Oh yeah if you need to travel soon and are confused about all of the restrictions and what documentation you need check out apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-rest…

Speaking of scanning my QR code I tried several times and got an error saying “Bad format”. Turns out I needed to rotate the paper 90 degrees and scan it that way. Uhhh….. This is what the paper looks like:

Hopped on a train from Paris to Amsterdam. Surely they would need to see some sort of Covid or vaccine info about you. Nope. No one has yet asked to see my “digital health passport”

Ok jet lag is real and now I think I can get some sleep at 3:15am local time. Bye bye.

I was told I needed to get a “digital health passport” to convert my CDC vaccination card to a fancy QR code that restaurants and public places can scan. This is easy. Pop into any pharmacy, give them your passport, vaccine card, and €36 and they will give you a piece of paper!

France has an app you can use to scan your QR code so its on your phone and not on a flimsy piece of paper you will surely lose at some point.

bonjour.tousanticovid.gouv.fr/en…

There was probably more scrutiny if you were from a “red” country but those people were mixed in with the “amber” country people.

diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-….

There were only 3 or 4 people available to manually check passports. Open passport to photo, pull down your mask, quick glimpse, rubber stamp, and then you’re in. No checks about negative Covid test or vaccination status needed.

I brought a comfy cloth mask with me for the flight but at the gate Air France gave us paper masks that we had to wear. Weird but ok.

You have to wear a mask the whole time you’re in an airport except when you’re patronizing restaurants where you can immediately sit down, take off your mask, and pretend everything is fine.

Landed in France and had to wait 2.5 hours in line at the border to check my passport. Lots of international flights landed at the same time and there were 500 – 1,000 people smooshed in line together with Covid signs everywhere saying everyone should be 1 meter apart.

Observations from traveling to Europe recently

🧵

I recently flew to France which requires a negative Covid test taken no more than 48 hours from departure time.

Lucky for me there is a Covid testing place near me that does PCR tests with quick turn arounds. It was negative as expected and I had a PDF to prove it.

The only time I needed to present the test was at the checkin counter for my flight. The guy just glanced at it and I never needed to show it to anyone else again.

@hankchizljaw Also no one trusts the rapid tests. It’s always PCR or nothing.

@dbchhbr Parent getaway/work trip. I dunno how the kiddos would have handled a 6 hour flight and standing in line for 2.5 hours to get into France

@jfc3 Very true. We’ve never been to Amsterdam. This evening we just strolled around and ate some good food.

Made it!

@jfc3 Correct! And pleasure

BRB going to Amsterdam