Travel during a global pandemic demands steely nerves and deep pockets. I've exhausted both.
Tomorrow afternoon, I should have been sitting beside the Nile, dressed in flowing white linen, sipping a gin & tonic and contemplating the extraordinary two weeks ahead. Instead, I will be spending yet another cozy Friday evening in front of the TV chez Bencard. The story of why and how this happened reveals a lot of things I wish I'd known sooner. I'm sharing to help you avoid the stresses.
We'd put our deposit down on a Nile cruise, with an extension to Jordan, as an indulgent Christmas present to ourselves in 2019. We planned to travel at Easter 2021. While that seems like an extraordinary amount of time between booking and travel, it was perfectly logical. Viking Cruises' luxurious Nile boats are small ... ours had just 24 cabins ... and the Nile cruising season is limited. Options tend to book up more than a year in advance. When pandemic swept across the world in March of 2020, we were relaxed. The trip was a full year away. That seemed safe. The start of a vaccination programme before the end of 2020 gave us increased hope.
We all know how that went. As the 2021 Lenten season drew to its close I was chatting with Viking regularly as we played an amicable game of chicken. If they cancelled on me, I'd get a cash bonus as an apology and could take my money back or roll the reservation. If I cancelled first, no extra cash compensation ... but I'd nab a prime spot ahead of all those other people who would soon be re-booking all those cancelled cruises. And there was a cabin available on the same boat for the 2021 Christmas cruise. Just a little more expensive because it was peak season. That seemed safe.
We travelled internationally in September and were hopeful for December, but Omicron swept through the UK and infection rates exploded. I got COVID on 11 December and had to isolate until the day before we were supposed to leave. And I wasn't feeling great. Viking had room on the same itinerary on the same boat available a month later. More expensive, naturally, because the only cabin available was the nicest one. That seemed safe.
This is where things started to come unstuck. Medical fact says there's no safer time to travel than after recovering from Covid. You're surging with antibodies. Mine were enhanced with three doses of vaccine. The Covid recovery pass which, in a blaze of technological efficiency not typical of the NHS, appeared promptly and automatically on my NHS app was supposed to guarantee my transit even if I tested positive on a PCR test. Which I probably would.
Turns your PCRs are likely to turn up positive for up to 90 days after having Covid. Long after you've recovered and are non-infectious. (And doctors advise that the older you are, the longer it's probably going to stay in your system.) I thought my recovery pass would make travel trouble free. Reality? It's worthless.
As anyone who's attempted international travel since the pandemic knows, there are no international standards. Every country has its own rules, and they can shift at any moment. PCR tests are the closest the world seems to have come to agreement. Negative: you may pass. Positive: you're in trouble.
Having returned to health but assuming I'd test positive, I started looking for assurance that my Covid pass would see me through Heathrow, Cairo and Amman. Despite the medically-proven fact that you could be fit to travel yet testing positive, I found nothing in writing to assure me of this. Only bellicose warnings that a positive PCR spelled doom. I tried to connect with human beings.
Nobody seems to work at BA any more. Their customer service line doesn't even offer a chance to stay on hold to wait for assistance. Redirect to digital or go away. No reply to my tweet and the only answer to my email was a re-direct to the web pages I'd already poured over that contained no answer. How about the Egyptian consulate? Web site under construction. No answer on the telephone number found on Google. No reply to the email. Viking, the only player in this game who regularly answered phones, couldn't give me clear answers at first but eventually got back to me with the cold, hard truth.
They understood Covid recovery passes, and I'd be safe once I was within their hands. There was a good chance BA would let me out. But there was a high probability neither Egypt, nor Jordan, would budge off the simple black and white PCR rule. Egypt was even in the habit of doing spot PCR tests and sending those who came back positive into a government quarantine hotel for 10 days. Which I am fairly sure would bear no resemblance to my stateroom on the Viking Ra. Finally, I had the clarity to understand that any attempt to travel would be high risk and unwise.
It was just a shame that Viking's representative hadn't realised that when I called from my Covid sickbed to reschedule the Christmas cruise. I suspect Viking management had spotted this fly in the ointment, as well, since they offered me a full roll-over of my payment into credit for two years, even though by their terms and conditions I was so close to departure they could have kept my cash.
I should have been heartbroken that after three attempts, the land of the pharaohs was out of reach. Instead, I was flooded with relief. Uncertainty, angst and the fear of losing our payment hanging over my head no longer kept me up at night. We'd been isolating for more than a month to try to stay healthy for travel. We finally ventured out to the cinema for date night. A long list of complications fell away.
The lessons learned from this two-year adventure?
Lesson No. 1: Assume that a diagnosed case of Covid means no international travel for 90 days. Sadly, that means that every time you're stepping out your door you're endangering your ability to travel. I'm hoping regulations change soon, since I have a trip to Rome scheduled 61 days after diagnosis. So I haven't completely lost the stress. Therefore...
Lesson No. 2: Limit international travel to spur-of-the-moment opportunities. Given that one of my keys to happiness is holiday planning, it pains me to type this. But it's reality. You're far more likely to complete a trip you book a week or two in advance. We plan to start using our Viking credit by waiting until European restrictions loosen and then calling to ask "do you have any open cabins for anywhere in the next few weeks?" Given the number of cancellations travel companies are dealing with right now, we're hopeful.
Lesson No. 3: In times of ongoing uncertainty, take your cash back. In hindsight, I should have waited for Viking to cancel the first time, taken my cash and forgotten about Egypt for several years. I hope never to live through something like this pandemic again, but if I do ... money will triumph over hope.
Lesson No. 4: You get what you pay for. We all know this, but it's even more relevant in a crisis. Yes, Viking Cruises are expensive. But they've proven their worth. At every step there have been humans to talk to, when others have abandoned their customers to self service. Their advice was thoughtful and informed, and their policies generous. The past two years have built my fidelity to their brand. Stay tuned for a report from one of their ships, somewhere, someday...
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