have to quarantine. I followed a lot of travel boards and I was aware of ONE (just ONE!) example that had made the news of a couple who this happened to. The story was on a Reddit thread and, in fact, the husband tested positive early in their travels (may’ve even been positive when he left the US). They made the news and were in multiple media outlets documenting their experience.

It didn’t matter that I read stories of hundreds of people who returned to the US without a problem. I was terribly anxious and I did find an insurance policy that provided some (limited) coverage in the event of quarantine.

But, once we were there, it all seemed rather unnecessary. I found places were generally more careful than many places in the US, and continuing to do the same protocols that we’ve done over the last 1 1/2 years. I imagine there were a few who tested positive here or there, but considering how much travel there was starting in the spring, the number of people who tested positive and had to quarantine seems to have been minuscule.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your experiences and the newspaper articles.

We decided to reschedule our trip for late March and limit it to Lisbon. Will keep up with things and hopefully have a great time, as some of you did!

You'll have a great time in late March, Iwan2go!