Disused rooms, stained beds, and spiders on the walls. Marion could have dreamed of better for her first days in Cambodia. Vaccinated but tested positive for Covid-19 on her arrival at Phnom Penh airport on January 4, she was placed in quarantine for at least nine days.
“When the ambulance dropped me off, I discovered an unsanitary place, similar to a squat. In this hospital, which had been abandoned for eight months, there was no one to answer my questions. The first night, I slept for twenty minutes”
, says the 31-year-old globetrotter on a world tour.
A small fifty people, arrived as the week, share his galley.
To get out, he will have to present two negative tests, carried out two days apart.
Asymptomatic, Marion crosses her fingers for the rest.
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Tests at $250 per
person
Like her, vaccinated French people who leave for a stay abroad often have to juggle quarantines and repeated tests in order to be able to travel. Like Laurence, her companion Xavier and their teenage daughters. Leaving on December 17 for a road trip in the American West, this family is now stuck in the land of Uncle Sam, where it is complicated to do tests... Yet it is an essential prerequisite for returning to France. Their return was scheduled for January 6.
“As of the 3rd, we were desperate to get tested in San Francisco.
It is possible to do it at the airport and get the results in 3 hours, but it costs 250 dollars per person!
Eventually we found a lab that charged $90 per person and promised results within 24 hours.
»
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The end of the tunnel? Rather the beginning of the Calvary. Unable to board.
“We received the results within 30 hours, so after our flight left that we missed. And we were all positive. Everything jostled in our heads. We sought an appointment for testing five days later, and contacted our
Covid-19 insurance
.”
This took charge of the hotel, and they were able to postpone the flights. This question remains:
“What to do if the tests remain positive? »
Some travelers therefore prefer to dodge the tests, when possible.
This is the case of Gérald and Caroline, 43, who left for a two-week vacation in Cyprus.
A getaway to the Turkish north of the island was planned… But you had to present a negative test of less than 7 days to cross the border.
However, Gérald felt ill during the stay, with symptoms similar to those of Covid-19.
“We canceled our trip to the north of the island for fear of being positive
,” say these hoteliers from the Var.
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“We live like a hermit”
Others drastically limit social interactions before departure to avoid mishaps. Jeanne, 46, is preparing for a trip to Panama with her partner in mid-January. A test can be requested on arrival:
“I no longer go to the gym, we decline invitations to eat with friends. We live like a hermit… I would really have a hard time accepting not being able to leave”
.
It also happens that some countries change their regulations as quickly as the variants spread. Margaux, 24 years old and vaccinated, knows this only too well. She had planned a vacation to Thailand for mid-January. When he booked, there was no quarantine. Since then, the Thai government has reinstated it, and vaccinated travelers must remain confined for 7 days (unvaccinated, 10 days), even if the country plans “sandbox” programs.
“With the vaccine and a PCR, I thought I was at peace. But this announcement changed everything. No question of spending seven out of fourteen days locked up in a hotel
. The only memories, bitter, of these aborted holidays: a travel guide and unreimbursed expenses.
“The airline pays me only 90 euros out of a total of 390 euros”
.
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“We had the country for us”
Despite this range of possible constraints, the game is worth the candle, believes Philippine, 31.
"Of course, we had to do five tests in one week
," says the one who has just returned from Jordan.
“But we had the country for us.
This is the good side of the Covid-19 “
, smiles this Bordelaise.
The beautiful surprises of the trip always exist.